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

[Hollow 21]

"So, uh..." The Wind Chosen's voice prompted Lindow to look up from cleaning his blades. He watched the girl neutral expression, waiting patiently for her to form her thought whilst idly wiping the blood from his Bandit Cleaver. 

"You know, uh, they told me a bit about you all. The Council. N, Not for any ulterior motive, though! I was the one who asked. Just for the basics. The rest of you were out adventuring and getting to know each other, and I thought it would be really awkward to have some newbie kid along who was out of the loop, so I wanted to know what surface-level knowledge I could get about the other Chosen. So, I've been wondering... are you really a witch hunter?" Pyrrha's lit up with what seemed to be genuine excitement. It seemed her latest near death experience did nothing to put a damper on the girls bright spirit...

"Oh," Lindow's response was immediate. Having initially thought the girl was planning to use this chance to ask him about his use of the Light and Dark elements, the Thunder Chosen hadn't been prepared to discuss the Abyss Seekers. "I was a hunter, yes." He said with a kind smile. For a second Lindow found himself recalling how young Reinaan had acted when the boy had first discovered his occupation. Probably because the twinkle of wonder in Pyrrha's eyes was so similar. It was a tad interesting. Even though they had been traveling with little Keres this whole time, they seemed fine with hearing tales of how he had cut down countless of her kind. "Though after two lifetimes of that kind of work, I think I can say with certainty that I wont be returning to my duties once this quest of ours is over." His smile widened. "Of course my former employers don't take kindly to deserters. So at the very least I can look forward to them coming after me... if any of them feel up to dealing with someone who's actually looking to fight for a change." Lindow could feel his own excitement flicker at the thought.

"And you? What will the tales say of the second Wind Chosen ?"

Edited November 28, 2019 by Hollow

[Skaia 578]

After managing to administer the anti-venom to Kloqah, something she had some experience in but never with a giant lizard, the girl let out a sigh of relief from not being eaten by an irate lizard mount. Once done, the group began to continue through the grassy lands going further down where she presumed the blood trail was leading. And though they had gone on without incident the fact that the grass had been getting to the height it had been, notably over her head, the group continued onward anyway. Ryia, though presuming that Geoff was joking, was almost tempted to agree with him out loud and clear out some of the grass. Nevertheless, she stayed quiet with the rest of them until they had gotten to an odd looking structure, one that Ryia herself couldn't make heads of tails of. What she could, however, make sense of was the giant bird that made its roost upon the top of them. 

Ryia was at first in awe of the bird, not having seen such a creature yet. Giant animals were hardly something new to her, yet still seeing a bird of such stature and color made an impression on the girl. As it noticed them, however, Ryia's awe quickly gave way to the panic induced by a giant bird coming to kill them. Heeding Reinaan's advice, the girl hopped off the mule and said, "please, just, wait back for a moment." Ushering the mule to hide in the grass with Kloqah, the girl got her own crossbow out along with taking a few more bolts and fired it at the creature's wing as well, despite seeing the effectiveness Reinaan's own attack. After she had fired a shot of her own, she again took to his warning and attempted to hide behind a pillar. 

[LordCowCow 840]

Keres let go with a start as Reinaan jumped from the mount's back. She nearly tumbled off but was able to keep upright only barely. Having to slide down the lizard's side before she went into the grass. She heard Geoff telling his buffalo to go inside the grass with the others to "defend them".

Keres watched as the crossbow bolts hit the roc. Usually you'd think to take down a flying opponent you want to use ranged but the bolts didn't seem to do much to the birds huge body.

Reinaan seemed to have experience with such things and he told them to keep between the pillars. There was something about the alignment of the pillars that bothered the witch but as he took off she thought she should listen to what he said. It wouldn't do to mess things up by not complying. Instead of following Ryia to the same row that Reinaan went to she went to the next closest. They were nearer to the base on that side so she ended up close to the middle of the row. Though from this distance she couldn't do anything about the roc as it took flight and glided down towards where Reinaan was.

Ryia's position was much less defensible, the pillar she was hiding behind barely taller than she was, but the bird seemed to have focused its sights on Reinaan's bright scales.

It dove down towards him and tried to rake its claws across the Draken, just able to fit the talons between the pillars, then flapped its wings to get higher and soared back around to land on the middle platform, with only a small amount of room, and letting out a screech.

It then started to flap its wings and gusts of wind started to blow against the two in front of it. Keres noticed a bit of magic in the wind and some of the gusts turned into cutting gales. Not strong enough to more than scratch the rocks but anyone caught in them would be wounded surely.

Keres heard a laugh and some movement and saw Geoff climbing on top of the farthest platform in the row she was hiding in. He took a jump and landed on the next closest pillar and it was clear he intended to scale it in that way.

Spoiler

Map

Suppose this gives a general idea where people are at at least. Also if it's not clear the roc only paused for a moment above reinaan before circling back towards the platform. The asterisk is where the roc is atm.

Also reminder to Yui and Hollow they don't have to wait for my posts to post for now.

 

[yui 574]

"Oh. I was a hunter, yes."

Was? Did he quit or something?

"Though after two lifetimes of that kind of work, I think I can say with certainty that I wont be returning to my duties once this quest of ours is over. Of course my former employers don't take kindly to deserters. So at the very least I can look forward to them coming after me... if any of them feel up to dealing with someone who's actually looking to fight for a change."

Somebody tossing that kind of job away was simply baffling to Pyrrha. Sure, Lindow had already done plenty of work in that field if his comment about "two lifetimes of that kind of work" was worth anything, but that was more or less a dream job. Make the world a better, safer place, and get paid for it? What wasn't to love? Perhaps it was something she wouldn't be able to understand without having been one herself.

"And you? What will the tales say of the second Wind Chosen?"

But enough about Lindow. He was curious about her. "Nothing impressive, I think," Pyrrha answered honestly. "The most amazing thing I've done is become a Chosen. Before that, my life's been pretty normal. Once we're done saving the world, I might want to become a witch hunter myself. That's why I wanted to find out if you really were one too. So I could get a grip on the basics when we're not fighting bees or gnolls or whatever else ends up in our way."

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan's bid to keep the roc's eyes on him had worked. The shine to his scales had seemed to prove helpful in that effort. This was good. Every attack it made at him was something the others didn't have to worry about and he had the most experience with these sorts of things. The pillars he was standing between were just tall enough that as the bird passed over to rake its talons in on him the boy was able to avoid them by dropping himself to the ground face first. While a bit close for comfort, what mattered was they didn't find their mark. Reinaan got up but stayed crouched as the bird made its way to the larger pillar not too far up from where the draken was currently. Reinaan was ready to charge forward but saw the thing start to flap its wings. At first he simply thought it was to keep them from firing on it again. But then wind struck the dirt near him, kicking it up into the air. Clearly there was some magic to this, and the hunter didn't fancy feeling it head on. Thankfully the pillar was holding fast as cover for him so he could observe for a while.

Eventually Reinaan darted out from behind his pillar to move up one. He dived and rolled a bit to speed up the process, barely avoiding being clipped by the gusts. As he'd thought there were gaps in the attacks he could predict based on where the things were in the flapping motion. This game of wait and move he repeated twice more until he was in the gap immediately in front of the Roc. At this point the large pillar rose to a height of roughly twenty feet. Not feeling up to scaling it, Reinaan readied his crossbow again and fired a bolt at the abdomen of the creature. This halted the flapping, opening up Ryia's way forward. But now the bird was ready to move. Reinaan readied another bolt and fired again on the wing he had struck earlier and yet he couldn't stop it from taking off. The bolts were clearly hurting the creature but not impairing its movements yet.

"Dammit... I'll have to get on top of it at this rate..." he muttered to himself, thinking about how to damage the wings enough to ground the thing. The reptilian hunter kept his eyes on the bird and was sure to shift relative to it to stay in its sights. As needed he'd take some steps away from the pillars to keep the sun shining on his scales. He was the only thing it needed to look at.

[Skaia 578]

The girl continued to sit back behind the pillars, looking at the bird as it started to flap its wings at her. The girl was curious at first, wondering if it was just hovering there, but soon noticed there was something definitely off as there seemed to be an actual gust blowing at them. Keeping herself hidden behind the pillar, the girl looked a bit nervous as she saw blades of air strike against the rock formations. Letting out a sigh of relief as it managed to hold firm, the girl then looked to see her other party members engaged against the thing. Well, to the best of their ability. 

On the one hand, she had felt somewhat guilty just hiding behind the rock pillar as Reinaan moved to draw the attention of the beast himself. She could tell he was quite well equipped in fighting the creature, but as a result felt like it would be better if he didn't also have to worry about being struck as he attacked back. On the other hand, she felt a sense of panic as she began to see Geoff climb up, seeming to scale the rocks in an attempt to fight the beast more head on. Ryia didn't know what to make of what seemed like recklessness on his part, but new that if the roc's attention had shifted to Geoff, the Buffalo Chosen likely wouldn't stand much of a chance in his current state. And so, Ryia decided to do what she normally did best. 

Drawing out her shield and mace, as Reinaan had begun to engage in further combat with the roc, the girl began to ran to the opposite side of the pillar formation from Geoff. Though she had managed to make it a good deal of the way, she couldn't quite fully make it before the roc seemed to have its sight set on her. While it was what she had wanted, it was a bit earlier than she would've liked, but she decided to make the best of her current situation. And so, banging her mace against her shield repeatedly, the girl looked fiercely to the bird as she tried to draw its attention. 

[LordCowCow 840]

While Reinaan was trying to keep the large bird's attention it only worked for a while. Ryia's movement and noise proved too much of a temptation for the bird. So with a great flap of its wings it went towards the shield-bearing girl.

Catching her before she could reach the next pillars.

Keres shuddered as she saw the bird dive down towards Ryia, its talons flashing forward. She had to think of something she could do. But it wasn't as though she was athletic enough to climb the pillars.

Still she started forward. Moving around the massive middle structure in order to get around towards the row where she'd have a better view of Ryia and the roc.

Once there she thought of a way she could help out. But she needed a little extra... "Flux." She said.

"Wow thought you had forgotten about me." The spirit said as he appeared. Keres gave him a small nod and the spirit merged with the Chosen.

She stepped out from behind the pillar and raised her arms. Above the roc what seemed to be a dark cloud formed. And then torrents of water came crashing down from it. Crashing into the roc and drenching it.

With a loud scree the bird was forced down onto the ground. Despite being ground level it still towered over Ryia. And it didn't seem to let up the attack. Instead going in with its sharp-looking beak.

Keres knew that the flapping wings would soon be able to clear off the water but it might give the others time to set something up.

In the meantime Geoff was intently focused. Leaping from pillar to pillar. Making his way towards the nest in the middle.

Spoiler

Guard break! Roc won't stay down long but yeah, Keres is trying to give some time.

Map

 

[Skaia 578]

Ryia was glad to see that she had managed to lure the bird's attention over to herself, freeing up the others to do what they were going to. However, this moment of relief was then replaced by a moment of panic as now there was a giant bird flying right at her. Ryia didn't think her shield would do much to keep the bird's talons at bay, and once it came over to her she didn't really know how she would fight it and keep its attention drawn to her. Thankfully, she had some help as a cloud of water was dumped onto the bird and caused it to hurtle downwards. Though her fears of the talons were gone, she was still no more confident in herself to fight against the thing fully as it towered over her. 

As the bird lunged forward at her, Ryia had to think fast and do something to keep the bird from just continually pecking at her. So, raising up her shield, the girl stepped backwards and called up her earth wall at the same time. As the beak struck the shield, the sheer force of the attack denting her shield and forcing her back, the bird's throat was then struck by the rock wall moving up to effectively uppercut it. The large Roc backed up, flapping its wings aggressively at the attack. With the creature still towering over her and now there being a rock wall in the way, Ryia didn't attempt to engage any further. Instead, she simply continued to bang her mace against her shield, trying to keep the bird's attention on her. 

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan kept watch on the Roc as it flew about, but was surprised to see it stop paying attention to the shine of his scales. But then it wasn't that much of a surprise as he heard the sound of metal clashing with metal. Ryia was drawing the bird to her by ganging her shield. The boy had forgotten her tendency to try and keep the others out of danger as well. He'd been hoping she'd have taken it a bit easier after the injuries she sustained against the gnolls but it wasn't to be. It was getting frustrating thinking about how to down the creature from the air. But the draken didn't have to think much longer after a surprising display of power from Keres. The girl's water managed to drench the thing, bringing it to the ground. This was his chance. It was still focused on Ryia and her shield and was readying it's wings to attack again. It was so fixated on the sound it never noticed Reinaan as he approached from behind, halberd raised and ready. With a small wind up he swung the axe of the weapon into the hind of the bird, leaving a deep gash and damaging tail feathers in the process. This he repeated one or two more times before the bird shifted attention from Ryia to him.

"Glad you felt that." the Fire Chosen growled while settling on a new target with the tail feathers moved out of reach. The bird had hopped in place to pivot to face Reinaan. The boy was glad to have injured the tail feathers which would destabilize it's flight from here out. But he was much less enthused bout a giant beak incoming to peck him. He ran in, his goal getting to injure one of the legs. If it had to struggle to stand and struggle to fly they'd eventually get to deal a fatal blow. As the beak came every closer, Reinaan rolled forward onto the ground and under the bird. The beak barely missed and the boy smacked himself in the back of the head with the shaft of his halberd given the maneuver. But what mattered was he wasn't very hurt and now standing again underneath the bird. With a good wind up he slammed the axe of his weapon into one of the legs, an audible snapping sounding as the not dense bone gave way for the blade. The weapon stopped shy of removing the foot entirely but it would have to be enough. The bird was flapping its wings, looking to take off again.

The feathers were beginning to dry from Keres' attack at this point. That was the main reason flying away was even an option but it also wanted to get away from the thing hurting it. But Reinaan wasn't going to let the creature depart in peace. Instead he looked straight up into the bird's abdomen and let loose a stream of fire from his mouth as the bird began climbing. Burning its feathers off seemed like an effective flight disruption too. But now he needed to move. He'd be out in the open against an aerial opponent. One who's movements might be impaired yes but it was still an unwise move to let it freely attack him from above. So off he ran toward the northern row of pillars to seek cover.

Edited December 13, 2019 by Doggo

[LordCowCow 840]

Roc Battle

Letting out a scree the roc clumsily made its way upwards. It smoldered as flaming bits of feathers fell from its chest onto the ground below. The huge beast struggled to move straight upward and instead started to lean off to the side. Even so Ryia managed to keep its attention and, despite its injuries, it went down to attack her.

The first dive missed her, careening off to the side, and the roc tried a second time. Passing over Ryia and trying to grab at her with its sharp talons. Sharp enough and strong enough to even pierce the girl's armor were it to latch on.

Hit or miss the bird would lift off again and, flapping its wings somewhat frantically, made its way towards the middle of the northern row of pillars.

Keres shifted back to stay between the two pillars she stood by. She watched as Geoff made his way up to the center of the structure. Barely visible at the nest of the monstrous bird. He knelt at the edge, watching over the side, and seemed to be waiting for something.

The mage wondered how she should proceed. She needed to get the bird in position to be attacked. And even more needed to lure it away from the row that Reinaan was by.

Thinking perhaps she could draw it in her direction she stepped out farther into the open area between the rows. It was a fair distance but she thought she could reach. Flinging what was essentially a long dart of water to strike the bird.

Spoiler

The roc will notice Keres now, but it's not moving quite yet. If it gets near to where Geoff is he'll take a leap as long as the bird doesn't notice.

Map

---

Lindow and Pyrrha

The two were not alone. While they talked something watched. Waiting. Hiding in the grass. It had heard and smelled them and made their way closer. Keeping low. Barely rustling the grass.

And now it decided to emerge.

It burst out of the grass, staying low, and ran straight towards Lindow. Baring its fangs. Seven feet long and full of muscle the Dire Weasel was on the hunt. And the two Chosen were its current prey of choice.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia felt a sense of relief go through her as she not only managed to keep the bird's attention, but also pave the way for Reinaan to attack at it. As he seemed to do a number on the bird's feathers. As it climbed into the air, its flight looked much more awkward than before and it seemed primed to dive towards Ryia once again. However, thankfully, it didn't seem to actually hit her. Untankfully, it seemed to be coming back for a round two. Ryia looked wide-eyed as the bird dove at her yet again. The talons looked razor sharp, and if what it did to her shield was any indication, she did not want to be struck by those talons. However, unable to use anything to block against it, nor entirely nimble enough to just run to the side, Ryia did the only thing that she could. Taking a full dive to the side, Ryia crashed into the ground and managed to get away from the beast's attack. Slowly, she started to try and get up as the bird awkwardly continued to fly around. 

Ryia knew she had to get up fast, lest the bird come in for a third swoop and snatch her while she was prone. Thankfully, though, she wasn't as strapped for time as she would've thought. The bird's attention had seemed to be wrested by something else, and while this gave the girl a momentary reprieve she couldn't help but feel panicked at why this was the case. Seeing a dart of water hit the bird, the girl noticed the Roc was now focused on Keres. Ryia knew that Keres was smart and as the attack was overall ineffective she had to have some kind of plan in mind. Or she was just trying to get the attention away from her. However, the latter thought caused Ryia more anxiety than anything else and so she simply had to believe that that wasn't the water chosen's intent. 

Slowly getting up, Ryia knew she had to do something distract the bird, but couldn't just zip right over to Keres without likely having the bird strike at her first. So, she instead relied on something else to help her out. "Ackrin, help her out." Her spirit appeared before her and began to quickly and wordlessly make its way over to where Keres was. Materializing in a physical form, the spirit began to summon a cluster of rocks and chuck them straight towards the Roc. The bird let out a "scree" as it was struck, beginning to flap its wings yet again. However, Ackrin simply stood still and took the wind blades head on as they sliced into parts of its body.

With a small amount of panic, Ryia asked, "Ackrin, are you alright?" 

"Yes." 

Confused, seeing that he was clearly harmed, the girl asked again, "are you um...injured?" 

"I believe so." The girl didn't quite know what to make of her spirit, but in spite of its injuries the spirit still fought on. Summoning yet another cluster of rocks, the bird was pelted yet again. Continuing to gain height, the bird seemed to sway awkwardly from side to side in the air, unsure of where to go.  

[Hollow 21]

"Have you... met a witch hunter before me?" Having just been relishing the idea of wiping the Abyss Seekers out, hearing that Pyrrha had dreams of joining their ranks had definitely thrown Lindow for a bit of a loop. Had he been misreading this girl the whole time? Or was it more likely that the Wind Chosen just wasn't aware of the cruel nature that was pretty much compulsory for the people she seemed all too eager to be working with... 

Weighing both prospects for a moment, Lindow finally smiled before opening his mouth to speak again. Though before he could utter a word, the Thunder Chosen's attention was stolen by a sudden flash of movement from the tall grass to their right. It was a large rodent. One that seemed to have mistaken him for food. Following the creatures movements with a blank expression, Lindow let the rag he had been using plop to the ground as the beast closed in for an attack.

"Here." Flickers of the Thunder Spirit's magic began to dance around Lindow's body. They only took seconds gather strength before finally erupting into a Lilly's Discharge. just as the weasel entered his attack range. Whilst the cyan lighting chirped and lashed out around him, Lindow seamlessly took a step backwards, swinging his Bandit Cleaver at his attacker with a sudden upwards stroke as the vermin dealt with the electricity.      

[Doggo 218]

As Ryia's spirit and later Keres launched projectiles at the bird, Reinaan had gotten closer to the pillars. He would be able to find cover quickly which was the important factor here. Yet the different attacks had left the bird largely unsure where to go next. It wobbled in the air some which the hunter couldn't help but smirk at while also wishing he'd permanently grounded it earlier. But then he looked to the center pillar and saw Geoff had successfully managed to scale the structures starting from the outer, shorter, pillar. From that position, if the bird were to come closer he could get on top of it. The buffalo chosen was no doubt crazy enough to attempt such a thing. And from the gnoll battle the draken knew the man was at least competent with his weapon. It seemed like a plan worth trying. While one handled his halberd, his free hand took the crossbow he'd tucked under an arm for his last maneuver and began running south toward the central pillar, and Keres for that matter. Yet despite taking off, the bird didn't follow. It simply flapped its wings to stay aloft and screeched at the Fire Chosen.

Reinaan readied another bolt into the crossbow and fired at the Roc's face. The projectile found its mark, eliciting another cry from the beast as now it finally began flying after the draken. With his shot successful, Reinaan turned to run again. He just needed to pass the central pillar and see if Geoff would make his move. But more immediate was the issue that this plan took the bird on route to Keres who Ryia had been attempting to keep the bird off of.

"Get between the pillars!" he called out as he ran. He stuck close to the north row himself. He needed to be able to dive into cover whenever while doing this. He could only imagine the chuckle his village would get out of him struggling with a bird. He needed to shut the mental versions of them in his head up quick. So long as the bird was following him, whether Geoff acted or not he'd get it out of the air somehow or other. Even if he had to turn and face it himself.

[yui 574]

"Have you... met a witch hunter before me?"

"No, I can't say I have." Before the conversation could progress much further though, the two were set upon by a beast. An oversized rodent! Lindow greeted the creature with electricity and a blade. Pyrrha, meanwhile, hurried back some, getting some distance between herself and the fight. It wasn't that she was scared of rodents or anything. It was that the last time she'd tried using her axe, it very much didn't go well. So instead, Pyrrha grabbed her bow, aimed, and opened fire upon the dire weasel. In a perfect world, she could shoot it right in the eye. But the question remained if this was a perfect world.

[LordCowCow 840]

The roc let out a loud scree before finally lifting off of the platform. It stayed high in the sky, out of range of most attacks, before it headed in the direction that Reinaan had gone. The Draken had moved to make his way between the northern pillars, passing underneath where Geoff awaited.

Keres started backing away as the roc got nearer and she glanced up to see Geoff preparing to jump. But then the roc started to turn. Reinaan had gotten out of the way but the large creature was now stopping just short of the area Geoff was waiting.

She nervously bit her lip but then moved forward. Waving one hand while the other tossed a dart of water at the beast. It splashed uselessly against the bird but it did cause it to turn in its path. Heading closer to her as she backpedaled.

Keres tripped and fell. Hitting the ground and looking up with some shock on her face as the roc closed in.

Then, a shout, "Buffalooooooo!" from above. Geoff jumped from the pillar and brought his weapon to bare. He went speeding down towards the roc and sliced. Biting into the roc's side and dragging down. Creating a deep wound on the bird's side.

Unfortunately he missed the mark. Instead of landing on the creature he was off to the side. And plummeting to the ground.

With a gasp Keres reached towards him. A pillar of water catching the man before he hit the ground and depositing him, roughly but not fatally, onto the ground.

The noise the roc made was more like a shriek as it dove down, blood pouring from its wound, towards Geoff.

Its talons reached out and grabbed him. As it started to pull up Keres began to pepper it with water. Hitting it across the face in a whip-like manner before it got to high. It dropped Geoff once again and he hit the ground for a second time.

The roc flapped its wings and clumsily climbed higher. Moving towards another of the rows of pillars.

Spoiler

Map

---

The dire weasel had thought its prey wasn't paying attention. They seemed to be distracted. Yet as it came for the taller one the man reacted quickly.

While the electricity was painful it didn't seem as strong as Lindow would have liked. The man would realize that the more magic he used the weaker he started to feel. A ringing in his head began and, for a moment, his vision faded away.

He still managed to swing. As the weasel recoiled the sword bit into its side and cut deep. It let out a hiss as it scurried off to the side. Only to catch an arrow into its face.

The prey was more fierce than they looked. But it still thought there was a chance. If it could take one down and drag it off it would be fine.

So it moved forward again. Towards Lindow. Before dodging to the side and wrapping itself around Lindow. Then it went for a bite onto Lindow's neck.

Spoiler

Yes, weasels use their bodies to constrict their prey. Things you learn when making fantasy combat posts.

 

[yui 574]

Success! But now there was a new problem. The creature had wrapped itself around Lindow. This put Pyrrha as an archer/axe wielder in a weird situation. If she shot the weasel, there was a solid chance it could go through the creature and also injure Lindow. So just use an axe or sword instead! Is what one would think. That presented the same ordeal. But at least she had more control over the force of a weapon swinging than shooting an arrow. That was certainly the safer bet. And this time there was only one enemy instead of several. She would have preferred the opportunity to just turn the weasel into a pincushion from afar, but lady luck didn't seem to be on her side today anyway.

And so, Pyrrha slung the bow over her back once again, pulling out the trusty axe she brought with her to this adventure. Just like she'd been taught. Two-handed grip for more power. Pyrrha made for her ally as quickly as possible, raised her axe, and swung down on the weasel. There was no way she was strong enough to cleave right through this thing, after all, so her concerns about hurting Lindow on accident were basically irrelevant.

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan kept moving, ever on the look out for if he needed to duck into a gap between pillars. But all the while he trained his eyes on the Roc and Geoff, to see if he'd read the situation right. As it happened he had, and the buffalo chosen had managed to land a pretty severe blow to the winged beast. This was before nearly falling and breaking half the bones in his body but thankfully Keres was ready to help prevent that. Though not the second time as he fell to the ground again. The bleeding creature backed off to assess the situation again. The Draken took the opportunity to fire another bolt off on its body, again to minimal effect. These weapons just didn't have the impact needed to down the creature. The roc had nearly crashed onto the platform in the center of the right row of pillars after the bolt hit. It was still too high up to deal with but Reinaan had already started running in its direction. It clicked pretty quickly that what they needed was a repeat of Geoff's maneuver, ideally with someone who hadn't just hit the ground from being dropped by the bird.

"Draw it's attention! I'm going up!" he called out to the others as he passed Geoff and Keres. A few pillars shy of the Roc's position he stopped running and looked up. These were even taller than its position but it seemed faster to climb one than to run to the end of a row. Looking back to himself he pondered if his claws were up to the task of scaling the structure. It seemed possible but he'd have to drop both his halberd and crossbow here. Looking over his naked form, minus the amulet about his neck of course, he realized it would be wise to invest in something for his gear to hang from in these sorts of situations. But there was no time to waste on the fantasy here. Both weapons dropped at the pillars base as the boy wrapped his body around the structure and began scaling it. It was a good thing he'd told the others to focus on distracting the roc. Shameless as he was it'd be indecent for someone to look up at him while he climbed the pillar. Grunting with each motion he got a little further up, just hoping the bird would ignore him long enough. Ziiyol materialized near him, as if aware her partner would be needing her shortly.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia was more or less dumbfounded by the sight that had played out in front of her. Her mouth was agape as she watched Geoff plummet from the sky not once but twice in his effort to fight against the bird. While she was glad that Keres had managed to make the fall, at least the first one, much less harmful then it otherwise would have been, the girl had still just witnessed a man fall from a great height twice in rapid succession. Naturally, her first instinct was to go over to check if he was alright and also attempt to run interference between him and the Roc if it wanted to go in for a third round. However, as Reinaan had called out to her, she knew that she was more or less in the perfect position to go run interference to help him on his climb up. Of course, the girl was also worried that the fire chosen was attempting to do the exact same thing that had just seemed to fail spectacularly, but she figured that he must have had more faith in his climbing and jumping skills than he did for Geoff. This did little to ease her thoughts on the matter. 

All the same, the girl began to walk west towards the pillar formation to help get her into cover if her distraction did end up working a bit well. Calling for her spirit to come galloping over to her side. Nodding at her spirit, the tall goat seemed to have a general idea of what to do as it summoned up yet another flurry of rocks. Banging on her shield, Ryia shouted, "hey! Um, Bird!? Over here!" The girl didn't really know how to taunt a giant flying, but she figured that continual pelting of rocks and loud noises was the way to go. So, as Ackrin fired yet another volley at the Roc, Ryia begant to bang her shield to grab its attention.

[Hollow 21]

It seemed he had reached his magical limited without realizing. Stumbling slightly at the loss of his vision, Lindow's face twisted in pain from the ringing in his ears. He wasn't able to react in time to stop the weasel from closing in and wrapping around him. But luckily the Wind Chosen had his back this time.

Sensing the weasel's grip weaken slightly after Pyrrha's axe bit into it's side, Lindow seized the opportunity immediately. He knew better than to try using his magics again. Instead opting to grab one of his daggers, Lindow plunged the length of the blade into his captor's side whilst thrashing around wildly. This seemed to make coiling around the Thunder Chosen more trouble than it was worth. Though after releasing the man from it's grasp, the weasel quickly lunged towards his feet in an attempted to take the Thunder Chosen to the ground.  

Reacting immediately , Lindow hopped backwards whilst swinging his boot in an attempt to kick the creature in it's face. As he moved, he brought the Bandit Cleaver downwards for a one-handed slash. 

[LordCowCow 840]

The roc screeched as it was struck by the rocks. It had managed to make it onto the platform only for that thing to pelt it again. These small creatures were becoming quite an issue. It had wanted to make a meal of them, having finished off the food it got a few days ago, but there must be easier prey somewhere...

It didn't seem to react much to Ryia's words. The roc gave several great flaps of its wins and lifted off once again. It started forward but then noticed Reinaan climbing up one of the pillars. It reminded the roc of the little man who had dove down from the sky and, with another scree, started towards him.

Keres knew she had to act fast. Reinaan wouldn't be able to defend himself from that position. Yet if she got its attention it would just attack her and she didn't think she could fend the bird off easily.

With Flux still giving her magical energy a boost she took a few steps to lean from behind the pillar she stood at. Concentrating she erected a large pillar of water between the roc and Reinaan.

The bird screeched and veered away, wings being clipped by the water, to avoid crashing into it. Which seemed to bring its attention back to Ryia.

It started towards her. As it flew in the Earth Chosen's direction Keres took to dragging Geoff, who seemed to be dazed, back towards the pillar as well.

The roc started to near Ryia. Then, as if remembering what happened last time, turned and passed over the girl. It moved back a bit and kept its distance from her before starting to flap its wings violently. Sending wind and magical gusts towards the grounded soldier.

Spoiler

Map

It's fair to say that Reinaan made it up to the top of the pillar by the end of this post.

---

The weasel looked more confused about the kick than actually injured. It didn't know what kind of prey this was but they did very unusual things. As Lindow went to slash at it the flexible creature bent its body out of the way of the attack. It started to go forward to bite onto Lindow's arm but then noticed Pyrrha and, remembering there were two and not just one, the weasel ducked its way under Lindow's arm and moved behind him instead.

Putting the man between it and the elf girl. From there the weasel swayed from side to side. Side to side. In a strangely hypnotic fashion. Before suddenly stopping its motion to dart swiftly forward with its aim this time to simply bite down onto Lindow's skull directly.

Spoiler

More fun weasel facts. They move about frantically in a way that it can actually manage to put its prey under "hypnosis".

Weasels are cool.

 

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan's focus had been on simply climbing. It was rough on his claws to dig into the stone structure but sure enough he was making progress up the pillar. The roc had taken notice of him and still on the side of the thing he thought of what he could do in such a situation. Perhaps he could jump onto it somehow from here. Just as he settled on a plan of action, a pillar of water sprung up which drove the bird back in the air and away from the young Draken. That Keres could manage such a feat without a body of water on hand was surprising but rather than appreciate the moment the hunter redoubled his efforts to climb up the structure before another intervention was required. His arms and legs were definitely feeling the exertion of the climb but soon enough there was no more up to grab and his hand caught hold of a mostly flat surface. It was a bit awkward and he nearly lost his footing at one point but Reinaan managed to get himself up on top of the pillar. He took stock of just how high up he was and saw higher pillars to his left and shorter to his right. He crouched low to make sure he kept his balance against whatever breezes might try to sway him.

"Do you intend to try flying?" Ziiyol asked playfully despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I just need a weapon." Reinaan grunted back, his eyes locked on the Roc as it stumbled through the air. With a smile Ziiyol began fading as her power flowed into her partner. The power of fire filled the boy as sparks began jumping off his scales. Now he just needed to get the bird in position. He had to get what Geoff had tried for right yet he had nothing now to attract the bird his way. Ryia was it's focus for now. As she was closest to the north row of pillars it seemed wise to move. Reinaan looked to his left and the taller pillars ahead. He readied himself and took his first jump to higher ground. He was not so nimble as Geoff yet the task wasn't beyond him. For now he needed to make it to the central platform, from there he could best follow the Roc's movements.

[Skaia 578]

Through her efforts, Ryia had once again managed to grab the large bird's attention. This was met with the same mix of reactions she had had the other time she had done so, though she was more thankful it didn't just dive at her right from the get go. Instead, seeing the tell tale motion of the bird flapping its wings, Ryia knew that she would have to go and take cover, and so she ran to a nearby pillar. With the blades of air striking against the rock of the pillar, the girl let out a sigh of relief as she had managed to evade the attack, but she quickly went back to concerned as she surveyed the situation. Seeing Reinaan leap from pillar to pillar, the girl knew that she couldn't really let the bird take notice of the draken before the time was right or things were likely to end in disaster for him. 

Looking further down the line of pillars, she also saw that Geoff was still down, so she couldn't just lead it down as well without risking the bird just charging at him. So, attempting to just hold her position and keep the bird in place, Ryia ran out in front of the pillar she had just moved behind, sheathing her weapons and drawing her crossbow. Firing yet another bolt at the creature, the girl wasn't really expecting it to hurt so much as she just wanted to keep it in place for longer.

[Hollow 21]

Lindow drew his dagger back when he saw the creature’s attention shift to his sword arm. He had planned to use the opportunity to plunge it into the weasel’s skull, but it seemed as if the monster had lost it’s nerve. Was it trying to put him between itself and Pyrrha? 

The wildlife on this island was certainly rather cheeky. 

The initial shock of having his body rejecting the spirit magic had faded. With his head clear, Lindow took in a breath. If the rodent had moved behind him as a means of dealing with their numbers, then it was hoping to land a killing blow. He’d respond in kind. Exhaling deeply, the Thunder Chosen suddenly erupted into movement once more. Gracefully shifting his footing, he pivoted sideways to avoid the predicted strike to his upper body whilst swing the Bandit Cleaver in a sideways arc to be sure that the weasel still got a mouthful of something.

[LordCowCow 840]

Keres watched as Reinaan hopped from pillar to pillar. Heading for the tallest of the pillars. Likely to reenact Geoff's attempted attack. Hopefully to a better result. Her eyes moved from Reinaan to Ryia. Who had ducked out of the way of the roc's attention and was now trying to keep its attention by firing a bolt at it.

The large winged creature was able to deflect said bolt, using its wings as it had been, and it never managed to reach the creature. But it was smart enough to know that Ryia was trying to injure it from the ground. So it dove down towards the Earth Chosen. The girl was still near to the pillars as this happened so they moved back into cover and managed to avoid getting crushed by the bird as it came down with more force and speed than intended.

Its wings still not functioning perfectly the bird ended up hitting one of the pillars. It let out a screech and, with several flaps of its wings, moved backwards and up into the air again. Though it seemed rather confused for a few moments.

However it was still healthy enough to attack and Keres could see that it was too far for Reinaan to do anything about.

So she used her magic and scooped Geoff up, nearly tossing him to the side and between a couple pillars, before stepping farther out into the open.

The strain of using Flux to power herself up was getting to her and she wasn't sure how long it would last. So she used her time to launch a whip-like formation of water at the bird. Smacking it across the face and drawing its ire.

The bird screeched and began to flap its wings. Keres was ready, however, and creatured a geyser in front to stop the, relatively weak, magic from reaching her.

The roc seemed to be getting impatient, and reckless, and decided to go in to dive at Keres. Who was farther from the pillars than Ryia. Keres shook as Flux was forcibly expelled from her body. She could only hope that this would be enough.

Spoiler

Map

Obviously Reinaan should make his move first here. And yes it'll be close enough but only when it's almost on Keres.

---

While the weasel had been trying to entrap Lindow in its hypnotic motions it seemed that the young man didn't turn at the right timing. Thus when Lindow attacked it had already gone through the motions. The elf behind him, however, seemed to have been caught by the motions. Causing her to be in a daze for the few moments while the weasel made its attack and Lindow counter-attacked.

The weasel was wily, and flexible, so as it saw Lindow's attack coming it tried to duck down to avoid the cleaver from taking off a part of its head. The weapon buried itself in the weasel's back. A deep wound that caused the large creature to twitch and spasm.

It still wasn't quite dead yet though. And the attack seemed to trigger some sort of rage-like defense mechanics in the animal's brain. A last ditch fight or flight instinct. Its head darted quickly forward and its strong jaw clamped around Lindow's leg, biting into the Chosen's shin.

Spoiler

rawr rage mode. Dire weasel dying but still dangerous. Pyrrha isn't stunned any longer it was just to explain the lack of action (which is why I said hold, since I had to rework how that hypnotism worked). Also reminder it big weasel so the bite is pretty ouch.

 

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan's jumps had taken him to the highest pillar of them all, the central platform. It was from here Geoff had made his attempt at fighting the bird in the air to mixed results. The hunter had kept his eyes on the situation, watching Ryia attempt to fight it from the ground as it crashed into a pillar. Then Keres attempted to save the buffalo chosen but the Roc had set its sights on her. She launched a few more attacks with her water but was clearly running low on magical power. She had already done some pretty impressive feats as it was. The bird still wasn't close enough for the draken to make his move. But then it began a dive at the Water Chosen, an attack that could prove fatal. But at the same time, it would bring the animal in range. The action seemed to slow down and the boy attempted to time his jump.

No weapon, no armor, no clothes, and attempting to jump a winged beast from higher ground while it was still in the air. For a moment Reinaan could hear no less than a dozen specific scoldings with known faces to each. A trusted hunting partner, a concerned parent, an enraged elder. Even if something like this ended up working at home he would have been yelled at for no less than a year. His whole body seemed to loom over the edge of the platform in hesitation.

"Yeah, well... you're all boring anyway!" he thought in defiance of all of his training. A smirk took over his face as he ran and leaped from the platform into the air above the Roc. He faced the ground he was falling toward, each limb stretched out. There was no greater exhilaration to be had. The flame claws granted to him by Ziiyol's power extended from off his right hand as he sailed downward through the sky. All at once the weight of a still growing Draken crashed into the roc's back, flame claws digging straight down into the flesh and searing the insides in the process. The roc screeched in pain and its whole body dropped in the air some. It didn't hit the ground but its dive had been interrupted and it turned itself around in the air, trying to get its senses about it again.

Reinaan meanwhile had dug every set of claws to his name into the flesh of the winged beast to keep from falling off. He needed to get to the head to end this and so he withdrew the flame claws from within the back of the beast and stabbed forward into the back again. He would claw and climb his way up the back until he could reach a vital. Each injury enraged the Roc who started thrashing about in the air to try and throw the draken off. While being shaken about Reinaan doubled down on his grip during the more furious movements and kept his own movements to the gaps between the thrashings. But this wasn't something that could be timed, this was a living animal after all. During an attempt to move Reinan was thrown up partially into the air, only his flame clawed hand keeping its grip on the beast. When his body crashed back down into the feathers he twisted the flames within the injury they were burning as an act of petty vengeance and continued his climb between movements.

With several more close calls as the bird flew erratically, Reinaan had gotten himself onto the back of the roc's neck. But by this point the bird had decided on a more extreme nuisance removal procedure. It was fast approaching the right row of pillars, aiming to ram its back into the structures to knock Reinaan off. The Draken swore under his breath as he exerted himself to shuffle over to the side of the bird's neck. This had gone on long enough and soon the boy began repeatedly stabbing the flame claws into the neck of the bird, doing his best to hit as many places as possible to try and catch a major blood vessel. The bird screeched again and slammed into the pillar. Between the maneuver and the injuries it began tumbling through the air to the north on crash course for the ground. Reinaan attempted as best he could to hold onto the creature on the ride down but the actual crash launched the boy from the creature's neck some several dozen feet back toward the rest of the group. His own body spun and contorted as he bounced a few times on the ground, eventually landing on his back where he remained still, a handful of feathers still gripped tightly in his right hand.

The roc found itself grounded. With all the injuries it had sustained it seemed it would be unable to fly for the next few minutes at least. It was still in the process of orienting itself from the crash. Reinaan meanwhile coughed and sputtered out some dirt and bits of feather on the ground. His head was still spinning and he felt bruised all over his body. As he attempted to move, nothing seemed immediately broken but he still needed a minute to really get his bearings before standing up.

"Scold me all you want but you can't argue the results." he muttered to himself and the doubts he'd felt at even attempting the strategy. Still dazed he couldn't help but daydream of the time he debuted the move back home.
 

Spoiler

So based on Cow's latest map we have the roc now grounded at an x position equal to the central platform of the right pillars and a y position between Ryia and Geoff. Reinaan is now the same y position but off to the left toward the rest of the group.

Roc is grounded for the remainder of the fight, unless this takes all day ic, and not in great shape.

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Doggo