Dusk of the Drowned |
Summary: | Using the piece of Ariel ripped off during their last encounter, the draug have followed Ariel home and now attack the Winbarry Estates directly. |
Date: | IC Date (2018-03-09) |
Related: | They Came from the Sea, The Creatures from the Shady Cove |
NPCs: | Draug Maulers, Draug Behemoth, Draug Lord |
Scene Runner: | Gabrielle |
Beach, Winbarry Estates
The greensward of the estate lawn slowly gives way to the sea grass and sand that is prevalent to beachs on the New England coast. Sea gulls and other small sea birds nest in the tall grasses and can be seen moving along the waterline at all times of the day.
The warm snap has held longer than most would have expected and although the weather is starting to definitely become chilly at night it has still to get cold enough to restrict outdoor activity for those that might choose to engage in it, even once the sun has fallen. However, the cloud cover makes for a rather dark and dreary Friday night as the last rays of the sun disappear over the horizon and full night sets in around the Winbarry Estates. Down at the beach the normal night time sounds create a melody all its own for nature lovers, a melody lost on Gabrielle, who, as usual, has a pair of earbuds stuffed in her ears as she sits right at the border of the estate lawn and the wilder, taller beach grasses, bundled up in a blanket and reading by the light of a clip-on lamp attached to the back cover of her book.
Grace Halleson is weird. She's totally that girl who is out jogging during impending nightfall, having chosen her typical circuit on the grounds and along the entire outer perimeter of the hedge maze. First off, it takes away from the danger (HAH) factor to be jogging on 'home turf', and there's less likelihood of the girl forgetting curfew and landing herself in deep ka-ka. So as the eye of the sun dips further, further down the girl is running along at a good clip. Running is when Grace feels particularly happy; it means that she can indulge the powerful physicality of her (unfortunate) skill set and just enjoy the smells, sights and sounds. The beach does not disappoint.
Her trajectory takes her past Gabby, and Grace's gaze flits toward the other girl's reading light of all things. Provided Gabrielle looks up to see the petite girl in the camisole and yoga pants (the chill is not a bother) Grace will lift a hand in cordial greeting.
See…while people were either being active or just jogging about, Constantine was being exceedingly…..
** *sigh* ** Lazy.
The handsome blonde boy was napping right there on the lawn, not too far away from Gabrielle. Though it doesn't look like he's been out there for forever, or someone might have dumped a bucket of water on him already. Since it happens to be warm out, while he prefers the cold, he's dressed pretty comfortably. Grey cargo pants with a white long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, silver ball in his hand as he just lies there and enjoys the cool air. A black beanie does find itself on his head though.
Maybe someone can wake him up? Eh, everyone has a hobby.
The last several days have been rather stressful for Ashton, with a very few exceptional moments. The beach has been one of the few places that the dark haired boy has been able to clear his head. Apparently, Ashton did not get the memo that the temperature was dropping. The boy is walking in the sand wearing a pair of jeans rolled up to about mid-calf and a light slate blue cotton shirt. He does not seem too bothered by the temperature dropping.
It's just that time of day when Ariel heads down to the beach anyway. Even if he doesn't eat something he can't digest, his skin doesn't flake and he doesn't sweat and he's unaffected by the cold, so it just makes sense for him to just take a quick dip rather than taking up bathroom space. Even if taking a dip mostly just means walking around on the ocean floor and eating the occasional slow fish. So Ariel crossing the lawn on his way down to the beach isn't an unusual sight. And, in case it was missed, Ariel's being a boy right now, tall and good looking with broad shoulders and dark, curly hair. He's wearing a pair of gym shorts in Coral Springs colors and a t-shirt that inexplicably says 'RAVIOLI ARE DUMPLINGS' and has a picture of a ravioli and a jiaozi dumpling. His airpods are in and as he walks he sings, "Get into the groove boy you've got to prove your love to meeeee!" and might be dancing very, very badly. He does a spin for no good reason, spies Ashton and points at him, "Get up on your feet! Yeah, step to the beat! Boy what will it beeeee?" Then he turns and keeps walking, waving his index fingers in the air to the 'music'.
A dip in the water is what Ronan had been doing as well. Dressed in his swim shorts, the blond teen comes up from the water, which seems to harden to ice on his body within moments of being exposed to the air. He doesn't really seem to care much about the icing forming in rivers on his body, or the thousands of little crystals that were now frosting his hair. The cold returning has been good for him and he looks like he feels like a million dollars. He's back into his comfort zone. Of course he's also reducing the temperature of the air around him by quite a few degrees.
The weather has had little to no effect on Loukanos. In cotton shorts and a red tee, he stands in the midst of the beach with his toes in the sand. His eyes are closed as he faces the ocean, letting the sounds of the beach wash over him. Ariel's singing snaps him out of his calm, and he glances over at him. A pleasant smile tugs on his lips, and the smile widens a touch when he notices Ashton.
Out in the deep water a sullen, orange glow starts to become visible. Slowly a small patch of ocean start to look as is someone had lit a well banked fire under the water. A fire that is making its steady way closer to shore. Caught up in her reading Gabrielle doesn't notice Grace's wave. She also fails to notice the people and activity elsewhere around here in any significant way, nor the unnatural glow out in the deeps.
She needn't supernatural abilities to see that which glimmers in the distance, but it sure is nice when a girl just wants to smell the sea air. Nonetheless something in Grace's peripherals catches her attention and she pauses in her gait. Having initially marked her trajectory to go rough Constantine up a bit and (kindly) give him a hard time for sleeping on the lawn, Grace freezes and stares at the approaching flame-like glimmer, her brow furrowing. She has a natural aversion to fire and the damage that it causes, and the sight of this 'burning' unnaturally beneath the waves does not bode well. By now she is close to Constantine and she drops to rouse him. Unfortunately it is not affectionately, as she nudges his elbow worriedly. "Con—" She whispers, staring rapt at the water.
"Can you see that?" She asks, voice tense. "Look.. out there.." She gestures toward the glow.
Constantine was even using his trench coat as a blanket….shame.
Grace comes over and finds Constantine blissfully asleep and apparently has no qualms about roughly waking him up. "page ashtonhm?! eh? what's goin' on?" he says as he drowsily wakes up to Grace nudging and shifting him. Either way, he sits up and notices it's Grace and he smiles to his girlfriend. "Hey you." he says, but his smile dies as he sees the look on her face, attention being turned to the distance as he sees the light….and he starts to sit up…
"I see it…" he narrows his eyes a moment, his hand reaching to hold Grace's as he just has this…awful feeling that something bad is gonna happen.
Very Star Wars, Constantine. Alas, he looks to Grace. "Be ready…" he starts to stand up then.
Ashton was walking with his head down a little bit; his eyes downcast. Then all of a sudden, the young sorcerer suddenly looks up, glancing around until his azure-green gaze falls on the ocean. He glances around seeing that there are other students present. He yells out, "There are mutant zombie things in the water!"
Ariel is a little surprised at just how many people are down at the beach. Not Ronan. He sees Ronan down there all the time. Or at least he sees Ronan's feet. He throws waves out to the people he recognizes and keeps dancing along. When Ashton calls out that there are mutant zombies in the water Ariel waves to him with a grin and points at his ears, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I AM LISTENING TO SOME MADONNA! I GUESS I AM OBSESSED WITH HER?"
"Oh, dear," Loukanos says dryly, frowning. "They're back so soon." He opens his mouth to issue a warning, but as Ashton has that covered, he walks over to where Ariel is and gently tugs an earbud from his ear. "They're back." He repeats and points over to the orange glow. Meanwhile, his hands begin to glow a faint golden white light.
And boy are they back. As the people on the beach start to notice the glow decaying heads start to break the surface of the water much nearer to the shore. A lot of decaying heads, partially covered in ratty, wet hair, seaweed, and growth of barnacles and other sea parasites.
As the creatures continue shuffling out of the water it's clear to see many of them are still clothed in the tattered remnants of a variety of period costumes. They bodies are covered in a combination of cancerous growths and sloughing skin that makes them look deformed and decaying all at once. And it's not just a few of them, rows and rows of the reanimated drowned are coming out of the water. And they appear to be heading for Ariel, specifically.
The commotion attracts Gabrielle's attention. As soon as she sees whats going on her eyes widen and then a flash of light illuminates her section of the beach as she disappears without even getting up out of her beach chair only to reappear literally a second later with a pair of rapiers in her hands, all trace of her customary shyness completely absent from her demeanor.
"I'm scared." Grace whispers to Con, holding his hand as he stands, staring hard at the water. She perks at Ashton's declaration, turning her head to watch the boy as he offers more insight on what that glow is. Con will feel her hand tightening in his. "If we have to fend s-something off.. if it takes me.." She doesn't even know what 'it' looks like. The shroud of darkness and unknowing 'bliss' will take her before any transformation does; blind her to her own actions. This makes it harder. "Please forgive me, for what you could see." She whispers, unable to guarantee anything. She's watching Ariel now, jamming away to Madonna, tension immediately beginning to tighten her muscles and then — blessedly — Loukanos steps in to deliver the warning personally. All of these students, all of them, she has seen in passing and in classes but does not know them personally, save for Constantine. Now, perhaps, it will be time to work together regardless of this fact.
Seeing the ghastly, brackish, decaying heads breaking the waves… Grace tenses… a canid whine arising in her throat as she squeezes the metalbender's hand tight. Do not mistaken this for fear; something else is taking over. Grace begins to draw deep, fortifying breath… but her eyes are anxious.
Constantine looks then to Grace, keeping her behind him as he calls nearby metal to him, forming a bit of a defensive perimeter right in front of her. "Stay behind me, Grace." he narrows his eyes then, before Grace apologizes to him in advance! "Don't worry about it." he says then, taking a breath as those dead creatures rise up out of the water. "Poor souls who drowned?" he comes to such a conclusion before he sighs, sending razor sharp shards of metal straight for one of the draugs!
This was the first time Constantine has used his powers offensively in a long time, so he might be just a tad on the rusty side. "Don't fear them." he calls out.
Remembering the last time he faced the water-logged zombies, Ashton pulls his pocket knife from his pocket, flicking it open. He looks at the group of students gathered, and starts drawing a much larger circle in the sand. He yells out, "If anyone needs protection from the zombies, get inside the circle. It should keep them at bay!" Once the physical line is made, he runs the blade across his palm, slicing deeply. He then starts retracing the circle widdershims, chanting in some unearthly language. Drops of dark crimson splattering across the sand along the drawn circle. As he does, his eyes glow the color of crystal clear jade green.
"Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free! At night I lock the doors where no people can see! I'm tired of dan-" Ariel turns and looks straight into a mass of the ugliest things the sea has burped up since that time with the big sea monster filled with the bodies of people missing from that one Japanese village. "HOLY SHIT EVERYONE! IT'S THOSE FUCKIN' ZOMBIES! IS EVERYONE ELSE SEEING THIS?! Hey, Siri! Play Immigrant Song!" and runs into the fray, his arm growing out into a long, gray spear of bone and stone, attached with cords of raw red muscle. He swings around and runs it through the head of the closest zombie thing. "GUYS! THERE ARE A LOT OF THEM!"
"Now that song I know! Now would be a good song for right now." Ronan calls out as Ariel tells Siri to play Immigrant Song. "He goes on singing things I haven't heard but a good song he keeps ta himself." Ronan grumbles as he lifts his hands,"I think it's time for this guy to take a bit of a time out." He says as he begins encasing the three of the draug in ice. The hard dense super cold ice was definitely not going to be pleasant for the beasties. He's starting with the legs but he's working his way up, focusing on the water molecules surrounding them.
Bright blue eyes blazing with rich golden flames, Loukanos begins to chant a mantra to the sacred goddess Hecate. Ancient Greek pours out of his mouth as he uses the prayer as a focus for his psychic abilities. He stalks over to where Ashton has his magic ward set up, knowing that a telepathic clash against this creature of the depths could very well leave him defenseless. He has come prepared this time, awaiting the backlash. After their last encounter, beating this thing has become a matter of pride, though. He possesses the more powerful mind.
He just has to prove it.
As Loukanos makes contact with the nefarious mind at the center of the fire-like glow deep within ocean waters he catches it by surprise, getting in what amounts to a psychic jab that causes the glow to flicker then intensify as the creature causing it starts to float closer to the surface. In the meantime the regular draug start to fall to the more prepared students but as they fall more come up out of the water behind them, filling in their ranks. If they fall. Gabrielle, for all her tachnique with her swords, quickly finds that rapiers don't do a whole lot against creatures that are no longer alive. After skewering one right through the heart she finds herself having to hop back to avoid its deformed club of an arm, which swings for her head as if she hadn't even attacked it.
And towards the back of the draug ranks two hulking forms break the surface of the water. The fact that the horns and growths of their lobster-like armor breaks the surface almost ten feet away from the shore gives an immediate idea of how big the behemoths really are. And they seem to be in no rush to join the fight, letting their smaller brethren wear down the students defenses by sheer numbers.
Magic of any sorts terrifies and incenses the monster within Grace, though the girl knows of the service that Ashton is trying to offer. She even has the presence of mind to appreciate it, her scarlet gaze watching the boy from afar as he fortifies his circle, calling upon his own blood magic. Grace's inner wolf is horrified but the girl is fascinated. She is completely attuned to Constantine however; she heard the deep breath, read between the lines. "Focus. You'll be ok." She whispers, as the boy prepares himself.
By then, the legions of the 'drowned undead' make themselves known. Despite Constantine's protective presence… something goads the small girl in the running tights onwards. Look at her hands, look at then: just this morning, she was rolling bread dough; she was spreading the filling into cinnamon buns. Now she's running across the beach, a shrieking thing, ponytail bannering. She pulls both arms back, eyes flashing, hands pulling back back with nails lengthening in to horrific claws. She sinks them into the briny throats of three of the draug minions, one after the other, moving swiftly and viciously. Her shriek echoes across the beach.
Constantine sees the legions of draug starting to come out of the waters, even with those behemoths coming up right behind them. A sigh then as he calls upon his powers over magnetism, looking directly at the opposing force in question. However, he's only slightly distracted by Grace lunging in front of him. "Grace!" he calls out to his girlfriend and he sighs a moment. "Jesus…" now he has to watch her back at a slight disadvantange. Hope his aim is good!
With a single extension of his arm, it looks like a rain of metal smashes into that front line, metal shards pierce at least two draugs right in the head, while hopefully at least slowing down a few more.
As Loukanos takes refuge within the warded circle, Ashton gives him a bit of a smile and nod. The dark haired boy then turns his attention back to the approaching horde of zombies. He once again vocalizes words not meant for mortal ears. He dips the fingers of his right hand into the blood from the cut of his left, then slices through the air. As Ashton's fingers pass through the airs, four of the zombies are ripped apart by unseen forces.
Ariel doesn't actually see that other people are doing things so keeps shouting out warnings, "GUYS, THEY SMELL SUPER BAD!" The blade of his spear elongates and he lashes out at the little ones around him, going for some lopped heads and dropped undeads. "GUYS, DOES-" Then a goddam junkyard falls down around him and his eyes go wide. "OH SHIT AN AIRPLANE JUST CRASHED GUYS! IT'S THE FIRST EPISODE OF LOST OVER HERE!"
"We all live in a yellow submarine…." Ronan sings softly under his breath as he begins trying to create a shard of ice to skewer one of the Behemoths that were coming from the depths. He was being a little bit on the peculiar side but hey, he's Irish. The ice was proving to be a little easier for him to control than the ocean was the last time he saw these creepazoids. "I have no idea.. what the rest of the lyrics are, but we all live in a yellow submarine."
A spear of ice forms out of the ocean water, slamming into the less protected abdomen of one of the behemoth, lifting it high into the air before the weight of the monster breaks the ice and sends it tumbling to disappear under the waves in a huge splash. A splash thats echoed further out among the oceans waves as a huge form that resembles a nightmarish combination between a jellyfish and a squid floats out of the water ands into the air, streams cascading down the glowing lobes of its mantle. While the main onslaught of draug is focused on Ariel, the attention of the Lord Draug is focused on Looukanos, who staggers, his mental defenses resisting but very much reminding him that he needs to finish what hes started or suffer the consequences.
Gabrielle stops moving for a moment in reaction to the exploding draug bodies, courtesy of Ashton. "ewewewewewEW! Really!? REALLY!?" Her momentary pauses extends for a second more as Loukanos wisps surround her then the beach brightens up for a moment as she disappears only to reappear a couple of second later. Her rapiers are gone and in their place she's holding a thick quarterstaff, which she brings crashing down on the head of a draug, smashing it open like a watermelon.
She feels her claws cleaving through the stinking flesh, breaking apart brittle armor. This is manageable; fight, manage, focus. As long as she keeps in her own head she can stave off 'the haze'. Grace knows THAT much. But what will it take to push her over the edge? Her attacks hitting home, she heaves the limp bodies back into the sea, her eye glowing. All-the-while, with the sense that she does have, Grace both sees to it that she is neither in the way of her boyfriend's strikes.. nor does she waste time in tearing a small swath into the offense of the 'lesser' draugs.
Three more fall to the vicious swipe of her clawed hands, and she is making to come to Loukano's aide when the time is right. Fierce crimson eyes glare at the Lord Draug as something 'else begins to overtake Grace altogether. She is losing control, and she plans to approach.
The rubbery, pale entrails of the lesser draug drop from her palms as she wades away form the shore, a snarl rumbling into her throat.
Constantine keeps up his solid metal defense, though he sees the Behemoth and he just -knows- he'll need something stronger…besides….with the numbers….
Constantine takes a deep breath, looking at everyone who's on the line. Either way, Constantine puts his hand to the ground and tries to use a powerful trick.
Electromagnetism.
With a shaky hand, he draws a multitude of elements into the center, mainly dust, rock, and drawing more metal to him in a far wider range. Attempting to improve the defense of the area, but alas, his target is the Behemoth, and he throws a large spear of assembled metal aimed straight for it's heart! "Keep it up! we can make it!" he calls out to everyone.
Seeing the thing rise up from the depths further out in the water, Ashton's eyes grow wide. "What the…" his question remains unfinished. He once again repeats the ritual that he performed a few seconds before. Perhaps it is the increased distance or perhaps it is the fact that something that big requires a greater sacrifice, but either way, the magic enacts but fails to have any visible effect on the "thing" in the water.
It's around here that Ariel notices that some of the draug are being torn to shreds by magic and others are being lit up by sparkles and one of the big ones is being stabbed right through the chest by a big ice spear. He looks back and sees the others and says, "OH OKAY! YOU ALL SAW! COOL! Hey, Siri! Play Smack My Bitch Up!" and then promptly lunges over an approaching zombie, does a spinning leap into the air, bringing his spear-arm around and down in what would be an epic move if he didn't completely miss and almost certainly fall straight into it's mouth or something. "Weeeaaaak!"
The ice spear turned out successfully in doing a shishkabob routine, and so Ronan decided to try and use the water to restrain the creature if he can. He's not having much luck using his powers to try and keep the injured behemoth. It isn't much luck really and he's seriously wishing that spearing had just done the beastie in. "Good lord deliver us from ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties. OH and make Ashton not over do it… again."
Gah! Loukanos's features twist in pain, and his fiery gaze returns to the Lord of Draugs. "I don't know," He answers Ashton's trailing question. "But it's eager to die." Clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turn white, he pushes back, imposing his will on the being. Working on a mind so unfamiliar and inhuman is not ideal, but if he can manage to halt the swarms of undead for even a moment by targeting their leader, it will have been worth it.
The behemoth sees Constantines spear coming at him and, with surprising agility and speed for something as big as it is, it swats the metallic projectile out of the air with one huge, clawed arm. Its execution isnt perfect by any means and although it avoid a lethal blow large chunks of chitin fly in all directions as the spear bites through a section of its claw, eliciting a roar from the creature, which is much more noise than any of the draug have made up until this moment. On the back-swing the behemoth catches Ariel as he comes down, batting the shapeshifter back out over the beach. One the boy lands in the sand he leaves a trench a good 8 feet long behind him but at least hes nowhere near the diminishing hoard of minor draug. A horde which barely deserves such a descriptor since their numbers are significantly down and parts of draug are scattered all over the section of the beach the battle has been taking place in, some of them still twitching and moving even after being detached from their original body. One disembodied hand even managing to keep a hold of Ariel's ankle throughout his unwanted flight and subsequent crash landing.
Gabrielle creates another flash in the middle of the mass of draug as she pops out to the edges, both avoiding an attack and buying herself a second to assess the flow of the battle. When she sees one of the behemoths trapped in ice up to its thighs she teleports again, appearing right above and slightly behind it. But in the second it takes her to make that move the behemoth breaks free of the ice, leaving behind a chunk of putrid thigh muscle stuck in the frozen water, and in doing so throws off Gabrielle's attack, which only manages to break off one of the spines of its back armor, instead of staving its brains in.
Protected from physical attacks by Ashtons massive mystic shield, Loukanos is free to focus on the Draug Lord. And the effect is clear as the creature's light dims and then brightens once more, the godling and the demon stuck in a psychic tug of war that, for the moment, seems to be dead even.
She means well, she truly does. Grace is trying to close that distance, quickly, to aide her peer. Her human common-sense and her bestial impulsiveness war, causing her to lunge forth, attempting to cover the distance in a spectacular 25 foot jump… And she misses the mark. The Draug Lord is left in it's battle of wills with Loukanos, and Grace tumbles into the dark waters… but she's close… so much closer.
Constantine sees all that was happening, a crack of his neck as he starts to do something that -greatly- helps his powers. He calms down. and he breathes.
He sees that Behemoth that's roaring and ready to go, realizing that was going to be a pest, he focuses his sense of metal, expanding it with his powers of magnetism….and suddenly…
The wreck of a fallen ship starts to come out of the water. Adding onto it with some of the metal he just collected, he cracks his neck and smiles wryly at the Behemoth…Then lets the boat fall right on top of it! Let's hope this one isn't nearly good with agility… But this was a pretty big boat too…..
Frustration can make a monster do a great many things.
Closing his eyes, Ashton tries to visualize the glyphs necessary to try to take on the beast that is in the water. He starts scratching a series of symbols into his forearm. His hand slips a touch, over exaggerating one of the lines, cutting a bit deeper than he meant to. The magic released but not the intended effect he has in mind. What effect it unleashed he is not sure, though he knows the symbol was drawn correctly.
"Oh you did not just bite my goddam foot!" Ariel pushes himself to his feet and brushes himself off, not that it matters since he's all wet and covered in the zombie leavings from all the littler draugs he's been chopping to bits. When Grace goes flying past him he actually stops to watch. "Woah, hot wolf girl. Good idea, hot wolf girl. I mean, not the jumping, but the…" And then Ariel shoves his hands into his chest and pulls himself open, a heaving mass of pulpy organic horror spilling out of him, pushing his increasingly deflating body into the air as if Ariel was just an Ariel suit filled with HP Lovecraft's favorite pasta recipe. Shapes form, rough, uncomfortably organic things, covered with mouths and eyes and spines and long grasping tentacles lined with short black teeth. Moving on a thick sluglike trunk, it surges toward the injured behemoth.
The ice is forming harder and harder but Ronan's doing his best to try and keep the Behemoth's in ice. It's hard to deal with right now. Ronan's still covered in ice that glistens slightly. His hair glistened with the ice as well. His body is colder than ice. He has a hard time getting all of this dealt with right now. His breathing was coming in slow as he begins to hum Hazy Shade of Winter under his breath.
The chaos of battle slips from Loukanos's mind. All of it. The leaping wolfen girl, the rise and subsequent fall of the shipwreck, and the organic mess that is Ariel… His attention and focus go to the Draug Lord. Despite his best attempts, he is unable to break through the mental standstill. The flames flicker out slightly, and he begins another chant.
The sound of pouring water is enough to give the behemoth on the receiving end of Constantine's attack warning of whats going to happen. That and the shadow overhead. It is a big boat. Its enough of a warning for the creature to try and catch said boat. After all, it is a big creature. And catch it it does. And it holds it, and holds it, and holds it, apparently unmoved by the massive weight it's keeping pressed overhead. And suddenly, CRACK. Noise fills the night as the weight of the boat snaps the behemoth's left arm off at the elbow, making the kind of sound you hear in Red Lobsters all over the country, magnified a hundredfold. Slowly the boat slides to the left, the behemoth to the right. The one splashing into the shores, now sticking half out of the water, the other roaring in pain and struggling to get fully on the beach and exact its revenge.
Out in the depths Ashton's spells has a clear effect but not the one he was expecting. Dark red and orange energies collect in a shifting, pulsing cloud around the Draug Lord. But instead of smiting it, the energies are collected by the Lords glowing lobes, like water passing through a fish's gills. And like water passing through gills the energies leave behind renewed strength, a strength Loukanos can feel bringing his efforts to a complete standstill as the glow of the Lord increases tenfold, now enough to actually light the battle on the beach and start casting about long, shifting shadows.
Almost back at the shore Ronan's ice stops the behemoth with a hole in its chest dead in its tracks. While not enough to hurt the beast on its own, it's definitely enough to hold it still for Gabrielle to take another pass at it. This time she teleports right onto the ice and using her quarterstaff as a golf club she goes for the behemoth's almost completely unprotected thigh. What follows is a double crack, the first coming from the creatures rotten, decomposing thigh bone as Gabrielle's quarterstaff shatters it, the second coming from the ice itself as a quick teleport out keep Gabrielle from being impaled on a huge claw, which instead cracks the ice around the injured leg to pieces.
Holy shit on toast, Grace ain't touching that one behemoth that Ariel is barfing doom upon. Nor is she going to get in the way of other attacks.. she can at least manage that much. The anger and the tension is yet manageable and Grace is not quite at the point of no return. Part of teamwork is not getting in the way… and staving off the interference. She bursts out of the waves with a roar…. a roar. Isn't she precious? Her lips pull back from animal-white teeth and she can just see the flailing, fumbling progress of the underlings along the beach while the 'big boys' are being dealt with.
Out the girl trudges in her LuLu Lemons, eyes glowing, a snarl vibrating in her chest like a pony engine. She moves to engage the remnants in a blur to keep them from interfering with those who face the remaining Behemoths and Lord. Putrid blood mars the sand; limbs are torn asunder. Don't look.
Heads will roll.
Constantine watches possibly…THE MOST stubborn Behemoth in the history of Behemoths somehow manage to survive a freakin' boat THAT size land on it. Perhaps it was a bit more shocking that the beast caught it first. Either way, the Master of Magnetism attempts to finish what he started, summoning to him collected metal that forms into sharp spears all around Constantine's body as he launches them all forward to try and skewer the beast!
Though he starts to turn his eyes to the Draug Lord…hopefully the others can handle it while he takes care of this monster of a creature.
The Draug Lord is far more of a opponent than the little zombies that he fought before. Ashton continues trying to unleash mystic energies at the creature, to little to no effect. Even though he has a small trail of blood running from the cuts on his forearm and palm, he does not seem to be weakened by it yet.
"Well that's what happens when you try and dismember a creature. You get it all over yourself." Nope No Sympathy from Ronan for getting covered in behemoth guts. The Irish boy is far too intent on trying to restrain or the very least distract the remaining Behemoth, not that he's having the greatest luck with it. No matter how dense or cold he seems to make the ice on it, the thing seems to be getting the better hand of him, but he's going to keep at it and try and keep it. If nothing else, it's one less thing to distract Ashton and Louk.
For a second, it felt like Loukanos might be getting somewhere…but whatever advantage, real or imagined, is lost when the Lord's telepathic presence increases. Dark brows, shadowed by golden flames, furrow in concentration and another series of ancient mantras flow out of his mouth as he refocuses, adjusting now that the bar has been raised.
They might not be having the hoped for effect but the combined efforts of Loukanos and Ashton are at least managing to keep the Draug Lord from focusing on anything other than defending itself. Which has left the rest of the student team free to wail away at the Lord's minions. Grace, with a little help from everyone else, has decimated the minor draug. And in a fit of well-controlled rage she has finally managed to turn the remnants of the hoard into nothing more than a mass of quivering, rotting flesh, strewn the length of the shore. Slowly the waves start to recover the ocean's drowned victims, now in pieces.
Constantines efforts pay off as well. Although the behemoths armor is enough to deflect most of his metallic spears, he managed to impale both of its arms to its body, leaving it completely exposed to Ariels now much more powerful form and leading to it ultimate dismemberment at the hands of the shapeshifter.
Ronan and Gabrielle are not faring as well. They started off working well as a team but even badly injured a Draug Behemoth is a fearsome beast. And even enraged it shows that a horrid appearance doesn't equate to stupidity. Instead of continuing to struggle against Ronan's ice it focuses on Gabrielle's attacks. As the blue haired girl reappears the behemoth spins around and catches her staff in the air. The massive claw easily snaps through the thick oaken staff and, caught by surprise, Gabrielle doesn't manage to teleport away in time. Instead she's hit by the behemoth's other claw, and sent flying straight at Ronan, only her mutant physiology keeping her from suffering serious injuries along with the hit.
Constantine looks at Loukanos and Ashton as they appear to be taking on the Draug Lord. His eyes shifting back to the Behemoth as he managed to leave it wide open for Ariel to beat the everliving shit out of it. That said, he turns his attention to the Draug Lord….
"I hope you two don't mind a little hand…" he says then, taking in a deep breath as he summons a great deal of metal and lifts it above the Draug Lord, fairly high in the sky….before he brings them all down on the Draug Lord! attempting to skewer the living hell out of the beasts back to try and give the others an advantage. "come on…" he murmurs to himself.
Ashton's hands continue to wave through the air. His voice falls into a calmness as the young sorcerer continue to speak the words of power. As he traces his fingertips through the blood on his arms, the symbol almost forms in the air before him in a eerie green glow, matching to color of his eyes currently.
What appears to be a giant hand of water seems to catch Gabrielle in its mitt and then in a fluid motion redirects her back towards the Behemoth. Ronan even makes the hand give the Behemoth the middle finger when he's done. He's not really playing around, honest! He does grin a bit as lets out a sigh of relief that he was able to get the watery hand up in time so that he could catch poor Gabrielle, even if he launched her back into danger again. But hey… Least she didn't come smacking into him.
It would appear that Loukanos's prayers to his distant cousin have been answered. The flames in his eyes erupt, and as he finds footing within the Draug Lord's mind, he attempts to crush it. There are no commands to 'return from whence they came'. They'll just be back. After this long struggle, he'll see the creature dead, no matter what it takes. A chilling breeze rolls through the massive mystic ward. Luckily, neither of the boys inside suffer from it.
It would appear that Loukanos's prayers to his distant cousin have been answered. The flames in his eyes erupt, and as he finds footing within the Draug Lord's mind, he attempts to crush it. There are no commands to 'return from whence they came'. They'll just be back. After this long struggle, he'll see the creature dead, no matter what it takes. A chilling breeze rolls through the massive mystic ward. Luckily, neither of the boys inside suffer from it.
The Draug Lord may look like a demented scientist's genetic experiment combining a squid and a jellyfish but clearly its skin is made of tough stuff. Most of Constantine's improvised missiles find their mark. And they penetrate just far enough to stick, adding an element of post-apocalyptic porcupine to the weird animal combination the Lord already has going on. However, that and Ashton's continued mystical assault leave the demon open to Loukanos' psychic attack. As pure flames light up his eyes the baneful flames of the Draug Lord's lobes dim and flicker, energy leaking out of them to form a glowing cloud around its head. Although there isn't a noise from the demonic creature, the way it tenses and writhes speaks to the psychic pain it's enduring and its efforts to recover from it.
Gabrielle proves once again that her focus and reflexes in combat situations are excellent. Going with the flow she flips in the air, reorienting herself so that Ronan's throw is basically a perfect way to give her flying sidekick a hell of a lot more power than she would ever be able to muster on her own. But the Behemoth shows that it has combat reflexes that work just as well as the blue haired girl's. Dropping over to its injured side it just uses its claw to smack Gabrielle on the butt, giving her even more momentum. Just in time to send her flying straight at Ariel as the Lovecraftian creature surges out of the water to attack it!
Constantine seems to be playing a universal support role today….
He notices that the Draug Lord Just. Won't. Die. That said, he lets those two deal with it for now, he figures he gave them a pretty solid advantage and anything else would be him getting into the way of their part in all this. His attention snap-turns to the Behemoth that Ariel, Ronan, and Gabrielle seem to be dealing with. However, as the creature seems to lunge at the two ladies once more, it will soon find that it is beset upon on all sides by large nail-like metal objects with the intent of skewering this beast alive.
One enters it's skull instantly…and the others seem to be making sure the bastard is dead, as one enters it's ribs, it's torso on all sides, one in both of it's legs, and one through it's shoulders. Talk about a pin cushion. If those ladies looked at Constantine, it literally looked like he made a split-second choice and it apparently paid off. A breath of relief is taken.
Ashton is becoming more aggravated and a little bit woozy from blood loss at this point. His gestures are more exaggerated and his words more forced. The energies released from his spell have an opposite effect than what he was hoping for. Instead of it blasting the creature, the fell energies throw him back some twenty some odd feet. Thankfully sand is a forgiving surface to go splat against; unfortunately, it is not that forgiving.
What follows is a steady stream of Irish Gaelic that doesn't sound like Ronan is entirely pleased when a coil of water comes from the water to wrap around the Draugr Lord. "He's not gonna be stayin'." He calls out hoping that he can distract this beastie long enough to make life a little bit easier for Ashton and Louk. He knew enough to know they were going to be in need of some serious rest.
As soon as Gabby's foot makes contact with the biomass of tentacles, eyes, and teeth that is Ariel she says, "Sorry about this." With a flash of light and a small pop, both Gabby and Ariel disappear. And pretty much instantly they're both appearing over top of the Draug Lord. Another flight a pure white light and Gabby is gone, while Ariel is falling about twenty feet right down towards the top of the Draug Lord's head, like some kind of organic, living missile. But even before he starts to gain momentum in his drop Gabrielle is appearing back at the beach, right next to Ashton and Loukanos. "That should buy you some breathing space, Loukanos. As I hear it, Ariel wanted revenge on that thing for ripping her arm off last week." Slowly she folds down to end up sitting on the sand, exhausted by teleporting something as big as Ariel's current form after having engaged in some heavy combat teleporting a few seconds before.
Between the water itself attacking it, Louakano's breach of its defenses, and Ashton's continued assault, the Draug Lord has too many things competing for its attention to notice one more quick flash of light, so Ariel descending on his head is something that hasn't even come across its radar. Instead, it's refocusing on the beach, sensing Loukano's distraction and attempting to take advantage of the momentary respite in the godling's attack!
And just like that the Ariel thing finds itself well above everyone else. It always wanted to be able to fly! Stretching out its mass, adapting to the sudden shift of position, the Ariel becomes an enormous gray frisbee of grasping tentacles as it twirls through the air downward toward the distracted Draug Lord, natural weapons biting deep, but still nowhere near deep enough, into the thing.
Constantine sees the Draug Lord, and he realizes that this son of a bitch is a tough one…but he's no slacker when it's time for the coup de grace. He lifts his hand just a little bite and metal seems to fuse together to form pipes that enter the draug's body…wreaking havoc on it's nervous system as it moves throughout it's body, but it only succeeds in subduing it while making it feel -REAL- pain.
"Damn….this thing is one stubborn beast." he mutters softly to himself as he levitates over, though only after he uses his metal ball to create a platform for him to float over to the group.
"Come on! let's finish it!" he calls out.
There is not one part of Ronan that wants this evil beastie to escape rightful justice. It's disturbed his day not once but twice. That being said, Ronan's not really equipped to take on a Lich of this caliber. The most he can do it make its day a little less pleasant as the water that had wrapped around it's body develops tiny little needles all along it that pierce the Draug Lord's flesh and bite into it, rending some of it so that is a much less than pleasant experience. If it does escape he's not going to remembering this area fondly, that's for sure. "May the devil take thee ta hell." He says spitting a little bit.
Ashton is knocked flat on his back, until he feels the warmth of Loukanos' healing energies surge through him. At which point, he sits straight up, "Son of a bitch!" He blinks for a second, looking over at Louk, "I'm okay… we can't let that thing get away…" Luckily for him, his pocket knife had been clutched in his hand when he was thrown back and rolled out on the sand just beside him. He picks the blade up and slices into his arm. Realizing the mistake that he made the last time, he, more carefully, draws the glyphs into his flesh and starts chanting. He stands up as he begins casting. The gestures of his hands leaving a faint trail of green in the air around it, until he at last releases the blast of twirling energy. It hits the creature and starts rolling across it's surface peeling the flesh off of the creature as it does so.
However powerful the Lord of the Draugs may be, there is no way for it to combat the attacks of the powered teens and defend its mind as well. That respite is short-lived. The starry night sky is obscured by clouds that form seemingly out of nowhere as the son of Demeter regains his hold on the demon's mind…and finds no defenses. "Yes, more of that…" Loukanos mutters in his focus. The orange light the creature emits turns a pale gold, the same glow that lights up Louk's body. In the depths of the being's mind, Louk's voice can be heard, In the name of Demeter, I end your terror on this earth. May Poseidon's beasts devour your undead flesh. With that final psychic smite, the demon's eyes blaze with the same golden flames that were in Louk's before the divine fire consumes the entirety of the creature, burning bright even amidst the waves.
As the last of its malignant consciousness fades under the combined assault of the Coral Springs students the energies that the Draug Lord had been using not just to attack and defend itself but also to animate and control the drowned corpses it used as its infantry run amok. In one huge silent flash of sickly orange light it explodes out from the dying Lord in all directions, flinging students and debris alike all over the beach, leaving nothing behind but a group of unconscious but ultimately victorious students, studded in the slimy, stinking part of the defeated minor draug. Out at sea the remnants of the body of the Draug Lord slip under the waves as silently as it arrived.