Call of the Mist Wolf | Page 2

The stuttering was strange, obviously not out of tongue Nalani knew, but she could still understand it, "A-e-i-d." she whispered, although it was barely audible except to maybe Alpha. She glanced over at the others faces to read their expressions, but only a few seemed a bit bothered, so she couldn't exactly tell if she was hearing correctly or not. Turning her gaze back to the druid, his words only fed her more unease. What could the cult want?

The crystals were really pretty, but Nalani didn't step close like Alpha did to inspect them, but instead watched the younger girl with a careful gaze, making sure she didn't accidentally walk into danger. It still bothered her a lot that they had no idea where they were going and what was really happening, but she continued to find mental comfort in her friends that surrounded her, nodding in agreement with Aaron as he told Alpha to back away from the wall. She probably would've giggled at the silly nickname used for her too, 'ABC', but the current situation was too tense for any real laughter. Jack had made a comment about collecting the ore for themselves, but she really doubted that was a good idea, and was quite content when the group began to move forward yet again, keeping the crystals in mind for down the road.

The next event made her jump a little, attention snapping towards the druid as her eyes widened with shock. However, she quickly moved on towards the statue in front of them as it was illuminated by the light given by the lightening, wheels in her brain beginning to churn as she began to think of possibilities, including how the statue was moving and how that corresponded with the lightning. Her hand tightened around her wand as Aaron began to shout out orders, taking up a stance behind Alpha, and she was so occupied that she hadn't even realized what was happening until she saw the fish stick thrown into what could be a deadly for anybody in the party- Including Alpha's dingo, "Terry, no!"​

 

Lucia could only sigh internally, it's not that she didn't expect the outcome, in truth, she probably was the closest to knowing a genuine hemomancer after meeting one for a quest. Even if the quest ended a little cryptically, she'd almost ended up completing a job for one. "No one going to make the first move or ? Honestly, we're just going to watch? I understand that action and risks are dangerous, but inaction can be just as hazardous." Lucia spoke with tension in her heart high. Nobody seemed to want to make a move, she couldn't be the only one with ranged capabilities to prob the state's abilities right? Aside from the fish stick toss no one else seemed to make an effort... Lucia was far too frightened by Ornsen's predicament to take her time to process what he said.

"Okay-- I'll do it then I guess." She said, a bit of tragedy in her tone, she certainly wanted attention, but this was not exactly the way she hoped to acquire it. Opening her bag at the back, she pulled out a small handful of arrows, four or five at most, simple ones rather then her hexed arrows she'd stocked up on in the woods. She'd wipe the arrow heads along the torch's end before discarding the Torch with a strong throw towards the opposite end of the room. Her ranged skill was at least trained she thought, if it was a simple throw without a skill her accuracy was quite good. With the arrows though, she'd notch the burning arrows, careful not to catch her bow in the process before firing them out at different points int he room. The light source was weak, but even a glow in the distance might help them understand what was going on as the light streaked through the air. If it hit the cave wall, it would just fall no doubt, but if it hit something else... well she could only hope there was nothing else to hit.

In an attempt to illuminate the four cardinal directions with arrows, throwing her torch as close to the opposite door as possible were the best she could do. The last arrow had more of a sinister glint to it, one of her hexed arrows meant to rot and corrode the things it struck. This one she carefully lit as well before aiming at the Statue trying to deal some measure of damage to it if it was a foe by eroding the material it was carved from as well as illuminate the center to complete her effort. "I know this is a tense moment, but voices don't just come from 'nothing'." Lucia felt the need to explain herself less she be attacked by her own group for being wasteful with a torch. those wispy words seemed to be heard by anyone... but nobody seemed to wonder who spoke them.

 

The moment she saw what was happening to their guide she looked around.

It seemed people immediately assumed a more defensive stance, that was smart, after all the man was expendable.

He was an NPC, numbers, a string of zeroes and ones...

Really, nobody important, right?

Cold sweat seemed to be forming on Amalia's forehead.

The knight-like guy was barking orders, but... why was nobody helping?

Light seemed to surge from the druid, electricity, was he being fried alive?!

Wasn't anyone going to do anything?

She looked around, at the people observing with clinical detachment, with apathy.

Really?!

Screw it!

She ran. Before she even realized what she was doing, she ran forward, elbowing anyone that blocked her aside. She snatched the bonnet off her head, gritting her teeth and she grabbed by man by the hand, exerting all the power she could muster in her small frame.

“Aaaaah, goddamn it all!” she screamed as she exerted effort. “You guys just don't give a fuck do you?! Sociopaths the lot of you!”

Even if it started burning her too, the girl didn't seem willing to just give up like that. Even if her skin burned and joints locked. Somehow, despite this simply being a game she couldn't ignore her own feelings or her conscience. If she acted like a tool here and now, then that was what she was going to become. You could roleplay the bad guy, but given how real this world was, wasn't that going to affect you outside the game too?

 

Aaron winced as he watched Terry get fried by electricity. "Jack, what the hell?" He shouted toward the light wizard. Not only had the man's actions gotten Terry rather injured, if not killed, but he hadn't made any move to assist the Druid either. Rather, a girl Aaron knew nothing about had risked herself to assist the Druid. Aaron made a mental note to check on her when he got the chance, and offer her any healing.

He was grateful that Lucia at least had made some effort to reveal their surroundings and take a shot at the statue. Aaron didn't know why it looked like Zeus, and frankly didn't care.

His hair raised as he felt magical energy begin to build, aiming for Lucia. She was being targeted because she attacked the statue, under his orders. Aaron gripped his shield tightly. No, that made it his fault, not hers. He needed to take the hit, not her. Aaron charged toward her and pushed her out of the way. When the electricity surged, Aaron would shout with pain, and drop to his knees when it finally finished.

He coughed, and as loudly as he could called out. "Jack! Jack, check on the girl and the Druid! Someone, take that statue out! The eye, aim for the eye!" Should he dare use a healing spell or potion on himself now, or was his health fine enough that he could last a little longer? 96% of his health was gone. "Fuck," he said. No wonder it had hurt so bad. He tried to move to open his inventory to drink a potion, or even to open his spell menu to cast a healing spell, but he found himself completely unable to move. "Fuck," he repeated. "I can't move!" He called out. A tiny indicator flashed in the corner of his vision. Stunned. How long would that status effect last him, he wondered? The rest of his life - this one, at least?

 

Despite her wishes to regroup and coordinate, she knows something has to be done, and it has to be done now. The statue was firing on the group somehow, and she had to think of some way to mitigate this threat before someone else was injured. She took off in a dead sprint following the perimeter of the room counter-clockwise while digging a torch from her pack , shouting "Get back!! It needs line of sight!"

Careful to always keep the statues gaze from catching up to her, she stopped only to light her torch on the flames erupting from the pool of strange liquid to the east. Having achieved this, she continued an arcing path to the pool at the base of the statue. This thing had to be getting a lot of power from somewhere, and she theorized that a pool volatile and flammable liquid was quite the power source. It didn't all have to burn, but perhaps limiting the statues power supply would slow it down enough that someone else could think of something more effective.

At the statues base, she was close enough that a slow jog was all that was needed to outpace the statues rotation, and she took her time setting the pool of strange red liquid alight. Having achieved what she set out to to, she lobbed the torch into the Chanel of fluid connecting the pool to the reservoir to the east, then took off in a dead, zig-zag sprint. She scooped up the barely conscious dingo on her way through, then continued to haul ass until she was a good distance behind the rest of the group.

It may be a bit unseemly to use them as a shield, but she needed to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. She set the badly wounded dog down and leaned an arm against the wall and called out between gasps for breath:

"Bring... Bring the wounded back here. Then Spread out, and keep... Keep moving.

-----

1 torch consumed

 

​

Merkaba watched some more as idiots were idiots. This was almost funny. Spoony bard's screaming and running into paralyzed tree mages, white knights dramatically getting plastered with lasers and falling in agony, and babylon be praised... mutts frying to a crisp! Elizabeth for the first time since she entered this dimension, was having fun! Indeed this was quite a game was it not? However it was time to put a end to this round...

The head of statue was what was casting these bolts of lightning. It was a magic field but it was actually a less effective one than Elizabeth had thought. Foolish to put the source of the lightning right here where it could be destroyed. The enemy must not have thought anyone was competent enough to destroy it before it turned them to ashes. Looking at her 'allies' they would be almost correct.

The statues eyes settled on Lucia now. Merkaba saw it begin to charge.

"Pungendo tenebris carnis indignus figunt et agnum desperationis supplicio aeternum.."

Merkaba began to chant the words as she elegantly dodged the incoming energy blast from the statues head at Lucia with a simple twirl. Child's play this was. Hopefully the chanting that lurked around the cave belonged to someone watching them as well. If so, they would now be seeing but a hint of her growing power!

"quiescet Malefil hasta!"

Upon finishing her elegant escape as the massive beam came crashing through. She crossed her arms in front of her with her hands open, palms in front of her face. A black spear of mana rose from behind her. Uncrossing her arms now and thrusting them forward. The spear of darkness flew straight at the statue's face. Elizabeth was certain that this would shatter the head and end the zap fest that was going on here.

 

Everything happened so fast, it was hard for Nalani to process. She watched on with horror as Terry ran out like the little idiot he was when Jack threw the fish stick, lightning hitting the dingo and causing him to fall to the ground, not completely lifeless by the weak whine that emitted from his muzzle, but something else formed in her mind as she found herself distracted when Lucia went to town. It started out really quiet, not really bugging Nalani but leaving her maybe a little irritated, until it got louder, and louder, like an intrusive thought that just would not leave you alone. The phrase 'A-e-i-d' repeated itself over and over in Nalani head, until she found herself irrationally questioning what it meant in the worst time possible, zoning out as she kept thinking and thinking, trapped inside her brain. Didn't help she was already an anxious person, and this was the worst time possible for a 'spike'. It was only when the lightning bolt struck that she was quite literally zapped back into reality.

She wasn't directly where it struck, so it didn't hit her that bad, but it was still enough to cause her stumbled and gasp in pain, electrics shocks running through her body. Thanks goodness that pain was hardly simulated, or it would've hurt more than that. She was only stuck in the same scrunched over position for a couple seconds as the same stunned effect that had Aaron frozen wore off. However her friend seemed to still be glued to the spot, and after quickly checking on his health, it revealed to have dropped dangerously low. Hers had also dropped, but only a quarter of the way versus his almost completely depleted, and with that, between the constant thoughts of 'A-E-I-D' that screamed inside her head, she threw herself forward and onto her knees next to the paladin.

"A-" Oh, A-E-I-D, so strange how even though I don't know the language, I'm still able to translate. I wonder why? What does it mean? Whose saying it? What- "Aaron. Take this. Now." She might've accidentally sounded more irritated then she was, but she could hardly even focus on what was going on around her. Hastily she reached into her bag, grabbing the only health potion she could afford to bring along with her. She popped the lid open and shoved the opening into his mouth, letting go as quick as possible so she wouldn't contract anymore lightning. And with that, she moved away towards the other side of the room, separating from the others so none of them could get shocked in groups, finally getting the time to tap the flashing status effect next to her health bar. "???" What in the world?... Boy, she really screwed that up big time.

----

Health Potion Consumed, given to Aaron Marone.​

 

Jack watched with scrutiny, carefully processing events in chronological order while tagging labels over each individual. Perhaps he could’ve spent his time better tending to the wounded… but aside from Terry and the druid, nobody seemed in particularly dire straits – yet. The entire ordeal gave him a headache, particularly one specific individual’s actions. Considering how much the others could feasibly fit into a frame of time, it was as if the woman had been affected by a haste spell or was simply cheating. His concern would have to wait as more important things continued to plague his mind.

Given the changing colors of the singular eye during the canine’s charge, one thing was clear. The statue reacted based on proximity. This is where things began to go awry however. The initial strike was against the druid rather than Dempsey who had delved furthest ahead. This implied that other factors came into play, specifically visibility. At the time, the druid, Alpha, Korra and Aaron had light. Of these persons, the druid lead. This suggested that the statue also worked on vision. Considering how the statue had then gone for Terry instead of anyone else, perhaps the statue had vision of the creature due to proximity or the light shed by Lucia igniting the substance.

The statue then turned towards Amalia, however it altered targets. The only thing to occur during that time was the shock from touching the druid. Considering the statue’s behavior, it was safe to conclude that shocked targets would be left alone momentarily (otherwise Terry and the druid would’ve been attacked again). This then lead into the real question of why the statue had aimed for Lucia instead of Dempsey. As Jack realized he had been caught in the splash radius, he’d let out a grunt of pain while gritting his teeth in order to maintain his train of thought. The statue had clearly picked a target that overrode proximity based rules for something else. When considering the behavior of the statue, it had chosen something Lucia had that Dempsey did not. It was hard to tell however since again, Lucia had performed multiple actions including a series of attacks and casting – both of which Dempsey did not. Had attacking been the trigger, the statue ought to of gone for her on the initial attacks that provided light. It didn’t. The culprit was the surge of magical energy as the woman had cast a spell... Considering the other casters had not been the focus (despite innately giving off a magical aura as well), this seemed to be the most likely scenario.

As for how Jack planned on proceeding? The answer was difficult at best. Between needing to save the druid and his other companions from demise, it’d be a difficult task. Immediately after the stun had subsided, Jack would reach into his pouch for a water skin. He’d slosh it about with reckless abandon in an attempt to soak the ground. In doing so, his aim was to transfer the existing shock from Aaron and the other victims to those that remained unharmed. In doing so, it would also stun Merkaba and Dempsey, halting their initial plans of action. He’d call out with a clear voice while urging the others to follow his lead. “Stop fucking casting already! I don't heal stupid! Grab those who can’t move! Make a run for the other side while the post-shock keeps us off the radar! AND STAY SPLIT!” The healer then proceeded to make a run for it, scooping up Terry in the process (if Dempsey hadn’t already).


OOC: Using as much water as needed.

 

The musician writhed in the electrically induced seizure, but she struggled, gritting her teeth to keep herself from biting her tongue by accident. How the druid even survived was beyond her, he'd endured far worse and she could only imagine the pain he was suffering as of this moment compared to her own. Nevertheless, as soon as she could manage – if she actually have the opportunity to - Amalia would force herself upright, doing her best to shake off the vestiges of the shock upon her person.

It would likely leave her worse for wear, but there were more important things for her to do at the moment. She undid the fastener on her violin case and set the instrument between the crook of her shoulder and neck, poising herself to play a piece.

Concentrating despite there being a giant was no easy feat. But then again, so was facing an audience. Oddly enough, knowing that this statue wasn't going to be judging her performance against the score did help. She wasn't worried about making mistakes here and now.

Not that she intended to.

She sought a place – a distance - among the group that would keep her away from the fight but allow her song to reach her allies and steeled herself. Drawing her bow, she began her song.

Granted, all that mattered now was the system recognized this particular piece as one that inspired healing.

OOC: Amalia attempts to find a distance where she is far enough from heart of the battle to be safe, but near enough for her song to be heard - particularly by Aaron. She is playing a Healing Song.

 

Alpha stared in shock as Terry rushed forward towards the fish stick that was thrown in the air. She hadn't known who thrown it, considering that she was in the state of absolute shock as the pup ran forward and, almost instantly, had lightning and pain flow through his veins. Tears grew at the corners of Alpha's eyes as she stared helplessly at the immobilized, twitching pup with blackened, ashen fur. She couldn't look away and her throat felt dry. "Terry..." she tried to call but all that came out was a throaty whisper. In the next moment, a bolt of lightning blasting towards Lucia and the rest of the party tore her attention from the injured dog as she quickly maneuvered away from the blast, swift and deft in her movements. She had done so a bit more theatrical than expected as all her skills had been formed around her dramatic personality, light shining off of her as she landed without fail. Shock, however, filled her once again and she stood, almost paralyzed from the distance, as Nalani, Aaron, and the others had been blasted.

Without another word and with determination in her eyes, she pushed Terry to the back of her mind (albeit with much difficulty) when she saw Dempsey scoop up the pup. "Don't worry Terry, I'll be back soon!" she called as she dashed towards Aaron and Nalani. She grabbed a health potion from her satchel and pushed it into Nalani's hands as the woman finished pouring the concoction down Aaron's throat.

Alpha knew that she wouldn't be strong enough to lift Aaron on her own (the man was at least twice her size and weight) and gave a glance at Nalani. "Let's get Aaron out of here, Nalani," she spoke before grabbing the man's shoulders and staring at her friend expectantly. Right at that moment, however, she felt a shock rippling throughout her body, leaving her on the floor without a single twitch of movement. Water pooled beneath her, sending small static shocks down her spine. If she could groan, she would as she stood still like a fish atop Aaron. She resisted the urge to curse the heavens as her status bar came up: STUNNED. Fate was sometimes quite cruel to her. The shocks were minuscule and Alpha doubted the status effect would last longer than a few seconds but the obstruction was awfully annoying. As she regained sense of her limbs, she took the time to facepalm before she once again took a hold of Aaron. That shock really ruined the intense moment.

1 Health Potion Consumed
(given to Nalani Rosa)

Has been zapped by Jack's spilled water.
The epic dodge is accredited to Asch.​

 

Being shocked wasn't exactly surprising, though she'd felt it coming, an attempt to dodge would prove to be useless-- in truth, she expected this, fortunately Aaron took most of the trouble from her. It was a given in her heart of hearts where that edgelord still thrived, however unfortunate, wouldn't the target be the one actually making a difference? She cursed inwardly but the pain at least kept her smile bright, the feeling, the exhilaration, it was something different, 'special'. She couldn't help laughter coming from her lips as she clenched her fists tightly. The stunned status was the irritating part-- She wanted to do more, to support, to crush the statue, sadly in spirit, she knew she'd taken the first step though, however important it was that someone move, the first to do so were usually the first to be shot.

She would have to wait, clenching her fists-- Or at least trying to for freedom after being fried, the 25% health wasn't all that tragic at least, it was HP she could get back the moment they found a target for her or even a mob for her to use a formation on. Amelia's song might even help make things a little easier. It was only when the electricity stopped that the actual 'pain' began to set in. Her brow knit, teeth clenched but she endured-- she would undoubtedly endure the pain. Looking at her health bar, she chewed her lip impatiently 'stun' was certainly the ailment she hated the most aside from 'poison'.

 

As Dempsey returned to the group, she waved her arms and shouted...

Nothing, because she was promptly doused with water and zapped with some sort of electricity debuff. When the effect passed, she resumed her original plan of waving her arms and shouting "There's an exit on the other side of the room! Let's make a run for it!" and without waiting for anyone else, makes a run for the exposed crystal, meaning to shatter it. Everything was happening so quickly that nobody had any real time to communicate, and she couldn't help wonder if this all could have went better had they not been completely caught off guard.

the group needed a chance to rally and catch their breath, but that would have to wait until they were somewhere else, a little quieter and safer. No time for that now though, Dempsey charged dead ahead, intending to finish what Merkaba had started with her katar, launching herself into the air and bringing it down on the pulsating thing "Flying superman punch" style. She would prefer to sever the crystal from it's energy source and attempt to keep it intact, but if that option does not appear to be fast and easy, she will aim to destroy it instead.

She didn't have time to talk this through with anyone, nor think it all the way through herself. She just decided to go for it and hope for the best.

-----

Dempsey goes on a suicide mission to sever or destroy the crystal before her timer counts down to 0

 

Once the stun wore off, Lucia exhaled a sharp sigh, next time she'd have to just wait she thought to herself, things would go a lot more smoothly if she'd just blown it away after getting a look at it rather then taking pot shots. Though seeing the debuff counter running down she couldn't help a vague grimace. There was no description telling her what it did, no indicator of what would happen when it hit zero. This game seemed rather incomplete in these ways, leaving it to mystery, though the picture gave a vague idea, experience was telling her something different from her common sense. Uncertain of what to listen to, she watched Dempsey charge the crystal and felt she should at least try to prepare for what comes next.

She felt fortunate she bought a few health potions, hopefully more then she needed, taking one in hand now to prepare for the worst, she began to follow along with the others. Though the danger seemed to be gone when the statue collapsed, she didn't want to place bets or try to call bluffs. Approaching Ornsen, she tried to help him up as quickly as possible, even if the man lacked the strength she tried to urge him to move to the best of his abilities, even supporting him as she went rushing him to safety. "Sir Ornsen, i'm afraid this is an emergency, I can't just leave you behind, once we find a safe place, I'll share one of my potions with you, I can only hope I'm not pushing you too hard to escape that foul place." She spoke urgently as she tried to find safety even one second earlier.

• Helps the druid up and towards the cave to safety