Reprise! Act 1!

[Rezantis]

Relm's eyes narrowed.

"Really.  Well, as they say . . . "

Relm stopped concentrating on the fire, which immediately vanished, and leaped into the air, hurling a barrage of ice at the witch.

[Carthrat]

The witch flew up and forward, easily evading the barrage of ice. She started to chant..

[Rezantis]

. . . and found her neck wrapped in a vicelike grip of air, which started squeezing, hard.

Apart from that, Relm threw a pair of knives, and started descending.

[Carthrat]

The mage stuttered off, but flicked her wrist and dispelled the choking strands of air.

Some clever mid-air acrobatics resulted in the knives simply sailing past her, and she pointed a finger at Relm, a small red bead flying from it towards her..

[Rezantis]

Relm encased the bead in a block of elementally charged ice, and then whipped her right arm back, catching the knives she'd missed with in a grip of air and sending them hurtling back at the witch again.

[Carthrat]

The block of ice hit the ground next to Relm.. and started to steam.

The witch waved her hand, and the knives bounced off an invisible shield of kinetic energy. She started to chant again..

[Rezantis]

Relm grabbed the piece of ice, commanded the surface ice to cool, and hurled it back at the witch.

Then tried the choking trick again.

[Carthrat]

Unfortunately for Relm, the fireball encased within the ice *didn't really like* what she was doing to it, and promptly detonated in a dull roar.

[Rezantis]

Relm, now severely charred, promptly hits the ground screaming . . . but retains enough presence of mind to channel earth as she hits the ground.  A massive fount of dirt and rock explodes upwards, obscuring any view for about twenty metres.

[Carthrat]

The vision thing goes both ways, because now Relm can't see the witch at all.

[Rezantis]

Relm doesn't mind this.  Gritting her teeth, spitting a couple of words and waving her hands, quickly invokes a Cure Serious.

[Carthrat]

Relm feels the burns across her body vanish in a wave of healing light..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma blinked at the tree for a moment, then raised a hand, releasing another battering ram of ki at the arrows, swatting them from the sky.

"Hmm...Interesting forest. Well, at least I don't have to worry about propert damage. Though I haveta admit, I'd thought i'd only have to listen to insane small people if I became an office worker back home...Well, it's not as though you're much of a threat, are you?"

Ryoma thought for a few more moments, then shrugged, examining his arm. "Seems to be healed enough to take the barrier off." He observed, flooding mana through the nerve endings in the severed arm, and feeling the slight tingle of the activation of the regeneration. "Well, since you don't have much more than arrows to offer, I'm gonna try and find my stuff. Feel free to keep trying!" So saying, he unfolded his wings and took to the air, trying to find his dropped possessions...

[Rezantis]

As Ryoma turned his attention away from the elf and started flying off . . . there was a flash of light out of the corner of his eye and an arrow appeared, embedded in his right shoulder.

The arrow was sizzling, and Ryoma hadn't had any indication it was coming, but one point more important than this ran through his mind.

It hurt like a bitch.

--

Relm snapped her fingers and the now falling debris exploded outwards in all directions, as Relm dashed along the ground at an angle from where she last saw the witch . . .

[Carthrat]

"..litsora kien!"

The final words of the witches spell echoed out through the grassy field.. and the ground started to shake.