Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

She didn't notice that it had already been killed and the explosion hit her teammates.

The Ancient Leshen, unflinching, casually attempts to bring its arm down upon Tokza in the middle of her punch. If successful, Tokza will be plastered against the barrier of roots on her back, and land in a state where she is unable to stand up for a few seconds, almost as if crippled.

Watch for autohitting, Bix. Or do we need to go over the rules?

Also, Jagras is the singular term. It's like sheep. Roughly pronounced JAG-riss.

If this were the Monster Hunter universe, Baba Yaga would be seeing little 1s pop up all over the Ancient Leshen as the birds harass it, but it's not so she doesn't.

The Ancient Leshen uses the V-formation root attack again, sending one trail toward Baba Yaga and the other toward Reyna.

Reyna stays down on the ground from the Leshen's previous attack, then gets up right before the traveling roots reach her, letting them rush by without harm. She uses her Hunter Runestone again, casting a burst of flame.

This fire burst burns down the Leshen's barrier of roots, allowing the others to attack it without having to strafe around.

Edited by KiriK on May 11th 2019 at 8:07:42 AM

Sorry I won't do it again. Bixen struggled to escape her living trap.

Wendy attempts to help Bixen and Tokza, who is badly knocked down and left prone for a while. She attempts to use some kind of psychic cutter to help the newcomer, first, and then attempts to cast Protect over Tokza.

Back on her feet, Bixen got back to being serious and launched another rocket at the Lechen, hoping to actually land a hit this time.

"Thanks for the help!"

It's going to be a cold day in Hell when Baba is undone by some roots. Unearthly fire fills the eyes of the skull, its very gaze attempting to burn the roots slithering towards Baba Yaga to ashes, and then attempting to ignite the Leshen itself.

The cumulative fire blasts finally work their magic. While the snaking roots (oddly) are unimpeded, the Ancient Leshen goes up in flames, stumbling and thrashing wildly.

The defensive aura of Revoltures surrounding it disperses in a panic, leaving it vulnerable to close-range attack.

"Now's our chance! ATTACK!" Reyna launches her Kinsect at the Ancient Leshen again while simultaneously going in to attempt a flurry of dance-like slashes.

Edited by KiriK on May 11th 2019 at 2:03:14 PM

Tokza, enraged at her being so easily swatted away, let loose with a Flare Blitz, blasting away at her opponent with a large fire attack ! However, doing so tires her, and she's on one knee after it, though she seems content so far.

Thanks !

Wendy opens up with Petal Storm, and, since she still has her buffs, it's quite enhanced, with a cyclone made of empowered leaves attempting to strike the monster, sweeping it everywhere through its "body" before attempting to spit it down at the ground with immense speed.

The inexplicable immunity of the roots to fire causes them to reach Baba Yaga and tear some carvings off her mortar. In retaliation, Baba points at Leshen and chants an incantation in Russian. A couple of disembodied black arms phase into existence next to the burning Leshen and start violently punching him in the face.

The Ancient Leshen staggers about as it is battered, then cranes its head to the sky as it roars in anger, extinguishing itself.

The Ancient Leshen roars again and plunges its arms into the ground.

"Oh shit," Reyna says. "HIT THE DECK!"

The Ancient Leshen creates a ring of erupting roots to protrude in a radius all around it and quickly recede, but then another ring springs up further out, and then a third even further, each more powerful than the last, trying to blow away everyone around it no matter how persistent they might be.

Reyna does a Superman dive to the ground, letting the first two waves of roots spike out over her without hurting her. Then she gets up and the third wave catapults her into a nearby tree with a Sickening "Crunch!"

"... I'm fine..."

Wendy uses Protect for the first two times, attempting to shield her, Bix and Tokza, but it get broken through at the third attempt and she's sent flying. Unlike Tokza, she's essentially out-cold out of shock for a moment or two, meaning that she's in a rough spot.

Tokza dash over the roots and attempts to blast the Elder with a Flamethrower, running in close while keeping it up and attempting to punch it with a... Fire Punch.

Baba ducks into her mortar again, which tanks the first and weakest eruption of the roots, the force of the impact propelling it away from the two subsequent waves. A young ethereal woman in white with pallid skin and disheveled black hair floats out of the mortar and approaches Leshen. If he allows her to close the range, she will embrace and lovingly kiss him. After that, the woman will disappear and Leshen will be struck with violent, feverish illness.

The Ancient Leshen stands firm like a tree, its head snapping sideways at the Fire Punch, but its body unmoving. It slowly, menacingly walks to meet the ghostly woman, readying a claw swipe, only to be put off by the kiss, inflicting it with a poison DoT.

It suddenly roars again, this time loud enough to shake the earth, drop airborne foes to the ground, and generally make everyone tremble hard enough to immobilize them. Then it immediately teleports again. This time, wherever it reappears, it's nowhere in sight.

Reyna peels off the tree in almost comical fashion, landing on her hands and knees. However, she wastes no time in rising to her feet, and scatters Lifepowder over the area to heal all her allies. "It's moved to a new area! Chase it down!"

A line of green firefly-like bugs extend from a lantern on Reyna's hip, creating a rather convenient trail due north followed by a sharp turn west, indicating the path to the Ancient Leshen's new location.

This new location would happen to be a path between two earthen hills, with hanging vines that make a perfect climbing wall up to a clifftop that makes a perfect vantage point◊ on one hill and the wall of a great tree cutting off the other.

Wendy and Tokza get back up, with Tokza giving chase immediately. Wendy, however, hang back for now, finishing her Quiver Dance to get better buffs. However, it does means that she lag behind in the chase.

The mortar speeds down the trail, with Baba sweeping her broom behind it to erase all traces of her passages. Presented with a climbable surface, it doesn't bother using the vines at all (for distinct lack of limbs), instead bracing itself and leaping the entire cliff In a Single Bound. The mortar's demeanor almost resembles that of an animal, despite looking like an wooden object, an impression reinforced by the hag occasionally using her pestle on it as a riding crop.

The Ancient Leshen appears in the middle of the hill with a cliff above it.

Reyna follows the trail to it and swiftly climbs up the vines.

The Ancient Leshen swipes its hand to re-summon its Revolture aura, then teleports to the opposite end of the area.

It makes a sound like howling.

Suddenly, ten Jagras emerge from the foliage, seemingly summoned from nowhere.

Edited by KiriK on May 11th 2019 at 6:58:31 AM

Wendy gets on a vantage point and raises her hands above her head, a glowing green energy appearing around her as she prepares to perform Petal Dance.

Tokza adopts a battle stance, smiling cockily.

"Again this," Baba groans as she grabs some yellow powder from inside her mortar and blows it at some of the Jagras. If it clings to them, red and white toadstools will grow all over their bodies, gradually sapping their life away.

Six of the Jagras are afflicted with toadstools.

The Ancient Leshen, unimpeded, points a finger at Tokza. A blood-red line traces from it to her.

All of the Jagras immediately turn towards Tokza.

Then, it launches a wave of black smog at Wendy. If she breathes it in, she will... suffer an out-of-body experience, finding herself stranded in a dark murky forest... with a version of her who looks half-rotted, with petals resembling those of an orchid, staring at her from the gloom with burning red eyes.

Meanwhile, her actual body's eyes will start glowing red as it falls under the Ancient Leshen's control and joins the Jagras in attacking Tokza.

Reyna, too 'human' to be bothered by the effects of the smog, sends her Kinsect at the Ancient Leshen's body, trying to get the orange extract.

Edited by KiriK on May 11th 2019 at 7:20:02 AM

Wendy is hit and briefly stop, before attacking. She creates a large energy ball in her hand and toss it at Tokza, creating a small, spherical, green explosion on the spot. Tokza, surprised, is driven back, with her type advantage helping to weather the otherwise-noticeable damage.

W-wendy ! The hell ?! She's mind-controlled !

She pauses for a moment, roar in frustration, and roll, coating herself in flames and attempting to use Flame Wheel to try and scatter her enemies, like a bowling ball, before heading for the Ancient.

Wendy, meanwhile, eyes the old woman and forms another Energy Ball, aware that this one has no type advantage against getting blasted in the face.

—

In her own "Sunken Place", Wendy stares at her other self, shivering a little.

H-hey... a-are you a dark reflection of myself ? P-please, not now, my friend need me...

Edited by Bolded1 on May 11th 2019 at 2:27:52 PM

"Nu i dela," Baba laments in Russian and shakes her head once she sees that Wendy has been controlled by the beast. "Time get serious." Baba Yaga starts chanting a longer summons as her skull turns towards Wendy, preparing to counter an incoming attack.

"Ah shit."

The Jagras are knocked aside, but rise up just as quickly.

The Ancient Leshen teleports away from Reyna's Kinsect and Tokza.

"Protip: Throw stuff at it!" Reyna barks. She shoots a Flash Pod from her Slinger, which explodes into a burst of blinding light like a flashbang.

A few Jagras are blinded by the Flash Pod and disoriented, but some are too far from Reyna. These ones try to clamp their jaws down on Tokza's limbs and restrain her.

Furthermore, the Ancient Leshen kneels down and plants one hand on the ground as roots rise up around Reyna in an attempt to entangle her.

Luckily for the team, Reyna has fought Ancient Leshen before, so she is able to avoid this attack with a quick pole-vault, and subsequently tries to hit Wendy in the chest with her Kinsect to snatch some orange extract.

—

'Fey Wendy' says nothing to her counterpart. It seems she is little more than a manifestation of the Ancient Leshen's control; perhaps what Wendy might look like if she were in the Leshen's position.

She raises up a leafy limb and, with a quick wrist-flex-like motion, attempts to plant vitality-draining Leech Seeds on True Wendy.

Bixen, exhausted and weakened, dropped her oversized weapon and attempted to escape.

Oblivia, Near the Yawning Giant

   "I'm curious — what can it do? I mean, do the artifacts have any abilities on their own, or do they simply serve as keys to the book?"    the draconid inquired. His eyes seemed to soak in the details of the lamp, as he tried to piece together its secrets in his head. He couldn't shake the feeling that his... friend? was not entirely alright, but decided not to act on it yet.

Megan's legs burned like hellfire, but she didn't care. Her lungs felt like they were being raked by a Wyvern's sword-sharp talons over and over, she was pretty sure there was a taste of blood in her mouth right now, but she genuinely didn't notice any of it.

There was only one thing on her mind right now — Reyna.

She had seen the SOS flare from all the way out in NLA, and had snapped out of her stupor, at least for a bit. She had tossed as many Alchemicist's Fire bullets into her pouches as she could hold; grabbed three healing potions, one mana potion, and one Primal Armor potion; and currently had a deathgrip on her longsword and revolver.

Her senses were sharpened from the adrenaline, and she could pick up the sound of struggle up ahead — including the sickening crunch of a body against a tree. Her legs almost acted of their own accord and accelerated her just a little bit more. She might have burst a blood vessel in her nose from the effort, based on the sensation on her face, and the feeling of something running down her cheek from the speed.

ETA to the Ancient Leshen fight: Next Round

Omega just kinda... laid down on the ground.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck... Alright, what's the last one like?"]]

The Aspects where silent for an unpleasantly long time. Ansar was the one who broke the silence.

   "She's... well, each of me/our aspects represents some greater part of both magic and myself/our...self...? The grammar on this is baffling, don't think about it for too long. I digress. I, for instance, am the Aspect of Sovereignty, and represent Summoning magics — conjuration, that is. Abzu is the aspect of Wisdom, and represents Divinations, which include information magic and some of the defensive magics of my/our realm. Kishar... She breaks that trend. She is the aspect of my/our godhood, and represents Dragonkind as a whole. I fear what may have occurred to her if she, too, was taken by the Light."   

"... Well. I'm gonna need a drink, and an apothecary. I think my bones are busted," Omega replied. He would have tried to grin, but, being a skeleton... ah, you get the picture. "I think we all need a break, by the looks of it. We'll probably need a few days to recover, at the least..."

Edited by OmegaShadowcry on May 12th 2019 at 3:59:23 PM