While Buttfellow is rather large, standing at eight feet tall as a walking metal tank, he still pales in comparison to the size of the Emperor Akhlut that tower twice as tall as him. The lightning armor sparking off of his surface help deter some of the seabears, but with the swarm of giant feathered beasts surrounding him, he doesn’t make much headway into the crowd. Struggling to get through, Buttfellow swings his arms out then claps his hands together, completely uncaring if his tinkerer or her partner are warned. A blinding flash of light explodes out from his fists,^[1] sending a wave of confused roars of freshly blinded Emperor Akhlut reeling back. With the area clear, the golem starts smashing electrified fists into his enemies.

Astrid is much smaller than her golem, standing at just over half of its height, which means that fighting the seabears is akin to trying to fight Beist – which she would never do, but it sure feels like an army of him towering over her. Luckily, this means that she’s blocked from seeing the bright flash of light. Hopefully Raoul doesn’t get caught in that, and when she glances back to see him fighting the bears with no armor, as per usual, she thinks that maybe he could use some.

“Heads up!” Astrid shouts to the dhampir. She raises her metal arm, pointing her hand in his direction. Runes etched into the metal light up, and the magic that holds her arm together glows brighter and stronger. A bright flash of golden light fires toward Raoul in an attempt to cover him in a protective aura that he can use to absorb damage and release it in a burst against enemies.^[2] If he wants that, of course. Otherwise, she’ll aim it at Buttfellow. Heck, she might aim it at Buttfellow anyway since she can use the spell again.

---

1. Mana Bulwark [cast 2/3] - Blinding Flash
2. Arcanatek Prosthetic - Arcane Mode [post 1/3]
3. Divinity’s Blessing - once per topic limit not consumed with Arcane Mode

Arcane Activation [post 2/4]
Lightning Armor [post 2/3]

“Ahhh”, Raoul yells as his eyes get completely blinded by a large white flash that comes from Buttfellow.



“MY EYES! I can’t see! What did you say, Astrid?”, he stumbles around trying to get his bearings as his vision becomes completely white for a few moments. After some time he shakes his head and his sight returns only to face the sharp fin of an Emperor Akhlut in front of him. He flinches immediately but to his surprise, he is not punched in the jaw and sent flying a few feet back instead the creature’s hand gets blocked by a faint shield.



He jerks backward and chuckles, “Ah that’s what you were saying Astrid thanks for the help. Nice try fur for brains now it’s my turn and I don’t play as nice as you do”.



He then pushes that energy from the intended impact and pushes it in front of him a wave of light coming forward. It causes the beast in front of him to fall backward on its back in shock. The dhampir knows he’s at a disadvantage against the beast and he has to make the best out of the opportunity. Raoul gripped his weapons and snapped them against the towering beast as he tried to charge at him. He needed some space now that his enemy was furious and he was gonna make sure he was gonna get it. The creature quickly backs off at the sudden back, not fond of the long-ranged pain but still focused on fighting, going for another charge and trying to tackle him to the ground.

Hearing Raoul scream in pain, Astrid realizes that the bright flash was Buttfellow. “OI! Ya big lug, watch where yer doin’ that!” she shouts before blasting a protective aura around Raoul to at least try to keep him from getting decimated by these seabears while he can’t freakin’ see thanks to the blockhead golem over there. Luckily, the spell works, and it immediately pays off!

Meanwhile, Buttfellow makes no acknowledgment of the situation and takes full advantage of the fact that several of the surrounding Emperor Akhlut have been blinded. His electrified fists smash and bash as many as he can in the short period of time, which sends disarming pain through the affected limbs of the creatures. Many of them stumble away, seeking the solace of the ocean again.

As Astrid readies up her hammer, she sees Raoul blast back one of the creatures only to anger it more. It charges at him, ready to take the dhampir down, so Astrid focuses her efforts on restraint. The magic of her prosthetic glows again, this time taking on a red hue.^[1] When she twists her arm, magical chains burst out of the sand beneath the Emperor Akhlut attacking Raoul and wrap around its limbs.^[2] The chain glow white hot and search the flesh of the monster, leaving a perfect opening for Raoul.

---

1. Arcanatek Prosthetic - Arcane Mode [post 2/3]
2. Scern’s God Killer [post 1/2] - once per topic limit not consumed with Arcane Mode

Buttfellow: Arcane Activation [post 3/4], Lightning Armor [post 3/3]

As Raoul tries to rush around and think of a way to keep the dashing Emperor Akhlut he begins to get worried. He isn’t able to match its speed all that much is obvious from the beast’s speed and strength. If it wasn’t for his whips keeping it a few feet back it would already have pounced on him. He pulls his whips behind him ready to strike down on the incoming beast’s tackle hoping it’d be enough to at least distract him. It was then that suddenly chains emerged and wrapped themselves around the charging Emperor Akhlut. The beast cries in pain, yelping and trying to wriggle free but to no avail.



Raoul chuckles, “Thanks for the help Astrid, I’ll make sure it wasn’t put to waste”, and pulls his whips behind him and cracks them against Emperor Akhlut. He puts all of his strength into the strike and the beast quickly thanks to Astrid’s burning chains and his attack falls to the floor knocked out cold.



Quickly before he could celebrate the victory other Emperor Akhluts began rampaging even more now. Only a few are left now with most taking their injured and escaping, learning their lesson not to mess with people. However, the ones left don’t seem to understand instead seeing their comrades being beaten so soundly emboldens them giving them a sense of urgency as they start working together to overwhelm the two adventurers. Their pack leader seeing his people getting decimated decides to attack the perceived most dangerous threat there, buttfellow.

Buttfellow is certainly the perceived biggest threat amongst the assailants, and the timing is pretty convenient for the remaining Emperor Akhlut to turn their attention to focus on him just as the lightning covering him fades away. With a bit of space between him and the seabears, the golem has taken his fair share of bites and beatings, but the lightning certainly acted as a deterrent…that he no longer has. A cacophony of roars erupt from the creatures as they charge the now more defenseless construct.

Well, that’s not good.

Astrid decides she should probably make use of the same spell she used on Raoul, so magic gathers in her prosthetic and fires out to coat Buttfellow in a protective aura.^[1] Now the construct is cooking. Punching his fists together, Buttfellow readies up for the next assault. Red runes glow on his body and collect at his face before a gout of fire spews out ahead of him,^[2] sending the charging Akhlut scattering away from him just enough to give him enough space to start swinging at the ones that come from the sides, decking them with his massive metal fists.

All of the remaining animals pile on and attack him with all their might, not paying any attention to the two smaller targets on the battlefield. Astrid looks over at Raoul and rests her hammer across her shoulder, just watching the battle go down.

Eventually, as the golem starts being driven to his knees, not by damage but by the sheer overwhelming force of several giant sea creatures, golden light explodes out from his form.^[3] It blows back the attacking Emperor Akhlut with enough force to send them scattering like an opened bag of marbles across the sands. Dazed and seared by the magic, they land heavily with whimpers. Clearly the big metal man is no match for them, and their leader roars pathetically to signal a return to the sea. The army of beasts oblige and shuffle, injured, back to the waters.

Which is good timing for Buttfellow because he’s out of combat juice.

---

1. Divinity’s Blessing - cast
2. Mana Bulwark - [spell 3/3] Flame breath
3. Divinity’s Blessing - burst

A large rush of Emperor Akhlut begins crowding the arcane golem but the dhampir isn’t exactly sure what he can do to help. He jogs over and whacks them with his whips trying to pull one of them away from his ally but to no avail. These fellows were indeed formidable but after a moment he saw a spell fire off from Astrid and hit But Fellow. Quickly the golem gets to work and starts mollywhopping those overgrown numbskulls. A faint fire breath spews out and Raoul jumps back deciding that the big guy’s got this in the bag.



Raoul stands there and just watches the carnage as the big man’s beatdown continues as he just tears into the damned feathered bastards. He glances over to Astrid and gives her a thumbs up, “Just look at him go, that fellow is indeed kicking butt”.



Eventually, the big guy ends the fight with a wave of energy and Emperor Akhluts pathetically go home in shame and defeat. The dhampir couldn’t help himself but flash them a cocky grin as they departed before looking towards Astrid.



“Well, all’s well that ends well, I think that’s the end of it. I’m sure those crazy guys know what’s good for them and that they’ll stay away. We probably should head back now. I'm pretty sure the expedition is waiting".


After the group left and returned to the expedition’s coastal site they spent the next few days wrapping up their research before leaving. It was pretty uneventful with no combat but the discoveries and findings were super important. Eventually, it comes time to say goodbye and the dhampir detective walks over to Astrid and bids her farewell thanking her for her and Buttfellow’s help.