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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2229024" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-Hundred SeventeenthIn which: the bigger they come… the harder they hit.With the wind knocked out of him, Anvil does not really have any breath left to raise a general alarm.  Fortunately, his “oophf” of surprise is enough to draw the attention of the rest of the party.  And although they quickly charge in to engage, most of the melee fighters are severely hampered by the fact that the battle is taking place inside a doorway.Eva charges in, slashing with her rapier to find Anvil being pummeled by a huge man with appropriately large fists.  She hits the man’s arm but manages only to piece the fabric of his sleeve.  Annika casts magic missile, sending off three bolts at once, but they all dissipate harmlessly as soon as they touch the giant creature.“Oh crap,” Lira mutters, and instead of following up with magic missiles of her own as she had planned, elects to cast shield instead.  Not that it would have done her much good the last time she encountered creatures impervious to magic missiles, but it makes her feel a little bit better nonetheless. Benedic and Kiara both jog partway up the stairs so as to get a line of sight to fire at the man through the doorway without the melee fighters getting in their way.  Kiara tries calling out, “Petros!  Is that you?”This however only enrages their adversary who retaliates by hitting Anvil again.  Kiara tries shooting, but her arrow goes wide.  Benedic’s arrow does hit, but only does glancing damage before sheering off to one side.Thatch finally manages to get across the foyer and into the fight where he dodges the enormous fists and takes a mighty swing.  He does hit, but not as hard as he had hoped.   “What is with this guy?” he yells.Eva does not have a good answer.  She does, however, have a good strategy, which she puts into practice by tumbling past the giant man and taking up a position behind him, allowing her allies more room to maneuver.  Reyu quickly sees what the rogue is up to and moves into flanking position.Meanwhile, Annika dashes up two steps until she can get a good view of the strange (and strangely silent, she notes) man.  Getting a good look at him, there seems to be something… off about him, even beyond his large size.  Professor Alexandra had once theorized that it would be possible to magically animate a construct of some kind.  Although this man appears to be flesh and bone, it would seem to be worth a try…Doing her best to concentrate all of her energies, Annika casts dispel magic centered on the giant man.  As the spell goes off there is a sudden flash of golden light around the figure, but for a second it doesn’t seem as though there has been any other effect.  Then, a large bulge suddenly juts out from his middle before being abruptly sucked back in again.  It almost looks as though something is trapped inside and is trying to get out.Anvil tries to follow up with an inflict moderate wounds, but the spell fizzles as soon as it touches its target.  Lira tries magic missile again just in case, but is no more effective than Annika’s earlier attempt.Arrows from Kiara and Benedic pepper the doorway or catch in the giant’s clothes, but none manage to do any damage.“Whatever you just did,” Anvil calls out to Annika, “do it again!”Meanwhile, Reyu and Eva both attack simultaneously from their places on either side of the giant man.  As they both hit, Eva notices distinct resistance as she drives her blade forward.  She brings her weapon back, still not sure how hard she managed to hit the thing.  There is some… substance adhering to her rapier, but, whatever it is, it isn’t blood.She watches the man’s face as Thatch’s sword sinks into his side.  He doesn’t react at all.As the party continues to shoot, stab and slash as best as they can (in Lira’s case, this means liberally peppering the ceiling with crossbow bolts), Annika tries another dispel magic.  This time the roiling is even more pronounced, and the thing staggers for a second before resuming his attack.“One more ought to do it!”  Thatch yells.“Except I don’t have one more!” Annika calls back.  She takes out her crossbow, and—fearing as always that Kiara is about to do something foolhardy—casts mage armor on her familiar before taking aim at the giant man.  The bolt hits, but doesn’t seem to do any damage.It’s a bit of a letdown.Eva and Thatch however, have found their rhythm.  Thatch has managed to batter away at it sufficiently that the thing has apparently decided to leave Anvil alone in favor of beating-up the fighter.  Eva however, is busy doing damage of her own.  As the giant turns to swing at Thatch she stabs hard with her rapier, right above where its kidney ought to be.  This time, there is no ambiguity about whether or not the thing bleeds as a spurt of clear, viscous liquid spatters her across the face.She follows up immediately with another strike, this one even deeper, right through the spine, which sends a gout of the clear liquid… right at Thatch.Thatch’s sword swings wide as he misses the thing completely.  He turns aside for just a second to spit and glare at Eva.  “Thanks a lot.”Eva however is more concerned with the fact that the giant has apparently decided that it is she, and not Thatch that presents the greatest immediate threat, and is lurching around to face her.  In the face of his giant fists, Eva’s rapier suddenly feels very, very small.  She holds it ready and prepares to dodge as best she can when the blow inevitably comes, but then, just as the thing is raising its fists to bring down upon her… a sword-point appears on its head.When the thing turned its back on him, Anvil readied himself for one last strike, and lifting his sword brought it down on the huge man’s skull with all his strength.The thing’s head cracks open like a melon, clean down to his neck.  There is a great roar of wind, and the air feels suddenly like a sandstorm.  The body contracts, tensing up as still as a board, then, it topples.  The air clears and it lies there, motionless.“Is it dead?”  Lira asks.Annika shakes her head.  “Who could say if it was ever really alive?”Anvil kicks the motionless corpse.  No reaction.  “It’s dead.”</blockquote>

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