Crystal Tower Redux
An event log
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Spoiler
Seito Moonclaw wanders up to the camp, pausing here and there to idly admire the crystals, even prodding at a few of them. He gives a nod and brief smile. "Hmm, I believe this is where the leve said aid was needed..."
Khunbish Avagnar: Rammbroes was having an animated and worried conversation with an Elezen that was just as animatedly responding back as the group arrives. He finally just holds a hand up and looks to the group, "Here for the emergency Leve?"
Astra Bluestar nods to the Roegadyn "Yes sir. I am."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly. "I have heard you needed assistance. What seems to be the issue, exactly?"
Adeya Evenar nods once. "That's right," she says. Folding her arms, she glances between Rammbroes and the rest of the group. "Yes, some more details would definitely be helpful."
Seito Moonclaw likewise nods, "Indeed."
Khunbish Avagnar: Rammbroes glances at the group and sighs, "So some time after the crystal tower was locked back up, there was an earth quake and some adventurers reported part of the ground collapsed into a tunnel. We sent some guards with a couple researchers in, they never came out, so we sent more guards and they never returned so we're having to resort to people with more experience."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly. "I see. Are we to simply scout the interior, or are we to prioritize search and rescue then?"
Khunbish Avagnar: The Elezen man was about to talk but Rammbroes holds a hand up, "Fontraux I understand, that is why I put this leve out in the first place!" he looks back to the group, then Artoria, "Search and Rescue, we'd like our people back, if even to bury them properly. We don't know what's in there other than the normal Gigas issues in the area."
Adeya Evenar reaches up to run a hand through her hair as she thinks. "It sounds like they ran into something in there then. Which... considering where we're talking about, could be any number of things." She glances over towards Artoria, her tail swishing thoughtfully behind her, before turning back to Rammbroes and adding: "In addition to that, how long ago was this?"
Khunbish Avagnar: "This was yesterday, we put that leve up quick because of the expediency especially if people are injured down there."
Seito Moonclaw rests his hands at his belt as he nods, listening closely while his tail sways about. "Do you have a count of how many we are seeking?"
Adeya Evenar nods once. "Well, there might be a chance then," she remarks before falling quiet once more. She was curious about that as well.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Yes, the first group had two researches, G'randi Tia and Halcyon Sapphiraux, plus four guards, the second was another group of four guards with the two adventurers that found the opening originally."
Astra Bluestar: "Where is this opening?"
Khunbish Avagnar: "It was found near the original crystal tower gate." he motions towards one of the guards, "He'll show you the way, Fred? right his name's Fred." The hyur nods his head, "I'm Fred." he leans against his spear looking not to pleased about going along.
Adeya Evenar purses her lips slightly at the sight of Fred. "Don't worry," she says. "You're not the one going down in there." She then looks towards the others. "Well, I think that's everything then?"
Seito Moonclaw nods to Fred, "Thank you then." He turns to the others, "Shall we be on our way?"
Astra Bluestar nods to Adeya "I think that is all we need for now."
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred nods his head and motions for them to follow as he makes his way towards the Crystal tower, "This way."
Astra Bluestar: "My name is Astra by the way. Good to meet you all."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly at Astra's introduction. "Artoria."
Seito Moonclaw: "I am Seito, and likewise."
Adeya Evenar inclines her heard slightly. "You as well. I'm Adeya."
Khunbish Avagnar: As the group approaches the collapsed opening, it's clear where it is by the floor droping in near the door to the eight sentinels, and the two Gigas that are peering into it, grunting at each other while they look in.
Artoria Aldsan: "I suppose that is our way in. Let's clear out the Gigas first."
Adeya Evenar pauses at the sight of the Gigas, her hand moving warily to her grimoire. "Agreed. They'll be a problem otherwise."
Astra Bluestar nods to Artoria as she takes her sword and shield in hand. "I doubt they would just leave if we ask nicely."
Seito Moonclaw chuckles softly, "One might hope but you are likely right." He shifts a hand to his sword.
Seito Moonclaw lowering his center for a moment, Seito focuses on the Gigas on the left before he dashes forward, drawing his blade as he closes the distance and attempts to cut along the back of the rather tall creature's leg.
Khunbish Avagnar: The gigas didn't dodge as he takes a 2 stress hit, but he sure seems focused and angry as he turns around to face Seito with a howl of pain.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas takes the other hit like a champ, about to lose his title for a 3 stress hit
Astra Bluestar lowers her shield and charges in on the Gigas that Seito has already attacked and slams into him hard with her shield and stabs into his leg.
Artoria Aldsan crouches befor leaping through the air for the second Gigas, her sword arcing as it aims for the creature's head.
Khunbish Avagnar: With the first one well under the state of being waylaid, it's only right the second one takes a hit to the brainpan, although he survives with some blood and whirls about to face whoever tagged him good.
Artoria Aldsan snorts as she hits the ground. "Damned thick skulls."
Adeya Evenar hangs back as everyone else rushes in. Her grimoire glows in her hand as she fires off a blast of aether towards the first wounded giga in an attempt to finish them off.
Khunbish Avagnar: The gigas' hide is pretty thick but still takes a solidish hit from Adeya's spell
Khunbish Avagnar: L.Gigas after getting triple teamed decides to take on the first thing he can swing at, that being Seito, after all, he did hit first.
Seito Moonclaw hops back but not far enough to avoid the blow entirely, raising his blade to try and parry it aside.
Khunbish Avagnar: R. Gigas aims an overhead swing at Artoria, going for a good skull for skull thumping.
Artoria Aldsan takes the blow on her blade, turning it aside.
Seito Moonclaw attempts to land another solid hit on the Gigas, still striking low on the huge creature.
Khunbish Avagnar: It is in that moment, the Gigas remembers, /Oh hey! I have a shield!/ and just walls off Seito's attack like it was nothing making him /Well Guarded/ for the moment
Astra Bluestar throws herself against the thing's shield as hard as she can to try and get it to shift out of the way. Surprisingly the gigas stumbles and she creates an opening.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas manages to avoid taking any damage from Astra's attack, but his shield was knocked out of the way.
Artoria Aldsan twists, her sword coming across to continue attacking the second Gigas as she strikes at its dominant arm.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas manages to interject the shield almost as if it knew what it was doing when it realizes /Oh hey! I have a shield too!/ gaining /Well Guarded/
Adeya Evenar purses her lips as she readies another spell and throws it at the same giga. Surely it couldn't take much more.
Khunbish Avagnar: The first Gigas takes the hit like a champ, that just lost the title, tumbling backwards, missing the opening into the tunnel and tumbling off into the darkness below.
Khunbish Avagnar: R.Gigas glances towards where his friend went and then turns to charge at Adeya, attempting to swing at her using his reach with the giant club to maxium effect. Ironically, leaving him entirely open to anyone like Artoria to get clean shots on him either way later.
Adeya Evenar 's eyes widen as the giga charges towards her. She leaps back as she quickly conjures a shield into place to block the giga's swing.
Seito Moonclaw turns his attention to the remaining Gigas, springing to attack him now that he's wide open.
Khunbish Avagnar: R.Gigas is taken out pretty cleanly by Seito's sliced and diced action, guess he shouldn't have forgone his defense to try playing smash the kitty.
Seito Moonclaw gives his blade a swing to clean it before flipping it around and sliding it into the sheath. "Now that we are limbered up...shall we proceed?"
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred stayed out of the way like a good NPC, honestly, that spear was probably more for show than anything. Now that the Gigas' were gone he very helpfully points at the hole, "They went down there."
Artoria Aldsan: "Well, that takes care of that. Let's head down."
Artoria Aldsan jumps in the hole like a good adventurer.
Astra Bluestar: "Have a rope for us to use Fred?"
Adeya Evenar lets out a breath as the second giga falls and closes her grimoire, though she keeps it in hand rather than return it to her belt. She flashes Seito a grim smile. "After you," she says.
Seito Moonclaw: "Or...the forward approach," He states, watching Artoria hop down. Nodding to Adeya, he looks around, "A rope would be helpful, in case it is a rather deep hole."
Khunbish Avagnar: Upon a closer look, there's a rope ladder already set, it's only about 10-12 fulms down into the hole then the ground slopes down, it was more like the roof of a tunnel collapsed.
Astra Bluestar moves to the ladder and starts to climb down. "The gigas dead down there?"
Seito Moonclaw waits for Astra to descend a bit before likewise making use of the ladder.
Adeya Evenar follows Seito down the ladder. "I don't think gigas know how to use ladders.... or would be able to fit down here," she calls down, her tail flicking behind her as she glances uneasily up at the cieling. Opening up her grimoire, she uses it to summon up a bit more light.... which, judging by her expression, doesn't seem to improve matters.
Khunbish Avagnar: There is a quiet thud echoing up from the chasm next to the tunnel.
Artoria Aldsan: "I suspect we do not have to worry about the gigas. Be on your guard for other enemies however."
Astra Bluestar: "I will go first if that is acceptable."
Seito Moonclaw squints a bit with the rather close, added light but nods. "No, this was certainly the work of those who came before us." He pauses at the thud, beginning to look around slowly. "Enemies or those we seek. They are, after all, our main reason for being here."
Adeya Evenar 's eyes narrow at the thud. "You all heard that right?" she asks, before nodding once to Artoria. She was perfectly content to let the people with armor and swords go first.
Astra Bluestar starts to head down the tunnel, her eyes open for threats or people they need to help.
Seito Moonclaw: "Mm. Whatever it was, it was not far from us."
Khunbish Avagnar: As the group moves along the passageway, there are clear signs that this used to be a nice, clean, pretty Allagan/Crystal tower tunnel until it was comprimised by the crystals that tore through and spread all about it. Part of the ceiling ahead looks particularly unstable and everyone clearly sees that, not being under that section when a small tremor causes it to collapse in a spray of debris and a few beams that could have really hurt someone if they were caught under it.
Astra Bluestar: "This place is still collapsing...are earthquakes common here?"
Adeya Evenar 's face visibly pales as the ceiling crashes down near them. "I don't think so..." she murmurs quietly, her ears tilted back and tail lashing uneasily behind her.
Artoria Aldsan: "I wouldn't say common. The Calamity caused a rather large one in this region however."
Seito Moonclaw: "I could not say." He looks back towards where they'd left Fred. "Our guide may have known but for now all we can do is tread carefully."
Astra Bluestar nods and keeps heading down the tunnel.
Khunbish Avagnar: As the party continues along, there is a bend in the tunnel as it reaches a section that looks more stable at least. As they round the bend they come to a gruesome sight. There's two earth elementals standing there, and six bodies that look to have been thoroughly smashed, a pile of rocks nearby at least hint that they might have taken one or more elementals down before they fell.
Artoria Aldsan lets out a small sigh. "Well, we found one of the two groups."
Adeya Evenar draws in a sharp breath as she steps around the corner. "Looks like they got overwhelmed," she murmurs quietly, before shaking her head slightly. "Well, there's still hope for the others. Let's deal with these quickly."
Seito Moonclaw pauses as he takes in the sight, eyes narrowing. "...." Exhaling softly, his attention shifts to the elementals. "An unstable area such as this is not where I would choose to fight however...we may have little choice."
Artoria Aldsan: "I agree, Adeya. Let's clear out the sprites quickly and mark the location, the other group takes priority for now."
Astra Bluestar frees her weapons again and stretches out a little "Ready?"
Adeya Evenar nods once, her grimoire open. "Whenever you are."
Khunbish Avagnar: These are not sprites, each elemental is a pile of animated stone that stands taller than a roegadyn, these are sprites on steroids.
Seito Moonclaw: "Then let us begin."
Seito Moonclaw circles about the pair of large elementals, drawing his weapon before attempting to stab one of the stone creatures
Khunbish Avagnar: The blade simply glances off of the stoney exterior harmlessly.
Astra Bluestar charges in on the second monster. It turns as she swings and her blade makes a ringing sound as it is batted aside. She slams her shield into it to knock it off balance though. Next time rock dude.
Artoria Aldsan frowns seeing both of the attacks before her simply bounce off. She takes a deep breath, golden aether running along her blade as she dashes in to strike at the creature.
Adeya Evenar considers the rock creatures for a moment, then aims a blast of aether directly at the center of it.
Khunbish Avagnar: The two elementals are both hit decently well, one by Artoria's large blade assault charged with Aether, and the other by a blast of Aether from Adeya.
Khunbish Avagnar: Seito Elemental lifts an arm up to smash it down at him with the hefty weight of stone behind it.
Seito Moonclaw leaps backwards as the elemental's fist smashes into the ground. When the massive fist withdraws, Seito notices a /Crack in the Stone/
Khunbish Avagnar: The second Elemental attempts to return Artoria's kindness, the stones that make up its arms whirl about in a quick orbit about the central body, one shooting outward like a punching stone missile.
Artoria Aldsan quickly steps back, sword coming down to deflect the shooting stone to the side.
Seito Moonclaw moves swiftly, taking aim at the /Crack in the Stone/ as he focuses his attack there!
Seito Moonclaw: "Take that!"
Khunbish Avagnar: The Crack is definitely bigger after Seito's strike and the Elementals shell, or maybe whatever aether is holding it together appears to have become comprimised after that strike.
Khunbish Avagnar: Apparently even comprimised it manages to avoid taking any noticeable damage from Astra's attack, though it does put her in a slightly better position for the next attack
Astra Bluestar growls a little "I should have brought a pick axe."
Artoria Aldsan steps around, hers sword swinging in a wide arc as she aimed to cleave through the elemental. "It would be helpful about now, yes."
Khunbish Avagnar: The second elemental takes a solid hit from Artoria, the stone taking the non-aether charged strike fairly well, although afterwards it appears to have become comprimised like the first one.
Adeya Evenar narrows her eyes, focusing on the obviously damaged portion of the elemental. Aiming carefully, she fires a bolt of twisting green aether towards, hoping to corrupt it's aether even further. She then turns towards Artoria, placing a quick shield spell on her.
Khunbish Avagnar: First one takes the strike from Adeya as the aether reaches full instability and the stones just scatter across the corridor, lying there unmoving.
Khunbish Avagnar: The remaining Elemental whirls about to smash at Artoria, not elegant, but it's still a giant hunk of stone being swung at her
Artoria Aldsan handily blocks the elemental, smashing part of it into the ground to leave a [gap in the rocks].
Seito Moonclaw turns back to the remaining elemental and, having had some luck before, he attempts to slash into it as well!
Khunbish Avagnar: In the motions of its attacks and attempts at evading Artoria's combat already going on, causing Seito's attack to barely glance off, leaving a few scratches but nothing worth noting.
Astra Bluestar growls in frusteration as the thing swings at her and knocks her shield way. Deciding its time to try something else she flips the sword around so she is holding it by the blade and swings hard at the thing's leg. She slams the crossguard into its knee and with a crack it come apart. The beast topples over and she proceeds to smash the thing to pieces using her sword as a hammer.
Khunbish Avagnar: With the second elemental collapsed, that leaves only the clear corridor, and moving onwards towards the end, after all, the first party was still unaccounted for.
Astra Bluestar looks up after she finishes "Right...I think that has done it." She goes over to pick her shield back up before coming back to the group.
Seito Moonclaw watches Astra for a moment then tilts his head before looking around. "It would seem they found a rather aptly skilled group for this leve. Is anyone injured or shall we continue?"
Artoria Aldsan spares little fanfare for the defeated elementals, simply slinging her sword once more across her back. "Let's continue. We still have the others to find."
Adeya Evenar looks a bit impressed as the second elemental is taken care of. "Nice work," she remarks before turning to Seito. "I'm all right. Let's keep moving."
Astra Bluestar gives a little bit of a sheepish grin at the others as she begins to move down the passage again.
Seito Moonclaw nods in return to Adeya before moving to follow behind Astra.
Khunbish Avagnar: There is a couple more bends in the passageway until they arrive at a shattered door, inside is a well lit room, the flooring has been torn up to expose the stone beneath. There are four dead guards, an elezen woman(?) lying off to the side that's not moving. At the far end of the room is some tube like device that's been opened and a Male Miqo'te standing before it, tail lashing. His right arm appears to be made of stone, with a faint yellowish glow emitting through the cracks.
Artoria Aldsan frowns slightly at that. "...There were to be six, were there not? Two scientists? Is that one of the people we were meant to bring back?"
Adeya Evenar draws in a sharp breath and takes a step back at the sight of the miqo'te. "...If I remember correctly, one of the scientists was a Seeker. I'd be willing to bet that's him," she whispers back.
Seito Moonclaw surveys the room, remaining quiet. He gives a brief nod to Artoria, whispering low, "I do not like the look of his arm, nor it's glow."
Astra Bluestar looks at the others and nods to Arotria. "Yes. He may be. I have a feeling he will not be coming back willingly."
Astra Bluestar moves to head into the room unless someone stops her
Artoria Aldsan lets out a slow breath. "Adeya, when we enter, see to the Elezen woman and see if she can be saved." And with that, she pushes her way into the room, walking forward to confront the mio'te.
Khunbish Avagnar: There was a chuckle as the Seeker turns around, his right eye a brilliant shade of red, offset by the yellow glow coming from his eyes as well, "HAH! Stronger allagans have come!" he kicks one of the nearby bodies, "You allagans have all become such frail and weak things since shoving me, Shaitan the earth into a tube." he looks right at Artoria and pauses a moment, "...Huh did they start crossing themselves with dragons?"
Astra Bluestar: "We are not Allagans. They destroyed themselves millenia ago."
Adeya Evenar nods once to Artoria. As the others go ahead, she creeps over towards the elezen and studies her quickly, looking for first a pulse, then if she was still alive any obvious injuries. However as she does this every few seconds her eyes flick back up to the Miqo'te. "That thing looks to have affected his mind," she says bluntly.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Then you're the children of the Allagans, and have inherited their sins." he flexes his right hand a bit as he stares at everyone Balefully, "But..." he yawns and stretches himself a bit, "I don't have to crush you all right now like the others." // The elezen was alive, concussed and injured but alive.
Seito Moonclaw: "Where then, did you come from?"
Artoria Aldsan stays silent for the moment, eyes narrowing as she studies the miqo'te.
Adeya Evenar quickly starts to cast a healing spell on the elezen to mend the worst of the injuries. It was a patch job, but all she needed was something to tide her over until they could get out of here. However at the miqo'te's words she looks up, her eyes narrowing. "If you're willing to let us go, then why did you attack them? What do you /want/?" she asks.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Me? I came from the earth, I AM! The earth." he gestures a hand towards the exposed ground as an earth elemental tears itself from the ground only for him to gesture again and the stones scatter across the room as if it was slapped so hard it broke, "And the Allagans sinned against me! I will destroy them, I will destroy everything they created, those that carry on their legacy of abuse against the elements!"
Astra Bluestar: "We are not responsible for anything that these long dead people did. To hold us accountable for it is misplaced."
Khunbish Avagnar: "They were unfortunate enough to try and remove me from this body, wanted to seal me back up in that device. They resisted and so I had to crush them."
Artoria Aldsan: "Then you did possess one of the people who came down here. This body is not your own."
Seito Moonclaw looks around for said device.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Yes, you are accountable, you are all children of the Allagans!" he motions to Artoria, "Except you, I don't know what you are, never seen anything like you." he hops down to stand on the ground, "This body is mine now, I need it to accomplish my goals and it was easy to crush the owners weak mind."
Khunbish Avagnar: The aforementioned device was behind him, There's also a large stone spike sticking through what was probably the control console.
Adeya Evenar: "Gee, I wonder why that might be," she mutters under her breath. Louder, she says: "We can't just let you run around in that Seeker's body threatening to crush people. I hope you realize that," she says coldly.
Artoria Aldsan: "You said you crushed his mind-- then even if you were to give up his body he could no longer be recovered?"
Seito Moonclaw exhales slowly and peers at the others, "Are any of you perhaps...skilled in repairing such a device?"
Astra Bluestar: "The allagans were destroyed. Utterly. Completely. There is no legacy. We are not their children. The elementals are not abused. One of the current city states actually works in harmony with the resident elementals."
Adeya Evenar glances sharply over towards Seito and shakes her head slightly. "I've been around Allagan devices before, but the last time I tried to get one to work it almost blew up in my face."
Seito Moonclaw: "Then it is better that we not repeat that. Does she yet live?" He gestured to the elezen nearby.
Khunbish Avagnar: "You don't understand anything..." he grits his teeth, his expression darkening, "The Allagans legacy is everyone, I can feel it spreading throughout the earth, poisoining, their feet stomping everywhere. You are all their children, except you, again never seen your kind before. They could have easily crafted you, you're here in their lands, wielding powers they held, and I can still smell the stench of corrupted aether." it was clear he was getting angrier.
Seito Moonclaw frowns and turns his attention back to the miqo'te. "Will you leave that form and surrender it to the rightful owner's mind?"
Adeya Evenar nods once as she gets to her feet. "She does. She should see a proper healer once we get out of here, but she'll be fine," she says quickly, her hand hovering on her grimoire as she studies the miqo'te. "You're wrong," she says bluntly. "Getting revenge on us won't do you any good. The Allagan Empire has fallen long ago and your attempts at revenge will accomplish /nothing/."
Artoria Aldsan closes her eyes and lets out a slow breath. When she opens them again, it is to draw her sword. "Your hatred is not unfounded, but it is misguided. If you continue in this course, I will stand against you and I will destroy you, Shaitan."
Astra Bluestar: "You can not be allowed to hurt innocents anymore."
Khunbish Avagnar: He pauses as he focuses on Adeya, "...Yes, it would accomplish my goal. To wipe every last trace of the Allagans from this world." he looks to Artoria and stands up straight, "You will destroy me? I AM the earth! I have existed from times primevil! Before even the allagans thought to tear me away from the rest of the elemental energies of Hydaelyn and warp me!" he chuckles a bit, "And so what if you are not directly allagans... you are all collateral so long as there is even a single shred of allag left on this world, it must be crushed no matter the cost."
Artoria Aldsan tilts her head. "I care not what you are. The Allagans tore you away from Hydaelyn. That is proof enough that the world can live on without you."
Astra Bluestar draws her sword and shakes her head "Just like that idiot dragon."
Adeya Evenar considers this for a moment, then she sighs and rolls her eyes. "This isn't working," she says bluntly. "And it doesn't seem willing to let that researcher go." Her grimoire begins to glow softly as she begins to channel aether into it. "I say we deal with this overblown earth elemental and be done with it."
Seito Moonclaw simply nods and draws his blade.
Khunbish Avagnar: He laughs a bit and stands up straight, "Then come at me. Prove you are stronger than the chattel that came before you! Prove that you are not more flailing foundlings without a clue how to fight..."
Seito Moonclaw narrows his eyes, "You claim to hail from a time before time? Then I welcome your challenge and will test my blade against you!" And with that he will swiftly from A to B.
Khunbish Avagnar: With Seito rushing at Shaitan, the crazed elemental miqo'te looks more than happy to lash out at him, the ends of the stone arm going from a hand to earthen claws.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitans arm came up to glance off Seito's attack, it wasn't clean enough to cause significant damage at the moment. He then Wheels about to bring the claws down attempting to rake Seito.
Seito Moonclaw attempts to leap away from the attack but has the front of his armor dramatically clawed away, leaving crimson lines on his chest.
Artoria Aldsan takes a few running steps before leaping for Shaitan, a low growl rumbling in her throat as she brings her sword down.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan was not in position to put his arm in the way of Artoria's attack, his clothing tearing as her blade cuts into him, for a brief moment there was a cluster of stone that absorbed some of her darkside rage.
Astra Bluestar comes running in, shield held in front of her and slams into the possessed miqo as hard as she can. The slam causing him to be /off-balanced/
Adeya Evenar hangs back, her grimoire at the ready. She gathers up aether, then flings a sickly green looking bolt of aether at Shaitan. It had worked well enough on the other elementals after all.
Seito Moonclaw shifts to make room for the others in the growing melee, attempting a quick slash along Shaitan's back.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan gets his arm up in time to glance that spell off of it, growling angrily as he is now in a melee cluster with a catte taking pot shots.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan snarls violently as he drops down, slamming his hand into the ground using /Absolute Earth Control/ To rip earthen spikes up against everyone in Melee against him.
Astra Bluestar tries to dive to the side as the spikes shoot up. She mostly gets out of the way from his aim being off but still ends up cut up.
Artoria Aldsan hisses as she's forced to weave between spikes, several of them piercing through her armor. She kicks her way through, golden aether lighting up along her blade once more as she rushes to try and strike down Shaitan.
Seito Moonclaw just barely dodges and rolls aside, managing to avoid the spikes but finding himself with /bad footing/ in the process.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan takes another clean strike from Artoria's blade, buffered briefly by another patch of stone appearing upon his body. He snarls out in pain from the strike.
Astra Bluestar: Astra notices him touching the ground to cause the spike burst and quickly drops her weapons and rushes in. She grabs him by the back of the shirt and the belt and with a yell lifts him up off the ground "Try that again!"
Adeya Evenar: Adeya's eyes widen as Astra lifts up Shaitan. Quickly she throws another spell at the creature, hoping to capitalize on her earlier corrputing spell and the fact that Shaitan was now in the air, before hurriedly throwing a shield on Astra. She suspected that their angry earth "friend" wasn't going to be happy with her.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan takes the blast pretty handidly not being in a position to escape the attack at the moment.
Seito Moonclaw: Regaining his footing to take advantage of Shaitan's new height, Seito leaps up to attack him at his /weak spot/.
Khunbish Avagnar: Takes a solid hit from Seito's attack, snarling even louder from the hit. He attempts to overwhelm Astra's grip by off balancing, maybe some of the bleeding from this body will cause her to lose her grip.
Artoria Aldsan: With Shaitan on the ground, Artoria quick to stomp her foot onto his neck before driving her sword down to try and pierce through his back.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan manages to wiggle out of the way of the attack, it wasn't elegant having been near prone but he's out of the way. The ground starts rumbling again, another earth quake.
Astra Bluestar: Astra growls as he managed to get out of her grip. He was too heavy to keep that up long but he didn't spike them again. She grabs her sword and takes advantage of the fact hes lying on his face to stab him.
Adeya Evenar: Adeya narrows her eyes. Aiming carefully, she sends a choking bolt of purple aether towards Shaitan, figuring that there was still enough of the mqio'te to be affected by the poison. She then turns towards Astra and throws another shield on her. She still hadn't quite ruled out Shaitan trying to get revenge for earlier.
Seito Moonclaw: Seito wastes little time and instead focuses on pressing the attack on the coughing Shaitan, this time focusing his strike on one of the several cracks that had formed around the once-elemental.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan growls, stumbling as a crimson line forms along his side before it begins to bleed from /Deep slashing wound/. His hand going to his side he growls in frustration as he /Walks the Stone/, quickly metling away into the ground as he cheesecakes out of there, the last image of him being absorbed into the ground was a stoney clawed middle finger and blood from his wounds.
Artoria Aldsan: Artoria lets out a short, frustrated breath. "Coward." She shakes her head and looks to the others. "Let's get the survivor to the surface and let the Sons know what occured."
Seito Moonclaw: "Hrmph." Seito watches him go, even stomping once on the ground for good measure. Exhaling out a huff, he nods to Artoria and after a quick swing to clear his blade, sheathes it. "That is likely best, he could yet cause another earthquake."
Astra Bluestar: Astra shakes her head and sighs a bit before moving over to help with the elezen. "We will have to tell them the rest all died and will need to have rite performed. And the we will have to look at what we can find about that thing."
Adeya Evenar: Adeya growls in frustration, her tail lashing angrily. "Great. Well I don't think there's any way to track him now," she admits. Putting her grimoire away, she glances over towards Astra. "Right. But first we should get out of here like Seito said. That thing seems petty enough to want to kill us, and we're in the perfect spot for it to do it." She then glances back towards the Allagan device on the other side of the room. "And it would damange that, which is probably our best chance of finding something out about it."
Astra Bluestar: Astra nods to Adeya "I had thought of trying to shove him back into it. But unless it is fixed that will likely not do anything."
Seito Moonclaw: "Mm, my thoughts exactly. Perhaps someone at camp will be able to repair it in the meantime."
Adeya Evenar: "No, it probably would have just angered him more and damaged it further." She gives Astra a small grin. "What you did seemed to work rather well, even if it was risky. And hopefully," she adds to Seito.
Seito Moonclaw: Seito wanders over to try and carry/assist in getting the elezen woman up and out of there now that imminent danger had passed.
Astra Bluestar: Astra shakes her head, blushing a tiny bit "It was crazy and risky. I do not know what possessed me to try it."
Artoria Aldsan: "No, given how he was behaving and his clear connection to Earth aspected aether, it was smart. If we face him again, it might be best to find a way to keep him off the ground."
Adeya Evenar: "Perhaps we could manage to trick him somehow. Or use magic," she muses as she follows after Seito. "Either way requires finding a way to find him first though."
Seito Moonclaw: "Yes...let us not get ahead of ourselves. For now our focus should be on," he gestures to the woman he's carrying with his tail, "her returning safely. It is my hope that there is much she will be able to tell us."
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred was waiting for everyone when they made it back up and out of the Tunnel, "Oh good, I don't have to go in to die seeing if y'all died." he blinks at the woman, "Oh...Fontraux will be happy his daughter survived...wait son?...hells can never tell." he leads the group back to the Find. Rammbroes is happy for the return and that at least there was one survivor, concerned by their find but having no idea what to say. It'll take Halcyon a few days to recover however but once they're awake they'll be available to question.
Seito Moonclaw wanders up to the camp, pausing here and there to idly admire the crystals, even prodding at a few of them. He gives a nod and brief smile. "Hmm, I believe this is where the leve said aid was needed..."
Khunbish Avagnar: Rammbroes was having an animated and worried conversation with an Elezen that was just as animatedly responding back as the group arrives. He finally just holds a hand up and looks to the group, "Here for the emergency Leve?"
Astra Bluestar nods to the Roegadyn "Yes sir. I am."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly. "I have heard you needed assistance. What seems to be the issue, exactly?"
Adeya Evenar nods once. "That's right," she says. Folding her arms, she glances between Rammbroes and the rest of the group. "Yes, some more details would definitely be helpful."
Seito Moonclaw likewise nods, "Indeed."
Khunbish Avagnar: Rammbroes glances at the group and sighs, "So some time after the crystal tower was locked back up, there was an earth quake and some adventurers reported part of the ground collapsed into a tunnel. We sent some guards with a couple researchers in, they never came out, so we sent more guards and they never returned so we're having to resort to people with more experience."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly. "I see. Are we to simply scout the interior, or are we to prioritize search and rescue then?"
Khunbish Avagnar: The Elezen man was about to talk but Rammbroes holds a hand up, "Fontraux I understand, that is why I put this leve out in the first place!" he looks back to the group, then Artoria, "Search and Rescue, we'd like our people back, if even to bury them properly. We don't know what's in there other than the normal Gigas issues in the area."
Adeya Evenar reaches up to run a hand through her hair as she thinks. "It sounds like they ran into something in there then. Which... considering where we're talking about, could be any number of things." She glances over towards Artoria, her tail swishing thoughtfully behind her, before turning back to Rammbroes and adding: "In addition to that, how long ago was this?"
Khunbish Avagnar: "This was yesterday, we put that leve up quick because of the expediency especially if people are injured down there."
Seito Moonclaw rests his hands at his belt as he nods, listening closely while his tail sways about. "Do you have a count of how many we are seeking?"
Adeya Evenar nods once. "Well, there might be a chance then," she remarks before falling quiet once more. She was curious about that as well.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Yes, the first group had two researches, G'randi Tia and Halcyon Sapphiraux, plus four guards, the second was another group of four guards with the two adventurers that found the opening originally."
Astra Bluestar: "Where is this opening?"
Khunbish Avagnar: "It was found near the original crystal tower gate." he motions towards one of the guards, "He'll show you the way, Fred? right his name's Fred." The hyur nods his head, "I'm Fred." he leans against his spear looking not to pleased about going along.
Adeya Evenar purses her lips slightly at the sight of Fred. "Don't worry," she says. "You're not the one going down in there." She then looks towards the others. "Well, I think that's everything then?"
Seito Moonclaw nods to Fred, "Thank you then." He turns to the others, "Shall we be on our way?"
Astra Bluestar nods to Adeya "I think that is all we need for now."
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred nods his head and motions for them to follow as he makes his way towards the Crystal tower, "This way."
Astra Bluestar: "My name is Astra by the way. Good to meet you all."
Artoria Aldsan nods slightly at Astra's introduction. "Artoria."
Seito Moonclaw: "I am Seito, and likewise."
Adeya Evenar inclines her heard slightly. "You as well. I'm Adeya."
Khunbish Avagnar: As the group approaches the collapsed opening, it's clear where it is by the floor droping in near the door to the eight sentinels, and the two Gigas that are peering into it, grunting at each other while they look in.
Artoria Aldsan: "I suppose that is our way in. Let's clear out the Gigas first."
Adeya Evenar pauses at the sight of the Gigas, her hand moving warily to her grimoire. "Agreed. They'll be a problem otherwise."
Astra Bluestar nods to Artoria as she takes her sword and shield in hand. "I doubt they would just leave if we ask nicely."
Seito Moonclaw chuckles softly, "One might hope but you are likely right." He shifts a hand to his sword.
Seito Moonclaw lowering his center for a moment, Seito focuses on the Gigas on the left before he dashes forward, drawing his blade as he closes the distance and attempts to cut along the back of the rather tall creature's leg.
Khunbish Avagnar: The gigas didn't dodge as he takes a 2 stress hit, but he sure seems focused and angry as he turns around to face Seito with a howl of pain.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas takes the other hit like a champ, about to lose his title for a 3 stress hit
Astra Bluestar lowers her shield and charges in on the Gigas that Seito has already attacked and slams into him hard with her shield and stabs into his leg.
Artoria Aldsan crouches befor leaping through the air for the second Gigas, her sword arcing as it aims for the creature's head.
Khunbish Avagnar: With the first one well under the state of being waylaid, it's only right the second one takes a hit to the brainpan, although he survives with some blood and whirls about to face whoever tagged him good.
Artoria Aldsan snorts as she hits the ground. "Damned thick skulls."
Adeya Evenar hangs back as everyone else rushes in. Her grimoire glows in her hand as she fires off a blast of aether towards the first wounded giga in an attempt to finish them off.
Khunbish Avagnar: The gigas' hide is pretty thick but still takes a solidish hit from Adeya's spell
Khunbish Avagnar: L.Gigas after getting triple teamed decides to take on the first thing he can swing at, that being Seito, after all, he did hit first.
Seito Moonclaw hops back but not far enough to avoid the blow entirely, raising his blade to try and parry it aside.
Khunbish Avagnar: R. Gigas aims an overhead swing at Artoria, going for a good skull for skull thumping.
Artoria Aldsan takes the blow on her blade, turning it aside.
Seito Moonclaw attempts to land another solid hit on the Gigas, still striking low on the huge creature.
Khunbish Avagnar: It is in that moment, the Gigas remembers, /Oh hey! I have a shield!/ and just walls off Seito's attack like it was nothing making him /Well Guarded/ for the moment
Astra Bluestar throws herself against the thing's shield as hard as she can to try and get it to shift out of the way. Surprisingly the gigas stumbles and she creates an opening.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas manages to avoid taking any damage from Astra's attack, but his shield was knocked out of the way.
Artoria Aldsan twists, her sword coming across to continue attacking the second Gigas as she strikes at its dominant arm.
Khunbish Avagnar: The Gigas manages to interject the shield almost as if it knew what it was doing when it realizes /Oh hey! I have a shield too!/ gaining /Well Guarded/
Adeya Evenar purses her lips as she readies another spell and throws it at the same giga. Surely it couldn't take much more.
Khunbish Avagnar: The first Gigas takes the hit like a champ, that just lost the title, tumbling backwards, missing the opening into the tunnel and tumbling off into the darkness below.
Khunbish Avagnar: R.Gigas glances towards where his friend went and then turns to charge at Adeya, attempting to swing at her using his reach with the giant club to maxium effect. Ironically, leaving him entirely open to anyone like Artoria to get clean shots on him either way later.
Adeya Evenar 's eyes widen as the giga charges towards her. She leaps back as she quickly conjures a shield into place to block the giga's swing.
Seito Moonclaw turns his attention to the remaining Gigas, springing to attack him now that he's wide open.
Khunbish Avagnar: R.Gigas is taken out pretty cleanly by Seito's sliced and diced action, guess he shouldn't have forgone his defense to try playing smash the kitty.
Seito Moonclaw gives his blade a swing to clean it before flipping it around and sliding it into the sheath. "Now that we are limbered up...shall we proceed?"
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred stayed out of the way like a good NPC, honestly, that spear was probably more for show than anything. Now that the Gigas' were gone he very helpfully points at the hole, "They went down there."
Artoria Aldsan: "Well, that takes care of that. Let's head down."
Artoria Aldsan jumps in the hole like a good adventurer.
Astra Bluestar: "Have a rope for us to use Fred?"
Adeya Evenar lets out a breath as the second giga falls and closes her grimoire, though she keeps it in hand rather than return it to her belt. She flashes Seito a grim smile. "After you," she says.
Seito Moonclaw: "Or...the forward approach," He states, watching Artoria hop down. Nodding to Adeya, he looks around, "A rope would be helpful, in case it is a rather deep hole."
Khunbish Avagnar: Upon a closer look, there's a rope ladder already set, it's only about 10-12 fulms down into the hole then the ground slopes down, it was more like the roof of a tunnel collapsed.
Astra Bluestar moves to the ladder and starts to climb down. "The gigas dead down there?"
Seito Moonclaw waits for Astra to descend a bit before likewise making use of the ladder.
Adeya Evenar follows Seito down the ladder. "I don't think gigas know how to use ladders.... or would be able to fit down here," she calls down, her tail flicking behind her as she glances uneasily up at the cieling. Opening up her grimoire, she uses it to summon up a bit more light.... which, judging by her expression, doesn't seem to improve matters.
Khunbish Avagnar: There is a quiet thud echoing up from the chasm next to the tunnel.
Artoria Aldsan: "I suspect we do not have to worry about the gigas. Be on your guard for other enemies however."
Astra Bluestar: "I will go first if that is acceptable."
Seito Moonclaw squints a bit with the rather close, added light but nods. "No, this was certainly the work of those who came before us." He pauses at the thud, beginning to look around slowly. "Enemies or those we seek. They are, after all, our main reason for being here."
Adeya Evenar 's eyes narrow at the thud. "You all heard that right?" she asks, before nodding once to Artoria. She was perfectly content to let the people with armor and swords go first.
Astra Bluestar starts to head down the tunnel, her eyes open for threats or people they need to help.
Seito Moonclaw: "Mm. Whatever it was, it was not far from us."
Khunbish Avagnar: As the group moves along the passageway, there are clear signs that this used to be a nice, clean, pretty Allagan/Crystal tower tunnel until it was comprimised by the crystals that tore through and spread all about it. Part of the ceiling ahead looks particularly unstable and everyone clearly sees that, not being under that section when a small tremor causes it to collapse in a spray of debris and a few beams that could have really hurt someone if they were caught under it.
Astra Bluestar: "This place is still collapsing...are earthquakes common here?"
Adeya Evenar 's face visibly pales as the ceiling crashes down near them. "I don't think so..." she murmurs quietly, her ears tilted back and tail lashing uneasily behind her.
Artoria Aldsan: "I wouldn't say common. The Calamity caused a rather large one in this region however."
Seito Moonclaw: "I could not say." He looks back towards where they'd left Fred. "Our guide may have known but for now all we can do is tread carefully."
Astra Bluestar nods and keeps heading down the tunnel.
Khunbish Avagnar: As the party continues along, there is a bend in the tunnel as it reaches a section that looks more stable at least. As they round the bend they come to a gruesome sight. There's two earth elementals standing there, and six bodies that look to have been thoroughly smashed, a pile of rocks nearby at least hint that they might have taken one or more elementals down before they fell.
Artoria Aldsan lets out a small sigh. "Well, we found one of the two groups."
Adeya Evenar draws in a sharp breath as she steps around the corner. "Looks like they got overwhelmed," she murmurs quietly, before shaking her head slightly. "Well, there's still hope for the others. Let's deal with these quickly."
Seito Moonclaw pauses as he takes in the sight, eyes narrowing. "...." Exhaling softly, his attention shifts to the elementals. "An unstable area such as this is not where I would choose to fight however...we may have little choice."
Artoria Aldsan: "I agree, Adeya. Let's clear out the sprites quickly and mark the location, the other group takes priority for now."
Astra Bluestar frees her weapons again and stretches out a little "Ready?"
Adeya Evenar nods once, her grimoire open. "Whenever you are."
Khunbish Avagnar: These are not sprites, each elemental is a pile of animated stone that stands taller than a roegadyn, these are sprites on steroids.
Seito Moonclaw: "Then let us begin."
Seito Moonclaw circles about the pair of large elementals, drawing his weapon before attempting to stab one of the stone creatures
Khunbish Avagnar: The blade simply glances off of the stoney exterior harmlessly.
Astra Bluestar charges in on the second monster. It turns as she swings and her blade makes a ringing sound as it is batted aside. She slams her shield into it to knock it off balance though. Next time rock dude.
Artoria Aldsan frowns seeing both of the attacks before her simply bounce off. She takes a deep breath, golden aether running along her blade as she dashes in to strike at the creature.
Adeya Evenar considers the rock creatures for a moment, then aims a blast of aether directly at the center of it.
Khunbish Avagnar: The two elementals are both hit decently well, one by Artoria's large blade assault charged with Aether, and the other by a blast of Aether from Adeya.
Khunbish Avagnar: Seito Elemental lifts an arm up to smash it down at him with the hefty weight of stone behind it.
Seito Moonclaw leaps backwards as the elemental's fist smashes into the ground. When the massive fist withdraws, Seito notices a /Crack in the Stone/
Khunbish Avagnar: The second Elemental attempts to return Artoria's kindness, the stones that make up its arms whirl about in a quick orbit about the central body, one shooting outward like a punching stone missile.
Artoria Aldsan quickly steps back, sword coming down to deflect the shooting stone to the side.
Seito Moonclaw moves swiftly, taking aim at the /Crack in the Stone/ as he focuses his attack there!
Seito Moonclaw: "Take that!"
Khunbish Avagnar: The Crack is definitely bigger after Seito's strike and the Elementals shell, or maybe whatever aether is holding it together appears to have become comprimised after that strike.
Khunbish Avagnar: Apparently even comprimised it manages to avoid taking any noticeable damage from Astra's attack, though it does put her in a slightly better position for the next attack
Astra Bluestar growls a little "I should have brought a pick axe."
Artoria Aldsan steps around, hers sword swinging in a wide arc as she aimed to cleave through the elemental. "It would be helpful about now, yes."
Khunbish Avagnar: The second elemental takes a solid hit from Artoria, the stone taking the non-aether charged strike fairly well, although afterwards it appears to have become comprimised like the first one.
Adeya Evenar narrows her eyes, focusing on the obviously damaged portion of the elemental. Aiming carefully, she fires a bolt of twisting green aether towards, hoping to corrupt it's aether even further. She then turns towards Artoria, placing a quick shield spell on her.
Khunbish Avagnar: First one takes the strike from Adeya as the aether reaches full instability and the stones just scatter across the corridor, lying there unmoving.
Khunbish Avagnar: The remaining Elemental whirls about to smash at Artoria, not elegant, but it's still a giant hunk of stone being swung at her
Artoria Aldsan handily blocks the elemental, smashing part of it into the ground to leave a [gap in the rocks].
Seito Moonclaw turns back to the remaining elemental and, having had some luck before, he attempts to slash into it as well!
Khunbish Avagnar: In the motions of its attacks and attempts at evading Artoria's combat already going on, causing Seito's attack to barely glance off, leaving a few scratches but nothing worth noting.
Astra Bluestar growls in frusteration as the thing swings at her and knocks her shield way. Deciding its time to try something else she flips the sword around so she is holding it by the blade and swings hard at the thing's leg. She slams the crossguard into its knee and with a crack it come apart. The beast topples over and she proceeds to smash the thing to pieces using her sword as a hammer.
Khunbish Avagnar: With the second elemental collapsed, that leaves only the clear corridor, and moving onwards towards the end, after all, the first party was still unaccounted for.
Astra Bluestar looks up after she finishes "Right...I think that has done it." She goes over to pick her shield back up before coming back to the group.
Seito Moonclaw watches Astra for a moment then tilts his head before looking around. "It would seem they found a rather aptly skilled group for this leve. Is anyone injured or shall we continue?"
Artoria Aldsan spares little fanfare for the defeated elementals, simply slinging her sword once more across her back. "Let's continue. We still have the others to find."
Adeya Evenar looks a bit impressed as the second elemental is taken care of. "Nice work," she remarks before turning to Seito. "I'm all right. Let's keep moving."
Astra Bluestar gives a little bit of a sheepish grin at the others as she begins to move down the passage again.
Seito Moonclaw nods in return to Adeya before moving to follow behind Astra.
Khunbish Avagnar: There is a couple more bends in the passageway until they arrive at a shattered door, inside is a well lit room, the flooring has been torn up to expose the stone beneath. There are four dead guards, an elezen woman(?) lying off to the side that's not moving. At the far end of the room is some tube like device that's been opened and a Male Miqo'te standing before it, tail lashing. His right arm appears to be made of stone, with a faint yellowish glow emitting through the cracks.
Artoria Aldsan frowns slightly at that. "...There were to be six, were there not? Two scientists? Is that one of the people we were meant to bring back?"
Adeya Evenar draws in a sharp breath and takes a step back at the sight of the miqo'te. "...If I remember correctly, one of the scientists was a Seeker. I'd be willing to bet that's him," she whispers back.
Seito Moonclaw surveys the room, remaining quiet. He gives a brief nod to Artoria, whispering low, "I do not like the look of his arm, nor it's glow."
Astra Bluestar looks at the others and nods to Arotria. "Yes. He may be. I have a feeling he will not be coming back willingly."
Astra Bluestar moves to head into the room unless someone stops her
Artoria Aldsan lets out a slow breath. "Adeya, when we enter, see to the Elezen woman and see if she can be saved." And with that, she pushes her way into the room, walking forward to confront the mio'te.
Khunbish Avagnar: There was a chuckle as the Seeker turns around, his right eye a brilliant shade of red, offset by the yellow glow coming from his eyes as well, "HAH! Stronger allagans have come!" he kicks one of the nearby bodies, "You allagans have all become such frail and weak things since shoving me, Shaitan the earth into a tube." he looks right at Artoria and pauses a moment, "...Huh did they start crossing themselves with dragons?"
Astra Bluestar: "We are not Allagans. They destroyed themselves millenia ago."
Adeya Evenar nods once to Artoria. As the others go ahead, she creeps over towards the elezen and studies her quickly, looking for first a pulse, then if she was still alive any obvious injuries. However as she does this every few seconds her eyes flick back up to the Miqo'te. "That thing looks to have affected his mind," she says bluntly.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Then you're the children of the Allagans, and have inherited their sins." he flexes his right hand a bit as he stares at everyone Balefully, "But..." he yawns and stretches himself a bit, "I don't have to crush you all right now like the others." // The elezen was alive, concussed and injured but alive.
Seito Moonclaw: "Where then, did you come from?"
Artoria Aldsan stays silent for the moment, eyes narrowing as she studies the miqo'te.
Adeya Evenar quickly starts to cast a healing spell on the elezen to mend the worst of the injuries. It was a patch job, but all she needed was something to tide her over until they could get out of here. However at the miqo'te's words she looks up, her eyes narrowing. "If you're willing to let us go, then why did you attack them? What do you /want/?" she asks.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Me? I came from the earth, I AM! The earth." he gestures a hand towards the exposed ground as an earth elemental tears itself from the ground only for him to gesture again and the stones scatter across the room as if it was slapped so hard it broke, "And the Allagans sinned against me! I will destroy them, I will destroy everything they created, those that carry on their legacy of abuse against the elements!"
Astra Bluestar: "We are not responsible for anything that these long dead people did. To hold us accountable for it is misplaced."
Khunbish Avagnar: "They were unfortunate enough to try and remove me from this body, wanted to seal me back up in that device. They resisted and so I had to crush them."
Artoria Aldsan: "Then you did possess one of the people who came down here. This body is not your own."
Seito Moonclaw looks around for said device.
Khunbish Avagnar: "Yes, you are accountable, you are all children of the Allagans!" he motions to Artoria, "Except you, I don't know what you are, never seen anything like you." he hops down to stand on the ground, "This body is mine now, I need it to accomplish my goals and it was easy to crush the owners weak mind."
Khunbish Avagnar: The aforementioned device was behind him, There's also a large stone spike sticking through what was probably the control console.
Adeya Evenar: "Gee, I wonder why that might be," she mutters under her breath. Louder, she says: "We can't just let you run around in that Seeker's body threatening to crush people. I hope you realize that," she says coldly.
Artoria Aldsan: "You said you crushed his mind-- then even if you were to give up his body he could no longer be recovered?"
Seito Moonclaw exhales slowly and peers at the others, "Are any of you perhaps...skilled in repairing such a device?"
Astra Bluestar: "The allagans were destroyed. Utterly. Completely. There is no legacy. We are not their children. The elementals are not abused. One of the current city states actually works in harmony with the resident elementals."
Adeya Evenar glances sharply over towards Seito and shakes her head slightly. "I've been around Allagan devices before, but the last time I tried to get one to work it almost blew up in my face."
Seito Moonclaw: "Then it is better that we not repeat that. Does she yet live?" He gestured to the elezen nearby.
Khunbish Avagnar: "You don't understand anything..." he grits his teeth, his expression darkening, "The Allagans legacy is everyone, I can feel it spreading throughout the earth, poisoining, their feet stomping everywhere. You are all their children, except you, again never seen your kind before. They could have easily crafted you, you're here in their lands, wielding powers they held, and I can still smell the stench of corrupted aether." it was clear he was getting angrier.
Seito Moonclaw frowns and turns his attention back to the miqo'te. "Will you leave that form and surrender it to the rightful owner's mind?"
Adeya Evenar nods once as she gets to her feet. "She does. She should see a proper healer once we get out of here, but she'll be fine," she says quickly, her hand hovering on her grimoire as she studies the miqo'te. "You're wrong," she says bluntly. "Getting revenge on us won't do you any good. The Allagan Empire has fallen long ago and your attempts at revenge will accomplish /nothing/."
Artoria Aldsan closes her eyes and lets out a slow breath. When she opens them again, it is to draw her sword. "Your hatred is not unfounded, but it is misguided. If you continue in this course, I will stand against you and I will destroy you, Shaitan."
Astra Bluestar: "You can not be allowed to hurt innocents anymore."
Khunbish Avagnar: He pauses as he focuses on Adeya, "...Yes, it would accomplish my goal. To wipe every last trace of the Allagans from this world." he looks to Artoria and stands up straight, "You will destroy me? I AM the earth! I have existed from times primevil! Before even the allagans thought to tear me away from the rest of the elemental energies of Hydaelyn and warp me!" he chuckles a bit, "And so what if you are not directly allagans... you are all collateral so long as there is even a single shred of allag left on this world, it must be crushed no matter the cost."
Artoria Aldsan tilts her head. "I care not what you are. The Allagans tore you away from Hydaelyn. That is proof enough that the world can live on without you."
Astra Bluestar draws her sword and shakes her head "Just like that idiot dragon."
Adeya Evenar considers this for a moment, then she sighs and rolls her eyes. "This isn't working," she says bluntly. "And it doesn't seem willing to let that researcher go." Her grimoire begins to glow softly as she begins to channel aether into it. "I say we deal with this overblown earth elemental and be done with it."
Seito Moonclaw simply nods and draws his blade.
Khunbish Avagnar: He laughs a bit and stands up straight, "Then come at me. Prove you are stronger than the chattel that came before you! Prove that you are not more flailing foundlings without a clue how to fight..."
Seito Moonclaw narrows his eyes, "You claim to hail from a time before time? Then I welcome your challenge and will test my blade against you!" And with that he will swiftly from A to B.
Khunbish Avagnar: With Seito rushing at Shaitan, the crazed elemental miqo'te looks more than happy to lash out at him, the ends of the stone arm going from a hand to earthen claws.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitans arm came up to glance off Seito's attack, it wasn't clean enough to cause significant damage at the moment. He then Wheels about to bring the claws down attempting to rake Seito.
Seito Moonclaw attempts to leap away from the attack but has the front of his armor dramatically clawed away, leaving crimson lines on his chest.
Artoria Aldsan takes a few running steps before leaping for Shaitan, a low growl rumbling in her throat as she brings her sword down.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan was not in position to put his arm in the way of Artoria's attack, his clothing tearing as her blade cuts into him, for a brief moment there was a cluster of stone that absorbed some of her darkside rage.
Astra Bluestar comes running in, shield held in front of her and slams into the possessed miqo as hard as she can. The slam causing him to be /off-balanced/
Adeya Evenar hangs back, her grimoire at the ready. She gathers up aether, then flings a sickly green looking bolt of aether at Shaitan. It had worked well enough on the other elementals after all.
Seito Moonclaw shifts to make room for the others in the growing melee, attempting a quick slash along Shaitan's back.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan gets his arm up in time to glance that spell off of it, growling angrily as he is now in a melee cluster with a catte taking pot shots.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan snarls violently as he drops down, slamming his hand into the ground using /Absolute Earth Control/ To rip earthen spikes up against everyone in Melee against him.
Astra Bluestar tries to dive to the side as the spikes shoot up. She mostly gets out of the way from his aim being off but still ends up cut up.
Artoria Aldsan hisses as she's forced to weave between spikes, several of them piercing through her armor. She kicks her way through, golden aether lighting up along her blade once more as she rushes to try and strike down Shaitan.
Seito Moonclaw just barely dodges and rolls aside, managing to avoid the spikes but finding himself with /bad footing/ in the process.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan takes another clean strike from Artoria's blade, buffered briefly by another patch of stone appearing upon his body. He snarls out in pain from the strike.
Astra Bluestar: Astra notices him touching the ground to cause the spike burst and quickly drops her weapons and rushes in. She grabs him by the back of the shirt and the belt and with a yell lifts him up off the ground "Try that again!"
Adeya Evenar: Adeya's eyes widen as Astra lifts up Shaitan. Quickly she throws another spell at the creature, hoping to capitalize on her earlier corrputing spell and the fact that Shaitan was now in the air, before hurriedly throwing a shield on Astra. She suspected that their angry earth "friend" wasn't going to be happy with her.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan takes the blast pretty handidly not being in a position to escape the attack at the moment.
Seito Moonclaw: Regaining his footing to take advantage of Shaitan's new height, Seito leaps up to attack him at his /weak spot/.
Khunbish Avagnar: Takes a solid hit from Seito's attack, snarling even louder from the hit. He attempts to overwhelm Astra's grip by off balancing, maybe some of the bleeding from this body will cause her to lose her grip.
Artoria Aldsan: With Shaitan on the ground, Artoria quick to stomp her foot onto his neck before driving her sword down to try and pierce through his back.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan manages to wiggle out of the way of the attack, it wasn't elegant having been near prone but he's out of the way. The ground starts rumbling again, another earth quake.
Astra Bluestar: Astra growls as he managed to get out of her grip. He was too heavy to keep that up long but he didn't spike them again. She grabs her sword and takes advantage of the fact hes lying on his face to stab him.
Adeya Evenar: Adeya narrows her eyes. Aiming carefully, she sends a choking bolt of purple aether towards Shaitan, figuring that there was still enough of the mqio'te to be affected by the poison. She then turns towards Astra and throws another shield on her. She still hadn't quite ruled out Shaitan trying to get revenge for earlier.
Seito Moonclaw: Seito wastes little time and instead focuses on pressing the attack on the coughing Shaitan, this time focusing his strike on one of the several cracks that had formed around the once-elemental.
Khunbish Avagnar: Shaitan growls, stumbling as a crimson line forms along his side before it begins to bleed from /Deep slashing wound/. His hand going to his side he growls in frustration as he /Walks the Stone/, quickly metling away into the ground as he cheesecakes out of there, the last image of him being absorbed into the ground was a stoney clawed middle finger and blood from his wounds.
Artoria Aldsan: Artoria lets out a short, frustrated breath. "Coward." She shakes her head and looks to the others. "Let's get the survivor to the surface and let the Sons know what occured."
Seito Moonclaw: "Hrmph." Seito watches him go, even stomping once on the ground for good measure. Exhaling out a huff, he nods to Artoria and after a quick swing to clear his blade, sheathes it. "That is likely best, he could yet cause another earthquake."
Astra Bluestar: Astra shakes her head and sighs a bit before moving over to help with the elezen. "We will have to tell them the rest all died and will need to have rite performed. And the we will have to look at what we can find about that thing."
Adeya Evenar: Adeya growls in frustration, her tail lashing angrily. "Great. Well I don't think there's any way to track him now," she admits. Putting her grimoire away, she glances over towards Astra. "Right. But first we should get out of here like Seito said. That thing seems petty enough to want to kill us, and we're in the perfect spot for it to do it." She then glances back towards the Allagan device on the other side of the room. "And it would damange that, which is probably our best chance of finding something out about it."
Astra Bluestar: Astra nods to Adeya "I had thought of trying to shove him back into it. But unless it is fixed that will likely not do anything."
Seito Moonclaw: "Mm, my thoughts exactly. Perhaps someone at camp will be able to repair it in the meantime."
Adeya Evenar: "No, it probably would have just angered him more and damaged it further." She gives Astra a small grin. "What you did seemed to work rather well, even if it was risky. And hopefully," she adds to Seito.
Seito Moonclaw: Seito wanders over to try and carry/assist in getting the elezen woman up and out of there now that imminent danger had passed.
Astra Bluestar: Astra shakes her head, blushing a tiny bit "It was crazy and risky. I do not know what possessed me to try it."
Artoria Aldsan: "No, given how he was behaving and his clear connection to Earth aspected aether, it was smart. If we face him again, it might be best to find a way to keep him off the ground."
Adeya Evenar: "Perhaps we could manage to trick him somehow. Or use magic," she muses as she follows after Seito. "Either way requires finding a way to find him first though."
Seito Moonclaw: "Yes...let us not get ahead of ourselves. For now our focus should be on," he gestures to the woman he's carrying with his tail, "her returning safely. It is my hope that there is much she will be able to tell us."
Khunbish Avagnar: Fred was waiting for everyone when they made it back up and out of the Tunnel, "Oh good, I don't have to go in to die seeing if y'all died." he blinks at the woman, "Oh...Fontraux will be happy his daughter survived...wait son?...hells can never tell." he leads the group back to the Find. Rammbroes is happy for the return and that at least there was one survivor, concerned by their find but having no idea what to say. It'll take Halcyon a few days to recover however but once they're awake they'll be available to question.
§{Khunbish Adarkim}§