The first talon strike slides off the now wet ice, but the second forms more cracks, spreading deeper within the ice, though nothing drops out just yet.
Elthana inverts her gravity and heads up next to Hector. Recalling how crystal can resonate, she looks at the smooth ceiling that is now below her feet. The pair are a bit away from the ice-covered stairs, but she grabs hold of her dagger and using the hilt, she uses all her strength to bang the crystal ceiling, hoping that the reverberation knocks some of the ice out of the way.
Vin and Neferox have come to a similar conclusion as Elthana.
"I think you are right, Elthana. If we hit the crystal hard enough, it might dislodge the ice. Everyone move away, don't want it falling on anyone", he says, and does as he suggested himself.
Neferox then moves a little back, adjust her gravity so she can charge directly at the crystal, runs and barrels into it.
The smack from Elthana's dagger resonates out like a wave. The cylindrical shape of the chamber only increasing the vibration. Neferox times her charge and slams her whole body into the crystal too causing a resonant wave in the opposite direction. The vibrations are absorbed by the ice. Dulling the high pitched ringing. The cracks spread, a few chunks of ice fall, scattering onto the floor below...
Then it all comes down.
Ice chunks as large as boulders in their hundreds come shooting from the inverted stair case. The statues below shatter spreading frozen body parts flying. As the staircase is cleared and a way forward seems possible. The floor of the chamber has filled with ice, blocking the way you all came in.
Gewyn looks back at the shattered remains of those victims from the ice blast, his face an unreadable mask. Then he reaches up to scratch behind Spyro's head before finally turning and proceeding forward.
"Oops", Vin exclaims. "I guess at least no-one can follow us now", he adds, turning his attention from the floor below to the newly unblocked staircase.
When the ice chunks begin to cease and it seems no more will fall atpo you, the group makes way, further up the spire. Depending on your gravitational orientation, you make your way flying up, or walking down the uncovered stair case. Hector walks along the ceiling and descends the stairs on foot carful to avoid the rocky remains of the ice that is still stuck in several patches. The wind can be heard once more, possibly through the walls as the tundra rushes down from the tower outside, possibly a warning as to what is next...
As if in answer to the ingering question, you all make your way out of the stair and find another circular room. The wind is present here too, it seems to be over head and not strongly blowing in one direction, chunks of ice and crystal float in circles high toward the ceiling, you see damage to the walls where the crystal had come from and the holes in the walls show you that the blizzard still rages out there. In the middle of the room is a massive ice pillar, it branches out like the branches toward the top, and within the translucent matter you see a large humanoid, fully encapsulated and unmoving like the statues you saw previously.
"Ok, that isn't good. Do we think he is the cause of this, or another victim?", Vin says as he floats into the circular room, though staying near the stairs.
"What about dispelling whatever magic this is?", he says looking to Muir and Gewyn, wondering if they can do that.
"shit!" Hector states over the din of the wind as he observes the scene, "can anyone tell from this distance if he's still alive?" His worried stare then moves from gojiin to the whirling debris up by the ceiling.
Surprised more by Hector's outburst then by the frozen humanoid in front of them, Elthana then moves closer to it to try and ascertain if he is alive or not.
Not being able to tell by looking, the shadow elf casts Spare the Dying to see if she can feel anything when connecting to him through the ice.
As Elthana moves forward a portion of the debris above swirls together faster and comes hurling thought the air toward her. (Make a DC 16 Dex save, 11 bludgeoning on a fail)
The din crescendos, wind coalesces forming from where the debris was thrown and flying down to the ground a large air elemental appears ready to attack.
Realization hits Elthana and her whole demeanor changes, she slumps. Turning to Hector she shakes her head, not being able to say that the dijiin is in fact dead. Was this whole mission a waste of their time? Can they still complete their mission without this one? She hopes it isn't the tipping point. Even with this realization, she easily dodges the debris that was aimed at her.
Turning towards the air elemental, she focuses on that, hating the thoughts that are swirling around in her head. She draws her blade and charges the thing.
Gewyn observes the look pass between Hector and Elthana. Not good. He sets his shoulders and takes a deep breath. "We need him, right?" His back itches. He holds out his hands before him and looks down at them, as if measuring the balance between life and death. "Cover me. Spyro, you know what to do" The dragon nods, and the air around him begins to shimmer with heat as the flowers of his body and wings turn crimson.
Then Gewyn flies toward the pillar, peering closely at the figure within, looking for something.
As Elthana makes her second swing, she feels heat under her palms, and her weapon glows with flame
Spyro reaction: Infused Strike (Adds 7 fire damage to Elthana's second attack)
Before Vin gets any reply to his questions, things get worse as the storm overhead seems to manifest corporeal form and attacks Elthana.
When Gewyn asks them to cover him, he reacts instantly, firing off a couple of beams of crackling energy at the whirlwind, hoping to use his control to obliterate it.
Neferox keeps her ground, and scans the area for other threats, ready to protect Vin if needed.
Vin
Action: Eldritch Blast the whirlwind Blast 1 - To Hit: 18+10=28, Damage: 9+6=15 [force] - on hit pushed up to 10 feet away in a straight line Blast 2 - To Hit: 1+10=11
Neferox
Action: Ready Multiattack against anything to comes to attack Vin
To Elthana's surprise her ki blade flares with Fae fire as spyro dives down toward her to assist. Both her strikes manage to damage the torrent of ice and wind forming in front of her.
Gewyn flies over landing upon the treelike transparent pillar containing the djiin and observes some cracks forming in the ice. The djiin remains motionless, lifeless, and contained.
Vin in the air throws his bolts out, blasting at the whirlwind and throwing it 10ft in the opposite direction. The mass warbles and threatens to lose it's tether to existence but remains steadfast. (Bloodied)
Neferox watches the ceiling ready and notes more whirlwinds forming, she moves to cover Vin, her feet flaming as she positions herself over him.
Muir positioning himself a little further away from the active hostile manages to blast at the whirlwind as it remains composure in it's new position. The ice within it now melted it is comprised only of wind.
Hector moves toward Elthana, regardless of her preferences in this moment he positions himself between her and danger, his fingers elongating in necrotic undead claws. Lashing out at the whirlwind he hits twice but the physical damage he should do takes no effect. Instead the after effects of his touch begin to fester in the air. (28 to hit, 12 slashing halved to 6, + 13 necrotic). A putrid smell gets caught in the whirlwind and it falters more but only just hangs on retaliating directly against hector. It slams at him twice, (10 miss, 23 to hit, 19 thunder dam) and then it moves into his space. Hector immediately is taken up into the air, buffeted around and thrown 20ft toward the door, he lands prone his body sprawled out in the ice covered crystal floor but he raises a thumb to gesture that he's ok! (failed str save 7, takes 18 additional Thunder dam)
Three more whirlwinds form above, moving fast. One flies down to Gewyn, but not only to him, but occupying the same space as him, it buffets and bludgeons the bard but the damage that Gewyn should have sustained seems to miss him completely out of sheet luck.(nat one on first attack, loses its second.) Being within an air elemental provides its own problems though as Gewyn feels his fingers slipping from the ice pillar (DC 13 strength save, taking 24 thunder damage and being thrown 20ft away from the pillar on a fail, half dam on success)
The second newest whirlwind stops next to Neferox, seemingly uninterested in her as she has not attacked or approached anything yet, it focuses fire on Vin provoking her ire but it attacks nonetheless (13 and 11 to hit, both miss vin)
The last heads toward Muir. Lashing out impotently (NAT one again! Loses its attacks)
Gewyn watches, and the group hears, as the whirlwinds take damage the cracks in the pillar deepen. For now bit enough to reach the djiin inside. The wind roars and the temperature numbs the extremities whist you try to fight on.
"Well that was underwhelming", Vin says a little disappointedly. "Anyone got any other ideas? Brute force seems to be better than heat", he adds.
He looks to Neferox and those perceptive enough might spot the tell-tale signs that they are communicating telepathically.
Muir not wanting to drop the wildshape decides to slash at the ice with his talons once again.
The first talon strike slides off the now wet ice, but the second forms more cracks, spreading deeper within the ice, though nothing drops out just yet.
Elthana inverts her gravity and heads up next to Hector. Recalling how crystal can resonate, she looks at the smooth ceiling that is now below her feet. The pair are a bit away from the ice-covered stairs, but she grabs hold of her dagger and using the hilt, she uses all her strength to bang the crystal ceiling, hoping that the reverberation knocks some of the ice out of the way.
Vin and Neferox have come to a similar conclusion as Elthana.
"I think you are right, Elthana. If we hit the crystal hard enough, it might dislodge the ice. Everyone move away, don't want it falling on anyone", he says, and does as he suggested himself.
Neferox then moves a little back, adjust her gravity so she can charge directly at the crystal, runs and barrels into it.
Damage: 15
Muir scoots back letting them do their sciencey crystal thing
The smack from Elthana's dagger resonates out like a wave. The cylindrical shape of the chamber only increasing the vibration. Neferox times her charge and slams her whole body into the crystal too causing a resonant wave in the opposite direction. The vibrations are absorbed by the ice. Dulling the high pitched ringing. The cracks spread, a few chunks of ice fall, scattering onto the floor below...
Then it all comes down.
Ice chunks as large as boulders in their hundreds come shooting from the inverted stair case. The statues below shatter spreading frozen body parts flying. As the staircase is cleared and a way forward seems possible. The floor of the chamber has filled with ice, blocking the way you all came in.
Gewyn looks back at the shattered remains of those victims from the ice blast, his face an unreadable mask. Then he reaches up to scratch behind Spyro's head before finally turning and proceeding forward.
"Oops", Vin exclaims. "I guess at least no-one can follow us now", he adds, turning his attention from the floor below to the newly unblocked staircase.
"Who wants to lead the way?".
Muir looks down and screeches flapping his wings in the direction of the crushed folks and flies on with Gewyn
When the ice chunks begin to cease and it seems no more will fall atpo you, the group makes way, further up the spire. Depending on your gravitational orientation, you make your way flying up, or walking down the uncovered stair case. Hector walks along the ceiling and descends the stairs on foot carful to avoid the rocky remains of the ice that is still stuck in several patches. The wind can be heard once more, possibly through the walls as the tundra rushes down from the tower outside, possibly a warning as to what is next...
As if in answer to the ingering question, you all make your way out of the stair and find another circular room. The wind is present here too, it seems to be over head and not strongly blowing in one direction, chunks of ice and crystal float in circles high toward the ceiling, you see damage to the walls where the crystal had come from and the holes in the walls show you that the blizzard still rages out there. In the middle of the room is a massive ice pillar, it branches out like the branches toward the top, and within the translucent matter you see a large humanoid, fully encapsulated and unmoving like the statues you saw previously.
"Ok, that isn't good. Do we think he is the cause of this, or another victim?", Vin says as he floats into the circular room, though staying near the stairs.
"What about dispelling whatever magic this is?", he says looking to Muir and Gewyn, wondering if they can do that.
"shit!" Hector states over the din of the wind as he observes the scene, "can anyone tell from this distance if he's still alive?" His worried stare then moves from gojiin to the whirling debris up by the ceiling.
Surprised more by Hector's outburst then by the frozen humanoid in front of them, Elthana then moves closer to it to try and ascertain if he is alive or not.
Not being able to tell by looking, the shadow elf casts Spare the Dying to see if she can feel anything when connecting to him through the ice.
As Elthana moves forward a portion of the debris above swirls together faster and comes hurling thought the air toward her. (Make a DC 16 Dex save, 11 bludgeoning on a fail)
The din crescendos, wind coalesces forming from where the debris was thrown and flying down to the ground a large air elemental appears ready to attack.
Realization hits Elthana and her whole demeanor changes, she slumps. Turning to Hector she shakes her head, not being able to say that the dijiin is in fact dead. Was this whole mission a waste of their time? Can they still complete their mission without this one? She hopes it isn't the tipping point. Even with this realization, she easily dodges the debris that was aimed at her.
Turning towards the air elemental, she focuses on that, hating the thoughts that are swirling around in her head. She draws her blade and charges the thing.
Attack 1: 24, Damage 9
Attack 2: 30, Damage 14
Gewyn observes the look pass between Hector and Elthana. Not good. He sets his shoulders and takes a deep breath. "We need him, right?" His back itches. He holds out his hands before him and looks down at them, as if measuring the balance between life and death. "Cover me. Spyro, you know what to do" The dragon nods, and the air around him begins to shimmer with heat as the flowers of his body and wings turn crimson.
Then Gewyn flies toward the pillar, peering closely at the figure within, looking for something.
As Elthana makes her second swing, she feels heat under her palms, and her weapon glows with flame
Spyro reaction: Infused Strike (Adds 7 fire damage to Elthana's second attack)
Gewyn Perception check: 25
Before Vin gets any reply to his questions, things get worse as the storm overhead seems to manifest corporeal form and attacks Elthana.
When Gewyn asks them to cover him, he reacts instantly, firing off a couple of beams of crackling energy at the whirlwind, hoping to use his control to obliterate it.
Neferox keeps her ground, and scans the area for other threats, ready to protect Vin if needed.
Vin
Action: Eldritch Blast the whirlwind
Blast 1 - To Hit: 18+10=28, Damage: 9+6=15 [force] - on hit pushed up to 10 feet away in a straight line
Blast 2 - To Hit: 1+10=11
Neferox
Action: Ready Multiattack against anything to comes to attack Vin
Muir drops his vultured state figuring flying towards an air elemental as a bird was not the best use of his talents.
He stands behind Neferox and Vincent letting loose a tiny flame streaking towards the air elemental
Hit: Nat 20 Dam 25
To Elthana's surprise her ki blade flares with Fae fire as spyro dives down toward her to assist. Both her strikes manage to damage the torrent of ice and wind forming in front of her.
Gewyn flies over landing upon the treelike transparent pillar containing the djiin and observes some cracks forming in the ice. The djiin remains motionless, lifeless, and contained.
Vin in the air throws his bolts out, blasting at the whirlwind and throwing it 10ft in the opposite direction. The mass warbles and threatens to lose it's tether to existence but remains steadfast. (Bloodied)
Neferox watches the ceiling ready and notes more whirlwinds forming, she moves to cover Vin, her feet flaming as she positions herself over him.
Muir positioning himself a little further away from the active hostile manages to blast at the whirlwind as it remains composure in it's new position. The ice within it now melted it is comprised only of wind.
Hector moves toward Elthana, regardless of her preferences in this moment he positions himself between her and danger, his fingers elongating in necrotic undead claws. Lashing out at the whirlwind he hits twice but the physical damage he should do takes no effect. Instead the after effects of his touch begin to fester in the air. (28 to hit, 12 slashing halved to 6, + 13 necrotic). A putrid smell gets caught in the whirlwind and it falters more but only just hangs on retaliating directly against hector. It slams at him twice, (10 miss, 23 to hit, 19 thunder dam) and then it moves into his space. Hector immediately is taken up into the air, buffeted around and thrown 20ft toward the door, he lands prone his body sprawled out in the ice covered crystal floor but he raises a thumb to gesture that he's ok! (failed str save 7, takes 18 additional Thunder dam)
Three more whirlwinds form above, moving fast. One flies down to Gewyn, but not only to him, but occupying the same space as him, it buffets and bludgeons the bard but the damage that Gewyn should have sustained seems to miss him completely out of sheet luck.(nat one on first attack, loses its second.) Being within an air elemental provides its own problems though as Gewyn feels his fingers slipping from the ice pillar (DC 13 strength save, taking 24 thunder damage and being thrown 20ft away from the pillar on a fail, half dam on success)
The second newest whirlwind stops next to Neferox, seemingly uninterested in her as she has not attacked or approached anything yet, it focuses fire on Vin provoking her ire but it attacks nonetheless (13 and 11 to hit, both miss vin)
The last heads toward Muir. Lashing out impotently (NAT one again! Loses its attacks)
Gewyn watches, and the group hears, as the whirlwinds take damage the cracks in the pillar deepen. For now bit enough to reach the djiin inside. The wind roars and the temperature numbs the extremities whist you try to fight on.