Shadowfall

[Battal]

Incendiary Guardian

 

​While far smaller than its counterparts, the Fire Guardian makes up for what it lacks in size and strength with speed and firepower.  It can blast fire from the red soul gems that power it, and can use its single wheel as a rolling pin to crush all in its path.

[RainyDoodles]

Morning! I'll get to posting in a minute.)

[Blewcheese]

"Woah!"

Joseph dive-rolls out of the way, but not in time to get away without a scorched foot. He lays down for a moment before jumping to his feet.

"Ow..."

[RainyDoodles]

(Scratch that - I'll post this evening.)

[Ellebelly24]

(Will, there is a picture of Snowfall on my art thread.)

"Joseph!"

*Snowfall shoots a large icicle at the guardian*

[Battal]

The Guardian smashes Snowfall's icicle to bits in midair, then fires a white-hot beam of energy from its eyes.  It misses the group, but it burns every surface it touches to a crisp.

[Blewcheese]

Joseph looks around the room, keeping weight off his burnt leg. He uses his telekinesis to fling tables, chairs, whatever is around him at the guardian, aiming for it's crystal eyes.

[Will]

Dark Will draws Will's knife, and rushes forward. He attempts to thrust the knife into the Incendiary Guardian, but it sends him flying with an intense burst of flames. Dark Will rises, and the flames surrounding him all grow in intensity. The flames on him spread to every part of his body, and become black in colour. The only body feature visible on him are a pair of white eyes.

"This fire is very similar to Jakob's. It isn't quite his, but I fear the worst. We must incapacitate this thing without killing it."

Dark Will quenches all of the fire in the area, including his own. He is wearing his own clothing again.

[Battal]

The Guardian lets out a loud shrieking cry, like a broken siren.  It charges the group, but rolls right over a pressure plate.  A blade swings out of the wall, slicing through its thin leg struts and sending the automaton crashing to the ground.

[Blewcheese]

"Is... Is it dead?"

Joseph carefully limps towards the damaged guardian, inspecting it.

[Battal]

The Guardian weakly moves its arms, but is immobilized and seems to be unable to use fire.

[Blewcheese]

Joseph pokes it with his undamaged foot, then backs away.

[Battal]

The Guardian gropes weakly towards Joseph, then falls limp again.

[RainyDoodles]

(Right, right. Time to post.)

 

No matter how many times Viti-Mortos tries to step away from the little girl, a quiet shhff noise of cloth on stone occurs as she is literally dragged by the border of his shadow. It's as if she can't leave the shadow at all, or doesn't want to. In fact, she remains silent as Jakob is attacked, as the others descend into the temple. Then she looks up at Viti-Mortos calmly and doesn't do anything to attack or scare him. "You're tense around me. Again, why? I know what I am, I know you know what I am." 

 

And yet, and yet...she doesn't say it aloud. She seems hesitant to speak of what she is. Her stomach growls and she twirls a finger through her shining hair and stares at Viti-Mortos with a curiosity unrivaled. It's nearly obsession, actually, rather creepy. She doesn't move for a long time. Then she speaks. "At least try to treat me like a human, in front of the others. I want to see how this turns out. Uhm, since you're not doing anything and look like you're torn between killing me or running away from me, could you get me something to eat?"

 

The pointed emphasis is there. This girl is hungry for something specific and, even as she doesn't say anything, it's clear it's not going to be a lollypop or something normal like that.

[Battal]

Viti-Mortos growls, and decides to speak with the girl for the first time.  "You should know, then, that I am honor-bound to serve these mortals.  Your actions have not yet been hostile, but if you show the slightest sign of dark intent to them, I shall rip your frail little body apart like cloth.  Do I make myself clear?"

[Blewcheese]

"Okay... I think it's dead."

As the battle ends, Joseph feels the full pain of his burnt leg. He groans, and looks around.

"I guess we go into the door now..."

[Will]

Dark Will kneels beside the guardian, and begins rummaging through its remains. 

"I need to see if there's anything we can use to find Jakob."

[Battal]

As Dark Will looks through the debris left from the Guardian, the red soul gems begin to glow a bright red.  Heat begins to flow out of the automaton.

[Will]

Dark Will quickly backs away from the automaton.

"Everyone, it's still alive!"

[Battal]

The Guardian starts to wail like a teapot, the scream slowly increasing in pitch.  The automaton explodes, blasting a shelf to dust and sending flaming chunks of stone flying everywhere.

[Blewcheese]

"Gah!"

Joseph takes cover from the burning stones behind a sideways table.

[Battal]

The flaming chunks settle.  Nothing remains of the Guardian, but the porticullus remains open.

[Ellebelly24]

"That, was, um.... Pleasant?"

[Blewcheese]

"Okay. So that's that. Let's keep going."

Joseph limps as fast as he can towards the porticullus.

[RainyDoodles]

The girl giggles, light and high-pitched and very innocent. "Honour-bound? Well, that's just some bad luck, isn't it? Buuuut, I like a good challenge."

 

She stands up, smiling for the first time and revealing a mouth full of sharp and bloodied teeth, most of them a dark purply-black in colour and all of the looking painfully dangerous. "Tell you what - I'll make you a deal. I can look after your...mortals, while they're in the temple and even while they're out of the temple, 'cause I'm so kind."

 

She holds a clawed hand up, firmly stating "But, in return, all I ask is that you find me something to eat whenever I'm hungry. You should know what people like me eat, and I'll try not to bite a chunk out of your buddies in between...but leave it for too long and I'll end up chomping them."

 

Then the girl looks at Viti-Mortos for a while and pouts, saying "And don't give me that look! It's all a fact of life. People need to eat food too, it's just I prefer mine raw. Someone as strong as you needs to only snap his fingers and a tallbird would keel over, it'll just keep me in good shape to protect your friends and prevent me from getting really hungry and eating them while they're in one of those temples."