Battling in the depths

Boom, crash, goes debris that is not even part of the Wurm's primary attack,

Aspen, Ezma and Lorna flicker in from the shadows at three points, tageting not the beast itself but the fragments of crystal protruding from it.

Shiro barely has any time to recover her footing for either another leap or her own attack as crystal copies of other caver dwellers launch at her with no regards for their own preservation.

That was something they noticed pretty quick and had anticpated, that the beasts primary objective was keeping things away from the central crystal. Whether that meant it was indeed the one housing the champion of Dwarves or was important for other reasons did not matter to the party.

Ezma and Ewan had suggested luring the Wurm into an attack that would hit the crystal, a course of action that looked more tempting as the fight wore on but had been relegated to plan B given the likelihood of someone being in it.

On the sidelines Willow concentrated, every piece of the corrupting crystal chipped off the beast brought its mind closer to where she could reach it. Yet with the percentage of the vast bulk still covered the blasted material everyone worried that their luck or stamina would run out before that could happen.

Aspen slipped and fell, the Wurm turned its head to look at her and bellowed with outrage.

Willow screamed and sent her everything into a visceral call.

Stunning the Wurm, and other crystal beings.

Drawing the attention of the Wurm that had saved the party from the spiders.

Rocks tumbled from the ceiling as the untainted Wurm reacted to Willow's overwhelming emotions, headless of its own safety and tumbled down upon its kin.

Dust obscures everyone's view.

Deep ominous roars of challenge deafen the party, as the two Wurms now continue their clash with no regard for the puny creatures around them.

'Well,' Shiro thinks to herself as she magically deflects more flying debris, 'Ezma wanted the Champions to use more power.'

The party darted between ruined buildings, doing their best to take out smaller beasts where they could, yet as they started to make a dent in the crystaline cave creatures, new ones started taking their place.

This new wave wore the face of the wolf like beings from the attack on the farmers. A much more cunning and team oriented foe.

As the party once again lost ground and were forced to shelter in one of the buildings that looked defensible Shiro cursed their luck.

Just when it looked like they were going to make progress, just when she thought they were working well as a team, this adventure threw something new at them that highlighted just how out matched they were.

She understood Ezma's frustraions from earlier, they were supposed to be a party of some of the most powerful beings known to seintient beings, yet here they were hemmed in by these evil wolf things.

At least the wolves were content for the moment to keep the party here instead of pushing.

Shiro hoped that was all it was, rather than the creatures planning something.

***

Granite looked around the odd library he stood in, as if seeing it for the first time.

He traced his hands over the bookselves, counting and examining titles, everything looked smelled and sounded like he was in the great libary of the Dwarves.

Yet why was he unsettled?

Why were there flashes of purple at the edge of his vision?

But most importantly, why did he get the sense that if he looked at the greatest book in the collection he would lose something precious and important?

With deep breaths he focused:

Harmonizing breath and body,

to unify body and heart,

And balance heart and soul.

As the Giants had taught, so he did.

A book fell off the shelf in front of him and he peered at it, then at the place it had occupied.

The distant sounds of conflict coming as if from a long way off echoed, a thin shimmering purple veil trying desperately to prevent sight beyond,

He looked closer, with a focus of will and the purple shimmer became purple glass.

On the other side purple creatures he had only read about as signs of the great imbalance harried an eclectic group of barely balanced individuals .

"This will not do at all," Granite mutters to him self as he hefts his beloved hammer.

***

Shiro was both proud of herself for holding out this long and bone tired.

She had taken this opportunity to try conserving energy by only applying her barrier over smaller areas while counting on her situational awareness and reaction time to move or create more magical 'panels' as needed. While it had helped, the shear number and duration of the wolf creature's attacks had still worn her to her limit.

Ezma had been watching, since at the moment with no ranged capacities she could be of no help around where Shiro did her stand, yet it had been enough to notice an odd occurrence.

It seemed to Ezma that the wolf creatures could only preform a hand full team work actions before they shattered and were replaced by a new one. She was not sure what good this information would do if they survived, but she filed it away in case.

A tinkling of glass breaking froze the combat in its tracks as both the wolves and party looked towards the sound.

A massive hammer sent three of the wolves flying into the distance while a mighty shield the size of a door intercepted two more.

Roused by the aid the rest of the party boiled out of the shelter to lay into their foes with renewed vigor.

As they fought this time they noticed that the crystal formation the beasts had fought so hard to protect was now a pile of fading dust, with all the crystal connected to it loosing its luster before also crumbling to sand then dust.

This decay was fast enough to be seen, yet slow enough that it did not reach the wolves and decompose them the same way for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Once it did everyone took a breather, exhausted.

Shiro had barely enough energy left to thank thier reinforcements "Thank you friend' she panted out 'it was touch and go there for a minute."

Willow cocked her head quizzically "Marble is that you?"

Granite laughed heartily "Willow you old stable mucker I should have known you would be up to your knees in this trouble.' then he looks shyly around 'I would prefer if you call me Granite now, being locked away in your own mind for so long you come to realize some things."

Willow beams broadly at Granite "It is no problem to me,' she gestures to Shiro 'This one went the other way so I cannot say your request is to terribly strange."

Hassium coughs then adds "You also travel with me."

Willow nods in acquiescence.

Granite gives a sigh of relief "Now then, with that out of the way, lets get somewhere more comfortable and get each other up to speed."