Selm
Burned Village of Beldeth
It was to be said that Selm died a hero. That she died saving Runner and Inathia from the terrible demon made of flames and hunger. She did so after carefully weighing her options and finding that there was no other way to save them other than sacrificing herself. Yes, Selm died a majestic hero.
Oh, who is she trying to fool? She panicked!
And she was not quite dead yet, but she might as well be! That last command took a lot out of her. Her throat felt scratchy, a telltale sign that she had overextended the utterancy. She could still cast, but another big spell like that could have some serious consequences for her. If she lived to see them. Which, again, she likely would not.
Selm prayed that Runner and Inathia were still alive. Runner was in bad shape when Selm finally caught up and Inathia was nowhere to be seen. That meant it was up to Selm to hold out until the others arrived. Hopefully soon. They had been taunting the monster for a few minutes now. Surely the others would be rushing to their aid now.
The beast snarled in contempt. She felt it viciously rip away from her magic's control, the magic snapping in her mind. Its attention was bought and paid for, as well as a few precious seconds of stunned silence. Now Selm had to run.
Her heart was pounding as she stared at the twin heads of death that loomed ever closer. The creature steadily limped her way taking its time as it huffed in the smoky air. Four beady eyes glowed in the hazy night, trained on her. The dyokyon's jaws slobbered with molten fire, ready to sink into her flesh. At this moment, nothing was more terrifying. It was going to pounce at any moment. Selm had to run!
She turned and-
Fell. Her legs gave out as she felt all the fear and panic coalesce into something tangible running through her body. She could do no more than cower and wait for death. She was no brave adventurer. She was Selm the disowned. Selm the failure. And she was going to die. Fuck.
But the gods were not cruel. Not always. Falling to the ground saved Selm's life, funnily enough. The dyokyon had pounced at her, instead sailing overhead the cowering dwarf. What's more, the beast had misjudged its leap(perhaps expecting resistance similar to Inathia), flinging itself into a half-collapsed cottage. Now it was a fully collapsed cottage with a wounded and angered demon inside.
Selm clutched at her chest, her heart hammering inside painfully. She choked on the breath she had been holding in, the one she expected to be her last. Alive. She was alive and it was thanks to whatever divine providence watching out for her. If she lived through this, she was beelining it for the nearest temple to give thanks.
Standing was difficult for her weak legs. Everything felt numb and loose. Selm hated that her immediate response was not to fight, but to instead cower and die meekly. She was pathetic. Being pathetic would save no one.
The howling was emerging from the rubble. With the size of the demon, it was only trapped under burnt timbers and half a ruined thatch roof. The timbers may have wounded it lightly while the roof was a mere annoyance. Selm needed more time. More time for the rest to finish up.
"Stop!" She commanded, targeting the dyokyon and the dyokyon alone. The spell she had used to get it away from Runner was imperfect. Selm had used it out of desperation, not limiting it at all. This one she honed down to a single target, weakening both the spell and the impact it would have on her magical reserves and throat. It was pushing her limits regardless. She had never cast to such extremes before. Never has she had to.
Once again, the spell took hold. The rubble stopped quaking as the beast below it stopped thrashing. Once again, the spell only held for seconds before the dual-minded demon shred its way out of the command.
As the final burning beam slid off the demon's back, it shook itself. Embers flared to life in the air around it. Small hisses erupted all around it as a burning liquid was released from its ugly skin. Selm winced as a couple of said drops burnt against her arms, too slow to do more than block her face as she backed away from the creature.
She did have the sense within her to move towards where the others should be coming from, as she put one foot behind the other. Each step felt too slow, but she dared not to turn around. She couldn't afford to mistime her command. Also, the prospect of exposing her back to that thing again was too terrifying. She made that mistake moments earlier, after all.
Perhaps she was finally learning.
A pained groan accompanied by the sound of bricks tumbling off each other caught one of the head's attention. Inathia? She was grateful for the momentary pause in the beasts undivided attention, but if Inathia was still recovering then Selm needed to recapture its focus.
"Of all the unsightly creatures upon this plane… you are the ugliest!" The more creative the insult, the more it would hurt its target. Creativity was not at the forefront of her mind as she cast the pain-inducing spell. The head that she targeted winced and swiftly turned its attention back to her.
A shard of ice the size of a dagger slammed into the closer of the two heads, sending the beast howling in pain. A giddy laugh escaped Selm, knowing just what that meant.
The cavalry had arrived. Thank the gods.
"Where are Runner and Inathia?" She heard Yule shout breathlessly, somewhere off to her right. Selm could not answer right away, forced to instead tuck and roll away from a viscous retaliatory claw swiped her way. She felt the back of her neck burn against some debris she was unfortunate enough to roll on. Hopefully, her hair was not on fire now.
Another icicle slamming into the body of the dyokyon gave her the space she needed to reply. "Down near the end of the village. Runner is hurt badly! Baz, she needs you! I think Inathia is buried under some rubble too!"
She heard Yule curse. "And here I hoped we would not have to resort to this. Baz and Eldrig are behind schedule. They are not here yet."
That was bad news. Her elated mood plummeted rapidly. "Runner may be bleeding out! Stop!" She was forced to cast the command once more, giving her enough room to maneuver herself away from being cornered by the dyokyon. She had been lucky thus far with the beast succumbing to the commands. That luck would not hold forever. Nor would her voice. That last command had hurt.
"She will have to hold strong. We cannot spare her the attention!" Yule replied. He pulled flames from the freshly burning buildings around them, forming a dense shield of flames that protected him from the torrent of demonic fire the dyokyon sent his way. The edges of his robes turned crispy, the effort not fully nullifying the danger.
Runner…forgive us! Selm thought bitterly. She could only pray that the rogue held on long enough for them to get her some medical attention.
"Inathia, take its attention!" Yule ordered, the dyokyon rapidly closing in on him. Looking in the same direction he was revealed that Inathia had finally extracted herself. More of her scales appeared to be cracked and blood leaked from several places across her bare form. The perpetual look of terror was still present on the dragonborn's face, but she listened to Yule's orders all the same.
It was surprising nonetheless to see Inathia heft a burning timber the size of herself and chuck it at the dyokyon, all with her eyes shut tight.
Hundreds of pounds of burning wood slammed into the rear left leg of the dyokyon, the very leg Runner had discovered its boiling blood. Two things broke at that moment: the timber and the leg. Neither could exist under such force, so they both gave ground and snapped.
"...that will do!" Yule exclaimed, his eyes wide. The dyokyon was screaming in outrage and pain, forgetting all about the annoying pest that had been prickling its furless hide with bolts of ice.
The demon turned on the dragonborn, resoundingly done with this whole back and forth. It was the biggest here, and it knew it. It played with its food, not the other way around!
That was the interpretation Selm was getting from how vehemently it snarled at them all from both heads. It was getting desperate now that it was building significant wounds. That must mean they were going to pull this off, the gods be praised.
If Runner was next to her, she likely would have punched Selm for even thinking that thought. Hells, Selm immediately felt stupid for it. The demon was enraged and Selm would come to learn that that was not good.
The dyokyon began to slam its heads into anything and everything. The ground, the crumbling buildings, each other. All while making a howling noise that was somehow worse than everything previous. Selm dropped to a knee while holding her ears, her sense of sound threatened to be destroyed.
Whether it was screams of rage or pain, Selm could not be sure. Likely both. The center of the dyokyon's chest was ripping itself open, revealing a third maw. Unlike the two relatively smaller mouths attached to their respective heads, this one was so massive that it could swallow her whole. Teeth the size of her arm gnashed together, black boiling blood spraying from the gums.
Selm snapped herself from the gruesome sight. Dashing as fast as her dwarven legs could take her, she quickly put distance between herself and Yule. No matter how many mouths this creature had, it still had only one body. It would have to focus on one-
A blast knocked Selm off her feet, sending her rolling through dirt and ash. Small embers burned at her exposed skin as she skidded across them. Bruises and scrapes formed themselves as she bounced three times before coming to a stop.
What in the name of Keldar was that? She thought, her sight reeling as she tried to get her bearings. Everything hurt as she sucked in the air knocked from her lungs. In a confused daze, she watched the gigantic maw hurl a ball of boiling blood towards Yule, who summoned another shield of flame. The moment the blood touched the shield, it ignited. The fluid glowed white before exploding violently, throwing Yule several yards before he too rolled to a dazed stop.
That was new.
With two supple targets down to pounce on, Selm was sure it would come to finish her or Yule off while they were trying to recover. Interestingly enough, it chose to instead turn and face the dragonborn who had managed to recover her massive shield in the fray.
A familiar howl of hatred and loathsome gluttony was what told Selm that Inathia was still upon its minds. The demon was hellsbent on its first prey, for better or for worse.
Selm struggled to her feet and drew her forgotten rapier. She may not have much left in her for casting, and her body was ready to call it quits, but she would be damned if she let Inathia face that beast alone. Her honor would not let her leave the girl to certain death alone.
"It seems we… we are in agreement… for once," She heard a voice growl near her. She saw Runner grinning a bloody smile, her teeth stained crimson from the life that had spilled past them. The rogue looked bad, covered in blackened soot and wet with her own blood. She stood at an odd angle, favoring hunching forward to protect broken ribs. "Drink."
Selm had to hastily catch the small potion Runner tossed to her. The gorgeous liquid inside sloshed tantalizingly, waiting to be drunk. Selm had nearly forgotten about the potions in the mayhem. She offered it back quickly. "You drink it! You are in much worse-"
"It's yours. Now drink!" Runner barked, pulling out another potion and drinking it hastily. The one she pulled out was covered in dark smears and the glass looked warped. Was that the one Inathia had dropped when she was bathed in fire?
Selm also realized Runner was right, her potion was missing. How had the human gotten her hands on it? She was certain she had it when the fighting began. She put those questions aside, gulping the magical fluid down with haste as she heard Inathia cry out. The shield had held against yet another assault, but it would not be long before Inathia buckled.
The potion tasted much worse than it looked. Selm's first impression was of cherries but was quickly informed that it was much worse. It was bitterly sweet and tasted like someone who remembered vaguely what cherries tasted like, but also liked to drink armor polish. In short, she gagged getting it down.
But her wounds immediately began to ache less, scrapes closing and bruises mending. The healing was, as warned, a bit painful. Not as painful as the wounds themselves, but still caused her to groan. She felt her throat heal slightly. She could handle a little bit more casting now, but not much. The potion was rather weak in the grand scheme of things, just getting her into fighting condition, just as it had only gotten Runner standing before.
Runner threw her emptied bottle to the ground, grinning madly. "Eshah, that is nasty. C'mon, we gotta save Ina!" Drawing her daggers, Runner darted forward towards the rampaging beast. Selm could not help but feel some level of respect for the rogue. It takes no small measure of courage to stand and fight after being knocked down like that, as Selm was discovering for the first time in her life.
She ran right after Runner. Once again, Selm felt that she was learning.
"I call upon yer aid, Moony-Eyed One!" She heard a gruff voice shout, followed by a quick incantation. A blast of moonlight slammed into the side of the dyokyon, ripping it away from Inathia's shield. With it came a large bite of wood, leaving a deep impression in the slab of wood.
Selm and Runner cheered as they charged, seeing Baz holding up his smoldering holy symbol. The blood leaking from his arms intensified the look of pure hatred the cleric sent the demon. Ahead of him stomped Eldrig, who had a blackened arm of a skeleton lodged inbetween his pauldron and chestplate. Ignoring the bones, he ran forward, shield and sword held firmly in a determined grip. Both men were wounded, as easy enough to tell as it was, but both were ready to slay this demon.
"Now it dies!" Selm heard Runner hiss maliciously.
She could not agree more.