Second Adventure 03: Abomination

now feeling a little better araiguna pulls out his crossbow and fires 2 bolts both aimed at the rune now attached to the creatures shoulders.

Spoiler:

*Kezrinthka takes a running start and jumps across the river*

Spoiler:

Caladrius, cloaked by the Abomination dark energies move cautiously towards the action, closer to his team. And transforms his Quarterstaff into the Crossbow and Says "Im right behind you guy"

Darkness swirled around Rory, threatening to confine him. Following Hanuel's idea, he switched from battleaxe to longbow, moved 50 feet north of the freak and took aim at the rune above its head. Hopefully, he would be aiming too high if he missed.

Higaide stopped Ashakel from hurting the woman. Zeiss didn't really have time to think. But he realized he didn't want to kill this person. He wasn't even sure that would stop the creature. Still, these two were linked, somehow.

Running towards the elemental abomination, Gwydo raises his shield as if to charge through the creature, when at the last second he dodge to the side and skirts past between the creature and the wall. Taking off at a run towards the injured Araiguna, Gwydo prepares for the inevitable attack that is sure to be hitting him in the back.

*There's no way to know what this dark cloak will do until he actually suffers the effect. Compromising, he closes the gap as far as he feels it's wise, then braces for what he's sure will hurt like something that really hurts.*

Multiple party members maneuver around the cave.
Gwydo, making a break for the outside, rushes past the creature and manages to dodge all but one blow which nails him straight in the back for heavy damage (22 damage).
Snarg and Sethos both take aim and fire at the rune, but miss.
Araiguna, Dara, and Rory all take a shot at the rune with their ranged weapons and land their blows successfully.
Ashakel, picking himself up, shouts angrily "I wasn't going to kill her you ghay'cha'!!" and readies himself.
You hear thundering stomps of O'ulan'takangaskan moving towards the prison.
Kolson, recognizing the shadowy aura as something that will make them all take additional damage from all of the thing's attacks, realizes this needs to end soon and steps forward, unleashing his entire Mana pool in a Maximized Bolt 2 on the rune.

The rune is now marred in places and has a very large crack in it, but has not quite yet broken.

Dara and Hanuel, synchronized in thought and action, take action, Dara running to be directly across the river from the abomination, and Hanuel drawing a loaded crossbow, then they both aim and fire at the rune above the abomination's head, pouring all focus into the shots.

Spoiler:

The Abomination lumbers further into the cave, faces itself towards the group assembled, and stretches its arms out, a warbling screeching sound echoing from it as rings of dripping black and violet energy violently cascade across several people, reverberating within the black aura that surrounds them, causing the energy to dig into their skin and minds with a horrific shriek of wrongness before finally dissipating. (Rory, Kolson, Javan, Higaide, Zeiss, Ashakel, and Caladrius take 13 damage)

It is now the player's turn.

O'ulan'takangaskan at this point comes thundering back up the staircase, one arm outstretched with a young Elven male who looks a bit haggard, who immediately lunges for his wife yelling "Ilya! Ilya thank God you're alive!"

Dara's shot flies true and goes straight through the rune, snapping it in two. The rune slowly splits down the creature's sides, falling into the river and quickly being washed away by the current.

The Abomination, which was in the process of reaching into the earth again, pauses in its actions and goes still.

*Kezrinthka sees the abomination stop mid attack and the rune drift off down the river broken, but her main concern is this dark aura surrounding her comrades and herself.*

Slinging the bow on his shoulder and taking the battleaxe in hand, Rory glared at the creature, no more than five feet from him. He couldn't kill it, not yet. But unless the will of the gods had anything to say about it, he would before the day was done.

The Elven man kneels at the side of the woman he called Ilya, taking her hands in his. As he calls her name repeatedly, it takes her several long seconds to even recognize that he is there. As recognition slowly dawns on her face, the Abomination fades more and more, until finally it dissolves entirely, leaving nothing behind. Of an instant, the unnatural darkness of the cave lifts.
"Thonson?" she whispers.
"Yes it's me."
She flings her arms around him, sobbing. "I thought... I thought you were dead! There was this flash, and I looked down and you were dead, I'd... I'd run you through with my own sword, I... I couldn't take it, I couldn't get your blood off my hands, I couldn't do anything..."
She continues muttering for several minutes as Thonson strokes her hair soothingly, trying to calm her down. "It's okay, I'm alive, our Tusker friend has been taking good care of me, even in chains. It's alright."

Caladrius ignoring his own injuries goes an heals the others.

The freak had faded before his very eyes. Rory's anger had not been unleashed. He needed to take it out on something. He yelled in frustration, pounding at the wall nearby. It wasn't enough, but he was calm now.

*Long sigh....*

"Well, that was fun."


*He moves over to the couple, but stumbles and hunches over from the pain.*

"Oh, perfect. I was starting to worry the day would go by without getting myself slaughtered again."

That creature hurt him, but it was gone now.

Zeiss sheathed his rapier. He looked at the man O'ulan brought. It looked like this was the woman's husband. Good thing he didn't kill her, the husband would have been very pissed. And the unnatural darkness in this cave seem to have been lifted. He walked towards O'ulan.

"You think you could get out of the cave now?"

*Kezrinthka moves about the room helping heal whatever damage she is able.*

Spoiler:

Hanuel spun around quickly, dropping down to the level of the couple. "I need to know what happened here. In detail."

Dara shifted into it's feline lore form, bounding down and across the rope bridge to join the group.

"What happened here woman, for gods' sakes? We were almost slaughtered by that thing of yours!" Ashakel spoke loudly, frowning at the monk between words.

"well Higs at lest the thing didnt throw you into the river"

Tab takes a closer look at the river to see if it has reverted to normal?

Javan let out a pained sigh while taking his time to swap his bow for his iron spear, using it as a walking cane for some moments while speaking to no one in special, "Man, my whole body is screaming bloody murder. I hope we don't encounter another one of these in the future..."

Ilya looks up, confused. "Slaughtered... thing? What thing, I don't understand..."
The man shushes her and turns to stand before the group. "I can tell you what I know, which is less than I'd like." He pauses, considering. "Ilya and I heard a rumor that a marvelous treasure called the Mirror Key was found somewhere in this region. We spent almost a week searching for hints and clues before finding this cave. The whole cave was quite magical, and given the lack of means nearby we assumed it'd be here. When we entered..." he hesitates, then turns to the Tusker, "This creature was in the cave. Naturally we attacked him, not recognizing who or what he was, and he retaliated, knocking me unconscious. At the same time there was this horrible blinding light, and this... energy..." he shivers at the mere memory, "This black and violet energy came pulsing out of the walls and into Ilya. And that was some days ago, and I don't have anything else to add. Our Tusker friend here informed me that this is probably some type of trap or experiment, I do not know who would do so or for what purpose, and neither does he. I have been well kept, if in chains, worrying about my dear Ilya."