“I say we take our chances with Alandra and investigate the totems,” Aeslin finally said. “Theric, try to hold her off with, hmm. What can you do?”

“I have ice magic, My Freeze should do the trick,” answered Theric. The guardian adjusted his gloves. A cold mist wafted off his fingertips.

“Will you be okay by yourself?” asked Xaveon. “I don’t doubt your prowess with magic or a blade, but Alandra shouldn’t be trifled all alone.”

Theric placed an assuring hand on the vampire’s shoulder. “I have the most hit points of the three of us. You two do what needs to be done, I’ll be fine by myself.”

Xaveon nodded and generated a slender Arcane Sword. Aelslin likewise prepared herself by crouching down and digging her right foot into the dirt. Theric glanced at the two and then called Scion to his hand. The dragon whelp warped into a long burning blade. It shined like the sun.

“Ready,” Theric said between long breaths. “Steady.”

Xaveon licked his lips and Aeslin arched her spine.

“GO!” Theric shouted and made for a mad dash toward Alandra. As he entered the wide cave, the naga witch stuck out her bone wand and fired a set of crackling lightning bolts at the rushing Theric.

Theric dodge to one side and leaped forward over the second bolt. He outstretched his hand, his glove now shimmering an icy blue.

“Fool!” hissed the witch.

An invisible force blasted Theric away before he could make even the slightest contact with his spell. The guardian tumbled head over heels before dragging his hand to a full stop. (-2 damage)

Theric shook off the daze buzzing through his head just in time to dive past another bolt of lightning. “I couldn’t freeze you, but my Dragon Edge can cut through anything!”

Theric reared around the naga, faster than she could cast her spells at him. As Theric came behind Alandra, he reeled back his sword and slashed with a powerful cut, however the sword bounced off the witch’s mysterious shield, sending Theric into a the nearby wall (-4 damage)

Theric slid to the ground. He groggily looked at Xaveon and Aeslin. “Tell me you two made progress?”

The fetish totems appeared to be made of bone and hovered slightly off the ground. As Xaveon observed earlier, they emitted a hum and a small cloud of noxious gas.

Aeslin widened her eyes as the totems sparked with electricity, not once, but twice. “How peculiar.” She gave Alandra a hard stare before turning to frustrated Theric. “I think I’ve discovered something but I need you to attack her once more.”

Theric let out a long sigh. “It’s no use, Aeslin. Her shield is impenetrable.”

“Just do it!” Xaveon barked.

Theric growled and charged Alandra and delivered a heavy, overhand strike, but like clockwork, the attack did nothing and threw Theric backwards. (-2 damage)

Theric inspected his health pool

HP: 27/35

Theric activated his Ice Armor giving himself some much needed damage reduction.

Aeslin watched Theric strike the shield, and once more the totem lit up. She came to the conclusion that the totems were tied directly to the naga witch’s shield.

“Destroy the totems, destroy the shield?” Xaveon matched Aeslin’s thoughts.

“Yes, let’s try that.” Aeslin drew her sword and activated Flare Fire. With a hefty swing, her claymore came crashing down on the totem, easily destroying it. However a large gas cloud popped up around her. (-4 damage)

Aeslin collapsed, choking on the poison. She looked up to Xaveon. “C-Careful, they are trapped.”

(-6 damage)

Aeslin hacked and wheezed, her throat swelled up and pain jolted through her body

(-7 damage)

“T-the poison grows more p-powerful with e-every tick!” the elf gasped with every agonizing word. She reached for the status curing orb but fumbled with it. The golden sphere rolled to Xaveon’s feet.

The Spellblade hurried to scoop the orb and bring it to his dying friend. Already her eyes began to fade as the damage grew exponentially.

(-12 damage)

Xaveon quickly inspected Aeslin.

HP 1/30 Poisoned: Take extra damage with each tick

“No, not yet!” Xaveon whispered. He clammored the orb into her hands. “Please work!”

A soft golden glow rippled around the orb and it shrunk a size smaller. Aeslin’s poison status was cleansed, but she found herself too weak to move any further. “X-Xaveon…t-the totems…” She struggled with each letter. Her face turned as pale as Xaveon’s skin. Her eyes glazed over and she passed out from the pain.

“Theric!” Xaveon cried. “We are on our own!”

“Find a way to take down this shield and I’ll handle the rest!” shouted back the guardian.

Xaveon stepped several paces back and shot an Arcane Dagger at each of the bone totems. Plumes of toxic gas puffed from the shattered objects.

Alandra let out a high pitched shriek.

“How dare you!” she cried in a shrill voice. “I shall peel the skin from your bones and use them for my new totems!”

Xaven smirked at Xaveon. The vampire returned the expression. Together they dashed forward and sliced left and right, filling the air with violence and splattering emerald blood across the ground.

(7 damage)

(4 damage)

(10 damage, CRIT!)

(5 damage)

“ENOUGH!” cried Alandra. With a flick of her wand she sent forth a set of twin lighting bolts that struck the chests of Xaveon and Theric.

Xaveon sailed through the air as the electricity shocked his frame. (-7 damage). The attack left him paralyzed.

Theric’s Ice Armor absorbed the brunt of the electric damage. (-2 damage).

Xaveon’s stiff body kept him from recovering as a numbing sensation shot down his limbs. “Theric, the orb!”

Theric refreshed his Ice Armor, knowing full well that it would only absorb 5 damage before breaking and he could only cast Ice Armor and Freeze once each with the current state of his mana pool. Fighting Alandra alone now seemed like a tall order with her wand able to paralyze and do a considerable amount of shock damage. He could use the orb’s last cure to cleanse Xaveon’s status effect, but then they wouldn’t have the orb anymore after that.

Aeslin was still out of commission. It was true that Theric could handle Alandra on her own, but with the bone wand and any other tricks that Alandra had in store, finding victory without Xaveon’s help slimmed Theric’s chances.

What would he do?

Use the orb to cure Xaveon’s status condition

Save the orb’s final use and take Alandra by himself

Vote in the poll below or in the comment section!!!