A new hill

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d20+84
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 87 > [d20=3]
> roll 1d6+58
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 59 > [d6=1]
> roll 1d20+87 Queen
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 96 > [d20=9]
> roll 2d6+68+6d6
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 96 > [d6=4,6,5,3,1,2,3,4]

Three blows ring out and the slime is cut, bashed, slashed. It recoils back from that but a moment, your assault sufficient to hold it at bay, even if the damage heals in a heart's beat.

Sulia takes that chance to rise above the ooze, to fly to the stone. In a firm voice she declares, "Enough," and reaches out to lay a hand on it.

> roll 1d20+7 rank check +4 strata bonus
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 14 > [d20=7]
> roll 1d20
<Penuche2> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 7 > [d20=7]

That touch abruptly stills the Spawning Stone. "I have no interests in defeating or breaking this stone, Ssendam." Sulia declares, "Your race of slaad requires it. But we will not be deterred."

There is no response.

TIhaewraek iesn no response.

TWhheorsee ikss ntoh reessepeodnse.

TYhoeurdea irse ntoo rteaskpeointse.

TOhbelriev iiso nnot raeksepyoonuse.

[Ebiris]

Alicia gasps. "Did you hear that?" she asks the others. Did the stone just curse at them using the sort of invective favoured by Sharrans?

Or was it the Guardian?

[Anastasia]

"Two voices together," Queen declares, as the Spawning Stone rises up out of the waters.

The Stone awaits.

TDhiee Satnodnbee aswialietnst.

TPhaet Shteotniec acwraeiattsures.

TChoem Settoondee aawtahits.

"No!" Sulia calls, "The answer to suffering is never the final death!"

[Ebiris]

"We did not come all this way to die," Alicia says, a glance back at the chaos stuff which can't exactly be dismissed out of hand even while she tries to give the stone and its guardian her focus. "We dare to seek the seed in your care, as two of us have sought others."

[Anastasia]

The chaos stuff writhes and twists as it recoils back from your blows.

Queen holds position for now, a glance to it as well as, "We demand to go forward!"

The Stone spins above.

TYhoeu Shtaovneea slprienasd aybdoiveed.

TOhbel Sitvoinoen sbpeicnkso anbsove.

TAhlel Sitsomneea snpiinngsl aebsosve.

Alicia, it's your turn. Go.

[Ebiris]

"I reject your fatalistic nihilism!" Alicia fires back. No spells, no swinging of her sword, no asserting her will over reality. Just her words.

But they're not empty ones.

"So long as there's still a will to act, then we are not dead, and there is meaning in what we do. I don't know if you were made wrong or if something has corrupted you over time, the only one spouting meaningless words here is you." Her tone softens a bit, "I know... you were given a horrid duty, denied a chance to live and influence Creation by your actions. But this is your chance to change that, not only by discharging your duty, but by ending it and opening a new chapter. You may find meaning outside of Creation, or the Incarnation may invite you back when all is said and done. But please don't surrender to oblivion, and don't condemn us to it either."

[Anastasia]

"There's nothing to be gained from it," Queen challenges, "One of your kin twisted me for eons and yet I stand here, triumphant and free! Finish your duty and find what you will in what is Beyond here!"

You have no chance for a reply yet. The chaos stuff surges into one wave, and with far greater speed now, darts right at you.

AoO?

[Ebiris]

A heavy backswing of Alicia's sword meets that charge!

[21:28] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+74 -35 power attack, moment of prescience
[21:28] <Penuche2> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 93 > [d20=19]
[21:28] <@Ebiris> roll 8d6+130
[21:28] <Penuche2> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 154 > [d6=3,6,5,1,3,1,2,3]
[21:29] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+74 crit threat in case it's crittable
[21:29] <Penuche2> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 76 > [d20=2]
[21:29] <@Ebiris> roll 16d6+260 if that critted
[21:29] <Penuche2> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 321 > [d6=2,4,5,6,3,1,1,1,2,6,4,2,6,6,6,6]

[Anastasia]

In one mighty swing you slice deep into it, checking the assault all by yourself. It's the one moment you need, perhaps.

Sulia.

Before Sulia can speak, the Guardian's voice is heard, alone.

Then survive.

A dagger of gray stone comes forth from the Spawning Stone, and it hovers in the air before it flies right towards you. Faster than you can react, it plunges into your heart.

In that one moment, the world is numb and empty. You feel your body collapse as the waters entomb you. Your sense retreat, fade. Awareness becomes only yourself, divine senses failing by the moment, sputtering out. Your blood spills down your chest, as merely mortal ears can hear Sulia's call of your name, of Queen's snarled, furious curse.

You feel so little, body broken. Power leaves you by the moment. Divinity is gone, your mastery of the Weave crumbling like paper in the hearth's fire. Decades of martial lore atrophy while memories fade, tarnish, slip away. You're passing away by the second, every part of you crumbling back to the nothingness you once came from.

Chance to react, use it wisely.

[Ebiris]

Survive?

With Sulia right there?

Alicia smiles even as she falls... it's not really her style. She likes to make things happen by herself, relying on hope or a miracle just feels naive, proclaiming how it's all about friendship feels like not doing enough to shoulder the burden herself.

But she brought one of the greatest healers in Creation to this place with her. She chose to share the bounty of this seed not out of some cunning gambit with all the pieces arranged just so, but because she wanted her friend to rise up with her.

And that friend is who she puts her full trust in now. Oblivion won't take her, not with Sulia there. The chance of gaining more from the seed by sacrificing Alicia isn't a calculus Sulia would make either.

So...

Just this once, she'll be the one getting saved. She believes in that outcome with all her heart, meeting eyes with Sulia in that last instant before her senses fade, trusting that her friend's face will be what she sees when she opens them again.

[Anastasia]

You fade.

You fade.

You fade.

You gasp.

Color and light and life return as your mouth sucks in air, head raised above the waters. Sulia holds you for that moment as she fades away into white light, gone. She smiles as she does so, meeting your gaze.

Everything returns in that single, frantic moment as you become again, you become as you were before that terrible blow.

Light.

Light rises into the sky. A star? Above you a star rises and Sulia comes forth from it, restored.

An inhuman roar. Louder than you have heard even a dragon scream, and in that all of reality twitches violently. A roar of frustration, anger and denial. The Guardian's roar is like a knife across all you see. The chaos-stuff dries away instantly, as waters evaporate and the stone beneath them becomes naught but dust. Only the Spawning Stone survives, untouched by this rage.

Yet perhaps that is alright, because before the Spawning Stone, the divine seed appears.

[Ebiris]

Just as planned?

Oh if only Alicia really was that clever, but still it's nice when she's right.

"Now, away!" she grabs the seed in one hand, the other touching Sulia's reborn figure while she makes sure a foot is in contact with Queen, plane-shifting them to Sylica in the wake of the Guardian's tantrum and before any of the powers of Limbo can assert themselves.

[Anastasia]

You appear in Sylica.

Where in it?

Queen's there and Sulia as the former manages, "We did it," she breathes out. "Alicia, you're alive!"

[Ebiris]

They appear on top of the Opal Mountain, in the same warded temple where a previous seed was used to ascend the rest of their pantheon.

"I am," she shrinks down to her normal size as they all get situated. It's not a grand temple, exposed but shield by light and marked by pillars bearing the symbols of six goddesses as well as Sylica's own symbol. "Thank you Sulia. I knew you'd save me." She holds up the seed in her palm towards the other two, discerning how many charges it holds. "And the prize for our efforts..."

[Anastasia]

It holds four charges.