The Chosen [IC/PG-16]

[Sethera]

"Thank you."

 

"Nothing to it!" Gilly boasted, before readying herself to attack more sharks as she moved toward the pillar. As she moved forward, she couldn't help but notice that not one, but both sharks were headed straight for her, one from her left and one from her right. The one on the left was jumping up in the air, the one on the right underground. The one from the left, however, started to move a bit erratically, a crossbow bolt stuck in it.

 

"Wow, I didn't even see you shoot!" the halfling praised Reiny boy, before heading for the hit shark, ice spear out and ready to stab it from below. She felt a sudden rush of heat from the pillar, and heard some weird words about flames, but didn't stop to think much about it. She had her target in front of her, and that was what she was focusing on.

[Alaina]

As both Ryia and Gilly made their way over to the pillar, both of the remaining sharks had started bee-lining towards the duo. While Ryia seemed ready to fight, she wasn't quite sure what she was going to do in the face of having to deal with two of the opponents at once. However, as the both of them charged, one had shot into the air, only to spasm a bit as it was struck by something from behind. Seeing Reinaan with a crossbow, Ryia nodded in his direction, unsure if he could actually see her, before starting to make her way towards the sharks. More concerning was the burst of heat that seemed to come from the pillar before her, but she had decided to worry about that later with a more current threat in front of her. Gilly had gotten ahead of her, stabbing her ice spear towards the shark's underside. While the halfling's spear found purchase in the shark's belly, the shark itself started to dive back towards to the ground, the halfling being dragged along as the shark moved along. 

 

With the other shark moving towards Gilly, Ryia moved to intercept the shark, standing in the short space between Gilly and the second shark. As it dove out of the ground towards her, jaws ready to clamp down on her, Ryia instead shoved her mace into the mouth of the shark. While it didn't seem to harm it much, it did keep it from chomping down on Ryia's waist, as it instead went to bite down on her mace. With most of the mace now in the shark's mouth, it seemed content to just chomp down on that instead, prompting Ryia to bash the shark's nose to keep it from stealing her weapon from her. After bashing it a few more times, the shark seemed to be fed up with dealing with the girl, attempting to dive under the ground. 

 

With all of her experience before hand telling her it was a good idea, Ryia awkwardly bent around to be able to strike at the side of shark. Bashing her shield against the gills of the sand shark, she eventually managed to force the shark's mouth open, letting her mace go free as both the shark she was fighting and the one Gilly had been dove back underground. Looking at her mace, seeing it was now dented, Ryia's sighed as she seemed to be getting more annoyed with the sand sharks then anything else. Taking her stance once more, the girl got ready to see where  the sharks would go from her. 

[Andx]

Reinaan was happy to see his shot go off well and took note of how the two approaching Chosen handled the sharks before them. He caught Ryia's nod despite the distance and smiled as Gilly yelled out at him. Without missing a beat he began to load another arrow before something distracted him. A giant wave of heat from atop the rock formation. The mage must have done something powerful to make it happen he thought. The boy found himself torn as he was naturally somewhat resilient to fire and he had what remained of the amulet he felt he should be up there. But it held true in his mind that they'd be better off with everyone safely present and he wanted to trust Lindow's ability. And so, even with concerns for those battling the madman, Reinaan readied his crossbow and trained his eyes on the desert sand, searching for the submerged foes.

Watching Ryia in particular had proved insightful. The Draken's approaches always defaulted to killed obvious vitals. The brain, the heart, the neck, all seemed like the logical place to strike. But the Earth Chosen had made an effort to smash the sides of the creature. Despite swimming through the earth, they were still fish of some sort and possessed gills. In a sense she had gone for the lungs and it seemed to work to great effect. Reinaan would make good use of this information as he watched for the sharks to reappear. His aim this time would be for the creatures' gills and not their heads. If he couldn't easily get to their brains he'd deprive them of breath. Kloqah nearby seemed distressed at the wave of heat from earlier but in her position was content to largely stay put and watch her small lizard do his work. 

[Hälō]

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Lindow's eye widened with alarm as he watched the massive display of fire magic come down from the very sun itself. Halting his advance immediately, he hastily dived backwards moments before the flames crashed down upon were he had just beens standing. Feeling a wave of heat wash over the area, the Thunder Chosen quickly rolled to his knees and ducked behind the bandit's shield to try and defend himself. Though being as close to blast zone as he was, the man could do nothing but hiss in annoyance at the sensation of his arms being singed by the residual flames.

 

He didn't have time to think much about that though. Seeing the looming skeletal figure rear backwards after swatting Damien, Lindow once again dived to the right, and broke off into a full sprint moments before the Elemental's fist came smashing down. Nothing quite got the Witch Hunter's athletic juices flowing like the threat of imminent immolation...

 

"Help him..." Lindow called out Keres, whilst drawing a dagger from his belt. Eager to retaliate against their attacker, he hastily twisted his body backwards to send the blade spinning towards the Fire Elemental's chest. The man watched intently as the projectile sailed through flames without showing any signs of damaging his target. He had expected as much. Though with only three daggers left, Lindow knew that he'd have to choose his shots wisely if he wanted to have any chance of discerning this creature's weak point.

 

"Nothing is immortal." The Thunder Chosen silently assured himself whilst watching the Fire Elemental extend a hand towards him. Flames gathered in the creatures palm for only a moment before shooting forward in a large column of flame that threaten to swallow Lindow whole despite how fast he was moving.

 

With only mere seconds to react, Lindow hastily ripped the cloak from his shoulders, before suddenly pivoting to swing it backwards just as the flames seemed to wash over him. Making use of the short time that creature's view of him was obscured, Lindow dived to the side, allowing the jet of flame to shoot over the edge of the platform, narrowly missing him. However, the heat from the magic was immense at this distance, forcing Lindow on the move yet again. Using his natural speed, he began to circle around the Elemental, being sure to stay on the opposite side of Keres and Damien. Drawing another dagger from his belt, Lindow took aim before tossing it towards the center of the Elemental's face.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The sharks stayed under the ground for a while, seemingly having difficulty due to their injuries, before they both launched out of the sand in front of the Chosen of Earth and Ice.

 

Reinaan's bolt struck the one nearest to Gilly with a bolt that didn't quite hit the mark on its gill. Though it did hit a weaker spot, burying itself in the creature's skin.

 

And then something strange happened.

 

On top of the stone structure, amid the Elemental fighting, the Demon Gate was responding. The orb on it began to swirl to life with various and conflicting colors. An eerie aura radiated from it, causing a ringing in each of the Chosen's ears.

 

The aura was faintly visible and, when it reached the sharks, something changed.

 

The creatures, still in the air, split in half. Something like a spine could be seen attaching the bottom and top half and, as this strange spine emerged, several feet long, the top half of the sharks shot forward as though from a bolas, jaws wide open and ready to chomp down on them.

 

Kloqah and Hob both seemed to be affected in some manner by this aura as well, growing more agitated and aggressive, though they didn't have any physical change.

 

Atop the structure the Elemental didn't seem to have any change itself. The dagger Lindow threw entered the flames and glanced off the skull. It caused the Elemental to recoil slightly as a chip came off of said skull but other than that seemed unperturbed. It then rushed at Lindow, lowering its body to just above the ground as it came in with its arm sweeping.

 

Keres, croaking out a "I was...going to" towards Lindow, rushed to Damien's side and used some of her water to put out the flames. "Thank..." was all Damien got out before clutching his head as the Demon Gate's aura washed over the area. He growled and shoved Keres away. "Get back." He snarled at her, clumsily getting to his feet.

 

There was a feral look in his eyes as he gripped his blade and, breathing heavily, charged past Keres and towards the Elemental.

 

Keres blinked in confusion, theories coming and going through her mind at such a rapid pace she couldn't even keep up with them. Gulping, she tried to ignore the feeling in her skull, and created a spiraling torrent of water above her to crash into the Elemental's back.

 

As she did the flames in the area, briefly, vanished. Though they almost immediately began to creep back to cover it once more.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Wooo, Demon Gate magic! So yeah not a very comfortable time for...anyone.

Hollow if you want to include Damien in your post somehow, or Keres, let me know and we might be able to work something out.

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[Sethera]

Things had gotten hotter. The sharks had turned weird and inside-out or something, and now even Hob, Gilly's trusty steed, was turning weird. This was very weird.

 

But Gilly wasn't a hero for nothing. And a hero wouldn't let a little thing like a shark turning into two parts scare her. Even if it was a little unsettling. The halfling stood straighter. "Ha! You think a little magic trick like that'll scare me? You've got to get even better if you want to scare me!" she pointed at herself proudly. She raised her ice spear. "Let's get 'em, Hob!"

 

The sheep snorted and shook his head as if attempting to shake off a buzzing gnat. Still, the wild look remained in his eyes, and instead of charging forward, he went to the side, and with more force than normal. Gilly cried out in surprise at the sudden change in direction, but attempted to lift her spear to attack anyway, and just in time, as one of the sharks twisted to the side to attack them.

[Andx]

A noise began bothering Reinaan. A ringing sensation like he'd just be dazed. Things atop the structure only seemed to be growing worse. The boy watched in awe as the sharks still impeding Gilly and Ryia's path twisted in shape and launched their heads from their bodies. He heard a snarling much closer by him that caught him off guard. Kloqah seemed to be affected by whatever was going on. Thankfully nothing drastic had happened to her but she did snap at her small lizard when he reached out a hand to check on her. The Draken imagined it wouldn't be long before the gate's power corrupted everything here. All the more reason the chosen of Fire, Earth and Ice needed to join those of Thunder and Water at the top of the building. Despite the work put into arriving safely at the steps, the boy jumped back to the desert sand to face the twisted sand sharks. He took off running toward the others, the halfing and her opponent being the closer of them.

 

Another odd sight came into view. Unless the Ice Chosen had commanded her mount to start moving erratically it seemed the sheep was experiencing the gate's influence similarly to Kloqah. As he ran, the flame claws extended once more from off Reinaan's right hand which he raised as he charged. It would take a bit for him to reach either shark. So long as the two could hold off the initial attacks he'd be skewering the creatures shortly.

[Hälō]

The sudden ringing in the back his head caused him to slow in his movements. There seemed to be a wicked aura drifting through the air, and it didn't take a genius to know that it was coming from the Demon Gate. Grunting in annoyance, Lindow watched as the Fire Elemental brought its body low to the ground, before rushing forward with it's arm extended as if it planned to hit him with a flamming haymaker.

 

Pivoting so that he was now facing the rapidly approaching threat, Lindow gripped his wrist and called upon the power of the Thunder Spirit. "Lily... I'm borrowing this again." Cyan static crackled around him in response, dancing in arcs through the air as Lindow surged forward to meet the Fire Elemental halfway.

 

"The Third Blade!" The Chosen's voice boomed with magic.

 

As he swung his arm up towards the Fire Elemental's attack, a blade of brilliant light erupted to life and raked across the bone. Catching his arm on the hight of the first swing, Lindow let out a roar as he swung the blade of thunder magic back down into the creatures skeletal appendage, causing the bone to splinter inside the flames and forcing the creature to stop it's charge. Though before Lindow could make his next move, the fire from the Elemental's arm blasted towards him with surprising speed.

 

Attempting to dodge, Lindow raised his shield and leaped forward, only to still be sent flying backwards through air by the force of the attack. He could feel that he was right arm of his robe was on fire. Though that quickly became a second priority when he realized he was also dangerously close to flying off the edge of the platform.

 

Ripping a third dagger from his belt, Lindow twisted in the air and begun franticly attempting to hook himself into one of the cracks that littered the structure. Finally gaining hold at the very edge, he let loose a sigh of relief before pulling himself up and rolling back onto the battlefield. There he took a moment to catch his breath and observe the fight, whilst using his now chipped dagger to rip away his burning sleeve.

 

"I do hope the others are still alive down there..." Lindow sighed again as he brought his palms together and started to heal his burns with the Light Spirit's power.

[Alaina]

While the sharks had submerged once again, the girl took her stance as they made their way towards her and the halfling. As the sharks leaped, the girl got ready to repeat the same process they had done thus far, when she had felt a sudden strange buzzing feeling in her ears. It was faint and nothing too loud, but it annoying and feeling like it was beginning to try and move its way to the back of her head. While she tried to ignore this suddenly strange feeling, there was something that she couldn't ignore happening right before her. Dumbfounded at the sight of the sharks splitting in two and growing a spine, the girl could only look agape at the creatures. However, as Gilly charged forward the girl was brought to her senses, seeing the shark head launched from the torso of the body aiming to chomp at her.

 

Not wanting to be in the path of a shark normally and feeling a new found fear in her against these creatures, the girl instinctively leaped to the side to avoid the attack. As the shark's head passed her by, it missed, though it was not quite finished. With the head moving back at her with great speed, the girl could not react to dodge in time and instead bashed the head away with her shield. Having managed to stop the head from biting down on her, the girl was then not expecting the severed lower half of the shark to come and tail slam her from behind. Caught off guard, the girl was knocked down onto the ground, and face in the sand. 

 

Rolling back, Ryia then saw the strange demonic spine of the creature over head her and slammed her shield against it, attempting to push against it as it descended down on her. The head of the shark plunged into the sand, as the spine started to be brought down with more force at her and the tail seemed to be anchored into the ground. With her mace, the chosen of earth attempted to strike against the spine of the demon shark, and while the attacks did manage to chip at it, she felt the ground beneath her begin to shift. Moving to a more defensive minded approach, the girl used both of her hands to instead push against the spine, allowing her to wiggle out from underneath it and push away from the shark's onslaught. 

 

As she escaped the confines of the shark's spine, the head of the shark launched out from the sand, fully attempting to bite at something as it did but getting nothing but air. Despite this, the girl was not in the clear yet, as the tail no longer anchored itself to the ground and instead whipped towards the prone girl's direction. With nothing to do to avoid it, she merely raised her shield to block against the slam. While it worked, the girl's face winced in pain as her shield arm was pushed back into her. Letting out a loud of grunt of pain, her arm still sore from the attack, the girl slowly tried to right herself as the shark's lower half moved underground. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The shark heading for Gilly wasn't quite stopped by the sudden spear in its face. The creature seemed to lack any concept of self preservation as it merely whipped its head to the side to tear the spear out of Gilly's hands. Once it did this it burrowed its way underground like its companion had been.

 

Then, similarly, it launched itself out of the sand again and towards Gilly. This time its lower half remained embedded in the sand as the spine-like thing and the head of the shark remained above ground, snaking back and forth as it tried to get at Gilly.

 

Similarly the one fighting Ryia ended up in such a pose, with its lower half under the ground. It, however, instead of going directly for Ryia tried to snake around her to attack her from behind.

---

Lindow made it up in time to see Damien slicing across the part of spine that was visible under the flames, which Keres had unveiled, and caused a large chip to fly off of the Elemental.

 

He would also see as the Fire Elemental twisted its body nearly 180 degrees in order to swipe a flaming arm at the swordsman. Damien ducked and rolled under it but then was almost caught by a blast of flames and only managed to get out of the way with the help of Keres's water whip pulling him to the side.

 

With a growl, seemingly not thinking much anymore, Damien merely went for the Elemental again, blade low, and heading for the center of mass.

 

The elemental raised the arm not attacked by Lindow. The flames extended upwards, growing thinner but longer, more focused, and almost took an edge to it. It seemed posed so that it would bring the flame down on Damien as the swordsman made his approach.

 

Keres shook her head but was unable to say anything. She knew that she had to do more but she only had a limited supply of water. And what would she do if this thing decided to turn its attention to her? The Demon Gate was already making her feel sick and now this doubt that was welling up doubled that feeling.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Not a large post but hopefully enough. Wanted at least to get something out for y'all. Reinaan would be close enough to do something to either of the sharks now and Lindow hasn't been targeted for another attack just yet. However Damien is rushing the boss without much of a plan.

Meanwhile Keres is having a bit of a panic issue.

map

 

[Sethera]

The shark tore the spear out of Gilly's hands, the sudden force almost causing the halfling to fall over. "Whoa!" she cried, straightening and glaring at the shark. "That coulda been really bad, you know? I almost fell over!" The girl didn't seem to realize how ridiculous a concept lecturing an eldritch shark was. "Bad sharkies get no dinner!" She materialized another spear as the creature dove underground. When it reappeared, stuck in the ground still like a potted plant, the girl swung her spear at the snapping jaws in front of her. "And no dinner is the worst ever!"

 

Hob baa'ed, whether in agreement or disagreement, or just for the sake of it, was hard to tell. As soon as his rider finished her attack, he canted to the side before suddenly charging at the spine, head lowered.