They can't let her get away. That's the important thing, maybe the last important thing left. Both for practical reasons (their pay probably getting cut by a half if the cultist warns the others and retribution is taken against hostages) and less immediately monetary ones (rescuing Xarithe). There's one enemy left to contest Turilia's approach to the cultist leader, and she storms in heedless of the risk; one massive claw catches her across her weak arm, but undaunted she goes right up to the creature's other hind leg and smashes it with a charged quarterstaff. Once more, energy bolts into it, but still it doesn't drop... but the mantis does waver. As Sira continues contentedly devouring its orcish treat, Albali pays it little mind; she's winding up her next piece of magic to try to hold the nameless cultist in place. As she casts it, she can feel a certain resistance on the part of the fallen druid, armor unseen protecting her against magic. Under Albali's assault, though, that armor crumbles. The cultist in the woods screams, throwing her hands up to her eyes and stumbling. All's left open for Eiyre to grab her, but... something about her... the oracle finds her stomach starting to churn (in a very bad way) at the presence of her, at the just so slightly unclean feel to the air around her. Then she remembers her desire to devour this cultist, feel her going down her throat and digesting slowly in her stomach, becoming<span style="font-style: italic">part</span>of her-<br/><br/>-Eiyre avoids beginning to convulsively heave out the contents of her stomach by dint of sheer willpower at the WRONGNESS of that idea.<br/><br/>The cultist staggers, trying to blindly fumble her way through the trees. Inside her, Xarithe is treated to a much bumpier ride even as the strength of the stomach and her acids both drop off to the point where it's not actively hurting him anymore. Of course, all that jostling (and a few painful thumps as she walks into a tree or three) keeps him from getting any grip on her stomach walls yet, but soon enough another bellow of pain all around him blasts the oread's ears- followed by a long, disorienting lurch to horizontal as the druid crashes down onto the leaf-strewn ground. Not much later, arms help pull him from his temporary resting place, glistening with slime; overhead, the clouds have almost fully blocked out the sun, giving the entire tableau a dingy, gray cast. Not the grandest fight, or the easiest... and yet, with one dead cultist in a snake, another's struggles dwindling to nothing in Ambrosia, and one cheetah well on his way to fattening Gorun, it is a victory.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Fight-ending mechanics!</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;">Turilia's movement provokes an AOO: One claw hits for 7 damage, but the grab attempt fails. Attack lands, but fort save succeeds. <br/>Albali's spell passes the cultist's spell resistance, and the fort save barely fails; Albali actually gets to pick blind or deaf- or would, if either wouldn't make her so helpless that continuing to play out the fight is pointless.<br/>Xarithe's attack fails again.<br/>Sira actually manages to kill the cultist while constricting him, and has a free shot to swallowing the body.<br/>The Mantis, seeing things go horribly wrong, withdraws into the forest, clearing the field.<br/>Female cultist stumbles around, but Eiyre fails her fort save and is Sickened for... oh, one round. Doesn't much matter.<br/><br/>Final HP: <br/>Gorun: 11/31 HP, Not-Quite-Stuffed with Cheetah #1<br/>Turilia: 8/31 HP<br/>Ambrosia: 27/33 HP, Stuffed with Cultist<br/>Eiyre: 25/31 HP<br/>Xarithe: 23/35 HP, Set free before further damage occurs <br/>Sira: 20/35 HP, Not-Remotely-Stuffed with a female cultist. <br/><br/>It'll only be a matter of minutes until everyone's thoroughly digested. As for the female cultist, she is roundly unconscious and battered, up for grabs for anyone who can pass a DC 15 fortitude save on getting near her! I did not specify who got in the killing blow, because I am interested to see who grabs that honor first.  <img alt=":lol:" src="./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif" title="Laughing"/> <br/><br/>A good opening fight; I'll probably talk about it a bit more in the OOC thread.</div></div></div>