Lies and slander. I've been busy with school and holidays, and Christmas is currently days away.
Doesn't mean it's dead.

Alright then

Yay! I spent 5 hours reading the whole thing instead of doing homework, and I am looking forwards to more opportunities to waste time.

Rawlin! 1 1 5 4 7 6 7

caekdaemon - Al-Aris and Li-Rala [1, 1]:
Li-Rala: "I was really, really hoping it wouldn't come down to this. Al, would you mind giving Leah - if that's her name - your business card?"
Al-Aris: "Not at all!"
You take a few steps over towards the witch girl, now over with Wan Wan next to where Urstrig fell, but the red warrior quickly brings his glaive around and down into the ground in front of her, a clear message that you're not to approach. You look up at Wan Wan himself, keeping your face level, and see him giving a stern look towards you. Not quite hostile, but rather than his previous jovial face from before, now he's serious.
Wan Wan: "I would ask that you not involve Laeh in our business. She is here with me, but I am the only one here to fight."
A stony silence falls for a long moment before Li breaks it.
Li-Rala: "Now, this is a little tricky...but we have to have the talisman, too. I would suggest dropping your weapons, as seven vs two aren't exactly good odds for you. We're not looking to get into a fight for no reason and we were here first, so please, give us back the talisman and we can all leave peacefully and celebrate with a bowl of ice cream or something after we're done. Otherwise, this really won't be fun for any of us."
Wan Wan: "Hm! Speak for yourself! You all look to be rather COMPETENT! Perhaps not RUGGED, but you can take CARE of yourselves! A fine RUCKUS this will be!"

The red giant grins and brings his glaive up to the front, and Li readies... a potato. You get ready to fire a burst of decay energy, and everyone else seems to tense up and ready for a fight as well. Then, the dam breaks.
Wan Wan deploys a large red aura around him, fiery and blazing, while Laeh runs behind him to take cover. You and Li both find yourself utterly suppressed by his aura, too paralyzed by its power to even move.
This is your enemy?! This is the guy you thought you could win handily against, not 15 seconds ago?! You were mad! Hubris, raw unadulterated overconfidence, that's all you had! An entire army would lose to this beast of a man!

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [5-1=4]:
You get the idea of blasting Wan Wan full of Forest energy, but then stop and consider. From what you felt, and from what you saw with your energy sense, you don't think it'd work. Forests are calm, gentle, and sturdy existences. Their power is not to destroy, but rather to be steadfast and strong, to grow and regrow and withstand anything thrown at it. If anything, hitting Wan Wan with Forest energy might HELP him!
Though, that said, it is a reinforcing energy. Instead of using it on Wan Wan, you might be able to use it on... yourself?

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [4]:
Al tries to approach the girl after some talking, and Wan Wan doesn't take kindly to it, placing her between himself and his spear protectively, with the spear blocking Al from the girl.
Wan Wan: "I would ask that you not involve Laeh in our business. She is here with me, but I am the only one here to fight."
A stony silence falls for a long moment before Li breaks it.
Li-Rala: "Now, this is a little tricky...but we have to have the talisman, too. I would suggest dropping your weapons, as seven vs two aren't exactly good odds for you. We're not looking to get into a fight for no reason and we were here first, so please, give us back the talisman and we can all leave peacefully and celebrate with a bowl of ice cream or something after we're done. Otherwise, this really won't be fun for any of us."
Wan Wan: "Hm! Speak for yourself! You all look to be rather COMPETENT! Perhaps not RUGGED, but you can take CARE of yourselves! A fine RUCKUS this will be!"

A deathly quiet falls over everyone as they all tense up, waiting for someone to make the first move. Then, Wan Wan does.
The red warrior fires up a large flaming aura, mostly out of his back and sides, making a sort of silhouetting mane of energy. You can't see it properly from the side where you are, but you expect that head on it's quite the sight. However, you don't have time for thinking he looks pretty, and cast your arm forward to call several Squalls up aimed towards Wan Wan. Three razor edged thin streams of air shoot from behind you, twisting and corkscrewing through the air towards your opponent.
Wan Wan: "Laeh, South!"
The witch hears his command, immediately bringing her broom up like an oversized wizard's staff, and you see her mouth moving from a distance. Magic?
Suddenly, Wan Wan and Laeh, along with a circular area around them all ripple, or rather, the space in front of them does, as though a stone was dropped into a pool of still water. Your Squalls hit the ripples, and rather than continue on to Wan Wan, they all get blown away to the sides, bobbing back and forth through the air as they travel harmlessly away from anything important.
Yep. Magic.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [7]:
While Al and Li distract Wan Wan, you quietly make your way to Dunrim and lay a hand on his shoulder, then send a Minor Heal into him. Oddly, it seems to come back out and return to you, not having healed much. His blood loss must have already cleared up, though there's still a rather large gouge on his chest. You could fix that with a Heal probably, but you're not sure if you want to use that for something so non life-threatening.
More importantly, Wan Wan has just fired up his fighting spirit, stunning Al and Li into complete inaction. You bring your good arm and its shield forward, ready to Castle with anyone about to be attacked, but it doesn't seem like Wan Wan is attacking. Wassily fires off some wind blades, but they're deflected by a strange rippling in the air that Laeh summoned up.
Now that you think about it, a double Castle like that, with an ally then immediately with a Minion again might be hard. You need to visually lock on to your Castle target to switch to them, and when you pop out of it you're set in a position to defend from the enemy, which means facing them front and center. Might work if you abandon defense to look toward your second target, but that'll leave you vulnerable if you aren't fast enough.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [6]:
Mikey: *whistle* "Hey wolfie! come here boy!"
You hear an encouraging stony bark from the woods, but no wolf comes bounding out to see you. Well, it's intact enough to respond, so maybe it's fine. For now at least, it's fine. You don't exactly have time to go run off and find and fix your wolf, then get back here. Instead, you turn to the Urstrig statue that Matt formed. It's a very pretty piece of work, definitely captures the real thing's beastliness. And now, it shall serve you! You give the statue a quick burst of Life, and the pieces making up its limbs give a crack, separating from the torso. It shakes its smooth rock head, letting off a small cloud of dust, then glances around, giving you a particularly long look.
Uh. It IS under your control. R-right?
A quick huff of breath (not sure how it breathes with stone lungs) and a nuzzle up against your hand later, it is confirmed that the stone Urstrig is indeed friendly. Your butt unclenches as you give a small sigh of relief.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [7]:
Matt: "Hey, guy that brings things to life, why not try your hand at the Urstrig statue? If it's even a fraction as strong, it could help out a bit. Assuming it targets them, anyways."
He nods, then goes to work on your Urstrig statue while the enemies are distracted by Al and Li. Meanwhile, you try to activate the sword. Not sure how, exactly. Do you just, sort of... feel it? Maybe push energy into it? No, no that isn't it.
Befuddled, you give the sword a sharp rap with your knuckles in irritation, and are surprised when a pale blue transparent barrier pops up in front of your strike, knocking it back.
Oh! It was a barrier totem, made to defend the grove! So, when you turned it into a sword, you got a Barrier Sword! Which means it defends you? Probably? You'll need to test it out to be sure, but it certainly looks like it.



Events: Wan Wan, continuing to blaze his aura and keep his glaive at the ready, begins shuffling backwards away from the group, Ilollaeh keeping close behind him. He eyes the large stone bear now walking around, not surprising considering it's now the biggest of all his foes.
Wan Wan: "Laeh, did you catch that? The bear?"
Laeh: "I got it, but I don't think I can use it yet..."
Wan Wan: "Work quickly, it may be our way out of here."

Everyone else rolled medium-high but I rolled low on both, after saying that I thought the RtD was dead?

Forgive me if I assume things were rigged :p Either way, I'll action later, bit busy right now.

please don't assume - I was there on IRC when the roll went down, and it was an unanticipated result

"stone-bear-owl: kill them both!" Point at wan wan and leah.
Animate something nearby.
Does Sturstig get a separate roll like Li?

Waiting on Caek.

Been really busy, can't really give a full action today without angering brother who wants to play coop game as fast as possible: have a placeholder that should do till I have time for more detail :p

Throw the potato at Leah, then face the main attacker whose name currently evades me.

"Drop the glaive. Now."

Al-Aris looks at Li in surprise. "Uh...Li? You might be getting -"

"Be quiet, you."

If he doesn't throw down his weapon, create pop rocks inside his eyes.

"...alright then."

Decay the potato if he doesn't surrender.

Probably best for me to resign from this game; not got much time to play and to write big actions, but I can get away with it in Keb's roll because it takes a hell of a lot less time to write each action.

Nothing wrong with a short action. Also, rolling!

caekdaemon - Al-Aris and Li-Rala [9+3=12 (!!!), 3+3=6]:
While momentarily struck down by fear, both you and Li almost instantly realize that the other is in danger, and that this will not stand. Li immediately wings the potato at the enemy duo, which is deflected mid-flight by another of those odd rippling barriers from Laeh.
Li-Rala: "Drop the glaive. Now."
Surprised by the venom in her voice, you glance over and see her normally cheerful face scrunched up in... anger? Her eyes are angry and steeled, with her mouth a grim frown.
Al-Aris: "Uh...Li? You might be getting -"
Li-Rala: "Be quiet, you."
Al-Aris: "...alright then."
Not much you can do when she's like this, though she seems to be trying to will poprocks into existence inside Wan Wan, which isn't going too well. You suppose it's actually going quite well for Wan Wan, doubt he would appreciate eye poprocks.
Though, you need to do something about this. The potato is already shot down, but you think you've got a better idea. Just a bit of a taste of real power.
Calling upon your... true nature, you sip a bit of power from your reserves, converting it into something this Embodiment can use. Suddenly, your back and shoulders cover themselves in gleaming black scales with a row of spikes bursting forth from your spine, and a twin pair of horns curving back from your temples.
Breath of Death
Your maw opens wide, teeth now sharp like obsidian daggers, and out comes... death. A rolling black cloud of decay, the end of all that it touches, billowing forward across the ground and instantly withering every verdant blade of grass it lands upon. The cloud spills forth, tumbling and cresting and blowing forward towards your enemies. Inadvertantly, you catch Mikey's stone bear in the attack, consuming it in mere seconds, and causing both Laeh and Wan Wan to scramble back away from you, where they immediately slip on a patch of ice formed by Wassily. The cloud doesn't get much further, petering out a few feet short of the two, and soaking fully into the ground and becoming nothing. There is now a 30 foot wide cone of bare earth laid before you, with even the top layer of dirt reduced to stony dust.
Hm? You notice that after Wan Wan fell over, the immense sensation of his power faded, and you realize he was just a normal level of strong. Above any of you, but certainly no ender of the world. Is that his power perhaps?

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [3]:
♥♥♥♥. Shiiiit. Shitshitshit. Okay, you need to call En.
Wait, you don't have his number. ♥♥♥♥.
Okay, you have Johnny's, it's fine. You take out your phone, hit Johnny in your contacts, and let the phone dial.
...
...
...
Pick up dammit. Then, a click!
Dunrim: "Johnny! We ran into some dudes, ♥♥♥♥'s going down! One of them is huge and red and-"
Probably Not Johnny: *grunt*
Dunrim: "Wait what. You're not Johnny. Who is this?"
Not Johnny: "Butler. Johnny busy."
Dunrim: "Busy?! Busy with what?!"
Butler: "...Books."
Books. Books he says.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [5]:
You swear like a sailor, rather fittingly, and fire off a trio of Freezing Sprays at the duo while strafing around to behind them, to kill their footing from behind. Laeh tries to use her ripple shield again, and it once again deflects your attack. But this time, with the downward angle, her shield deflects your shots down into the ground, where they splash out and freeze the grass thick, leaving a wide patch of ice blocking their path. Laeh sees your trap and looks a bit frightened, but at Wan Wan's command spins around his side and deploys another shield to his front.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [8]:
You maintain readiness to castle with anyone, but Wan Wan doesn't attack, or rather, nobody gets within range of him. The stone owlbear charges forward to face the red warrior head on, but a sudden huge attack from Al swallows it whole and causes Wan Wan and Laeh to retreat even further.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [7]:
Mikey: "stone-bear-owl: kill them both!"
Your stonestrig grunts at you, which ends up sounding like two stones hitting each other, but it does start running for the two enemies. Wan Wan takes notice of your statue beast, while the witch girl uses another shield to deflect a potato from Li. Then, something happens with Al. He rears up, his back erupting in jet black scales and spikes, and he sprays a massive cone of oily black clouds from his mouth, covering the area in front of him in an greasy malicious fog. Your bear is caught in the blast, and with a startled roar, begins to sink into the clouds, quickly vanishing from view.
...
Stonestrig?



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [10]:
Allowing the others to fight Wan Wan and Laeh for you, you instead plunge your hand into the stone Risk table, carving and slicing the rock around your arm, making it form into a moderately thick gauntlet. Fingers, forearm, upper arm, some simple joints for each section, aaand... Okay, it should be good! You pull your arm and new gauntlet out, extra bits of stone clattering to the ground around you, then your arm goes down too.
Oh. Hm. You hadn't really considered the fact that stone is sorta heavy as hell. And your armor is probably about a centimeter thick in most places, made of solid stone. That's a lot of stone. Only a bit heavier than your sword, but then again you lift that with both hands.



Events: Wan Wan and Laeh both fall to the ground, driven backwards by Al's corrosive hell-breath onto Wassily's ice trap. Wan Wan is beginning to lose his composure, his head darting around swiftly only to see no real path of escape.
Wan Wan: "Laeh, the bear!"
Laeh: "I-I'm still-"
Wan Wan: "It's fine, the dirt!"
Laeh: "The- Oh! Got it!"
She begins muttering again, and this time Wassily is close enough to make out some of it. It's... numbers? Wait, really? That can't be right. No, not just numbers. Hm.
It almost sounds like she's reciting some kind of code or list maybe. A word or two, paired with a number or another word or phrase. All at very high speed, to the point where you can barely make it out yourself. Then, she finishes.
All around the pair, the earth shifts slightly. Then, much more violently, as a dozen spots of earth suddenly rise up, taking form. It's... Urstrig? Wait, what? 15 fully formed dirt-Urstrigs have risen up out from the ground, and begin pawing the earth and eyeballing the group. The bears pair off, 2 slowly approaching each of the members of the party, with 1 staying by Wan Wan and Laeh.