Stalking through the swamp was like taking a walk through his hometown. The smell of swamp gas and decay, the sounds of screeching birds echoing through the tress, the bugs buzzing around. Fucking horrible, now he was glad he left the place. There were much nicer places in the world that he'd only seen after leaving his home and realizing just how big the world was. He couldn't say he hated the swamp though. It still felt like home even if he knew it was a smelly, dangerous place.

At least the bugs didn't bother him anymore. They hadn't bothered him all that much before, the mosquitos having a hard time biting him through his thick scales, but now they couldn't even land on him without being fried to a crisp. Xalmann was practically a walking bug zapper now thanks to the fire in him.

He had returned to the Marsh Flats now, not as a fun home visit though. He'd heard something serious was here. An elder hydra was moving through the swamp, headed toward King's Valley. This was a perfect opportunity for him to make amends and clear his name. He'd become a criminal for attacking a convoy from King's Valley here in the Marsh Flats. Maybe if he saved King's Valley from a threat from his home, he could have that incident forgiven and stop being a wanted man.

How he regretted that whole fight. Not just for being branded a criminal, but for losing an arm in the process thanks to the Minotaur, Shaa. He'd learned later that the Minotaur hadn't even been a guard there. He'd just gotten involved because someone stepped in his food or something. What a shitshow. And Xalmann had joined the fight for what? The Mudworms? He'd agreed with their ideals, not wanting the Marsh Flats to be gentrified by King's Valley, but if this was the price for his aid, it wasn't worth it. The Mudworms hadn't even aided him in escaping the town after he'd lost his arm. They left him for dead. Damn that Jagger. He'd never work with him or his Mudworms again.

Xalmann climbed over a fallen tree and finally found what he had been searching for. On the ground, filled with stagnant water, was a huge footprint in the mud that resembled a reptile's. This had to be the tracks of the hydra. And if it wasn't, then King's Valley had more than one huge reptile headed their way. Whatever it was, he'd take it down and improve his reputation again. And then he'd be free to get back to his true goal. Finding Dagon and paying him back for what he did to his tribe.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Ten heads are better than one
Participants: Two or more
Location: Marsh Flats
Post Requirements: 8 post per person, 250 words per post
Reward: +1 Mystical Archive Ticket, +1 Hydra Core
Description: A ten headed elder hydra has been spotted leaving the Marsh Flats and making it's way towards King's Valley. The scarred and battle worn Hydra is extremely powerful and has been terrorizing locals as it moves from the marsh in search for new food and prey. Locals are asking for powerful warriors to track this Hydra and eliminate it, bringing peace back to the grasslands of King's Valley.
Special Requirements: At least one member of the group (PC only, no NPC's) must be knocked unconscious during this fight.)

A second set of reptilian footprints appear near the first. They're smaller than the supposed hydra tracks, and do not have webbing between the toes. The footprints do, however, have long claws extending from each digit and are quite deep, suggesting that whatever made them had put a lot of weight down on them. Oddly enough, the tracks seem to appear out of nowhere, as if this thing dropped from the sky. A few nearby broken tree limbs support this theory. 

Whatever this creature was, it followed parallel to the tracks of the hydra. 

Xalmann was not the only creature in the bog on the hunt. 

Following along the trail, it isn't long before water starts to seep and fill the tracks before completely submerging them at the edge of an expanse of standing water. Tall trees with their roots completely drowned in water tower overhead with branches that start sprawling to block out the sunlight far beyond anyone's reach from the ground. Curtains of moss drape down while twisted vines coil around the tree trunks. 

A frog loudly croaks from the massive lily pads that float peacefully in the still, murky waters. 

"FUCK THIS SWAMP!"

A few birds spook from the treetops overhead at the sudden outburst of frustration from someone not that far off. It doesn't take long or much effort to locate where the voice was coming from and it sure was an odd sight to behold. 

There, half sunken into the bog is a massive silver drake. Its legs are completely submerged under the water's surface and what would be brilliant silver scales polished like mirrors are coated in mud and muck. Its wings are splayed out to either side of it to act as a platform for three individuals who essentially have found themselves stranded. 

One is a disgruntled-looking dark elf in her teenage years. The shock of white streaked through her black hair stands out even through the mud smeared across her face. 

Another is a fluffy snow leopard catfolk whose pelt is soaked through and sticks to their lithe frame. They wear light armor and a cloak which all is just plastered with mud. 

The last is a tall half-elf who is wading up to his chest through the water holding what seems like a sheathed rapier up over his head. He's moving slow and sluggish through the water, getting stuck from time to time and having to yank free to keep from sinking and drowning below the surface. 

"Eirynor, don't go too far!" the catfolk calls to the elf in the water. "We don't have that much rope to throw you if you get stuck!"

The half-elf makes an annoyed expression and keeps trying to make progress towards shallower water. 

"This is ridiculous!" exclaims the teenage dark elf. "We're sitting ducks! Actually, no, worse than that, ducks can still fly away!"

The drake snorts in response to the dark elf's complaints and makes a feeble attempt to pull its haunches out of the water. The water and mud suck around its legs and make it impossible to pull free without anything solid to push against. 

---

Minions (3)
Eirynor - blade, stealth
Snow - marksman, stealth
Shael - animal handling, blade
Indra (adult drake)

Xalmann was curious about the second pair of tracks, especially as they appeared out of nowhere. They were clearly reptilian, like the hydra, but weren't quite a match. There were significant differences between them. They resembled his own tracks more than the hydra's though far larger and deeper than his own. It couldn't have been another Lizardfolk hunting the same prey as him. Not with feet this big. Whatever it was, it was another monster. This might be more dangerous than he thought if he had to fight two giant lizards. That, or this was a perfect opportunity. If the hydra and whatever this was fought each other, he could kill the victor while they were weakened. It was a risk worth taking.

But, neither of those possibilities seemed to be the case as he stood at the edge of a deep bog where a drake was apparently stuck, several riders on its back and another person in the water. Others hunting the hydra, most likely. He should probably avoid them. If they were willing to hunt the hydra, they were probably also willing to hunt down a criminal like him.

The catfolk on the drake called out to the man in the water, telling him not to go too far and Xalmann stopped in his tracks. Eirynor? He looked back to the group and focused on the man in the water. He did look familiar. That was the one who had been with Zarius when they'd fought a couple of giants. Was the Fellblood also around? Who were the other two, more of Zarius's underlings? He couldn't assume that, but perhaps it would be worth it to find out. They may be willing to work with him instead of immediately attacking him. Fighting the hydra would certainly be easier with some help.

He made his way around the deep water to some land closer to the group and waved his normal hand overhead to get their attention. Of all of them, he hoped to get Eirynor's attention first, but that was probably wishful thinking.

Eirynor huffs as he wades through the water when he spots movement out of the corner of his eye. He looks over and spots a familiar bulky red lizardfolk waving at him. He waves back but can't exactly alert the others that they're not alone, so he starts to move closer to where Xalmann is before he steps into a dip and fully disappears under the surface with a loud SLORP. 

"Oh," Shael looks over towards the water ripples. "He died."

"He didn't die!" Snow snaps at her with their ears pinned back against their head.

They look around wide-eyed for Eirynor and then also catch sight of Xalmann on the shore between them and where Eirynor was.

"Hey!" They call out to the lizardfolk. "Secure this end of the rope to a tree so we can pull him out!" 

The catfolk ties one end of a rope to an arrow and fires it toward Xalmann, striking the trunk of a tree near him. They then tie the other end to the drake's harness. Taking off their cloak and tucking their bow and quiver under it, they hurry to the edge of the drake before reluctantly getting into the water themselves while holding tight to the rope. 

"You're going to stink of swamp for days after this," Shael remarks as she stays put on the back of the drake and watches the catfolk slowly pull themselves over to where Eirynor disappeared. 

"If you want to get in the water instead," Snow huffs, "be my guest!"

"Nah, you look like you're having fun." Shael then looks at Xalmann and waves. "Hi, hope you're not here to rob us cause all our gear is now filled with mud!"

Shit. He fell into a deep spot. Xalmann thought to himself after Eirynor suddenly vanished into the murky water, the silt around where he'd sunk moving from the disturbance. He'd better go get him. He started to make his way into the muck, but stopped when he heard the catfolk call out to him and shoot him a rope on an arrow. Alright, better them than me. Xalmann grew up in the swamp, but even he preferred not being caked in the mud that smelled of decay.

He yanked the arrow out of the tree and removed the rope from it before he wrapped the rope around the same tree, tying it with a sturdy knot. He gave it a tug to make sure it was secure, and felt confident it would hold.

Now he could leave it to the catfolk to pull Eirynor out of the water. He hoped. They didn't look particularly strong. And all that fur... They looked like they were likely to end up just as stuck as the Half-Elf was. Ugh...

Xalmann let out a small sigh and started wading into the foul water, feeling with his feet where he was about to step before putting his weight on it in case there were any more deep spots between him and where Eirynor was. He also kept a firm grip on the rope to be safe. He moved carefully, but also knew he needed to be quick. Eirynor could only hold his breath down there for so long, and drowning in swamp mud was probably one of the worst ways of dying around here. Certainly not the only horrible way, but it was high on the list.

Xalmann reached the spot Eirynor had been more quickly than the drenched catfolk thanks to a combination of his familiarity with such terrain and his lack of fur weighing him down. Ah, this was really going to suck. He grabbed the roped with his wooden arm and took a deep breath before lowering himself fully into the smelly mud, reaching a hand down to search for Eirynor.

Eirynor gasps as Xalmann hauls him back up to the surface. He is completely coated in swamp scum and mud. 

Snow soon catches up to Xalmann and helps grab onto Eirynor so they can drag him back to solid ground. "Thank you for the help, sir."

Signing with one hand to Snow, the half-elf relays a message while keeping a grip on his rapier with his other hand. 

The catfolk blinks and looks at Xalmann. "Oh! We weren't expecting to meet an ally out here! Nice to meet you."

They pull Eirynor along the rope and push the tall elf out of the muck and onto the shore, an easy task with Xalmann's aid. The poor catfolk is drenched from head to toe, not being nearly as tall as Eirynor so they sank a lot deeper in the water when they crossed it. They look somewhat comical, like a kitten that was left out in the rain. 

After catching his breath, Eirynor signs to Snow again once he's out of the mud.

Snow nods along. They're more than comfortable to speak for the half-elf at this point. They look back to Xalmann. "Eirynor says thank you, and is asking why you're out here."

Meanwhile, Shael taps her foot against Indra's back impatiently. "Is your new friend going to help pull Indra out too?"

The others ignore her, focused on speaking with the lizardfolk. She huffs and crosses her arms indignantly.

Indra however, stares off across the water, keenly focused on something moving between the trees on the opposite side of the body of water.

Xalmann offered only a simple "Hm." in reply to Snow's thanks and not even that much for an introduction. He was just as covered in mud as the catfolk, his red scales entirely obscured in the black and brown gunk coating him from head to clawed toe. Even as he was helping to pull Eirynor back to the shore though, the mud on his upper half was starting to dry and crumble as it was baked by the heat he gave off. Out of the water, the mud on his legs began to do the same.

It was unfortunate that his sign language was still not enough to understand what Eirynor was saying. He'd met others before who were mute, and had decided that he wished to learn sign language to better communicate with them. However, learning it wasn't easy, especially when he still couldn't even speak common that well and couldn't find any Lizardfolk instructors. Not to mention his current circumstances making finding help from anyone a challenge, even if he was somone that was more open to asking others for help.

"Hydra." He answered, looking from Snow to Eirynor and pulling out his axe, resting it on his shoulder.

Xalmann looked at the huge drake stuck in the mud and contemplated their options. Xalmann had no idea how he might get it out. Trying to pull it with rope was probably the best they could do, but that wouldn't be easy. Maybe if they used some trees as pulleys, they might be able to manage it. How did the drake even get this stuck in the first place?

As he stared at the drake, some movement beyond it caught his eye. Something large was moving around in the treeline on the opposite side of the muddy water. He suddenly went on full alert, holding his axe at the ready and pulling out a sword made of black obsidian in his other hand.

A loud roar sounded out over the area, followed by another roar, and then another, until there was a chorus of ten making their ears ring. A tree fell down, splashing into the muck as a ten headed hydra entered the clearing. It looked like the creature they were hunting had found them instead and now it was barreling straight for some easy prey, trapped in the mud.

It's no secret Xalmann is a man of few words. Though Eirynor is a man of even fewer. That's probably why they can get along fine.

The snapping of wood and the chorus of roars draw all their attention to the hydra's arrival. Eirynor draws his sword before he turns invisible.^[1]

"Oooooh, that's not good!" Snow shouts and looks around for somewhere high to climb to. The catfolk then realizes that they left their bow and quiver on the back of the stranded drake. "Crap, crap, crap. SHAEL! I NEED MY BOW!"

"Ah, shit." Shael says as the hydra surges towards them. She unravels her whip and looks around quickly before snapping the lash around a low-hanging branch. Scooping up Snow's gear, she then swings partway across the water and tosses it to the catfolk. "Get clear of the water!" She shouts as she swings back towards the drake. "Light it up, girl!"

Snow barely manages to catch their gear before they scurry up a nearby tree to get to a better vantage point over the swamp.^[2]

Indra bares her teeth at the hydra and a rumble like thunder rises from the back of her throat. The underside of her neck scales illuminate with energy as sparks of electricity ripple between her long, dagger-like teeth. She unleashes a blast of lightning at the hydra, electrifying the swamp water and hopefully slowing the menacing creature if only a little. 

Snow notches an arrow and aims down at the hydra, aiming for the head before loosing the arrow right into one of its many eyes. 

Xalmann would notice Eirynor's foot prints leading off to the side in the mud. Seems the half-elf is going to attempt to stay out of the way or find a place they'll be able to ambush the hydra from safely. 

---

[1] Invisibility (Eirynor)
[2] Surface Scaling (Snow)

Xalmann backed up, making sure his feet were on dry land just before the water lit up with streaks of electricity across its surface. Charging straight ahead wasn't an option, if the lightning drake was going to keep this kind of attack up. He'd have to follow Eirynor and go around or try to just attack from a distance like the catfolk.

He started to make his way to the side, heading around the crackling water to try and get behind the hydra without electrifying himself. As he ran, he held his axe up, a ball of fire appearing just at the end of it, and swung it at the hydra. With a trail of fire behind it, the fire bolt flew at one of the creature's many heads and exploded against the side of its snout. It left half its face singed and burning, but that seemed to just make it angrier than actually hurt it. He'd need to use more powerful spells or get in close enough to use his weapons.

With the electricity running up its legs and making its muscles twitch against its will, its nerves crying out in pain, the elder hydra was slowed, but nowhere near defeated. Several heads reared up, grimacing in pain, but they powered through it. They opened their maws and breathed in, gathering energy for a breath attack. From the light from their maws, it looked like every head used a different element. Blue light glowed from one mouth, a sound like gurgling water sounding out. Red light gathered in another mouth, and Xalmann could feel the fire gathering within, some of the creature's throat starting to glow through the scaley hide.

One head seemed less affected by the lightning than the others and simply rushed forward to try to bite at the throat of the drake in front of it. Without thinking, Xalmann angled the obsidian blade in his hand and the light reflected off it, straight into the hydra's eyes. With a hiss, it winced and closed its eyes in pain, stopping its attack for just a moment.

---

Arcane Focus- Fire Bolt
Conflagration- 1 head burning
Shimmering Scorpion Blade (1/2) -Lightning Hydra head blinded for 1 post

Shael swings back towards her drake just as the hydra reaches it. She pulls out a fighting knife from the holster on the side of her riding boot and takes a slash at the blinded head just for good measure. Indra also rears her head back and then strikes forward, using the opening Xalmann created to sink her rows of dagger-sharp teeth into the hydra’s nearest head. She chomps down hard, breaking thick hide and piercing one of the hydra's eyes.

The hydra jerks back, but Indra’s grip holds. The drake manages to pull one of its front legs free from the mud and rakes its claws down the chest scales of the hydra. Scrambling in the mud, Indra tries to essentially climb on the hydra in order to get unstuck.

However, this would not be so easily done as the head burning with fire unleashes a bout of fire across the storm drake’s back.

Indra flaps her wings, slapping them against the surface of the water to try and dowse the burns as quickly as possible, but the scorch marks mar her silver scales.

Snow continues to rain down arrows on the hydra's heads, aiming for the eyes to aid in the attempts to blind the creature and make it less likely to land strikes of its own. It’s the best they can do to support those on the ground from their vantage point up in the treetops.

The gurgling head fixes its attention on more vulnerable prey, bearing its fangs at the dark elf swinging from the whip.

“Ah, shit. COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!” Shael shouts as she dangles at hydra eye level.

Eirynor continues to circle around to the back of the hydra in search of some more stable footing to launch a sneak attack from.

Xalmann stopped his running as the fire hydra head started to spew flames across the trapped drake. He couldn't stop some of the flames from scorching the drake's back in time, but the fiery breath came to an abrupt halt as he pointed his axe at the hydra's head, a grimace on his face as he concentrated on his magic.

The flames cascading across the drake stopped as if the hydra's mouth was suddenly plugged shut, the fire attempting to come out forming a growing sphere inside its mouth. For a moment it just looked confused, but then it quickly shifted into a flailing panic as the sphere continued to grow in its mouth, its jaws being forced farther and farther apart until it hurt and could feel the muscles tearing and the bone threatening to dislocate.

In its panicked flailing, the fire hydra head smacked into the water hydra head next to it, sending the jet of water it had been aiming at the Elven woman hanging in front of it down into the mud, sending a burst of muck into the air. The water hydra head snarled in anger at the flailing head as it had ruined its attack, but it quickly started to charge a second water rbeath. The fire head just continued flailing, hitting more of the other heads and nearly smacking right into the Elven woman and sending her flying a few times.

With a final push of his magic, Xalmann lowered his axe and the hydra's eyes widened as the ball was forced partially back down its throat before exploding, sending bits of what used to be the hydra's head flying in every direction. Only a charred stump was left, unable to regenerate a new head. It flopped forward like a giant rope of meat and scales and splashed in the muddy pond beneath it.

Xalmann slumped to one knee, breathing heavily. That had taken a lot out of him. Holding back a hyrda's fire breath was no easy task, even with his considerable power over fire. And that had only taken care of one of the ten heads threatening them. A few of the catfolk's arrows manage to hit between some of the hydra's scales, one even lodging itself into the eye of the water hydra head as it tried to recompose itself from its ally exploding next to it. A few fragments of the fire hydra skull could also be seen embedded here and there in some of the other hydra's necks.

---

Control Flames

"Whoop!"

Shael sees the hydra's fire head flail towards her. She bunches her knees up and manages to kick out and off it's head, sending her swinging further out once again. It's a good thing too, otherwise, she may have gotten pelted with the viscera and bits of burning flesh as the hydra's head explodes. Her arms were starting to hurt from hanging around, but falling in the muck would make her beyond easy pickings for the hydra to snap up or step on. 

Indra uses the chance to get some more leverage and claw her way up onto the hydra's back while raking her claws across its thick-scaled hide. She gives the lightning head a shake before releasing it, charging up her own lightning breath again before unleashing it down on the water head to explode it as well. 

It bursts, but as it does the water it was going to breathe out vaporizes and clouds the entire area in a thick cloud of steam. 

"Shit!" Snow curses as their vision is blocked. They hold off on firing more arrows in case they accidentally hit Indra or Shael who are still down in the center of things. 

Right before the cloud expanded across the water, Eirynor managed to get into position and hold for his opening. He watches the shadow of the hydra rage in the cloud just as a foot splashes down in the water near the edge right by him. Out from being invisible, he appears as he thrusts his rapier forward into the cloud and sticks the hydra right in the back of the leg. 

The hydra roars and hisses in annoyance before there's a whooshing noise through the cloud. Eirynor suddenly ducks down to the ground as the hydra's tail swings through the cloud in a wide sweeping motion. The tail slams into the side of a tree and cracks it, causing it to creak and fall to one side. Another hit like that and it'd no doubt come crashing down.

With two of its heads taken out and burnt by flames and lightning, preventing them from regenerating, and one head severely crippled and mostly blinded by the bite of the lightning drake, the remaining heads of the elder hydra were becoming increasingly aggressive as they felt more and more threatened by the enemies they were facing.

Then the hydra felt even more backed into a corner as an unseen enemy strikes it in the back of one of its legs, severely reducing its mobility and making fleeing no longer an option. Perhaps it would have still been one if its only enemy was the drake trapped in the mud and the woman stuck on its back, but it now saw it had more enemies all around it.

The mist obscured its vision now, but one head had spotted the red Lizardman to the side and the Catfolk across the water firing arrows at it, though thankfully the rain of arrows had stopped. But its anger at the arrows lodged in its scales and eyes didn't just vanish.

Another of the hydra's heads reared up and opened its mouth wide. With a sound like stone grating on stone, a small ball of earth appeared between its jaws and slowly grew larger until it had amassed a boulder just able to fit between its teeth. At the same time another head also opened its mouth wide and the mist around its mouth began to be sucked in rapidly.

With two loud wooshes, a powerful breath of air was sent straight toward the last place the Hydra had seen Snow and the boulder was shot directly at Xalmann, flying through the mist like a cannonball.

Startled and still winded from the effort of holding back the fire hydra head's breath, Xalmann couldn't dodge the sudden attack. Instead, with a hair's breadth before he would have been reduced to a bloodstain in the mud, his entire body suddenly became entirely made of flames. As the boulder impacted the ground and sent a burst of muck into the air, Xalmann's upper body reformed above his legs that had been all that would have been left of him if he'd still been solid.

Behind him, in the middle of a crater that was already filling in with dirty water, the boulder sat. In front of him, the boulder's path through the mist slowly filled back in as the earth hydra head glared at Xalmann and Xalmann glared right back. His facial expression looked hardly different than usual other than being made of fire.

Reaching a fiery hand back and touching the boulder the drake had launched at him, vines and roots began to snake their way out of his arm, returning to being made of wood as they disconnected from him, and wrapped around the boulder to form a pair of arms and legs. After a moment, the boulder stood up on its new wooden legs and stretched its arms as if it was testing them out. With a quickly hissed instructions, the newly created earth golem ran around the pool of water to behind the hydra where it was swinging its tail to try and fend off Eirynor.

---

Full Elemental Manifestation- Fire
Animate Stone

The burst of compressed air cuts through the mist and slams into the tree branches where Snow was perched. The catfolk yeowls in surprise as the branch splinters and breaks under their feet and they're knocked back into the air. Luckily they weren't up so high that they didn't have a chance to twist their body around midair to get their feet back under them. Unluckily for them is the fact that there is little dry ground below where they last were up over the swamp, and while they could have safely landed on their feet normally, they instead land in the muddy water and quickly sink up to their chest.^[1]

"Oooooh, this is bad," is all the catfolk can say as they struggle to keep from sinking deeper only a few lengths away from the angry, thrashing hydra. 

Eirynor ducks and tries to get out of range of the hydra's tail, but the unsteady footing makes any quick maneuvers very difficult to pull off. The hydra had no such limitations in its movements though, and with another swing, it finally hit its mark. Eirynor grits his teeth as the heavy, scaled tail slams into his side. He manages to twist his sword to point towards the tail and impale it before it knocks him clear off his feet, wrenching the weapon from his grip. Being disarmed isn't ideal, but what is less ideal is how close one tree just happened to be. The half-elf slams into the tree trunk hard, the sound of cracking bones and snapping ribs being heard before he slumps to the ground unmoving. 

Meanwhile, Shael swings back towards the hydra and Indra. She manages to bounce off one of the remaining heads and then lets go of her whip to land on the storm drake's back. Quick to get positioned in the saddle, she draws her other fighting knife in case she needs it. 

"Okay, girl," she says while tapping her heels against the drake's back scales. "Let's teach this wingless lizard how to fly."

Indra unfurls her wings, stretching them wide between the trees. The drake sinks her talons into the hydra's hide and starts pulling up as she flaps her wings. 

The hydra does not appreciate this in the slightest and thrashes more violently, turning its attention to the drake's underbelly. The one head that breathed concussive blasts of air rears back and sinks its teeth into the back leg of Indra, but this does not make Indra let go. The hydra gets more enraged and its attention is on the drake trying to lift it off the ground for long enough to create an opening for Xalmann and the animated stone.

---

[1] Cats Grace (Snow)

This wasn't going well for them at all. Xalmann had managed to avoid being turned to paste by a rock, but it looked like everyone else had taken a beating so far. The catfolk was half sunken in the mud, Eirynor was down, the Elf was in a precarious situation on the Hydra's back, and her drake mount was burned and bleeding. This elder hydra was tougher than he'd thought. And he'd expected to fight it alone and win. Now he felt foolish. He'd have to remember this lesson once this fight was over, if he managed to survive it. He'd gotten arrogant. As strong as he'd gotten, there were still things he was too weak to defeat on his own.

Xalmann started running across the surface of the water, each of his footsteps hissing with a puff of steam and leaving behind a patch of dried mud that quickly filled back in again. If he wanted to survive this, and keep these allies of Zarius alive, he didn't have time to regret letting his ego get a bit too big. He was still alive, and as long as he was, he was going to try to kill this big fucking lizard.

While the hydra was being held in the air by the drake, Xalmann ran beneath it. Its scales were hard and difficult to do any damage to it through, but its underbelly wasn't quite so well defended. Xalmann threw his axe upward, cutting deeply into the beast's stomach and embedding the axe within.

With a roar of pain from several of its heads, the hydra tried to crane its necks to look below it. With a glare, one hydra head opened its mouth which began to glow from within with a bright light, but its light breath fizzled as it suddenly received a ball of fire directly into its throat and felt oddly tired, as if all its energy was being drained from it.

Floating above Xalmann's wooden shoulder that was now open to reveal a fiery pocket inside it, was a small spirit made of flames. Even with its angry look at the hydra head, the spirit was adorable, not fitting the serious demeanor of the Lizardman at all.

Finally, the stone golem Xalmann had created earlier rounded the pool of muddy water and came up beneath the hydra next to Xalmann. It had been a bit slower than Xalmann who had taken a more direct path, but now that it was here, he could finally use it. Xalmann stepped onto its outstretched hand and with a motion as if the stone and wood golem was punching straight up, Xalmann was sent flying up straight at the wound he'd made with his axe. His fiery form went straight through the hydra's hide and left the area he'd passed through charred black.

All of the hydra's remaining eyes bulged and it let out another chorus of roars. This time though, the roars were of pain as it suddenly felt itself being burnt and torn apart from the inside out.

---

Full Elemental Manifestation (2/3 posts)
Spell Focus- Vampiric Touch
Summon: Flame Sprite