The Guardian shudders and screams, shaking the rock around you, as Big shatters two of the tentacles with his blows and bites deeply into a third. Canthan utters his spell and flies towards the gates, hovering just beside and outside the ruined entrance with its coagulating veils of stone just in time to see the enemies within charge towards him.
A blast of fire shreds the viscous curtains, instantaneously turning the wet morass to dry clay and dust, and you can now see clearly what you're facing. A shield-wall of short but hardened warriors the colour of stone driving before them a monster out of legend. The Hydra, a twelve-headed brute with a rhime of frost around its many jaws, finally seeing its prey charges forwards with unexpected speed. But before it can reach any of the enemies it can see Aeryk rudely interrupts it. Standing almost directly in the Hydra's path he simply takes a step and plunges his blades into its huge flank, taking it by complete surprise. The speed of its charge almost seems to drive the blades into its flesh and with its momentum broken it crashes to the ground, almost dragging Aeryk with it.
(aoo+haste+1+2+3+4+5+6= 17+20+0+0+16+22+29+0) (ooc: I rule that Aeryk delayed his initiative until the enemies beyond the gate acted and came within his range so that his initiative is simultaneous to theirs. I don't know if that's technically correct, but Aeryk had been waiting for them for quite some time so it seems no more than fair.)
Aeryk barely has time to regret his heroics as the hydra turns its twelve heads towards him and breathes. The barrage of jets would have killed anyone else of his allies, but even Aeryk doesn't emerge unscathed. However much he tries to dance out of the way out of one jet there's always another one that freezes his skin and turns his blood to ice. The moment passes and he's still alive. Staring at the monster he knows that he has hurt it worse than it hurt him. (Aeryk -65 hp)
Mystic, his greater spells expended, calls down the blessing of the unknowable upon his allies. And though a chill of fear and madness runs down their spines they know they are stronger for it.
Ysande keeps backing away from the Guardian, knowing her spells can do nothing against it. Instead she turns towards the advancing formation of dwarves. Peculiar, she reflects, that they expose themselves so. A single spell could kill them all in a formation like that, unless they had some form of protection. Not that I could even singe a hair on their beards regardless. Hoping to delay them she closes the gates with an illusory wall of iron.
William keeps attacking the Guardian, knowing that if it lives a moment longer it will attack them once more or worse; flee and heal its injuries. Four attacks he makes, sending the tentacle with Bog's bite-marks in fragments to the ground, but that is not enough. The enemy may be weakened, but with its core intact it remains a threat.
next: Guardian.
ooc: I made a mistake with the HPs earlier on this page. Mok's spell actually gave you +2 to con, not +4 as I had thought.
Updated HPs:
y 63+13-7-7-3-5-6=48-19=29
k ---
w 87+13-8-6-4-3-5=74-9-7-12-10-26=10
c 67(+13)-15=65
m 66(+13)-3-21-18=37
b 104+13-5-35=77
a 73+13=86-65=21
