Seekers and Keepers

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

The hike through those harsh mountains took a good portion of the day, and by the time they were within sight of an ancient stone complex, it was already well past mid-day. From what they could tell, most of the complex was actually inside the mountain - only the tip of the iceburg stuck out its face and jutted into the forest itself.

There were many doors in... most of them were collapsed from age - they were secondary entrances... but the main doors, the main doors which were meant to be the primary thuroughfares in and out of the structure, surrounded for hundreds of feet by ghosts of structures long-since decayed... but the stonework that contained the temple... it was like only a hundred years had passed, and it'd fared triumphantly, rather than however much longer it had really been.

Of all of them, Deipthe was the only one who could truly, honestly appreciate how old the structure must have been. She was awestruck, eyes wide, at the display of human ingenuity... as Eiffe chewed on a piece of pinewood determinedly, and not without noise as they at last caught up with Shei'ki, who had been ahead of them for some time now.

Shei'ki leaned a little on her staff, and wiped her brow. At last. She had that look of determination on her face... she'd led the party the whole way with a purpose. She couldn't possibly know where she was going - but she'd come right up to the structure like she knew where it was, pushing ahead of the party, never slowing.

She was a girl on a mission. Vahn had seen that look the night before.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

Vahn had stayed at the back of the group the entire way to the temple complex. It wasn't that he didn't want to be up front with them, it was more the fact that he was pensive about things as well as wanting to keep the illusion that he only had one weapon. Normally he walked around with nothing in his arms or on his body, but they had already seen that one sword and he didn't want to raise the question of what had happened to a weapon that seemed to be of great value. His shield was smaller now to compensate, but he was still able to move freely within its range.

As the complex came into view, he caught up with the rest of the group, not saying a word still. He looked over at Shei'ki, the leader of this little expedition and noticed she still had the same serious look on her face as she had the night before. It was really unbecoming of her to be so overly focused when their objective was still a ways off. To be honest, he knew they were looking for an artifact, but he didn't know what exactly it was. It would be a valuable tidbit of information that would help him along the way if he planned to help them.

Just when he was about to ask, however, Shei'ki led the group at an even faster pace and foiled his plan to ask in normal conversation. His first words all day came out with some authority and demand, but he didn't mean for them to sound as such. As the words, "What exactly are we looking for," came out of his mouth, he realized that. Maybe the it was a little hard, but truth of the matter was that going into something that maybe they didn't know about was foolish and ill advised.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Shei'ki looked back to Vahn, not bothered by the imperious sounding question he'd presented to her. Honesty, she'd heard a lot of people speak to her that way, and it didn't even register. They all had. For gods' sake they lived in the mage's academy, and mages had some pretty hefty egos for the most part, as down to earth as this trio... err, Duo (excluding Eiffe, who was very much magelike in that regard) was.

"They told me this temple was erected around some kind of special orb - and that the place has been abandoned for centuries, but when it was left, they left the orb here too." she said, and looked back at the door, advancing on it slowly as Deipthe and Eiffe (lagging near-ish to Vahn, at least closer to him than the others were) moved to catch up.

"Nobody's lived out here for over two hundred years..." Deipthe commented, mostly to herself. She was getting worried.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

It was typical council speak, cryptic and vague. They usually told you just what you needed to go by and just enough information to get you out here and then get you killed. This was already seeming more and more like something planned to get rid of the three of them. It was something that was really getting under his skin, and a lot more than he would normally let things. Maybe it was just the fact that this was the council and they had already gotten on his last nerve, or that she was a sixteen year old girl and didn't know of their corruption. The latter was uncharacteristic, but it didn't mean that it wasn't necessarily true.

As they approached one of the many archways of the temple, he looked around and everything seemed to be exactly as it should, old and decrepit. There was ivy, moss, and crumbling stone all over. Considering where this place was located, it was beginning to erode a lot faster with the added pressure of the mountain. It was time to pose a very interesting question to everyone. "Where do we start?"

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

"Alright... we need firewood - three bundles should do it, of six sticks the... size of your arm?" Shei'ki began, posing the question to Eiffe. The Nymph grinned to herself, broadly, and held up her forearms, together. Shei'ki nodded.

"About that big around. Also... look for oak trees nearby, willows, and maple... We need sap, sturdy sticks, willowbark - live, please - and oak berries. We need torches - if you've got any candles, ritual or other wise, now might be a good time to produce them." Shei'ki commanded, her tones firm. She knew what she was talking about.

"We need to be quick - we'll be fighting twilight before too long here. Deipthe - We'll bring you materials. We need you to make torches, and get candles ready."

She squatted with Deipthe over the bags, and began emptying thm on a bare patch of grass before the archways, where a bit of stone barely showed still.

Two bottles of a golden liquid, a bottle of ink, quills, and blank parchment. A few plain white candles, a bag of what sounded like marbles... and form Deipthe's bag, another pair of golden liquid-holding glasses, more candles, eight empty mason jars, and a numerous number of empty flasks. and last night's dinner (which had congealed into a thick substance, tasty-smelling, which she proceeded to hand out in small bowls as lunch)

Shei'ki examined the things arrayed before her... and grinned. She was glad that so much Lamp oil had been packed... she needed to keep a pair of candles set aside, just in case - and she put those back in her bag - but the others were just what the doctor ordered.

She and Deipthe exchanged looks, and set to work. Lamp oil was carefully being poured into little flasks, some mixed with ink, and then, she pulled out the little marbles - they were not marbles at all, but little glass flasks themselves - filled with the lamp oil.

This work was not incredibly quick - it left Vahn and Eiffe to head off toward the forest and get the requested items.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

He was definitely curious at this point as to what she needed all the items for. She was determined and that's for sure, but he had no idea what any of this had to do with his question. However, the other two seemed to have no problem following orders and if things were a numbers game, he was at a disadvantage. It was in his best interests to follow orders for now and ask questions later. Turning to Eiffe, they headed out towards the forest as he looked around. "If you go for the willow bark and the maple sap, I'll go find the oak berries and make some firewood from oak since it burns best." He didn't give her a chance to respond as he headed in one direction, hoping that she didn't follow the same way.

Vahn finally found a nicely populated area with oaks and berries and immediately found a tree large enough to make the three bundles and would use the branches as sticks that they could cut up later. He took the water away from the weapons that floated around him and redirected it back into his jug. Taking a firm stance, he set the blades of the weapons that had facing the tree. It was probably about seven fully bladed weapons in total and he began to move his body, manipulating the air around the blades to push through and cut the tree in necessary spots. He made many cuts and focused more wind as the tree started to fall apart. He used the wind to separate the bundles of fire wood from the branches they would use as sticks. After gathering enough, he used some rope he had in his traveling pack to bundle things together and drag them back.

Grabbing the berries, the last thing he needed, he started to head back to the temple, dragging the wood bundles behind him and carrying the berries up against him and cradled in his untucked shirt, careful not to damage them on the way back. He arrived and set the bundles down with the sticks and carried the berries over to them. "You still haven't told me where you plan on starting." He finally brought it up since he already did his part.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

He just.. had to give her the boring job. Didn't he. Gathering bark and sap? The Nymph wasn't happy about being commanded by him... but mistress had given an order. One she was compelled to obey, not because she had to by the pact of some spell... but purely because she knew what her mistress was doing - and it WAS a lot of fun for her. She'd have a chance to have a lot of fun here, pretty soonish, if there was action to be had... so she set to the task at hand.

As she walked, searching for Willows and Maple trees, she picked up a stick and started to eat it, holding it in her mouth like a cigar... and puffing on it like one too. The forest recoiled from her... she was not supposed to be in a forest! The woods knew what she was, the woods were terrified of her... and that feeling, that surge of emotion, the rush of fear for her was enough to keep her pleased. The trees were food to her... it didnt matter how they felt, in her eyes. Just the same... she was respectful, and spoke her intentions.

The language of the Fey was not something spoken by mortals. She was forbidden to speak it... and even if it was the Ignan dialect, one not often heard in a forest, it was still Fey - and they would understand.

The forest, as she had predicted, was not too happy about that... but the sacrifice of a few over the sacrifice of many? That was a small price to pay. The spirit of the forest directed her at a dying maple tree first. It was dying... it didn't have another season in it, but it was ancient - it had the sap she wanted.

And so, she lifted her finger, and it ignited into flame... as hot as she could manage it, drawing the rest of the stick into her maw. It ws part of the bargain that the tree should not suffer needlessly - so she had to be respectful enough to not hurt it too much... if it was dying or not.

So she jabbed her finger into the tree's side, and it burned right in like a hot knife into butter... not even long enough to cauterize. Then, she moved down and put her mouth around that opening, and began to exhale heat... the sap softened rapidly, and flowed into her mouth. It was delicious to her... the kind of stuff she loved to eat, a real treat... mostly because it was good fuel - it took forever to burn. She drank greedily, panting through her nose, bits of molten sap trickling down the corners of her mouth and down her neck, glistening and steaming with heat, and she got her fill.

It took Eiffe all the control she had not to immolate the area around her on the spot...! She felt powerful, her hair turning blue, her skin a crisp aqua hue. She grinned at the feeling... and dispaired, for she knew it wouldn't last forever.

At least she got a taste of good food before she had to give it up for torches. The oak hated her for that terrible power, but she bowed respectfully to him, thanking him. Thanking food... imagine that.

Then, the forest led her to a grove of willows.

Its funny how trees view things... but a young tree is worth far less than an old tree, in the terms of the spirits- young trees did not have voices of their own, they could not feel, they had no spirit yet inhabiting them... so the loss of such trees was minor.

She took a good armful, two small trees, of the green bark and made her way back to camp, whistling cheerfully as brush flowed away from her.

---

Deipthe accepted the wood and berries happily from Vahn, and set to work, setting the tips of the sticks he'd picked up in a mason jar of lamp oil, setting them to soak as she filled globules, and encouraged him to sit and take a break.

"We're going in the front door... All this is" she motioned vaugely at the equipment she was preparing "is for 'just in case'... There might be... things in this place. It wouldn't surprise me. In a best case scenario, we're dealing with a few collapsed tunnels, darkness, and maybe a couple wild animals that live in the ruins.. thus the torches." She examined a filled globe of lamp oil. There were air bubbles in it - she shook it to make sure this was so, before sealing it. She was being deadly careful not to spill a drop.

"Less-than-ideally... There's bandits, LOTS of wild animals, monsters... or worse in there." she said, and eyed the sealed door. "We could get trapped, we could get hurt... thus the artillery." she said, and grinned broadly, then met Vahn's gaze. "You know... Just in case."

[Vahn x Dimitri]

While he sat taking his lunch break and watched them continue preparing, Eiffe had come back to join them and work with them while they tended to their project. They were wise to get ready and be cautious about whatever may happen within these walls, but they should have prepared before. That was just his opinion, but at least everything worked out for them in the end.

He looked at the doors that separated them from the temple itself as he continued eating. The girls were still getting ready, and it was wise to do so, but Vahn was already ready to take the first steps and get into this place. He normally worked better alone, but this was their mission. Still, he saw no reason why he couldn't go in and scout the area for them first.

Finishing his meal just as it looked like the ladies were getting their final inventory counts and equipping themselves, Vahn rose to his feet. "You should probably take your break now too since we don't know how long this will take. I'll go on ahead and just scout out a bit for you." His voice was calm and relaxed, letting them feel as though they would be in good hands with him. They had no reason to doubt his intentions so far, so he figured that now wasn't the time for them to start to doubt him.

Dusting himself off, he walked to the doorway and pushed it open. The doorway open to a large open area that the sun shone down on, even in the center of this mountain. Perhaps this was a now extinct volcano that ended up being settled by monks a long time ago. It would be the only thing he could think of that would actually explain the large hole in this mountain. That wasn't the only thing that stood out about this courtyard now as he had strode his way to the center of it. His eyes had come down from the sky to see the basic architecture of the temple, except it was littered with dozen of skeletal remains. Obviously, they weren't the first ones trying to find this orb and it was starting to become apparent that whatever waited for them was going to be a problem. Hell, maybe it was the orb itself that was cursed and destroyed all who sought it.

He surveyed the area now. To his left and right, all he could see were long, narrow corridors that seemed to be littered with rooms. A sense of laziness got the best of him as he decided against going down one of the massive corridors. Ahead of him, however, was the remains of an archway that seemed to be rather important when it was whole. The sun above him restricted his vision to what he could see from the outside of the large chamber past the mound of rubble that was once a gateway to something. It all peaked his curiosity as he made his way and stood on top of the rubble just outside the archway. It looked like whatever destroyed it came from within in order to push it out so far.

Carefully, he stepped down the mound of rubble and finally passed the arch remains. His eyes adjusted to the darkness slowly, but he saw something give a quick flash of light which further intrigued him. Taking a few more cautious steps, he saw what seemed to be a mammoth of a man carved out of stone holding in an open palm a small, shining orb. "This is too easy. Maybe the council is going soft and actually wanted her to succeed." He was mere feet away from the orb when he saw the orb shine again and could hear the echo across the courtyard of a door slamming behind him. As he turned around, he noticed the way he came in had closed on his own.

Now was the time to inwardly curse himself for thinking things could be this easy. Now he would have to grab the orb and find another way out of this place, but when he turned, the orb was not in the goliath's hand. It was almost as if it disappeared, but things don't just disappear. He heard a quick creak as if stones were rubbing against each other and immediately thought the worst.

He shifted both his hands forward and put all his invisible floating weapons in front of him and kept the air flowing strongly, but it was just about too late. The monstrous stone creature struck the shield and attempted to force it's way through and almost like a bubble popping, the air he was forcing in front of him exploded back at him, launching him over the pile of rubble. He yelled both in pain and panic as he tried to focus some kind of wind so that he would have some kind of cushion and was able to, but he still skidded almost to the door, landing a good ten feet to the right of it.

The golem jumped through the damaged arch and suddenly the rubble and the bodies all made sense. However, making sense was useless for him at this point. All his weapons landed, scattered across the courtyard and he, for the moment was unable to move.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

The yell met their ears, and they reacted quickly. Deipthe had almost stopped him when he'd gone inside alone, but she hadn't seen the harm either. How wrong she'd been! They were slow... at least...

Shei'ki looked to Eiffe, and tossed her a flask of golden liquid, which the Nymph gratefully took, and uncorked. "Yes ma'am!" then stuffed the whole thing into her body wholesale. and caught a second, but held onto it, strapping it to her thigh.

She picked up speed, and lowered herself close to the ground. She was light to start with, and the burst of strength the superfluous fuel gave her let her push herself just a little bit harder. She blazed down the halls, hair whipping behind her... and met up with that sealed door. She tried to force it with a kick, but that kind of force was insufficient. And it hurt.

She loosed a string of profanities at it, rage flaring in her breast, and heat billowed around the leather clothing she wore. No mere door would stand in her way. She looked to the flask at her thigh, and grinned, uncorking it and pouring a splash onto the door. She stood back a foot, then replaced her foot, right in the seal, creating a jet of flame.

This gave the flames she'd launched a sudden source of high-energy fuel, and under her will, the flame ate it all up at once, creating a loud blast, shattering the lock wholesale, but it was more dramatic than she'd hoped - it blew the iron door right off its hinges all together.

She drank the rest of that portion, and melted the glass in her hand, shaping it with her fingers as she moved.

"Vahn!" she cried aloud, seeing him prone in front of the advancing golem, and, loosing another sting of curses, broke for the advancing golem. She knew a headshot was the most effective... she KNEW that, and this thing looked manlike enough, if gigantic. The golem was a simple creature - it didn't notice anything but its target, which it was rearing up to crush as it felt a little weight on its trailing calve, spin around its front, then, right in front of its vision, a woman in red standing on its chest, palm open over its face, grinning...?

The blast of fire to the face ignited the air around and immediately in front of its head, inbetween the nymph and the golem, stopping it dead in its tracks, and sending her flying back. It was unharmed, but it took the simple creature a second to realize what had just happened to it - too long. She landed feetfirst on the wall, and kicked off again with another little explosion of flame, barreling into the creature in a cannonball, releasing another burst of explosive energy directly into the creature's face. This, multiplied by the offset balance it'd already had, sent it sprawling backward, landing on its hindquarters as she landed on her feet, in front of Vahn.

"Get your ass up, Vahn!" Eiffe barked, her voice crackling like a living flame, burning orange eyes fixated on the golem. She'd gotten the drop on him the first time, but she couldn't keep laying down the law like that - she just didn't have enough fuel to keep that up anywhere near long enough... she needed help. And soon. Mr. golem, as predicted, was rising again for another round... and now he was happy - he had two usurperss to crush now.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

Vahn already felt like he was going to be down for the count, but he knew that he couldn't let things end here. But here it came, a massive man of stone walking with every intention to finish crushing him. Vahn could feel his legs temporarily numb and began to worry that there would be nothing he could do. The water around his weapons had hit the ground and was already part of the earth and air would only slow him down at this point and not even for that long. He wasn't about to let himself give up, he had to rise to his feet and fight back, then it happened.

First there was a loud thud that echoed throughout the courtyard. Soon after the thud came an explosion that sent the door flying off its hinges and into the courtyard. Vahn was able to watch now with some kind of admiration the sequence of events that took place that got this monster on it's bottom. Then she stood in front of him, radiant and demanding he get up. Eiffe had come with authority and prepared to fight and she would need the help.

Vahn used the wall as leverage so that he could rise to his feet again. Pushing himself off it with his hands, he stood on his own two feet and was looking at the thing as it too got back up. They needed a plan and they needed one fast, the monster was advancing. "Keep away from it, we need to figure out a way to kill it quick. The longer this fight goes on, the better its chances are." Vahn jumped away and towards the vacant areas of the courtyard. The only thing he knew for right now is that they needed the open space to keep avoiding it until they formulated a plan.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

For all her gusto, Eiffe did not question Vahn's judgement. Even if she'd expected it, seeing that golem get up, almost unscathed, from her assault was a little nerve wracking. When Vahn took off, she needed no further encouragement.

Fire! She needed fire. She looked around frantically - and grinned. This was a TEMPLE. She needed candles? Candles could be arranged. The pews were made of petrified wood, and there were corpses everywhere - with enough applied heat, bone burned like wood. She bent, and scooped up a broken Femur, flipping it in her hand and grinning at the gigantic being as it drew within striking.

The giant reared, and threw its hands down at her, assuming her dumbfounded by its sheer power, so it could deliver a heavy blow. She simply hopped back as the giant swung down and struck where she should have been, leaving a stairwell so courteously behind for her - his arms.

The Nymph scampered up the hulking brute's form like he was solid, and it stood, infinitely pissed about this interesting little development. He reached up to grab her, and she giggled impishly, using his noggin to swing around to the other shoulder on him as he reached for her.

"Oops! Sorry, big fella!" she teased, and played a drum solo on the giant's face, bonk bonkity-bonkbonk. He reached again for her, this time with the other arm, to similar effect. Really, this was so she could heat said bone to the temperature she had in mind - that'd take a second. She got to the other side, kicked him in what she figured to be his ear, and whacked him a couple more times on the head, grinning as she did it.

"Good god you're a slug! Cmon, big fella, fucking grab me!" she cried, then jammed the bone right into the slot between his neck and his chest, as far as she could jam it. He didn't like that, not one bit... and he REALLY didnt like it when she jumped off, and snapped her fingers, suddenly releasing all that energy, making the bone pop like a rock too-long heated in an open flame, in a deafening crack.

A shame it wasn't strong enough to do much damage to him... but at least this time, as she dashed in the opposite direction from the giant, she'd done SOMETHING to it.

"That didn't work?!" she cried, turning just in time to see him doing the same. "By the gods what a monster!" she cried, and looked over her shoulder, just in time to see the giant hefting a sizable pillar's remains like it was nothing at all to him. Now, unlike before when he'd just been doing his job, he was pissed as hell. This time, he charged in her direction, and with the size of his stride, he could catch up to her easily, brandishing that pillar like an oversized club.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

Eiffe didn't follow him. In fact, she did almost the exact opposite and kept going after the thing, and teasing it too. This was not a good thing. Pissing off something that could very easily kill somebody if it got hold of them was not the way to go in his honest opinion. Still, he needed to figure something out and the first thing he wanted to do was find out what would actually damage this massive monstrosity. He began to watch the exchange between the golem and the girl to see if she figured something out or was able to do something. She was holding a piece of bone and did something with it, getting it into the golem's separation between its neck and chest. If there was one thing he was noticing now is that this golem was made to be functional, not beautiful, so it had a few of those slots.

Then it happened, she made the bone explode. Wait...she made a bone explode? But what he saw afterward was exactly what he was hoping for, a glimmer of light in this abysmal battle. Right where the bone was jammed was a crack in the frame of the monster and this was the spark that figuratively ignited his head. The golem was now fixated on her and was going to go after her for a bit so it gave him a few seconds to survey the area and find all his weapons. He saw them all scattered across the ground and did not have the time to delicately go around and get them all.

Vahn got into a firm stance and began to focus as he moved his hands in very particular motions. The air in the courtyard started swirl with just enough force that it felt like a heavy wind. He used this to start gathering his weapons back to him and let them float around him like he normally kept his shield. However, since he had no water on him, he couldn't give them their healthy mirror coat that made them appear invisible. But now the moment of truth was coming. He picked a short blade from his arsenal and as all the wind stopped, the sound of a massive gust filled the room.

In the blink of an eye, the weapon had flown the distance between him and the golem and had inserted itself right in it's leg, at the back of the knee. He seriously needed Eiffe to go with him on this plan though. He didn't have a strong enough blunt object he could send with enough force to do what he was intending, but if the force she had was able to crack it, maybe she could finish driving the blade through and the rock would split. One major problem was that the thing was still fixated on her and hadn't noticed the blade yet.

Vahn took two his favorite sword and a scimitar in each of his hands and charged directly at the thing. He launched some of his other weapons forward to hit him hard in the back repeatedly, using the wind to keep his arsenal under his control and finally the thing started to turn around, giving it's back to Eiffe. Vahn had to buckle down and keep it in place so this would work so he had maybe a five foot circle he could move in so that the golem wouldn't move.

He began a melee exchange with it, using the two weapons in his hands to slash at the legs and torso of the thing. His other weapons still focused around his sides like a shield to alert him of the incoming swipes. The timing was keen, the second he heard rock hit steel he would avoid the incoming blow as he bellowed out to Eiffe. "Strike the short sword wedged in the back of his knee with everything you got!" Vahn made sure the golem's focus was still on him and it didn't move so she could get a clean hit, but he couldn't stay here forever. It was only a matter of time before he either had to move or he was caught and he didn't want to stick around for the latter.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Suddenly, the golem was distracted by a multitude of swords clanging ineffectually on its backside, and it wasn't happy to start with. It began with a massive turn-around swing with that pillar, swatting the swords away, but that showed Eiffe just what Vahn had meant by a blade in the back of his knee. Reflexively, she reached to grab a nice chunk of splintered, petrified wood, and shoved it into her body wholesale. As it heated, she rushed in the direction intuition told her to go the opposite of - right at it.

The Nymph didn't have a whole lot of juice left in her, and the wood was being surprisingly resilient against her inward assault. But, it was wood after all... and about the time she reached it is when it gave in and started burning for her. This led her to pause behind the creature for a half moment, skidding on the floor a moment, before throwing her palms at the undercairrage of the being's knee. She gave it all she could muster from the fuel she'd been given and still stay standing. Good thing she didn't know exactly how much this petrified wood was giving her - it was already a bit much.

The resulting blast was enough to send her hurtling backward, and the blade in teh back of the golem's knee to suddenly find itself embedded in the stone wall some distance behind Vahn - right through the golem's leg. The weapon had not survived this ordeal, its blade had snapped in half in the process, but the golem discovered its leg... was suddenly without a kneecap, and tumbled thusly.

It, holding its pillar like a greatclub, hadn't registered that it had no leg in time to catch itself, and bounced its great girth off the ground, face-first, dropping the pillar in the process. But it was a painless creature, and pushed itself up with its hands to grab at Vahn again, this time at eye level.

[Vahn x Dimitri]

Well, she had definitely taken it's leg off with that stunt. It just so happens that she also managed to split that blade in half which rendered it useless for the rest of the battle at least. He would have to find a way to re-forge the blade back into it's original state later, right now they still had their hands full. He was starting to think that he would lose a few more weapons by the time this battle ended and the cost for the repairs would be extensive, but first thing's first.

He jumped back once as the beast landed in front of him hard, dropping it's makeshift club. But it wasn't done by any means. Almost as if nothing had happened, it reached an arm out to try and grab him, but he wasn't going to stick around for that. He jumped back one more time and avoided the massive grasp of the golem. It didn't do much good though considering that it was practically crawling after him right now, completely ignoring Eiffe for the moment. It was either smart and knew that the sharp spots that would chisel it were coming for him, or just fixated on the first thing it saw after it landed. It was probably the latter.

Vahn bent the air under him and let himself jump higher than normal. He looked down and shot an axe from his collection right in front of the shoulder to stop it's movement, even if for a second. He then looked straight at the arm that the axe had stopped movement of and focussed a steel polearm into a jet stream straight down into the arm at about the elbow. The polearm was aerodynamic enough that it went completely with the wind and skewered the arm. It was a nice little help since they didn't have to use extra force to immobilize the arm. Looking over at Eiffe, he nodded to let her know she could work her magic and pry that one off him. She needed to be careful cause it would definitely try to fend her off at all costs and try to remove that polearm from it's arm.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Eiffe's spirit flared in her breast as she saw the results of her efforts, and grinned... a broad, energetic grin that sent shivers down her spine. She did very much enjoy destruction - she was a flame nymph, it was 'in her blood' so to speak. She licked her lips, and as her comrade got into position, she searched for fuel, rather desperately now - she wouldn't last much longer in this kind of abuse. The pews would suffice, of course - now that she knew how much the wood gave her, she could consume it for fuel. Scooping up a piece and feeding it to her body, she looked around... there was a lot around here.

With one piece consumed, it gave her a little burst of strength, letting her get her feet on the ground, so to speak, to get more energy. Vahn was still tangling with the golem - she was so very glad that he was an agile little man, so glad she wouldn't have to scrape him off the wall later as she struck one of the pews with her foot, blasting it with a vicious pulse of explosive energy. The heavy, wooden object hurtled through the air and smashed to a million pieces in the golem's side, shortly after Vahn skewered his arm with the polearm.

"Over here, asshole!" she cried scooping up a chunk of that petrified wood the size of her head, and crammed it into her stomache. Literally. She winced at the discomfort of pushing things through her flesh, especially pokey wooden objects of irregular size and shape like this, but her body loved her for it in the end, snapping up the offered sustenance greedily and giving her a rush of power.

Then the golem got a hold of her with its wounded arm. Suddenly, she realized the error of her ways: Don't call the golem when you're still getting fuel. The giant squeezed her hard, and she shrieked out in pain. Even if she was far, far from human, her body still followed some rules of anatomy. that meant she didn't like to be squeezed.

She lit up, shivering, squirming in the golem's mighty grasp. He was crushing her - she knew that. She had but one arm free... she had a lot of energy still - and that meant the golem was in trouble.

"You... you so need to die..." she hissed, and grabbed the halbred. She knew enough to know that these weapons were special to Vahn - so she shot him an apolagetic look before catalyzing herself with the weapon.

The room flooded with brilliant heat energy, unbearable to look at, and she, with the weapon, turned white-hot in the golem's grasp, only the magic lantern to which she was bound refusing to catalyze - she did not have the power to do that.

The resulting explosion blew every last window out, immolating everything around her in a fireball, shattering the golem's arm, the weapon, and her body into pieces. The rent nymph sputtered out, every last bit of her fuel spent and her containment breached, and her metal lantern hit the wall, sliding to the ground again... scuffed and charred, but relatively unharmed.

Golem's arm, shoulder, and a bit of his chest was utterly annihilated, and it sat in a field of burning debris, momentarily stunned from the blow to his form, as most of the pieces of the halbred embedded somewhere near Vahn, vibrating and glowing from the abuse the flame nymph had put it through.

============

Not too far away, Shei'ki stopped dead mid-run, mouthing a soft 'no' before the explosion shook the ruins, the sound of blasting glass and shattering stone a mere precursor to a rush of pain that sent her to her knees. She knew what happened - it had happened before, but that didn't banish the pain gripping her mind like a vice or the ache in every muscle in her body. Eiffe had been dissipated.

Deipthe moved to her mistress's side, and knew, in her heart what had happened. "Mistress... We need to hurry... Vahn and Eiffe need us." and scooped the girl to her feet again. "Are you alright?"

Shei'ki wiped a bit of blood from her nose, and nodded grimly like a trooper. "I will be... Cmon..." and took off again, her body crying softly in protest at the motion, but Deipthe was right. Way she figured, seeing the shattered door ahead, she wasn't far off.

The two burst through the doorway, and saw the situation - a golem, a wounded Vahn, and... Eiffe of course was nowhere to be found. The destruction was everywhere, and Shei'ki knew enough to tell Eiffe's flames apart from normal fire, but that would do her no good if she couldn't find her lantern. And from the looks of things, looking very hard wasn't an option. The golem wasn't done yet.

Panting, Shei'ki spaced herself from Deipthe and brandished the Ironstar in her hand, her stave gripped in white knuckles as she watched the golem, charred likely from Eiffe and in bad shape still was moving, lumbering towards Vahn, dragging himself steadily, the sound of stone on stone filling the air. What a monster!