Oh, for-

So, when Beak was trying to investigate this threat, the knights detained and tried to arrest her. Under the suspicion that taking her to their Queen was exactly where she wanted to go anyway, she fully surrendered, cooperated, and even told them to take her away, and instead, they're still just standing there, arguing with people, and... what, trying to arrest her? These are Knights of Duros, yes? Elite, highly trained warriors, the best the crown has to offer? How hard, and for how long, does one have to try to arrest someone who's trying even harder to be arrested?

Hells' sake, if her goal were a jail cell, she could give these knights the slip, find the damned jail, and crawl into it herself faster than it would take them to lead her there, and that's after accounting for the time she'd have to spend searching for it in this accursed illusion.

Meanwhile... what's this, now?

Movement up ahead. It seems the rest of the party--at least the immediate party, the ones she accompanied within this flank--have found some sort of portal. So, her fellow adventurers cut through every effort of the Queen to hide, repel, force away, and otherwise keep them out of said portal faster than it took these knights to manage the seemingly impossible task of arresting someone who's fully cooperating and standing still.

She knows where her efforts would be better spent, then.

She glances toward where the others are gathering, and suddenly, she's there.¹ She didn't so much as say goodbye,  but why would she? Clearly, they're going to think the worst of her despite anything she may say or not say or do or not do. Any attempt to get or remain in their good graces is wasted effort at this point. So, wounded, helpless, in manacles, but already making more progress than she was, she finds herself reunited with her fellow adventurers. Of course, it's only a matter of time before the knights chase after them, and the portal seems to be repelling her anyway... what's that they're saying, something about Space Domain magic?

Well. She can solve both problems at once, then. Wrapping herself in a hastening aura², she charges forward.

---

SUMMARY:
Beak gives up on the knights, teleports over to the portal, cloaks herself in a Space Domain-element hastening field on the theory that that aura itself might help with the distortions, and then runs at full sprint toward the portal.

Ending round still in FRONT FLANK, GROUND LEVEL
¹ Action 1: Blink
² Action 2: Quicken

SPOILER: Click to show

Health and Status
- 1/3 Major Wounds taken
- 0 Minor Wounds taken
- Currently in manacles around the wrists

Weapon
- (No offensive actions used this round)

Active Items
- Luminous Medallion (reflavored Sun Heart Ring)

• Lighting up the area immediately around Beak

Active Passives
- Fluency

• Can understand all intelligent languages (i.e., excluding animal speech)

- Inked Marking (from a player who's no longer here)

• 0/2 Hit Preventions used (Hit Preventions are specifically vs. spells of any domain)
• The telepathic communication is moot since the player we got this buff from is no longer here, but hopefully the hit preventions are still good..?

- Staunch Perseverance (from Marion Aurea ) (1/2 posts--Just cast this round)

• Immune to spell effects (can still take damage from spells, but can't be burned, paralyzed, etc.)

Recharge Tracking
- Blink: 0/2 (Just used this round)

Well this was unexpected. The apparition child had charged in, drawing the attention of the kelpis, who may very well be illusions themselves. Luckily a golden aura seems to be protecting the child, so everything was going according to plan? Do mushrooms even form plans?

Before Vail can properly ponder this quandary, another portal opens, depositing a minotaur, some manner of fae creature, a golem, Kvasir, and another of the same child. A woozy smile appears on the ashlander's face as he shouts to Kvasir, “Good to see you doctor. Listen, I ate a weird mushroom and now I’m seeing multiple of this kid I saw explode earlier, is that normal?” He points a finger at the replicant who appears to be messing with the golem “There is one of them right beside you now.”

Before Vail can get his answer, the heavy sloshing of water draws his attention to the massive humanoid forming to confront them.
Ah there we go, that looks like a way out of this nightmare. Vail thinks to himself as the water around his feet begins to rapidly heat. The sudden warmth is enough to span him back to his senses and quickly leaps upwards. A pair of bright wings form on Vail’s back^[1], preventing him from falling back into the boiling brew.

With his toes successfully saved from the creature’s dinner plate, Vail quickly scans around, checking to see if everyone else successfully evaded the attack, when spots yet another familiar newcomer. “What strange circumstances bring you here Wizard of the Wastes? I got a proposition for you if we survive this, I found some strange mushrooms that may be quite a potent ingredient assuming I don’t drop dead anytime soon.” Vail yells to the glamorous fellblood who seems to have grown wings and a crow with some manner of firearm.

It's clear to see that Morrigan's attention is focus on the humanoid, which like means they are the source of all this.
Vail’s hands glow as he aims towards the massive figure. A beam of light descends from the sky, covering a significant area of the watery creature^[2]. “Do us a favor and hold still for a moment, you’re not the only one who can cook.”

Summary

Vail activates Divine Ascent to avoid being cooked and then cast Piercing Light on the big bad water lady.

[1] Buff action: Cast Divine Ascent and flies out of the water
[2] Offensive action: Casts Piercing Light on the water Fae Queen

Active passives:
Controlled Immunity - poison/toxic reduction
Bulls Strength Tattoo - Double Strength
Shadow Sight
Pass without a trace
Hands are weapons
Iron Grip
Dashing Enchantment: Master Unarmed built-in enchantment
Vestige of Light: [6/6] posts
Blessing of the Hallowed: [2/3] posts
Two Piece
Hands are weapons

Equipped items:
Phantom Plate (Cuirass) (3/3)HP
Smoldering Cape (Clothing)
Hand Wraps (Unarmed Weapon): Life Link, Cold Iron, Double Strike

Front

@shitakibo  manipulates the shadows and creates a pathway for the others to use to get close to the distortion. As they approach, Marion Aurea buffs those around them and casts a space domain spell to open the portal for Javal Zarrias and Mikael Mooreson before passing through. They are shortly joined by a still-manacled Beak who manages to blink away from the knights and also cast a space spell to ensure their passage.

Javal Zarrias 's speech falls on deaf ears, but there are more important things to attend to with the group moving on. Before the knights can arrest him, he flees to the others while Beak blinks away.

The knights are surprised by this turn in events and try to pursue them, shouting at the other knights to assist them. Luckily the confusion lasts long enough for the group to get away. Except for C'Leena Thomas who is left behind with the alarmed knights.

Entering the portal the group would step onto soft moss-covered ground flooded with boiling. They immediately get scorched and need to find solid footing to avoid further damage.

Other adventurers are also here and a herd of strange aquatic horses. They'd also see the looming figure of some entity with kelp-like hair and unnerving eyes. 

Left

Lord Sarne Sequoia knocks out two of the knights who fall to the ground with a thud. The other knight who Disaster retrieves the staff from groans in pain on the ground but does not get up or respond. 

Right

With all other individuals from this flank now through the portal, Natsunats-Shun is left to fend off the frenzied guards. They manage to strike one of them which gets their attention, and the knights retaliate with sword strikes of their own. 

The knights being dogpiled by Lady Astrid Stormstone 's replicants have enough and start attacking the replicants, downing two of them. 

Rear

Kalaf and the inked blight focus their assault on the remaining two WEF riders who fly in from the RIGHT flank. The aerial battle quickly results in the two fake drakes being burned and torn apart. ALL WEF DRAKE RIDERS HAVE BEEN DEFEATED.

Lady Kamille Verlithax  leaves the REAR and blinks through the distortion on that side to arrive inside the PORTAL to bear witness to the chaos erupting within. 

One of Lady Keyke Runi 's clones is arrested and chilling with that knight while the other sniffs freeze-dried mushroom dust. The situation across all flanks seems to be dying down with the only active combat being on the RIGHT flank. Most of the adventurers save for one of the FRONT and one on the LEFT, a few minions running about and the remaining knights are all that remain outside the portals at this time. 

Portal

Meanwhile, Shaa Rhunn dodges the plant hand attack then gets into the air to escape the boiling water. Gwendolyn Mystwud and Kvasir Sigurrós are quick to launch spells at the hand, shredding two of the fingers off of it. It makes a similar hissing noise to that of the vine creatures they fought outside the portal. 

Cypress Springleap works on cooling the water from the safety of a stone platform. That coupled with Gwendolyn Mystwud 's armor does leave one patch more lukewarm than boiling, though the sheer volume of water all around them does make it challenging to have any larger area effect. 

Morrigan Moonweaver with Fish the Tinkerer on their shoulders takes to the air with their wings and marks the fae being before them. 

The queen's eyes dart towards the fellblood and gun birb as she gets a spicy bomb, a raven swarm, and a piercing light to the face courtesy of the birb, Hylltywyll , and Vail . She raises a giant hand and wipes the residue from her face and looks at the flying nuisances with disdain. She pulls her hand back and swats forward at Morrigan Moonweaver , Fish the Tinkerer , and Vail . 

An explosion of light bursts out from Lady Astrid Stormstone that hits the kelpies swarming around her, instantly destroying four of them while the remaining five manage to evade the brunt of the damage. The radiant light soothes the wounds of those closest to her as well. The light does draw the queen's attention though, as does the next spell which Lady Astrid Stormstone attempts to cast. The queen's eyes narrow as the crimson chains manifest from the ground. The queen's eyes flash opalescent light and the chains disintegrate as they are counterspelled. She does however get pelted with the ice that follows which she brushes off. 

"You morsels are so troublesome." 

She raises her arms up then slams them down on the flooded plain causing a tidal wave of boiling water to spread out in all directions from her. Those who are in the air can avoid it, but those on walls or on the ground are at risk. 

The remaining kelpies charge Hylltywyll , Lady Astrid Stormstone , Buttfellow, Cypress Springleap , Gwendolyn Mystwud .

---

NOTE: Please indicate where you are at the END OF YOUR TURN on the battlefield (FRONT, REAR, LEFT FLANK, RIGHT FLANK). 

Knights of Duros are real, some have been freed while others are still enchanted. Other charm effects and means of countering the charm are somewhat effective, but results vary.

Shadows, or being in shadows, can distort the illusions so you can see through them. 

Inside the buildings are tunnels full of mushrooms. The mushrooms create poisonous spore clouds when destroyed. The mushrooms allow you to see through the illusions when eaten. 

The distorted areas are rifts in space, creating portals to a different reality. Space magic can be used on the portals to let PCs pass through it. All other physical attacks and spells are repelled.

Damage dealt to PCs and NPCs:

Confirmed - damage and effects have been awarded

Inbound - damage and effects have been threatened

Natsunats-Shun 2 minor wounds (slashing) inbound
Marion Aurea Javal Zarrias Mikael Mooreson (and any pets on ground) Beak  - 1 minor wound (fire damage) confirmed
Morrigan Moonweaver Fish the Tinkerer Vail - 1 major wound (bludgeoning damage) inbound
Everyone in the PORTAL - 1 major wound (water + fire damage) inbound if you stay on the ground at the END of this round
Everyone in the PORTAL - 1 major wound (water + fire damage) inbound if you do not evade the wave
Hylltywyll Lady Astrid Stormstone Buttfellow Cypress Springleap Gwendolyn Mystwud - 1 minor wound (piercing damage) inbound

Active environmental threats:

All areas are under some sort of strange magical effect that cannot be fully understood.
The battlefield has been transformed into a stone city.
Inside the buildings are mushroom tunnels that lead to the distortions.
There are weird distortion points on EACH FLANK that redirect RANGED PROJECTILES and RESIST being entered. These are confirmed to be portals on the FRONT, RIGHT and REAR flanks. The WEF riders are able to pass through it, and SPACE magic can also be used to move through it.

PORTAL
The floor is lava! Not really, it’s just boiling water, but that’s still not great to stand in.
A wave of boiling water surges across the battlefield!

Active minions:

FRONT:
5 Knights - confuzzled and stuck with C'Leena Thomas

LEFT:
3 Knights - KOed and on the ground

RIGHT:
2 Knights - enraged and attacking Natsunats-Shun
2 Knights - hostile and attacking Lady Astrid Stormstone 's replicants

REAR:
1 Knight - calmed while arresting Lady Keyke Runi replicant
2 Knights - hostile and searching for Lady Keyke Runi

PORTAL
1 Knight - asleep in Morrigan Moonweaver 's hat
5 hungry hungry puddle ponies

Boss abilities discovered:

Projected telepathy
Illusory magic
Charm effects
Terrain manipulation
Spacial rifts
Summon kelpies
Manipulate plantlife
Make good soup
Soup wave says hello
COUNTERSPELL??

Action System is Active

The deadline to get your reply in for this round is Monday September 16 at 11:59 pm ET

Fish finally gets the bullet packed down into the barrel when they see the hand coming towards them. This seems bad. Fish still doesn't feel great from the shockwave earlier, they aren't exactly keen on getting hit again. Not before shooting this fae expletive...Fish does not like this fae.

The gun is cradled tight as they reach into a pouch and pull out a silver coin. A quick formulae is etched into the soft metal with their beak before they flip it out in front of them. The coin spins and creates a silvery barrier covering themselves and Morrigan, it should be enough to bounce the hand back.

Time to go on the offensive...again.....Actually first, proper gun safety. A little hand reaches into their infinite pouch to rummage around a moment before pulling out a set of earmuffs. A well-intentioned gift from Cyran that Fish couldn't wear, but Morrigan could.

"You will need this. It is loud." The sign down to the fellblood after slipping the muffs on.

With that, Fish stands and shoulders the musket rifle against their shoulder. They steady themselves for the shot and take a slow breath in before slowly exhaling and FIRE. The hope is a bit of extra gun powder makes it hit a bit harder

The rational part of Fish knows the queen can probably block this, but the part of Fish that fired a gun really hopes they have not learned about gunpowder in the realm of wonder and this is about to be a very unfortunate lesson.

---

Fish first blocks the fae queen's hand with a silvery barrier. Then they fire a gun, pew pew.

1. Defensive Action
Using a single Silver Coin from your pouch, you infuse magic into the coin, creating a shimmering barrier that reaches out to ten feet in all directions with the coin sitting at the center of it. The barrier will absorb one ranged physical or magical attack, nullifying the attack and ending the barrier. While the barrier is up, evil aligned creatures or individuals will be unable to pass through the barrier, either trapping them inside or outside of the barrier. The barrier will last until it takes damage, in which it will vanish.

2. Offensive Action: Fires rifle with Deep Impact coated in poison
Deep Impact
By channeling your strength into a ranged attack, such as a weapon throw or bow pull, you can add more force into the attack, causing the ammo or weapon to lodge itself even deeper into a struck target. This will deal increased minor damage but will also be nearly impossible to remove, leaving the weapon lodged into the target for the next two post, causing discomfort and awkwardness in movement.

Fish's God-Killer Poiosn
A deeply noxious poison made from a mix of nearly every known poison that comes in a small, single use vial. It can be coated on a weapon or 1 piece of ammunition. When the poison enters the blood stream it can have a devastating effect, dealing minor poison damage, but worse than that is it causes the targets body to seize up. A creature hit by this poison is paralyzed for their next post and cannot be healed by novice or master level healing spells. When the poison runs its course or is healed, the target will still feel slow and sluggish for one post.

Relevant passives:
Crippling Wounds
Damage with your range weapons now cause crippling wounds, wounds that sting and burn, lasting longer than normal. These wounds can not be healed by spells or abilities and take twice as long to heal naturally. This prevents others from healing the damage you dealt, allowing you to close in and truly finish off your prey.

Far Sight
Your aim and range as a marksman has increased, making you even deadlier at long ranges while using a range weapon. You can see just as clear as normal but now at twice the distance, letting you track and see targets even at incredibly long distances. Your reach with a weapon has also increased, letting you fire a weapon twice as far as you normally would be able to.

Hylltywyll's smirk at the so-called queen dealing with a swarm of pests around her was rudely interrupted by a wave of boiling water threatening to crash into him. His winged ink blight flew up to easily avoid it as it headed toward the center to swipe its claws at the queen and join the frenzy around her.

He was glad he had stayed close to the outer edge of the area, since it gave him plenty of time to react to the wave. The wall of light he was standing on rose a bit higher into the air and the wave passed by beneath it. His bird feet wouldn't be part of any broth today or ever!

He glared at the giant queen with irritation. If she wanted to eat them all so bad, then he'd see how she liked being considered a meal! Hylltywyll reached a hand beneath his poncho and pulled out a small piece of black coral which he snapped in half between his fingers. A low, bassy sound made the surface of the water vibrate for a moment, a sound that reminded anyone who had ever heard one before of a whale song.

A mound slowly rose from the boiling water, the water trailing off of a massive shape emerging from beneath. As it rose, black stone-like skin was revealed, eyes, fins. Slowly but surely a creature whose size rivalled the queen rose up and locked its gaze directly on the queen. The leviathan rose into the air, opening its gigantic maw wide as it headed toward its prey, rising higher into the air to dive down upon her and clamp its jaw over her head.

Hylltywyll cackled as he watched his magic at work, but clicked his tongue in annoyance as one of those horses was headed his way. It looked like it was injured, but it had managed to survive the blast of light from Astrid, and it wasn't the only one. Hylltywyll raised his hand, a metal claw extending his middle finger, and released a purple aura around him and anyone near him.

The kelpies inside the aura suddenly found themself disoriented, moving in the opposite direction than they were attempting, and all of their attacks were suddenly misdirected toward each other.

---

Staying near edge of portal area, on wall of light in the air.

Action 1- Offensive action- The Stone Titan's Hunger
Action 2- Defensive action- Vestige of Light- Blessing of Trickery

Ink Blight action- Offensive action- attack the queen (death swipe)

SPOILER: Click to show

Ongoing Abilities:
Astral Soul- Mind Parasite (Astrid, Kamille)
Quillomancer- Inked Marking (Hylltywyll, Kvasir, Cypress), Bestowed Defense
Blessing of Trickery

Passives:
Acolyte- Controlled Immunity
Shadow Dancer- One With the Shadows, Shadow Sight, Pass Without a Trace
Astral Soul- Expanded Mind
Archmage- Infinite Soul
Vampire- Vampiric Heritage- Chaos Touched
Quillomancer- Eldritch Might, Looming Darkness, Ink Pot
Hylltywyll's Shady Shelter
Sun Sparked Goggles
Mask of Memories
Flower Crown
Lucky Clover

Astrid is so fucking stunned by the fact that her spell was just countered and brushed off like nothing even happened that she completely forgets that this shouldn’t have happened because she specifically had her little golem with her that should prevent any of her spells from being countered. She just happened to not have Blupee in her line of sight when she cast Scern’s God Killer, otherwise this would have turned out differently. Battle positioning is important. Regardless, Astrid stands on the magic platform of light just absolutely flabbergasted and downright offended. On top of that, her water horses had the audacity not to all die.

Oh no, this lady is getting a smack right in the face.

In the interim, Astrid’s arm keeps blasting Frost Pulse up at the queen while she thinks because at least she can keep that going and hopefully hurting her more. BOOM. Fish fires off a gun at the massive lady. Yeah, that’s exactly what Astrid is thinking. She drops her concentration on her spell, frost having crept up her metal fingers but ultimately not impeding it at all. The arcane mode of her prosthetic shuts down in an effort to recuperate.

The remaining kelpies turn their attention toward the group standing in close proximity, and Astrid throws a glance toward Cypress. The spirit at her side looks ready to defend her from the hostile horses, and Astrid knows the magic circle won’t be up much longer. The half-dwarf exchanges a glance with her Replicant. They both know what to do.

When the magic circle breaks, the kelpies attack. The spirit protecting Cypress interposes itself between the satyr and the damage.^[1] Astrid’s partner spirit rushes to protect her, only to be interrupted by a very determined bolt of lightning that wants to smite anything trying to attack her.^[2] The spirit seems both shocked and annoyed, but ultimately relents to defending Cstrid.^[3] Buttfellow, also being targeted, seems to be in better shape after the burst of healing magic, as does Blupee, the book golem sitting on his shoulder and presently being shocked by the lightning armor.^[4,5]

The kelpies, consequently, also get zapped and paralyzed if they touch Buttfellow.^[6] Buttfellow doesn't like these water horses, so he conjures up a web of frost and tosses it over the kelpies in an attempt to capture and slow them.^[12] If someone sets up a place of safety from the wave, Buttfellow will attempt to make his way to that before the wave hits him by walking on the Floors of Light.

Astrid grabs Blupee off of Buttfellow, making sure she holds the little blueprint book golem up and she points up at the queen. “Betcha won’t do that again!!” Dark magic surrounds the queen’s head and gives her a momentary lapse of memory. What spells was she just using?^[7]

Doesn’t stop the incoming wave or the lava water floor.

Stuffing Blupee into her satchel, Astrid looks at the others. “I’m gonna smack her. Be safe!!” Then lightning wreaths her form, and Astrid rockets into the air, redirecting herself and aiming straight for the top of the Queen’s head as a landing surface. The half-dwarf meteors down and smashes into her head with a huge amount of force, and lightning explodes out from her, potentially paralyzing the queen.^[8] Astrid’s spider silk boots hold her firmly in place on the queen’s head, and her spirit guardian hurries to catch up to her.

Cstrid watches Astrid go then looks at Cypress Springleap . “Let’s get out a’ the way, yeah?” Then with little effort, she scoops her into her arms and weaves magic that lifts her into the air.^[9] She flies them both up and out of the way of the wave, and when she looks around, she sees Lady Kamille Verlithax has made it inside. “Ah, Gran!! That’s me gran over there!” Astrid whisks Cypress over towards Kamille on the cloud. “Heya, gran, ya got space fer one more? If I get smacked, I’m gonna drop her. Rather leave her with ya. This is Cypress, definitely not me girlfriend that I definitely didn’t insinuate havin’ or nothin’.” The Replicant’s freckled face stretches into a playful grin as she sets Cypress on the cloud with Kamille's permission.

---

Meanwhile, on the surface, the knights’ struggling has booped two of the Replicants away. Not having any of that, Dstrid and Estrid both grab their cuirasses and charge them with electricity.^[10,11] It doesn’t injure them, but it sure does cause a horrible numbing sensation that just might make it impossible for them to take these things off or think of anything else.

---

SUMMARY:
Astrid keeps her Frost Pulse up as long as she can before canceling it. She's so baffled by her spell getting countered that she has decided on the spite route. Her Spirit Guardians and Dancing Chain protect her, Cstrid, and Cypress from the kelpie attacks.

Buttfellow and Blupee are healed of 1 major wound from Divinity's Blessing, though Blupee takes some damage from Buttfellow's Lightning Armor before Astrid snatches the book golem off of the larger construct. Buttfellow's Lightning Armor will damage and numb the limb of any kelpie that touches it. Buttfellow uses Frost Web to try to capture and injure the kelpies with ice magic and then tries to find cover from the wave by walking on the safety of the Floors of Light.

Astrid, with Blupee in hand, casts Thought Hemorrhage on the Queen to make her forget any spell she's already cast this topic. She then tucks Blupee into her bag and uses Astrid's Valkyrie Strike to fly through the air and land on the Queen's head for massive lightning damage and paralysis. Her Spider Silk Boots keep her from falling off easily.

Cstrid picks up Cypress and casts Flight, taking Cypress to the cloud that Kamille is riding on. She introduces them.

Dstrid and Estrid, seeing two Replicants get booped by the knights, cast Charged Object on their cuirasses to shock and numb them. It doesn't do damage, but the other effects happen.

Astrid, Cstrid, and Buttfellow are at the PORTAL.

Dstrid and Estrid are on the RIGHT FLANK.

1. Spirit Guardian (Cypress) -1 HP [3/4 HP] protecting Cypress from kelpies
2. Dancing Chain -1 HP [0/1 HP, begin recharge next round] protecting Astrid from kelpies
3. Spirit Guardian (Astrid) -1 HP [2/4 HP] protecting Cstrid from kelpies
4. Healed of 1 major wound - Divinity’s Blessing (Buttfellow + Blupee)
5. Blupee -1 minor wound (Buttfellow’s lightning armor)
6. Buttfellow - Lightning Armor [post 2/3]
7. DEBUFF ACTION - Astrid uses Thought Hemorrhage on fae queen
8. OFFENSIVE ACTION - Astrid casts Valkyrie Strike and lands on the fae queen’s head
9. BUFF ACTION - Cstrid casts Flight
10. OFFENSIVE? ACTION - Dstrid casts Charged Object on one knight’s cuirass
11. OFFENSIVE? ACTION - Estrid casts Charged Object on the other knight’s cuirass
12. OFFENSIVE ACTION - Buttfellow casts Frost Web and tries to throw it on the kelpies.

Wound/HP tracking:
-Astrid [0/6 wounds, see below for HPs]
-Buttfellow [0/4 wounds]
-Dancing Chain [0/1 HP provided, regenerates every 3 posts]
-Blu P Rint (AKA Blupee) [1/4 wounds, has no actions]
-Spicy Pawsage (flavored as a hellhound) [2/4 wounds, has fire breath, juggernaut charge, gore attack] - Pet Pocket
-Arcus (flavored as a pegasus) [0/4 Wounds, Armored Banner 1/2 HP, Sleigh Bell] - Pet pocket
-Cstrid - Replicant [0/1 wounds]
-Dstrid - Replicant [0/1 wounds]
-Estrid - Replicant [0/1 wounds]
-Spirit Guardian [2/4 HP] - w/ Astrid
-Spirit Guardian [3/4 HP] - w/ Cypress

Active Passive Items/Abilities:

SPOILER: Click to show

-Cantio’s Eternity Ring
-Night Vision
-Bull’s Strength
-Baloth Muscles (right arm) - bonk structures good
-Troll King’s Heart - passive regeneration
-Aura of Vulcadreaus/Touch of Divinity - ??
-Book Golem (when present, currently in Pet Pocket) - Spells cannot be countered when in line of sight of Astrid.
-Sun-Sparked Goggles - Cannot be blinded
-Stormraider’s Cloak - not affected by storms, repels rainfall
-Spidersilk boots - can walk on walls and ceilings
-Raider’s Loincloth - Movement speed cannot be reduced in any way
-Red Rogue’s Hood - Can communicate telepathically with another RRH holder
-Phantasmal Diplopic Plate - creates after images, especially while in motion, making it harder to directly target the wearer; gives 3 HP against abilities/spells/effects that would bypass armor, renders enchantments on a weapon that attacks through the armor useless for the attack.
-Knight: Stalwart Armor - ignores attempts to bypass armor
-Knight: Immovable Bastion - can’t be forcibly moved or knocked down
-Knight: Light as a feather - Armor doesn’t count towards item limit
-Knight: Tis But a scratch - half damage from physical sources
-Spellblade: Arcane Soul - Weapon has lightning, ignores resistance/immunity to lightning
-Spellblade: Arcane Focus - Can cast spells through weapon
-Spellblade: One with the Blade - Weapon doesn’t count against carrying capacity
-Spellblade: Always There - Cannot be disarmed of bonded weapon. Can summon weapon.
-Squire: High Quality Armor - Each piece of armor gains +1 HP against physical damage (listed below)
-Spirit Guardian: Shroud abilities - (while within the 25ft diameter shroud) Allies: x2 elemental spell abilities. Enemies: spells downgraded one level, reduced spell duration by one post, halved spell damage dealt, no benefits to speed buffs/cannot teleport, lose armor hit preventions, enchantments on weapons are deactivated
-Spirit Guardian: Spirit abilities - 4 HP per spirit, can grapple and restrain enemies for one post once per topic per spirit

Weapons/Armor:

SPOILER: Click to show

-War Hammer - bludgeoning, Spellblade weapon (lightning), pale ice, Bashing, double strike (Tourney Favor), ranged specialty
-The Doting Dad's Defender - battle hammer w/ ranged, bludgeoning, offhand enchantment (Tourney Favor), effects of ice rune + silvered enchantment + Gerhart’s Guardian Blade (is a fused weapon) [0/1 HP]
-Weapon Tether - attached to Doting Dad’s Defender and Cuirass
-Helmet (2/2 head HP)
-Icicle Pauldrons + Spitfire Gauntlets (3/3 arms HP)
-Padding, Phantasmal Diplopic Plate (5/5 chest HP) - Briar Shroud attachment
-Greaves (2/2 legs HP, 1/1 lightning HP)
-Rime Mantle (can be activated twice per topic, each activation lasts 2 posts and has 2 HP)
-Boomer Buckler (2/2 shield HP)
-Arcanatek Prosthetic (2/2 arm HP if in Defense Mode, not currently active)
-Flower Crown (1/1 Mind Altering Effects HP)
-Guardian Stuffy (1/1 Mind Altering or Fear Effect HP)
-Bardic Virtuoso: Inspiring Sigil (2/2 Fear/Charm Effects HP)

Recharge Tracking:
Arcanatek Prosthetic, Arcane Mode [post 3/3, spell 3/3]
Jack of all Muses [1/2 other muses used, 1/2 dance muse abilities used]
Arcane Activation [post 2/4]
Mana Bulwark [spell 2/3]
Lightning Armor [post 2/3]
Astrid's Valkyrie Strike cooldown [0/2 posts]
Dancing Chain cooldown [0/3 posts]

Subclasses:
-Squire
-Arcanatek Researcher

It was unclear whether Morrigan’s curse had taken effect or not. The fae queen was still a present threat, the water below them reaching a fever-pitch, tidal waves thrashing and threatening to drown the unlucky bastards that couldn’t clamber to higher ground fast enough. Morrigan would spare a moment to feel sorry for the bastards if it weren’t for the giant fuckoff hand veering their way.

“Oi, the face! Watch the moneymaker!” With one hand they shielded their visage, the other reaching for their bag for one of Kvasir’s elixirs they kept squirreled away for occasions such as this - but Fish beat them to the punch, flicking an enchanted coin between their fingers that created a rippling silver barrier between them and the oncoming magical behemoth. Morrigan swerved nonetheless, putting some distance between themselves and the horrifying, enchanting woman. With any luck, the hand would just bounce harmlessly off the magical barrier. If not…

The charlatan clicked their tongue in irritation. They were hardly made from hardy stock, and no one was more keenly aware of their limitations than them. That was the entire point of illusion. To bedazzle and inspire and plaster on a smile until the final curtain call; concealing all those little weaknesses an enemy could exploit by giving them something else to focus on. An illusion that was somewhat difficult to maintain while they had a passenger on their back, witnessing and observing careful cracks in their prowess. Feeling the need to protect them.

Oh, well. C’est la vie. Even the most careful gambler could not change the outcome of a dice once it hit the table.

They just had to stay the course and hoped that the fae queen was more focused on the other minor nuisances buzzing around at her feet.

Second nature guided them while they reached for a familiar poison. The potion Fish lobbed seemed to have done something, but it wasn’t enough. They needed something stronger. Something flashy.

They were in the middle of coating one such poison on the tips of their bladed fan when a sign out of the corner of their eyes caught their attention.^[1]

“What’s too loud… your gun-?” They scarcely got the question out before a pair of soft, cotton earmuffs were shoved haphazardly over their ears, a rifle was propped on their shoulder, and the gunfire rattled their brains in their skull.

Fish was right. The sound was deafening.

Morrigan’s head spun, and they wobbled dangerously while attempting to gather their bearings. Their world was nothing but a terrible ringing, even with the muffs, save the fae queen’s crooning voice whispering laments in their mind.

“I do so love being troublesome.”

People sought to forget trauma. It was the minor nuisances - the flashy nothings - that people remembered.

“Hold on up there, Fish.” The Wizard of the Wastes, liar and fraud and cheat, let out a wicked laugh. “It’s my turn.”

Bigger and grander things had tried to kill them, and none of them had the satisfaction.

The fellblood fanned themselves, delicate as a maiden, before shooting through the air. They wove expertly through the air, dipping around her arm. Heat sizzled and popped as Morrigan brushed close to the boiling water, pulling themselves out of harm’s way in the nick of time. Their route brought them close to Kvasir Sigurros; instinct saw Morrigan slow, pausing for just a tick. Only to ensure that he was not burnt by the boiling water, of course.

“Remain alert, dearest medic. I doubt that a flood is the worst of tricks in her arsenal.” They warned. “I’ve got a plan, but I need to get close to enact it. Just get to higher ground and stay safe.”

They tossed him a carefree wink before taking off into the air once more, Fish still on their shoulders. “Watch my back!” They cried, flitting around her arm before raising their bladed fan, poison disguised by beauty, a blooming rose hiding its thorns. With the grace of a practiced gymnast tumbling through the air, they sliced ribbons in her skin, razor-thin and delicate while they spun. Poison entered the fae queen’s bloodstream where they carved chunks out of her skin.

Smug satisfaction curled in the pit of their chest. Today, they would fell a goddess.

---

ROUND SUMMARY

Morrigan is still in the PORTAL.

They dive away from and coat their weapon in a deadly poison. With Fish on their shoulders, they carve up the Fae Queen’s arm (Their SWORN ENEMY), with the poisoned blade performing a BLADE DANCE.

SHIT HITS THE FAN.

1. BUFF ACTION - Morrigan coats their DANCER’S FAN (Blade | Slashing | Small) with SCORPION’S VENOM

SPOILER: Click to show

Dancer’s Fan (Blade | Slashing | Small) A very fine fan made of various fabrics or feathers and is often used by dancers in their performances. While it is nice looking, the fan can also be used to cool yourself or someone else down, much like a normal fan. While it seems like an average dancing fan, this can also be used as a weapon, with blades hidden in the folds and feathers of the item. This can be used to defend oneself and deliver slicing damage while going undetected.

Scorpion’s Venom - The Scarab always carries around a tiny glass vial of modified scorpion's venom which can be applied to weapons or wounds. This poison does nothing at first other then irritation or slight numbness to the area, but with each subsequent blow of an envenomed weapon it grows until it knocks the affected target unconscious. If any enemy is wounded by a weapon with this venom three times, they will fall unconscious, unable to withstand the venom any longer. They will fall unconscious for the entirety of their next post, unable to take any actions. This venom can be removed by Greater Healing or similar strength healing magic. This venom can only coat one item, but that item will remain coated for the rest of the topic.

2. ATTACK ACTION - Morrigan uses BLADE DANCE, in tandem with WEAVING OF THE MOONLIGHT (dark damage), on the Fae queen - their current SWORN ENEMY

SPOILER: Click to show

Blade Dance - With your weapons feeling as light as air in your capable hands, you are able to whirl them around you in beautiful and complicated ways as if you were performing a dance. If you are within melee range of an enemy while whirling your weapons in this way, your next attack will ignore hit preventions. If you are not within melee range of an enemy, you will instead gain one hit prevention against ranged physical attacks. Can only be used twice per topic.

Weaving of the Moonlight (custom ability) - A martial skill that becomes active upon the use of any additional skill/spell/ability that involves the movement of the body to activate. Weaving of the Moonlight draws the primordial energies into the user, outlining them in silver moonlight, and allows them to add Light or Dark elemental energies to an attack for damage or as a hit prevention against those elemental types. Once those energies are expended, they can be reapplied upon next activation of Weaving of the Moonlight.

SWORN ENEMY - For the next five posts that person will remain your Sworn Enemy and can now be targeted by other features of this class. You cannot choose a new Sworn Enemy until the end of the previous one's duration and cannot have more than one at any time. Physical attacks and martial abilities used by the Slayer against a Sworn Enemy will now remove two hit preventions instead of one and wounds cannot be healed by spells. This ability can be used twice per topic.

Beist’s Transmutation Tonic ACTIVE
Wings
Breath Gland - Ice

Active Subclasses
Scarab
Transmuter

Passives

Gauntlets of Ginma (0/1 Hit Prevention)

SPOILER: Click to show

A pair of overgrown, magical gauntlets made of stone and covered in moss and small white flowers. These gauntlets provide one hit prevention, and allow the wearer to smash through stone as if it were glass, and lift natural boulders more than twice their weight. The abilities of these gauntlets will last as long as they have a hit prevention left.

Crystal Ball

SPOILER: Click to show

A small, weightless glass ball that is magical in nature but seems to have no unique qualities. It weighs nothing, can not be used as a weapon and appears to just float around your person. It can not be controlled or commanded, and passively hovers around you with a mind of its own. However this magical ball has a unique effect, it records everything that the owner sees, keeping a collection of their memories and experiences within the glass ball. While not in combat you can hold the glass orb and watch your memories play out through it. Whatever the glass orb was able to record can be retrieved and viewed later.

Arcane Glasses

SPOILER: Click to show

When wearing these special glasses, one can easily see magic in effect. By focusing their gaze and concentration on an object they can discern permanent enchantments from temporary enchantments, and even one wholly unskilled in magic can discern magic effects. While looking at a spell or enchanted weapon, you learn everything about that spell or enchantment. You can also identify what kind of magical effect or enchantment is placed on a weapon or item.

Disjoint Tattoo

SPOILER: Click to show

This tattoo allows you to manipulate your joints in a very abnormal way. This means you can do things like spinning your head completely around, rotate your arms and legs in awkward directions and even get creative with the way you move your limbs. This only effects the joints and does not apply to body parts that could not normally move.

Witcher Pitcher Leaf

SPOILER: Click to show

A tattoo of a leaf from the Witcher Pitcher plant found in the Marsh Flats. While dormant, this tattoo can detect magic, and will vibrate the closer it gets to rare and mysterious magic. It will ignore you and any of those you are frequently around, however if a new source of magic is detected, it will vibrate.

Once per topic you can activate the tattoo to cause two large plant vines to sprout from the tattoo, directed at someone within arms reach of you. The vines will wrap around one of the targets limbs and will prevent that person from using that limb or moving away from you for one post.

Tracker Extraordinaire

SPOILER: Click to show

On top of the Hunter’s Investigation Kit, they have a collection of heightened physical and innate senses. Physical senses such as smell, touch, hear, sight, and taste. Innate senses like, a perfect sense of direction, the feeling that something seems off or misplaced, and other such subconscious communications. This allows the hunter to pick up on clues or tracks that would other wise be hidden.

My claws landed firmly in the chink of his armour, pushing him the soldier back and blood trickling from the wound. Not enough for it to have gone through his heart, but the warmth that dribbled to my fingers told me I’d broken through his mail shirt. A little too late, he brought up his sword to block, and so instead he switched trajectory to stab me in the gut. I narrowly dodged by deflecting the swordpoint towards the ground, and twisting my body. In twisting my body, I gripped the top one of the plates that were pleated down his abdomen, swept at his feet and put in every ounce of muscle to throw him to the ground. It wasn’t until I saw a flicker of movement that I realized I was getting tunnel vision, and one of the other knights was ready to lop off my left wing. I yanked my claw from the first guy’s chest and sidestepped hurriedly. My inattention had earned me a gash across my outer arm. Urgk- the guys at the quest board were right- I should get some armor. Perhaps Father and the Kapellmeister were right, these aren’t the kinds of battles I should be fighting.



The black had faded from my feathers a while ago now, and with it the extra boost of strength and speed. Rationally, I knew that I shouldn’t be fighting this aggressively, or for this long- I’d optimized myself as for ambush- swoop in for the kill, and get out. I also knew that I’d just come out of a several month long seclusion trying to suppress the demon magic. But it felt like my rational mind was still in the backseat, not really acting, but still thinking every gruesome thought and feeling the thrill of action. Instead of sanity what sat at the front of my mind was that pointless frustrated rage.



Morrigan took most of the vines, and the gate closed on me while I’ve been dealing with THESE LITTLE NINCOMPOOPS. I don’t have thE TIME FOR THIS! I need to figure out where Lady Astrid’s gone, and get back at the freaky lady for turning down my lunch offer so rudely.



I scowled down at my opponents, despite both of them being physically bigger than me. Demonic energy flowed out without a second thought, and with them shell shocked, I used my feet to grab as many of the remaining vines as my talons could carry, and hopped into the distortion.

---

Summary: Nats is still mad, throws the guy she stabbed, gets hit by the other, gets sick of the fight in general  and uses vines to hop through the distortion.

Action 1: tries to sweep/throw the soldier she stabbed

Action 2: Invoke Fear
Plague’s Pandemic Effect 2/2

Right Flank
Abyssal Infusion (used up)

Hits- 1 minor wound

As Shaa dodges the giant plant hand and ascends above the hot boiling ground, he smiles as a beam slices off a couple of the plant hands fingers. It was pretty cool to watch. He considers his next move when the water below him starts to recede and rise in the distance near the giant woman. He looks at the oncoming water and squints an eye. Da hell? Why was it that every time he finally got to hit something, someone else attacked him? This just sucked out loud. With a huff of frustration, he summons a cloud underneath himself and launches vertically upward to escape the oncoming rush of water. 

The question was, what was he going to do now? There was a lot of action happening all around him and he had some options. Although, the way that wave was looking, he wasn’t sure how much more action was going to happen on the ground there unless surfing was involved. Yes. It was time to go after the source but, if he was being honest, he was starting to get pretty tired of attacking giant monsters. It had happened a lot over the last couple years. Giant space god. Elemental volcano dragon. Creatures so big and powerful, the most powerful spells bounced off them like goblins off a Baeloth. It was maddening to someone like Shaa who was more of a “punch it so hard, it’s mom feels it” kind of Minotaur. But you just couldn’t do that to these things. It was a problem that had plagued his punchy Minotaur brain until around 6 months ago.

He had just finished some pit fights in the Gazablaak fight pits and was waiting around for a friend of his to show up. As he waited, he had noticed that one of the wounds he had taken was itchy. He had been careful to clean everything after the fight so he was confident the wound wasn’t infected but the itching remained. Over the course of the next two days, the itching spread with a fever, swelling, and other unsightly things and it was starting to spread. He consulted one of the local healers who knew exactly what was. Swamp rot. The physician had said matter of factly. Shaa had known of the condition having spent to much time there but it usually came from walking in stagnant water. This was different. Different varieties of the rot man. Everyone thinks of it as a disease from the bugs but it ain’t. Comes from the spores of them mushrooms. Things will try to grow on anything till it’s good and empty it will. The tiny doctor puts a foul smelling cream on the wound and wraps it tightwith a bandage, handing Shaa a small ceramic jar. 3 times a day for a week. Be consistent and you’ll get rid of it. If not, you play around and the only thing to do is cut your leg off. Shaa was consistent. It didn’t matter what he was doing, he faithfully applied the cream as directed and a week later, sure enough, he was cured. It was a pretty sucky week but he learned a valuable lesson. As the conventional battle wisdom went, the best way to take down a big creature was a little bit at a time.

Shaa turns towards the giant Fae and rushes at her as fast as his cloud can take him. As he approaches, she seems slightly distracted by the other attacks being leveled against her. What he needed was a moment. As he gets closer , Shaa angles the cloud to make his way above and behind her while others assault her from the front. He hovers a bit and picks his moment carefully. When he thinks she is distracted, he jumps off the cloud to fall and use a guillotine drop at her back. If the strike is successful, he should be able to not only hurt her directly, but start a series of assaults that will fell even a large creature like her. Even when she undoubtedly notices him, it will be far too late to stop what he had planned. His cloud sticks close as he jumps to make sure he does not fall to the ground.

Vulcana flits off to the side and launches a fire bolt at the queens head to help keep her distracted.

---

portal,

Shaa- Molten Core (4 stacks), Wind Talker

9/11 HP. (Wind, Blunt) 0/6 wounds

Action 1.  Cloud Walzing- Summons cloud transportation to avoid wave and position himself for martial move

Action 2. Attack- Guillotine Drop
A martial technique that can only be used while you are in the air and falling. Using the moment of the fall you are able to increase the speed and force of an attack. While falling your next attack is doubled in its velocity and striking power, causing it to deal increased damage as well. This makes it extremely hard to dodge or even block. You must be more than 10 feet in the air for this to apply.

Vulcana- successfully followed Shaa and is attacking queen from the side of her head.
Dusty- unsummoned (exit)


All items stored in Bag of the infinite

New Items
Ferburus Dew Claw
Candy Apples

Sub Classes
Stalwart
- Iron Skin (1 HP)

Disciple of Vulcadreus

Active Spells/Abilities
Geomagnetic Sense- Constant Passive
Fighters Sense- Passive
Spirit Guardian


Pets/Companions
Vulcana the Fire Pixy (Tier 2)
Cloud (Transportation)

Sarne looks down at the now tied-up knights. Making sure that the Knights can not get away. [1] Sarne touches the Knight that was confused that he tried to clear his cleans his mind. The Knights body glowed a gold light. The Light to heal the Knight of all wounds this Sarne hoped would help him and his mind. Sarne was starting to feel the stress of fighting now. But the fight still was going on or that is what he assumed from the sounds coming from other flanks.

[2] Sarne knew he had to get ready for the next battle. Anaura of energy begins to radiate from Sarne, filling his allies with hope and strength. He inspires his allies around his allies to continue fighting, filling them with the will to continue going.

Sarne calls out to Violet Unicorn Euros and tells them to come. Nordic, Naesala, and Vamir will load two of the knights slumped over on Euros's back. Sarne turned to them headed to Right Flank. Walking by the buildings and Streets something about them was wrong But Sarne could not figure it out.

Sarne moved to the sound of the fighting where Natsunats-Shun was on the Right Flank. Sarne was not sure if Natsunats-Shun was alone but it sounded like it.
It does not take long to get to the Right Flank Natsunats-Shun is standing alone dealing with the frenzied guards. One guard manages to strike one of them which gets their attention, and the knights retaliate with sword strikes of their own. Seeing Lady Astrid Stormstone dog piled The knights made Sarne smile. Stormstone 's replicates have had enough and start thrashing the replicates, downing two of them. 

Sarne was here just in time he just had to wait for the right time to get involved.
=========================================
Approach: Moved to Right Flank

[1] Action 1: Major Healing Light Domain Spell
A healing spell that heals the target of all wounds, regardless of how severe. This will heal them of deep wounds such as cuts or gashes. It will also heal them from things like burns or wounds that may prevent them from continuing on. This will not return any lost limb or organs however and you must touch the target to use this spell.

Action 2: Inspiring Presence Light Domain Spell Celestial (Holy Gift)
An aura of energy begins to radiate from your person, filling your allies with hope and strength. You inspire those around you to continue fighting, filling them with the will to continue going. Anyone who you consider to be an ally standing in your immediate area will feel their strength grow. For the next three posts any ally affected by this spell, including you, will deal double damage with their physical attacks. (does not affect spells)

Action: Nordic, Naesala, and Vamir Stealth (Master): Invisibility, Silent Step. Watching over the knights and disarming them. Checking in the third injured knight to see if everyone is ok. Nordic will slump the knights over knights the back of Euros then follow Sarne.

Action: Violet stays with Unicorn (Euros) When Sarne calls them they come out and go to him. and let Nordic load two of the knights on his back. Slumped over the back of Euros.
=====================================

NPC weapons will have
Enchanting Sigil Fire Rune

SPOILER: Click to show

A Fire rune etched into the item causing the blade to appear a deep red. While this gives off no light the weapon does radiate heat in a small range. This rune causes the weapons attacks to burn like fire, burning flesh, and clothing. Can not be placed on a weapon with another elemental rune

Sigils Blessing Holy

SPOILER: Click to show

A Holy weapon radiates with calming and relaxing energy, filling allies with hope. This weapon is effective against undead creatures and deals extra damage to evil-aligned people. After striking an enemy, allies of this weapon owner come to trust and respect the user while those who were struck now cower in the weapon's presence.

Passives:
Holy Avenger

SPOILER: Click to show

The pact has been completed, you have fused with the celestial inside you, allowing it control over your body. You may now gain any physical appearance changes, looking like the celestial for as long as you wish. The presence of light will often take over at random times, choosing to remain in control to combat evil. In addition to all of your physical damage dealing Light damage, all of your spells are now affected, allowing any of your damaging spells to deal Light damage in addition to its other damage types. Your Light damage from either spells or attacks also ignores resistance and immunity, preventing anyone from negating your Light damage.

Celestial Strength Tattoo: (Bulls Strength)
Always Watching:

SPOILER: Click to show

Not only does nothing get passed you, but you are also now able to react to someone attempting to strike or harm you from a hidden location. You gain a hit prevention against that attack.

Spell Blade: Arcane Soul, Arcane Focus, One with the Blade, Always There, and Sharing Essence.
Stalwart Armor

SPOILER: Click to show

You are comfortable with your armor, basically living in it at this point. Your armor has become an extension of your own body. Because of this you no longer feel the effects of armor, moving normally and as nimble as someone without armor. Your armor also now ignores effects that would attempt to bypass armor. If a spell or ability would cause an enemy to ignore your armor for any reason, that effect is now negated.

Sub Classes: Fighter's Guild Stalwart
Magicians Secret:

SPOILER: Click to show

Nothing can get passed the Hunter's ability to sense their surroundings now. You are able to sense any hidden object, person, or living creature, regardless of how they are hidden. You will get a mental ping of the exact location of where something is trying to be hidden from you, and can even sense things that are magically hidden, such as by spells or abilities. You can sense invisible enemies or detect things covered up by magic.

Welcome to the Jungle:

SPOILER: Click to show

Now a master of your craft, all of your creations no longer take an action, letting you create up to three different combinations in a single post while also doing other things. Additionally, you have learned the inner workings of trap creation, able to locate and even disarm other traps. Your movements no longer trigger systems that are hidden like traps and can be disarmed by you without being triggered.

Overwhelming Might:

SPOILER: Click to show

Stalwarts are physically impressive beings of massive might and prowess, and it shows in the weapons they wield. As long as this subclass is active you can wield any two-handed weapon or a shield in one hand, weapons and shields have all of the benefits of being heavy without being slower to use. This allows you to wield a double-handed weapon with one single hand, or even duel wield double-handed weapons.

Unwavering Virtue:

SPOILER: Click to show

The celestial has instilled its sense of honor within in, building your resolve and strengthening your will. You can no longer be effected by spells or skills that would attempt to force you to do anything against your will. You cannot be turned against allies, forced to flee or even injure someone you wish not to injure. You have become a bastion of goodness that no one or nothing can influence you otherwise.

One with the Shadows:

SPOILER: Click to show

You are always aware of any form of shadow or body of darkness in the immediate area, able to passively sense where these shadows are and what is creating the shadow. In addition you can manipulate your own shadow, changing its size, shape and even removing it altogether. While within a shadow you have the effects of the spell Shadow hiding active at all times, but can now move and interact with objects without breaking the effect.

Shadow Sight

SPOILER: Click to show

While inside of a shadow created by you or another object, you can see perfectly, your vision not hindered by the darkness. You can also see others who would attempt to conceal themselves in the shadows or darkness. You can see the outline of others who are within the shadow or darkness as if you could see them in the daylight however this does not apply to magical means from spells or abilities.

NPCs

SPOILER: Click to show

Nordic, Dwarf, Male, Stealth (Master): Invisibility, Silent Step, Blade (Novice): Battle Ax X2 Captain's Badge.
Naesala, Half-Elf Female, Stealth (Master): Invisibility, Silent Step, Blade (Novice): Dagger, long sword.
Vamir, Elf, Male, Stealth (Master): Invisibility, Silent Step Marksmen (Novice): Long Bow.
Unicorn (Euros) Armored Banner armor has two hit preventions
Lightning Pixie (Violet) Cast (Lightning Bolt)

Wearing/weapons: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Helmet 3/0,Torso Phantom Plate 3/1, Armor Arms 3/0, Armor legs 3/0, Kite Shield 2/0
Iron Skin 2/0
Ray Bow, Paladin's Blade (Bonded) (Element Domain Light)Tourney Favor is Attached to Paladin's Blade
Falcon Kukri Blade, Normal Dagger, Normal Dagger Naesala has it Normal Long Sword Naesala has it.

Other Equipment:

SPOILER: Click to show

Flask of Feijoada, Crimson Pestilence,
Cirice's Divinity Charm, Dragon Chocolate
Storm Chocolate, Blizzard Chocolate
Eternity Ring (Sylvari's) (Wearing)
Etched Petals, Rings of Forged Connection

Some part of her had expected to be greeted with utter chaos, so she wouldn’t know why she felt surprised as Kamille took a moment to scan the area. A difficult array of emotions made her face twitch, thankfully covered by her mask. The image of the fae queen took the center of her attention; unlike when she faced Ziev or Vulcadreaus, however, where there was only room for a feeling of impending doom and hopelessness, laying eyes on the fae queen immediately sprouted awe, and a fair amount of dangerous…

Curiosity.

What a curious being… She was able to bend and twist reality as whimsically as it would seem, without an effort. What an interesting kind of magic…

Her daydream was cut short soon, as her attention was diverted to the several pockets of trouble running around the fae queen and her… unholy, distorted ponies? There was Morrigan, what the fuck are you doing here, Morrigan?! Fish was here too, but this was no surprise. Shaa, Kvasir, and… Astrid!

Quickly enough she realized she didn’t like to ride a cloud - it felt weirdly unnatural, and made her remember how she only grew fond of the skies because of Kalaf’s massive, earthly and grounding presence. But a cloud? Bad idea. Would not recommend it.

It did come with its perks…

A quick scan of the battlefield forced her to make assumptions and decide fast. Someone she didn’t know on the ground looked troubled, and with no way on sight to handle the incoming wave, the Witch made up her mind. Her stormy cloud of a mount quickly zapped through the battleground, approaching Beak . It was a clawed hand she extended to the stranger, to help them get up - but it was a helping hand nonetheless.

“Come! Quickly! Are you hurt? Do you need healing?”

With her signature black feathery cloak over her slender figure and the eery mask, intricately worked with golden filigree along the elongated raven beak, the Witch might’ve looked… ominous. Not fitting of the warm, worried voice that came out - the hand that pulled the stranger up her cloud just in time to rise again and avoid the wave altogether. As quickly as it approached the ground, her cloud rose again in a swift, smooth movement - so unnatural, so unlike the flapping of wings.

Kamille barely had time to address the stranger properly, when another one came to her cloud. The Witch’s eyes lit up when her granddaughter approached - even if it wasn’t really her, but a replicant - but what came after left her speechless.

“Astrid! Over here! I-… Wait… WHAT?!”

Her…

Girlfriend…?

Even with her mask on, Astrid - or rather Cstrid - could feel Kamille was a bit too eager to accept Cypress Springleap into her cloud, pushing the young satyr closer. She barely waited for Cstrid to go to start doting on Cypress, taking both her hands for a minute. An ominous raven lady with a warm, excited voice.

“Ohhhhhh, sweetie! Ohhh! You’re so pretty! Cypress, right?! Oh but you’re so lovely! I don’t know why Astrid would take so long to introduce us! I wanted to meet you so much! I reckon this is not the place to talk for long, so please come and take a cup of tea with us when this is all over! I would love to have you over, sweetie! Ohhh! I’m so happy to meet you!”

The moment didn’t last long. The hairs of her scruff stand up as she feels the massive amount of magic - from a familiar source - being hand waved as if it was nothing by the fae queen, making her whip her head around.

No. This is not right.

It will work. She would will it to.

“Zhantal, you still with me?”

The book to her waist shivered, as if awakened-

No, as if afraid.

“A-as always, Mistress…” a shaky voice came from it.

Kamille turned to both Beak and Cypress.

“Lovelies, stay with me. Grandma will protect you.”

As far as she could get within range, Kamille would have her stormy arrangement to stay away from the fae queen’s attention. Then, she would turn to the stranger she pulled into her cloud first.

“I know we just met, but... If you allow me, I got something that may protect you.”

The Witch held their hands, effortlessly weaving a bit of ink to shape an inked marking and place it upon their hand [1], hoping it would make it easier for them to break free.

And while she had to gather her strength for her next move, it wouldn’t do harm to prepare a young lass, perhaps with a highly destructive spell? Or a Counterspell? Or Circle of life?

After making up her mind, Kamille pulled out from her satchel… parchment and ink.

The ink revolved inside the inkwell, as if doted with will of its own. Nearly bursting with barely contained magic. Once Kamille settled on a spell, she opened the inkwell, and tendrils of ink eagerly reached for the paper, shaping symbols and sigils of arcane might unparalleled. Kamille, the Witch of Moonglade, weaved one of her spells into the paper, giving its power to whoever held it [2].

And then handed it to Cypress, squeezing it gently between her hands.

“This is my gift to you, sweetie. Don’t hesitate to use it. Everything will be fine.”

Then, Kamille turned away from her two companions, standing up in her cloud. The warmth lost its gentle touch, as it became oppressive… heavy. Arcane power flowed from her, dense, holding a gravitas that finally matched the appearance. The Witch of Moonglade prepared herself for her next spell, and if everything went according to plan…

She hoped it went according to plan - but then again, she was terrible at planning.

---

Once their targets were done for, ripped to pieces by the drake and the inked blight, Kalaf flew around for a moment. The Witch would want him to wait, and she didn’t seem to want to hurt the other small ones, as troublesome as they were. To add on that, the inked blight - that unusual, weird thing that sucked light - wasn’t attacking the remaining knights. And to some extend, he knew that thing to be an extension of Kamille’s will.

Instead of attacking, Kalaf flew over to the REAR FLANK, where some angry knights remained. The old drake roared loudly - a sound he knew to shake the bones of small things like those knights[3].

---

Now holding the Master’s staff once again, Hektor remained at his spot, unsure of what to do. Back on Disaster’s shoulders, the apprentice didn’t know what to do, just like the golem.

On a second thought…

Hektor got on the ground again, walking up to the knight he knew to have received the Witch’s spell - the one he knew to have the charm dispelled, trying to wake him up.

“Oi! Wake up! Tell me everything! What did you find here? What was it?”

Poe wouldn’t abandon her mission of protecting the young master, and so remained in the shadows.

Waiting.

---

[1]Inked marking
[2]Scrollwork (TAKE YOUR PICK CYPRESS)
[3]Howling fear

---

ACTION SUMMARY

Kamille enters the portal and swoops to get Beak on her cloud. Still on her cloud and now with Beak, she avoids the wave by flying higher, also accepting Cypress on the cloud. She places an inked marking on Beak, and then gives Cypress a gift. 

Kamille [INSIDE THE PORTAL]
Action one: Cast Inked Marking on Beak
Action two: Make a scroll with one of her own spells and give it to Cypress.

Kalaf [MOVING TO THE REAR FLANK]
Action one: Use Howling fear to scare off the knights

A look of something resembling equal parts relief and satisfaction settles on Kvasir’s face as he watches two of the plant-woven hand’s fingers shred off like flowers torn apart by the wind, unable to hold themselves together in the face of all the force hurled their way. Well, such things are only natural: as strong as this strange, mysterious queen may be, magic and nature alike have their limits, and only the wildest and weirdest of the flora in the world could shield itself against an onslaught like this.

For all that this woman is the master of the weird, she still has to work with what’s around her, in the end.

…mostly.

Well. The point still stands that they’re chipping away at her and her defenses bit by bit, collectively scrabbling away at a wall of stone with bare hands until they push through to the mystery guarded behind it, regardless of how… thoroughly distributed their focus is, to put it lightly. The kelpies fall one by one (or in one massive burst, thank you, Miss Stormstone), more effort goes into destroying her plant-forged summons, a cavalcade of spells are flung directly in her face: one massive, distracted collection of efforts all pushing toward one goal.

It’s definitely motivating, but it certainly does leave Kvasir standing and wondering just what the hell he should focus on– especially as the Queen’s arms rise up over the boiling, shimmering water and slam down against it, sending a veritable geyser of the burning liquid all over the place: something he’s only just barely and mercifully spared from because of the shimmering light beneath his feet and the space he’s put between himself, the walls, and the earth.

Phew. Ugh. For all this woman speaks of eating, she has no concept of how to handle her kitchenware.

“Hyll? Cypress?” he projects out into the link Hyll had forged between them, ironing as much of the worry out of his voice as he can. “Are the two of you relatively un-scalded?” [1]

As far as he can see, they seem fine: Hyll isn’t that far away, perched on his own dimly glowing purple platform, cackling to himself over something, and Cypress is comfortably gathered between Astrid’s two arms– or, is that one of the other Astrids? Gods, it’s getting hard to keep up. Either way, she’s gathered between an Astrid’s arms, ferried away to safety somewhere else within the portal. All in all, the two seem fine, but Kvasir has long-since learned in a life spent as a doctor that “seem” does not equate to “being.”

He hardly gets very long to wait for an answer, though, because as soon as he turns his head back to face the queen and her entourage, he’s met with a very familiar face passing them by– perhaps a bit more slowly than is really logical.

Still, logical or not, seeing Morrigan and Fish is enough to make Kvasir smile.

“Hello there, you two,” he says, pausing for just a moment to flutter his fingers in a wave, eye lingering on Morrigan’s face for a few seconds too long: on the warning they give so seriously, on the way that seriousness shifts into a smile, and then a wink, unfailingly charming even in the midst of horrible danger. “Don’t you worry, my dear enchanter, I will be unfailingly cautious. You two had b– FISH.”

And quickly, the softness in Kvasir’s voice turns firm, gently reprimanding, the tone he employs when a patient hasn’t paid his instructions any mind, but it’s layered with concern. It’s hard to tell how Fish feels about their rather obvious injury, but Kvasir, at the very least, is incapable of veiling how displeased he is about it. He shoots both of them a withering look before carefully setting a hand against Fish’s feathers, light pouring out from his palm and beyond, carefully erasing any signs that Fish was ever harmed from their body. [2]

“I don’t even want to know, and you’re both better off not telling me,” he grumbles, tail flicking the air in very obvious discontent, but he… sighs, ironing out the tension festering between his brows as well as he can. The last thing any of them need is more stress, and… he shouldn’t stand and chastise them. Not now. “...Just… do be careful. And whatever you’re planning to do, Morrigan, if you could come back up here one more time before you do it, I’d appreciate that very, very much.”

As if answering a question that has yet to be asked, he drums his fingertips over the leather of his alchemical satchel, flicking the clasp up just enough to tilt a few potions into view– the second of those glimmering prismatic vials, and two bright pink tinctures that seem more glitter than liquid.

“Go. Be careful, you two– spare yourselves a lecture once this is over.”

And as they jet back down to where the Queen still stands, Kvasir shoots them one more smile before moving to pull the second chromatic potion from its place, quickly popping the cork and downing the contents once more. [3]

No matter what happens, at least he’ll have armor ready to offer.

Hah. It’s silly, really– it’s not so different from offering a shield to a knight before they step up for their decisive strike.

Morrigan would make for a strange knight, but…

Oh, well. Kvasir does so adore the strange.

---

SUMMARY: KVASIR is spared from the BOILING WATER BONANZA by his PLATFORM OF LIGHT. He contacts HYLL and CYPRESS to do a WELLNESS CHECK before saying hello to MORRIGAN and FISH, who have stopped by. Kvasir promptly FRETS, as he is wont to do, and HEALS FISH before downing his second PRIDE OF SOLARIA POTION, declaring ARMOR OF FAITH to cast LATER.

LYCORIS waves her little MOTH ARM at FISH and MORRIGAN.

1. Communicating with Inked Marking

2. Major Healing on Fish

3. Downing Pride of Solaria Elixir 2, declaring Armor of Faith as spell obtained

TEMP PASSIVES:

- Wall of Light 3/3 (resolving)

- Blizzard Chocolate (unused)

- Life Spark Earring (charging for next post)

- Armor of Faith from Pride of Solaria (unused)

PETS:

1. Lycoris, "Moth Dragon" (reflavored Snow Owl) - counts as a pet

SPOILER: Click to show

A strange moth Kvasir encountered in the Lantern Light Wood on a mission for the Consortium with Morrigan Moonweaver and Cantio von Lumen. This creature has the ability to manifest as a cat-sized moth around the house, bearing resemblance to a Death's Head Hawkmoth in terms of appearance, but when the time comes, it can transform into a vast, imposing moth-like dragon, capable of casting magic.

Can cast Snow Flurry and Heavy Blizzard once per topic.

2. Sparkle-lings (reflavored Snowlings) - do not count against NPC cap

SPOILER: Click to show

A round bottle of what appears to be never-melting snow... but tip the bottle, and snowlings will pour out. Snowlings, little round snowballs (about the size of a golf ball) with legs, are eager to help perform tasks, chores, carry an item, or cause a distraction— but they have no combat abilities, and cannot speak. The entire group of Snowlings may be assigned one type of task at a time.

PASSIVES:

- Night Vision

SPOILER: Click to show

Any and all eyes you have are altered to be able to see in the dark. These eyes are given the ability to see regardless of how dark it is. This does not effect your normal eye sight and will not hinder you if it is bright out. These only work in normally darkness and will not see in darkness created by magic.

- Controlled Immunity

SPOILER: Click to show

Gaining mastery over the human body has increased your control over your own body. You have now become resistant to poison and toxins, your body able to fend them off with ease. Any poison or toxic effect last for one turn less on you and will not effect you as much as normal.

- Angelic Light

SPOILER: Click to show

The light within the celestial now flows through you, invigorating you and filling you with holiness. All of your physical attacks now deal light damage in addition to their normal damage types, so your sword slices, arrows strikes and hammer smashes all deal light damage, making you effective against those of evil and death. Your attacks that deal light damage now deal double damage against those who are of the Evil Alignment.

- Morrigan Moonweaver's Eternity Ring

SPOILER: Click to show

A single ornate ring that is said to magically bind itself to your soul upon receiving the ring. This ring is not for you to wear, instead it is meant to be given to another like someone you love, trust, care about or value immensely. While someone is wearing your ring, they are able to read your emotions or mood, and tell if you are happy, sad, scared, etc. The wearer of your ring is also able to cast one spell, or use one martial/stealth ability that you own (is in your inventory) once per topic. They cast the ability at the same level you posses (Novice, Master or Exalted) and can be used without needing to be in the topic together. A ring can only be bound to one person at a time and you cannot wear multiple peoples' rings.

- Life Spark Earring

SPOILER: Click to show

A small, yellow sun shaped ear ring that can be attached to the ear in any manner. Worn by paladins, clerics and battle medics to dish out damage while still protecting their comrades. While this is worn, if you healed someone last post, all of your damage this post will ignore resistances, immunities and hit preventions.

- Inked Marking (from Hyll)

SPOILER: Click to show

The Quillomancer's tool of the trade is a small, glass vial of black writing ink, which all Quillomancers keep on them. By infusing your magic into this ink, you can place your hand on a target, transferring the ink onto their skin in the form of a tattoo of your own design. You can make three tattoos per topic, which are permanent and stay until the end of the topic, morphing back into ink when the topic ends. Anyone who has an Inked Marking will be able to telepathically communicate with others who also have an Inked Marking, even if they are unable to see one another. Those with an Inked Marking will also know the exact whereabouts of others with the markings, able to speak with and track others affected by the tattoos. An individual can only have one Inked Marking applied.

Gwendolyn is no morsel. Gwendolyn is a goddamn snack and that queen knows it. (3) She dashes forward, diving headfirst into the tidal wave. The Mantle of Mists ensconcing her in magical kitty cat armour activates, channeling the coldest parts of the Frost Gale directly into the boiling wave. (1) Her maul is swung around her body, before being launched directly at the big mossy hand. (2)



Millicent, Mori, and Jessica look on in awe at the collective efforts of the adventurers party from atop the floating wall of light. Their move right now would be fire support. Millicent launches a lightning bolt from the tip of her finger at the water near the kelpies. (4) Mori attempts to ensnare one with a lil vine whippy action. (5) Jessica once more tries to boil several of them alive with a vortex of water. (6) Siathriah herself was on Gwendolyns back, and now leaps forward onto the hand to annoy the queen herself. (7)


Actions
1 Armour vs Wave (freeze attacks)
    Mantle of Mists A white fur-lined mantle emblazoned with the seal of the Mystwud lineage of the back in silver thread. Linked magically to the forest surrounding her castle, it constantly exudes an aura of cold mist wherever she goes. A mental command can send large plumes of mist to surround the wearer for three post until it dissipates. The cloud will be large enough to hide the owner inside of the cloud, making it hard to find them. Another command can force the threads of fabric to unravel, individual strings reweaving and creating a set of magical armor around the wearer, and sturdier than metal. Taking the form of white fur armour with cat ears on the hood. Additionally, in the instance the wearer is hit, the aura of permafrost freezes the spell or physical attack. When blocking the spell, the armor freezes the magic attack as solid ice in the air which the wearer can use as a weapon to make one attack before it shatters. If the attack is made with a physical weapon, the weapon freezes to the armor and is stuck there for the next post, forcing the opponent to let go of their weapon if they want to disengage. When both hit preventions are used up this item returns to being a normal cloak. You can only use each effect once per topic.

2 Maul Vs Hand (Attack Action) (2 stacks of Soul Waning last round, plus 2 stacks this round = Soul Waning procs) 
Fire/Light/HEAVY/Soul Bonded, Tourney Favour, Double Strike, +strength (Maliks Ambition)

    Hallowed Redolence Every hit that lands with this weapon creates a stack of Soul Waning on the target. At three stacks on a single target, their very soul in an explosion of flame that engulfs the target for a single post, causing immense pain as well as blunt and fire damage. Acts as if it has the heavy enchantment but comes with no additional enchantment slots.

3 Tavern Champion (buff action)
    You fight best when you have a rowdy environment and an audience cheering you on. When you are fighting multiple opponents, you can take an action to become emboldened for the next four posts - you cannot be overwhelmed by multiple enemies; where their numbers would normally overwhelm you, you know how to maneuver around them. During this period, you can take an action to redirect one of their attacks towards you to another enemy. Additionally, if a projectile is thrown at you during this period, you can catch it and use it as an improvised weapon, which breaks at the end of this emboldened state.

4 Lightning Bolt Vs Kelpie (Millicent Attack Action)
5 Vine whip Vs Kelpie (Mori Attack Action)
6 Swirling Vortex Vs Boiling Water Vs Kelpies (Jessica Attack Action)
7 Siathriah Vs Fey Queen (Annoyance Action)

As Javal’s eyes settled into his new surroundings he realized that he was finally in the main threat of the battle. Before he could even start collecting his thoughts and assessing the situation he looked down noticing that the ground was filled with boiling water. He looks at his friends and focuses on wanting to make sure none of them get burnt. Immediately knowing what to do at this moment the bottom of the fellblood’s feet are covered with a bright cyan light. The moment his feet hit the ground the entire stretch of water gets frozen over with ice (1). The immediate threat of getting burnt is thankfully gone as the long frozen surface expands from under his feet.

Looking ahead he realizes that’s not the only boiling water that he has to worry about Javal rushes forward towards the incoming wave.

"I won't let this boiling water pass you guys, that I swear", Javal yells as he slams his hands toward the ice floor and pours ice energy into the ground. Suddenly a large block of ice erupts from the ground (2), Javal prays that it’s enough to at least shield some of the people inside the portal.

Nadia stands by holding her ray bow close by waiting to see if they are safe from the wave to take her shot against the fae queen.

The situation looks tough with those weird kelpie monsters attacking people up ahead and the menacing-looking figure with kelp hair. As much as he wanted to rush forward and start helping out with his blade, he wanted to focus on keeping the people near him safe. He needed to protect them from the malevolent use of water these fiends were using. Javal would show this fae queen the real power of the sea, with the spirit of justice.

SUMMARY:

Javal uses ice bridge to freeze the boiling water on the floor.  He then runs towards the wave and summons a glacil wall to stop the wave from hitting peoples.

Javal is at the INSIDE THE PORTAL

---

Javal Zarrias
1. Action: Ice Bridge
2. Action: Glacial Wall
Passives: Bull's Strength, 6/8 HP of Armor
Nadia Sadrine
1. Action: Waiting to take her shot with the ray bow

Out of one bad situation and into another, it would seem.

She's a little surprised she actually made it through the portal--a part of her had expected there to be some sort of catch, possibly becuase she was still used to dealing with those knights and feeling utterly unable to make progress in any direction. But she's here, now, and... where's "here," exactly? And why is the ground--

Oh, ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow heck the ground is covered in boiling water, okay, that's a thing. And... so is the incoming tidal wave. This is bad. She has no answers to this, so she can only--

“Come! Quickly! Are you hurt? Do you need healing?”

... accept the help of the stranger who just arrived?

No time to think--or even to properly introduce herself--with the wave incoming, so she simply takes the witch's hand and climbs onto the cloud, whisked away with mere moments to spare before that wave would have made her day even worse than it already is. As to the question of whether she's hurt and needs healing... the skeleton--and she's not even disguised right now! She's.. not used to people seeing what she looks like and wanting to help--can only meekly nod. Hopefully the fact that she has no voice is something the witch can gather from context.

While that's being taken care of, she sees to these manacles. This is the second time today she'll be using an ancestral art for a pragmatic workaround-type use for which it likely was never intended, but... that magic that allows stone to coat her limbs, that she may punch harder and block attacks with it. The way the stone grows around them¹ might just interfere with these accursed manacles in a way that would allow them to shatter, if she works it properly²

---

SUMMARY:
Just as Beak was panicking about the mess she'd landed in, she receives help in the form of a kind offer from a fellow adventurer she doesn't know. Once safe aboard her flying cloud, she coats her limbs in stone¹ hoping to break the manacles2]/sup].

Ending round now INSIDE THE PORTAL, IN THE AIR.
¹ Action 1 (Buff): Art of the Iron Fist
² Action 2 (Buff..?) Work her now-stony limbs in an attempt to break the manaclesn

SPOILER: Click to show

Health and Status
- 1/3 Major Wounds taken
- 1 Minor Wound taken
- Currently in manacles around the wrists

Weapon
- (No offensive actions used this round)

Active Items
- Luminous Medallion (reflavored Sun Heart Ring)

• Lighting up the area immediately around Beak

Active Passives
- Fluency

• Can understand all intelligent languages (i.e., excluding animal speech)

- Inked Marking (from a player who's no longer here)

• 0/2 Hit Preventions used (Hit Preventions are specifically vs. spells of any domain)
• The telepathic communication is moot since the player we got this buff from is no longer here, but hopefully the hit preventions are still good..?

- Staunch Perseverance (from Marion Aurea ) (2/2 posts--Will expire next round)

• Immune to spell effects (can still take damage from spells, but can't be burned, paralyzed, etc.)

Recharge Tracking
- Blink: 1/2