Iron Kingdoms: Tides of War

[rhoenix]

Aiming carefully while reloading another rune bullet into his magelock rifle, Zedrin saw the hole appearing in the iron lich's armor and boxes formerly protecting its vulnerable soul cages. Frowning as he realized he was nearly out of spells, he forced himself not to dwell on it - despite not having cast so many spells in one day since the time he had managed to anger an entire community of trolls by calling their daughter "pretty enough."

Channeling one of his few remaining spells into the bullet, he carefully moved around until he had proper aim some distance away from the iron lich with which to hit the now-visible soul cage, glowing a sickly green - though he knew he was within direct line of sight to the lich if he turned around, which it likely would in a moment. Exhaling a breath he didn't know he had, he fired at the soul cage.

[Cynical Cat]

Zedrin's bullet slammed into the box with a the sound of metal striking metal. What effect it had was hard to tell as the dragon's bile had merely weakened, not destroyed the box and no one was able to see inside. Bladed tentacles writhed from the shadows and towards the adventurers.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Corey hobbled as best he could away from the bladed tentacles and and began muttering a spell. The creature was resistant, but not immune to magic. He wrapped his left arm around the staff to support his broken body, and pointed at the iron lich with hsi other hand, his left hand making a downward sweeping motion, all that was required for the spell.

Ak niblar kresna ket

With the last word of the spell he let out a long sigh that turned bitter cold and jumped like a bolt of lighting to his outstretched hand, gathered there for a moment, and then a ray of horrific cold jumped out at the Lich, with luck, it would not only cause damage, but also slow it down or make its iron hide more vulnerable to weapons

[LadyTevar]

Teghe weakly fought off the inky tentacles, still needing the support of a wall to keep upright.

[Cynical Cat]

Ice condensed over the iron lich, momentarily holding it immobile. With a grinding scream of metal on metal, it broke free but its movements were sluggish.

[Charon]

Akina planted her feet as she continued to struggle with the Thrall that had grabbed her arms. "Hyu don't know ven to die do hyu T'rall scum!"

The Umbrean twisted her body, trying again to throw herself and the Thrall into the Iron Lich, hoping to be able to knock it off balance and give the rest of her team more time.

[Cynical Cat]

The bane thrall was too big and carry too much armour, not to mention resisting, to move easily but nonetheless Akina managed it. With a heave she lifted the undead off his feet and propelled them both at the iron lich. The impact was trivial, of course, but it did get the undead's attention. A massive iron fist was swung at the Umbrean's head.

[SirNitram]

Malkamar had found a new spot. It would be compromised, probably by thralls and spells, in a second. But there was just enough time. The rifle swung around, and he sighted on the Iron Lich's armoured form. Picking out a weak point, one hopefully weakened by the acid...

There'd never be enough power behind a mere bullet. But despite the expenditure of his healing, his smiting, and his magic, the holy warrior had one ace left to pull. It was likely impossible. He vaguely remembered that it was always a burst in all directions. There had to be a reason, but as stubborn as he was, he never listened to such talk.

The hammer swung back. The holy symbol illuminated. It would paint him as a target, but better him than everyone else. The dazzling light of positive energy, light itself, rushed through him. With an effort of stubbornness more than anything else, he tried to force it through the barrel as he pulled the trigger and sent the bullet speeding forth.

[Cynical Cat]

Energy radiated from the holy warrior's body as he pulled the trigger. A white streak flashed through the air, almost too fast to follow. It struck the iron lich in the lower abdomen, bursting through armour in a burst of steam. A gurgling sound came from the monstrosity.

Malkamar felt fatigue creep into his limbs as the light left him. Two bladed tentacles closed on his arms from behind, the shadowy tendrils yanking him back as they sliced through leather.

[Bloody Good]

Ardal had lost it. Completely lost in the effects of his own song, he had tossed discretion to the wind. Still chanting, he hefted a large, knobby piece of something over his head. It might have once been a piece of some inductrial machine, but right now, it was just a blunt object. A few running steps built up momentum, and Ardal threw it. The piece of junk was too heavy to really go very far, so it was level with the lich's knees and hips when it reached it instead of its chest, but it was still big enough to do something.

[Cynical Cat]

The impact of the half finished engine dented the iron lich's armour and sent the undead construct sprawling on the workshop floor. It raised a hand and hissed a spell, sending a pair of bolts of billeous green flame at the trollkin.

[LadyTevar]

Teghe was out of rune bullets, out of magic, and feeling like he was soon to be out cold from the wounds he'd taken. The wall was the only reason he was still standing, and it had taken him twice as long as normal to reload.

It was a normal bullet, and nothing he could do could make it anything more than that. But it was all he had left as he aimed and fired at the prone Lich. Who knows, it might even hit something important.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Corey maneuvered to keep himself out of the way of the summoned tentacles and to keep others out of his line of fire, taking cover if possible. He dove into the mental pattern containing his reserved Lightning Bolt, and fired off a significant jolt of electricity at the downed lich.

[Cynical Cat]

Teghe's bullet glanced off the iron lich's armour as spiked tendrils reached out towards him and the rest of the adventurers.

[Bloody Good]

Ardal rolled forward, under the arcane fire. His song continued to build, bolstering the outclassed mortals. The power it carried was bringing dust off the ceiling as it resonated through the structure. Grabbing the engine again, he hauled it off the floor with one titanic heave, got it over his head, and brought it down as hard as he could on top of the lich, trying to smash its midsection and crack open the acid-weakened box.

[LadyTevar]

Teghe knew he couldn't avoid the inky tendrils, but he fought them off weakly, hoping his leather would give him some protection. It was not quite enough, as the spikes slid along his arms and drew even more blood.

"Twins Bless it!" Teghe snarled, blood tainting his lips. "Can't someone kill the whoreson already?"

[Cynical Cat]

The iron lich kicked the trollkin away as Ardal struggled forward, hauling the massive engine block. Bones cracked under the lich's blow and the engine block fell back upon him, inflicting even more damage. The lich was slow because of the cold, but immensely powerful. Electricity from Corey's strike flowed over its body, but did not appear to harm it. It surged to its feet, ice sloughing off its limbs. "Mortal trash," it growled. "Flesh cannot prevail against magic and steel."

[Charon]

Akina snarled at the bane thrull that refused to let go of her. "Hyu is stubborn ja?" The warrior shoved as hard as she could and then, if the thrall was off balance, she lifted one of her legs and kicked as hard as she could at the thrall's knee so as to disable him some.

[Cynical Cat]

Akina's blow dislocated the bane thrall's kneecap, a much less severe wound to one of the undead. The bane thrall's leg did collapse under its weight. It would be able to readjust in a few moments, but until then the Umbrean had superior leverage and position.

[Charon]

Akina grinned as the Thrall fell, then braced herself as she spun, trying to throw both the thrall and herself at the Iron lich to unbalance it, also while keeping the thrall between herself and the metal monstrosity.

[Cynical Cat]

There's a limit to how much speed even a strong human can muster when she is also hauling around a resisting, heavily armoured undead monstrosity. Their combined impact meant little to the eight foot tall undead fusion of depraved intellect and unholy mechanika. Its shear mass was too great, to speak nothing of its necrite fueled, steam engined powered strength. The iron lich pushed back, sending Akina to the floor beneath the bane thrall. Boney hands clawed for her eyes.

[rhoenix]

Zedrin was tired, his bastion of spells nearly exhausted. However, the trollkin's song bolstered his resolve. His jaw set grimly beneath his wide-brimmed hat as he smoothly loaded another special rifle round, imbuing it with one of the few spells he had remaining. Ordinarily this spell would deliver a gout of flame in a fan - now, it would fuel this bullet with a single-minded burning hunger for a single target.

The lich was slower than normal; the chill affecting how quickly it could react. Even so, the monstrosity was assisting one of its thralls with assaulting Akina. Partially because he found the tall and hearty woman fiercely attractive, and partially because she had the lich's attention constructively channeled away from him, Zedrin darted to a free space near the doorway to give him a clear shot. He aimed the rifle at the cracked, decaying case the lich had made around its hellish soul cages, waited for the proper moment, and fired as he exhaled.

[Cynical Cat]

Zarin's bullet pierced the steel case in which the lich held his soul cages, but Zarin couldn't tell if the shot had any other effect. The hellish green light leaking out could be from perfectly intact or damaged cages. Even a damaged cage, and they were not easy to damage, would retain some charge for a while and there was more than one cage. With the lich fighting for its very existence and already sporting several injuries, the shot was inconsequential. It would triumph or die here long before it ran out of magic.

The green glowing skull uttered a word. Yellow flames sheathed its form, forcing the adventurers to retreat of face the heat while heating the lich's body, warming stuck gears and sludgy fluids.

[SirNitram]

Fatigue burned through him, blood seeped out of his slashed arms, and the increasing weakness of the two mixed was taking it's toll. Still the monstrosity stood. Still, it refused to fall. He had used up all he had, left now with just a rifle he couldn't steady to use, a sword he might not be strong enough to still use, and the bits and peices a rifleman...

Gunpowder.

The flames encircling the Iron Lich reflected in the paladin's eyes. It was a stupid, dangerous idea. It was uncertain death to try it in this enclosed space. On the other hand, letting this thing do more was certain death. With those odds...

An arm sought to wrest free of it's bladed tentacle, more blood flowing his arm was ripped at. A handful of powder was scooped, tainted with blood. Trying vainly to throw before he was grabbed again, the paladin threw his entire body into lobbing the handful at the Iron Lich.

A coal mine had once went up near his home. The gout of flames triggered by the fine powder hitting flame had been impressive and lethal. If he was lucky, this handful was just going to snap concentration.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Corey was out of the tentacles easy reach now, and his mind dove into one more spell. A lesser sonic orb. He stetched forth one of his hands, and cupped the other around his mouth, and whistled. The sound from the whistle coalesced around his hand and shot forth, ready to deal damage to the iron lich's body