Shadows of Sandfield RP Thread

Kellon saw Heather loping toward him, laughing all the way, and he grinned cruelly before flourishing his staff and pointing it at her. For the first time in the fight, he uttered a spell name - purely to make sure he put the maximum amount of power into it. Dark motes began gathering even as he shouted, "Darkness Concerto!!" With that, he slammed the head of his staff down, and the dark motes exploded outward...

...Taking on the form of a humongous mass of screaming and cackling human skull faces seemingly all glommed together, racing toward Heather in a blast of pure, corrosive force. The wall of evil spirits visibly corroded away some of the floor as it rushed toward the girl.

Kellon then turned toward Pablo, slamming his staff into the ground and raising a wall of solid earthly matter to hold Pablo off...at least, he had thought it might hold off Pablo. That was when James' hex caught him suddenly - and in the moments it took him to work on dispelling it, he was caught and struck several times by Jayden's shadowy attacks - and that lack of concentration diminished his defenses.

Pablo's attack cracked right through the wall, and while blunted slightly, and reoriented, the meteoric attack caught Kellon right in the chest. The wicked priest attempted to reinforce his body before the impact, but even then, by the grunt and shout of pain, it hadn't helped very much.

He had been sent flying backward into one of the walls of the room, hard enough to make a crater. Even still, however, Kellon dragged himself up, breathing harshly. "You...you...how—-how in the world did you achieve this strength? Mere children, babbling about insipid matters at school...now pressing me to this point...?"

He caught his breath, though it was clear they had worn him down significantly, "Very well...very well. I will show you the power that I wield as an Apostle of the Dark!" With that, he brought his staff down in a strike at the ground, and upon impact, it seemed a huge fountain of shadowy mana began emanating upward.

"Ah...ah hahahaha..." The shadowy fountain of Mana began consolidating, reshaping and reforming - into a recognizable shape indeed. Before long, the shadows had reconstructed the defeated Zombiestein, who now started to stir again with activity. "I summon forth this most familiar Undead!" Kellon wheezed, raising his staff and standing ready.

Mina Parker

"Oh no you don't!" Mina declared, for she was right beside Heather holding her action in preparation for such an eventuality. She raised a foot, and the ground rumbled before a truly impressive wall of earth rose up to intercept the blast of corrosive force in concordance with it. "I'm going to put some dirt in your eye!"

And then she brought her foot down. The wall of stone and dirt skated towards the dark priest and the undead, the very earth eddying like liquid in front of it. Mina for the most part had hung onto the back part of the wall and had ripped a section off of it to use as a comically large tower shield as she continued guarding Heather, preparing to move forwards if the other girl also did so.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jun 16th 2022 at 8:29:37 AM

It was clear that Nyczus was getting desperate, but this wasn't necessarily a comforting thought. A rat was always most vicious when backed into a corner, and their opponent behaved no differently. They would have to finish this quickly or not at all.

As the undead coalesced out of shadow, James suddenly rushed his opponent. A spear formed in his hand, the point of which erupted into flame. From their previous battle he knew that the construct lacked much in the way of precision. If they closed the distance then an attack from it would risk injuring its master.

"Get close to Nyczus! It probably lacks the precision to hit us but not him."

Edited by bobbitwormhobbitwyrm on Jun 17th 2022 at 2:20:24 PM

Pablo just shrugged, not for a second taking his eyes out of the man and taking the time to rotate his wrist.

"Eat a lot, sleep like a log and work out like a madman" He said "Nothing special, but guess those old bones don't have the vigor for it, you fossil" But the arrival of a very familiar monster burst through gave him a moment of pause, but his legs started carrying him forward into a shoulder tackle ready to grapple against it. Anything to keep it away from the others.

He still had a third step in this piece, but he didn't feel like missing since neither of these two should be given an inch. Thorough it all, his hands seemed to keep glowing in their respective colors.

Jayden

Well, we were trained by someone who's honestly not that great a mentor, given how we've picked up several psychological scars since he started training us. Or, at least, I have. I'm not sure if any of the others are affected at all.

Jayden didn't waste time saying any of this. Instead, he just followed James, swords continuing to slice and dice from every angle, moving so quickly and from so many different directions that it would be impossible to dodge all of them and very hard to not dodge into them.

Raid Day, Encounter 2, Kellon Nyczus

For a moment, Heather thought the wall before her was some vain attempt by her foe to defend himself and prepared to slash it before Mina made a quippy pun about Earth powers. That was enough for Heather to figure out that the wall was meant to protect her.

"My thanks, Mina. Now then, this is a redux I wasn't thrilled by the first three times we fought it!"

Heather watched the creature stumble into existence and coiled up before running to try and juke around Zombiestein and resume her charge at its summoner.

Battle - Nyczus and Zombiestein

Pablo for his part actually bowled right into Zombiestein and pushed it back, away from Kellon. The creature howled and screamed with fury - swiping with its powerful hammer down at Pablo. However, for the time at least, the menacing undead was distracted dealing with a singular member of the party. Which meant the others could well move past the beast and on to the man behind it.

And indeed, James' assessment would prove most accurate.

Nyczus was a cornered rat, realizing that he was at long last pushed into a corner. And for that part, he would snarl, snap, and fight harder than he ever had before. The priest raised his staff and actually clashed it against James' spear formed out of mana several times, sparks and bursts of black energy (on Nyczus' end) crackling out from the collisions, one after the other.

The dark priest ranted, "...You children...have no idea what you stand to go against...! If you insist on this path, you are every bit as mad as Dekeren!!" Seeing that the teens were closing in on him, Kellon separated from the clash with James, and slammed his staff into the ground.

All at once, the unnatural ground beneath them cracked and erupted with spirals - tendrils of a black blood-like substance racing up in an array, thorns and spikes stabbing outward - covering up the route toward their foe.

Inside, Kellon murmured, "...Even one is capable of distracting my most fearsome creation...it appears I must utilize desperate measures indeed..."

Mina Parker

At the emergence of the crimson-black tendrils that erupted from the ground, Mina threw down her earthy tower shield, jumped up onto it, and attempted to surf closer to the dark priest. The tail end of her ride sent a muddy trail spitting up behind her as she drifted close to him. Her stalwart shield snapped whatever brambles and thorns that attempted to block her passage, and eventually, she reached over to snatch a sharp spike, with dirt forming into a passable handle for the dagger.

"Do you like my car!?" she screamed as she pulled into Nyczus' space and attempted to hamstring him with her knife and pull away just as quickly. "Yours is tacky and I never liked it anyways!"

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jun 24th 2022 at 12:07:36 PM

Pablo could barely react to the giant hammer, but he tried to punch it away, feeling the impact on his whole arm, even as he tried to avoid releasing the power. But even then, his hands felt like burning and freezing. It's the issue of this trick, he needed to do the whole waltz fast or he could hurt himself, it was like clogging a pipe.

"Pity you, pal, and you might not be my target of choice" He grunted, clutching his other hand "But eat this, Orthus Dual Impact!" He punched too with his free hand, letting the power of both hands loose.

The head of James' spear burned even brighter as Nyczus brought his own weapon against it. He willed more and more warmth into it, hoping the heat escaping would burn his opponent. As Nyczus backed away, James took the opportunity to launch a holy arrow at the priest.

As the waves of energy emanated outward from Kellon's staff, James realized he had little to no ability to dodge the coming attack. The tendrils collided with him almost immediately, sending him flying across the room.

Edited by bobbitwormhobbitwyrm on Jun 27th 2022 at 10:30:33 AM

Raid Day, Encounter 2, Kellon Nyczus and Zombiestein

Heather was starting to get annoyed with the parlor tricks.

"I know most here think me mad..."

She hoped that the spite in her words would be taken for purely the rush of battle. She took one moment to look over the dome of briar and then with little care she struck at it with her manifested claws.

"But you're the one selling all that ought matter for power or a sense of loyalty to pitiful divines! Do you think they care? Do they think you will be rewarded when the war is over? You are grubs writhing in the dirt of an eternal battlefield believing you are worth anything more!"

She continues striking at the barrier, hoping to break through.

"At least I take charge of my own fate!"

Jayden

Holy shit this is taking forever—

Briars did not mean much when one could strike from several feet away. So that was what Jayden kept doing.

"Nyczus, it's clear to everyone you're not gonna win," he muttered. "Can you just spare us the trouble and surrender?"

Kellon's briars were sliced to pieces - and broken by Mina's roving earthen maneuver, her slice sending the priest sprawling to the floor - only just holding himself up with his staff. The briars shortly collapsed back down into the earth, with the Umbral himself giving harsh breaths as he realized that as much as he was loathe to admit it, Jayden...was quite correct...

Meanwhile, Pablo's gigantic mana wave-fist attack clashed with a lightning blast thrown by the monstrous "Zombiestein"'s hammer. The two attacks clashed and for an instant both appeared evenly matched... until they were not. The combined attacks exploded at once - lightly pushing Pablo back, but sending the vicious undead sprawling backward toward Kellon Nyczus.

Kellon looked at the assembled teens, pressing his hand against his wounded leg to apply a bit of healing magic to it - but he was actively feeling fatigued at this point. It was pressing a bandaid over an open wound literally and figuratively.

There was only one thing left for him to do.

"Very well." Kellon planted his staff in the floor. "It appears you are quite correct, Jayden Gardner. You—-I cannot win against you. But—-I have one card left in my repertoire."

All of a sudden at once all the braziers across the room blazed higher and brighter with purple flames - lighting up every corner of the room. A massive spell circle quickly formed on the ground, every point of the twelve pointed star at the center converging on the form of Zombiestein.

"I with my sway in the Dark do call upon thee—-Demon Beast! Arise here! Arise and create the Ultimate Lifeform through this blighted, undead vessel!" Underneath the floor, the teens would be able to see something seeming to crawl there - as if there was some vast dark dimension under their feet, the same unholy form that Pablo and Jayden had once beheld now crawling toward Zombiestein...

And all at once, there was a massive, white tornado of air around Zombiestein, suppressive winds issuing around - the creature moaning and growling as something happened within it, sparks beginning to fly across its blighted form. Kellon intoned as the wind intensified in the center of the room; "Bi—-Sha—-Shai'sah—-Ti'vaash—-Ni'id—-!! Demon Beast, I call upon thee, complete the form of wretched Zombiestein!"

The entire ceiling lit up with arcs of electricity that crashed down around the undead creature...

Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 1st 2022 at 7:46:40 AM

Mina Parker

Mina shouted for everyone to get back as things started turning for the worse, stepping on her earthen platform to flip it right side up and rushing over to cover James, who had taken a hit earlier. She was worried that if the ceiling started breaking apart, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the pieces. And then she remembered the magic badge that they had been given.

"The Franklin Badge!" she said over the din of the spell. "It sure would come in handy to disrupt the summoning!" Mina hoped that she was right, or that her idea would at least come in handy for the final push to victory.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jul 1st 2022 at 12:43:58 PM

James slammed into the ground, his entire body feeling the force of impact. He still had some fight left in him, but the throbbing in his bones was a reminder that they could lose this battle all too easily. Getting to his feet, he nodded to Mina in in acknowledgment and gratitude. Complying with Mina's he tossed the Franklin badge to his ally, though he wasn't sure how much it would help.

They appeared to have a brief window to attack Nyczus whilst the priest was chanting, a window James didn't want to waste. Leaping onto the wall of earth, he began to pour a significant portion of his mana into an incantation.

"Alabaster flame, scourge of impurity and corruption. Tolerate this stain upon the world no longer."

Pablo had lost balance for a second, but at least kept himself from hitting the floor once the noise and the light of the attack clash ended. It took him a second to reorient himself, but took a moment to pale as the unholy abomination appeared in front of the group.

He raised a hand, trying to think of anything to distract that thing, but his own arm felt numb, he might have injured something, or just used too much power in that attack. At least he still could move his fingers, but he might need to wait if he decides to throw another punch like that, and beyond that, he needed to check for damage...

"That's why I have legs" He told himself, as he advanced. At least he had to try and do something. If he isn't careful, he might leave himself needing to be carried, and that's not an option now.

He stomped, aiming to raise a barrier to protect the others from what that thing will bring.

"Turtle Fortress Rise!" He hoped it was enough.

Edited by Blueace on Jul 4th 2022 at 7:26:28 AM

Raid Day, Encounter 2, Kellon Nyczus and the Demon Beast

The wind was... Annoying, the bastard had sealed himself off from the fight and brought some new enemy into the body of that nemesis undead.

"You're going to die here Kellon! Cowering in your disgusting base, your magics proving insufficient against five teens with powers that didn't cost their souls! You will die here, a testament to the worthlessness of the gods!"

Heather finished screaming, turning away from the wind wall and taking a moment to regain her breath.

"Man, I am starting to run out of steam. Anyone got a water bottle I can take a swig from while we wait out the boss phasing?"

Jayden

"Okay, good, acknowledging you have a problem is the first step—"

Jayden halted as something crawled under his feet, a force horrifyingly alien and hauntingly familiar at the same time. Then, all at once, there was a mighty tornado around the monster and—

"Wait, Zombiestein is its actual name?" he said incredulously. That's...one of the worst names for a monster I've ever heard.

It looked like James was going for Nyczus...and the shadow blades were still there, so Jayden might as well too. He posed the swords just above Nyczus's shoulders...and sliced, aiming to cut his arms off.

"Haven't got any water," he murmured to Heather. "We'll get some when we're done."

The winds started to narrow - just in time for Jayden and James' attacks to make it through. Kellon was slashed across the shoulders and blasted all the way by a column of bright white fire against the distant wall in the back of the room. He was left with two long gashes, bleeding, but still alive...and even though he could barely move but to start casting something, he started laughing.

"You...you are all damned!"

The form of the creature in the center of the room started shifting, distorting and distending in the narrowed windstorm that seemed to focus on it. All at once, the remaining electrical plugs seemed to pop and blast out of its form - each one shooting into the walls around it like shotgun shells. Even its hammer melted away.

Two horns ripped through the creature's bare skull and assisted in outright pulling its head in half, both halves pulling to either side as the two horns grew longer and more wicked pointing backward. All the while, a long and serpentine neck and a new head emerged. The new head was dragon-like and full of needle-like fangs, a crown of horns pointing backward from the new face, three smaller ones to each side, and three larger ones at the top. Its mouth seemed to be perpetually set in a horrific grin - its eyes black with two yellow dots at the middle, red veins visible in the rest.

It breathed and gnashed its fangs together, a long three pronged tongue lashing back and forth.

There was a sickening crunch as its chest heaved and snapped open, the face of the Demon-Beast emerging and immediately binding to the form by numerous strips and tendrils of flesh. The shoulders and chest began turning white and calcified before turning into ghastly bone armor, shoulders gaining jutting yellow and black horns pointing upward. A few strips of skin on its back melded together and twisted, turning into four thin black wings. Its claws turned from humanoid bone and flesh into long, wicked and metallic looking talons, far more pronounced than they had been before and curved toward the ends.

Whereas before the creature had screamed or let out bellows of rage, this time as the metamorphosis completed, the teens would hear a different noise come from it. A hoarse, echoing peal of laughter as the winds died down.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 9th 2022 at 9:35:16 AM

Mina Parker

Mina belted out an uncharacteristic expletive as the transformation of Zombiestein revealed itself to be complete, and rushed back into the vanguard, planting her shield firmly in front of everyone else. Since she now had the Franklin Badge, and the creature in front of her was evidently attuned to lightning, she was the best option for providing everyone else with defense against it. Still, that thing was huge!

"Don't give up just yet, everyone!" she shouted to those behind her. "We just need one final push!" She hoped it was true. In any case, she held her action to block any attacks which the creature might happen to make on the most fragile of her friends with her earthen tower shield.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jul 9th 2022 at 2:32:07 AM

His body surging with pain and adrenaline, James had never felt so close to death. The enormity of his predicament came crashing down upon him. He had so many things to do and people he cared about, what the hell were any of them doing here? How could he ever had thought he stood a chance against someone as experienced as Nyczus.

His own nervous laughter joined that of the undead giant. "You have got to be kidding me."

James didn't have time to think, only to act. Drawing upon what strength remained in his body, he formed a bolt of holy radiance in his hand, sending it directly towards the protruding head of the demon beast.

Pablo felt like the world stopped there for a few seconds, horror visible in his face, but he literally kicked himself back to action.

Running as fast as he could, he spun on his heel, trying to kick the friggin' abomination as hard as he could. He could feel the wind behind his attack as he braced himself for the shock.

"Please use this chance" He said as he went in.

Raid Day, Encounter 2, The Demon Beast

"Egh, great. Guess I'll lay off the banter, at least preserve my voice..."

Heather coughed a little for effect and rolled her eyes at the talk of being damned. The arrival of the big damn demon by way of twisting and tearing at Zombiestein's flesh did little to faze her (if she was doing banter, she'd remark at being desensitized to such horrors by now and maybe she'd question if that was a good or bad thing) and she took a moment to slip behind Mina's shield and observe the attacks others were laying down.

Seeing the opening from Pablo's kick she nodded and rushed in, her claws in front of her like a hungry beast (again, a snappy quip about the fact that she was in fact kind of hungry right now could have been made) as she dived with an eye for just going straight to the creature's dumb laughing face.

Jayden

"Oh my god, HOW MANY PHASES DOES THIS THING HAVE?!"

Jayden did not intend to say that out loud, but honestly he didn't really give a shit at this point.

Desperate to end this marathon of a boss fight, he pointed the swords at the creature's thin wings and sliced. Hey, if you wanted to win a dogfight, clip the wings. The same applied to winged demon zombie Frankensteins.

The newly empowered Demon Beast / Zombiestein combination was immediately blinded in its new head by the holy burst of light James created - and as Jayden cut through its wings, he'd note that as he did so, they started reconstituting slowly. Though for now at least the creature wouldn't be able to fly. Blinding it in one head however wasn't quite sufficient to make it so the creature could not see.

The new-formed "Devilstein" aimed at Heather and its serpentine neck seemed to bulge briefly as it outright vomited out a spray of acidic green liquid. This grotesque liquid produced a wall of super-hot steam as it advanced toward Heather.

Pablo's kick hit home, the abomination lurching a bit to the side - and it in turn advanced on him and swiped at him with one claw. This singular move also caused a large amount of wind to stir up in the course of the strike.