[[OK! Sorry about the delay.]]<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Entrance Hall</span><br/><br/>The scowl on the demon's face grows as he tears the shield away, dissipating the blast of hellfire that accompanies his whip's crack on a disposable shield, and tries to haul his whip back for a second strike. Before he can, though, the kitsune grabs hold of it and tries to turn his weapon to her advantage. He grits his teeth, holding onto the handle and accepting the jolt of elemental energy into his body without a cry. His hair stands out a little, but he seems... more or less unbowed, and the ghost of a smile returns to his game. "Very good, Nanami... but have you looked to see where that sidestep took you?" And as he speaks, the grinding of a very large stone statue spinning on its pedestal starts to grate behind the kitsune, an outstretched granite wing speeding towards the back of her head.<br/><br/>[[Essoat gets a one-time "Positioned Right Where He Wants Her" Boost. He defends with a<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255537">Forceful Defense</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+3</span><span style="font-weight: bold">4</span>, giving Nanami a one-time Boost as well. He then goes on the attack with<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255538">Careful Attack</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+4</span><span style="font-weight: bold">6</span>, and he'll burn his boost to make it a total of 8 on the attack!]]<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">If the attack succeeds by 2 or less, ties, or fails:</span><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;">Essoat sees Nanami take his... nearly best shot and not have anything seriously wrong to show for it, and nods appreciatively. "I like your strength, Nanami, and your spirit. It'd be a waste of resources to break you to my service so soon. Very well, you've impressed me- shall we call a truce?"</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">If the attack succeeds by 3 or more:</span><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;">Essoat just smiles, descending the stairs in the wake of his attack. "You can submit now, young one. I'll be relatively gentle." [[Will be dropping the number of shifts Nanami takes by one so he can have another Boost for next round.]]</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Upper Hallway</span><br/><br/>The paralysis passes quickly, Lamya's experience shaking off the magical effects of the powder in the air after a few tense seconds where it seemed she might be at the mercy of a mere bovine. As the cowgirl watches the naga's movements grow more purposeful, each of the clones in turn starts to look more worried, seeing the purple serpent peering at and even<span style="font-style: italic">through</span>each of the clones in turn, dismissing them with a turn of her head one after another. And then Lamya looks into the last one eyes, and can<span style="font-style: italic">feel</span>the rightness of it; the other clones seem to get more translucent as the cowgirl's concentration wavers on seeing that serpentine stare focusing on *her* and not a harmless illusion. "Honey?" She calls down the hall, accompanied by the sounds of irate brawling down that way, "Honey! It's time to LEAVE! We're outnumbered, and Kila's already gotta be dead- we can meet up with her later, but we should leave NOW!" She accompanies the quaver in her voice on the last few words with a sudden jerk of her right hand from holding up her robe, blasting a quick spray of ice crystals at the naga to keep her chilled and slow so she and the minotaur could get away... but oddly enough, she's blushing hard and can't seem to keep her gaze from traveling down the length of Lamya's coils, making her spell weaker than it should be.<br/><br/>[[Yep! 2 stress box is filled for Lamya, she has the 1 and 3 stress boxes still available. The Overcome roll succeeds, and the Which Cowgirl Is Real advantage DISAPPEARS! In retaliation, the cowgirl<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255541">Quick Attack</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+2</span><span style="font-weight: bold">3</span>. I will COMPEL the cowgirl's trouble of "Used To Being Preyed On" to make the final attack a -1! NPCs have 3 more<span style="font-weight: bold">FP</span>remaining ]]<br/><br/>The minotaur, at first, doesn't seem to notice his mate's call as he's preoccupied with trying to get Felicity back into his mouth. For her part, the pirate goes ballistic, rising against the hungry minotaur like some clockwork knife-edged machine wound three times too tightly, erupting into his face like a black powder explosion packed with stilettos. All thoughts of eating gone from his mind, the minotaur chuffs in surprise as he has his hands full trying to bat away the blows heading for his neck and other vulnerable areas, letting a number of punches rain on the taut skin and thick-enough-to-be-armor muscles of his chest and abs. Vormitraax, taking the opportunity to get in some work of his own, tries to open Felicity up by grabbing one of those arms and wrenching it back. For all that the dragon finds the minotaur about as yielding as hauling on a solid iron beam, his claws are able to jab into the bull-man's flesh and draw some blood. The real value, though, is the opening it leaves for Aiyaka. The minotaur has his attention firmly taken up by the two as-large-as-him fighters driven mad with rage and trying to punish him, so the slight kitsune is able to slip in behind him and plant a dainty blade right between his shoulder blades. The minotaur bellows pain and surprise, hastily backing up to try to crush Aiyaka against the door before she can slip off. He can't manage it, and instead feeling the poison start to leech into his veins, decides the cowgirl has the better idea. Lowering his horns, he starts charging down the hallway towards her and seemingly willing to trample anyone in his way in a mad dash to get free. Should he get away, his trail would lead away from Nanami and the entranceway, and into places they hadn't explored yet that could be full of danger- but it might also be hard to get a second chance to kill these threats, even if the fight started from a misunderstanding.<br/><br/>[[First thing's first: Defense against Felicity,<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255542">http://orokos.com/roll/255542</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+3</span><span style="font-weight: bold">6</span>, and he'll burn a<span style="font-weight: bold">FP</span>to invoke a revealed aspect of "Stubborn as a Bull" to keep himself from getting overcome by his mouthy meal so that he can avoid taking any damage from that attack. Against Vormitraax,<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255543">Forceful Defense</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+3</span><span style="font-weight: bold">5</span>cow is on a ROLL. He takes 1 shift, but his 1-stress box is already full so he'll have to waste his 2-stress box on this! Against Aiyaka, he has a truly horrid roll, burns one of the other<span style="font-weight: bold">FP</span>(1 remain) to reroll, and ends up with<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255546">Careful Defense</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+2</span><span style="font-weight: bold">2</span>; he'll take a Moderate consequence of Aiyaka's choice in wording. Deciding his girlfriend is right, he's going to try to flee despite the mob of people trying to hold him back;<a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/255548">Forceful Overcome (Bull Rush)</a>:<span style="text-decoration: underline">4dF+3</span><span style="font-weight: bold">4</span>. If he succeeds, he (and the cowgirl) are going to be fleeing like a bat out of hell down the hallway towards areas you've not yet explored, to fight another day; anyone who wants can let them go, anyone who intends to fight to the finish can try to stop them with a Defend attempt.]]