The Thaumaturgist's Trial - Stage 1 of 3
In order of submittal, first stage Trials are recorded here. These are to focus on the magii's use of Specialty and of their surroundings, and to include no instadamage or instakill spells. The winner of each will be highlighted in red at the bottom of each duel, having been judged victor in categories of Efficiency, Ingenuity, and Effectiveness, through no small difficulty by the judges.
Jacko vs. Sehari
Jacko stands to one side of the beacon in the center of the room, flexing her fingers. With quick movements, she uses her fingernails to slice the palms of her hands, pumpkin juice dripping onto the floor. Throwing her hands outwards from her chest, thousands of pumpkin seeds pour out, rushing to fill and surround the beacon. They solidify, an arm with a hand at the end similar to Jacko's own appendage but larger, forming from the center. With a ghostly wind, the beacon spins and the fisted projection pummels the air. Sehari should move quickly, before she is blasted flat.
Sehari watches curiously, having always wondered what it would be like to duel a pumpkin..person. Her eyes widen as the spell forms into a fist, quickly realizing the precariousness of her situation and reaching instinctinvely into her pocket. A fistful of thread is extracted and with fingers flying faster than they ever have before, they're looped and knotted into a large jumble of what seems to be nothing more than a gnarled yarn square. With a final tug, she drops it to the floor before her and just in the nick of time, a net much the same constitution of the square shimmers into existence before her, bringing the knuckles to a halt. It doesn't stop there, however, for like a large trampoline the thready net gives and in moments, sends the armly spell back toward its maker, reflecting off each mirror in turn before heading straight for her.
Jacko narrows her eyes slightly as the fist is sent back at her, leaning down and grasping her ankles. Skin melts and she becomes a pumpkin. The tiny gourd snorts heartily, dust flying up its nose hole, and a fiery sneeze erupts from its flaming center. The seed hand becomes enflamed, small cries of agony heard from the magical beings. But the noise is brief as the seedlings realize this is ok with them. Jacko hacks orange goo at Sehari's feet and the flaming seed people flee toward it, intent on setting Sehari and her thread to flames. At the least, the thread net should be ash.
Sehari has to stifle a giggle while watching a pumpkin sneeze for the first time, though her mirth quickly dissipates as the flames swallow her conjured net with what could almost be called a loud slurp. The fiery army continues its steady path toward her, and barely even thinking, the elf plucks a strand of satin fiber from her dress, holding it in two fingers and allowing the wind summoned by Jacko earlier to tease it and bend it. Quickly a single knot is tied in the almost gossamer material, then another, until the effects of the simple spell become apparent. Small, shiny pieces of ice begin to magically appear on the roof overhead, and as the wind more violently tears at the thread, they shake and fall, one by one. Not only does it threaten to extinguish the fire should all of them come down, but the sheen of their sharp edges could spear several seed people in the process.
Jacko sighs as the ice falls, but its grin shines brightly as it is permanent. The small wizard inhales sharply, ceasing the ghostly wind instantly to prevent all of the icicles from falling. A few manage to break free and the flaming seeds running screaming in terror. However, they don't change their course. They attempt to seek shelter under Sehari's skirts, again threatening to turn the threadly mage into dust...on a ghostly wind...that Jacko would make again if her opponent combusts.
Sehari curses under her breath as some yarn emerges from another pocket, and the expert seamstress quickly ropes it around her arm. Quickly, she throws it over her head, letting it settle around her feet in a tight circle. In moments, her slippers completely disappear, then her ankles, then her shins, leaving the wizardess looking as though she's standing on absolutely nothing at all, and probably confusing the seed people. With another pale blue thread now in hand, she holds it gently, as if stroking it. When what used to be two inches of string grows until it's dangling about two feet, it's clear she was lengthening it all the while. Suddenly, in conjunction, the soft sound of ocean spray on the rocks below the lighthouse increases in volume, betraying exactly what it is the thread is pulling toward her. Foamy water spills up the stairway, completely extinguishing the flaming army and now circling Jacko as if to swallow her whole as, well, a pumpkin.
Jacko swivels on its base, glancing toward the stairs as the volume of the ocean increases. Instantly, Jacko stands up, the human form returned, and picks up her furry familiar. She stomps on the boards, the sound echoing through the area and up and down the beach. Such a hollow sound calls the Hollow Man. He is here, but invisible. Using his hollowness, the water is sucked up into a man hole, or a hole shaped like a man, and pours out back into the ocean. The water pulls the thread that is connected to it from Sehari's hand, so all threats are removed. Stroking her pet, Jacko smiles and nods to Sehari. "And we are done."
Sehari!
Jaxom vs. Morganza
Jaxom ponders for a good long moment, since most of his first ideas are quite easily thwartable by Morganza's atmospherical magic. He pulls out four juggling balls and whips them in quick circles through the air as he ponders, until at last he has the greatest idea ever. He cracks open one of his juggling balls and pours out an adoring crowd. Quickly he launches into a dynamic juggling routine. The crowd, enthralled, begin throwing more objects for him to juggle. Bouys, gulls, and most importantly everything spherical. The crowd is moved to such heights of amazery that they actually remove the sphere from the atmosphere and throw it to Jaxom, who begins juggling it in an alternating rotation between an oar and a chainsaw. This leaves only Atmo surrounded the dueling pair, rather than any atmosphere. And Atmo, as we all know, is the nickname of Atlas's kid brother, who is also quite large. Morganza finds herself about to be displaced and potentially squished by Atmo the giant.
Morganza wipes her the beads of sweat from her forehead and gazes up at the gigantic Atlas. The crowd blinks and suddenly they see only Jaxom and.......and......and JAXOM! Jaxom looks and sees himself - a young, very tall, athlethic, swarthy, green-eyed, purple-haired, clean, long-armed, long-legged, male elf wearing a glowing, blue-stoned, MIF ring on his right finger, a dark-blue, hooded, MIF robe about his body, a neon-pink, hideously polka-dotted, desdamona cloak around his neck, brown, leather, Jesus sandals on his feet, and a blue, many-pouched, belt on his waist. Morganza is no where to be seen. JAXOM reverses the juggling of the items that Jaxom juggled, completely reversing the spell as if rewinding time itself. Atmo, the giant Atlas creature, shrinks away to become one with the Atmosphere again and the world is normal again as JAXOM releases the items he is juggling, one by one. The crowd and Jaxom blink again and there stands Morganza, smiling as everyone wonders just how she accomplished that illusion. In answer to Jaxom's attack, she places her index finger and thumb to her mouth and issues forth an inaudible whistle, something many have seen her do before. Right on time, Louie, her ever-faithful cloud from the east hustles over and scoops Morganza up. Louie carries her to the very edge of the atmosphere way up in the sky...(approx. 33,000 feet). The crowd wonders if she's disappeared altogether. But they don't wait long as she rides Louie back to the battle area and stops 20 feet above Jaxom's head. She leans over the side of her cloud and you can see that her hands are fisted. Suddenly, she opens her hands, releasing the most beautiful, celestial debris you've ever seen - stardust...fresh hot-out-the-atmosphere stardust. The stardust lazily falls towards Jaxom who must remember that, while ethereally beautiful, this stardust will burn Jaxom's skin to the bone if it should make contact.
Jaxom gazes up happily at the ethereally beautiful stardust and for a moment dances around in a little circle with his arms outstretched, then sticks out his tongue to catch some of the debris. The intense heat emenating from the tiny particles causes Jaxom to start sweating profusely, at which point he rethinks his strategy. He glances down at the pier, grabs his staff, and begins hastily drawing runes in a glowing blue light right onto the wood. He knows he needs a way to cool off that stardust before it hits him, and his first idea is to open a portal to one of the elemntal planes. Now this can be a very dangerous task even in a controlled laboratory setting, because the strength and power of hte portal itself increases exponentially the closer the portal is to a representative of the plane you're trying to reach. So, very carefully, Jaxom produces a small blob of spit and drops it into the center of the runes, then leaps back to the end of the pier as he shouts the command word to activate it. Of course, Jaxom can be a bit scatter-brained and his portal to the elemental plane of water is sitting directly over the ocean. The runes flare brightly and a hole through reality opens up in the pier. For a brief moment everythign hangs suspended, you can see a fish on the other side with a horrified expression on its face, as though it knows what is about to happen. Water sprays up into the stardust. A lot of water. Under a lot of pressure. Think like an upside-down waterfall more than a geyser. The stardust is cooled as the water is heated, and now the massive vertically-moving tidal wave of boiling hot water continues shooting upwards, straight at Morganza.
Morganza acks and gazes in wonder at the beauty and horror of the giant wave of water threatening to swamp her, Louie and everyone else. She stands up in Louie, raises her arms from her sides quickly, clapping her hands above her head in a thunderous, earth-shaking cacophony. Looking up, Jaxom can see a screaming meteor that Morganza has stolen from the very edges of the atomosphere and directed into the ocean next to which they stand. The violently-colored meteor hurls through the sky, trailing smoldering smoke and atmospheric particulates and crash lands into the ocean at what seems a safe distance. A larger wave created by the meteor's splash-landing quickly engulfs the tidal wave spawned by Jaxom while the sheer force of the landing was destructive enough to cause the opened portal to falter, waver and disappear. As the meteor bobs about momentarily in the ocean, an arid heat washes over Jaxom followed quickly by an arid cold. Jaxom gazes out at the meteor and sees that as the meteor sinks to the depths of the super-heated ocean, the very atmosphere around the battlefield has been inevitably altered. The very waves and ripples in the ocean freeze so fast, that the visage looks like an artists rendering. This new ice age is sucking the moisture out of the air, endangering Jaxom's ability to breath and threatening to freeze the elf forever or at least until the next thaw.
Jaxom steels himself with grim determination as the beloved sea that he has barely ever looked at turns to an ice field. He knows what he must do. He twists his staff in a very complicated manner, a sprin pops out of the bottom, along with a very small blade, while two footrests extend from its sides. He hops onto his bladed pogo staff and begins hopping in large circles aorund the frozen sea, to keep warm as best as possible. In the meantime he searches through his pouch, pulling out juggling balls and mostly flinging them over his shoulder. Finally he finds a small white ball and a much larger orange ball. He juggles them deftly, and a loud humming noise emenates from them. The orange ball bursts into flames, and he tosses it into the ice. The ball bursts apart and the fire spreads, covering a perfectly circular area marked out by nicks from Jaxom's bladed pogo staff. With at least the most immediate threat of freezing temporarily stalled until the fire goes out, Jaxom smashes the white ball against his forehead. He moves his hand away quickly, and the ball bounces back, unflattening and returning to a spherical shape. Oh but the fun don't stop there! It begins growing and elongating, turning into a large white cylinder, with the texture of granulated sugar. A massive marshmallow!. Then it's sides bulge outwards until finally it bursts, dozens of other small white juggling balls raining out of it toward hte fire. As they fall they each begin to grow, some of them popping to release even more marshmallow balls. Of course, even the dull diffuse heat of the firey circle is enough to melt these tasty treats into a large pile of goo, some parts burning into a hard crust and others remaining white and gooey. The goo continues to grow, however, like a pot boiling over. The edges reach up high into the sky where they cool, only to have more gooey marshmallow flow over them, creating a sort of dome. Whether by design or hte luckiest of coincidences, Morganza is on the inside of this dome. Quite suddenly the flames under the marshmallow cage spring to new life, rushing up the sides of Morganza's delicious prison. The outer shell turns brown, then black, creating what can only be described as a relatively impenetrable carapace of yummy. The noises of poppidy pop popping marshmallow balls can still be heard, and we can only assume that the dome is now expanding inside. Not only is Morganza trapped, but if she does not act quickly she may be consumed by the very marshmallowy goodness we all love to eat!
Morganza looks around inside her strange, tasty prison of goo. Louie carries her to the top of the marshmellow dome and she quickly tries to eat her way to the outside but the little elf can only gorge herself so much and gives up on the useless plan. Magic will have to be used against such creamy, fluffy goodness. She issues another silent whistle and you see Lester, the cloud from the south, Chester of the west and Fester from the north all converge above the white dome of doom. Morganza shouts in their tongue to them instructions on what to do. Chester, Fester and Lester unite into one ugly, ashen cloud that looks much like the ever-expanding dome. The super cloud boils and roils in the sky - Lester's warm, muggy air colliding with Fester's cold dry air. Chester's air is pretty neutral and only serves to add fuel to the ever-growing threat of a horrible storm. The cloud quits its gyrations suddenly. Morganza shouts, in English, "Hurry up you guys!" The super cloud issues forth a single gigantic, searing lightening bolt that blasts a hole into the top of the gooey dome. Morganza and Louie burst through with relief and Morganza instructs Louie to set her down on the ground and join the others. Louie gently lowers her to the ground and zips into the sky, hurling himself into the roiling, boiling mass above the dome. Morganza speaks in their tongue again and the cloud shudders and casts out a web of bolts, in the shape of the dome, instantly melting the dome and the spawning mellows beneath it. The entire dome collapses into a mess of goo on the pier. Morganza points to the ocean and the Chester/Fester/Lester/Louie creation hovers over the ocean collecting much-needed moisture. It then flies back to the pier to rinse the mess of marshmellow away. When they are done, they stand, still united, above the battlefield. Morganza shouts up more instructions to them in their language. The giant super cloud hovers over Jaxom and, quick as...well, quick as lightening, issue forth a series of bolts that form a box around Jaxom. The unusual thing about these bolts is that they do not flash and disappear. They flash and stay and become tangible, jaggered shapes. Jaxom is now imprisoned in a lightening bolt jail cell, complete with a lightening bolt roof. Does he dare touch these bolts that imprison him and risk being shocked to death? Only he can decide.
Jaxom giggles and pulls out a big red ball. He holds it in front of his face and waves his hand, covering it, then turns his hand around to show three smaller balls in between his fingers. He claps his hands together then brings them apart, now three balls in between each of his fingers on both hands. He sneezes twice, and two balls roll out of his nose, landing in the crook of his arm. He does a sommersault and kicks up to his feet, spread-eagle inches away from the closes lightning wall, dozens of small red balls stuck in every visible nook and cranny of his person. And maybe some invisible ones. He releases them all at once and they bounce madly against the walls. For a moment you can't even see Jaxom past the storm of red rubber balls, but that moment is all he needs. When the storm settles all you can see is one gigantic ball, filling almost all of the cage. It giggles, shakes, then rolls forward, knocking aside the bars in a well-insulated manner. It bounces once, high into the sky, and then Jaxom lands wearing a big red ball on the tip of his nose.
Jaxom!
Tyrian vs. Cadence
Tyrian stands uneasily on the sewer floor, not in the sewer of course, just on the flat ground 'round it. A quick grin, followed by a bow is offered to Cadence, and the vampire begins a slow walk, his feet bringing him to the ooze-covered wall nearby. A pale hand suddenly lifts, placing it palm first against the ooze; it is now that he closes his eyes, brow furrowing and lips parting to the song of pyromantic magics. Without any sort of warning, the ooze catches fire, and within momements, the entire room is wreathed in flame! It is of the blue variety though, giving off little heat, and oddly not singing himself or his opponent. The blue puddle where all the ooze seems to be congregating is a different story though, flames dancing and writhing across it. Then, slowly at first, but growing in speed, the ooze begins to rise, as if by its own will. The vicious, burning slime floats to the area far above Cadence's head, where it begins to coalesce into a single body, a rather large orb of flaming goo. Tyrian's words of magic then resume, and as his spell gradually progresses, the ball of ooze above the eternal's head begins to take on a white hue, and an almost waxy composistion. Abruptly then, everything stops. No longer does the ooze rise from the puddle, and the sphere simply hangs there in mid air, suspended by some unseen force as Tyrian's lips fall silent. Just as easily as this calm came though, it flees, as the waxy orb engulfed in flame begins to pulse, as if it were a beating heart. As it pulses, so it expands and grows, bulging and peeking, until it explodes! What goes up, must come down, of course, and so it does, and it becomes evident what it is: searing hot, melted wax! From anywhere and everywhere save Tyr's posistion it rains down, and the sheer heat is only confirmed by the several sizzling hisses of the first globs hitting the ground - one can only wonder how Cadence is faring.
Cadence watches the pretty blue fire in awe, seeking out the rhythm behind it. The little green Eternal of Rhythms has to pull himself back into reality, and remember that he's supposed to be using his new specialty. As he realizes what Tryian is doing, he quickly hides his book, not wanting it to get damaged. He spins in a circle and magically dons a large stack of caps on his head. He inadvertently calls out "Caps for sale!" before he can stop himself. The hot pieces of wax shower down on his stack of caps, ruining a few of them, but keeping his tender green skin protected. Suddenly hundreds of monkeys pop into thin air, hopping around on imaginary tree branches and stealing all of Cadence's caps. When they run out of caps to steal, they zero in on Tyrian. Each monkey wants something to steal, be it clothes, hair, limbs, skin, or random body parts, or anything they can get ahold of...the Wizard finds himself quickly in danger of being ripped to shreds by selfish monkeys.
Tyrian frowns as his rain of superheated wax really doesn't prove so effective, taking a few nervous steps backward. As the monkeys pop into view, the vampire simply blinks. Not very familiar with these crazy creatures, he's unsure of their intent, though he can only guess it's not a good one. His cautious retreat continues as they near, but he's not nearly as fast as these little buggers, and one lashes out at him, shredding right through his robe. A gasp parts the vampire's lips, and he foolishly goes still, which gives way to a lot more monkeys getting their grummy little paws on the wizard, beginning to shred his clothes mercilessly. Knowing that only his skin and a little bit of underclothes lie beneath, he begins a quick chant, again calling upon his control of fire. Calmly, but quickly, he lays his palms on his chest, closing his eyes; at this moment, Tyrian's entire body erupts in flame! It doesn't singe him though, being the master of these flames, but the monkeys give out startled cries, drawing away their singed hands and fleeing into the depths of the sewer. When the last of them are surely gone, Tyrian blows a single breath upon his hands, and the flames that engulfed his body are instantly extinguished. Just as they burnt the poor monkeys though, they also burnt the robes right off the vampire's body, leaving him a bit exposed, if not for his underwear and all. An embarassed gasp leaves his throat, and he spins on his heel to face Cadence, apparently a little irked. Reaching down, he grabs a clump of the now hardened wax/ooze that rained down just a minute ago, whispering a few choice words of magic to it, as if it could actually hear. When this seemingly pointless conversation ends, he tosses the ooze glob right at Cadence! It stops and hangs in mid air feet in front of his body though, but Tyrian doesn't stop, instead quickly gathering several other clumps and doing the same as he did with the first, until several uneven clumps of wax-like material are gathered around the green man. Then, gathering a deep breath, the wizard bellows a word of magic and power, and it seemingly drains him, as he drops to his knees. As if this were some sort of command - and it likely is - the globs around Cadence begin to grow together and expand, stretching out and over the eternal until they've formed a dome of hardened ooze. The pyromancer grins at this, and abruptly the entire dome becomes engulfed in flame. Light at first, though it slowly begins to ascend in intensity, it gives off quite an amount of heat. Just what is happening to Cadence, since he's sitting in the middle of this prison of flaming ooze? It's likely growing unbearably hot.
Cadence gets a brilliant idea as this ball of flaming death surrounds him. He reaches out and turns on the faucet for the shower, which sprays him with cold water. Unfortunately, his brilliant plan backfires and simply creates lots and lots of steam, making it harder to breathe. Grumbling, the little green man remembers a funny story about a little squirrel and an acorn. With a grin, he creates a little ice age inside of the sphere of fire. He is quickly engulfed in a block of ice, and for some strange reason, an acorn appears in the same block of ice, but just out of his reach. The fire reverses the ice age effect, creating a large splash that pushes the Cadencified block of ice through the wall of fire. The ice quickly melts as it goes through the heat, leaving Cadence shivering and just a touch singed around the edges. The acorn, as it is released by the ice block falls down a newly formed chasm, which grows quickly to cover a large area of the sewers. The ball of fire falls into its depths, shattering and growing into a huge river of molten lava. Strange sounds can be heard from something in the shadows, it sounds a bit like "myyyy preccciiouuusssssssss" and a very large, strange looking creature jumps out toward Tyrian, apparently mistaking him for a shiny gold ring. He is quickly followed by an immensely large hobbit who has a strange desire to throw Tyrian to the bottom of the newly formed pit. Perhaps the lava wouldn't hurt a Wizard of flame, but the fall might...and who knows what happens when lava mixes with strange blue ooze.
Tyrian pouts as the eternal evades any serious consequences of his well-thought out spell yet again. It takes the vampire a few moments to notice the ever-growing chasm, but once he does, he halts his pouting and gets to running, in the opposite direction of course. Then, as the unknown creature pops into existence, the pyromancer gives a startled cry, running as fast as his pale legs will allow him to go. He proves a little fast for this one, but the hobbit is another story, as he was too busy peeking over his shoulder and runs right into the arms, and at this moment he is tossed into the chasm! The vampire's crimson eyes widen in shock and suprise, though he remains as calm as possible for someone who's dropping several feet toward a lava pit - which isn't very. His eyes dart about for anything that could be of use, and somehow, the entire room catches his attention. The flames, though now giving off no heat, are still dancing to unheard tunes about the walls, and the falling wizard gives an awkward gesture to them, calling out to them as if they're subborn children. Somehow, someway, they respond, the flames racing one by one, carrying bits of ooze with them, to hastily converge in a small space between Tyrian and utter doom in the pool of lava. It gets there just and time, and Tyrian lands right into the makeshift platform, which proves..elastic, much like a trampoline, probably due to the blue ooze. Just as he fell, he's launched upward, and lands not-so-gracefully upon what's left of the sewer floor, a brief 'oomph' leaving his lips. Groaning in slight pain, the pyromancer makes to his knees, where he raises his gaze to Cadence. Heaving a sigh, he closes his eyes again, dropping his head down, trying to devise a new spell. He fires off several plans, all too cliche, though he eventually settles on one. Rising to his feet, he peers down into the pit, giving another signal to the flames there. As expected, the follow quickly, rising to his command and out of the chasm, blue ooze in tow. They come to rest in his hands, leaving him with another clump of flaming blue ooze. The vampire's hands begin to contort it like clay, until its much like a ball yet again. Not having much stamina left to conjure anything else, he tosses the thing at the green man. The flames, which so obediently formed it, direct its course - it seems to be moving as Cadence does, to avoid any kind of evasion, and is heading straight toward his mouth! What would happen were blue ooze ingested? We might find out, should it not be thwarted..
Cadence tries to dodge the ball of fiery ooze, but realizes very quickly that he can't. Instead, he opens his mouth as wide as he can and swallows the ball of fire, trying to touch as little as possible of it with the sensitive skin of his mouth. The little green man turns blue, and looks quite ill. For a moment you think he might spew, but instead he spontaneously combusts, scattering bits and pieces of stomach-acid covered ooze all over the place. Each little piece of ooze gurgles and squirms as it grows larger. The first piece of ooze you notice, takes the shape of a big bad wolf wanting to blow you down. The next one is also a wolf, but it seems to want to eat you up. Next there is a purple dragonified Malificent, then Jafar, Ursula, an evil stepmother, a scarred lion wanting to throw you back down the chasm, a giant thinkng you look mighty tasty, two siamese cats, Cruela who seems to want to skin you, and then you start to lose track. All of these various villains seem to want to damage or maim you in different ways. Before long you are completely surrounded by evil blue ooze characters. One little blue blob sits in the corner, very slowly forming back into a bluish tinted Cadence, who still looks like he's going to spew.
Tyrian 's eyes widen as Cadence combusts, hoping he hasn't put an end to an eternal. He knows that's not likely, however, and it's confirmed as the blobs of ooze form into all sorts of storybook villains. Tyrian, himself, isn't sure what to do, being a simple vampiric wizard, he does the only thing that comes to mind - running, as fast as his legs can carry him. His stamina isn't what it was at the beginning of this little duel though, and he only gets so far, before he runs chest to chest with the big bad wolf. The vampire cringes, turning on his heel, but only in time to hear the wolf drawing a massive breath. Before he can take so much as a step, the torrential breath is expelled with quite some force, sending the vampiric wizard off his feet! Airborne he goes, flying clear across the chasm and right into the arms of the other villains. Wickedly they grin and chuckle, as most dastardly storybook antagonists would do, Cruela's knife in particular coming in for a swipe. It slices cleanly across the vampire's side, issuing a gasp and rivulets of blood that stream down his pale skin, and he tries to crawl away desperately, looking about for a way out of this nightmare. Then, like so many other times, the ooze comes to mind, which is still under the influence of his trusty flames. Giving a helpless gesture and wordless cry to them, Tyrian begs they assist him again, and they do. Just as Jafar in particular grasps his leg, the flaming ooze begins to fly toward all of the villains in play, growing and wrapping around them with great haste. Shaking his foot to get it away, Tyrian inches away from it all, only watching at what becomes of each captured villain. They all are whisked to just above the chasm, where they're properly disposed of one by one, being dropped into the lava. Oddly, as they all hit, the chasm seems to refill to its normal state somehow, and the ooze begins to plant itself upon the walls again, the flames giving a low hiss as they touch the walls, dying out. When all is quiet, the room looks much like it did when they started - no flame covered room, just blue ooze, and a still bleeding Tyrian, and the seemingly ill Cadence.
Tyrian!
Aelina vs. Nermal
Aelina perches herself on the left side of the bridge, up on the railing of course. She climbs down from Myliar's back, swatting the horsefly on the bum so that she flies off and away until needed. Her first spell comes quickly, tiny fingers pressing together at the tips as she speaks quickly. Her voice is high, and squeaks, as she's such a small creature, and most of what she says is in Sylvan, language of the Faye, no doubt. In an odd display of dancing, she pushes her left foot out, twirls around twice, and finishes the spell with her hands thrown up in the air, fingers wiggling. Just as she does so, a buzzing sound is heard. It's low at first, some distance away. But it's definately getting closer by the second. It grows louder, at least, to her, as she's so small just about anything is incredibly loud. Either way, the sound dips downwards, and then spreads out, the buzzing becoming all but silent, barely anything now heard on the wind. However, from behind Nermal, and underneath the bridge, a bunch of bees, looking to be about say, ten fuzzy black and yellow striped incects, come flying. There's something funny about these bees, though. They look like they're holding in magical little hands, daggers? And around their heads, they look like they're wearing little tiny black facemasks. Some more bees, from behind Aelina, and from Nermal's left and right both, head towards her. They look menacing, albeit it cute, and these assassin bees appear to believe Nermal is their latest kill...
Nermal 's eyes widen as such a vicious onslaught of assaasin bees surround her, and for a long moment stands paralyzed. This gives time for one of the tiny, dagger-wielding insects to stab her in the arm, and the little shapeshiftre squeaks and slaps at the insect. Finding herself horribly outnumbered, the little shapeshifter does the unthinkable! Up the railing of the bridge she climbs, and with little ceremony, jumps! Green light flickers about Nermal as she descends into the raging river. The light below the frothing waters is all that can be seen of the strange creature, as her spell commences, and the bees dive to their doom towards it. One after another, the flying assassins are swept away by the current, and an odd, but brief stillness lingers. A good sized geyser of water breaks this, and Nermal resurfaces! Or, what might be Nermal. It looks to be a literal flying fish! Scaly wings and gills beat in the wind, as she shoots high into the air, over the railing, and straight towards Aelina! Her mouth opens wide, and she fully intends to swallow the vulnerable Faye Queen!
Aelina pouts, mourning the death of her very adorable creations, as they are swept away by the river. A sigh is issued, and she watches, to see exactly what Nermal's plan at attack is. A squeal of surprise is issued forth, and her tiny eyes go wide at the sight of the fish. She does the first thing that comes to mind, muttering the Sylvan words of her spell quickly. There are no special movements to accompany this. Instead, Myliar sweeps downwards, scooping the tiny Magii upwards and out of the way. However, there is now a menacing group of bugs awaiting the arrival of Nermal. They are brown and yellow in color, eight legs like a spider. The front two legs, however, look to be oddly different. They have what look like pinchers! The flying fish that is Nermal, or may be Nermal, swallows those lovely crab spiders instead! Unfortunately for the transfiguration mage, those magical bugs instantly go to work. The four that it happened to swallow start pinching away at the insides of the fish, sure to be a hazard to the lovely creation! Whatever shall Nermal do?
Nermal gulps down one crab spider before she realizes it isn't Aelina, and flops to the ground, literally a fish out of water. She flips this way and that, more green light shimmering about her scaly body. Grayish skin soon replaces glimmering scales, and the fish's beautiful tail divides into a pair of heavy, stone legs, while the crabs pinch away. Nermal lets out a low, grumbling growl, and with a sweep of one stone hand, the golemifyed mage sweeps the irritating pests off of the bridge altogether, to join their relatives the bees in the river. With a grunt, the golem rises, immediately seeking Aelina. She eventually spots her, but instead of approaching, the golem opens her mouth and lets out a giant belch! How rude! Along with air, another object flies out of the creature's maw--what was formerly the swallowed crab spider. It is...oh no, an egg! Cracks appear along its shell, and a long, sinuous body breaks free. A snake, archenemy of insects everywhere, breaks free from the egg and darts through the air towards the faye. It will ensnare her if something isn't done soon!
Aelina screams in fear, the sound surprisingly loud for such a tiny creature. Anybody that's anybody knows that the snake is her most feared enemy of all! She nearly faints right then and there, except, she has a duel to finish! Amidst the hyperventilating, she orders Myliar to take her elsewhere, away from the snake. She knows that Myliar can only fly so fast, ands he can only avoid the creature for so long. And thusly, her creation of another bug is done. A sprinkle of Faye dust drops over the surface of the water, and the bug that she created, glows with an eery pink light for but a moment. And then, from the river, emerges the largest water bug anyone's ever seen. It's damned near the size of a dire creature! This large bug, it's abodomen filled with water, pushes it's wings outwards, flying up towards the unsuspsecting snake. In a quick movement, clawed limbs grab the snake, poisoned mouth biting hard on the snakes middle. And then, the bug drops back into the water, snake and all. Aelina cheers, from the back of Myliar, before calming in order to contemplate her next attack. She doesn't know many things that hurt stone objects, except, of course, other stones! She snaps her fingers, grinning at her newest idea. Her hands wave in front of her as she uses piece of Nermal's new image to create what's in her mind. And then! There's that annoying buzzing sound once more! From seemingly out of nowwhere, this swarm of flies comes. There's at least a hundred, if not two, they're so small! At first, they appear normal. But then, some of them start diving towards Nermal's stoney form, they're bodies all but going still. The others wait until they're over Nermal's golemfied form, before going motionless. And then, they drop, like rocks! These bonafide stone flies are very hard, like stone, and are intent on beating the golem right out of Nermal!
Nermal watches in dismay as her beloved creation is horribly maimed and swept away by the malicious insect. A single tear rolls down her cheek, and with a scowl the golemified mage of transfiguration stares at Aelina. Well, at first she stairs, until the tiny stone flies begin falling upon her. The golem lets out a roar of frustration, and begins swatting at the annoying, though unharmful creatures. Stone pelting stone accomplishes nothing other than mad arm flailing and cursing while she is continually pelted. The onslaught is so fierce that Nermal's concentration for her next spell is repeatedly broken. Green light again radiates around Nermal, howver this time it isn't her that changes, but the clinging insects. They let out tiny shrieks as they are swallowed, and thus transformed! Tiny bodies morph and grow, each turning into a very hungry hummingbird. The soft drone of these creatures fills the air, and they flee from drab Nermal to Aelina, who they seem to have mistaken for a very beautiful flower. Their sharp beaks are all aimed for various places on the Faye Queen's body, and they simaltaneously zoom her way. What's a poor faye to do?
Aelina practically breaks into tears as she hears the horrid shrieks that come from her beautiful flies. She covers her tiny ears, to hide the sounds, going wide-eyed at her bugs transformations. She squeals with delight, clapping her hands, until she sees they think she's their meal! She's got to think quick, and think quick she does! Another spell tumbles forth over tiny lips, Myliar's wings moving as fast as possible, to keep the tiny Queen away from danger. Finally, the spell is completed, and little colorful creations pop up everywhere, distracting the hummingbirds. They look at first, like regular, everyday flowers, but upon closer inspection, one would see they are moving, as if alive! Little petals dance in the wind, resembling the wings of a butterfly. In fact, they are butterflies! And these lovely creatures lead the hummingbirds on an intricate little chase, carrying both kinds of creatures away from Nermal and Aelina altogether. The little Faye removes herself from Myliar's back, landing back on the railing she started on, grinning.
Aelina!
Congrats to Sehari, Jaxom, Tyrian, and Aelina!