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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 4917232" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #484] The Final Messenger[/PLAIN]It was slower going within the drifting mass of rocks, all it took was Cerrakean suffering a stout blow to the head for them to realize the folly of moving through the unpredictable cloud with haste. The Retriever was only mildly inconvenienced by the stones, it seemed. It came on with the ting-ta-ting-ting of stones on its armored carapace heralding it.The construct aimed another ray at Ayremac - this one a brilliant blue color - but a largish stone drifted between him and the Retriever, and the Officer of Umba was spared its effects as a cloud of sparks exploded around the stone. Ayremac hastily called on his divine heritage and invoked a Cure Serious Wounds spell, channelling the power into his own frostbitten body."Is this far enough to enact your plan, Maleko?" the holy warrior called and the elf surveyed the surroundings."I'm not sure how effective this is going to be," Maleko admitted. "I've never cast Web in such an environment nor read of any mage who has. I could see the spell slowing it down, or at least tangling its legs and requiring it to take time to cut its way out. But-""But it's our best shot right now," Ayremac interjected. Maleko nodded his understanding and began to cast.That's all the farther he got before the Quickened Web went off, filling the area around the Retriever with a many-layered mass of sticky strands. The construct was surprisingly agile for something so huge, and aided, as Ayremac had been, by the intervention of a drifting rock, so it wasn't immobilized by the Web. But it still plowed straight forward through it, entangling itself rather badly as a result.Another of the Retriever's eyes winked, and a sickly gray beam lanced out at the elf who had impeded it. Maleko tried to dodge, but despite the intervening rocks and stones, the ray struck him in the leg and he felt the limb grow heavy. A strange sensation spread through his body and he recognized it from descriptions he'd read in the memoirs of adventurers and explorers who had survived encounters with medusae. He very nearly succumbed, but he was able to resist the Petrification attack by the slimmest of margins and looked up in time to see another bolt from Del's crossbow clatter across the construct's hull.“Keep its attention on us…” Ayremac directed and maneuvered closer to the thing. At a command, his Shield of Blinding flashed dazzlingly catching the entangled Retriever full in its array of eyes. It thrashed around, obviously blind.Ixin urged herself forward casting a Quickened Scorching Ray at the disoriented Retriever. Somehow she managed to miss, despite her target's size and relative helplessness. She followed that spell up with another Scorching Ray that sent fire washing over the Retriever. The Webs entangling it began to go up as well, but that only served to burn the thing further.Grandfather Plaque, flew between Ixin and Ayremac, coming closer than the others and opened his mouth to deliver a vicious Shout. The sonic attack struck the Retriever solidly and sent a network of hairline cracks across its body.Maleko drew his wand and sent a quartet of Magic Missiles into the Retriever, which did little now besides thrash amidst the burning webs. It lurched forward toward the last opponent it had seen nearby, a cleaver the size of a greatsword reaching out blindly toward the Officer of Umba. The claw slammed down on a rock nearby causing the stone to explode in a hail of gravel. The strength behind that blow was titanic, and Ayremac did not wish to be on the receiving end of such if he could avoid it.As another pair of bolts from Del's crossbow stabbed down into the Retriever, the holy warrior raised Fedifensor. He could sense the evil that had created the construct; it radiated from the thing like a palpable field of malevolence. The sword was eager to destroy it and so was he.He Smote it, driving the longsword into the twisted mess of blades and eyes that served as the construct's head, and the Retriever fell beneath the blade. The twin purities of Law and Good stabbed deeply at the malignant auras of Chaos and Evil that drove the thing, disrupting it. For a moment it shuddered and twitched, but then it belched a cloud of abyssal smoke and came apart, bleeding tarnished cogs and rusty springs."Is everyone all right?" Ayremac asked, looking around at his companions. His enquiry was met with nods and calls of assent. "Good," he replied, sheathing Fedifensor. "I think this thing-""Bringing your battles to our doorstep, now?" a voice whispered out of the air in their midst. It was J'inn, or J'ann. It was impossible to tell which. "Rather poor form, considering how well we aided you when last we met. Wait. We'll be right there.""Where are you?" Ayremac asked, looking about for any sign of the Buommans. There was none. "J'inn? J'ann?" Maleko shook his head."Don't bother, Ayremac," the elf said "That was a Whispering Wind spell. They probably can't hear you. They could be miles from here.""They must be close enough to see us," Del observed. "Their timing is too good for them not to have witnessed the Retriever's destruction.""Good point," Maleko admitted. "I hadn't-""What the hell is that?" Cerrakean demanded, pointing with one of her scimitars at the mass of floating debris that had been the Retriever. They followed her blade and saw a darkened metal sphere no bigger than a walnut etched entirely with runes and sigils. It was moving away from the debris with intent on a course that mirrored the construct's initial approach."I don't know," Maleko admitted. "I don't think that Retrievers normally do that. At least none of the ones I've ever read about."</blockquote>

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