In the aftermath of the fireball, her familiar takes precedence over all else; picking the charred bird off the ground, she quickly pushes healing positive energy into Ain and thrusts him into the surprised arms of the dark half-elf, who is for her own part swaying. She takes the bird as he opens his bleary, surprised eyes; they look at each other and then at Albali, and wordlessly she lets Ain go and steps to Albali's side. Ain, chiding Albali all the while to take care of herself too, flutters up towards the low ceiling to try to get some separation to avoid another disaster. A thin-fingered dark hand quickly lands on the back of Albali's neck, and instantaneously a powerful, addictive feeling of heat and pleasure radiates from the contact, politely out of view to avoid any disturbing images. For a split-second, Albali can<span style="font-style: italic">feel</span>the other presence looming alongside her mind, but whether through the heat of battle or concern for the others that other presence never leaks through her walls as it did through Xarithe's. Instead, Kaheksa withdraws her hand with an unreadable blank expression, and the witch feels... much better.<br/><br/>The others charge forward, intent on not getting blasted to pieces by repeated fireballs while lingering out of retaliation range. They all go forward, intent first on the person who'd charred them with the hope that Ambrosia could deal with the priestess on her own, and soon enough are bearing down on the tattooed lady with evil intent. The fairy makes a good start, chomping on the priestess's shoulder and feeling the familiar rush of rich, sweet flesh on her tongue, but... her muscles are just, JUST barely too weak to hold onto her prey as she's used to, and the red-clad priestess twirls away with a scowl on her face. Still, she doesn't retaliate, at least not yet- instead, backing away from the fairy, she looks<span style="font-style: italic">past</span>Ambrosia. "You! In the armor!" She calls imperiously, pointing at Eiyre with an outstretched arm. "Come HERE." The voice doesn't brook any dissent, and there's enough magical loading in her voice to go straight into the oracle's hindbrain. Sure enough, she finds her feet turning on their own to take her into and back out of the pit to head for the priestess as quickly as possible. The reason soon becomes clear. As Xarithe flies by, he sees the black and red surface of the altar's "pool" rippling. That's all the warning he gets before an arm-size tentacle shoots into the air, coming a foot or so from his tail as he flies; the ooze recoils into its container, apparently unwilling- for now- to spill over its banks... but Eiyre was just commanded to walk right past it.<br/><br/>"Right," the tattooed wizard grins at Gorun. "And I'm a giant rabbit, right?" With her gaze darting between Xarithe in his very-large-avian guise and Gorun, she steps backward to the top of the steps and quickly encants a spell... but the only visible effect is to make the wizard gleam as though she'd freshly oiled her skin. It does make her look more alluring, but also and more immediately important a lot more<span style="font-style: italic">slippery</span>.<br/><br/>[[Actions!<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Xarithe flies to N-14. Ends his turn within threatened range: Grapple check is a 12, bird is not grabbed.<br/>Turilia double moves.<br/>Eiyre also double moves, I'll assume. <br/>Ambrosia attacks, and the crit lands though no confirmation. A 17, though, is *not* enough to succeed. <br/>Albali heals Ain. Ain awakens!<br/>Ain gets back airborne.<br/>Gorun moves. <br/>Kaheksa heals Albali. Albali succeeds on a will save, and isn't Ecstatic/Nauseated. 11 HP healed. <br/>Priestess steps back and casts Command on Eiyre. Will save (DC 16) comes up with a 6; next round, Eiyre must Approach the priestess as quickly/directly as possible.<br/>Magi casts Grease on herself, steps back.</div></div></div><br/>Init<br/>All PCs, Kaheksa<span style="font-style: italic">Currently Up</span><br/>Priestess, Magi<br/><br/>Status:<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Xarithe is an eagle. 27/35 HP<br/>Ambrosia is Weakened (-6 Strength)<br/>Gorun's still fine.<br/>Albali is 15/20 HP<br/>Ain is 3/10 HP<br/>Eiyre is 15/31 HP (Commanded to approach the priestess)<br/>Turilia is 15/31 HP<br/>Priestess is damaged. <br/>Magi is greased up.</div></div></div><br/>Map:<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/J64Sl2O.png">http://i.imgur.com/J64Sl2O.png</a>]]