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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3315547" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #377] Blood in the Water[/PLAIN]"Huzair, can you summon a distraction for us?" Ayremac asked after looking down at the battle below and the new threat that Ixin was pointing at. "Something... swimming?" The mage shook his head."We might be able to provide our own distraction, though," he said, reaching into his back to pull out a tightly bound scroll. He placed it into Ixin's hands and then began making arcane gestures with his own. "Magicus telum!" he intoned and pointed at the big creature swimming ominously off to the side. A trio of strobing missiles zipped beneath the surface and unerringly careened into the fish-shape's flank. The thing twitched at the missiles' sting and the light of their impact momentarily illuminated its slimy tail and trailing tentacles."That's going to take forever," Morier complained and Huzair spat."You got any better ideas?" the mage snapped. "And anyway, I'm just trying to draw them to the surface. We can get some free shots with Magic Missile before they can close with us. If you think I'm not going to take those shots you're losing it, Morier. When they come above the water, I will hit with flaming attacks that could do more damage.""Morier, I can give you Umba's Protection from Evil or grant you her Aid," Ayremac offered, distracting the albino from Huzair. "Which would you prefer?"Ixin unfurled the scroll and studied the symbols scribed on its surface. It was draconic, she realized, but the writing was unfamiliar. After a moment's further study, she recognized the spell matrix for False Life trapped within the glyphs and she grinned. "Arcaniss-sjir," she growled. "Vorel!" "Don't worry, hon'," the wizard smirked. "You can thank me later."The seabed behind Shamalin suddenly thrust itself up, twisted fingers of coral rising upward to form an impassable wall that curved upward high enough to obscure view of the fish creature from those floating on the shell. It didn't concern the cleric at the moment, however, as she concentrated on the Levitation spell active upon her and withdrew from her crustacean adversary and toward the surface.The creature that had been harrying her continued to do so. It snapped its thick tail once and came at her, claws snapping tightly around Shamalin's ankle. She felt her grieve buckle beneath the strength of that pincer and then she was being jerked helplessly back toward the shelled monster.Karak saw this, but was in no position to do anything about it at the moment. He had two lobster-things of his own with which to contend. He managed to easily avoid three of the claws that sought him, but one bypassed his defenses and clamped down on his weapon arm. The bracer dented but held, keeping the limb itself bruised but mostly intact.Thanks to his Ring, Karak jerked his arm magically free of the thing's grip and moved determinedly toward the creature grappling Shamalin provoking additional attacks from his own adversaries as he did so. This time his left leg suffered a glancing swipe from a pincer and the dwarf saw a trailing cloud of blood leaking from between the plates of his armor. Undeterred, Karak swung his axe into the side of the thing menacing Shamalin and was rewarded with a squeal of pain as his waraxe cut deeply between two chitinous plates protecting its flank. Blood filled the water, but still the thing did not release the priestess."Kael's Loom!" Huzair cursed, drawing another scroll from his haversack. He unfurled it and activated the Magic Missile spell scribed thereon. As the scroll crumbled to dust, another pair of arcane bolts slipped beneath the water and homed in on the creature grappling Shamalin. It jerked but gave no sign that it was ready to release her.Beside him on the shell, Ayremac pressed his hand against the skull emblazoned on his breastplate and bowed his head. "Umba I beg your Holy power now to Smite these evil creatures where they stand," he prayed. Below him, the three lobster-things shrieked in agony, blood exploding from the gaps in their shells as the spell went off in their midst. One of the creatures pursuing Karak as well as the one grappling Shamalin were rendered blind by the spell's potency."Magicus telum!" Ixin commanded and a pair of Magic Missiles streaked from her fingertips, adding to the tally of injuries on the thing menacing Shamalin.Morier was rendered useless by the distance of the battle, but he made himself useful by keeping his eye on the spot where they had last seen the large fish-shape. Thus he was the only one who saw the dark form moving again through the bizarrely tangled coral growth. He marked its path as it circled to the far side of the melee.Shamalin knew there was no way she could break free of the claws that held her so she urged herself to remain calm and concentrate on the intricate phrasing of the Water Walk spell. She had almost completed the spell when the thing jostled her, making her somatics go wrong and she felt the magic dissipate uselessly.The creature's pincers constricted her mercilessly as it drew her inexorably toward the writhing mass of tentacles that covered its mouthparts like some kind of obscene beard. The tentacles wrapped around her and drew her in toward the mandibles and she could feel the paralytic venom that coated those tentacles as it deadened her limbs. She was able to resist the paralysis, but she could not avoid the thing's mouth and it ripped jagged wounds across her face. The sustained blood loss was making her feel oddly light as darkness creeped in around the edges of her vision.The blood in the water was driving the other things to a frenzy and even the blind one sought prey with its claws. The one that could still see tightened a pincer around Karak's waist trying madly to replicate its companion's success with Shamalin. Again the dwarf slipped free with only a flesh wound and again he drove his axe into the soft meat at the joint of the creature's leg, making the thing spasm in agony. It teetered to the side, barely able to dodge the dwarf's second swing, but still it did not fall. And it maintained its death grip on the cleric.</blockquote>

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