The Sand Lives (QUEST)

[Konaa]

Hurtling to the ground, he made a smooth landing on both feet and gazed up at the monster. One whirlwind had done nothing but blind it, but HIS had been far more effective. The monster had taken massive damage from his attack. And underneath the sand what should appear but a large purple core, an obvious weakpoint.

The spires had begun to shoot spikes in earnest, but Myone was unafraid. Once again summoning the power of wind to his feet, he dashed at the monster, and ran directly up its leg, onto the top of one of the spires. He would end this, now.

[prythian]

The three avoided taking damage from the spikes easily enough, and the creature realized this attack had failed as well. However, it failed to see the incoming attack from Kass until it was too late. The bird struck the purple core directly, and a large cracking sound was heard. Outward from the point of impact, cracks spiderwebbed across the core, light bursting from the cracks as the head stood very still. The purple core exploded in a shockwave, knocking Kass back into a spire, but the damage to the head was far more dramatic and permanent.

The head dissolved into a mass of sand, falling to the ground and blowing away in the wind. The transformation traveled up the neck and stopped once it reached the body, but the sand continued falling from that point, as if the creature was bleeding. The remaining three heads shrieked in anger and pain. A large shockwave blasted outwards from the shell, knocking Crovo and Maedra off the shell and through the air. Large spires began shooting off the shell and hitting the ground point first, thudding deep into the sand.


Generic Reaction Commands:

Dune Landing (Land safely on the sand in a dune)
Spire Jump (Make long jumps and runs across flying spires to try and make it back to the monster, can be used same post as Dune Landing)
Spire Jump 2 (Myone only this post! Available next post to those that use Spire Jump. Land on the shell again, which is now smooth and clear of spires)


((Sorry guys, no customized reaction commands this time. Freestyle or something? I dunno.))

[High's .Valentine.]

Kass bounced back as soon as his beak contacted and pierced through the purple shell. His prediction had been correct, however, his victory was cut short as a giant blast of wind slammed into his feathered body, violently slamming the giant raven back into one of the spires with a sickening smack. The bird’s fate remained unknown as it fell down the length of the spire, momentarily stunned by the hit.

Crovo on the other hand, received the same treatment. A gust of wind hit the red haired man and with a cry of surprise, the thin man was lifted off his feet and tossed over the edge of the shell. His bird mask askew, Crovo ripped the thing off of his face, his hair getting in his eyes as he fell from the ridiculous height. Then the spires began shooting down, free falling before thudding into the sand. One of the spires fell towards Crovo’s direction. Without his summon to help save him, Crovo could only depend on himself. He wasn’t that entirely useless—or so he would like to think.

Righting himself, Crovo hopped onto the spire, running up the length of it before wobbly jumping onto another spire. Up along that long pillar he went, where he found out that there were no more to jump on. His eyes wide with surprise, Crovo scrambled for a few second in mid air before gravity reclaimed the man. He might be nicknamed the ‘Bird Man’, but acrobatics and flight was not part of the gene.

Down Crovo went, shrieking and clawing at nothing in particular. Before he could go ker-splat on the dunes, a black shadow zipped down into the dune beneath him, melting into the sand. A large cage erupted from the ground, engulfing the screaming man. Seconds later, Crovo was sitting on the dune, dazed and confused—not to mention his life’s just been shortened by a few years—with a limping raven standing calmly next to him. Perfect landing.

[aleX]

Maedra was still surrounded in flame as he was launched off of the creature. He blinked a few times in rapid succession, trying to make the fire clear more quickly. He did just in time too, as he started tumbling towards the sand, he regained his composure and landed on a dune.

He slipped down about a meter, but he was able to regain his footing and pull out Satan's Fetters. He took a couple deep breaths, allowing rage to surge through his body, enhancing the power of the flame. He closed his eyes, took one more breath and then his lids flew back up.

His pupils began to glow in shades of red and orange, and his body temperature began to rise quickly. Flames surrounded his wrists and spread down to the chains. Once they had covered the weapons completely, Maedra charged the beast.

He whipped out both of his chains, stiffening the 18 ends with raw power. He shouted while watching the metal strike the stone creature.

[Konaa]

One of the other warriors had dealt the core a huge blow, causing a spiderweb of cracks to break out over the monster. One of the heads was completely destroyed. A shockwave blasted his allies away, but missed him because of his high position. Quickly, he leaped from the spire he was standing on towards the now smooth shell, landing safely. He was ready for the beast's next move.

[prythian]

For some reason, the spires hadn't seemed to be the attack the monster was going for. As Myone landed on the shell, the three remaining heads cried out in a remarkably human tone, voices entwining together in a strange mournful song. They paused, waiting for something to happen, ignoring Maedra's attack, which didn't do any damage and barely reached up the leg at all.

The spires fell to the ground, jutting out of the sand. As the song twisted around them, cracks appeared in them. They began melting, the stone that formed them flowing into another shape. Soon, there were four-legged creatures, shaped like Behemoth Heartless. Lightning blasted from them towards Crovo and Maedra.

Meanwhile, the creature was intent on the fight below. Myone was left alone on top of the shell.

((Sorry, guys, my mind is in a funk. I can't come up with reaction commands right now.))

[High's .Valentine.]

“Wah!” Crovo squealed [yes, squealed] and ducked for cover while Kass took a rather large hop to the side to avoid the lightning. The raven squawked at Crovo, as if telling him to pull himself together and save his own butt for once. The red haired man grumbled, spitting grit out of his mouth and reached into the voluminous folds of his shirt sleeves and pulled out two palm sized daggers. Barely enough to penetrate the Behemoth’s skin, no doubt, but it was the only thing Crovo had handy aside from Kass. Addy [betcha forgot about her] tumbled out of Crovo’s shirt, disoriented from all of the tossing and turning the man went through. It was a miracle he had not squashed the poor thing yet. Picking Addy up, Crovo slipped her into a stiff pouch attached to his waist where there should be enough room for the bird.

Tossing his hands up as if in a sign of defeat, Crovo was suddenly swept off of his feet by a black blur. Flying towards the Behemoth closest to them, Crovo was deftly tossed onto the beast’s head, narrowly avoiding the single dark horn of the monster. “Watch it!” The man shook his fist at his summon as he began to slip off the moving colossal, who realized that there was an intruder riding atop its head. In his desperation, Crovo slammed his two daggers into the Behemoth’s purple skin, hoping to create some kind of friction or if he was lucky, a firm hold. As useless as ever, of course.

Above them, Kass once again dived down on the behemoth just as he had done with the turtle's head. Like a drill, the bird twirled and dug into the behemoth's head with its razor beak, close to the base of the black horn.

[aleX]

Maedra grew frustrated when he noticed that his attack had little effect. Fueling the rage already inside him, his eyes burned more intensely and the fire surrounding Satan's Fetters increased. Despite being blinded, he was able to hear the odd sound of these new creatures. He spun around to face what he had hoped was one of the monsters and lashed out with the fetters, not bothering to stiffen the ends, but rather cracking them like a whip. He listened for something, anything - a sign of an impact.

[Konaa]

He had no eyes but those for his enemy. Reaching one hand up, he slowly drew out one of his gleaming katanas, the desert sun reflecting brightly off the silver blade. Myone raised it to the skies, calling the storm to once again grace this dry land. A bolt of lightning flew down, striking the shell right next where he was standing. With hopes that the armor was now weakened, Myone plunged his katana into the area the bolt struck.

[prythian]

The lightning Myone summoned struck the shell, leaving a scorch mark, but the stone repelled the katana that Myone brought down. It appeared that the weak points for the monster were not on the main shell, which was where Myone was currently standing. The heads twisted on their necks to peer at Myone, and opened their mouths. Three large beams of purple energy shot at Myone.

Meanwhile, Crovo's knifes didn't penetrate the tough skin of the Behemoth at all. Fortunately, Maedra's fetters blasted outwards and wrapped around the horn of the Behemoth, shredding it. The creature moaned, falling to the ground and dissolving back into sand. Crovo was left physically unharmed in the middle of the sand, but another Behemoth behind him was charging, horn held downwards.

Kass, meanwhile, was successful in his attack. The strike destroyed the horn, knocking it off, and the Behemoth he attacked dissolved. It appeared the Behemoths were not as powerful as true Behemoth Heartless.

Reaction Commands:

Maedra: Satanic Fury: (Go on a frenzy attacking Behemoths with your whips)

Myone: Dodge Roll: (Dodge the beams by rolling away)

Crovo: Dodge Jump: (Flip upwards onto the charging Behemoth's back)

Double Reaction Command! Crovo/Maedra!
Chained Behemoth: (Kass knocks Maedra onto the Behemoth, Crovo jumps up onto the Behemoth as well, Maedra loops the chain whip around its tusks. Temporarily gain control of a Behemoth!)

[High's .Valentine.]

Slump!

Crovo landed in the sand, as softly as a mother plopping their naughty child into bed. It seems he just might come out of this whole mess with all his limbs and organs intact. That was a small relief. But of course, reliefs come and go like indecisive lovers. It’s always wishy and washy with them. As soon as he had a sense of his surrounding, he was bombarded with another attack. A giant whatchamacallit charging right towards his beacon like red head.

A few yards before it could reach Crovo though, Kass went into action. Sighting the other warrior who had gotten tied into this mess, the bird dived towards him at top speed. Head butting the man, the crow seemed to use its head as a spring, tossing the man up several feet into the air and right towards the charging behemoth. Maedra would need to lasso his chains around the horn in order to avoid missing the intended target. At the same time, Crovo got his butt moving, standing his ground and waiting for the heartless to charge right into him. At the last second, he dodged to the left and grabbed onto one of its lowered tusk that it had intended to use to pierce the Bird Man. He hung on awkwardly, bouncing along as if he was riding on a mad bull.

The behemoth raised its head, and Crovo slipped along the length of the tusk, now upright and raised, safely approaching the head of the monster. It would be harder for the creature to try and tear Crovo to pieces now that he was hanging onto the thing itself. All the while, he had a new buddy to ride out this torment with. Crovo, never one to make friends, decided right then at that moment, that if both he and the man riding the purple monster survives, then he had just found himself a new best friend.

“The horn is the weak spot!” Crovo shouted at the man, almost slipping when the monster bucked, trying to rid itself of the two insistent bugs on its back. Despite all the whining and groaning and squealing, Crovo was trained to observe, since most of the physical work was dealt by his summon, he was the brain of the bird and the man. Pointing at a nearby behemoth that had closed in, Crovo indicated that they should charge at that one. If the man could control the thing, that is.

In the meanwhile, hopefully the two will have created enough of a distraction to steal the attention from the giant crow. It seemed to have became suspended in mid air, multiple feet above the hubbub below. Kass began to spin…

As the wind picked up, Crovo looked up at his summon. Around him, the shadows seemed to groan as slowly, they were tugged from their resting spot. The wind did little to disorient the huge monster, battering them needlessly with sand. Turning, Crovo bellowed, “Duck when I tell you to, but keep driving!”

[aleX]

Maedra's vision came back in an instant as something crashed into him from behind. Startled for only a moment, he realized what was going on and got back into the action. Listening only vaguely to the shouts behind him, he whipped out both chains at the same time, sending a firey pulse to the ends, causing them to latch on to the beast's horn.

He pulled each chain together, then whipped them apart as the beast got closer. He was thrown further into the air, allowing him to flip over and land on the strange creature. One foot landed awkwardly on it's shoulder and a shooting pain could be felt all the way to his thigh.

The jarring of being on the thing allowed his leg to fall to the correct side, with Maedra finally straddling the thing. He tightened the chains around the horn so that he could have more room to work with and he began to steer the beast to and fro. When ever it got out of control, he sent another shot of fire down the chains and into the horn.

He heard another shout behind him, telling him to duck when he got the word. He gave a sharp nod and leaned forward, urging the beast to go faster, charging at another of the creatures.

Just before the collision, Maedra's eyes turned red and suddenly the two men and the beast were surrounded by flame.

A large ball of fire with a horn sticking out was charging at another of the creatures. Oh my.

[Konaa]

His attack had done little to damage the rock hard shell. It was clear that another point of attack would be necessary. As Myone looked up, he saw three of the heads rear at him, firing purple beams of energy. What a futile attempt. He rolled forwards, easily avoiding the foolish beast's attacks. He looked up in time to see his fellows destroying heartless on the ground. He had to make the difference while he was up here, or this battle would last forever...

[prythian]

There was an explosion as the two Behemoths collided, and both Crovo and Maedra were knocked clear, singed but still alive. The two Behemoths were now nothing but more sand piles in a desert, these having chunks of glass in them from the heat of the fire. The explosion had made large shadows appear behind each of the six remaining Behemoths, these shadows getting pulled and going to Kass.

Meanwhile, the large beams shot through the air where Myone had been. Two of the beams collided, exploding in a large gust of wind and fire, but the remaining one was reflected back by the explosion into the head that fired it. That head shook as if clearing its mind, and the rock on top of it made a loose clattering noise.

((No Reaction Commands, just advice: The plate on one head is now loose, Myone. Fire may add more shadows to strengthen Kass's attack, Maedra. And Crovo, your knifes may be more useful than you think.))

[High's .Valentine.]

“Duck!” Crovo cried and grabbed the other man, who was just a bit taller than him, and tugged them both towards a sand dune created by the wild winds. Above them, Kass had grown twice in size and looked liked a supercharged sea-urchin. Below, there was not a single shadow left in place, making the environment seemed bizarrely 2-D. Then after two second of silence, the mass spike ball began spinning in the opposite direction. The winds started picking up again, blowing away from the bird as thousands of medium sized spikes slammed down in the area, battering the behemoths. They did not pierce the monsters, and disappeared immediately upon hitting the things. However, the creatures would have felt the pounding of a thousand battering rams down on them, perhaps effectively slamming into the horns and destroying them.

Crovo, on the other hand, peeked over the dune he and his companion were hiding behind, where they should be safe from the attack of Slayer. After almost a minute of endless barrage of black spikes, the battering seemed to have abaded and Kass, once again back to normal, wobbled dangerously. He descended slowly, vulnerable for the next five seconds. Crovo rushed over to his summon, daggers in hand just in case the behemoths managed to avoid Kass’ attack.