Scarcely any attention was given to the great spider as the true mind of Xireidi reveled in having his body back, though of course it had been his all along. Like a newly emerged gembound thoughts raced here and there as to what to do with this life, where to live and how to establish himself as a presence to be looked upon with awe. Should he let it be known that the one who had stolen his body was no longer here, or should he slip into the fool’s role and take advantage of the good will it had doubtlessly attained? Should he keep this false name, this Xireidi, or should he carve out a new identity from the ether?

The wolf's inattention would be his undoing as the spider flipped and released a great burst of magic, flinging his body back a short distance. More devastatingly than that though the burst of pure magical energy disrupted the delicate recovery magic that was coursing through his body. In one second the body that was finally under his command again went limp and unresponsive to his commands. In one small second his rise to life was cut short and the walls of his prison began to close in on him. In one more miniscule second he would lose all hold on this world and fade in terror back into the void of nonexistence again.

---

The sounds of commotion flooded Xireidi's ears as he found himself lying on the cold stone floor of Polaris. His body was still tingling but the sickening feeling from the bird's attack had faded away to some degree. Not much time seemed to have passed as he was unconscious, all was not yet lost as the spider was sprinting toward but not yet at the spire.

"We have to stop it!" he cried out in panic as he scrambled to his feet and began to try to close the distance again. Why weren’t some of the others moving? Why did there seem to be signs of fighting among them? Did they not see the charging gait of a predator approaching prey in the spider's stride? Did they not realize just how much magic potential was in the spire? Why were the idiots just standing there?

The wolf shook his heads as jumbled thoughts continued to flutter about his consciousness. He was still not completely recovered, but that was no excuse to fail to act.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

The Magicka Spider continues to advance on the Spire with weakened back legs and a cracked chest, nearing its goal. If the Gembounds fail to incapacitate it here, it will reach the Spire!

Magicka Spider has 320/500 HP.
The final round begins!

Xerxes has 70/100 HP.
Remedy has 70/100 HP.
Amras has 80/100 HP.
Eythan has 80/100 HP.
Kallista has 70/100 HP.
Carni has 80/100 HP.
Tukluk has 56/100 HP.
Xireidi has 70/100 HP.
Albeon has 80/100 HP.
Felina has 80/100 HP.
Cure has 70/100 HP.
Aries has 80/100 HP.
Aeroth as 89/100 HP.

Feel free to join in at any time!

From a cozy little alcove she'd once made her den, Kin-Kin had been curled up and preparing to nap, when she caught sight of a movement out of the corner of her eye. When the red wolf raised her head and looked, the wolf couldn't help but stare, and she found the sleepiness shaken from her mind like water off a duck's back. Because there, a large, moving orb of light, streaking towards the Spire- was followed by the biggest horde of Gembounds she'd ever seen. Confusion and amusement crossed her face, but before she'd even stopped to wonder what, exactly, was going on; she knew she had to be in on this.

The she-wolf rose to her feet and shook herself, glancing the way of the strange orb.

She saw that the Gembounds appeared to be making an effort to stop it; crashes and the sounds of distant yells met her perked ears. Kin-Kin began moving towards the Spire, knowing that her best bet would be to intercept it, rather than joining the mob.

Without a second thought she set off, tapping into the magic in her chest as she went, preparing to let loose a spell which she hoped would turn the tables. The closer she got, the deeper she reached, until, when the spider was striding the path beyond her, Kin-Kin planted her paws and let loose.

Magic rushed into the earth beneath her paws, taking the form of a spike of quartz crystal which grew and coiled, supporting pillars like rivulets of water growing up to support it. The great spike rushed towards the bejeweled spider, and now everything hinged on Kin-Kin's aim.

---

tagged:
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Tuck ignored the annoying cat who was advancing on him, using his natural ability to hop a ridiculous length in any direction, landing about ten feet from her. That wasn’t very far away, and it wouldn’t take long for Aeroth to catch up, but right now, all Tuck cared about was stopping the spider. He would deal with an angry cat later. Hopefully he could slink away afterwards and never have to worry about her. That might be difficult, though, considering he was still in a lot of pain. His gem throbbed as he attempted to use his Magic again, but he ignored the pain and pushed through, trying to summon vines again, hopefully to completely tangle up the spider this time. “Hold still!” he said through gritted teeth.

Amras Though Amras flew forward as quickly as possible the spider had still gained a lot of ground. Soon it would reach the spire and then... well whatever happened the cave probably wouldn't come out of it unscathed. He probably wouldn't make it to the spider in time to get between it and its target, he had to try one last shot using the longest-range spell he knew. Luckily he had recently mastered the perfect spell for the job. Setting his wings to a glide Amras held out his right hand and began to gather energy, twisting and intensifying a pool in his hand through light and into fire element, while paying special attention to the heat deflection energy next to his skin. Up to this point the process was essentially on autopilot, he'd performed the smolder step spell so many times he could probably do it in his sleep. This was not the end though and though the energy struggled to manifest on its own he still had one more step to go. The heat shield made of energy wrapped around the fire energy and started to shrink, compressing the spell until all at once it shifted from red to the brilliant yellow of electricity energy. The gryphon moved the small orb of energy to the tip of two outstretched fingers and pointed at the spider, breaking a pinprick opening in the shell and causing the shell to manifest violently, sending a bolt of lightning toward the crystalline beast. Pouch 1: Black talc stones x7 (medium) Pouch 2: Charcoal dust 50 in3 Pouch 3: Quartz sphere x1 (large, soft glow) Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium) Take hold of the power within "And shape the fabric of reality around you" tags: notes: None

we burn the brightest

in the dark

The searing pain in his gem ebbed away and Aries took the opportunity to stand up. His spine was still sore from impact but the magic in his gem had dulled it, now that it was free. The crystalline titan was now closer than ever to the Spire. Aries mumbled a cursed under his breath as he bounded towards it, ignoring his screaming back. He must help them stop it!

Aries noticed spider's weakened legs in the back and it gave him an idea. If it couldn't walk, it couldn't reach the spire. The giant arachnid had many legs, and it was unrealistic to take out all of them by himself, but if he hit one just right, it could upset it's balance, and maybe give the others a better chance at attack.

Hooves pounding on stone, he dashed passed the other Gembounds. His legs moved faster, gaining speed as he came up on the spider's flank, then around to is front, as he raced it to the Spire. All the while, his mind grappled with how crazy this plan was.

Once far enough, Aries skidded to a stop, turning his back on the crackling Spire, his steadfast body outlined in blue light like a stoic guardian. The ram lowered his head, golden eyes lit with determination as they locked on the crystal golem's front leg. This was going to be dangerous, possibly suicidal. Aries was about to collide head on with this crystalline titan. He knew if he succeeded in taking out its front leg, the spider could possibly fall on top of him. It was a risk he was willing to take, as long as it bought the other time, but it didn't stop the fact that, internally, he was scared to death.

Squashing all thoughts of self preservation, Aries pawed fiercely at the ground, smoke billowed from his nose as he snorted in anticipation. Then, digging his hooves into the ground, he shot forward like a cannon. Aries charged head on, undaunted. This time nothing was in his way. Summoning all the strength that he could, he hurled himself at the golem's front leg, and hoped his skull would clash with it.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: // OOC:

He barely had a moment. He could hear Felina call to him, but her words were lost to the wind as he continued his charge. Their youth and inexperience would be the entire caves' downfall if they were wrong about this thing. An instance might be all it needed to destroy their Spire.

He rushed ahead of the spider, towards the spire and spun in the air last second with a wide arching of his wings...

...and felt the snap of magical recoil through the strained muscles in his wings instead of the rush of magicka cast.

He plummeted a moment later with a sharp yowl, landing just barely on his feet, hard. The shock of the fall stung in his legs and paws but he knew he had to move, so the king made to sprint to the side and out of the Spider's path. He'd overspent himself. Not enough activity lately had left his abilities dulled. He cursed himself as he headed instead to the walls, where the ledges would provide some level of protection.

It was still rushing forward. Remedy felt a surge of adrenaline at the realization and rushed once more towards it. Her first steps were unsteady but she found her bearings with the moment's rest and carried herself further until she could find her wings and fly once more. Her flight pattern wasn't perfect, staggering at moments, but otherwise, Remedy was back in the fight.

She immediately dove for the thing's front legs again. Head first, she rammed it, bracing for the impact that was sure to take her out of the fight once and for all.

She collided with a resounding CRACK, then immediately fell to the ground in a daze, unaware if her attack had held any impact on its encroachment.

tags

Astaroth's lips curled back as he walked into the cavern he hated so, having heard the commotion he made his time to see what was happening. seeing the crystalline spider speeding it's way to the spider. He groaned and focused his energy. Anything to make them all shut UP.. His eyes glowed and he concentrated, but the little bit of magicka he held, sputtered out like a dying flame. He stumbled to the side a bit before he took cover behind a rock, he didn't know what would happen if the spider reached the spire.
"Speaking."
Thoughts.
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notes:

Aeroth advanced the rest of the way to the little monkeyish creature, a red haze in her eyes. "He hurt me, he bugging hurt me! That little bogan needs to be taught a lesson!" She was completely oblivious to the other happening in the chaos of the cave around her, all she saw was the little marmoset that had blinded her, even if it was only temporary. She ran at him and lunged at him, trying to grab him by the arm.
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
Tags:
Notes: