[EVENT] Acher's Attack on Enghelab

[zenderael_mods]

Who: Everyone! Remember, if you're in the Nenakret on Wednesday, you can't be here on Wednesday, at least until later.
When: Wednesday the 28th.
Where: Enghelab/Las Vegas
Before/After: During the parade.
Warnings: Violence, TBA.

This is a general purpose post for Acher's attack on Enghelab. Note what day your thread occurs in the subject line, in case this takes several IC days.

Comments

[paladont]

While Ravi was not nearly as fragile as most healers, he also wasn't any more durable than most melee DPS. An attack like that definitely posed a significant threat. But combat was the one thing he didn't second-guess himself on, so he was already evaluating his options in the split-second available to him.

Shield of Light probably wouldn't hold, a stone elemental throwing stones qualified as a magic attack. Didn't want to try to take it, even a glancing blow off his shield might be enough to break his arm. Dodge it was, then.

Ravi's assassin upbringing had left him much more agile and quick than one expected of a paladin, but certainly not faster than a speed-buffed Vairya. He had barely shifted his weight for a dodge roll when Tai Feng blurred through the battlefield, yanking the stone off its trajectory and into Acher.

Well that took care of that.

He didn't allow himself the pause for that to sink in. Defense no longer needed, he refocused his attention on the rest of the battle. A quick heal for Victor, to give him the energy to get back on his feet and keep tanking, and then--well, someone had to take care of this fucking elemental.

The thing about Akhilendra and Ravindra having merged was that they now had all of the other's skillset strengths. Ravindra's quick spellcasting combined with Akhi's broader assortment of attack spells. Righteous Fury was normally not a good emergency skill because its cast time could be unwieldy. That was no longer true. Two seconds and a wave of holy light slammed into the elemental, knocking it back into the wall it had emerged from.

[fearnoreproach]

Acher punched his fist out to the side, burning warhound's blood to strike into the stone missile. It cracked apart, dust and stone shards flying every which way when he did. He turned his head, looking back over his shoulder at Manservant, and then he looked back at Victor quickly. He had no room for distractions.

His sword took time to bring back up. He lifted it with one hand, then moved forward, swinging his fist out at Victor's face with a quick jab. It was a distracting blow, rather than one of the crushingly dangerous ones that he had been relying on.

The elemental, in the meantime, slammed into the wall. Parts of the wall had already been weakened -- the matter taken from the wall to make its body up -- so the wall shuddered and collapsed around it. The huge thing pushed out of the rubble, hurling a chunk of stone into the air and up at Tai Feng, before looking down at Ravi.

Its eyes blazed a challenge with their yellow glow.

[pulledunder]

Pain subsided with the heal, and so did fear. Victor wasn't alone this time. He could do something this time, and he didn't have to stay purely on the defensive. He wasn't sure he could afford to now that the elemental had joined them.

Victor burst back to his feet, buckler taking Acher's fist, and the lack of power behind it filling him with false confidence. His chains were still ready, lashing for Acher's rising sword.

Taunting was an awkward art while bound to the truth. Pointed questions may have no been lies on a technicality, but most required a dishonest thought to spark them, and then they could be warped away from being a direct accusation. Victor could only think of what sounded initially honest, and most of that didn't offend Acher any longer. Then again, being honestly Victor had, often, proved taunting enough.

"Acher, this is done." Even if Acher managed to kill the three of them, Victor couldn't believe he wouldn't fall soon after. "Put down your sword. Come back with me."

He expected Acher would swing again, and Victor to burst with a paladin's change in the other direction, thinking the force and speed, along with Acher's momentum, might be enough to pull Acher off balance and onto his face. If Acher didn't swing again, it was back to scrambling to keep intact.

[howl_typhoon]

Tai Feng's brilliant redirection came to an abrupt end!? She watched a little stunned as Acher punched his own elemental's stone to debris. Still, it freed up her wires, and she yanked them back in to start winding up for her next volley. She touched down on the edge of an electrical pole, sticking for an improbable few seconds to watch and regain her strength. She had the ability to stay high and she liked her odds up here better than trying to go toe-to-toe with Smashy and the Rockman down there, at least for the moment. She jerked her wrists, a heavy weight on a wire dangling from each wrist. She had a few knives, now, but it seemed like the weights would work better against a man in super-heavy armor and a rock monster.

She shot into the air, figuring the elemental pounded by Ravi's strike. BUT NO! Her eyes caught the stone coming at her, big enough to splat her. With her own speed and Ravi's boost, in her own mind the thing seemed almost to crawl along through sludge, giving her ample time to plan her move. She threw out arms and legs in a spread eagle, bending her back to narrowly sweep her profile out of the stone's path - she watched it go, feeling the whip of the air against her nose as it barely missed her.

She finished her flip, feet impacting the stone with intent to shove off. Again, magic fired through her senses, slowing the world to stillness for her.

Below her, Acher had his sword bound up by Bristol, who he was engaged with fiercely. Bristol needed support, she could see that. The other paladin, Ravi wasn't it?, was trying to do that while also being harrassed by the elemental. She could see from Ravi's stance - and from the fact that he'd just blasted the elemental clear into a stone wall - that he could fight well enough, so it was picking her angle. Man, another hand in this would be great. No wonder CJ always said boss groups were supposed to have at least five!

Ultimately, her choice was made by Bristol; he'd just asked Acher to stand down, and although she fully expected that to fail, swooping in in the middle of it didn't seem cool. She'd go pound Acher if he turned it down.

From the outside perspective, it was seamless; Tai Feng narrowly evaded certain pulverization, tagged the edge of the thrown rock for less than a heartbeat, and then pinged off it with fist drawn back, her gauntlet glowing with a defense-breaking punch attack she promptly drove right toward what passed for the elemental's neck.

[paladont]

This was a much smaller group than Ravindra was accustomed to supporting for. He had been a raid healer, with a skillset built around healing multiple targets at once, and precious few attack abilities to keep himself alive on his own. Usually, if something was attacking him, something had gone very wrong.

Akhilendra, however, had spent most of his career healing for groups of five or less. If all you had was one tank, one DPS, and one healer, it was inevitable that the healer might end up needing to defend themselves at some point. So it was Akhilendra's instincts that took over now, keeping an eye on the fighters but focusing his attention on the elemental. A smite this time, a slash of white slamming into its chest, just enough to delay it from doing whatever it had been intending.

And that should buy enough time to get another Righteous Fury out, right after it took Tai Feng's hit.

OOPS SORRY

[fearnoreproach]

Acher fell for Victor's stunt. He smashed up into Victor's body, face close to his. His eyes went wide -- he stared in confusion for a moment, briefly thrown off guard. "You know that is not how this ends, Bristol!" he bellowed, before he pushed himself back -- but his reach was off, his sword arm over Victor's shoulder.

Meanwhile, the elemental stumbled backward; Ravindra's Righteous Fury blew back some pebbles and dust, causing the thing to stumble. The damage was not great, but the stumbling had a real effect.

It set the elemental up for Tai Feng.

She smashed into the side of the elemental. Her weight wasn't enough to bow it over; her punch still cracks open the monster's rocky flesh, sending dust and rubble airborne. The thing stumbles, then swings up a huge hand, trying to swat Tai Feng off it.

FORGIVEN

[pulledunder]

There was no need to hold back. Going all out hadn't killed Acher before. It wouldn't kill him now. Victor had to throw in everything while he had the chance.

His shield lit up with holy light, and so did the rest of his body. He burned through his mana, breath caught and tense from the hot pulse in his veins. With a swing of his shield, light flashed and lingered, blinding Victor, but he already knew where and how he wanted to move. He used his shield to get just enough distance to maneuver his sword, charged forward on a streak of light, and engulfed his blade with a smite to drive it into Acher.

[howl_typhoon]

Tai Feng was pretty light overall; strong, for a 15 year old, but it was all wire, and the gear didn't add that much. Minimum weight, quite intentionally.

Point being that she wasn't expecting to send it flying with that hit, not without her knockback strike on it. The stumble earned a grin, but then it was snapping up at her; stuck in midair, all she could do for that one was brace herself.

A pained "AUGH!" bubbled out of her throat from the hit, the lightweight young woman knocked flying backward. Her reflexes kicked in halfway; she flipped end-over-end, eyes flashing a glare at the elemental as her head flipped forward. But hanging in midair, she focused again, magic sparking through her thoughts as the world ground to a halt. Acher and Bristol in an exchange. Acher was off-balance, but she could do something there. That hit had HURT, but she was still good. Probably. It might be more like she wasn't taking the time to think about what exactly was hurting, right now. The elemental...

Ravi seemed like he could handle himself for a minute.

Time resumed and she was already moving; "Be back!" she chimed, somewhere between a taunt and a warning, then thrusting her hands down, coming down on her palms, then springing backward. She flung her arms back, spotted a light pole that still looked grounded, snapped two weighted wires at it, and then momentum imparted by the hit itself saw her swing back down and around it, driving her at speed toward Acher's back. Her legs crackled with a stunning debuff as she pushed her weight and energy into Acher's spine. She glanced over-shoulder, briefly checking on Bristol. With her mobility, she figured she had a certain responsibility to judge where she was needed at a given moment.

And then she kicked off, hoping to shoot across the field to go clobber the elemental some more.