The pile of surging lava barely glanced at Rajani. But it was a glance, a pause, one that may well have saved someone else a punch with a boiling stone fist.

The assault on its shackles sealed its fate--for better, or for worse. They could, perhaps, have battered it into submission, or used magic to freeze it entirely, or they could have torn it asunder with strong enough weaponry. But they did not. First came Hargrave's Iceblade--shooting into the metal with a resounding clang. On its own, the impact wasn't nearly enough to shatter it--but it did frost it over, the metal growing brittle and cold. It set the stage for Bauxite's axe to crack the thing, a split down the metal's center. Stones flung for it, and Tourmaline's ice frosted the entire beast over as it made a final attempt to surge into the battling Gembound... Its lava began to darken, it slowed, and then--the bracer fell away.

The metal clinked to the floor in the sudden quiet. The lava golem eyed them all for a moment--and then suddenly sank away, its cooling substance flowing into the cracks and vents across the floor.

Silence stretched. It was not coming back. It had not been defeated, but freed; and it had no intention of prolonging a losing battle.

The bones of the dead--and all their long-lost treasure--awaited.

---

Battle Won!

Characters can roll for loot; it is mostly adventurers' gear left behind by previous attempts on this boss. It should be clarified what they are searching for, in general terms (i.e. a weapon, armor, trinket etc.). Those who wish to can double-post to roll for Recover or similar spells too.

---

The next post will take place on July 21st in the afternoon/evening GMT.

@Fahl @Thalassa @Bauxite-T-One @Rajani @Tourmaline @September @Surgis @Hargrave @V-Agate-One @Tyrin @Wyrm

Well fuck. He was glad this shit was done.

His shoulder fucking hurt and he wanted nothing more than to just walk out and never look back. But he wasn't going to walk away without loot, not after everything he just went through.

He grumbled softly to himself as he walked over to a corner where no one else really was and began to search through that stuff, really not wanting to deal with anyone.

Thalassa made the strategic decision to ignore V-Agate-One after he'd done it the favour of pushing him away from the lava it ended up running into anyways. Though he had seen it, and the frustration had flared briefly within his core.

But the golem was finally gone, with both shackles destroyed. A shame, though - what magick had made it animate? had it been lava originally, or had it been stone melted to serve a particular purpose. He moved to where it'd once stood, on the odd chance he'd find any answers.

Satisfied or not, he then moved to the treasure piles. If he'd found nothing of use by the golem, he'd look for another wearable - ideally something that was in a better state than the goggles he'd found before.

The shackle cracked under the force of his axe, the sensation sending a delightful little shiver down the Bauxite's spine. He rarely had this power, or the opportunity to wield against something that no one would leap to defend on its behalf. Perhaps he could come down here again, and enjoy the freedom from RULES and OBLIGATIONS and the OVERSEER.

The golem melted away. The Bauxite decided that he'd done most of the work defeating it.

But onto the treasure. He wanted something shiny, impressive... a STONE, perhaps... All of these people, and none of them reached his level. If he could create another worthy Gembound, perhaps life wouldn't be so... He wouldn't say lonely. Difficult.

The golem fled. Had it been imprisoned here, forced to play warden and challenge? How long had it sat here, shackled?

Tourmaline feels bad about it all.

But it's over, said and done. They weren't the ones who left it here. They'd actually ended up freeing it. And to the victor go the spoils.

She takes a moment to take a deep breath, first, but in time she follows the others, picking at the pile of the belongings of the dead. Might as well make sure some of it gets put to good use.

The fighting stopped so suddenly, enough that Surgis held her breath. She listened, waited, and strained, slowly peeking out from her hiding spot. It was safe, cooler, and empty.

She couldn't help but sigh a breath of relief. She hadn't done anything against it, but she didn't care, darting out to mooch spoils from those who properly did fight.

Surgis is looking for something valuable; something that looks expensive or ornamental, like fancy materials or craftsmanship.

Every attack had flowed into each other, the previous always benefitting that which came after. In the rush of battle, this combined assault lasted a matter of seconds, yet the results persisted long past those actions. Maybe it wasn't a resounding success, the golem simply melting out of sight. In these vents and against such an opponent whose being defied more conventional methods of banishment such as strangleholds and body slams, though, a retreat was vastly preferable to further antagonism. Were he in possession of an unweakened voice, Fahl would've been inclined to flung a few choice jeers at it for shrinking away, high on the ego boost of knowing his magic had accomplished the equivalent of a group's effort in shattering that first shackle. Thankfully, Wyrm's yelp seized his attention prior to adopting this unwise attitude; soon as the danger faded, he rushed himself to where she rolled over ice.

"How bad is it," he rasped, closely peering at her hide for any telltale marks. "Any burns?"

Sporting the rough scutes of her father, an amount of trust could be laid in an armored heritage saving Wyrm from debilitating harm. Nevertheless, as the current adult representative of the Children of Rot here, it'd have been callous not to allocate an appropriate dosage of worry toward her condition. Others could have their pick from the littered belongings of failed delvers first. He'd wander off for a piece of the plunder once his ward seemed in suitable enough condition to not require a supervising eye.

@Wyrm

The pause of the golem after the chaos of the ice and fire feels like an age- but also like less than a moment, less than a second for Tyrin to process himself that the creature had been trapped, bound and set like some sort of pretty trinket to wear around one's head or neck, and he has to take a second to breathe.

Mostly because the change in temperature is really hurting his lungs, and he needs to breathe. But also because he feels... bad. For it almost.


"I hope it stays gone, for our sakes as well as it's own,' He rasps. Tyrin is going to poke around to see what sorts of adventurers fell here... or if there's anyone like him that had tried. Upright, two legs. Maybe he can see if they have the same sort of stone as him. Kneeling to search and also figure out how to tighten his boots, he coughs some more.

With the wind as you fly away
Give a smile from your lips and say
"I am free! Yes, I'm free!"

Finally, even without September inputting too much to the end of the fight, the golem was defeated (from what he could understand or cared about). He breathed heavily, cringing at the burns, and looked at the other gathered gembound. "Good job, everyone. Well-fought." The spark had left his eye at his poor performance, but he didn't, at least, seem bitter. Only disappointed in himself that he had put others in danger.

Rolling a shoulder back, he stepped along some of the previous fallen for a last loot check, before getting the hell out of here.

september

The lava golem slunk away like some sort of coward, and if the agate had been just a tad bit more stupid, it might've given chase. After ALL that violence and struggle it didn't even have the courtesy of DYING? Nevermind the fact it wasn't really sure how a mass of lava would even die in the first place, it was just the principle of it all.

Whatever. The battle was over, The agate was mildly singed, and there was loot to find.

It had already found this sick as HELL collar, which gave it high hopes for whatever it might find next. It wasn't really searching for anything specific this time- really anything that was interesting or cool enough to take back home and boast about to El.