[Mari]

As the Naga and Cyclops were pummeled by the girls' efforts, the Druid chuckled. "And just why would I do that..? Are you ready to surrender? Your friends make such great puppets... I could make them do anything... Watch." the druid explained before turning his attention to the spider corpse. "Minion--Your life belongs to me. You have not been released. Now rise, and fight once more." the druid ordered. For a moment it might seem to be a foolish request. The spider was clearly dead, too far gone to hear his command, but ... then it started to twitch. The spider's horribly mangled body shifted back onto it's mangled legs with an audible crunch, a blue liquid leaking from its abdomen. The monster spider had been risen into a state of undeath by the druid's words! Could you even kill an animated corpse? The giant zombie arachnid begins approaching Rider, chittering eerily. It proceeds to spit a glob of blu'ish green slime at the smol!

((Rider! You're being attacked by the zombified giant arachnid's plague of undeath! Roll a 13+ to dodge. Else, you are afflicted with deadly poison. It's like the poison status, but it does double it's previous damage each turn.))

Arle reached into her bag for something that could help her... "Ah ah! It's time for little babies to take a long nap. Now, hold your breath. Don't breathe until I tell you to..." the druid went on to command rather coldly.

_O2WUdT4p_1d20-2 (Little Arle's Resistance)

Little Arle's eyes widened in alarm as her throat betrayed her yet again. She couldn't breath! She tried her hardest, but she was choking on nothing! The panicked child began to thrash about rather wildly, but her very limited strength quickly began to fade as a result of her actions and she became sluggish, wobbling aimlessly back towards the ruins of the shop where Zelda and Groose were before collapsing onto her hands and knees. One could observe that she was close to losing consciousness. "Aww... Would you look at that? She's dying~" the druid cooed rather cruelly. "Perhaps next time I'll make someone tear out their own heart. Which one of you wants to be next??"

Meanwhile, the naga once again deftly dodged most of Rider's blows. It should stand as no surprise that the snake creature was rather deft. However, her electroweb gave it a good shocking. The snake woman lunged forward in an attempt to grab Rider, only to find itself being picked up and thrown past her by the cyclops. It landed with a thud near Zelda and groose, getting back up and promptly lashing out at Groose in particular.

((Groose! ...That's a lot of bites! Roll 16+ Dex to dodge. Else you are grappled, take 5% damage and are afflicted by the poison status))

And the cyclops? The stupid thing promptly attempts to grab and throw Rulue as well. Whether it was doing htis on purpose or just throwing a tantrum due to a combination of pain and a lack of mental clarity was unclear.

((Rulue! Roll 13+ Dex to avoid being grabbed! Else, you will be violently tossed into the nearby brick wall for 22% blunt damage))

Naga 75 HP

Druid 160 HP 75 Shield

Cyclops 142 HP Status: Mind-Melted (6 Turns Left)

Giant Zombie Arachnid 0 HP Status: Spirit-Shackled

Little Arle Damage: 5% Status: Suffocating, Drowsy

1d20-2

[TheSpatialWeeg]

fgifag0Pp_1d20+3 (Rider's dodge)
p_1d20-1 (Rulue's dodge)

Rider was having a hard time hitting things today... and to make matters worse, the Druid just revived the spider they killed a couple of moments ago! Why would you do that, that's gross! After dodging the poison with relative ease, Rider had noticed that Arle was choking on...nothing. Did that Druid just...tried to choke a child to death? Her heart skipped a beat. If only for a brief moment, Rider felt sick to her very essence of her being. She had crossed paths with a very disgusting being...

...Only more reasons to take him down, though. As much as she wanted to help Arle right now...she really couldn't do anything. "Somone please take the time to help her!" the smol kunoichi pleaded for her allies to take a moment and help her in her stead.

It seems that the druid will keep reviving his allies as long as he draws breath...So we would need to focus on him. The problem is that we would need to ignore the other three...that would be risky... Rider thought to herself. The plan wasn't exactly fool-proof, but it was the best thing she got. Rider picked up a smoke pellet....and hurled it straight at the Druid!

p_1d20+3 (Special Smoke Pellets @ Druid. No damage, but will inflict a random status if it hits)
p_1d4 (The status is...Freeze!)

As the druid was covered in a cold harsh wind, eventually Rider felt a burst of power surge through her soul. She turned to acknowledge the one responsible for giving her this power boost with a little smile. That gave the smol ninja an idea. She took a deep breath, pushing out her inner strength...

((Ninja Rider's Kyōfū No Seishin has been activated. Provides +1 Mod on DEX and +2 Mod on STR for 3 turns.))

Rider made some ninja symbols with her hand before she was enveloped in a puff of smoke that soon dispersed, revealing...two Riders?! Anyone knowledgeable enough of ninjas know they could create clones to serve as a distraction. But...they were usually a multitude of clones, not just one. Rider's clone was not just a mere distraction, however. It was an extension to her own self.

((Ninja Rider's Secret Art : Kagami has been activated. Rider's clone has been brought into the fray.))

Rulue, on the other hand, reacted to the choking smol mage...a bit more radically than expected. Her blood began to boil intensely at the sight. "...There are few people I feel like they don't deserve to live." She began. "And you...you entered that list. Scum like you should suffer a slow and painful death!" She yelled before noticing the cyclops still trying to squash her again. "Gah!" Rulue tried to dodge out of harm's way, but she got thrown. She somehow came back without much struggle however. "Persistent little..." Rulue growled between her teeth. She couldn't punch the Druid while this Cyclops kept trying to assault her!

"All right, fine! You asked for this! Power Wave!" Rulue shouted before firing her ki projectile at the cyclops once again.

p_1d20+4 (Power Wave @ Cyclops. 22% damage.)

Rulue would the get back to 'up close and personal mode' and tried to punch the Cyclops twice.

p_1d20+4 (Haganshou @ Cyclops. 19% damage.)
p_1d20+4 (Haganshou @ Cyclops. 19% damage.)

---

	Rulue 22% CON -1 (1)
	Ninja Rider 0% Clone HP: 40 Kyōfū No Seishin (3)

1d20+3·1d20-1·1d20+3·1d4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4

[TartoonHand94]

The audible crunch of reanimation sent a chill down both Groose and Zelda’s spines like nails on a chalkboard.
“Uh Zelda, the Icky Sticky spider’s come up the spout again!” Groose reeled to repeat what everyone already saw with their own eyes.
“He is a necromancer too?” Zelda gave a reel of her own. If he could revive his dead minions, what is the measure of a dead minion? Zelda was curious to see how well an undead spider dealt with fire again.

As if they didn’t have enough troublesome questions, the druid gave them something much worse to worry about.
Zelda’s eyes widened in absolute horror at the status inflicted upon Arle. She…She was choking!
Rider didn’t need to say anything for Zelda to rush and pick up Arle.

“All this...By mere words?” Zelda gasped in a tone more of disgust than bewilderment. “That may be the most powerful form of dark magic I have ever witnessed since…”[/font]

“Well then someone shut him up!” Groose blurted out interrupting everyone and everything.
Luckily enough Rider did just the thing to freeze him.

“Yeah. That’ll do.” Groose nodded in approval. “Now I wonder if he’ll shatter if I hit him hard enough!”
This all distracted Groose from the Naga he was dropkicking a second ago. The Naga lunged at him.

(MDDlZNF3p_1d20+1 Groose’s Dodge of the Naga)

An unmanly scream was squeezed out of Groose by a manly amount of painful bites. Whether by bravery to face the Naga or fear of death, Groose was not going to give up.

(p_1d20+4 Groose’s grapple resistance. Does 28% damage.)

But sadly Groose was still enwrapped by the Naga. As if the poison wasn’t bad enough.

Amidst all of this commotion, Zelda ran off with Arle to seek shelter behind some ruins of the Vulnary. Looking down at the suffocating child in her lap she wasted no time trying to see if there was something she could do to jump start Arle’s breathing again. She started with the old fashioned CPR method, just in case it saved time casting a spell.

Zelda carefully rested Arle onto her back and pinched her nostrils shot.

She then cautiously covered the little girls mouth with her own and began breathing puffs of oxygen inhaled through her nose into Arle's throat.

She also carefully extracted breaths of carbon dioxide out of Arles lungs and ejected them from her nostrils. Giving pauses between every two breaths, Zelda became a temporary surrogate breather for Arle.

	Groose	Zelda
Damage	21%	16%
Status:	poisoned	Normal

1d20+1·1d20+4

[Mari]

"Do you have any loved ones? Perhaps I'll stop by and... tell them to mourn you~ Hehehe--" the druid crooned before having his laughter abruptly silenced by Rider's smoke pellets. He was frozen solid, but tendrils of dark energy began to creep out from his body, drilling into the ice and slowly yet surely beginning to break through. It would become clear that he wouldn't stay frozen for all that long. Meanwhile, the naga relishes in having Groose in her grasp. Unfortunately for her, his shoulders were simply far too broad for her to try and eat him. Perhaps it was for the best that he have her attention, even if Groose might not feel that way.

((Groose! The naga begins to bite and thrash with its many heads. Take 25% damage. Roll 12+ CON to resist being paralyzed.))

Back with Rider, the zombified, disgusting corpse spider turns around and shoots a gooey blast of webbing at Rider! ...Well, at least it's not a laser. ...Is this better than a laser? I'm not sure...

((Rider! The Zombie Spider is using it's Web Blast attack! Roll 12+ Dex to avoid being grappled! The impact does 10% damage and being covered with the sticky silk will paralyze you.))

And back with Zelda. Zelda is able to pick up the lethargic Little Arle. The tiny mage seemed a bit confused when Zelda began performing rescue breathing on her. Thankfully, her weakness kept her from squirming. Any sense of awkwardness vanished, however, when she realized Zelda was helping her breath. Little Arle reaches out to weakly cling to Zelda in response, trembling softly with anxiety. It seemed like she had calmed down somewhat, at least, and would be easy to handle.

((Zelda! Arle's suffocation damage will be ignored for every turn you aid her in breathing. This will require two actions on your part each turn to accomplish. Be wary of leaving yourself breathless, however. If you're so inclined, you can put this burden upon someone else.))

Meanwhile, with Rulue. The cyclops shifts its body out of the way of her power wave, but is unable to move out of the way of the followup attacks. The enraged monster promptly roars out in anger and moves to raise its axe! Uh-oh. It then drops the axe with pavement shattering strength, driving it into the ground.

((Rulue! If that axe can do that to the pavement, you don't want to find out what it can do to you! Roll 10+ Dex to dodge. Else, you take 30% damage and are afflicted with the mortal wound status.))

The cyclops then promptly abandoned its mighty axe and burst into a deadly sprint straight down the alleyway! Try not to get trampled, now.

((Rulue! Rolling an 11 or below on your dodge roll will cause you to get stepped on, dealing 25% damage and paralyzing you. Rolling 12+ will reduce the damage you take by 15% and remove the paralyzation effect. Rolling 16+ will dodge completely.))

((Groose! Zelda! You have the benefit of slightly more time to react to the charging cyclops. Groose, the Naga is forced to let you go to get away from the cyclops' rampage and you are no longer being grappled. Rolling a 9 or below on your dodge roll will cause you to get stepped on, dealing 25% damage and paralyzing you. Rolling 10+ will reduce the damage you take by15% and remove the paralyzation effect. Rolling 14+ will dodge completely.))

Noteworthily, Rulue is not being blocked off by the cylcops anymore. However, the group is now surrounded.

Naga 75 HP Normal

Druid 160 HP 83 Shield Frozen

Cyclops 104 HP Mind-Melted (5 Turns Left)

Giant Zombie Arachnid 0 HP Spirit-Shackled

Little Arle Damage: 5% Status: Suffocating, Drowsy

[TheSpatialWeeg]

PvEU4gghp_1d20+4 (Rider's dodge)
p_1d20-1 (Rulue's 1st dodge)
p_1d20-1 (Rulue's 2nd dodge)

Yet again dodging the spider's tenacious attempt at having her helpless, Rider managed to successfully freeze the Druid, however, to her surprise, tendrils started to break out from the ice prison. Dealing with the Druid and his rag-tag gang of mythical creatures was getting far more annoying than scary at this point. Seeing as that he was soon to break out, Rider picked up a bunch of kunais, the clone mirroring the exact movements. A short hop later, and the Druid would have several kunais thrown at him.

p_1d20+4 (Ninja Rider's Kunai Storm @ Druid. 14% + 4% damage from clone.)

She then began to slash at the ice block with her Fuujin Shuriken...

(Ninja Rider's Fuujin Shuriken. 8%+2%)
p_1d20+4 (Combo 1)
p_1d20+4 (Combo 2)
p_1d20+4 (Combo 3)

...before speeding around her enemies once again, using the electric web she used before. The difference? Well, there was a second web now, courtesy of the clone.

p_1d20+4 (Ninja Rider's Secret Technique: Electro Web. AoE 12%+3%, 25% chance of paralysis)

Rulue was having a less than pleasant time with the gigantic cyclops. The thing tried to hack and slash her with the humongous axe (which she thankfully dodged). "Why won't just drop dead already..." Rulue groaned before she noticed the cyclops try to squash her. She dodged in the nick of time just as she noticed the the only monster stopping her from reaching the Druid has failed it's job. Excellent., she thought to herself before dashing straight to the Druid and punched him (or rather, his shield) silly.

p_1d20+4 (Rulue's Haganshou @ Druid. 19%)

The Fighting Queen picked up Rider and jumped away to get some distance from the wicked wizard. "Striking him by yourself? Looks like you're much braver than I thought." Rulue muttered to Rider. "Ms. Rulue...he revived that spider we killed. Our best bet is to take him down as quick as we can unless we'd need to deal with him resurrecting them again..." Rider said to Rulue. "Well...the problem would be bypassing the shield. I can't tell if it's going to give in anytime soon..." Rulue quietly spoke before cracking her knuckles. "Though I'll certainly assist you here!" "B-but what about your wounds?" "...I can handle a few extra bruises."

With that little talk out of the way, Rulue would face the Druid before focusing on her resolution...she'd need to go full power now.

(Seishin Ittou activated. 4 points to both CON and DEX for 3 turns.)

And then... "Tekken Seisai!" Rulue proclaimed loudly as she began bombarding the Druid (or his shield) with her mighty fists.

p_1d20+4 (Rulue's Tekken Seisai @ Druid. 27%)

---

	Rulue 22% Tekken Seisai Cooldown (3) Seishin Ittou (3)
	Ninja Rider 0% Clone HP: 40 Kyōfū No Seishin (2)

1d20+4·1d20-1·1d20-1·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4

[TartoonHand94]

Behind the shelter of the rubble, Zelda continued to assist Arle’s breathing. By now she had even developed a rhythm between juggling her own breathing with Little Arle’s.
Feeling she had bought herself enough time with Arle’s breathing, Zelda spent that time casting a brief shielding spell that would buy her some more time to continue assisting Arle’s breathing.

(qluqNw|ap_1d20+5 Lanayru's Love. Reflects projectiles at x2 damage and does 17% damage when broken by a melee attack.)

Meanwhile, Groose wouldn’t be surprised to be having nightmares about this event for many nights to come. He’d be more surprised to live to see another night. He couldn’t even think to think to say something while being thrashed in the Naga’s mouth. He couldn’t even call for help.

(p_1d20+2 Groose’s Paralysis Resistance)

Finally the Naga let him go to flee the Cyclops.
“Yeah, you better run...” Groose coughed in miserable agony.
He must’ve been hallucinating because Groose could have sworn he saw multiple Riders attacking the Druid. But there was no time for that, as Groose was sure he was seeing a giant Cyclops sprinting toward him.

(p_1d20+2 Groose’s Dodge of the Cyclops’ foot.)

But it was too late, he was stepped on. squashed by the Cyclops foot. But it wasn't too late to save someone else.
“Zelda Look Out!” He cried out in a broken voice.
This immediately got Zelda’s attention. She looked up and saw the Cyclops headed right for them and wasted no time picking Arle up and shielding her from the Cyclops by rolling out of the way.

(p_1d20-1 Zelda’s Dodge of the Cyclops’ foot.)

But Zelda couldn't move away in time. However upon stepping on her, the Cyclops would step on the Lanayru's Love shield.
(The Lanyru's Love shield shatters, dealing 17% damage to the Cyclopse's foot.)
And there Zelda lay, paralyzed, ever curled protectively around Little Arle.

	Groose	Zelda
Damage	75%	41%
Status:	Paralyzed, Poisoned	Paralyzed

1d20+5·1d20+2·1d20+2·1d20-1

[Mari]

Little Arle found herself squished into Zelda, surrounding by a soft human shield from just about every direction. For a long moment she just laid there, clinging to Zelda's arms for comfort. ...So that just happened. They had been stepped on by a giant and Zelda had shielded her. ...The gesture moved Little Arle, reminding her what it was like to have a mother that cared and then some. ....

The druid, trapped in his icy prison, could not dodge Rider's attack. However, her attacks also had to cleaves through the ice to get to him! Although she got several free hits in, Rider had inadvertently set the druid free. He fell into a crouch for a moment as he was freed, having just taken the brunt of Rider's attacks. With an abrupt and exceptionally fluid movement for someone wearing that much clothing, the druid shifted across the ground out of the way of Rider's Electroweb and Rulue's patented face punch technique. The druid then turns on Rulue, apparently easily distracted by her being up in his face like that. Forced to acknowledge her, a magical shield rose to take Rulue's blow leaving her vulnerable to the Druid's retaliation.

"Why don't you just kneel." The druid retorted rather flatly. On cue, Rulue would feel her legs betray her, the strength leaving them as she felt herself forced to the ground on her knees, not quite within punching range. He then pulled aside his cloak to reveal a wicked shortblade, shifting a clothed hand to grab it and raise it threateningly above Rulue, the blade pointing down towards her throat! It looked like he intended to try and execute her!

e8_mqJ4Cp_1d20+4 (...)

...A blast of sacred energy shot just past the druid, missing him entirely in spite of the fact that he'd been standing still. Not far off, Little Arle had wriggled her way back onto her feet and now stood in front of Zelda, angrily facing off against the druid one last time. The Druid was distracted by the near miss, turning his attention to see Little Arle raising a sword a tad too big for her tiny hands straight above her head. A gleam traveled up the shaft of the blade and intensified at the tip. Little Arle then brought the blade down over her head, launching a skyward strike at the druid!

p_1d20+4 (Little Arle's Skyward Strike; Does 18% Damage)

...But it was blocked by the same shield that had blocked Rulue's blow. Little Arle tried again with shaking hands, barely able to focus on fighting due to her inability to breathe.

p_1d20+4 (Little Arle's Skyward Strike; Does 18% Damage)

And again, the skyward strike clashed against the barrier without being able to pierce it. Little Arle began to cry at the seeming futility of her efforts, collapsing onto her hands and knees before beginning to choke for air again. "...You are persistently annoying." the druid remarked rather flatly to the child quietly sobbing in despair. "Finish the brat!" the druid ordered. It wasn't immediately clear who he was speaking to, but when Little Arle attempted to crawl back towards Zelda she found her path blocked by a familiar enemy...

...It was the naga. While Groose and Zelda were stunned by the cyclops' rampage, no one had been available to protect the rear of the group. Little Arle attempted to frantically crawl past the naga with what little strength she had left, but the snake woman promptly descended upon her and began trying to subdue her with several venemous bites and her constricting hair. It didn't look like Little Arle had the strength to resist.

Meanwhile, the cyclops began to lumber back towards the group. It hadn't been so lucky avoiding Rider's electro web, and so it was having a tough time getting back to them as it stumbled around clumsily. Groose might be able to catch sight of hte cyclops approaching from his current position.

((Rulue! Little Arle has bought you time. You are no longer forced to kneel.))

Meanwhile, the spider lunges at Rider and attempts to sink its fangs into her! Although Rider's electroweb had hit the spider, it seemed that further damaging the dead spider's animated body did little to stop its assault.

((Rider! Roll 12+ dexterity to dodge the spider bite! Else, take 20% damage and become afflicted by the poison status))

And as for the Druid, he promptly raised a wall of darkflame between the group at the rear and the two girls facing him! It seemed he didn't mind being trapped without some of his minions to help him after all, at least not with Rulue and Rider. The flame wall would probably inflict grievous wounds if one tried to walk through it, leaving Rulue and Rider unable to come to Arle's aid. "Now.... Where were we. Your souls are mine." the druid hissed, pointing his blade at the duo. A set of runes began to glow along the blade, their meaning nonsensical to inexperienced magi. What wasn't hard to understand was the awful sensation of one's soul being sucked out of their body. It was a terrible feeling, akin to being very toxicly drunk with the added effect of being chilled to the bone. The druid attempts to draw the girls' spirits forth and then slice them with his magical blade!

((Rider! Rulue! Roll 14+ INT to resist having your soul siphoned! Else, take 25% damage and become afflicted with the mind-melted status))

Naga 75 HP Has a hostage

Druid 112 HP 9 Shield

Cyclops 89 HP Mind-Melted (4 Turns Left) Paralyzed (4 Turns Left)

Giant Zombie Arachnid 0 HP Spirit-Shackled

Little Arle Damage: 25% Status: Suffocating, Drowsy

1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4

[TheSpatialWeeg]

BTDwWkeUp_1d20+4 (Rider's dodge.)
p_1d20+1 (well the clone's now Poisoned for 4 turns)
p_1d20+2 (Rulue's INT check)
p_1d20 (Rider's INT check)

The two girls were seemingly on their own for their fight against the Druid, which was...frustrating, but it was understandable why this was happening. While Rider was protected from the (dead) spider's bite thanks to her clone, Rulue all of a sudden felt her body move against her will, forcefully kneeling towards the evil wizard. As the Druid pulled up a blade, the implications were already clear in the Fighting Queen's mind...yet she only gave him a smug smile. As if she already knew this would happen. Before the blade could ever cut her, the smol Arle came to the rescue, barraging the druid with attacks in spite of her condition. Rulue felt control over her body again as that happened, but she felt something else being taken off of her. Huh, he was trying to take her soul. ...Yeah, no, she wasn't having any of that.

"How about your shut your face!" the Fighting Queen retorted as she went to drive her fist onto the Druid's...throat. One could think of this as an abnormal place to hit somebody, but one may think it was an attempt to negatively impact the Druid's voice. Either that, or it was adrenaline rushing through her body as she fought to keep her soul in place.

p_1d20+4 (Rulue's Haganshou @ Druid. 19%)

The barrier seemingly held the hit at first, but the barrier surrounding the wizard finally gave in and shattered, Rulue's fist hitting him dead-on. The blue-haired woman's reaction was of shock at first....but then it contorted into a smile. A smile that basically said that Rulue was about to dish about the most catharsis any deity would allow her to have onto this...this degenerate fool. How dare he make her kneel. How dare he try to take out her soul. "....O~hohohoho!" Rulue darkly laughed. "So you think you can just...do this to me, you degenerate?" she rhetorically asked the Druid. "Here's a bit of news flash for you: If you think I'm that easy to take down...think again!" the Fighting Queen finished as she prepared her ki projectile again. "Power...Wave!"

p_1d20+4 (Rulue's Power Wave @ Druid. 22%)

"...hahahaha..." Rulue began to laugh. "It's funny how you think you can simply do what you want because you apparently have soooooo much power." Rulue muttered before assaulting the Druid with multiple quick kicks. "Hougeki Renkyaku!" she uttered as she finished the move.

p_1d20+4 (Rulue's Hougeki Renkyaku @ Druid. 18%, the Druid will be rendered helpless for a next move if he fails to to roll 12+ STR. )

Rider was paying more attention to her surroundings than Rulue. They were now circled by a 'darkflame' wall...unable to help the little Arle. And now the clone was poisoned, so any wrong move could spell it's eventual destruction. She could only hope her plan was going to be successful at this point. Just like Rulue, she found herself wrestling to keep her soul from being removed from her body. Thankfully. the result ended up nothing short of a success, as the bab's soul didn't go any further and soon retracted back to her body. She audibly gave a sigh of relief before noticing that Rulue managed to bypass the barrier. "...Thanks, Arle..." she quietly whispered, thanking the smoler mage for the intervention. "Now...it's my turn!" the bab soon said, pointing at the wizard

Rider would soon jump far onto the sky and unleash her electric web in the sky, trying to imprison the quartet of thieves in it once again, with her clone accompanying her. She could only hope that it was going to work.

p_1d20+4 (Rider's Secret Technique: Electro Web. AoE 12%+3%, 25% chance of paralysis.)

Soon after that, the smol ninja brought up her smoke pellets again. She hurled it against the Druid, another pellet flying towards that man due to the clone.

p_1d20+4 (Rider's Special Smoke Pellets x2 @ Druid. No damage, but will inflict a status according to dice rolls.)
p_1d4 (This one's status effect is...Freeze!)
p_1d4 (The other's status effect is...Poison!)

The Druid would probably find himself surrounded by that harsh cold wind again, however he was surrounded by black smoke as well. Black poisonous smoke at that. Rider soon jumped away from the wizard and began to strike him with kunais.

p_1d20+4 (Rider's Kunai Storm. 14%+4%.)

---

	Rulue 22% Tekken Seisai Cooldown (2) Seishin Ittou (2)
	Ninja Rider 0% Clone HP: 20 Clone Status: Poisoned (4) Kyōfū No Seishin (2)

1d20+4·1d20+1·1d20+2·1d20·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d20+4·1d4·1d4·1d20+4

[TartoonHand94]

“…Link…Please…” Zelda moaned deliriously in recognition of seeing the familiar light of a Skyward Strike. Finally regaining consciousness after being stepped on like a Goomba, Zelda remembered and realized it wasn’t the familiar Link who casted the Skyward Strike, but Arle, the new wielder of the Goddess Sword drawing the blade against evil in his stead. As badly as they may need him, Link was not here now. Zelda reaffirmed to herself that she’ll have to put her faith in Arle in this bleak time. And still short of breath and wrapped in the venomous grip of a naga, Arle still needed her help.
“…Arle! No!”

(oFQg_Dexp_1d20+5 Zelda's Eldin’s Fire at the naga. Does 5% Damage and inflicts Burn status)

Zelda cast a fire spell upon the naga from where she lay in an attempt to free Arle from her grip. Staggering back to her feet, Zelda did something she hadn’t done in a long time: draw her own sword.
She may be battered and paralyzed but Hylia forsake it if she was going to let a child in her care fall to the hands of darkness.
Applying technique to all the strength she could muster Zelda stabbed at the naga’s tail hoping to force it to let go of Little Arle.
“Let…Her Go!”

(p_1d20-3 Zelda's Skyloft Sword at the naga. Does 15% Damage)

Meanwhile, Groose, groggily waking up in the cyclops’ footstep was sore to find the brute was retracing its steps and coming back for him. He wasn’t going to let it happen to him again…the best he could anyway.
Reaching into his pocket faster than he could stand up, Groose took out his Scattershot and fired a round nut aimed right into the cyclops’ eye.
(p_1d2-1 Groose’s Scattershot at the cyclops. Does 5% Damage)

Cashing in on the time this distraction might have bought him, Groose staggered to his feet. Catching sight of Arle’s Skyward Strike, he remembered he came with a sword too.
Unsheathing his standard issue Skyloft Knight sword, Groose had a choice to make. Help Rulue and Rider or help Zelda save Arle. Turns out he had to pick a third option first. Put down the one-eyed ogre headed straight for him.
“Hang on ladies…” -cough- “Groose’ll be right there!”

(p_1d20+4 Zelda's Skyloft Sword at the cyclops. Does 15% Damage)
(p_1d20+4 Zelda's Skyloft Sword at the cyclops. Does 15% Damage)

	Groose	Zelda
Damage	75%	41%
Status:	Paralyzed, Poisoned	Paralyzed

1d20+5·1d20-3·1d2-1·1d20+4·1d20+4

[Mari]

...Zelda is... unable to gain an advantage over the naga. The quickfooted, pun intended, naga reacts in time to her attack, and what does it do? It uses Little Arle as a shield, forcing the smol to take Zelda's fire spell on her behalf. Thankfully, the smol could hardly tell she'd been hit. The pain was but white noise amongst the agony she was already in. ...Was that something to be thankful for? Really? Probably not. The naga then promptly slipped away from Zelda's followup attack, hissing at her as it attempted to devour the now weakly twitching child. Little Arle gained a moment of clarity as the snake bit down on her head, however. It hurt to move, but if she got eaten it would probably make it very difficult for someone to help her breathe. She would die in the monster's belly, and that would be the end of it. ...Welp. That meant she had nothing left to lose. Little Arle shuffled through her dress, weakly producing... a deku nut. The smol then began to weakly smack the snake arm currently devouring her, using what little strength she had to try and break it. After a couple of hits, the nut gave and crack was heard as a powerful concussive explosion burst forth, violently startling the Naga and forcing it to let go of Little Arle, who was sent sprawling a couple of feet away. The naga, meanwhile, appeared stunned and snapped at the air somewhat blindly in an attempt to retaliate. Arle had been hurt very badly in the exchange, but at least she wasn't trapped inside a monster. The small mage would reach out towards Zelda, unable to so much as crawl to her now.

((Zelda, there is nothing stopping you from retrieving Arle.))

Meanwhile... Groose manages to miss the drunkenly stumbling cyclops. The massive creature swayed wildly as it moved, an unfortunate side effect of its condition. However, he is able to rush up to the nearly blind oaf and strike it several times with his sword, wounding its leg in the process. The cyclops falls, reaching out to try and swat Groose into the nearby wall in retaliation!

((Groose! There's a giant hand swinging at you! Roll 13+ not to get swatted like a fly! Else, take 20% Damage))



...Back with the Druid with our reporter Lakitu. The druid choked as he was struck in the throat, unable to speak clearly for the moment being. Every single attack was hitting him head on, knocking his apparently light-weight body around and ragdolling him several times in the process. And then--he was pinned to a wall by kunais and finally frozen. ...Or well--briefly, anyway. Without warning, his body seemed to begin to bulge in a grotesque manner. The frozen druid's icy prison cracked and shattered as he proceeded to inflate not unlike a balloon, or rather his clothes did anyway. It was unclear what exactly was going on under there. However, after a long moment of that rather disturbing scene the druid proceeded to promptly explode, a cloud of evil magicks pouring out of every open end of his clothes and dissipating up into the air. The clattering of several metal pieces against the ground could be heard. There was a pocket watch and a strange pair of earings on the ground next to where the druid had fallen.

...

((The stolen magical talisman has revealed itself! ...Additionally, a handful of earrings with hypnotic powers have dropped.))

Nearby, the zombified spider would fidget violently before collapsing, its spirit finally allowed to move on. It was doubtful that it had wanted to endure another moment of undeath anyway. The darkfire wall dissipated as quickly as it had emerged, leaving Rulue and Rider free to assist their allies in taking out the straggling monsters. Or rather, they would have been if not for a convenient fact. Little Arle had just regained the ability to breath. With the death of the druid, she was no longer bound by his commands. The red cheeked smol gasped several times for breath, clearing her eyes for tears as a sense of relief came over her. She was still very, very weak on account of her wounds. However, there was one bit of unfinished business she needed to take care of before she could rest.

"J-JUGEM!" a breathless Little Arle shouted, tossing a little ball of light from her hands at no one in particular likely while in Zelda's arms. Moments later, a blast of light would envelop the group. The sounds of screaming monsters could be faintly heard above the explosion as a massive blast of light obliterated them. ...The invaders were dead, leaving only the collection of their prizes.

((Reminder; the old woman is behind you laying in the remains of her shop.))

Naga 0 HP Dead

Druid 0 HP Dead

Cyclops 0 HP Dead

Giant Zombie Arachnid 0 HP Dead

Little Arle Damage: 94% Status: Exhausted, Burned

[TheSpatialWeeg]

As the druid had finally exploded in a rather gruesome fashion, Rulue drew a breath of full-on satisfaction. Oh how she loved proving those gloating-type bad guys wrong. It always felt cathartic. As the Druid fell, so did the undead spider. Rider felt quite relaxed as her theory was proven to be correct. Now that the darkflame wall was done for they could actually help their allies...

...well, it wasn't a necessity any more now that Little Arle finished the job.

Rulue rolled her eyes. Always her finishing the job, what a surprise. Well, there was much enjoyment to be had with the fact that she defeated the head honcho...alongside a 9-year-old, but hey, that felt good nonetheless. Meanwhile, Rider took upon herself to fall hip-first on the ground, reverting from her ninja form as she drew some heavy breaths, having a brief moment of bliss since they defeated the baddies. Of course, once the clanging of metal would register in their heads, the two would check the area of the druid's explosion.

"Hey, look! That's the magical pocket watch!" Rulue commented, picking up the artifact they came looking for before picking up a pair of earrings, seemingly of matching color. "Hm...these earrings are kind of cute. Well, to the victor goes the spoils~" She said to herself as she stored the earrings into one of her pockets.

Rider, once she recomposed herself, picked up another pair of earrings and stared them in an odd fashion. She'd think about it, however she reminded herself about the old lady that ran the shop. Her blood ran cold as she remembered what happened. The smol rushed towards the old lady and hurriedly attempted to help her up, placing the earrings on her pockets with no real thought put onto the decision. "M-miss, are you okay...?!" she worriedly asked.

[TartoonHand94]

Staggering to her feet and drawing her sword, Zelda’s vision cleared to a mortifying sight.
“What have I done?” She didn’t have time to think as she realized the nefarious naga used the little girl she held hostage as a human shield for Zelda’s fire spell! How dare she? Of all the coarse things this ignoble monster could have done, this was unforgivable! Something inside Zelda snapped like a worn harp string. There was no holding back now. Zelda let her sword loose upon the naga with everything she had. Whatever was left of Zelda’s self-awareness in this moment was avoidance of slicing into Arle herself.
Alas, as hard and as passionately as she tried to be, Zelda was no Link. Her swordsmanship was no match for the naga. The rage sparked by the burning smol blinded Zelda, of which the naga took advantage of. It slithered and slid around Zelda’s swings merciless but recklessly imprecise swings.

(E9CZP07_p_1d20+1 Groose's Dodge of the giant hand.)

Meanwhile, Groose wasn’t any luckier a shot against the stumbling Cyclops. But he was a luckier strike. Groose did manage to wound the blind oaf’s leg. If only he could have dodged the oaf’s arm too.

It took the flash of a deku nut to break Zelda out of the vengeful trance she was in. Opening her eyes and realizing Arle was on the ground and out of the monster’s grasp, Zelda made a single minded B-line for her and snatched her up in her own.
Having Little Arle secure in her arms for the instant, Zelda let out a desperate whistle to summon her Loftwing back to the battlefield. It swiftly swept both her and the child up into the air on its back and out of the naga’s range.
Out of range but not out of trouble, Zelda frantically reached for her Sailcloth to wipe the naga drool off Little Arle’s face. Her face was only to be wet again by Zelda’s hysteric tears. Securing the cloth to her like a bandage, Zelda closed in on Arle to resume a much needed and much more overdue assisted breathing. The possibility that Arle had already suffocated was too great for Zelda to even stop and worry about. She had to try and she had to do it now.

But nothing short of a miracle, Zelda could feel Little Arle exhaling onto her face. She was… breathing on her own again! It’s a miracle! But how? Looking back down onto the battle field, Zelda could notice a lack of Druid. She would, if she could see past her own tears. New tears of joy. Arle was going to be okay after all. She tenderly embraced the weak child as she may as well been her own.

Over Zelda’s shoulder, Little Arle cast a ball of light from the heavens that obliterated all of the Druid’s lackeys. The scream rang in Zelda’s ear but she was too joyful to mind. More so than happy, she was profoundly impressed by the sheer power the young mage wielded. Surely this was indeed a heroic soul worthy of being chosen by the goddess sword.

When the Cyclops was finally destroyed, Groose staggered up from the hand shaped crater he was buried in, still ready to fight another or whatever was still attacking Rider and Rulue.
But as he looked to in their direction…Nothing was attacking them anymore.
“We… We won?” Groose stuttered in bewilderment.
“O-of course we did! Good job team!” He congratulated, seathing his sword and unsheathing a thumb up for Rulue and Rider.
“Hey are you looting that guy without me and…” He noticed what Rulue and Rider before remembering he had more team mates than thumbs. Where were Zelda and the pipsqueak? Turning around to look for them in a panic, he found Zelda’s Loftwing landing beside them, carrying Zelda on its back, who was proudly cradling Little Arle in her arms.

“And check. Two thumbs for you two, babes.” He sighed contently, waggling his thumbs for them too.
“Yep that’s everybody… But why do I feel like we’re missing somebody?...” Groose could not shake the feeling that there needed to be a 5th person to finish his hand.

“…Granny!” Groose gasped.
“Oh yes!” Zelda lifted her attention up from Little Arle to remember the old woman who helped them.
“Oh no! I cannot believe we almost forgot about her!” She leapt off her Loftwing’s back and ran behind Rider to check on the old woman among the rubble, with Groose following close behind.
Groose cleared some rubble out of the way so the old woman could better sit up right as Rider asked if she were alright. A concern shared by both her and Zelda.

	Groose	Zelda
Damage	95%	41%
Status:	Paralyzed, Poisoned	Paralyzed

1d20+1

[Mari]

The exhausted kindergarten mage was decidedly fed up with fighting for the day after having a near death experience. She clung to Zelda readily in response to being handled, having no further objections to being babied. Being put in that helpless situation had reminded her that it was nice to have someone that could care for her. Now she could lay her head upon Zelda and rest for a moment, taking deep breaths as her body continued recovering from earlier. For a long moment she was quiet and content, taking note of Zelda's frantic heartbeat. However, that moment would eventually pass and her quiet voice would speak up. "...I'm sorry." she murmured, apparently feeling guilty for making Zelda cry like that. Or at least, that was the assumption she came to.

Meanwhile, the old woman could be found laying in the rubble of her shop. With some help, she would be able to right herself. However, she would not stand. "...I'm alright, dear. But I better not stand right now." the old woman would reply, patting Rider upon her head rather shakily. "For a moment there, I thought it was over. But you all fought with such vigor! ...Heh. You couldn't know how much your help meant to me. I used to believe that I knew that man. Being free of him..." she went on to muse aloud, trailing off as she began to ramble. It seemed like the druid may have been more than just a simple thief; unsurprising when one thought about it. Your average thief wasn't anywhere near that strong. She shook her head slowly before getting back on track. "...Did you happen to find a 'watch' of some sort on his person?" the old woman would go on to ask,

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Rulue returned her attention to the old woman in the ruins of the shop. She knelt down to reach her level and stood there silently until the woman asked for the watch. "Oh--Yeah, we did." Rulue replied, bringing the magical to the old lady. "Is this the one we need for Arle?" Rulue asked to the old lady.

Rider looked a tad flattered as she was pat and complimented, blushing slightly. "Th-thank you, ma'am...please...take whatever time you need to rest, okay...?" Rider asked, Rulue nodding as of to second the smol's little plea. They didn't want to sound demanding, despite how the current situation was.

[TartoonHand94]

“Oh that? That was just how I always fight.” Groose bragged, riding the wave of the old woman’s praise.
“Vig-Groosely!” He punctuated with a flex of his muscles, particularly for Rulue’s viewing pleasure.

Zelda was more than happy to baby the exhausted kindergarten mage. She held Little Arle warmly and securely. With her blood pressure yet to go back down, it seemed they both could stand to relax.
“Don’t be.” Zelda whispered softly.
“You’ve already saved us all.” She reminded her with a gentle brush of her hair.

She continued to cradle the bab over her shoulder as she rejoined the conversation with Rulue, Rider and the old woman.
“I still have the Magical Timepiece.” She spoke up, careful not to speak into Arle’s ear.
“Perhaps we should compare the two and see if they fit each other.”