The beam from the owl's eyes charged up and launched towards the column the teenagers were hiding behind, crumbling it to the ground.
Another shot aimed at Dante landed on the display case, shattering the glass and splintering the wood. Many weapons from inside the case went flying, creating another hazard in the area.
One at a time, the beams shot towards each squire, destroying a piece fo history with each blast.
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 7:16 pm
Eligor had swiftly raised his wings and arced them forward to shield from the falling glass, but after that had passed and the light beams started shooting through the air he was quick to fold them tightly again. Certainly wouldn't do to burn a hole through one of the membranes...ugh. The mage had ducked behind a case holding a large suit of armor, setting his back to the display and holding his staff diagonally across the front of his body. He only really had time for a cursory glance, but he determined this must be some sort of ceremonial or maybe decorative armor. Surely not meant for anyone to actually wear. No Pae was that big. And it was so covered with spikes and jagged edges, he couldn't see how someone could even put it on without injuring themselves. Nah, must be a decoration or perhaps meant for intimidation purposes, or....
He listened (and read Dante's signs) from the nearby column and was about to comment when the one-winged angel slowed from a pink blur to join them. "Glad you're okay, Alethea," he said with relief, then looked around for the other members of their party and noted their locations around the room. "Alright, we can't be sure how long we can take shelter here, so in the meantime--"
As the first few display cases were shattered, Eligor said in a deadpan tone, "...I should just keep my mouth shut." He sighed, continuing, "We need to get out of here, if we can't calm it down. Put some distance between us and regroup." At that point, apparently his turn had come and the glass behind him shattered, raining down around the spiky armor suit. Time to go. He took off for the next case for cover, eyes darting around the surroundings as he did. There had to be something...
Another beam shot over his head so closely he could swear it had singed a few hairs. It definitely carried the heat to do it, as it hit and ignited a pile of scrolls behind him. The scholarly mage let out a harsh oath and without thought, attempted to scoop up some of the scrolls yet to catch fire in order to save them. He had to keep moving to dodge any further beams to come his way and he darted from case to case, looking for anything that might help them, or a way out, or...was that a break in the line of cases?
Time seemed to stop for a moment as the owl's screech hit her and the beautiful, terrifying sight of shattered glass raining down filled Katya's entire field of view. She had already passed by the owl when the first beam seared out and so the nimble demon juked upwards with a heavy flap of her wings just as the shot sizzled past her belly, a little too close for comfort. The bright light slammed into the far wall, bursting into a brilliant flash of heat and flame. The explosion reflected off the hundreds of shards of glass in the air, the twirling daggers that were now dazzling against the impossibly dark sky, and all around Katya's vicinity were some of the largest, most dangerous pieces that were now falling toward her. No time to feel relieved at the evasion.
Katya twisted her wings and inverted in mid-air, backside facing the ground and front facing upward, before arching over backward, hauling herself into a dive to gain speed and fly away from the falling shards of glass. She could see that she was way in the open and that her earlier dodge had disadvantaged her now- the glass would be just barely upon her before she could reach the ground, never mind the time it would take to scramble under or behind something once she got there. There was only an instant of time to think, and less than that to act, but fortunately she was already staring at what was probably her only chance, however a long shot it might have been.
So she dived straight at the owl.
The crystalline bird had spread its vast wings and was distracted with the other squires for the moment, disintegrating a nearby column as though it was little more than a tall pile of sand. In a feat of skilful timing and honestly mostly luck, Katya swept underneath moments before the largest pieces of glass smashed against the Owl's crystal body. Her own wings now flared out, air tumbling around them as she wobbled almost to a halt under the very thing that had just attacked her. Glass fell all around, and she felt some small shards bounce off parts of her wings and tail that remained exposed, but she didn't think she had been cut up too badly. Or maybe so, such was the adrenaline in her blood by that point.
Without any speed left Katya was forced to drop to the ground in a semi-controlled tumble at the foot of the tree, landing heavily but on her feet. Her keen eyes had noticed what seemed to be another door while taking flight, but there hadn't been time to investigate it, what with so much history in the room and a monstrous murder owl on the attack. Now it seemed imperative to get over there. She quickly scanned the room again to see if the other squires were all right, and took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw Dante and a couple of the others were still in one piece after their cover had exploded.
By now the Owl's eyes were once more aglow and it was Katya's turn to be targeted again. In a flourish of movement she burst forward into a run while twisting to look backward, her trusty bow coming up with arrow nocked. It wasn't one of her regular arrows- this had a paper canister of flash powder on the shaft with a wire that hooked behind the arrow rest of her bow. She let loose without hesitation and the wire was torn from the canister, setting off the spark which ignited a light equally bright as the owl's beams, and which was now shooting back towards it. The device had been intended as a signal flare-arrow- now it struck their deadly assailant, the shaft shattering and the canister rupturing, a bright flash followed by a billowing dirty smoke cloud that itself ignited as it boiled around the owl's head. From that cloud another beam burned past, this time missing by quite a wide margin, and incinerating a nearby closed cabinet. Katya didn't see what the explosion had revealed as she ran past it, but heard clattering metal behind her. With that, she leapt up again and flew the rest of the way to the door, flipping forward right before she got to it so she could slam into it feet first.
Which she did. Right before bouncing off like a wet paper towel, landing in a heap of limbs and wings at its base. "DOOR. HERE." The demon yelled as loudly as she could in her dazed state. She hauled herself to her feet and stumbled behind one of the rows of displays to regather herself. "Need someone brawnier or brainier than me to figure this out!" A pause. "Probably both!"
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:18 pm
Not enough glue... huh? Genesis didn't have time to set her straight as the column that was shielding them was obliterated, she shielded herself from the debris before taking off again. "That is not what I meant..." she claimed as she ran towards a scroll case to duck behind, only to watch the weapons case get destroyed next. "Nevermind." So much for returning something to the case fixing things. Dante had a good idea, but the owl wasn't doing a great job protecting all this stuff right now. It was going to bring this whole archive down, the squires along with it. They needed to get out of here.
With the owl attacking each of them in turn, it seemed everyone had scrambled throughout the room. Genesis got a visual on each of them, checking for injuries, and new developments. When she found Eligor, his gaze was locked on something, and her eyes followed to find a wooden door in a similar state as the chair that Lailah had touched earlier. She watched as Katya slammed into it feet first. Genesis was relieved to see that Katya was alright, she hadn't been able to keep tabs on everyone, and she had been closest to the owl. She had expected the door to crumble, much like the chair had, but when Katya was done with it, it still stood.
Resolved of the idea that not disturbing the artifacts was the safest thing, Genesis couldn't allow what was left to be destroyed. She scooped up a handful of scrolls and stashed them in her bag before rolling away from another blast, and then charging towards the door. Maybe, they just needed to try the handle. One could hope that it might be that simple, so she pulled on the handle, disliking how exposed she was standing in front of this door.
Alethea ducked, covering her head with her wing when the column was destroyed. The pink angel looked up to see each of her friends fired at one-by-one, with their cover destroyed each time. She left herself exposed to the owl's beams in order to observe how it moved. Not only did it focus on one person at a time, but it was repeating a pattern, not just arbitrarily firing at anyone. And between each hit, she calculated 45 seconds for it to acquire a new target.
That gives us about 3 minutes and 15 seconds before being fired at.
Waiting to be targeted again - in order to test her theory and start her own timer - she used her power to dodge the beam and run to her nearest ally. "Eligor! I calculated that the owl fires a beam every 45 seconds. That means we each have 3 minutes 15 seconds before being fired on again! "She spoke quickly.
When it was his turn to be fired upon, she quickly pulled him away from the trajectory. "Now! You have 3 minutes to hit the door!" Alethea had faith in Eligor's magic strength.
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:39 pm
Dante whistled the three notes for GALADMORE and put up his light shield just in time to avoid getting crushed in the now-destroyed weapons case. Well, there went that plan. He scrabbled to hide behind another weapons case, this one much taller, as it was filled with what looked like two-handed weapons that were larger than he was tall, and watched his companions dive toward the door. He noted with a tiny soaring note that Katya didn't appear to be hurt, then turned his attention toward problem-solving again.
Katya's attempt at busting the door down with her body hadn't worked, nor had Genesis' using the handle. He wondered about trying to use one of these giant axes to break it down, but judging how Katya had literally bounced off, he didn't want to bounce off while holding a large weapon. Besides, he wasn't even sure if he could carry the damn thing, let alone wield it.
Alethea's calculations came as a revelation. That meant, then, that the rest of them had relative safety for 3 minutes and could do something besides cower. I can do a lot with three minutes.
When it came to be his turn again, Dante watched the owl carefully. He took note of its behavior. Would the beam follow him once it had locked onto the target? How did the owl behave when it was about to fire? He then successfully dodged out of the way, leading to the destruction of the weapons case behind him.
The plan came to him from the Guardians themselves. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks and spent his next three minutes alternately searching for a shield and keeping an eye on his companions. He found the smallest shield he could, and tucked his staff in its holster on his back. Equipping the shield--just in case--to his non-dominant arm, he then whistled an ear-piercing, look-at-me whistle to his companions. He then signed, as "loud" as he could, ""MOVE" accompanied by a shooing gesture.
He sprinted over as the owl locked onto him, then stood in front of the door until the owl fired upon him, dodging away at the last second as he'd done before.
No, of course the handle wouldn't work. Why would anything ever be that easy? Genesis' head turned to look over her shoulder, checking the owl since she was so out in the open. The glance revealed a charge heading straight towards her. She wasn't close enough to have heard Alethea's revelation that the attacks weren't random, but she also didn't have time to wonder if the attack was related to her taking the scrolls or going for the door... or just being completely prone to attack.
Genesis pulled up her light shield, that was all she had time for, and braced herself. The blast pushed her closer to the door, but beyond that, she felt fine. Through the semi-transparent light Genesis could see that the owl had moved on and she dropped her shield so it wouldn't continue to draw on her limited reserves. She began inspecting the door looking for any sort of hint of a magical nature to the door before trying brute force. It felt like she had barely glanced it over when she was forced to cringe from Dante's whistle. She turned back to see him running towards her, the owl's eyes on him. Genesis rolled out of the way.
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2020 1:53 pm
Dante's plan was a success! The owl's beam managed to damage the door.
But it wasn't enough to fully break the door open. It is still stuck and they find the door is more dense than anticipated. It's becoming clear the door is unlike any they have seen on Telrunya.
Who -- no, why -- would make such a thick door out of wood?
After tumbling away and regaining her bearings, Genesis looked at the aftermath of the owl's beam hitting the door. "Brilliant, Dante!" Genesis called out as she realized what he had done. The fact that the door was still standing after that was amazing, the door had looked as worn down, if not more so, than the structures in the room that the owl's beam had turned into dust. Maybe just another hit or two would do the trick. It would be much simpler if the next squire would stand in front of the door, if Genesis had the same revelation as Althea, of the owl striking them in order She hadn't realized there was an order though, so the simplest plan for her was to get them all in front of the door. "Everyone, gather in front of the door." Genesis said, as she took her place, watching the owl and prepared to jump out of the way of the next attack.
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2020 1:01 pm
Moving to stand near Genesis, Alethea counted her timer in her head. "I'm after you, Genesis. Once you dodge, I'll move in." The pink angel was confident in her abilities to dodge, but she was not so sure with some of her comrades. She'd help pull anyone out if they had the timing off.
"Katya is after me. So she'll have 30 seconds to move into position."
After the beam hit the door a second time, not only was it damaged, but it budged a little. We're doing it! She took her position in front of the door and readied herself.
...4...3...2...DIVE!
There was a hole in the door now! It wasn't big enough for a pae to fit through, but Alethea estimated they'd only need 2 or 3 more hits.
Whatever. Putting aside the nonsense about the chair, Lailah took the brief moments she had where she wasn't being targeted to look around at what had fallen from the destroyed cases. Surely some of this would be helpful to them....if they could actually wield them. Who the heck was big enough to use some of this crap?
Having taken note of the plan the other Squires had put together on the other side of the room, Lailah grabbed one of the smaller shields that had fallen from the cases. "Hey! Heads up!" she yelled to the others, putting serious effort into slinging the shield with enough force to slide along the floor to the other side for someone to use. Just in case they were too slow in dodging the beam when their turn came. For herself, Lailah's eyes landed on a pair of gauntlets. Would they block the beams? She wasn't sure she was ready to trust that theory without testing first, however, they could come in handy in the future. She was still beating herself up for not retrieving the supplies left behind with their fallen comrades. Who knew what small thing may end up being the difference between life and death in here?
When the owl turned in her direction, Lailah was ready.. She grabbed the gauntlets and dove out of the way of the blast, taking the time between attacks now to sprint to the other side of the room to join her companions.
Eligor was quick to process this new information from Alethea. Amazing! How had he not noticed--? Well, there was a lot going on; he was distracted. "Good work, Alethea!" And it seemed Dante had had another good idea; one that was going to fit well with Alethea's observations. Now, they only needed to take turns...one by one, they took turns in front of the door, dodging out of the way as they owl fired, blasting the door bit by bit, then they had 45 seconds to swap positions to do it all again. When it came time for his turn, Eligor took a deep breath and positioned himself in front of the door. Staff in hand, he glared defiantly at the owl while counting down silently.
Three. Two. One...
The mage pivoted, pushing off and sliding clear as the blast slammed into the door again. This time, a splintering crack split the air and when Eligor looked back, the door had a gaping hole and dust rained down over the opening to the floor. It would be a bit of a squeeze for the adults, but they should be able to get through with little trouble.
"We're through! Everyone out! Kurt, tuck your wings tight and you should fit. You too, Katya, mind your wings. Don't forget the owl; whoever is its next target, draw the fire away from the door so the rest can escape! Good work, everyone!" Keeping a wary eye out, Eligor was ready to assist Kurt with the other adult, however he kept glancing back into the room. Was everyone here? Would they make it out of this trap unscathed?
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 3:46 pm
The owl's beams stopped. Once they were out of the room, the owl no longer fired at them. Taking a moment to collect themselves, the teenagers come to the grave realization that not all of them had made it through. Clarux and Harveer were unable to dodge the owl's beams as they tried to escape. They moved a little further down the hallway until they knew they'd be safe, and a group prayer was offered after a moment of silence for their fallen comrades.
At the end of the long hallway, it curved around and started to decline. It also became apparent that the finished walls gave way to chiseled rock. They were descending into the mountain.
When they reach the bottom, they are met by a gigantic imposing door, maybe 10 times as tall as they are. In the center of of the heavy door was a lock. The keyhole was nearly as tall as the squires.
The objective is to open the door.
Wolfs Heart
Genesis
Doof
Katya
Teigra
Lailah & Eligor
Menelie
Dante
Dementia Requiem Asumi
Harveer has passed on. Due to making this far into the story, Harveer qualifies for resurrection at the end of the ent, however his memories of being a squire will be taken away.
Antidia
Alethea
Mizu_taji
Clarux has passed on. Due to making this far into the story, Clarux qualifies for resurrection at the end of the ent, however her memories of being a squire will be taken away.
Evilsilverdragon
Kurt
Daisicle
"Cria" Malek
Guardian_Iris Captain
Offline
Doof
Offline
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2020 8:09 am
Thanks to her solid impact moments before, she hadn't been in position quickly enough to get the owl to make an exit, but had at least gathered enough of her wits to hop sideways and out of the way of the next beam targeted at her, before the other squires succeeded in drawing its fire to the door one more time. With an escape now possible, she scampered over to the broken door at a half crouch, wings folded as small as she could make them. Katya's petite body slipped through the new opening easily enough but the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she had to pause to squeeze her wings through behind her, but no more attacks came her way.
Katya took a deep breath, then jogged forward into yet another cold, dark hallway. This one was larger than the last, but already she was starting to feel trapped and enclosed. As the group paused to offer prayers to their most recently fallen, Katya quietly sidled up next to Dante and squeezed his shoulder as a reassurance and to let him know she was close. She was prepared to shed a tear in the darkness but this time none came, just a gloom and a heaviness on her chest. She found that her grief had stopped tearing at her heart so fiercely, her anger simmered rather than burned, and for some reason that bothered her somewhat.
Afterwards, the group headed further down the hallway, with her awareness they were descending into the Earth making Katya nervous once more. And that’s when they were confronted with another door blocking their path. This one was massive, the largest they’d seen in this horrifying abandoned keep, and a match for some of the grandest, most fortified entrances back in the City of light. Was it a main entrance to something? Or perhaps the main exit? Katya wondered hopefully. Unlikely considering they had just walked down into a mountain, she realized with a pout. There would be no bursting or hacking through this one, and the demon wondered if they could even move it should they manage to break its lock.
That lock. Massive as it was, she wondered what mechanism it could be hiding, and sitting right in the middle of the towering door, she also wondered who would be tall enough to use the thing. A few wingbeats later, she was eye level with the lock, and importantly, the keyhole wasn’t just large enough for her to see into, she could almost squeeze into it. An idea that she immediately recognized as immensely stupid without a little research. She examined the lock from the outside to gather what details she could before peering into the keyhole to try to figure out if it could be picked or forced.
