as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Thothaga could feel the sting of the dust devil before it hit. Dangling from the ceiling, she did not have much time to react. The violent wind slammed against her and a thousand sharp stings whipped along her back like angry bees. The spider gasped as the pressure flung her upwards and into the ceiling. She dug her claws in the stone and clung tightly, praying for it to pass. Fools! All of them! He hissed in her mind.

As the wind subsided, Thothaga allowed herself to fall back and swing from her silken cord. The net she had spun had gotten all twisted from the pressure spell. Frustrated, she cut out the parts sticking to her belly and quickly spun a few new sheets. No more wind! Let me work, fools!

For a moment, Thothaga thought about cutting her losses and fleeing, but she had second thoughts. What if it can see me in the dark?. She would be much more vulnerable on her than with a group, even if she was being caught in their crossfire. She would have to work with them. This thought didn't please her, but she valued her security. It was clear the others needed to know were this thing was. She gave her net a few tugs. I will make it glow.

But her magicka faltered, and no light spilled into her net.

Thothaga grew increasingly frustrated. The others would have to shoot at the dark. In the meantime, she will wait for her moment to strike, unless a spell knocks her from the ceiling.

"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

@Galactic

The little owl staggered to his talons, huddling in on himself. What was going on? Everything was so loud and he was so confused!

And then he was being picked up by a gust of wind, one that wasn't of his own control, and he was flung into something hard and cold - the bars of Huckleberry's cage. The pain stunned him, and he huddled back against it, not wanting to lose the one solid thing he had found.

In panic, he flung his wings, throwing up a wild gust at where he guessed their assailant was.

OF WISPS AND WHISPERS

KRA'RAUM, TERROR OF THE CAVES

43 / 100 HP

The bolt that shot from Huckleberry's cage briefly lit the darkness, and for an instant it seemed like a storm illuminated by lightning from within: a surging dark mass that filled the cave ahead, churning and shifting with the beast barely-visible deeper within. When the shock hit, the figure visibly recoiled, the shadows retreating some--and further still when the owl's lucky blast of air caught it fully frontal, throwing it backwards. The faint odor of ozone and burnt hair from Huckleberry's strike filled the air.

As if in retaliation, the shadows surged. Sound seemed to muffle, the air feeling thick, as if everything was far away and long ago, distant. It was the way one feels, perhaps, when drowning, yet past the fear of it; when fainting, and seeing the world fade through a pinprick focus.

As the sensation faded, those alert enough would find that the creature was now trying to make off with its prize. The shadows coiling through the tunnel, saturating it with inky darkness, were a distraction, a cover; Huckleberry's cage was being slowly dragged away, into the shadows.

Huckleberry himself could see the front bars vanishing into the black, seeming to simply be consumed. It would probably be unwise to test this shadow's limits.

Huckleberry 72/100	Shiny 36/50	Galactic 86/100
Pride 86/100	Thothaga 86/100	Jayberry 85/100

Kra'raum takes 18 damage from Huckleberry's Bolt. Kra'raum takes 19 damage from Galactic's Gust.

Everyone but Jayberry has taken damage from Kra'raum's Dust Devil.

Kra'raum is beginning to drag Huckleberry away.

@Huckleberry @Pride @Galactic @Jayberry @Thothaga

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

Electrical light from a gembound's spell briefly lit up the tunnel, but it was Thothaga's eyes needed. From her post above, through its veil of churning, black shadows, she saw a figure recoil in pain. There you are! Then a blast of air hurled the beast backwards, and before she could react its shadows engulfed the tunnel.

Thothaga dangled in stillness, her senses muffled once more, but in this situation, this was nothing new. Though the air was heavy, breathing for the spider was not as taxing, as long as she kept perfectly still. Nontheless, she remained focused, ready to hunt like she did many times before.

Then, the hairs on her legs picked up curious vibrations. Something metal was being dragged away. She knew the only metal thing here was the cage, made of material she wanted, and housed two gembounds as unlucky bait. The sound was dead give away, the moment Thothaga had been waiting for. Whether she had caught the creature or not did not matter anymore, it would not make off with the cage!

Oh no you don't!

From the darkness the giant arachnid suddenly launched herself from the ceiling towards the source of the sound, with her legs splayed out, stretching the net to capture whatever was below her. The silk attached to her abdomen stretched like a safety line, so that whether she missed or not, Thothaga would not fall to her death.

As soon as she felt something underneath her claws, she began to swiftly wrap her sticky, silk net around it.


"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

@Pride @Huckleberry @Jayberry @Galactic

Huckleberry could smell the burnt fur where their bolt had hit and a rare jingle of satisfaction warmed their chest. Perhaps the others would realize to follow suit. Perhaps the only way of getting rid of this thing was to kill it. Of course, this was Huckleberry's first instinct, having been raised by murderers, but it was maybe their only option anyways.

But the triumph was short lived as the shadows suddenly surged. A cold, fearful feeling settling in Huckleberry's stomach and darkness began to envelop the cage. Darkness so absolute that it was like sinking into the void. The hybrid let out a horrible sreech and tried to pull back, but it was useless the cage was too tight. Magic began to shoot from their gem and lightning crackled in the air outside of the storm as they wildly attempted anything they could to get themselves out.

In their sheer terror, they began to cry. "Mama, help me! Pride! Jayberry! I don't wanna die!" They babbled loudly, calling for anyone and everything to please, please save them!

@Pride @Galactic @Jayberry

Pride's mind raced. Everything was happening so fast--the cage dragging into the darkness, the spider snagging it with her web, Huckleberry crying out for aid.

It was perhaps this last--the hybrid's plaintive cries--that set Pride into a rare fury.

"RELEASE HIM!" he shouted--it would have been a bellow, but his melodic voice made it more a rather musical, if loud, demand. Still, it was filled with rage, even hatred.

He's been through ENOUGH.

Thothaga had the cage. If she seemed to be failing, he could help her with it--but for now, whatever lay in the shrouded darkness had to die. Pride braced himself, and stood stock-still, his white-hot anger pouring through him, sparking his magicka and igniting it. His eyes flashed with the surge, and he aimed it--all of it--at the darkness taking the cage.

He felt that white heat pour out of him, felt his body tremble with the power of it, and somewhere in the darkness, he saw the muffled thump of searing white fire that told him that he'd hit his mark.

OF WISPS AND WHISPERS

KRA'RAUM, TERROR OF THE CAVES

6 / 100 HP

Thothaga landed full on the cage--though if any part of her truly extended into the darkness at its edge, and whatever lay beyond, that part of her would vanish irreparably. Indeed, her web itself faded where it touched the black, reaching nothing beyond; but beneath her, it ensnared the cage as securely as it might catch any fly. Her weight and the web slowed it, yet it continued to drag inexorably forward--with her on top--more and more being consumed by the blackness ahead.

Lightning lashed out in front, into that unfathomable void. It seemed to touch nothing, illuminate nothing, vanishing into the dark, yet a sharply pained snarl echoed, vibrating from the nothing. Pride's magic, likewise, showed no light--no nothing--yet the snarl turned into a howl of pain, and the cage--slowed just long enough by Thothaga's quick thinking--stopped moving with a sudden jolt. It was half-consumed by darkness, and where the shadows suddenly receded, roiling away, half of the cage was gone. Eaten away, vanished as if that other half had never been.

The shadows pulled sharply away, and then burst outward again, exploding into the Gembound present--the cage, too, detonating as if filled with explosives, shrapnel and shards flying every which way. The creature could be seen, then, if anyone could react quite quickly enough after the burst--it was hurtling down away through the tunnel, as if attempting to escape. Perhaps using the blast as its cover.

Huckleberry 72/100	Shiny 36/50	Galactic 86/100
Pride 86/100	Thothaga 86/100	Jayberry 85/100

Kra'raum has been temporarily defeated, and is attempting to escape. Those present must first react to the explosion; any roll under Barely Successful will be struck by flying debris and the shadowy detonation. Being struck will inflict only 7 damage, with minorly knock-back and perhaps bruises at worst.

Any character managing a Barely Successful or over may choose to give chase, if they so wish, but this could be very dangerous...

@Huckleberry @Pride @Galactic @Jayberry @Thothaga

The bright light of the supernova blinded Huckleberry and they cried out as they shielded their eyes. Their body went flying against the cage as it came to a sudden, jolting stop. But that's when the realized...half of it was just gone. As if the shadows had eaten it away. There was a jolt of terror as they realized what would have happened to them if they had been touched by the shadows as well.

They bolted right out of that cage, determined not to get trapped again, and dove behind the rock that Shiny was hiding behind just as the explosion went off. The hybrid pounced on his familiar, who squealed with surprise, and sheltered it beneath his stomach, holding on tightly, fearing that, if he let go, something would attack the poor little cat.

But then the explosion was gone and Huckleberry realized that the thing, the creature was running.

They breathed heavily, hesitating. They wanted to chase it and help finish it off, but...Shiny...They looked down at their familiar, all the worry showing in their eyes but the catsquirrel just leaned up and gave their cheek a small lick. "Go on, Huckle-friend. I'll stay here. I'll be okay."

Huckleberry nodded, breathlessly, and leaped out from behind the rock, sprinting towards the shadows with an angry howl as he gave chase to the monster.

@Pride @Jayberry @Galactic @Thothaga

Pride lowered his head, his own magicka bursting outward in reaction to the detonation--trying to throw the things flying toward him, back away before they could strike. The burst of magicka kept him safe from the worst of the damage, and he glanced sharply after Huckleberry.

The stag had absolutely not been expecting the freshly-rescued hybrid moose to simply bolt after the monster. He'd been stepping back, taking a relieved breath, yet still staring out with tense adrenaline--pushing aside his hammering heart to prepare to thrust antlers should the creature turn on them. But it hadn't, and he'd turned to look to Huckleberry--only to see him race past.

"Huckleberry!" he cried--and his familiarity with, and willingness to defend, him might have been of some interest to Jayberry if she were even still conscious. But Pride didn't bother to check that; he simply gritted his teeth and gave chase, too. "Come back!"

With a quick glance to ensure none of the others were likely to die, at least, he gave chase--his swift, graceful form sending him racing after the hybrid into the darkness.

@Thothaga @Jayberry @Galactic

as a maiden she tiptoes shy with her light...

What magick is this!? Thothaga thought in horror as parts her web and the cage were eaten by the shadows, completely vanishing into the void. She slid off, still hanging to what was left of the cage with two legs.

Suddenly, her sensitive hairs picked up strange vibrations from the cage, and her heart sank. Could it? No! Quickly, Thothaga snatched her legs back rolled into a ball just in the nick of time. The cage exploded, sending shrapnel every which way. She felt the blast on her fur, but to her surprise, was completely unscathed. Thothaga did not have time to be disappointed with her prize in in pieces, the white stag and the hybrid had ran after the enemy. Shaken by the consuming shadows, she debated on whether to assist them.

Or perhaps warn them.

"NO, STOP!!" She cried out. "ITS SHADOWS CONSUME!!" Reluctantly, Thothaga crawled after them. Falling to void was a fate worse than death, even for those battle-hungry idiots.


"Thothaga speaking."
Thothaga thinking.

@Galactic @Jayberry