Ruby-Beta followed closely behind Master Vargas, eyes gleaming with rare excitement. It's moment of clarity back in the tunnel had given it its spirit back and washed away most of the doubts crawling in its stomach. There were still fears, anxieties, and apprehensions, but it couldn't do anything about them right now. Its great doubts, at least, had been washed free, and its confusion with where it stood had been corrected as it at last let go of the control and freedom it had, however unconsciously, been desperately trying to grasp.

And now was its chance to show some of its worth to Master Vargas. Now it could do its part to help him, as it had promised. It just hope it didn't screw this up as bad as the Olympics.

Master Vargas was already throwing himself at one of the golem's legs and Beta didn't think it would do much to do the same. It wasn't nearly as big or strong as him and all the techniques it had been learning probably wouldn't prove too helpful against a creature made of stone. This wasn't exactly its area of expertise but...well, it wasn't going to back down.

It launched itself right at the front of the golem, intending on darting in and laying a trap down right at its feet. It was a gamble - it was putting itself in danger by going right there - but it had to be daring...right?

It's gamble didn't pay off, unfortunately. As soon as it touched down, it didn't feel the magic pressing into the ground like it was supposed to. Beta cursed as its heart jumped in its chest. Well now it was in a pretty awkward position.

"I believe the battle is on, for those who would take part!"

Any chance the Overseer could get to shirk babysitting duties and distract itself from its own paranoid spiraling about Dhracia's regards, it took.

It drew wind underneath its feet to keep up the pace with its Master and Ruby-Beta, and thundered into the tunnel after them in trademark snarling fury. Even Dread's circling above and his fire being strewn everywhere, raining down on the fighters, couldn't have deterred Alpha from attacking the golem.

Where Vargas was calculated, strategic, the orthoclase took a single quick note of another leg, ensnared by roots, and dove for it. It aimed to grab (what it thought to be) a weight-bearing stone from further up the massive golem's leg with its claws and teeth; then, in the same motion, to twist its upper half to brutally tear the boulder from its place.

'I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't--'

'SHUT UP, WE'RE HERE-- I won't-- STOP CUTTING ME OFF!'

Uh oh. It was bursting through. The giant rock monster, or...? Physically, it didn't matter. Khavur hadn't come for nothing. Khavur hadn't entertained... the ? for nothing. They were here to FIGHT! That's what Master Vargas said to do.

Khavur's flesh was a practically radiant orange with violet spotting, making itself plainly obvious amongst the background of greys, blues, and greens. The two-headed beast drove itself into battle like a decorated tank rolling into war; banners raised, blazing a trail forth that left pungent cherry juice in its wake. Limbs drew mechanically ever closer, like some kind of robotic spider. Quills fretted, and wings fidgeted. Its lumpy tail lashed from side to side, it approached as a crocodile might approach its prey.

It came to a leg of the awkward boulder. And once it was close enough, the Reaver of the Dark Above hoisted its front upwards and attempted to slam its weight against the rock, holding its limbs out in front of it as a brace.

Oh, how egregiously that plan would go.

raid: winter in polaris

[ boss encounter: ursa — room boss ]

BEAR GOLEM

ursa room boss

AZIGH

guardian of pegasus

SKAHAN

architect of the caves

GEMBOUNDS

character stats and info

bear golem

ursa  room  boss

▼ ENSNARED

0 / 300 HP    0%

Rock-shattering roars rippled from its core, and as the Gembound came together to uproot its very being, the bear golem did indeed weaken and shatter. Bombarded by wisps, body-slammed bodies, claws, teeth, even other rocks! Drenched in flame (which injured those immediately surrounding the golem, too), impaled by ice-spears, parts of its own body sheared clean off by magic—and then the largest opponents came, taking out one leg each. Despite all of that, it was momentarily distracted, turning toward Tahi-shei before its magic began to run out...

A bright hot-plasma explosion left a puff of feathers raining down upon them. Azigh's attention was snapped to it, eyes catching the faint glimmer of a stone dropping out of the air. He whipped up a dust devil and ferried a few injured away during the commotion, namely Sebastian and Blitz's stone (struggling to chrysalize) toward those defending.

The bear golem's growling ceased, the magic floating from it dissipating...

For a moment, its body stood silent, just the rocky-shape of a bear before it collapsed in a large cloud of dust and... spores!

"NO!" shouted Azigh, attempting to whip up another dust devil only to fail; he was exhausted, and so was his magic. He could do no more. "DON'T BREATHE IT IN," he warned, beating his wings to blow the danger back into Tunnel B.

Skahan reeled back from the danger, escaping immediately toward Tunnel A.

azigh

guardian  of  pegasus

243 / 500 HP    48.6%

The Gembounds had all come to attack, closing in from every angle and direction. Their bombardment was successful, and bit by bit, the golem broke apart. Washed with flame, torn asunder by large creatures and small, rammed until its rocky legs were bare and crumbling—and behind him, others that had fallen, too.

With his hands still gripping the majority of the bear's rocky face, he turned slightly to beat his wings, bring the wind together under his command.

"TAKE THE INJURED," he bellowed, noting those who were offering their defenses. A dust devil whipped to life beside him, twirling and sweeping through those that were tired, slumped, or knocked out; it picked them up, twisting them only momentarily within its core, before depositing them near Nemesis and Sergei.

ROLL 20

Azigh attempts to Cast Spell — Dust Devil ( BLOW AWAY INJURED GEMBOUNDS ) Successful!

skahan

architect  of  the  caves

500 / 500 HP    100.0%

Skahan kept his grip around the bear golem, shielded naturally against the head of the incinerating flame; the others around him, however, would catch fire. The golem itself bellowed and writhed, which caused Skahan to tighten himself around it, trying to keep it in place.

ROLL 15

Skahan attempts Physical — CONSTRICT ( HOLD IN PLACE ) Successful!

sebastian (knocked out) 33/100	tahi-shei 89/100	wyvern 89/100
sora 70/100	comet 89/100	carja 70/100
madhukar 87/100	rainstorm 89/100	cryogen 89/100
azrael 89/100	aristotle 89/100	james 89/100
lyra 100/100	kalama 81/100	esther 81/100
dread 100/100	bone 100/100	svartis 100/100
morpho 81/100	vargas 81/100	orthoclase-alpha 81/100
nemesis 69/100	sergei 69/100	catalyst 100/100
hargrave 100/100	ruby-beta 81/100	khavur 81/100
blitz 5/100

[ ACTION LOG ]

> RANGED GEMBOUNDS must roll!!
> MELEE-RANGED GEMBOUNDS are infected with MOTHER.
> NEMESIS, SERGEI block 12 DAMAGE, leaving the GEMBOUNDS to only suffer 19 DAMAGE.
> CARJA, KALAMA, ESTHER, MORPHO, VARGAS, AND ORTHOCLASE-ALPHA take 31 DAMAGE from DREAD'S INCINERATE.
> BEAR GOLEM takes 133 DAMAGE from GEMBOUNDS.


> BEAR GOLEM takes 31 DAMAGE from SKAHAN.
> BEAR GOLEM is ENSNARED by ARISTOTLE!
> BEAR GOLEM takes 18 DAMAGE from AZRAEL.
> MADHUKAR takes 2 DAMAGE from FAILED ELCTROBALL.
> BEAR GOLEM takes 8 DAMAGE from SORA.
> BEAR GOLEM takes 11 DAMAGE from EXPLOSIVE BACKFIRE.
> GEMBOUNDS takes 11 DAMAGE from EXPLOSIVE BACKFIRE.
> SEBASTIAN takes 67 DAMAGE from EXPLOSIVE BACKFIRE and is pushed out of the magical wards, knocking themselves out!
> AZIGH CALLS THE GEMBOUNDS.

> AZIGH suffers 257 DAMAGE over 4 rounds from BEAR GOLEM.
> BEAR GOLEM suffers 107 DAMAGE over 4 rounds from AZIGH.

THESE GEMBOUNDS HAVE BEEN INFECTED WITH MOTHER:
@Carja @Kalama @Morpho @Vargas @Orthoclase-Alpha @Nemesis @Sora @Ruby-beta @Khavur

THESE GEMBOUNDS MUST ROLL TO AVOID SPORES: (Barely+)
@James @Lyra @Dread @Svartis @Cryogen @Tahi-shei @Madhukar @Rainstorm @Sergei @Wyvern @Comet @Catalyst @Bone @Hargrave @Azrael @Aristotle

THESE GEMBOUNDS ARE IMMUNE/OTHER:
@Sebastian (whisked away) , @Blitz (chrysalizing) , @Esther (corrupted)

READ ABOUT MOTHER:
Those infected will be Exposed level. Read about that in this thread!

He swept back around, ember eyes already darting between the Gembound, picking the massive target out from the center of them. The spores-... He knew those. Azigh's cry warned him further. He'd fought this in Cetus; it was the same?

The dragon let out another bellow, this one a deafening screech of protest. Not on his watch-!

The black dragon half-folded his wings, sweeping down, and then pulled up short--upper torso snapping back, tail lashing down and forward with his momentum. Massive wings billowed forth, the thud of the leathery membranes imbued with magicka. A wind came from Dread: a blast of swirling, snowy air, the frigid sweep attempting to carry the spores up, and then away from the other Gembound.

Hopefully he wouldn't catch too many standing in the path of the wind...

James let out a startled whinny and reared, flapping his wings as hard as he could, backpedaling on his rear legs. If he could blow what he could away, maybe he could spare Comet, too!

In his own panic, he fell, the breath whooshing out of him and forcing him to inhale. He darted backwards and coughed, as if it would expel the spores. Fear welled up in his chest and he tried to bolt, both his own prey instincts and his parental ones warring within. Stay with Comet, run. Stay with Comet, run.

Stay with Comet and-

The though trailed off as he bolted, running for Comet with his breath held. Desperately, he tried to push her away, ignoring Aristotle in favor of their daughter.

Carja was overjoyed. Her family was here!! It was amazing!

Well, until fire burnt her scales and the golem exploded and suddenly people were running, the spores that rose into the air making her blood freeze (pun pun). She was about to turn tail, her hide aching with the burns that scorched her scales before she saw Dread, eyes widening. That could help! With her, Dread, and Ah... That dude, they could beat back the spores, maybe saving everyone!

She took to the sky and flapped her wings as hard as she could, clenching her eyes shut and holding her breath.

Hey! HEY!! It was maybe sort of working! Or at least, she wasn't dead yet.

"Come on!!", she called out, but continued to hold her breath for as long as she could, trying to call anyone else with wings to assist.

Sergei flinched back, battered by winds, by nearby heat, by stone. The stone held against one arm vibrated with impacts, though he couldn't tell if they were physical, or just the concussive shocks of the magicka flaring all around him. He staggered, spear nearly falling, that thick arm waving for balance in a way that would've been comic were they not all facing death.

When the bear golem crumbled, he felt grief--it was a bear-thing, like him--and relief. And wind was carrying the injured toward him. He glanced up toward Azigh, toward its bellowing, and as strange-looking as it was his mind recognized it as protector. Sebastian was skidding to a halt, unconscious, at his feet: and obedient to the protectors's cries he reached to lift him into his arms.

It was only then that he realized the spores floating about, the horror, the deep dread that roared through the barbearian. He'd had nightmares nearly every night about his time with Mother. Terror of his mind no longer being his own, sheer, pure fear of the fungus and its spores. With a single, agonized bellow--the word "NO!" at its half-incomprehensible core--Sergei struggled to flee the spores.

To his credit, he did not release Sebastian--but perhaps that was more coincidence than coherent choice.

What. Was. Happening. One second everything was fine, well, as fine as things could be if you were fighting a giant magical rock monster of a bear. There was a huge explosion, and Comet, once again, could smell the scent of burnt fur. Darn it, why had she decided to come here again?

Luckily, the gembounds efforts had not gone to waste, and there was a loud roar as the golem collapsed into dust. But there was something else in the air... "Don't breathe it in!" said the many armed animal. Comet held her breath and looked around alarmingly. Where was Aristotle and James? She saw them but couldn't shout, that would risk releasing her breath.

The pup was already starting to feel lightheaded from holding her breath. She had to think of something, and fast! A-- bubble! Yes! This was one of her more simple spells, and it wasn't really used for anything but fun, but here was a situation where it could be lifesaving. Comet poured all her energy into it, hopefully making one big enough to fit both her, James, and Aristotle in. But what came out was a bubble that was the perfect size to go around her nose. Oh, at least she wouldn't have to hold her breath anymore.

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas landed in the snow four-square, and braced. He'd turned to see what more there was a need to do--the idiot dragon's flames had plumed over him in a burning torrent, but the wash of snow quickly cooled it past anything deadly. Painful, yes, but-...

Vargas blinked.

The shouts around him blurred into something distant, something unimportant; his focus was internal. What-..?

It was as though something else were in his mind: not an intruder, no. But new knowledge. A new... perspective. Is this the world you would build? An old thought, returning--ringing in his mind. Over, over, over... Is this the world you would build? Chaos? Violence? Pain, and death..? What if there were something better-

The Leviathan, Master of Origin Cave, braced himself, head low, as if he were about to struggle against a harness, to pull some enormous weight. His head shook back and forth, rigid face contorting as best it could, chest heaving. The pain of fire was half-forgotten, as was the cold of his feet plunged into the snow.

He tried to remember what this was. What it meant. The thought, the memory of Order, of enemies at the gate, lurked... somewhere; just beyond his consciousness. He couldn't grasp it.

He didn't... he didn't want to, though he struggled; and after a moment, an agonized bellow tore forth, as Vargas stood braced against the snow.

To the others now Touched they might feel his anguish--struggling mentally, failing to find a foothold. Wanting to give in; wanting to fight it. A mental snarl, and a savage roar.