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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1454852" data-attributes="member: 9744">chapter 8 “I've got your back!” said the mineral mephitAs the battle was raging inside the remains of the Anakharim base, Serena remained outside alert for signs of reinforcements. She could clearly hear the thoughts that her companions were shouting at each other during the battle and the seer felt somehow removed from the whole conflict. As if she was catching glimpses of a vision and not of actual events unfolding in front of her.To clear her head and prevent a vision from assailing her and clouding her mind Serena tried to concentrate on something else. Her gaze was drawn to the carrion birds circling lazily overhead and she saw that one of the birds was rising from the canyon to join the others. Her intuition told her that there was something not quite right about the bird.The heart seer of Tomeri drew on the powers of her mind to expand her vision and she once again looked at the rising bird. This time she could clearly see that the vulture was bigger than the others circling above them and that it had somewhat different features. The tuft of hair at the base of its neck was not stained red like the others and its claws appeared longer. Also, the bird appeared to be gaining height at an alarming rate.Serena sent out a mental summons to her dwarven companion who flew slowly and steadily over the roof of the building. There is another knight at the back of the building inside a bubble of force, Littleby informed Serena as he sped upwards to follow the fleeing bird.The dwarven scholar's fingers traced intricate patterns in the air as he flew after the rising vulture. He crafted a potent spell to unravel the magic around the creature. Suddenly the vulture's forward momentum slowed and the air around it rippled briefly. The bird let out a hoarse cry and pointed its head downwards as it dived in to the next canyon.Littleby gave chase along with the mineral mephit and followed the carrion bird in to the next canyon. The flyers dodged between rocky outcroppings and swooped down low across the ground before gaining altitude again. The dwarven scholar was not surprised by how uncharacteristically good a flyer the vulture was for one of its race. Further confirming his belief that it was no ordinary bird.Having narrowly avoided collision with some jagged boulders in the midst of the canyon floor, Littleby began to fall behind the creature yet again. The dwarven scholar moved his fingers in the same motions as before and uttered the same arcane words. This time he succeeded in unravelling the alteration enchantment around the vulture which transformed in to the shape of a man dressed in a sandy coloured robe.Instead of plummeting out of the sky the man began to gently drift downwards and as he did his lips moved in prayer. The shaven haired man wore a loose sandy coloured robe with a finely wrought belt on which hung several pouches. He had a snake-shaped amulet around his neck and a white curved dagger jammed in through his belt that looked more like a tooth than a blade.The dwarven scholar flew straight at the shaven haired man, intent on bearing him to the ground. As he flew towards him he became aware of a buzzing sound that rapidly grew in volume. From beneath him he caught sight of a small dark cloud that was on an intercept course and as it drew closer he saw that it was a swarm of locusts.“I've got your back!” said the mineral mephit. The small creature flew between the dwarf and the swarm and a spray of tiny crystal shards erupted from its mouth. The minuscule ceramic pieces that the mineral mephit breathed on to the swarm tore through insect wings, compound eyes and took out a significant portion of the swarm before it closed over the dwarf.“Thanks, mephit.” Littleby was stunned for a brief moment by his own words, never having thought that he would say those words. The mephit's intervention bought him enough time to read a spell off one of his many scrolls that blinded the priest as he drifted towards the ground.The dwarven scholar raced to out-fly the swarm of biting insects and came around in a long arc straight at the priest with the serpent symbol around his neck. The mineral mephit fought a fast moving battle with the locust swarm that was dragging out in to a war of attrition with neither side being able to drive the other out of the air.Littleby heard Cade's mental warning about the man being the leader of the base and tried to come up with a quick plan to capture the man alive. He spotted that the lips of the priest were moving again in prayer and decided that instead of trying to lift of the priest's amulet – he would simply pile drive the man in to the ground.Littleby came straight down on top of the Sethetis and as he bore him towards the ground. The priest's outline became wavery and then he disappeared entirely. The dwarven scholar noted with interest from the spell and a brief whiff of ash as the priest departed that Sethetis had most likely plane-shifted to Gehenna. However, Littleby did not have long to ponder on this as he and the ground were getting ever closer at an alarming rate.The dwarven scholar managed to pull out of his vertical dive just in time to avoid being flattened against some moss covered boulders and flew up high enough to see the mineral mephit devour the last of the locusts.</blockquote>

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