Rockhorn wheels above the beast and changes tack yet again. He drops the clumsy weapon made for humans and points his mounted lance toward the beast.
"Hiya, Spritewing," Rockhorn calls out, his voice a battle cry in the midst of chaos, "let's bring down this tortured titan!"
In response to his command, Spritewing lets out a resounding neigh, a warcry of its own, as it tucks its wings in and descends with Rockhorn towards the imposing behemoth. Together, dwarf and pegasus plummet almost straight down, the wind howling in their ears as they weave with uncanny precision between the thrashing heads of the great beast.
As they hurtle toward the earth, the tension mounts, and the world seems to slow. In a breathtaking display of agility and instincts, Spritewing abruptly alters their trajectory heading for the nexus of the heads. With a graceful twist and a beat of powerful wings, the pair manages to evade the impending impact just moments before it would have been catastrophic.
Rockhorn, with unwavering resolve, angles his mounted lance aiming for a vulnerable spot. As they soar past the colossal creature's thrashing heads, Rockhorn's lance strikes true, piercing through scales and flesh. A triumphant roar escapes from rangers lips as the lance finds its mark, sinking deep into the creature's heart. With a deafening, guttural cry of agony, the colossal beast shudders violently. Its enormous form convulses in a final, futile attempt at resistance. Releasing the lance so he wouldn't be unseated by colossal impact, the dwarf bellows again as the pair pulls away from the creature's death throes.
In the moments that follow, an eerie calm descends upon the battlefield. The creature's heads writhe and contort in a macabre dance of death, their once-menacing roars now reduced to feeble, pained groans. The colossal titan begins its inexorable descent, a colossal death in the heart of the city. With thunderous crash and one last burst of flame and smoke, the crumbling form collapses on the streets of Bluffside.
Rockhorn and Spritewing pull away from the creature's crumbling form, victorious. Their daring attack, fueled by unwavering determination, has felled the once-mighty beast.
The Beast falls towards Custodio, but the Vanquisher cleric manages to scramble out of the way just in time. The two guards left on the wall raise arms, partially in victory, and partially in relief. Vincenzo encourages them to keep firing, as the creature might be able to regenerate. They remain focused, but it isn't required. The creature is dead.
Rockhorn's lance pierced The Beast's heart.
Tim is able to back away without worrying about another bite from the awful thing. As he does, Ela finishes her spell and a celestial bison appears in front of Tim. She sighs and gets back to her feet. She goes to the creature and thanks it for answering her summons.
"I do not think we will need you're help, after all," she says.
Burchard walks over to Captain Camburn and kneels down next to the man.
On Candle Street, Emelia hears Rockhorn's roar of triumph and the creature's cry of death. And, the sound of The Beast hitting the ground, which causes a tremor to be felt by all, including those in the warehouse and under it.
"You're master's beast is dead," Tuck says to the one thug he can see.
"You might want to surrender now." Tuck shrugs.
"Or yell to the death, again. I'll gladly cut you down... Loyalist."
Beastmaster returns and lands near a creature and hops down from the pegasus. Nearing the humongous corpse he lays both hands on the body and gives his respect to the mighty opponent and expresses his regret that they never met in better circumstances.
He climbs up the scales and retrieves his lance, bloody nearly to the hilt. Dropping it down, he takes his axe and hacks at few of the scales of the creature taking them as trophies.
He surveys the battlefield from his position and notices torn forms of the captain and half-orc elite. "Oh, no! Captain! Why didn't I risk this sooner!"
He half-slides, half-falls down the side of the creature turning to the casters "Can you revive him?!"
As Rockhorn pulls on the lance, he finds it sticks in the creature. He is forced to yank it out. When it clears The Beast, he is surprised to see its massive heart embedded on his lance. It beats once, twice, and then finally stops. The creature's massive bulk begins to shift back to its smaller size and its strange eye-covered tentacles morph back into hydra-like heads.
Custodio slashes at the creature once, just to make sure it is dead, but then he sees Rockhorn holding up his lance with the creature's heart on it like a skewered piece of meat on a spit. The Vanquisher cleric gives the mountain ranger a salute. He follows Rockhorn to the captain's body.
He is the first to answer Rockhorn's question.
"No, I'm not skilled enough to raise the dead." He looks past the celestial bison and Tim to where Akos is standing.
"He might be able to raise him. I don't know."
Commander Oakfirst moves past the dead alien creature to stand next to his fallen friend. He and Camburn came up through the Elites together. He also looks at what is left of Unglar. Very little.
"He can be raised or resurrected, in time," the commander says.
"The question will be whether or not he wishes to return. The Five might insist on a true resurrection. He is a very popular leader among the Elites."
"And, Unglar?" Custodio asks.
"I don't know," the commander replies.
"There is so little of him left. his was such a violent death. He might be happier in the afterlife." He sighs.
"Yet, Bluffside needs all the soldiers it can get, right now."
The commander looks back at Tim and Akos.
"Your friends are in the tunnels, right? Tell them to get out of there. We'll seal those blasted Loyalists down in their hellish pit, for now."
"We should finish off as many of them as we can, lord commander," Custodio suggests.
"And how many others will we lose," he replies.
"No, I'm giving you an order, Elite. No more blood today unless the Loyalists choose to shed more blood. I sense they will choose to hide in their hole," He looks at Akos and Tim.
"Tell the others to get back up here. We'll seal off the warehouse, the candle shop, and these other buildings until we are certain they are contained."
"As much as you can contain these damn thieves and mercenaries," Ela adds. "We're going to have to deal with them, eventually."
"Agreed," Oakfirst says with a nod.
"But, right now, this is more important." He points to Camburn and to what's left of Unglar.
"And, how many other guards died when the creature came through the portal, hmm?"
"Dozens," Ela replies. "Many citizens too."
"And, there are those in the gate's tower to help. The fight there was just as bloody," the commander insists as he moves to his friend's body and picks the man up in his arms.
"Custodio, get his weapons."
The Elite nods.
"Yes sir."
Ela goes to Breva and thanks him for his help. The young paladin nods and begins using his healing wand to help Tim, Akos, and the wounded guards.
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OOC:
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Breva's wand of cure light wounds still has 47 charges left, after he used it on himself. He will use it twice on himself, twice on Tim, and twice on Akos. he will use it, at least, once on each of the guards.
Rolls will be on the OOC thread.
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and low rolls...
