(BETA: CD) Ashior

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

The angel charged off the path, pushing through the tall grass towards the pod, the tips of it all brushing against her as she does so. Between the uneven ground and having to fight her way through the overgrown grass, it proves to be much more difficult than she initially thought, but she does make it to the pod at last, swinging her made wildly but stumbling on the uneven footing and not managing to connect. She does, however, bring her shield up, ready for a counter-attack.

Perhaps given up on trying to ensnare her, the remaining intact vine lashes out at her sharply and whips across her body, leaving a red mark and some more of the sticky green goo where it stuck her (take 3 damage). The main part of the pod simply closes back up again, to what end she cannot be sure.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

(Guess they like it rough. )

Feeling a sharp smack against one of her legs where the vines had struck her, Ashior looks down to see an angry red welt where the tentacles had whipped her, as well as few dollops of the vines green goo. What was that substance? Some outpouring of whatever corruption was taking hold of the dreamscape, no doubt. Finally noticing that some of it had been left wherever the vines had touched her, the angel decided that as soon as she got rid of the source she was going to make sure to get all of the substance off of her. Raising her mace, she takes another swing at the pod, trying to see if her mace can crack into it, while she also raises her shield in an effort to defend herself against the vines next attack.

(Attack and use shield.)

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Either she was having trouble moving in this terrain or just put off-balance by the attacks against her, but she once again failed to strike at it solidly, the blow bouncing off harmlessly, striking at a bad angle for a solid connection.

At least this time she was ready for the vine, moving her shield to intercept it so that it bounced off harmlessly. The pod itself began to rumble once more, similar to the noise it made when it first emerged, it was no doubt preparing to do something.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

The terrain was proving to be incredibly difficult, as her attacks seemed unable to solidly strike an immobile object, though Ashior didn't doubt that her constant defense against the vines had something to do with that. The rumbling of the pod had her slightly worried, however, so the angel opted for defense over total offense. Taking another swing against the pod, she then raised her shield, and began flapping her wings, trying to blow the substance away if it sprayed more of its pollen at her.

(Attack, raise shield.)

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Once again the Angel fails to make its mark properly, not bringing down the mace in such a way that the force wouldn't be deflected by the curved structure of the pod. Still, she brings up her enchanted shield, preparing to deal with another pollen attack as the pod opened up slightly...

Sure enough, another puff of pink pollen issued forth, but the angel already expected this and had taken every countermeasure she could think of. It proved enough, the cloud dissipating again without her feeling any sort of adverse effect. If only she could break this stalemate with a few solid hits.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Her wings able to blow much of the pollen away before it even reached her, and the rest of it not being enough to do whatever it was meant to do to her. Taking up her mace once more, she struck against the pod, using her wings to try and keep herself stable enough to actually land a solid hit this time. Then, once more she brought forth her shield to fend off the vines as they tried to strike out at her.

(Same thing. Swing, block. Rinse, repeat.)

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

With increasing frustration, the angel swung her mace and finally made a decent connection, the head punching through the pod, quickly coating it in more green slime as he begins to trickle from the smashed opening. Still, while clearly hurt, the pod is by no means defeated yet, as it closes up once more, the vine lashing out at the angel again.

Once again, however, the angel puts her shield in the way, blocking the blow. Perhaps things were starting to shift into her favour?

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

(Huzzah damage!)

Pulling her mace out of the green slimy mess she'd made in the pod, Ashior remains impassive as she blocks the blows from the vines, knowing full well that the battle could still turn against her in the blink of an eye if she wasn't careful. After her shield took the blow form the vines, she once more turned toward the pod, hammering mace against its surface at a different point, trying to put another hole into it. Then, once again, she turns to try and block the vines reactive lashing.

(Attack! And then block too.)

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Once again, the angel manages to strike the plant, causing enough hole to appear in its mass, oozing more of the green slime. Only this time, a voice cries out, "Ow. Ow, why are you hitting me?" The voice is female and surprisingly gentle-sounding considering the monster it seems to be coming from.

Before the angel can ponder that, however, she is forced to bring up her shield once more, to deflect another strike from the vine, easily managing to do so.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Ashior pushes the voice out of her mind as she turns to block more of the vines, not wanting to take a lashing just because the plant could talk. Then, however, she takes a second to consider things. Could the pod be non-hostile, and she'd somehow tripped it off? No, it must be some sort of trick. Still, it wouldn't do to strike down a potential ally before she knew all that she could, and so she simply held her defense for a moment, and replied; "I am hitting you because your vines have repeatedly attacked me. Why do you seek to harm innocent passers-by? Are you a creature of darkness, that has come to corrupt the dreamscape?"

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

"Attack... I... no... I didn't attack until you started hurting me," the voice declares. "I didn't attack until you started breaking off parts of me. You monster. How could you." The various vines, including the ones smashed off by the mace, all flailed angrily in the air at this statement, although none continued the offensive against the angel.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Remaining defensive, Ashior said; "While I do disagree, and maintain that it was you that initiated hostility, I have no wish to harm you so long as you will not harm me. Will you permit a cessation of hostility?" While she was willing to communicate with the creature, she still kept her shield up, lest it try to attack her again.

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

"I... don't know... You hurt me. It hurts. It hurts. How could you? Where am I? What is this place? Why did you hurt me? How could you?" the creature asked, building into a shriek of pain, and finally lashing out once more with the vine at the climax of the tantrum, the clumsy blow bouncing harmlessly off the angel's shield.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Blocking the whipping vines with her shield, Ashior solemnly replied; "So be it." Closing once more with the plant, she tried to bring her mace crashing down on it once more, before once more raising her shield to avoid any retaliation.

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

The angel steps in to deliver her judgement, the mace striking down a third time upon the pod, bursting open another hole, causing the creature to scream, the vines flailing in the air some more, before falling limp the ground, the pod itself sagging as well. "I.. ow... it... hurt..." the pod cries weakly, before finally coming to a halt, dead.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Ashior lowers her shield as the plant dies, and she waits a moment to make sure that the pod is dead. Then, she cleans the green gunk from her body, as well from her mace, before placing her weapon back onto her belt. Then, she bows her head lightly, saying a prayer for the creature. It had been intelligent enough to communicate, and perhaps, before the darkness that had spread across the dreamscape, it might have been peaceful. Raising her head again, she turns and carefully picks her way back to the path. The sooner she removed the source of the corruption, the less such incidents their would be. So, she continues following the path that the sprites had taken, her hand never far from her weapon.

(Leave and continue along the path.)

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Ashior finds the green stick goo to be... well, quite sticky. Without finding something to wash it off in, it's not going to be coming off completely. Still, it didn't seem to do anything beyond be an sticky goo like substance; it's only purpose seemed to be to aid the vines in grabbing their prey.

Moving back to the path, the angel continued her journey through the field of tall grass and dead flowers, the area continuing to be grimly empty of life; for such an overgrown meadow there was a distinct lack of bird or insect life one would expect.

The angel walked down the path for some time, with her surroundings not changing. Eventually, in the distance, she could see something at the end of the path, some hills reach up around the path, creating a small valley, the cliffs not more than 20 feet above the path. However, this was still a short distance off and as if on cue, she began to hear a buzzing sound around her, the low drone of insects.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Upon hearing the buzzing, Ashior pauses, her hand clasping around the handle of her mace. So far, everything she had run into was either corrupted, or in the case of the unicorn, aggressive despite itself. The sound probably meant that they were flying insects, and that could mean trouble if they attacked in a swarm. She didn't draw her weapon, however, instead holding her shield up and continued forward into the valley. While going up on the hills might have been an easier place to fight, the difficult ground and the tall grass surrounding her would be just as troublesome as the close quarters down here, were she to be attacked.

 

[Incubus]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

The source of the buzzing became apparent as three gigantic insects, easily the size of small animals, rose from the grass and flew at the angel. They resembled large bees or wasps, with their most prominent feature being a long stinger extending from the abdomen. They were otherwise fairly non-threatening, their legs small and weak-looking and mouths lacking anything that would give them a powerful bite.

Each of the came in from a different direction, causing the angel to have to fend off attacks from multiple directions, never an easy task. Ultimately, a misjudgement on her part caused her to spin to face the wrong ones, completely outmanoeuvred by the insects who in turn dove in and stuck their half-foot barbs into her; one getting her right shoulder, another her hip as she whirled, the third getting her in the lower back. (Total of 9 damage) The stingers remained sticking out of her skin and would have to be removed (at 1AP cost each)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: (BETA) Corrupted Dreams

Ashior hissed in pain as the insects stinger bit into her shoulder, but as she turned to face the creature, she felt another hit her in the hip, and only a second later the third sunk into the angels lower back. Flapping her wings to ward the devilish creatures away, she quickly tried to pull the barbed stingers out of her flesh. Once they had been removed, she once more took up her weapon, and swung it across at one of the insects that had attacked her. Then, she raised her shield against two of the creatures, while beating her wings furiously in an attempt to keep the last one at bay, assuming it hadn't been squashed flat.

(Pull the 3 stingers out with 3 AP, and then take a swing with the mace before ducking behind the shield.)