[center][h1]-Collab Between Pezz570, 13org, Fetzen and HokumPocus- [color=dde0c7]Octavio[/color] [color=ff9900]Týfurkh[/color] [color=00aeef]Chres[/color] [color=6ecff6]Karina[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] Lagging behind the rest of the group, Octavio grit his teeth at his choice of magic. The others had their own methods to protect themselves from ranged projectiles, methods that were effective and most importantly, [i]aesthetically pleasing[/i]. As for him? He swung a severed arm around with debatable success. Or at least, that’s what it seemed to be at first. In reality it had been a hastily summoned fragment of his own arm, poorly made due to the time constraints that were imposed by the constant stream of chaos erupting all around him, with gray blotches in the areas that should have been bleeding. He actually didn’t have a name for this particular use of his power. Lynx had once referred to it as “a bewilderingly disgusting display of human anatomy” but that didn’t have a pleasing ring to it, much like the woman and her instruments. [color=dde0c7][i]Why did I think illusions were a better idea than studying to be a bard?![/i][/color] he whined, swatting at an arrow that landed within inches of his boots. With his remaining illusion acting as a second unconventional shield, he had been faring surprisingly well against the archers. Not the woman though. [color=dde0c7]“Use of distractions, a fascinating proposal,”[/color] he told Chres, a veneer of confidence concealing any trace of panic in his voice. It was customary for one such as himself to resort to such methods when combating stronger threats. Octavio, unfortunately, had found himself unable to think of any act of bravery or cunning that would- [color=dde0c7][i]Unless.[/i][/color] [color=dde0c7]“Need a hand?! Take this!”[/color] Octavio’s severed arm illusion flopped wildly in the air without a trace of poise, landing on the woman’s body with a thud that could have been described as meaty. Misshapen fingers clawed at and plugged up whatever holes they could sense on her clarinet-bow, while the remaining mass of arm undid its form just enough to make even looking at the instrument a flabbergasting experience. Even more than it already was, anyways. The woman yelped. Concentration broken, the new shards of ice, which she had begun gathering, fell to the ground As she frantically shook the clarinet-bow in an effort to knock the illusion off. Chres shook his head, scoffing quietly [color=00aeef]”Need a hand? Really?”[/color] “The hell is this?!” The woman shrieked. Absently, struck the club horn against the wall causing the stone surface to jut out into spikes. Each new stones spike spawning closer the hero’s position. Chres cursed as he threw up a construct. The spikes collided in such a force that the construct itself cracked. The Weave of his construct slowly began to unravel. Eyes wide, Chres released the weave as soon as it was safe and did his best to recover whatever heat he could from the dieing construct. [color=00aeef]”Senses! I’ve never seen an attack do that to a construct before!”[/color] This was not good. Sustaining his magic relied on him not overusing his heat stores. That last attack had caused him to lose more energy than he would have liked. Týfurkh damned himself for having used that bolt. Shouldn't he have waited for when their enemy had been more distracted so she wouldn't have been able to defend herself properly ? Then the bolt could have killed her, but now it was pretty much nothing but wasted while also revealing one part of what he could do. Crossbows were quite effective, but not during reloading. He couldn't do that now in all the chaos around him. The word 'distraction' had become stuck in his mind however, but the reason why his brain had such a great interest in the term revealed itself to his consciousness only slowly: Didn't... didn't that woman apparently have to use her 'instruments' in order to do anything ? So it had been each and every time so far, hadn't it ? One just had to look at how frantically she was trying to defend her 'clarinet' against whatever kind of both fascinating and outright revolting... material... Octavio had thrown at her. Now: What would happen if she'd have to deal with something a lot bigger and stronger than a disgusting, wobbling caricature of a human arm ? Something like... himself ? The problem was: She had just managed to defend herself against a bolt, something a huge lot faster than he could ever hope to be. It was to be expected she'd be able to come up with yet another move to hurt him well before he'd be able to reach her. So some kind of distraction was in demand! Týfurkh looked at the stone walls and reminded himself of what he had done to the guard outside minutes earlier... [color=ff9900]"Hey you! Has anybody ever told you about your fat ass ?"[/color] Týfurkh was not talking to her, but shouting at the wall instead using a focused wavefront. He hoped the trick would work again, the reflected echo reaching the woman from behind and making her believe someone was indeed standing behind her. And what could be more suited to get one's attention than some, any kind of insult ? It could hardly matter what kind of verbal garbage he threw at her, could it ? Karina kept concentrating herself as she continued preparing her attack. Such fine control over ice was not something easy to do, especially since she was trying to be as discreet as possible about her attack. Still, the woman with the instrument continued to be a threat not only to Karina, but the rest of the party as well. Thankfully, Octavio's illusions were making a very good job of creating chaos and distracting the woman. Throwing a severed arm towards her and making it plug all holes it could find of the woman's strange instrument made the shards of ice she was manipulating to fall to the ground. No matter the corny joke Octavio did, his illusion was doing a very good job. Unfortunately, as it was already made clear by Chres' explanation, the woman could still attack and prove herself to be a problem to the group even as her instrument was being tampered with. As she slammed the instrument on the wall, trying to free it from Octavio's illusion, it made the stone surface to jut out into spikes, getting dangerously close to the group. Chres managed to block the spikes, but not without visible effort. The construct he made could only barely blocked the spikes, cracking under the stress as it did so. Due to the nature of his magic being close to Karina's, she knew he wouldn't be able to continue like that forever. The urgency of their situation forced her to make a dangerous gamble. Stopping paying attention on her surroundings and any possible attack, Karina focused only on controlling the ice on the walls, doing her best to hasten the cast of such technique. Meanwhile, using his hearing magic, Týfurkh was trying to draw the woman's attention, making his voice sound like it was coming from behind the woman. Finding such distraction to be perfect to mask the already discreet noise the ice spikes would make to extend out of the wall and having already finished with the formulation of her technique, she waved her rapier in front of her in a diagonal slash, resting it on her side, pointing down as she released her technique. The moment she did so, less than a second after Týfurkh used his technique, the ice bumps immediately changed their forms to spikes and were launched with great speed from different angles and places in the wall, with random trajectories. As soon as she released the ice spikes, it became clear why she said for her allies to remain where they were. The attack chose no targets, instead it was simply a deadly shower of ice spikes. Anyone and anything that was in the general proximity of where the guards or the woman was would be in deadly danger. The woman jumped. Jerking her head to where she heard the voice. Her eyes widened. Just in time to see her icy end. Blood spattered across the hallway. The few soldiers who survived, turned to flee towards backup. [color=dde0c7]”Splendid, my…”[/color] He still hadn’t named that technique, Octavio realized, [color=dde0c7]“...[i]distraction[/i] worked.”[/color] He forcefully cleared his throat. The way he uttered the words, it was as if it hadn’t been an improvised act of desperation. Whatever. It was as they said, history was written by the victors. [color=00aeef]”Thank goodness for that.”[/color] Chres said, breathing a sigh of relief. [color=00aeef]”Damn, Karina. That was some attack. How much more of that do you have in you?”[/color] Thankfully, Karina's attack succeeded in killing the woman. Even though some soldiers survived, they ran away after the woman's rather grim demise. It was fortunate too, since Karina gambled a lot in that attack. Not only she let herself open while concentrating herself but it didn't take much for the others in her group to realize how much effort it took for her to use that attack. The already rather pale Karina was even paler, her breath was so cold that it was condensating the air around her and even though she was trying to hide it, her shivers were still noticeable if one paid close attention. [color=6ecff6]"I-I can still continue. It's j-just... C-cold..."[/color] Karina said, with a shaky voice as she replied to Chres as she sheathed her rapier. Not much was needed for one to realise that she wouldn't be able to use such a complex attack like that one without her body temperature lowering to dangerous levels and in the state she was in right now, it would be best if she refrained from using her ability too much for a while, at least until her temperature went back to normal. Chres pursed his lips, taking in her condition. Looking her in the eyes, he gave her a subtle nod. [color=00aeef]"We better continue then.”[/color] He started, [color=00aeef]"Karina, let us take the push forward from here. We will need you in the fights yet to come.”[/color] He looked ahead towards their destination. Their path had been mostly cleared thanks to Karina. Most of the wall guard had fled towards the gatehouse in an attempt to regroup. While the remaining guards quickly had a change of heart after seeing their friends retreat. Chres continued their charge. [color=00aeef]"This is our chance!”[/color] Chres shouted to the others behind him. [color=00aeef]”If we make it to the gatehouse, then we have a chance to open the wall to the citizens!”[/color] Octavio took off running once more, his illusion and him crossing one another’s paths to bewilder any would-be attackers. The archers must have caught on at some point, as many had mostly given up trying to hit a nimble target with a shield identical to it in appearance. [color=dde0c7]”Heavens do we need that,”[/color] he told Chres, sparing a glance at Karina and his one remaining illusion, [color=dde0c7]”we’re starting to wear ourselves down.”[/color] More encounters like their previous one would be disastrous for the party. The idea of a flood of reinforcements seemed more and more irresistible with each passing moment. [color=00aeef]"It would be nice to be on the receiving end of reinforcements for once.”[/color] Chres agreed. Unfortunately, it seemed that they would probably have to fight their way to the door, as the soldiers appeared to have reformed in a tight group inside the gate house. One of the soldiers stepped forward drawing a bow notched with a single arrow. Oddly, the arrow seemed to be coated in a purplish blue color. The archer released the arrow. Chres shaped his shield and knocked the- The arrow broke through the construct, causing the construct to dissipate. Chres’s eyes widened in surprise as the arrow shot past his head and towards Týfurkh.