RORI MERCURY

caekdaemon - Al-Aris and Li-Rala [(4-2-2=0),9]:
You push yourself up on your non-missing arm, the wood around you creaking gently. You seem to have been deposited in the trunk of a rather healthy tree. Or rather, what once was a healthy tree. Now it's a tree with a giant impact crater near the base of its trunk and a one armed Embodiment sitting among a bunch of broken wood.
Al-Aris: "Well, that's new. So this is what shock is like."


Li-Rala: "...never change, Al...never change."
Hm. No stump to wave. Not even shoulder to wave! Quite a pickle, quuuuuite a pickle. You think you'll just hang over here for a bit. Just until someone can come over and...
Give you a hand.
You snort and laugh to yourself, probably a bit giggly from blood loss. Do you need blood? Probably need blood.
Meanwhile, Li, seeing Urstrig tensing for another jump, manages to summon a giant lollipop and slam it down into the ground in front of her, with a stick like a telephone pole and the lollipop itself as thick as a brick wall. It performs as an admirable barrier, even managing to slow Urstrig down a tiny bit as it crashes through the rainbow candy while shooting through the air towards Linna.

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [1]:
This owlbear is strong. Like, scary strong. Like it was dangerous before, but now it's just a raging freight train of green fur and anger. The amount of kinetic energy that thing has during its charges is terrifying. But, that just means there's more to steal from it!
Suddenly, Li-Rala drops a giant lollipop into the field, and a second later it explodes into candy fragments as Urstrig plows through it.
A large chunk of hard white and blue confection flies right for you, hitting directly in your stomach.
You cough painfully, the wind utterly blown out of you. Then more coughing, and you notice there's a bit of red coming out too.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [9]:
You need to try something different. Well, last time you looked into your memory, good things happened. Let's try that again...

Night. Late night. Not that it would matter, the steely grey of the sky blocks almost all light even during the day. A ship, small. Large, but small by your standards. A trawler, bringing in fish.
An old wreck, pushed up against rocks, battered by the sea. After boarding, nothing but bodies, not surprising. Missing emergency gear, not surprising. The sea is cutthroat, precaution is expensive.
Walking across the tilted deck, holes here and there. Hug the breaker closer, giving a small shiver. Cold. Least surprising of all.
Yes...
"Squall."
The wind by your ears suddenly screams as it whips forward at terrific speeds, splitting the air as it shoots forward, long twining blades of air dancing around each other, slicing through the air towards Urstrig. It won't reach all the way to the forest, but luckily Urstrig helps by leaping forward himself to take your attack to the face and smash through Li's hastily erected barrier.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [6]:
Linna: "I need you guys to make a ton of random stone or wood minions! The rest of you, keep whittling him down!"
Thankfully, they can take orders well, and the new guy begins making some stone soldiers. Cmon, cmon, hurry, hurry...
You see Mikey messing with one of the surprisingly lawn gnome-like soldiers, and it starts moving, creaking to life. Sadly, that's also when Urstrig decides to charge, and straight at you. Li-rala to your left throws down a massive lollipop, Wassily to your right uses some sort of blast of wind, and you... are directly in Urstrig's path.
Locking on to the moving soldier, you start a Castle with it. Then you realize something's wrong. There's a sickening feeling, like being pulled in one direction while your stomach is anchored right where it is.
Oh god. The Light of Faith. ♥♥♥♥.
You disable the Light just as Urstrig smashes through the lollipop, and Castle again as it's only a dozen feet from you. Before you're sucked through space, leaving a penguin sized stone soldier in your place, you feel Urstrig's outstretched claw brush against your head, ever so slightly.

As you come out of the Castle over by Mikey and Matt, you drop to one knee, your head screaming in pain. Reaching up, there's blood. A lot of blood. And a damn deep gash in your scalp. Jesus, it only barely touched you, and yet it cause THAT big of a wound? Thank god it didn't hit you head on. Also, Light of Faith prevents Castle. Wonder what else it gets in the way of.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [3]:
As you watch, Matt forms up a large number of smaller stone minion statues. Nothing big or complex, but... it's similar to the wolf statue. All one piece, solid enough stone...
Matt: "Hey, you can make these things move around, right? Bring them to life or something? I think we might need to do that so she can trade places with them."
You can work with this.
Grabbing the nearest little stone knight, you pour your Life energy into it, Animating it. You then back away quickly as it creaks a bit, flexes its arms, and stands at attention!
Almost immediately after, Ustrig comes barreling out of the forest, going for the group in the middle. Linna in particular. Then, you see the tiny stone soldier glow as a giant... uh, lollipop appears in front of Urstrig. It smashes through the candy, then Linna Castles with the minion, immediately falling to one knee and clutching her head.
Oh jeez, that's blood.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [9]:
Matt: "A lot of little minions?! Aw... I wanted to make a biggun. But if you say so, dream girl."
You act fast, clapping your hands together then placing them to the ground. For now, quantity over quality. You cause many stone pillars to burst from the ground, probably around 25 total, each about a foot and a half high. Then, you force your power onto the pillars all at once, to accelerate the process greatly. Moving fast, you carve away pieces of stone with terrific speed, making arms, legs, a head, a tiny sword, a tiny shield, all from stone. They end up looking like blank grey armored garden gnomes essentially, all one piece and tremendously boxy. But, they're stone minions!
...
Or, would be, if they were alive. They're just statues right now.
Matt: "Hey, you can make these things move around, right? Bring them to life or something? I think we might need to do that so she can trade places with them."



Events: Matt and Mikey make a field of inanimate statue soldiers, along with one that is moving.
Linna immediately Castles with the living soldier, narrowly avoiding Urstrig's attack.
Al loses blood and laughs at his own jokes.
Li makes a giant lollipop shield, and Wassily uses a burst of wind, both slowing Urstrig's attack ever so slightly.
Dunrim tries to drain Urstrig again, but is struck by a piece of flying broken lollipop.
Urstrig builds power for a moment, then charges again, this time at Linna. It smashes through the lollipop shield and manages to scratch Linna before she Castles away.
Urstrig turns, this time staring down Wassily, and much much closer this time.

>Focus on slowing down Urstrig with a powerful Headwind.
fun facts: my primary inspirations for Wassily were my calculus class, Sunless Sea and a 4chan thread stuffed with pictures of container ships

I'm starting to get the impression we're meant to lose this fight for plot progression reasons. Regardless, the show must go on!

Barricades! Barricades everywhere!

See if it's possible to regrow the missing limb via willpower alone.

Can't come up with anything witty this time, alas

Ru-ru-ru-rollan!

caekdaemon - Al-Aris and Li-Rala [(4-2-2=0),10]:
You and Li get to work, no more words being needed. You work on regrowing your limb, not having much progress. Your attempts to stand up end similarly, with you getting dizzy very quickly and falling back to earth. Hm. Well, perhaps you'll let Linna assist with this, she's good at healing.
Where IS you arm, anyway?
Oh hey, there it is! Up in that tree! How'd you get up there, fella?

Meanwhile, Li uses her Lollistop again, with Wassily also using his Headwind again. Unfortunately, just like last time, Urstrig ignores them and smashes straight through both attempts to deter it, going straight for Dunrim. It delivers a large clawed sweep, just a moment too early, but still full of deadly force. The attack hits Dunrim, send him tumbling back in a spray of blood while Urstrig shoots past, digging in to the ground to prevent from shooting off into the forest again like its first charge.

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [5 - 2 = 3]:
Ow. Okay, that's fine. You can fix this. Not even just saying that, you think you can feel your life energy escaping a bit. Which means you can control it. You will the wounds inside you to stop being so severe, or at least to keep it together until you can get them looked at. Thankfully, it works! The pain subsides somewhat, and you feel your stomach get a bit better! Still immensely sore, and you don't think you can run, but you think you'll be oka-

Everything goes white, and red. You feel a brief sense of weightlessness, then come crashing back down. It takes a moment, but you realize that Urstrig attacked. Like, actually attacked this time, not just hit you as collateral damage. A quick glance down, your shirt is quickly soaking red from several large claw tracts in your chest. Yeah. Yeah, that's bad.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [7]:
Okay, well that didn't stop it. Again!
You make another Headwind, this time putting all your force behind it. It's a vicious, biting wind, enough to blow any normal man off their feet with ease. Urstrig doesn't even seem to notice it while it crouches low, building power for another charge. This time, aimed at-
Wassily: "Dunrim!"
You get the yell off just as Urstrig charges, absolutely blowing through your Headwind and another lollipop from Li. And then through Dunrim as well. The large amount of blood now covering Dunrim, Urstrig, and the ground all attest to this.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [6 - 2 = 4]:
Still a bit woozy, you fill your hand with your energy, channeling a Minor Heal into your head. Your head itches for a moment as the gash seals itself, and you feel the same drain as when you used your healing before. You can still fight thankfully, but your healing energy feels... strained. It's a bit annoying, but oh well.
More pressing is Urstrig himself. You see it hunching back again, muscles tensing, readying another charge. From over here, you can't quite tell which direction it's going to charge.
Linna: "Keep pumping out those minions, everyone else is on offense, I'll keep the big guy distracted!"
Then, in the time it takes you to blink, the spirit charges, more fiercely than either of the previous two rushes. The ground beneath it is blown apart, dirt raining down in a massive plume, and Urstrig becomes a green blur streaking towards- oh. Well, green and red blur now. And Dunrim has a lot of red on him now too. Well, definitely going to need to heal that one up.
Linna: "Scratch that, I'll clean up the mess!"

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [7]:
You get to work with the Animation, bringing another 5 to life this time. They rumble a bit, limbs peeling away from their stone body, and then snap off a crisp salute. Ready for action! One of them stays over here with you and Linna, the other four go running off towards Urstrig, fanning out as they go. Then, Urstrig charges, thankfully not at you.
Problem is, he hit Dunrim, and made quite a mess. Your gnomes need to go faster.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [7]:
Matt: "Hm... what else to make? These gnome knights should have our backs for a little longer, and it's not like there's much point in making more of them if they can't be brought to life just as quickly! Maybe I can make some kind of defensive structure to help us out... a wall? No, that obviously doesn't work... Ah!"
Linna: "Keep pumping out those minions, everyone else is on offense, I'll keep the big guy distracted!"
Oh, alright. Well, that's out of your hands, so... let's make some tranches! Laying both hands on the ground, you form a large depression about 3 feet deep in front of you, and make it into a line that leads over into the burial grounds. It... doesn't go too far. Maybe 20 feet, then it stops. Your range seems to be somewhat limited. Plus uh, defiling the burial ground and earning Urstrig's ire might... NOT be the best idea.



Events: Al continues to be in the forest.
Li and Wassily again try to deter Urstrig.
Dunrim stands up and handles his wounds quite well.
Linna heals her head gash.
Matt makes a small-ish trench, while Mikey animates some more gnomes.
Urstrig quickly charges again very strongly this time, and smashes through Li's shield, striking Dunrim and wounding him.

Urstrig, after charging a third time and hitting Dunrim this time, turns around to face the group again. This time, instead of growling and crouching low to charge another charge, it just... pants. It's tired? Urstrig is tired. The deep emerald green color is fading out of its body, as the energy returns back into the forest, and it goes back to a paler green, then even further. It was a light green when it first appeared, but now it just looks... faded. Maybe it's spent? Used up all its power in that rush, and couldn't finish you off? Maybe everyone's attacks hurt it more than you thought before it went berserk. Maybe it just has a time limit to be awake, and it's out.
Whatever it is, Urstrig slumps to the ground, clearly tired and not able to fight any more. Its eyes continue watching you all though, wary of any moves. It can't really fight any more, but that doesn't mean it can't defend itself.

"He would be cute if not for the fact he tried to kill all of us...Al!" Li turns about and rushes into the forest where Al-Aris is. "Are you -"

"Alive! Surprisingly, yes! I've got good news and bad news, though."

"Good news?"

"He only tore my arm off, he didn't obliterate the thing. In fact, it's right...there." Al Aris points to his arm in the treetops, using the stump of that same arm...before realizing what he had done and switching to his other, whole arm.

"I can fix this!"

Throw sugary laces up into the treetop to grab his arm, then help Al back to the rest of the party.

Go with Li after the arm has been recovered, glare at Urstrig and tut tut disapprovingly. Make him feel bad for trying to kill the party.

caekdaemon - Al-Aris and Li-Rala [(4-2-2=0),4]:
Li-Rala: "He would be cute if not for the fact he tried to kill all of us...Al!"
Li sprints over to the forest where Al got knocked, dodging and weaving past plants and jumping over a dead log, following the trail of skid marks from Al being sent flying. At the end, she finds him on the ground, covered in a lot of his own blood.
Li-Rala: "Are you -"
Al-Aris: "Alive! Surprisingly, yes! I've got good news and bad news, though. Bad news is..."
You wave your missing shoulder a bit to illustrate the news.
Al-Aris: "Good news, he only tore my arm off, he didn't obliterate the thing. In fact, it's right...there."
You point up with your right... stump, then realize your mistake and point with your left. Li looks up, sees it immediately, and fires off several strings of, well they're probably candy of some kind, to retrieve your arm. With your hand in hand, she then lifts you up, putting your good arm over her shoulders, and the two of you troop back towards the clearing with the others. You glare at Urstrig on your approach, but he doesn't seem to be paying attention to you right now. How rude!
As you walk over to the clearing, Mikey approaches.
Mikey: "Hey there big guy, want me to reattach that arm?"
Al-Aris: "That would be quite nice!"
With Li's help, Mikey gets the severed limb in place, and uses his power on it. Your shoulder feels odd for a moment, but then it goes away, and you find yourself still in pain and not able to move your arm. Did it work?
Al-Aris: "Did it work?"
Mikey: "Uh... hold on."

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [10 - 3 = 7]:
You'd like to go to sleep mode. That'd be nice. But that's also how people die in the movies. You don't like dying, it's pretty much your least favorite thing. So instead, you summon up your power, forcing it over your clawed chest. Hardening it, then drawing up a different power, this time from inside your chest. You push that forward, towards the skin, and let it soak into your wounds, gathering from the virgin flesh to where there are now great bloody rends. Then, with the energy gathered in your wounds, you guide it, take it back in, yet let it diffuse. The power soaks right into your flesh, and with a burning itch, you feel the claw marks heal up significantly.
Removing the kinetic pressure, a large amount of grayish crimson dust spills out. That's uh, worrying. But, on the bright side, your wound is closed! Still a scar, but that can be healed easily enough! By someone else, probably.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [8]:
You look around the burial site some, now that you don't have a green hellbear trying to rip you in half. Still just a large number of plain grassy mounds, arranged in what might be called a circle. Really, the only notable thing is the stone pedestal in the middle, where Urstrig's little medallion sat before you all came in. You also don't feel any other source of power around here but from Urstrig himself, so the target probably is just the medallion. Though, taking it might kill Urstrig. Or, wait. Would you actually be taking Urstrig with you? That could be... interesting.

Wait. Wait, no, that's not right. You do sense something else.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [4]:
Alright, you admit to having a soft spot for vulnerable animals. It may have tried to kill you, but hey, let's try being nice. Waving at Urstrig to get its attention, you walk over to the pedestal, and it watches. You summon up a small shield, making sure Urstrig can clearly see the small disc, and place it onto the pedestal calmly. You then walk away, turn around, and mock great surprise at the medallion. Then, you walk over, and with excessive care and reverence, pick the medallion up and hold it before you excitedly. You look over at Urstrig again, hoping to see a spark of recognition maybe, and-
And this giant green furry ♥♥♥♥ is off staring at Matt and his damn statue.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [2]:
Hm. Well, battle solved. Now then, let's see what we can do for the wounded! You see Al and Li approach from the woods, and head over to help them.
Mikey: "Hey there big guy, want me to reattach that arm?"
Al-Aris: "That would be quite nice!"
A severed arm! You actually have just the thing for that! A quick Life Shock should do it. You have Li help with holding the arm in place, then send a strong pulse of Life energy into the arm itself. It travels down the arm, terminating in the shoulder and transferring into Al's chest, and you see the wound knit itself back together. There, right as rain! Al then tries to move the arm, and can't move the arm at all.
Al-Aris: "Did it work?"
Mikey: "Uh... hold on."
Hm. Okay, well this could be one of many problems. Reattaching went wrong? Rejection of Life from his Decay perhaps? Is it on backwards? Hm. It's definitely connected again, might just need a quick boost of encouragement to link back up with the rest of the body.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [9]:
Satisfied with this conclusion, you lose all sense of danger and immediately start working on something odd. You call up a large block of stone from the earth, this time a single big block of some blackish-grey rock marbled with veins of something pinkish orange. Then, you get to work. Carving, chiseling, shaping, smoothing. Forming ridges and spikes, edges and curves. A large beak, a pair of sharp eyes, spiny feathers jutting out from a field of stony fur. Large claws, jutting out from powerful paws. A long plume of stiff stone feathers where the bear's tuft would normally be.
A perfect recreation of Urstrig. Well, hardly perfect. For one it's not green. For another it isn't trying to kill you. But it IS a very attractive statue, and definitely conveys the real deal's power and will. A creature that would rarely back down from a fight, and certainly never lose one. It's almost sort of majestic, in a wild beastial way.



Events: The group calms down somewhat, allowing themselves to take a breather after that battle. Some of them look for how to complete their mission and deal with Urstrig, others heal their wounds, and Matt decides to make a statue to commemorate the fight.
Things pass like this for a few minutes, when Wassily notices something. Two somethings, in fact, approaching from the opposite direction that the group did. He turns to face the somethings, just as out from the trees at the edge of the clearing two people emerge.
??? 1: "WAHA! We've FOUND IT, Laeh! EXCELLENT! And by the looks of it, these KIND SOULS have already defeated the GUARDIAN! FANASTIC!" Says the loud one.
He's tall, wide, and vastly muscular, enough so that it can be seen even from under the vibrant red asian styled armor he wears, layered plates of what looks to be leather covered in scalemail, with larger rectangular plates of metal covering the shoulders, thighs, forearms, and shins. The man wears his black hair in a brazen ponytail, with a small spike of a beard on the point of his chin, and several easily missed scars across his face. Most notable is the large glaive he carries, with a pole thick as a normal person's wrist and a blade as big as their arm.
Laeh?: "W-Wan Wan, please calm down, they can hear you! O-oh no, they can see you, why do you have to be so big and loud..." Says the quiet one.
She's much smaller, barely reaching to Wan Wan's waist, and looks permanently nervous. Her long head of messy brown hair is capped off by a large brimmed black witch's hat, with a black cloak covering her up and a broom held tight in her hands completing the witch motif. She seems much less confidant than Wan Wan about meeting the group.
Wan Wan?: "Have no fear Ilollaeh! We are simply here for the BEAST'S HEART! We have NO QUARREL with these fellows otherwise! After all, they did do us the FAVOR of BRINGING DOWN this BEAST, and Wan Wan Bon Bon von Von Bon Wan Ton does not let a favor go UNRETURNED!"

The entire group stops, unable to take their gazes away from the newcomers. There's the obvious factor that they're loud, well, ONE of them is loud, but aside from Urstrig, there's another more important thing keeping their eyes glued on the two newcomers as well.
The group can all tell. This man does not belong to En.
This man is an enemy.