The stone Giant launches itself toward the party on the far side of the room, Payne looks to the podium in alarm "Keep it away from the board!" He hisses, taken aback by the events. "Anemone- go!" Says Percival and with that Anemone rushes to intercept the approaching construct, aether-hammer in hand. The behemoth is almost upon her, and at the last instant she takes a hard left accompanied by a high pitched war cry.
The giant turns on the spot and is met with a vicious blow to its shin from the ghostly hammer. A fist slams down but catches only air and stone as Anemone rolls to avoid the attack. She spins on the ground using her legs to generate momentum to right herself and deliver another punishing blow to the giant's foot.
The creature's mouth opens in a wordless shriek of enraged pain and two of his hands reach for Anemone only to be beaten back with a flurry of shots from Percival's hexguns. The spells land with reverberations of thunderous sound. At the giant turns to look for the source of the attack, Anemone makes another quarter circle around him and delivers a vicious blow to the back of the knee. Caught off guard, and unbalanced, the giant goes down to one knee.
Anemone calls out, "Aphrodite!" and hearing the signal, the pirate princess tosses her mythril hoop high into the air. "No kid gloves this time," She says and makes a series of gestures with her hands. The Hoop stops several feet above Aphrodite's head and a beam of platinum energy emits from the hoop's center. The beam slams into the construct with a vicious buzzing. The red crystals which are driven into points all over the giant's body react to the magick.
They flare to life with crimson light and the majority of the beam's platinum energy is drawn into them. The giant stands, largely unaffected by Aphrodite's attack, and backhands Anemone into the adjacent wall with terrible force knocking her through it. "Fuck! Anemone!" Percival unleashes a barrage of shatter rounds at the construct, and while they seem more effective than the beam, they do little to slow the advancing giant.
Payne raises both of his arms and four mage hands appear and attach themselves to the giants four arms. "Transfigure!!" He bellows and the four hands pulse as one with white light. Once again, the Crystals flare with crimson light and seem to nullify Payne's spell. Payne curses, "Those gods-damned crystals are the problem!" Percival moves further into the giants threat range. "Leave it to me!" He says.
The captain's eyes are now fully white and filled with iridescent, purple, geometric lines. as he closes the distance between himself and the giant, Percival's form blurs and four exact copies are made manifest. One of the captains dashes directly at the giant, sliding gracefully between its legs to avoid a crushing blow- the other four Percivals unleash shatter rounds at the red crystals. The flurry of automatic spellshot destroys two of the crystals and enraged the Giant lunges at his assailants who scatter to avoid being crushed.
The four Percivals converge and run toward the side of the chamber farthest from the podium. The giant turns once more and lumbers after them. A stone fists slam to the ground, hitting nothing, but the Percivals use them as stepping stones to scale the massive creature. Acting in unison, they grip their hexguns and use them to assault more of the remaining crystals at point blank range.
Four more crystals are shattered before the construct manages to capture his attackers- one in each of his monstrous hands. He crushes them, tossing their lifeless bodies to the floor with a sickening force- The broken bodies lay at grotesque angles and liquefy into a sizzling, corrosive fluid. The stone creature recoils as another crystal is destroyed by a shatter round. The behemoth spins again to find Percival kneeling in front of the stone pillar- the barrels of both hexguns fully extended. "come on then-" He taunts.
The giant rushes at the captain who unleashes one shot after another at his enraged foe; one- and another- and another... each shot finds its mark. The final crystal shatters just as the Giant reaches the captain with all four arms outstretched. Anemone is there suddenly; swiftly she spins using the momentum to deliver a punishing blow to the back of the construct's knee. The giant is once again knocked prone.
On cue- Payne's mage hands reattach themselves to the creature's arms as he bellows the incantation: "Transfigure!" The hands pulse as one with white light and the arms disperse into grains of sand all over the chamber floor. "They looked like big, strong, hands to me." He says with a self-satisfied smirk. Aphrodite's golden eyes pulse with iridescent light and her form blurs- with blinding speed she dashes at the downed construct. She leaps at an angle directly over the giant, placing the hoop over its head and around its neck.
She makes a full rotation around before stopping behind and placing her feet in between it's massive shoulder blades. The centrifugal force causes the construct's head to be yanked viciously backwards. The center of the hoop erupts with molten, platinum light that envelops the giant's head accompanied by the strange buzzing. The beam extinguishes leaving the giant's head absent- burned away by the molten light.
Aphrodite expertly swings around the now-inert stump and tumbles high in the air. As she gracefully descends, Percival phases- seeming to blur and fade through the air to catch her. As she lands facing him, with her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist, the mythril hoop- Pandora, hovers obediently beside them. "You show off." She taunts. "Wait, I'm the show off?" Percival retorts with mock incredulity.
"Your eyes are doing that dark faerie-magick thing... I like it." She says peering into his eyes with an intrigued smile. "Well that was certainly Impressive my fr- ow!" Payne recoils, falling on his bottom and gripping his shoulder from Anemone's sudden blow. "I told you." She says matter of factly, still covered by her ether-armor. Payne takes his medicine without complaint but rubs his shoulder with an abashed look.
“I hope you have a better plan than whatever the hell that was, Payne.." Percival pats Aphrodite on her thighs with a "Here, get down." before making his way back to the podium which is thankfully unharmed. "I suppose I could reverse engineer the pass phrase..." Payne says ponderously. "Wait, I'm sorry what?" Asks Anemone, giving him the side eye. "Well that is to say my dear Miss. Stheno, I can access the artifact and reproduce the last passphrase entered... before ours of course."
Anemone takes a deep breath. "And you didn't do this before, because..." She gestures in the air as if trying to coax him to finish her sentence. "Because I thought I knew the answer. I am sorry my friends." Payne's earnest words are delivered with a humble smile. Anemone rolls her eyes but says nothing more. Payne continues, "I will say that it is somewhat risky. This spell will only give me access to the last three pass phrases entered- once of which was ours. There is no guarantee that any of them are correct, and I can't say with any certainty what will happen if we are wrong again."
Percival nods. "I say go for it. It's not like we have any better options... fucking wizards." He grumbles. Payne laughs, "Fucking wizards indeed Mr. Grimm. But you have some magick of your own don't you? Furthermore you were able to hide your abilities from me..." Payne places both hands above the podium. Suddenly a party of Cro'gal enter the chamber.
"What is meaning of this?!" Their leader is a familiar looking mass of scales and muscles in a patchwork of battle armor. "We're so sorry Grog, we made a mistake- but see we fixed it!" Aphrodite says in Dhass, gesturing to the immobile construct. "I am not Grog- I am Laax." He growls. Payne turns his head to Percival, "What does our friend Grog want?" He asks, having not understood the exchange. "That isn't Grog," Replies Anemone in Gamroth common. "Ah well- they look the same." says Payne.
"Rude!" Scoffs Aphrodite. "You!" Laax jams a taloned finger in Percival's direction, "Faerie! What have you done?" With a sinking feeling, Percival is reminded that his sight is still active- his eyes' current appearance is surely not helping their case. "Everyone just calm down." Anemone reasons, "Grog said we could explore this place. There was an old trap that got sprung and we dealt with it." But Laax shakes his saurian head.
"No more human meddling, no more old gods, no more Faeries!" He snarls, raising his obsidian club. The other four lizard men follow his example brandishing clubs and spears alike. "Gods... damn it." Grumbles Percival, "Payne- focus on getting us that pass code. Aphrodite, can you zap them?" Aphrodite shakes her head, "I can't use Forge beam again until tomorrow- But I can do this."
She makes a series of gestures and mudras with her hands before throwing them out on either side. At this sequence of movements the ground in the center of the room begins to crack. A horizontal fissure appears in the center of the chamber and quickly fills with molten copper- the air is rife with acrid smoke and the smell of burning metal. The Cro'gal eye the gaping chasm wearily. One of them begins moving toward the river of burning metal.
"No..." Says Percival. The lizard man starts to jog. "No, no...." He says again. As the Cro'gal increases his speed he adjusts one of his hexguns- replacing the yellow crystal with a blue one and reloading another spellshot cartridge. "No, no no-" The Cro'gal leaps high into the air in an attempt to clear the burning chasm. "Nope." Percival fires his hexgun and a chord of blue lightning erupts from the barrel and strikes the leaping figure.
His movement interrupted mid-leap, the hapless lizard man falls into the molten pool. His screams shred the air as he thrashes violently before going under entirely. The room is silent, save for the hissing from the liquefied metal. All at once, the remaining six Cro'gal run and then launch themselves high into the air. Percival fires two more shots- The burst of lightning just misses one intended target, but the shatter round impacts the other's leg with a snapping sound.
The Cro'gal warrior manages to clear the molten pool, but lands hard on the injured leg and immediately goes down clutching it and snarling. The ringleader- the one called Laax is leading the charge, with war club in hand and yellow eyes blazing. Aphrodite hurls Pandora, sending the weapon spinning through the air and striking him hard in the chest.
The hoop’s impact is accompanied by a pulse of golden light. His expression bewildered, Laax begins hovering several feet above ground. Swiftly he gains altitude and soon he is floating high above the chamber and its occupants. Pandora ricochets back and is caught expertly by Aphrodite just as another Cro’gal warrior reaches her. The lizard man swings his club but the attack is deflected by an outward rotation of the mythril hoop.
Percival phases again and is suddenly directly in front of the attacker. The captain pulls the trigger on his hexgun and a bolt of lightning strikes the lizard man in the chest, point blank, dropping him to one knee. Another Cro’gal comes in from the left wielding one of the cruel looking Spears. He thrusts at Percival but the attack is deflected by Pandora.
Meanwhile the largest of the Cro’gal makes a direct line for Anemone- he swings his obsidian club with deft finality. Anemone snaps a finger on her right hand and an aether-shield manifests onto her right forearm. She braces with the translucent buckler stopping the attack head on. Despite the lizard man’s immense size and strength, Anemone doesn’t balk at his force. She snaps a finger on her left hand and a translucent longsword appears in it.
She thrusts with the ether-blade but the Cro’gal blocks the attack with the bracer on his muscular right arm. He angles the war club and strikes once more and Anemone rolls to the side to avoid the attack. The Cro’gal attacking Percival thrusts his spear once again, the blade penetrates the Captain’s chest- Percival’s eyes widen and blood erupts from his mouth and eyes. The lizard man’s growl of triumph is brought short as the Captain’s face widens into an inhuman grin, right before melting into a puddle of acid and dissolving the Cro’gal spear.
“What is thi-“ the reptilian warrior tenses and spasms as a bolt of lighting Catches him in the small of his back. Percival is suddenly behind him; the Captain jumps onto his back with muscular arms constricted tight around his saurian neck. The Barrels of both hexguns are pressed against the scaled warrior’s head- “Good game.” Percival pulls both triggers and the Cro’gal’s form crumples hard, accompanied by a flash of light and the sound of thunder.
The warrior who was immobilized by the electricity breaks free of his paralysis and makes an unexpected rush for Aphrodite who leaps and gracefully spins midair to avoid the charging Saurian. The Cro’gal continues his charge in the direction of the podium. “Payne, behind you!!” Calls Percival. As the Cro’gal approaches, a translucent mage hand appears at Payne’s side. The ghostly hand draws the blade from the mahogany cane and deftly drags its tip across the scaled assailant’s throat. The cut is accompanied by a spray of blood and the large warrior goes down gurgling.
With four fighters either down or slain, and one floating high above the action, the remaining Cro’gal launches a barrage of heavy handed strikes with his obsidian tipped club. Each attack lands harder and with more desperation against Anemone's translucent shield. The force of the attacks have begun to push her backwards. Just as the saurian berserker raises his club once more, Anemone seizes her opportunity.
As the Cro'gal raises his arms to strike, Anemone dismisses her sword and shield. Digging in her heels she delivers a punishing jab below the Saurian's breastplate, right into his exposed midriff. The hulking warrior is stopped mid swing; the obsidian tipped club clatters to the floor as he doubles over, clutching his gut. With another flash of light Anemone is holding her aether-bow with its sights trained on her stunned foe. Efficiently and ruthlessly, she looses the string sending a translucent arrow into his brain via one bulging eye.
As he falls, Laax who is still floating overhead snarls, "You will die for this!" His words are largely disregarded. At the same time Payne finishes his administrations. "That should do it." The Pirates rejoin him at the podium as the mage hand begins spelling out, "I-L-L-I-T-H-O-," The cursor is moved to "T" and finally "H" before going inert once more. "What the fuck in an Illithoth?" Percival wonders aloud, as the board's letters begin to pulse with crimson light.
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