Xalmann was about to climb back down into the water when the little fireball ghost swooped over to him and clung to his wooden arm.

"Oooh!" It let out a whispered noise that made Xalmann stop and look down at it.

The ghost was a strange little creature. It had come with the new arm, a living power source that fueled it. It could leave the confines of the hole in the shoulder for some time, longer if Xalmann wasn't actively moving the arm around much ,such as when he was sleeping, but it needed to return if he wanted his arm to be able to move without it draining the energy from his own body like some parasitic plant.

The ghost also seemed to know more about the arm than Xalmann did. It had an inherent connection to it and its capabilities. Xalmann had named the ghost "Ash". Ironically, he hadn't even been thinking of ashes and fire. He'd named it after the ash tree that was native to his swampy home. Now, it looked like Ash was trying to tell him something.

Ash floated down and placed a nubby hand on the stone they had camped on top of and Xalmann did the same, pressing his wooden hand to the rocky floor. He didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, but the arm apparently did.

The vines and branches making up the arm suddenly grew rapidly, spreading across the boulder's surface. Tiny flowers native to the swamp bloomed across it, all of them colored a fiery orange and emitting a soft glow. When it had finished covering the boulder, the vines retreated and Xalmann's arm reformed back to normal, leaving the rock still overgrown.

All of a sudden, the rock lurched, rising from the water, and began moving toward the shore. At its sides, arms made of woven together vines swung, its motions feeling as if it was walking on two similarly formed legs underneath. The entire campsite had been animated into a golem made of stone and wood. Ash flew back into his home in Xalmann's wooden shoulder which closed around him, leaving them in darkness.

Maybe he'd extinguished the campfire too soon, but he'd expected them to be leaving camp. To light the area slightly again, Xalmann's hands began to glow as he moved back to the center of the boulder to avoid falling off the side from the rock's movement.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Ambushed!
Participants: Two or more
Location: Marsh Flats
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Description: Well you found the Bogaboo, or it found you! In the dead of night the undead amalgamation has sprung, using the darkness and mist as a cover. You are now in a fight for your life. Defend yourself, fight hard and bring down the ominous Bogaboo!

---

Animate Stone

Sylvari could only watch in wonder as her companion knelt down to the surface of the rock on which they stood, urged on by his flaming little friend. Her eyes widened in surprise at the creeping vines that erupted over the stone's surface in all directions. This is it. I've annoyed Xalmann too much and now he plans to wrap me up in these vines to make sure I don't cause any more trouble. As the vines quickly crawled towards her feet, Sylvari danced this way and that, moving out of the path of the twisting advance, trying to forestall the inevitable. Only, the plant matter did not try to cocoon her as she feared but spread around her, continuing over the whole surface of the stone island.

She watched them disappear over the side of the boulder and nearly fell on her rear as the stone moved. Wait, this stone is moving?! Sylvari looked with panic at the Lizardman, whose little fire spirit had retreated to its resting place, and with it the warm light it bore. For his part, Xalmann simply walked back to the center of the now-very-much-mobile stone construct and held a small glowing ember in his hands. Gods as my witness, I will never come to these swamps on my own. I'd be dead within a week. Well, more dead.

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. Could this arm always do that!? Xalmann kept up his usual stoic demeanor, but inside, he was freaking out. Since when could this plant arm do something like that? Has it always been capable of this? What else could it do? His mind was buzzing with questions. If only Ash could actually talk, he could just ask the ghost to explain all of the arm's abilities. It looked like he would just have to experiment and see if he could figure things out on his own.

The rock and wood golem lumbered over the the edge of the pool of water it used to be in the middle of and tilted down to let Xalmann and Sylvari get off onto relatively dry land. Xalmann climbed down and looked back at his unexpected creation. At the sides of the rock were two arms of wooden roots, and beneath, half submerged in the water, were two legs. Compared to the rock's size, they were rather short. Much shorter than the arms, the viny hands of which dipped their fingertips into the water. On the front of the rock, where its face apparently was, were two tiny flames that must have been its eyes.

Once Sylvari had gotten off as well, Xalmann didn't know what to do with the golem. It was too large to make its way through the trees without knocking them over and causing a lot of noise. A shame. It would be a huge asset in battle, but it was just too big. The bogaboo probably wouldn't dare approach them if they stayed with it. Should he tell it to just go back to the center of the pool again?

As if it understood what he wanted without him saying a word, the golem turned around and headed back to the center of the murky water where it sat down. The flame eyes flickered out, as if the golem had gone to sleep. Hm. Well that was easy. Now they could set off, fairly dry. Xalmann acted natural, as if the golem hadn't been a big deal at all, and started off, motioning with one glowing hand for Sylvari to follow him.

As he walked, ready for combat with his axe in his hand, there was just one thought that concerned him slightly. Their tents were still on top of the rock... Well, they'd just have to go back and get them later...

"Xalmann, my dear," Sylvari began, as politely and diplomatically as could be, "PLEASE let me know the next time we camp on a golem or elemental or whatever that was! I swear this swamp is going to be the death of me! If I had a heartb..." Sylvari clapped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from revealing any more in her shock. She forced herself to calm down, running her hair through with a small brush she kept inside her pack. She then smoothed out the creases in her veil, created in her distress, before heaving an over-exaggerated heavy sigh. Smooth, Sylvi. Real smooth.

Desperate for some recourse to shift attention, she looked back to where the creature had lumbered off into the mists, carrying the remains of the pair's small campsite. "Xalmann... did the golem take our tents back with it? Lloyd lent those out to us! We need to get them back!" Sylvari was prepared to stomp back through the muck to retrieve the supplies, when a whisper, more forceful than any she had heard, rang through her mind in the darkness. She stopped dead in her tracks to turn to Xalmann and whisper, "It's here." Even through the mists and darkness of the swamp, an ominous hulking shadow could be seen.

"Hm." Xalmann just grunted to show he acknowledged what she said. Explaining to her that that was not, in fact, a golem when they'd set up camp on it and only was now because of an ability of his arm that even Xalmann had been unaware of until just now would have been too much of a hassle.

There was something she said that actually caught his attention though. Did she just say "If I had a heart"? Does she not have a heart? Was she being metaphorical right now? He'd heard some people said having no heart as a way of saying someone was incapable of love or mercy or whatever other useless thing meant their life would be spared during a raid. But what did that have to do with the golem? This was a conversation he'd have to keep in mind for later.

The bogaboo was already upon them. Xalmann took a fighting stance, pulling his dagger from its sheathe at his waist, and held it in his wooden hand, his axe at the ready in the other. He waited for the shadow in the mist to make a move, but suddenly there was a loud noise right behind them.

Out of the water, the undead amalgamation of bones and wood burst up and lunged at Sylvari with four arms, intending to grab her and drag her under the water. It looked like they'd narrowly avoided walking right into the monster's trap by not entering the muddy water where it had been hiding, ready to pounce on them.

With a swift swing of his tail, Xalmann knocked Sylvari to the side, out of the way of the bogaboo's grabbing arms, which instead gripped onto Xalmann's by the tail. Steam hissed from where the soggy wood connected to scorching hot scales, but the bogaboo held firm and pulled Xalmann toward the murky water with monstrous strength.

---

Prehensile Tail

The world around Sylvari rotated and she rapidly found herself hurtling towards the murky ground. She had been knocked off balance by a sweep of Xalmann's surprisingly strong tail. I had rosier visions of the first time a partner would sweep me off my feet... There was no time for childish musings now; as she picked herself up out of the muck, she saw Xalmann being dragged by a horrifying mound of collected shattered skeletons, the roiling mass of its body supported by deceptively powerful limbs, based on the way Xalmann struggled. 

Sylvari's mind shifted into one of tactics and strategy, hammered into her from years of exacting training with her people, a frame of mind she could call upon in combat scenarios to clear away any frivolous mental clutter and assess a path to victory. Large amalgamation-type enemy, obviously adept in the swamp as a favored habitat. Sylvari looked with practiced, inhuman quickness at herself and Xalmann, respectively. She hefted her club while considering her options. Blunt force is likelier than that one's slashing weapons to score lasting damage. However, given that one's skill with fire magic and the throughline of vines seemingly binding major portions of the creature together, that one is the spear, so this one must be the shield. Mere fractions of a second after dissecting the situation, Sylvari leapt into the action, figuratively and literally, launching herself off the semi-solid ground where the golem had deposited them. 

Given the creature's rolling mass and balled shape, its center of gravity was likely compromised, presenting an exploitable weakness. Sylvari bore no illusions to thinking she could knock the thing over, but with enough force, it would lose its footing just enough to give Xalmann opportunity to escape. The gamble worked, and the creature stumbled just far enough back that Xalmann had opportunity to stand. In a flash, Sylvari was there, interposing herself between her partner and the amalgamation, crouched low in a defensive stance. She would not deal the finishing blow in this fight, but she would act as shield to her spear who could.

Xalmann quickly leapt back to his feet and turned around to face the bogaboo that had yanked him off his feet. The part of his tail that had been grabbed had ached for a moment before returning to normal. However, Durumann's tail now looked as if it had been ripped off, a fate that would have befallen Xalmann if the spirit had not been present. He didn't want to have to replace another limb with more branches, so it was fortunate that he hadn't dismissed the annoying spirit.

With how large the creature was an knowing its undead nature, Xalmann made a snap decision. His dagger wouldn't be very helpful in this fight. He stowed it away again and grabbed another blade from his back, one made of black obsidian that reflected the lights from his hands that still looked like they'd been pulled fresh from a forge. He wasn't very familiar with this blade, having picked it up from a slain enemy on a whim, but its reach was far superior to his dagger as well as his axe.

"Move, now!" Xalmann called out to Sylvari, who had interposed herself between him and the monster. With a deep inhale, Xalmann's chest glowed like there was a fire within, just beneath the yellowish scales of his front, and as soon as Sylvari was out of the way he let out a gout of flame from his mouth aimed right for the bogaboo.

What remained of the water still dripping from the creature instantly evaporated as it let out a horrible screech. But, the flame breath wasn't enough to finish it. Xalmann didn't expect it to, but it made an excellent cover to obscure the creature's sight for a moment. With a swing of his wooden arm, the obsidian blade separated into pieces connected by a thin wire in the center and lashed across the bogaboo like a whip.

---

Guardian Spirit 1/4 hit preventions
Drake Gland- Fire
Shimmering Scorpion Blade

The white-haired one who took the role of Shield reacted instantly to the Spear's words, pirouetting out of his path to the foe. The Spear released a gout of flame from his mouth, bathing the enemy in shades of amber and crimson and evoking a gargled scream from the creature. the vines holding the greater portions of the enemy together wilted away, scorched back by the inferno's fury, causing portions of the collected bone matter all over the creature to slough off without their requisite bindings. 

The Spear then took out a curious dagger that morphed into a multi-tailed whip as he swung, leaving gouges across the creatures surface where the obsidian bladelets met the roiling mass. The enemy, for its part, had shaken off the shock of being bathed in fire and lashed out at its tormentor.

The Shield was there again between the Spear and his quarry, as the situation required her, ^{[Cuirass and Padding, 1/2 hit preventions]} absorbing a massive blow to the chest that sent her spiraling several yards away in a heap. No lasting damage. The armor absorbed most of the blow. Need to get it repaired after the fight. The Shield got to her feet and began to charge back into the fray, as the Spear continued its onslaught on the foe.

Xalmann's fire breath slowed and then came to a stop as he needed to breathe. As the fire thinned, a hulking fist of mishmashed bone and wood came at him through the flame. He raised his axe to defend himself, but never felt the impact as Sylvari was sent flying by the punch she jumped into the way of.

Wha- Why!? Did she have some kind of death wish? He was surprised to see someone actually take a hit for him. He had no idea why she was trying to protect him. He was stronger than her. He didn't need protecting, but here she was, trying to act as his shield with everything she had. Her armor was partially broken. How many hits like that could she take before getting seriously hurt? He wasn't trying to find out.

The bogaboo charged forward, moving faster than expected for its size. Even with burnt bark bones that had their support withered away by the flame, it didn't act like it was hurt at all. Its attacks didn't slow one bit. Not surprising, given its undead nature. This thing wouldn't stop until it was well and truly destroyed.

The head of Xalmann's axe started to glow a bright orange, just like his hands. Even from a short distance away, one could feel the heat coming off of the weapon as he swung it forward, between two fingers of the hand reaching for him. With a scream that sounded as if a chorus was crying out in pain, the hand was cut in half down to the wrist, the edges of the cut left charred and smoldering.

Suddenly, the two halves of the hand slapped back together with Xalmann's axe still stuck between them and yanked away, pulling the axe from Xalmann's grip. This was fine with Xalmann. Perfect, actually. Focusing his magic through the weapon, the hand suddenly exploded into a ball of fire, leaving only a smoldering stump.

Before Sylvari ran back into the fray, the axe was already back in Xalmann's hand as if it had never left it.

---

Arcane Soul- Battle Axe, Fire Damage
Arcane Focus- Fireball
Always There

The Shield could sense the critical moment of the battle rapidly approaching, witnessing the explosion the Spear had unleashed with his axe. She took up position behind the creature, if it even really had a front, and began slamming her club into it over and over, sending bone fragments flying aside with each impact, in her desperate bid to protect the Spear.

The Shield got her wish, too suddenly and more powerful than anticipated. The creature leapt atop her, its massive stump-like arms brought together like an unholy wooden warhammer as it slammed down on the Shield, ^{[Cuirass and padding, 2/2 hit prevention]} crumpling the armor she wore to a state of uselessness. The creature was not content to stop there, however, continuing to unleash its barrage of attacks in pained frustration on the more willing target. Again and again its fists rained down onto the Shield's body, creating a crater in place of her torso.

Finally, it left the Shield in her broken state, her body rent asunder, as it turned to face the Spear once more. For any normal person, the onslaught would have spelled death, ^{[Last Resort]} but as the Shield's, Sylvari's, body rose, flickering and distorted, her black silver veil fell away to reveal the blazing crimson proof in her eyes that she was far from normal. Sylvari forgot herself.

What is she doing!? Xalmann thought to himself as Sylvari was standing behind the bogaboo, bashing it with her club. Xalmann had barely any time to react to the sudden situation when the bogaboo turned its focus from him and leapt atop his companion, barraging her with a flurry of strikes from its three remaining fists and even the stump that was left of the fist he'd destroyed, not feeling any pain from the smoldering wound.

He ground his teeth in frustration and tried to save Sylvari. The obsidian blade-whip fell to the ground as the vines and branches making up his left arm bust apart into a whirlwind of lashing vines that grabbed onto all of the bogaboo's limbs and immobilized it, but it was too late. Sylvari's armor had been punched right through and her torso was nothing but a gaping hole. There was no way she could have survived that.

"Idiot!" Xalmann shouted out loud, but his angry voice was tinged with something he hadn't expected. He didn't care about this dumb girl who did everything in her power to get herself killed this whole trip and had only survived until now because he kept intervening. It didn't concern him if she survived or not, he only wanted to better ensure his own survival by keeping a partner around to help him in this fight. His actions all along had been entirely self-serving and not out of kindness or anything stupid like that.

So why was he so upset? Why was there just a little sadness in his voice?

The bogaboo struggled in his grasp, trying to turn to face him and attack, but the vines held it firmly. Above the axe in his hand, a ball of fire appeared and slowly expanded as he started to cast another explosive fire spell, this one far larger than the last and further enhanced by the presence of his spirit guardian. Now that he was alone, he didn't need to hold back anymore. He didn't notice Sylvari rising, her form hidden behind the bogaboo between them.

---

Perennial Prosthetic
Arcane Focus- Massive Fireball
Spirit Shroud

The shaded form of the vampire raised one of her upper appendages, too distorted to call an arm, to the hole torn through the center of her being, her chest acting as a window to both hemispheres of her form. Slowly, mindlessly, the appendage lowered as the shade considered her next action. Death. Arcana. Blood. Blood. BLOOD.


^{[Chaos Touched]} There, just on the other side of the struggling obstacle in front of her, the vampire sensed a great gathering of arcana. Arcana she needed to survive, broken as she was. If the obstacle was in her way, the simplest path was through it. A battered, crumpled club was still in the vampire's hand. It was enough.

Howling in fury, the vampire began swinging the club at the obstacle with inhuman speed, removing large sections of the obstacle with each swing. The wriggling obstacle struggled against the blows that blew off large chunks of its being, but curiously was unable to move away. The vampire, for her part did not realize and did not care. She simply needed to go faster. More. Death. Violence. BLOOD. 

^{[Fang Graft]} Displeased with her progress, the vampire began biting through portions of the obstacle, crushing its feeble resistance in her powerful jaws, swinging all the while. She was getting close to the source, even as she felt the arcana growing. Yes. More blood. More death. Between bouts of her gnashing teeth and swinging club, the vampire let out bloodcurdling shrieks, expressing her displeasure at the delay.

With a swing of his axe, the ball of fire flew forward and hit the bogaboo in the center of its back before exploding into flame that spread in all directions. The water hissed and boiled from the heat and the trees behind Xalmann caught fire as the whole area was bathed in fire. As the fire washed over Xalmann he seemed to just vanish right into it as if he was made of fire himself.

Just from the initial explosion, a massive chunk of the bogaboo's torso was missing. It let out an ear-piercing screech as what remained of it was immolated, the fire charring its bones and turning wood to ash. It was slowly devoured by the flames. Xalmann expected the same to be happening to the corpse of Sylvari. Behind the bogaboo, Sylvari only had meager cover from the powerful explosion that had sent her flying back, into the muck.

When the flames finally subsided, the trees of the swamp were burning and much of the muddy water nearby had suddenly dried up into a cracked, barren bed that was already beginning to refill as water flowed back in to replace what had been evaporated.

Xalmann stood there, a being made entirely of fire that died down and returned back to red and yellow scales. He looked over his shoulder and waved his axe again, this time causing the burning trees and brush to extinguish in an instant as if he'd literally cut off the fire's source of fuel.

He looked down to the remains of the bogaboo, a pile of ash and bone fragments in front of him that was already mixing with the muddy ground and disappearing. He was victorious, but it didn't feel like a victory at all. He looked up to where he expected to see the ashes of Sylvari, but nothing was there. Perhaps they had already been claimed by the swamp.

He clicked his tongue in frustration and clenched his fist. How could he let this happen? That damn fool. He'd tried so hard to keep her alive, and all his effort had been wasted because she wanted to help him so badly. He should have told her to run or shoved her away or left her on top of the golem. Anything beside let her join him in this fight. But then what was the point of even keeping her alive if she wasn't going to help him fight the bogaboo? Why did he even care that she had died? He'd won. So why did it matter if she'd died?

As he tried to figure this out, he heard something moving through the water and looked up to see the golem he had made earlier walking through the bog with something held gently in its viny hands.

---

Full Elemental Manifestation
Arcane Focus- Control Flames

Amidst her frenzy, the vampire felt the arcana she sensed swell and release. It would soon wash over her; all she needed to do was stand there and wait. She spread her arms to welcome her feast. The force of the blast obliterated the obstacle in front of the mindless bloodsucker, providing negligible protection from the tempest of magic. The vampire was flung back several yards into the grime of the swamp, where her partially corporeal form sunk it.

The blast having taken the majority of her remaining strength, the muck would have been the vampire's final resting place were it not for a lumbering stone golem covered in, and animated by, vines that crisscrossed its surface. Strong stone hands bore the vampire's body up out of the mire as the distortion of her body increased in direct proportion to her slipping grip on unlife.

The golem presented the body to its master, whose only indication that this was his partner was the shock of platinum blonde hair atop her deteriorating form. The vampire's face was horribly contorted with blighted black veins that gave it an otherworldly, angular appearance. Both sets of canines were exaggeratedly pronounced, too large to fit in the form's mouth, and a flickering crimson glow could be seen as the vampire's eyelids fluttered.

Far from the shrieks she once emitted, with the loss of her strength, the vampire could only mumble out gurgled speech, barely above a whisper. "Bl-blood... Arc-aughhh..." As these words slipped out, the vampire could feel the void beckoning to her to follow.

Xalmann looked down at what his golem presented to him and was met with mixed emotions. He recognized this... thing. This was Sylvari? He was relieved to see her alive, but confused and more than a little horrified to see her in such a twisted form, too weak to even speak more than one stuttered word he could barely hear escape her lips.

Blood.

Xalmann wasn't sure what to do. She needed blood? He'd only heard rumors of people like that, that lived by feeding on the blood of others, of Vampires. He'd never met one before. Or, at least, he'd never thought he'd met one before. Apparently, as of recently, he had. Would blood save her?

He steeled himself and picked up the obsidian blade he'd dropped to the ground. With a quick wipe on his pants to get the mud off, he slashed a deep cut through his scales and into his own arm. He shoved the wound into Sylvari's mouth. If a little blood was all it took to bring her back to life, then so be it. He'd give her some blood.

This way he wouldn't have to explain to Lloyd what happened to his partner on this mission. Why he'd returned from the hunt alone. It definitely had nothing to do with clearing his conscious or caring about the idiot at all. If that was all he needed to tell himself, then so be it.