Part the Nineteenth
In which: Lira makes a new “friend.”
(Note: what follows is probably one of the most Lira-centric portions of the story to date. Frankly, it’s what I was paying attention to at the time. If other players feel their worthy deeds did not receive due honor in this chronicle, let me know, and we’ll see what we can do to supplement this account.)
As burning, slicing claws rake down her front, Lira does the only thing she can think of that might help.
She screams.
It is a scream of pain, and fear, and just a little bit of rage mixed in for good measure. It is as loud a sound as Lira has ever forced out of her small throat.
In the cacophony of the fleeing, the burning, and the dying, it is completely lost.
Thatch, Reyu and Essela have all they can handle facing down the warriors in front of the dormitory. For perhaps the first time in his short adventuring career, Thatch finds himself evenly matched. Reyu is having no better luck, and Essela is starting to take heavy damage. Between the clash of fists and swords, none of them notice one more scream for help, let alone recognize its source.
Anvil, supervising the bucket brigade doesn't hear her either.
Fortunately for Lira, he does see the young sorcerer go down. Calmly, Anvil loads his crossbow, takes careful aim, and fires.
The missile buries itself deep, knocking the creature off balance enough for Lira to scramble up from the dirt and run away.
The creature takes off after her, close on her heels, snarling, slavering, and then, just as it leaps… a terrified student dashes between them. The beast twists in midair, catching the student with four sets of razor-sharp claws.
Lira doesn’t watch the lifeless body crumple to the ground. She just runs, knowing that if she cannot find a place to hide, it will be her own blood staining the trampled earth. Unfortunately, cover that is not on fire is quickly becoming scarce.
“Over here!” Anvil yells, gesturing for Lira to get behind him. She wastes no time doing so, and pulls from her belt one of the party’s few healing potions. Anvil readies his sword, and turns to face the beast.
As the creature runs towards a solid wall of Anvil, it seems to decide that this is almost as tasty a morsel as the little one who keeps running away. It leaps, hitting the Justicar with a surprisingly solid >thunk< that sends him sprawling. Anvil's armor partially protects him from the shadow beast’s raking claws, but not completely.
Anvil, grits his teeth against the pain and—offering a quick prayer to Kettenek that the creature attacking him is as un-lawful as it looks—casts protection from chaos. He feels a familiar surge of lawful power wrapping around him and for a split second, it seems to work. The divine mantle solidifies between him and the shadow beast… and then the beast's claws sink through it like tissue paper, once again sinking into his flesh. That,thinks Anvil, really shouldn't happen.
Lira, hands shaking, finally manages to load her own crossbow. She is familiar with the weapon, but has never actually used one in combat before. Turning back and taking careful aim, she lets fly and watches as the bolt buries itself in the roiling mist of the creature's shoulder.
The beast shudders, howls in rage… and boils away into nothing.
Anvil sits up, gives Lira a quick nod, and turns his attention back to the battle at large.
Thatch, Reyu and Essela, with the help of several Pillars of Kettenek, are finally starting to make progress against the armed men in front of the sealed dormitory. Reyu turns to the scene behind her, where a shadow beast has just eviscerated another young student.
The thought rises unbidden: "baby-killers." She takes a moment to really look at the creature and revises her assessment: "unnatural baby-killers."
Reyu turns on it, viciously jabbing with her short spear. The blow hits, but the creature merely growls in anger, and attacks.
The analytic part of Reyu's brain notices that, along with the slicing sensation of the claws, there is a burning feeling, almost like acid. The battle has gone suddenly quiet, and she can distinctly hear the sound of her own ribs cracking under the creature's assault, followed by a blossoming sensation of the worst pain she has ever experienced, until mercifully, she blacks out.
