<em>Battle Summary</em><br/><br/>Sandra opened up with a casting of<em>Cause Fear</em>against the monster. Despite its frightening visage, it itself was vulnerable to fear and took flight, quite literally. Up 20 feet in the air hugging the roof of the cave, it was impossible to hit in melee as Yazhu found out, even her highest jump coming several feet short - but ranged attacks were another matter entirely!<br/><br/>Alas, being peppered by Shalelu's arrows and Yazhu's wushu darts only revealed the toughness of its hide, which protected it from most of the projectiles. And not only was it nearly impervious to plain physical damage, it was also protected from the elements, as Shalelu found out the hard way when she tried using flaming arrows. Neither was magic guaranteed to work, as its ancient hide shrugged off even Sandra's spell.<br/><br/>Still, the monster was not completely invulnerable, and the Jade Whores were wearing it down slowly but steadily. But a battle of attrition was not in their favor, as the decapus fought back, unleashing Pazuzu's unholy blight on Yazhu and shooting scorching rays from one of its tentacles at Sandra and Shalelu. All the while it stayed up in the air, safely out of melee range, forcing Yazhu to resort to her weaker darts.<br/><br/>Yazhu realized that she needed to bait the monster down to ground... so in an unspoken plan, she, Ameiko and Sandra retreated towards higher ground at the far side of the cave, while Shalelu stood her ground and continued loosing arrows. It worked - tricked into thinking that she had been abandoned, the tentacle monster swooped down and flailed at the tiefling with its appendages. Tendrils wrapped around her limbs and body,  first immobilizing her then squeezing her soft flesh. Ever stoic Shalelu resisted to the end, only letting out a single moan as more tentacles lined up with her orifices...<br/><br/>At that critical moment while it was distracted and its back was turned, Yazhu leapt into action, her speed boosted by a buff from Ameiko. She bounded the distance across to the monster in a single leap and dropped down adding the force of gravity to her strike. The enchanted fighting fan added the will of the Tian warrior who once wielded it to Yazhu's own, and its magic tips sliced through the monster's hide into its back as though it were paper, paralyzing it mere moments before its tentacles could penetrate Shalelu.<br/><br/>"UPON THE HONOR OF THE TIAN SAMURAI WARRIOR WHO BEQUEATHED ME THIS FAN, I DESTROY YOU!" Yazhu screamed out as she dealt the finishing blow, ending the last piece of Pazuzu's influence over Brinewall once and for all.<br/><br/>Yazhu grabbed Shalelu and hugged her. "I'm sorry Shalelu! Are you okay?"<br/><br/>"It's.... alright....." Shalelu shivered involuntarily, but returned the hug. "I'll.... I'll be fine....."<br/><br/>"We weren't really abandoning you," Yazhu reassured her.<br/><br/>"I knew that all along.... Still... it's good to hear it out loud," Shalelu nodded.<br/><br/>Yazhu called back to the others, "Girls, she's fine!" Turning back to Shalelu and hugging even more tightly, she added, "Still... you've helped so much and I still feel like I owe you."<br/><br/>"Well... give me first pick of the treasure... and we'll call it even?" Shalelu joked with a rare smile.<br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/LTeg1zF.png)