Difference between revisions of "Magma Rumble - RPLOG"
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| − | <div></div><br> <br>The airship ride from Firmament to Firebough is, as usual, packed - not with people heading to the peak itself, but it was a stop on the way to further destinations. The crowd was unusually jittery and nervous, but that wasn't the reason the members of the Freeswords were taking the trip. No, the reason was the small outfit of miners that had established themselves in the aescetic's camp on the mountain's peak. It seems as though the rest of the crew had been sent home for the night, but a coyote girl is waiting at the mine entrance, sipping from a cup of tea as her hired help arrives.<br> <br>Cassidy was already in the area, by virtue of living nearby. Though it'd be a stretch for the usual people to recognize her, as Cassidy wasn't the fennec she usually was! Nor dressed like she usually was. Today, she was a phoenix, dressed up in an elegant robe with the back left open enough for her wings. This was bound to be fun!<br> <br>Two enormous grizzly bears trudge from the airship landing toward the mine. One of them is a surly, burly bear with golden fur and a smoking cigar clenched between his teeth and the other is a silvery, metallic monstrosity that manages an excellent likeness to its organic twin. "Evening," Elijah rumbles, "Here to help." Despite the heat of the evening, the big, shaggy bear seems to be quite comfortable in his red shirt and tan coveralls.<br> <br>A female tigress steps out of the airship, wearing her usual garb. As expected from a native of Shralesta, her clothing is meant to handle the heat rather well. She yawns loudly, "Well, that was a nice nap." and stretches her arms out and nods to the familiar phoenix. Afterwards, she begins heading over to the mine's entrance.<br> <br>Jera seems to be kitted out extraordinarily today. The kit fox having brought along an array of large battle standards, making onlookers wonder just how she was hplding them all. "Long ride." She commented as she stretched.<br> <br>As the freeswords approach the coyote, she raises her hand and waves. "Howdy!" It takes her a moment to find a good box to set her cup on, and then she rises up to her feet and shakes hands with any who offer. "Thank you all very much. Should I cut straight to the business?"<br> <br>Cassidy folds her hands in front of her as she looks over the group, nodding along. "Fantastic. Yes, business, I think. It's been a bit since I've had a good adventure to a place I rarely go! This will be one of those, I hope. Don't go in mines terribly often."<br> <br>Cara looks at the phoenix upon closer inspection and realizes that this isn't the same phoenix from earlier. She understandably blushes and moves on, "I would certainly like to get to business though." The blush fades away and the feline looks around slightly past the coyote girl and stares into the dark void of the mine. She shifts her gaze back to the coyote and asks, "Just how deep are we going into the mines though?"<br> <br>Elijah pulls the cigar from his mouth and blows a smoke ring into the air. "Sure, kid," the big bear says, "I'm all about business." He takes the proffered hand in his own huge paw. "You think we're gonna need old Grizz here?" he asks, hiking a thumb at his golem.<br> <br>"I think this might be the first time in a long while I have not seen you with Natska at your side." Jera offered to Cassidy before she shook her head, going quiet to listen to the yote.<br> <br>The coyote takes a moment to consider old Grizz, then nods her head. "Ehyup. If he won't melt, anyway." She pauses, and looks over the four freeswords. "We've got a few promising veins that we just opened up down in the mountain, but they're awfully close to the volcano's heart. Probably magma chambers that got sealed off when some rock cooled, but believe me, it is hotter down there than two squikkerks in a Shraalestran pepper patch. And what's worse, some of the boys saw magma elementals, and now nobody wants to go near the new dig." She grins. "So. Head down below - not the lowest the elevator will take you, but the third stop down - and follow the path. It's marked with blue string. Clear out any elementals you find, don't die from the heat, and I'll pay you when you get back up." She motions towards the supply shed near the mine elevator. "Take all the water you need, by the way. I'm serious about not dieing in the heat."<br> <br>Cassidy folds her arms behind her back as she listens, the phoenix shooting Jera a look out of the corner of her eye, but doesn't reply, as if she didn't know she was being spoken to. "Sounds like a simple enough job. I am ready to go when the others are. As long as the elementals don't touch, it should be fine."<br> <br>Cara's smile grows a little larger. "Well, I'm glad I'm using a certain soul gem already, or this might be impossible for me to do." After concentrating for a second, a small bit of blue math equations, the gift of water is sent into her. Afterwards, she turns to everyone else around her, and notices a fox along with them as well. Seeing as he is the only one other than her that needs the water magic, she calls out in a polite tone, "Would you some water now?"<br> <br>Elijah snorts and nods, heading for the shaft with his cigar still clenched between his teeth. "Can do," he says, "Come on Grizz." His golem twin stumps and clanks after him. He does not seem concerned about any heat.<br> <br>"I suppose I could provide us some stamina." Jera mumbled something under her breath and waved one of her banners about to help.<br> <br>The with the subtle workings of water magic woven about the party, to help shield them from the worst of the heat in the volcano's heart, our heroes venture forth! Or down. Either way, the adventure is afoot. The mine elevator accomodates the combined weight of the five figures easily, although it does sway and clank as it descends into the mountain; the light of the sky up above quickly fades, replaced by glow-crystals set in the wall at regular intervals. Surprisingly, there seems to be a persistant draft as the elevator sinks lower, most noticable when the group reaches their designated stop. Tunnels lead off in many different directions, marked by different colors of string.<br> <br>Cassidy doesn't seem to particularly mind the heat, but... Then, she also had the phoenix form to help with that. Though she doubted her ability to remain anonymous once she started slinging her spells in her rather peculiar way. For now, though, she smooths down her elbow-length gloves and exhales softly. "Caves are always so... Oppressive."<br> <br>Cara's tail moves slowly as the heat begins to warm her more than usual, "This is easy so far, but now we better follow the draft. It's probably coming from the magma somewhere, but that's just a guess on my part." The feline turns to everyone else and takes a look at the phoenix with a small grin, "Thankfully, we won't have any problems seeing in here."<br> <br>"You think so, Miss?" Elijah rumbles, exhaling a cloud of blue smoke into the shaft, "Always thought these volcano caves were sort of nice. Sorta like the womb of the earth, you know?" Despite the growing heat, the grizzly does not seem uncomfortable, not even sweating as they go deep into the volcano. The burly bear clenches his cigar in his teeth once more and looks down at the strings. "Blue one, right?" he asks, "Grizz! Little light, if you don't mind."<br> <br>Jera frowns at the confined space, figuring it good for an ambush. She swapped out the flag on her banner, inscribed with what looked like a castle from a chess game. She followed along in the middle of the party.<br> <br>The group sets off down the tunnel, following the path marked by the blue string. The air gets warmer and warmer as they move closer to the open lava chamber at the heart of Firebough, although the paired water spells and the moving air keep it from becoming overwhelming. Still, for those unaccustomed to the heat, it is quite noticable. A low red glow from up ahead is briefly visible, before being washed out by the light from Elijah's golem, and the sound of stone scraping on stone can be heard from just around the bend.<br> <br>"Hmmm... I suppose caves do have a sort of charm, but for someone that is so used to the open skies and air, they're stifling, you know?" Cassidy says, nodding along as her wing feathers ruffle. "Can't fly, or do anything of the sort. It's pretty awful! But I get used to it after a bit."<br> <br>Cara begins to sweat for a second, "It really is getting hot in here. It almost makes me glad that I used to walk through the desert or this would be a nightmare." Then, the tigress stares in wonder at the large bear in front of her and promptly comments with a hint of curiosity, "I know the water spells worked earlier, but how are you managing to have no trouble with the heat?"<br> <br>"Fair enough, pretty bird," Elijah says, pulling his enormous pistol and checking the barrel, "Heat doesn't bother me, kitty cat." The burly grizzly steps around the corner with Dire Grizzly on his heels, gun leveled toward the sound.<br> <br>Jera swings her banner around to lightly tap Cara on the shoulder. "Have heart. We will endure worse the further we go."<br> <br>As Elijah rounds the corner, the bear is greeted by a spray of sharp chips of obsidian rock; it seems a pair of animae are wandering this tunnel, and are not inclined to treat organic beings with hospitality. Fortunately, between the fortifying magic Jera provides and a quick reaction from Elijah, the bulk of the spray misses the bear and the rest of the chips do little damage.<br> <br>Cassidy quickly brings her hands back around in front of her at the sigh of the opposition, working a bit of air magic into play. Fire magic was hardly the way to go here, but perhaps she could violently disrupt their composition with enough air magic.<br> <br>Cara's normal smile fades into a frown of annoyance. The feline's eyebrows furrow and her teeth are instantly shown. "Well, I don't appreciate rude elementals interrupting a conversation." She leaps toward the elementals and begins spinning through the air in attempt to destroy both of the elementals from the side with her feet so as to aid the phoenix's air magic in destroying them, rather than hinder it.<br> <br>"Well that is downright inhospitable!" Elijah growls as he ducks away from the shrapnel, "Show em some manners, Grizz!" The grizzly levels his pistol at one of the elementals and fires! As soon as the shot goes off, the golem crashes in, shields swinging!<br> <br>Jera frowns deeply to herself as the elementals appear. "Wait wait wait let me first!" She hated people without a plan. The kit fox drawing a symbol in the air to try to engrave a mark on the closest elemental in the shape of a sword. "If this worked we can hit them all at once!"<br> <br>Jera's quick action blazes a mark onto the first elemental, and it quickly goes down under the combined assault of the Freesword's; Cass' lance of air magic, the golem's battering assault, Elijah's pistol shot, and Cara's sweeping kicks battering it into pieces before it can do much else. The other animae, caught by several sweeping blows and staggered by reverberations from the strikes on the other golem, tries to catch Cara with a sweep of one of it's rocky 'hand'; the feline monk is far too quick for it to connect, however.<br> <br>With one elemental down and the second likely to follow under the attacks of the others, Cassidy lets it be, herself. She didn't want to expend unneeded energy just yet, should she need it later on down the counter. "Good work."<br> <br>Cara lands directly onto her feet. As the rock elemental attempts to sweep her with it's fist, the feline backflips over the sweeping hand and proceeds to send a surprisingly powerful short ranged punch directly into the chest of the poor rock elemental.<br> <br>Elijah clicks his tongue as he reloads his pistol. "Just like the shales," he says, puffing on his cigar cooly, "Finish it Grizz!"<br> <br>The second elemental crumbles, quite literally, as it collapses. The tunnel goes silent for a long moment, and then the clatter of stone echoes from further down the passage way once again. Quite a bit of it, it sounds like.<br> <br>Cassidy rolls her shoulders and starts off down the passage again, still not entirely used to having talons rather than paws. It's an interesting change for the new phoenix, but she doesn't show it much, beyond an occasional wobble. "Wonder how many more of those we'll bump into."<br> <br>Cara brings in her fist and takes a deep breath. Afterwards, she resumes her normal posture and stares in the direction of the noise before walking after the phoenix. The feline proceeds to whisper to everyone involved. "As much as I enjoy these odds, it won't do to get everyone else hurt. We need a plan to lure the rest of them here." She turns to the large bear shaped golem and smiles before glancing to Elijah, "Do you think your golem can get their attention?"<br> <br>Elijah blows a curling plume of bluish smoke from his nostrils. "Shales used to wander through camps out in the mountains," the bear growls, "Nothin' for it but to smash them up til they stopped coming." The burly army engineer produces a set of metal rings and clamps them on his wrists and biceps, flexing a little to test the magic that connects them. He raises an eyebrow at Cara. "I think we git their attention Kitty Cat," he says, "And Grizz here can handle just about anything. Let's move, big guy!" The burly bear and his automaton doppelganger trudge forward down the tunnel.<br> <br>The group rounds the next bend... and there is nothing ahead of them, except for more tunnel, the brighter, reddish glow of... something, hot, hot air, and the rattling sound of more stones. It is closer now, though, whatever it is they are hearing. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, it is what they came down here to find.<br> <br>Cassidy tilts her head to the side as she wanders forward with the group, a soft hum escaping her. "Well! Let's see what we've got up here, huh? It's certainly making some noise. Shame most of my magic is fire."<br> <br>Cara continues walking down the tunnel and tenses up for a moment upon seeing the red glow. "Okay, it's time for a bit of hydration. We might need it again." The feline concentrates for a moment as she attempts to get the math right in order to allow everyone a decent chance through more water.<br> <br>Elijah takes a long drag on his cigar, still unfazed by the superheated air. He grins around the cigar as smoke curls from his nostrils. "See?" he says, "Like a forge, or a furnace! This is the lifeblood of the mountan, this is! I can't wait to see it!" The grizzly presses ahead alongside his golem.<br> <br>Jera frowns as she starts to find her footsteps as heavy as her breaths. The heat really getting to her in her heavy armor. The kit fox swapped out the Fortress flag on her standard for that of what looks like a tidal wave, feeling reinspired to continue the treacherous road...<br> <br>It is only a short distance further ahead that the party enters a large chamber in the rock of the mountain. It is easily wide enough, and tall enough, to host a small concert, and veins of ore glitter in the stone walls. On the other side of the rock chamber another opening can be seen, overlooking what must be the center of the volcano itself - although between here and there is a large mass of shifting elementals. A small crack near the back wall has a trickle of magma seeping up through it, then flowing out the opening; however, it pools just before the overflow, and it looks as though there is a vaugely being-shaped mass in the process of rising up out of it. There are another dozen of the rock animae in the room, in various stages of solidification, and they all turn as one to face the group as it enters.<br> <br>"I'm not sure if I've ever really been this deep into the mountain," Cassidy says, flexing her fingers. "And I live here! Or maybe I have been down this deep before... I'm not entirely sure. I know I've been down deep, but it might've been off down a different cavern. And as pretty as it is in here... Looks like we've got company."<br> <br>Cara stretches as she walks into the room and brings out her sabre. "As much as I like getting my hands dirty, it might be best if I just slice them instead." She instantly charges forward, ready to slice them apart before they are fully formed.<br> <br>Elijah puffs curling blue smoke from his nostrils. "Well," he rumbles, "No one mentioned this was a party!" The bear is not sure what to make of this kind of gathering. "Damn that's a lot of shambling rock," he growls, leveling his pistol and urging his golem twin between the group and the elementals, even as Cara dashes into the middle of them. "Watch it, Kitty Cat!" he roars, firing of a round.<br> <br>"I can't mark far enough to hit them all. So...anyone got any better ideas?" Jera folds her arms, shivering. Too many spells and the cavern would collapse.<br> <br>The heroes seize the initiative, and with the crack of a bullet striking stone and the sound of steel shearing through soft rock, the first animate rock-creature is staggered and maimed. It responds by flailing at Cara, and although the tiger is able to dodge out of its way, and that of the next one, the third rock-golem lands a solid blow that sends her sprawling back towards the rest of the group. Grizz, however, does an excellent job of occupying the next two that come forward, and although the party is peppered with razer shards of rock and hot pebbles from the ones further back nobody is critically injured - yet. Those rocks are certainly sharp, though, and find their way through robes and padded armor, although Jera's armor holds.<br> <br>Cassidy grimaces a little as once of the rocks lands a glancing blow on her leg, the phoenix quickly shuffling to the back of the group. "Cover me for a moment. I'm going to try to buy you an opening. If you have any way to hit a bunch of stuff in one area... Prepare it," she says, before preparing a spell of her own. A whirling vortex of wind in the midst of the rock swarm, trying to drag them all into a center to entangle them and smash them against one another. The main point, however, is to give others a chance to hit them all at once.<br> <br>Cara lands on the ground and brings herself back up. Several scratches are on her, but unfortunately, that only made her upset. She frowns upon the hit, at least until she notices the whirlwind in the center of the room. "Well, if it worked before, I might as well do it again." She instantly leaps into the air and does the same spinning kick maneuver from earlier.<br> <br>Elijah snorts and throws his cigar stub aside. "Hold on, Grizz!" the bear roars, "I'm coming!" Then the burly ursine proceeds to. . . strip? He quickly shucks off his boots and coveralls, throwing his gear to the ground. Then, completely nude, (he has a cute little heart birthmark on his left cheek!) he charges at the air-trapped mass of elementals! His ursine form explodes into an even bigger draconian one as his roar deepens by several octaves and he crashes into the fray.<br> <br>Jera looks at the state of her armor and whines. All the lovely billowing cloth for designs were tattered! She growled and waved her hand to mark one of the golems with Treacherous Hand again. "Line your attacks up!" She grinned...<br> <br>The sudden vortex of air does indeed drag the rock elementals together, knocking them together (and finishing off the injured one). The group is quick to take advangate of the shift in the battlefield's position, with Cara, Grizz, and a -dragon- rushing in to assault the pack of elementals. Rock crushes and chips fly, and one by one the creatures are smashed to bits - Cara trashing three of them at once, and Grizz and Elijah each acounting for another. That still leaves half of the original elementals, though, and with the whirling maelstrom of wind the center of the chamber has turned into something like a blender. Cara is agile enough to avoid most of it, although she'll need bandages for those cuts, and Grizz and Elijah are big enough to weather the sandblasting with only some discomfort.<br> <br>Cassidy is, fortunately, out of the way after having moved to the back to maintain her spell. To keep the winds going requires constant attention, but not so much that she can't call out to the team. "Careful in there. If it gets too intense, feel free to step back out. I have one more trick up my sleeve when you're out."<br> <br>Cara lands on her feet and stumbles for a moment. "Annoying cuts." She falls back behind the phoenix and smiles for a moment, "I've been through worse, but I better handle these now while they have the attention. Sorry about this." She brings out several bandages from her spare bag and attempts to get those cuts covered.<br> <br>Elijah stomps and flails in the maelstrom of wind and rock, lashing out with his thick, golden scaled tail. He makes a rather impressive dragon with shining golden scales like shields and a shimmering mane that surrounds thick, white horns. Dire Grizzly, while no longer Elijah's twin is equally passionate as he smashes twin shields into the stone elementals. | + | <div></div><br> <br>The airship ride from Firmament to Firebough is, as usual, packed - not with people heading to the peak itself, but it was a stop on the way to further destinations. The crowd was unusually jittery and nervous, but that wasn't the reason the members of the Freeswords were taking the trip. No, the reason was the small outfit of miners that had established themselves in the aescetic's camp on the mountain's peak. It seems as though the rest of the crew had been sent home for the night, but a coyote girl is waiting at the mine entrance, sipping from a cup of tea as her hired help arrives.<br> <br>Cassidy was already in the area, by virtue of living nearby. Though it'd be a stretch for the usual people to recognize her, as Cassidy wasn't the fennec she usually was! Nor dressed like she usually was. Today, she was a phoenix, dressed up in an elegant robe with the back left open enough for her wings. This was bound to be fun!<br> <br>Two enormous grizzly bears trudge from the airship landing toward the mine. One of them is a surly, burly bear with golden fur and a smoking cigar clenched between his teeth and the other is a silvery, metallic monstrosity that manages an excellent likeness to its organic twin. "Evening," Elijah rumbles, "Here to help." Despite the heat of the evening, the big, shaggy bear seems to be quite comfortable in his red shirt and tan coveralls.<br> <br>A female tigress steps out of the airship, wearing her usual garb. As expected from a native of Shralesta, her clothing is meant to handle the heat rather well. She yawns loudly, "Well, that was a nice nap." and stretches her arms out and nods to the familiar phoenix. Afterwards, she begins heading over to the mine's entrance.<br> <br>Jera seems to be kitted out extraordinarily today. The kit fox having brought along an array of large battle standards, making onlookers wonder just how she was hplding them all. "Long ride." She commented as she stretched.<br> <br>As the freeswords approach the coyote, she raises her hand and waves. "Howdy!" It takes her a moment to find a good box to set her cup on, and then she rises up to her feet and shakes hands with any who offer. "Thank you all very much. Should I cut straight to the business?"<br> <br>Cassidy folds her hands in front of her as she looks over the group, nodding along. "Fantastic. Yes, business, I think. It's been a bit since I've had a good adventure to a place I rarely go! This will be one of those, I hope. Don't go in mines terribly often."<br> <br>Cara looks at the phoenix upon closer inspection and realizes that this isn't the same phoenix from earlier. She understandably blushes and moves on, "I would certainly like to get to business though." The blush fades away and the feline looks around slightly past the coyote girl and stares into the dark void of the mine. She shifts her gaze back to the coyote and asks, "Just how deep are we going into the mines though?"<br> <br>Elijah pulls the cigar from his mouth and blows a smoke ring into the air. "Sure, kid," the big bear says, "I'm all about business." He takes the proffered hand in his own huge paw. "You think we're gonna need old Grizz here?" he asks, hiking a thumb at his golem.<br> <br>"I think this might be the first time in a long while I have not seen you with Natska at your side." Jera offered to Cassidy before she shook her head, going quiet to listen to the yote.<br> <br>The coyote takes a moment to consider old Grizz, then nods her head. "Ehyup. If he won't melt, anyway." She pauses, and looks over the four freeswords. "We've got a few promising veins that we just opened up down in the mountain, but they're awfully close to the volcano's heart. Probably magma chambers that got sealed off when some rock cooled, but believe me, it is hotter down there than two squikkerks in a Shraalestran pepper patch. And what's worse, some of the boys saw magma elementals, and now nobody wants to go near the new dig." She grins. "So. Head down below - not the lowest the elevator will take you, but the third stop down - and follow the path. It's marked with blue string. Clear out any elementals you find, don't die from the heat, and I'll pay you when you get back up." She motions towards the supply shed near the mine elevator. "Take all the water you need, by the way. I'm serious about not dieing in the heat."<br> <br>Cassidy folds her arms behind her back as she listens, the phoenix shooting Jera a look out of the corner of her eye, but doesn't reply, as if she didn't know she was being spoken to. "Sounds like a simple enough job. I am ready to go when the others are. As long as the elementals don't touch, it should be fine."<br> <br>Cara's smile grows a little larger. "Well, I'm glad I'm using a certain soul gem already, or this might be impossible for me to do." After concentrating for a second, a small bit of blue math equations, the gift of water is sent into her. Afterwards, she turns to everyone else around her, and notices a fox along with them as well. Seeing as he is the only one other than her that needs the water magic, she calls out in a polite tone, "Would you some water now?"<br> <br>Elijah snorts and nods, heading for the shaft with his cigar still clenched between his teeth. "Can do," he says, "Come on Grizz." His golem twin stumps and clanks after him. He does not seem concerned about any heat.<br> <br>"I suppose I could provide us some stamina." Jera mumbled something under her breath and waved one of her banners about to help.<br> <br>The with the subtle workings of water magic woven about the party, to help shield them from the worst of the heat in the volcano's heart, our heroes venture forth! Or down. Either way, the adventure is afoot. The mine elevator accomodates the combined weight of the five figures easily, although it does sway and clank as it descends into the mountain; the light of the sky up above quickly fades, replaced by glow-crystals set in the wall at regular intervals. Surprisingly, there seems to be a persistant draft as the elevator sinks lower, most noticable when the group reaches their designated stop. Tunnels lead off in many different directions, marked by different colors of string.<br> <br>Cassidy doesn't seem to particularly mind the heat, but... Then, she also had the phoenix form to help with that. Though she doubted her ability to remain anonymous once she started slinging her spells in her rather peculiar way. For now, though, she smooths down her elbow-length gloves and exhales softly. "Caves are always so... Oppressive."<br> <br>Cara's tail moves slowly as the heat begins to warm her more than usual, "This is easy so far, but now we better follow the draft. It's probably coming from the magma somewhere, but that's just a guess on my part." The feline turns to everyone else and takes a look at the phoenix with a small grin, "Thankfully, we won't have any problems seeing in here."<br> <br>"You think so, Miss?" Elijah rumbles, exhaling a cloud of blue smoke into the shaft, "Always thought these volcano caves were sort of nice. Sorta like the womb of the earth, you know?" Despite the growing heat, the grizzly does not seem uncomfortable, not even sweating as they go deep into the volcano. The burly bear clenches his cigar in his teeth once more and looks down at the strings. "Blue one, right?" he asks, "Grizz! Little light, if you don't mind."<br> <br>Jera frowns at the confined space, figuring it good for an ambush. She swapped out the flag on her banner, inscribed with what looked like a castle from a chess game. She followed along in the middle of the party.<br> <br>The group sets off down the tunnel, following the path marked by the blue string. The air gets warmer and warmer as they move closer to the open lava chamber at the heart of Firebough, although the paired water spells and the moving air keep it from becoming overwhelming. Still, for those unaccustomed to the heat, it is quite noticable. A low red glow from up ahead is briefly visible, before being washed out by the light from Elijah's golem, and the sound of stone scraping on stone can be heard from just around the bend.<br> <br>"Hmmm... I suppose caves do have a sort of charm, but for someone that is so used to the open skies and air, they're stifling, you know?" Cassidy says, nodding along as her wing feathers ruffle. "Can't fly, or do anything of the sort. It's pretty awful! But I get used to it after a bit."<br> <br>Cara begins to sweat for a second, "It really is getting hot in here. It almost makes me glad that I used to walk through the desert or this would be a nightmare." Then, the tigress stares in wonder at the large bear in front of her and promptly comments with a hint of curiosity, "I know the water spells worked earlier, but how are you managing to have no trouble with the heat?"<br> <br>"Fair enough, pretty bird," Elijah says, pulling his enormous pistol and checking the barrel, "Heat doesn't bother me, kitty cat." The burly grizzly steps around the corner with Dire Grizzly on his heels, gun leveled toward the sound.<br> <br>Jera swings her banner around to lightly tap Cara on the shoulder. "Have heart. We will endure worse the further we go."<br> <br>As Elijah rounds the corner, the bear is greeted by a spray of sharp chips of obsidian rock; it seems a pair of animae are wandering this tunnel, and are not inclined to treat organic beings with hospitality. Fortunately, between the fortifying magic Jera provides and a quick reaction from Elijah, the bulk of the spray misses the bear and the rest of the chips do little damage.<br> <br>Cassidy quickly brings her hands back around in front of her at the sigh of the opposition, working a bit of air magic into play. Fire magic was hardly the way to go here, but perhaps she could violently disrupt their composition with enough air magic.<br> <br>Cara's normal smile fades into a frown of annoyance. The feline's eyebrows furrow and her teeth are instantly shown. "Well, I don't appreciate rude elementals interrupting a conversation." She leaps toward the elementals and begins spinning through the air in attempt to destroy both of the elementals from the side with her feet so as to aid the phoenix's air magic in destroying them, rather than hinder it.<br> <br>"Well that is downright inhospitable!" Elijah growls as he ducks away from the shrapnel, "Show em some manners, Grizz!" The grizzly levels his pistol at one of the elementals and fires! As soon as the shot goes off, the golem crashes in, shields swinging!<br> <br>Jera frowns deeply to herself as the elementals appear. "Wait wait wait let me first!" She hated people without a plan. The kit fox drawing a symbol in the air to try to engrave a mark on the closest elemental in the shape of a sword. "If this worked we can hit them all at once!"<br> <br>Jera's quick action blazes a mark onto the first elemental, and it quickly goes down under the combined assault of the Freesword's; Cass' lance of air magic, the golem's battering assault, Elijah's pistol shot, and Cara's sweeping kicks battering it into pieces before it can do much else. The other animae, caught by several sweeping blows and staggered by reverberations from the strikes on the other golem, tries to catch Cara with a sweep of one of it's rocky 'hand'; the feline monk is far too quick for it to connect, however.<br> <br>With one elemental down and the second likely to follow under the attacks of the others, Cassidy lets it be, herself. She didn't want to expend unneeded energy just yet, should she need it later on down the counter. "Good work."<br> <br>Cara lands directly onto her feet. As the rock elemental attempts to sweep her with it's fist, the feline backflips over the sweeping hand and proceeds to send a surprisingly powerful short ranged punch directly into the chest of the poor rock elemental.<br> <br>Elijah clicks his tongue as he reloads his pistol. "Just like the shales," he says, puffing on his cigar cooly, "Finish it Grizz!"<br> <br>The second elemental crumbles, quite literally, as it collapses. The tunnel goes silent for a long moment, and then the clatter of stone echoes from further down the passage way once again. Quite a bit of it, it sounds like.<br> <br>Cassidy rolls her shoulders and starts off down the passage again, still not entirely used to having talons rather than paws. It's an interesting change for the new phoenix, but she doesn't show it much, beyond an occasional wobble. "Wonder how many more of those we'll bump into."<br> <br>Cara brings in her fist and takes a deep breath. Afterwards, she resumes her normal posture and stares in the direction of the noise before walking after the phoenix. The feline proceeds to whisper to everyone involved. "As much as I enjoy these odds, it won't do to get everyone else hurt. We need a plan to lure the rest of them here." She turns to the large bear shaped golem and smiles before glancing to Elijah, "Do you think your golem can get their attention?"<br> <br>Elijah blows a curling plume of bluish smoke from his nostrils. "Shales used to wander through camps out in the mountains," the bear growls, "Nothin' for it but to smash them up til they stopped coming." The burly army engineer produces a set of metal rings and clamps them on his wrists and biceps, flexing a little to test the magic that connects them. He raises an eyebrow at Cara. "I think we git their attention Kitty Cat," he says, "And Grizz here can handle just about anything. Let's move, big guy!" The burly bear and his automaton doppelganger trudge forward down the tunnel.<br> <br>The group rounds the next bend... and there is nothing ahead of them, except for more tunnel, the brighter, reddish glow of... something, hot, hot air, and the rattling sound of more stones. It is closer now, though, whatever it is they are hearing. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, it is what they came down here to find.<br> <br>Cassidy tilts her head to the side as she wanders forward with the group, a soft hum escaping her. "Well! Let's see what we've got up here, huh? It's certainly making some noise. Shame most of my magic is fire."<br> <br>Cara continues walking down the tunnel and tenses up for a moment upon seeing the red glow. "Okay, it's time for a bit of hydration. We might need it again." The feline concentrates for a moment as she attempts to get the math right in order to allow everyone a decent chance through more water.<br> <br>Elijah takes a long drag on his cigar, still unfazed by the superheated air. He grins around the cigar as smoke curls from his nostrils. "See?" he says, "Like a forge, or a furnace! This is the lifeblood of the mountan, this is! I can't wait to see it!" The grizzly presses ahead alongside his golem.<br> <br>Jera frowns as she starts to find her footsteps as heavy as her breaths. The heat really getting to her in her heavy armor. The kit fox swapped out the Fortress flag on her standard for that of what looks like a tidal wave, feeling reinspired to continue the treacherous road...<br> <br>It is only a short distance further ahead that the party enters a large chamber in the rock of the mountain. It is easily wide enough, and tall enough, to host a small concert, and veins of ore glitter in the stone walls. On the other side of the rock chamber another opening can be seen, overlooking what must be the center of the volcano itself - although between here and there is a large mass of shifting elementals. A small crack near the back wall has a trickle of magma seeping up through it, then flowing out the opening; however, it pools just before the overflow, and it looks as though there is a vaugely being-shaped mass in the process of rising up out of it. There are another dozen of the rock animae in the room, in various stages of solidification, and they all turn as one to face the group as it enters.<br> <br>"I'm not sure if I've ever really been this deep into the mountain," Cassidy says, flexing her fingers. "And I live here! Or maybe I have been down this deep before... I'm not entirely sure. I know I've been down deep, but it might've been off down a different cavern. And as pretty as it is in here... Looks like we've got company."<br> <br>Cara stretches as she walks into the room and brings out her sabre. "As much as I like getting my hands dirty, it might be best if I just slice them instead." She instantly charges forward, ready to slice them apart before they are fully formed.<br> <br>Elijah puffs curling blue smoke from his nostrils. "Well," he rumbles, "No one mentioned this was a party!" The bear is not sure what to make of this kind of gathering. "Damn that's a lot of shambling rock," he growls, leveling his pistol and urging his golem twin between the group and the elementals, even as Cara dashes into the middle of them. "Watch it, Kitty Cat!" he roars, firing of a round.<br> <br>"I can't mark far enough to hit them all. So...anyone got any better ideas?" Jera folds her arms, shivering. Too many spells and the cavern would collapse.<br> <br>The heroes seize the initiative, and with the crack of a bullet striking stone and the sound of steel shearing through soft rock, the first animate rock-creature is staggered and maimed. It responds by flailing at Cara, and although the tiger is able to dodge out of its way, and that of the next one, the third rock-golem lands a solid blow that sends her sprawling back towards the rest of the group. Grizz, however, does an excellent job of occupying the next two that come forward, and although the party is peppered with razer shards of rock and hot pebbles from the ones further back nobody is critically injured - yet. Those rocks are certainly sharp, though, and find their way through robes and padded armor, although Jera's armor holds.<br> <br>Cassidy grimaces a little as once of the rocks lands a glancing blow on her leg, the phoenix quickly shuffling to the back of the group. "Cover me for a moment. I'm going to try to buy you an opening. If you have any way to hit a bunch of stuff in one area... Prepare it," she says, before preparing a spell of her own. A whirling vortex of wind in the midst of the rock swarm, trying to drag them all into a center to entangle them and smash them against one another. The main point, however, is to give others a chance to hit them all at once.<br> <br>Cara lands on the ground and brings herself back up. Several scratches are on her, but unfortunately, that only made her upset. She frowns upon the hit, at least until she notices the whirlwind in the center of the room. "Well, if it worked before, I might as well do it again." She instantly leaps into the air and does the same spinning kick maneuver from earlier.<br> <br>Elijah snorts and throws his cigar stub aside. "Hold on, Grizz!" the bear roars, "I'm coming!" Then the burly ursine proceeds to. . . strip? He quickly shucks off his boots and coveralls, throwing his gear to the ground. Then, completely nude, (he has a cute little heart birthmark on his left cheek!) he charges at the air-trapped mass of elementals! His ursine form explodes into an even bigger draconian one as his roar deepens by several octaves and he crashes into the fray.<br> <br>Jera looks at the state of her armor and whines. All the lovely billowing cloth for designs were tattered! She growled and waved her hand to mark one of the golems with Treacherous Hand again. "Line your attacks up!" She grinned...<br> <br>The sudden vortex of air does indeed drag the rock elementals together, knocking them together (and finishing off the injured one). The group is quick to take advangate of the shift in the battlefield's position, with Cara, Grizz, and a -dragon- rushing in to assault the pack of elementals. Rock crushes and chips fly, and one by one the creatures are smashed to bits - Cara trashing three of them at once, and Grizz and Elijah each acounting for another. That still leaves half of the original elementals, though, and with the whirling maelstrom of wind the center of the chamber has turned into something like a blender. Cara is agile enough to avoid most of it, although she'll need bandages for those cuts, and Grizz and Elijah are big enough to weather the sandblasting with only some discomfort.<br> <br>Cassidy is, fortunately, out of the way after having moved to the back to maintain her spell. To keep the winds going requires constant attention, but not so much that she can't call out to the team. "Careful in there. If it gets too intense, feel free to step back out. I have one more trick up my sleeve when you're out."<br> <br>Cara lands on her feet and stumbles for a moment. "Annoying cuts." She falls back behind the phoenix and smiles for a moment, "I've been through worse, but I better handle these now while they have the attention. Sorry about this." She brings out several bandages from her spare bag and attempts to get those cuts covered.<br> <br>Elijah stomps and flails in the maelstrom of wind and rock, lashing out with his thick, golden scaled tail. He makes a rather impressive dragon with shining golden scales like shields and a shimmering mane that surrounds thick, white horns. Dire Grizzly, while no longer Elijah's twin is equally passionate as he smashes twin shields into the stone elementals.<br> <br>More and more of the elementals are smashed into pieces, and although Eljiah (and Grizz) are battered, smashed, and cut, they eventually stand victorious in the center of the room, while Cara focuses on taking care of her injuries off to the side. However, before the celebration can be announced, the ground shakes and a section of the back of the chamber cracks and falls into the cauldron below; a mass of magma shoves itself up out of the fissure even as the rock falls away, and a creature of raw molten rock, nearly as big as Elijah, swings a fist at the dragon. He manages to roll with the searing hit, but this one isn't going to go down as easily.<br> <br>Cassidy lets her whirling vortex die down once it is no longer needed, turning her attention, then, towards the magma beast. She groans softly and takes a moment to close her eyes and steady herself, trying to gather her energy about her after that aeromagical display.<br> <br>Cara finishes treating her injuries and leaps back up. At that point, she stares in surprise at the size of the molten mass and an idea comes to her, "There is no way that I hit that thing as it is at the moment." She smiles and begins concentrating on the proper math in order to send a nice torrent of cold water directly at the mass. "Once it cools down, then I can hit it."<br> <br>Elijah skids across the stone floor, his scales and claws digging scratches into the surface. "Where did THAT come from?" he growls, "Didn't know they came in family size! Light it up, Grizz!" The golden dragon drags himself to his feet and watches for an opening. His golem, however is ready for action, leveling its twin shields at the elemental as a frightning glow builds in the mouths of the roaring bear faces molded on them.<br> <br>Grizz smacks the magma beast with a bolt of fire - still managing to blast some of its body mass away - and Cara blasts it with a torrent of raw water magic. The magma elemental is enveloped in a cloud of hissing steam, and the skin along its surface turns brittle and cracks even as it knocks Grizz away from in front of it with a heavy swing.<br> <br>Meanwhile, Jera plants her banner and works her supportive magic, shielding her allies from the worst of the elemental's heat and providing a surge of motivational vitality.<br> <br>Cassidy nods at Cara's work, turning her attention towards the magma elemental once more as she focuses her magic where it has turned brittle. "Okay. Here we go. Giving it my all on this one," she says, preparing her lightning bolt to strike it where it is weakest.<br> <br>Cara performs a stomp that ends in a stance. After which, she instantly dashes off to the side of the now brittle magma mass. The feline smiles a rather toothy grin, and promptly proceeds to lay a series of multiple rapid strikes along the side of the magma mass's body.<br> <br>Elijah roars in fury as his golem is tossed aside by the elemental! The golden dragon flings himself at the thing, throwing all of his weight into a brutal tackling attack.<br> <br>The effort the freeswords put into their assault is truly heroic - a lightning bolt from Cassidy that would have rent the sky above, and seems like it should have split the mountain as it blasts into the magma elemental; coupled with the furious assault from both sides launched by Elijah and Cara, the thing soon crumples away. The silence in the chasm following the fight is almost deafening... but it seems that there are no more signs of the animate monsters that had been troubling the mine, leaving the heroes free to wander, or go collect their pay.<br> <br>Cassidy lets out a heavy sigh and leans against the cavern wall, looking at the scratch across her thigh and the tear in her robe. "Lovely," she murmurs, feathers ruffling for a moment. "I can't wait to get home. That magic is tiring."<br> <br>Cara takes a deep breath and begins walking over to the elevator, but stops for a second. "Hmm, maybe something should be done about that seam leaking magma so that this doesn't happen again." She turns over to everyone else and speaks, "I'll pay for the return trip home if you guys are okay with it."<br> <br>Elijah has a heavy sigh of his own as his enormous, draconian body starts to shrink and his golden scales give way to shaggy golden fur. The burly grizzly drags himself over to where his golem lies beaten and battered against a crystal studded wall, too tired and bruised to be ashamed of his nakedness. "Damn, Grizz," he grumbles, "You had a number done on you, didn't you?" The grizzly slumps to the floor beside his automaton. "You ladies can all go on ahead," he says, "Gotta fix up my partner here before I go anywhere. Right after I get my wind back." |
Revision as of 05:49, 28 April 2015
Participants
Date
28/4/478
Log
The airship ride from Firmament to Firebough is, as usual, packed - not with people heading to the peak itself, but it was a stop on the way to further destinations. The crowd was unusually jittery and nervous, but that wasn't the reason the members of the Freeswords were taking the trip. No, the reason was the small outfit of miners that had established themselves in the aescetic's camp on the mountain's peak. It seems as though the rest of the crew had been sent home for the night, but a coyote girl is waiting at the mine entrance, sipping from a cup of tea as her hired help arrives.
Cassidy was already in the area, by virtue of living nearby. Though it'd be a stretch for the usual people to recognize her, as Cassidy wasn't the fennec she usually was! Nor dressed like she usually was. Today, she was a phoenix, dressed up in an elegant robe with the back left open enough for her wings. This was bound to be fun!
Two enormous grizzly bears trudge from the airship landing toward the mine. One of them is a surly, burly bear with golden fur and a smoking cigar clenched between his teeth and the other is a silvery, metallic monstrosity that manages an excellent likeness to its organic twin. "Evening," Elijah rumbles, "Here to help." Despite the heat of the evening, the big, shaggy bear seems to be quite comfortable in his red shirt and tan coveralls.
A female tigress steps out of the airship, wearing her usual garb. As expected from a native of Shralesta, her clothing is meant to handle the heat rather well. She yawns loudly, "Well, that was a nice nap." and stretches her arms out and nods to the familiar phoenix. Afterwards, she begins heading over to the mine's entrance.
Jera seems to be kitted out extraordinarily today. The kit fox having brought along an array of large battle standards, making onlookers wonder just how she was hplding them all. "Long ride." She commented as she stretched.
As the freeswords approach the coyote, she raises her hand and waves. "Howdy!" It takes her a moment to find a good box to set her cup on, and then she rises up to her feet and shakes hands with any who offer. "Thank you all very much. Should I cut straight to the business?"
Cassidy folds her hands in front of her as she looks over the group, nodding along. "Fantastic. Yes, business, I think. It's been a bit since I've had a good adventure to a place I rarely go! This will be one of those, I hope. Don't go in mines terribly often."
Cara looks at the phoenix upon closer inspection and realizes that this isn't the same phoenix from earlier. She understandably blushes and moves on, "I would certainly like to get to business though." The blush fades away and the feline looks around slightly past the coyote girl and stares into the dark void of the mine. She shifts her gaze back to the coyote and asks, "Just how deep are we going into the mines though?"
Elijah pulls the cigar from his mouth and blows a smoke ring into the air. "Sure, kid," the big bear says, "I'm all about business." He takes the proffered hand in his own huge paw. "You think we're gonna need old Grizz here?" he asks, hiking a thumb at his golem.
"I think this might be the first time in a long while I have not seen you with Natska at your side." Jera offered to Cassidy before she shook her head, going quiet to listen to the yote.
The coyote takes a moment to consider old Grizz, then nods her head. "Ehyup. If he won't melt, anyway." She pauses, and looks over the four freeswords. "We've got a few promising veins that we just opened up down in the mountain, but they're awfully close to the volcano's heart. Probably magma chambers that got sealed off when some rock cooled, but believe me, it is hotter down there than two squikkerks in a Shraalestran pepper patch. And what's worse, some of the boys saw magma elementals, and now nobody wants to go near the new dig." She grins. "So. Head down below - not the lowest the elevator will take you, but the third stop down - and follow the path. It's marked with blue string. Clear out any elementals you find, don't die from the heat, and I'll pay you when you get back up." She motions towards the supply shed near the mine elevator. "Take all the water you need, by the way. I'm serious about not dieing in the heat."
Cassidy folds her arms behind her back as she listens, the phoenix shooting Jera a look out of the corner of her eye, but doesn't reply, as if she didn't know she was being spoken to. "Sounds like a simple enough job. I am ready to go when the others are. As long as the elementals don't touch, it should be fine."
Cara's smile grows a little larger. "Well, I'm glad I'm using a certain soul gem already, or this might be impossible for me to do." After concentrating for a second, a small bit of blue math equations, the gift of water is sent into her. Afterwards, she turns to everyone else around her, and notices a fox along with them as well. Seeing as he is the only one other than her that needs the water magic, she calls out in a polite tone, "Would you some water now?"
Elijah snorts and nods, heading for the shaft with his cigar still clenched between his teeth. "Can do," he says, "Come on Grizz." His golem twin stumps and clanks after him. He does not seem concerned about any heat.
"I suppose I could provide us some stamina." Jera mumbled something under her breath and waved one of her banners about to help.
The with the subtle workings of water magic woven about the party, to help shield them from the worst of the heat in the volcano's heart, our heroes venture forth! Or down. Either way, the adventure is afoot. The mine elevator accomodates the combined weight of the five figures easily, although it does sway and clank as it descends into the mountain; the light of the sky up above quickly fades, replaced by glow-crystals set in the wall at regular intervals. Surprisingly, there seems to be a persistant draft as the elevator sinks lower, most noticable when the group reaches their designated stop. Tunnels lead off in many different directions, marked by different colors of string.
Cassidy doesn't seem to particularly mind the heat, but... Then, she also had the phoenix form to help with that. Though she doubted her ability to remain anonymous once she started slinging her spells in her rather peculiar way. For now, though, she smooths down her elbow-length gloves and exhales softly. "Caves are always so... Oppressive."
Cara's tail moves slowly as the heat begins to warm her more than usual, "This is easy so far, but now we better follow the draft. It's probably coming from the magma somewhere, but that's just a guess on my part." The feline turns to everyone else and takes a look at the phoenix with a small grin, "Thankfully, we won't have any problems seeing in here."
"You think so, Miss?" Elijah rumbles, exhaling a cloud of blue smoke into the shaft, "Always thought these volcano caves were sort of nice. Sorta like the womb of the earth, you know?" Despite the growing heat, the grizzly does not seem uncomfortable, not even sweating as they go deep into the volcano. The burly bear clenches his cigar in his teeth once more and looks down at the strings. "Blue one, right?" he asks, "Grizz! Little light, if you don't mind."
Jera frowns at the confined space, figuring it good for an ambush. She swapped out the flag on her banner, inscribed with what looked like a castle from a chess game. She followed along in the middle of the party.
The group sets off down the tunnel, following the path marked by the blue string. The air gets warmer and warmer as they move closer to the open lava chamber at the heart of Firebough, although the paired water spells and the moving air keep it from becoming overwhelming. Still, for those unaccustomed to the heat, it is quite noticable. A low red glow from up ahead is briefly visible, before being washed out by the light from Elijah's golem, and the sound of stone scraping on stone can be heard from just around the bend.
"Hmmm... I suppose caves do have a sort of charm, but for someone that is so used to the open skies and air, they're stifling, you know?" Cassidy says, nodding along as her wing feathers ruffle. "Can't fly, or do anything of the sort. It's pretty awful! But I get used to it after a bit."
Cara begins to sweat for a second, "It really is getting hot in here. It almost makes me glad that I used to walk through the desert or this would be a nightmare." Then, the tigress stares in wonder at the large bear in front of her and promptly comments with a hint of curiosity, "I know the water spells worked earlier, but how are you managing to have no trouble with the heat?"
"Fair enough, pretty bird," Elijah says, pulling his enormous pistol and checking the barrel, "Heat doesn't bother me, kitty cat." The burly grizzly steps around the corner with Dire Grizzly on his heels, gun leveled toward the sound.
Jera swings her banner around to lightly tap Cara on the shoulder. "Have heart. We will endure worse the further we go."
As Elijah rounds the corner, the bear is greeted by a spray of sharp chips of obsidian rock; it seems a pair of animae are wandering this tunnel, and are not inclined to treat organic beings with hospitality. Fortunately, between the fortifying magic Jera provides and a quick reaction from Elijah, the bulk of the spray misses the bear and the rest of the chips do little damage.
Cassidy quickly brings her hands back around in front of her at the sigh of the opposition, working a bit of air magic into play. Fire magic was hardly the way to go here, but perhaps she could violently disrupt their composition with enough air magic.
Cara's normal smile fades into a frown of annoyance. The feline's eyebrows furrow and her teeth are instantly shown. "Well, I don't appreciate rude elementals interrupting a conversation." She leaps toward the elementals and begins spinning through the air in attempt to destroy both of the elementals from the side with her feet so as to aid the phoenix's air magic in destroying them, rather than hinder it.
"Well that is downright inhospitable!" Elijah growls as he ducks away from the shrapnel, "Show em some manners, Grizz!" The grizzly levels his pistol at one of the elementals and fires! As soon as the shot goes off, the golem crashes in, shields swinging!
Jera frowns deeply to herself as the elementals appear. "Wait wait wait let me first!" She hated people without a plan. The kit fox drawing a symbol in the air to try to engrave a mark on the closest elemental in the shape of a sword. "If this worked we can hit them all at once!"
Jera's quick action blazes a mark onto the first elemental, and it quickly goes down under the combined assault of the Freesword's; Cass' lance of air magic, the golem's battering assault, Elijah's pistol shot, and Cara's sweeping kicks battering it into pieces before it can do much else. The other animae, caught by several sweeping blows and staggered by reverberations from the strikes on the other golem, tries to catch Cara with a sweep of one of it's rocky 'hand'; the feline monk is far too quick for it to connect, however.
With one elemental down and the second likely to follow under the attacks of the others, Cassidy lets it be, herself. She didn't want to expend unneeded energy just yet, should she need it later on down the counter. "Good work."
Cara lands directly onto her feet. As the rock elemental attempts to sweep her with it's fist, the feline backflips over the sweeping hand and proceeds to send a surprisingly powerful short ranged punch directly into the chest of the poor rock elemental.
Elijah clicks his tongue as he reloads his pistol. "Just like the shales," he says, puffing on his cigar cooly, "Finish it Grizz!"
The second elemental crumbles, quite literally, as it collapses. The tunnel goes silent for a long moment, and then the clatter of stone echoes from further down the passage way once again. Quite a bit of it, it sounds like.
Cassidy rolls her shoulders and starts off down the passage again, still not entirely used to having talons rather than paws. It's an interesting change for the new phoenix, but she doesn't show it much, beyond an occasional wobble. "Wonder how many more of those we'll bump into."
Cara brings in her fist and takes a deep breath. Afterwards, she resumes her normal posture and stares in the direction of the noise before walking after the phoenix. The feline proceeds to whisper to everyone involved. "As much as I enjoy these odds, it won't do to get everyone else hurt. We need a plan to lure the rest of them here." She turns to the large bear shaped golem and smiles before glancing to Elijah, "Do you think your golem can get their attention?"
Elijah blows a curling plume of bluish smoke from his nostrils. "Shales used to wander through camps out in the mountains," the bear growls, "Nothin' for it but to smash them up til they stopped coming." The burly army engineer produces a set of metal rings and clamps them on his wrists and biceps, flexing a little to test the magic that connects them. He raises an eyebrow at Cara. "I think we git their attention Kitty Cat," he says, "And Grizz here can handle just about anything. Let's move, big guy!" The burly bear and his automaton doppelganger trudge forward down the tunnel.
The group rounds the next bend... and there is nothing ahead of them, except for more tunnel, the brighter, reddish glow of... something, hot, hot air, and the rattling sound of more stones. It is closer now, though, whatever it is they are hearing. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, it is what they came down here to find.
Cassidy tilts her head to the side as she wanders forward with the group, a soft hum escaping her. "Well! Let's see what we've got up here, huh? It's certainly making some noise. Shame most of my magic is fire."
Cara continues walking down the tunnel and tenses up for a moment upon seeing the red glow. "Okay, it's time for a bit of hydration. We might need it again." The feline concentrates for a moment as she attempts to get the math right in order to allow everyone a decent chance through more water.
Elijah takes a long drag on his cigar, still unfazed by the superheated air. He grins around the cigar as smoke curls from his nostrils. "See?" he says, "Like a forge, or a furnace! This is the lifeblood of the mountan, this is! I can't wait to see it!" The grizzly presses ahead alongside his golem.
Jera frowns as she starts to find her footsteps as heavy as her breaths. The heat really getting to her in her heavy armor. The kit fox swapped out the Fortress flag on her standard for that of what looks like a tidal wave, feeling reinspired to continue the treacherous road...
It is only a short distance further ahead that the party enters a large chamber in the rock of the mountain. It is easily wide enough, and tall enough, to host a small concert, and veins of ore glitter in the stone walls. On the other side of the rock chamber another opening can be seen, overlooking what must be the center of the volcano itself - although between here and there is a large mass of shifting elementals. A small crack near the back wall has a trickle of magma seeping up through it, then flowing out the opening; however, it pools just before the overflow, and it looks as though there is a vaugely being-shaped mass in the process of rising up out of it. There are another dozen of the rock animae in the room, in various stages of solidification, and they all turn as one to face the group as it enters.
"I'm not sure if I've ever really been this deep into the mountain," Cassidy says, flexing her fingers. "And I live here! Or maybe I have been down this deep before... I'm not entirely sure. I know I've been down deep, but it might've been off down a different cavern. And as pretty as it is in here... Looks like we've got company."
Cara stretches as she walks into the room and brings out her sabre. "As much as I like getting my hands dirty, it might be best if I just slice them instead." She instantly charges forward, ready to slice them apart before they are fully formed.
Elijah puffs curling blue smoke from his nostrils. "Well," he rumbles, "No one mentioned this was a party!" The bear is not sure what to make of this kind of gathering. "Damn that's a lot of shambling rock," he growls, leveling his pistol and urging his golem twin between the group and the elementals, even as Cara dashes into the middle of them. "Watch it, Kitty Cat!" he roars, firing of a round.
"I can't mark far enough to hit them all. So...anyone got any better ideas?" Jera folds her arms, shivering. Too many spells and the cavern would collapse.
The heroes seize the initiative, and with the crack of a bullet striking stone and the sound of steel shearing through soft rock, the first animate rock-creature is staggered and maimed. It responds by flailing at Cara, and although the tiger is able to dodge out of its way, and that of the next one, the third rock-golem lands a solid blow that sends her sprawling back towards the rest of the group. Grizz, however, does an excellent job of occupying the next two that come forward, and although the party is peppered with razer shards of rock and hot pebbles from the ones further back nobody is critically injured - yet. Those rocks are certainly sharp, though, and find their way through robes and padded armor, although Jera's armor holds.
Cassidy grimaces a little as once of the rocks lands a glancing blow on her leg, the phoenix quickly shuffling to the back of the group. "Cover me for a moment. I'm going to try to buy you an opening. If you have any way to hit a bunch of stuff in one area... Prepare it," she says, before preparing a spell of her own. A whirling vortex of wind in the midst of the rock swarm, trying to drag them all into a center to entangle them and smash them against one another. The main point, however, is to give others a chance to hit them all at once.
Cara lands on the ground and brings herself back up. Several scratches are on her, but unfortunately, that only made her upset. She frowns upon the hit, at least until she notices the whirlwind in the center of the room. "Well, if it worked before, I might as well do it again." She instantly leaps into the air and does the same spinning kick maneuver from earlier.
Elijah snorts and throws his cigar stub aside. "Hold on, Grizz!" the bear roars, "I'm coming!" Then the burly ursine proceeds to. . . strip? He quickly shucks off his boots and coveralls, throwing his gear to the ground. Then, completely nude, (he has a cute little heart birthmark on his left cheek!) he charges at the air-trapped mass of elementals! His ursine form explodes into an even bigger draconian one as his roar deepens by several octaves and he crashes into the fray.
Jera looks at the state of her armor and whines. All the lovely billowing cloth for designs were tattered! She growled and waved her hand to mark one of the golems with Treacherous Hand again. "Line your attacks up!" She grinned...
The sudden vortex of air does indeed drag the rock elementals together, knocking them together (and finishing off the injured one). The group is quick to take advangate of the shift in the battlefield's position, with Cara, Grizz, and a -dragon- rushing in to assault the pack of elementals. Rock crushes and chips fly, and one by one the creatures are smashed to bits - Cara trashing three of them at once, and Grizz and Elijah each acounting for another. That still leaves half of the original elementals, though, and with the whirling maelstrom of wind the center of the chamber has turned into something like a blender. Cara is agile enough to avoid most of it, although she'll need bandages for those cuts, and Grizz and Elijah are big enough to weather the sandblasting with only some discomfort.
Cassidy is, fortunately, out of the way after having moved to the back to maintain her spell. To keep the winds going requires constant attention, but not so much that she can't call out to the team. "Careful in there. If it gets too intense, feel free to step back out. I have one more trick up my sleeve when you're out."
Cara lands on her feet and stumbles for a moment. "Annoying cuts." She falls back behind the phoenix and smiles for a moment, "I've been through worse, but I better handle these now while they have the attention. Sorry about this." She brings out several bandages from her spare bag and attempts to get those cuts covered.
Elijah stomps and flails in the maelstrom of wind and rock, lashing out with his thick, golden scaled tail. He makes a rather impressive dragon with shining golden scales like shields and a shimmering mane that surrounds thick, white horns. Dire Grizzly, while no longer Elijah's twin is equally passionate as he smashes twin shields into the stone elementals.
More and more of the elementals are smashed into pieces, and although Eljiah (and Grizz) are battered, smashed, and cut, they eventually stand victorious in the center of the room, while Cara focuses on taking care of her injuries off to the side. However, before the celebration can be announced, the ground shakes and a section of the back of the chamber cracks and falls into the cauldron below; a mass of magma shoves itself up out of the fissure even as the rock falls away, and a creature of raw molten rock, nearly as big as Elijah, swings a fist at the dragon. He manages to roll with the searing hit, but this one isn't going to go down as easily.
Cassidy lets her whirling vortex die down once it is no longer needed, turning her attention, then, towards the magma beast. She groans softly and takes a moment to close her eyes and steady herself, trying to gather her energy about her after that aeromagical display.
Cara finishes treating her injuries and leaps back up. At that point, she stares in surprise at the size of the molten mass and an idea comes to her, "There is no way that I hit that thing as it is at the moment." She smiles and begins concentrating on the proper math in order to send a nice torrent of cold water directly at the mass. "Once it cools down, then I can hit it."
Elijah skids across the stone floor, his scales and claws digging scratches into the surface. "Where did THAT come from?" he growls, "Didn't know they came in family size! Light it up, Grizz!" The golden dragon drags himself to his feet and watches for an opening. His golem, however is ready for action, leveling its twin shields at the elemental as a frightning glow builds in the mouths of the roaring bear faces molded on them.
Grizz smacks the magma beast with a bolt of fire - still managing to blast some of its body mass away - and Cara blasts it with a torrent of raw water magic. The magma elemental is enveloped in a cloud of hissing steam, and the skin along its surface turns brittle and cracks even as it knocks Grizz away from in front of it with a heavy swing.
Meanwhile, Jera plants her banner and works her supportive magic, shielding her allies from the worst of the elemental's heat and providing a surge of motivational vitality.
Cassidy nods at Cara's work, turning her attention towards the magma elemental once more as she focuses her magic where it has turned brittle. "Okay. Here we go. Giving it my all on this one," she says, preparing her lightning bolt to strike it where it is weakest.
Cara performs a stomp that ends in a stance. After which, she instantly dashes off to the side of the now brittle magma mass. The feline smiles a rather toothy grin, and promptly proceeds to lay a series of multiple rapid strikes along the side of the magma mass's body.
Elijah roars in fury as his golem is tossed aside by the elemental! The golden dragon flings himself at the thing, throwing all of his weight into a brutal tackling attack.
The effort the freeswords put into their assault is truly heroic - a lightning bolt from Cassidy that would have rent the sky above, and seems like it should have split the mountain as it blasts into the magma elemental; coupled with the furious assault from both sides launched by Elijah and Cara, the thing soon crumples away. The silence in the chasm following the fight is almost deafening... but it seems that there are no more signs of the animate monsters that had been troubling the mine, leaving the heroes free to wander, or go collect their pay.
Cassidy lets out a heavy sigh and leans against the cavern wall, looking at the scratch across her thigh and the tear in her robe. "Lovely," she murmurs, feathers ruffling for a moment. "I can't wait to get home. That magic is tiring."
Cara takes a deep breath and begins walking over to the elevator, but stops for a second. "Hmm, maybe something should be done about that seam leaking magma so that this doesn't happen again." She turns over to everyone else and speaks, "I'll pay for the return trip home if you guys are okay with it."
Elijah has a heavy sigh of his own as his enormous, draconian body starts to shrink and his golden scales give way to shaggy golden fur. The burly grizzly drags himself over to where his golem lies beaten and battered against a crystal studded wall, too tired and bruised to be ashamed of his nakedness. "Damn, Grizz," he grumbles, "You had a number done on you, didn't you?" The grizzly slumps to the floor beside his automaton. "You ladies can all go on ahead," he says, "Gotta fix up my partner here before I go anywhere. Right after I get my wind back."
