Acqua Alta Finale

[yukonhorror]

A mixture of arcane energy, flame, and acid flies towards the sole gang member as he descends the stair case. As he falls to his death, Zephyr realizes he did not mean to slay the fellow, just to wain his aggression.

"May the spirits not punish my transgressions here today... Folks, if we want answers, let us attempt to subdue the foes instead of bringing them to the other side." Zephyr regrips his pick and rushes down the spiral staircase in pursuit of the other gang members.

[Malk0lm]

Noxias is pleased that his sphere was used to such a lethal effect. If he ignored Zephy or just did not hear it is tough to say. Excited by the rush of battle Noxais takes the stairs by two down to the mid way point and gestures in the air for his sphere to follow. It zooms past his face without making contact however wisps of smoke fly up from his clothing as some miscreant fibers immolate.

[Ithelryn]

Yrisz cuts short her musings to stare horror stricken as the man in linothorax meets his gruesome end.

She stands unmoving as the others stream forward to begin their assault on the stair and floor bellow. It is only the her concern for Duvek and her fellow companions that finally drives her to move forward to assist in the offensive. Like Zephyr she whispers a simple blessing for the man soul as she approaches his ravaged former vessel.

[Palpatim]

"They started it," Rogur grumbles to Zephyr, but resolves to keep at least one of the attackers alive. If possible. And if it doesn't cause too much inconvenience. It seems like he's done nothing but fend off attacks the past several days, starting with the bloody ortalans in this very tower, and then dealing with those blasted skeletons in the corridor, emerging from the pillars as if parting a curtain...

Emerging from the pillars!

Rogur lopes over to the edge of the stair and considers the pillar in front of him. It looks convincingly solid, but, assuming the enchantment didn't reverse itself when Erszebet threw herself from the tower, he ought to be able to give the nasties downstairs a bit of a shock. The drop is a bit higher than he'd like, but if this works, he'd be in an excellent position to survey the scene without being spotted.

I think it's about time I made this magic thing work for me for a change. He flexes his knees and hops down from the landing, into the center of the "pillar".

[Isrealjacob]

Annoyed at losing the tactical advantage, Marc rushes forward the staircase to keep pace with others. He starts to descend down the steps, hoping not find that the thugs had some how reinforced themselves despite the flooding. Still, this is what he trained for.

"Master wizards, we should at least give them the chance to surrender before you burn them all!"

[Umiushi]

This is the sixth Acqua Alta Finale main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Saturday, March 24th. The next main post will appear by 11 am, Monday, March 26th.

Returning to the lower level, Marc, Konstansz, and Zephyr see four more assailants, using the pillars for cover. Three are humans, the fourth and furthest back is a dwarf wielding a crossbow.

Zephyr quickly moves to check one of them between two of the pillars. She and her companion respond by threatening him with their short spears. Further back, the remaining human slings a bullet at Konstansz.

The dwarf, a man shorter than the norm for his people with a prominent forehead and bristling, black beard, steps out from his pillar and snarls as he levels his weapon, "Come back with your friends? I'll test your spells against my crossbow any day!" His shot tears through a patch of Konstansz's armor, leaving a nasty scrape as it flies past her skin.

[yukonhorror]

As Zephyr takes two stabs from the spears, it sparks a fury Zephyr has never felt before. His blood literally boils and his body explodes into a blazing inferno engulfing the gang in white hot flames. Completely engulfing the man near the wall in flame, Zephyr decides to add insult to injury. He lets out a menacing stare in his direction and strikes so hard with his pick the flames cauterize Zephyr's wounds.

The flames continue to lash out to all foes for retribution of this uncalled for violence.

"I AM NO MAGE! This unwarranted conflict will end NOW! Otherwise, my pick will mine out your heart."

[Ithelryn]

Giving the burnt corpse a bit of a breadth Yrisz scurries down the steps towards the unmistakable and now all too familiar sounds of melee.

A simple "Oh dear" is all she manages as she tries to shape in her head the role she'll play during this counter attack.

[Umiushi]

This is the seventh Acqua Alta Finale main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Tuesday, March 27th. The next main post will appear by 11 pm, Thursday, March 29th.

"The way I mined out your mother?" yells back the dwarf, winding up his crossbow. Marc charges past Zephyr, full of silent menace. Seeing him advance, the dwarf quickly switches targets -- a little too quickly, for his shot glances off Marc's armor.

Noxias's conjuration at last lands on the second floor and begins its slow but lethal journey down the corridor, consuming the fallen with mindless indifference. Seeing this, the slinger's nerve breaks. He pushes open the doors to the west and hastily disappears into the library.

"That's the way to do it, you gutless sack!" snarls the dwarf after his fleeing man, but an evil grin alights on his face, "I don't know who you wizards are, but will you really risk burning through those books if we take the fight in there?"

[Malk0lm]

Noxias, tired of being left behind rushes to catch up to the fighting. Hearing the dwarf's retort, he guffaws loudly hoping that Zephyr didn't notice.

[Isrealjacob]

Marc swings at the dwarf, confident his new friends can take care of the two gang members he sprinted past. While running, he extends his sword toward the Dwarf as his eyes flash. "By holy Kord and the Emporer you shall not harm anyone while I still breathe."

Coming up on the dwarf he takes a mighty swing at the crossbowman.
"It looks like you're friends are growing thin Dwarf. Maybe you'd like to surrender before you are even shorter than before..."

[Ithelryn]

Yrisz finds her fears mostly unfounded as her twisting flight down the steps brings the lower floor into view. All her friends seem ambulatory, which is less true of most of the Matchless Gang members that they face.

"Noxias, try not to burn them if they haven't already perished from their wounds and mind to books, one book can cost more than a years wages!" she screams in Elvin across the din of battle.

[cutopia]

Despite her hand wavering a bit from her injury, Konstansz manages to unleash a burst of dark radiance upon one of the nearby human thugs. The energy arcs and cavorts over his skin as he crumples to the ground, dead. Shrugging off the last shakiness from her injury, Konstansz prepares to go after the dwarf.

[Umiushi]

This is the eighth Acqua Alta Finale main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Saturday, March 31st. The next main post will appear by 11 am, Monday, April 2nd.

Rogur's slingshot wipes off the crossbowman's grin along with a good portion of his cheek. There is a loud crack as the bullet hits, a sound that might be due to crunching bones. The dwarf spits out a few teeth and says something unintelligible as he switches from crossbow to warhammer.

In the library, Zephyr chases down the fleeing assailant, and cracks him under the chin with the head of his war pick. The man's neck rocks backward painfully and he crumples to the floor in a heap.

[yukonhorror]

"They don't make them like they used to huh? You take a nap there buddy, I am going to go polish off the other one and then YOU are going to answer some questions" Zephyr focuses himself the recharge his energy and heads back into the fray.