Felix's attention pinged at the word. Yarrow, his favorite herb. The only problem was that he still couldn't read their language. "What's that look like?"
"Blind gods...you can't read?" Magda groaned. "Circle...with seven hooks. Two lines....at the bottom...like legs."
Felix quickly found what she spoke of, a roll of thin cloth that was held closed by a red wax seal. "Got it."
"Good. Put...put it on me. Arm...and shoulder. Wrap it up."
To do that, Felix had to pull off her armor. It was fairly straight forward, but Felix had to bend and rip apart a couple straps he couldn't figure out. After five minutes, he had her left shoulder and arm completely bare, the clothing (Gambison?) beneath having also been ruined by the Guardian's dark power. Magda's naked skin was all inflamed and bloody, the armor removal causing some more sluggish bleeding as it tore open some of her more minor wounds. With great care, Felix broke the wax seal and began to wrap Magda's arm and shoulder. The bundle didn't seem particularly large, but it had more than enough to secure her wounds. At the end, Felix was left with a small red character inscribed on the edge of the bandage.
"Now prick your finger...put your...your blood on the script," Maga wheezed through her teeth, which had been grinding the entire time he'd worked. Felix did just that, but nothing happened.
"It's not working. What do I do?" Felix felt a touch of panic settle onto his mind. As much as the woman had annoyed him, he didn't want her to die. "What does the blood do?"
"Wha...it charges the...script. Like a...fire."
A spark to ignite it. Then it's transferring Mana. What if I just pour Mana directly into it? Would that work, or would it ruin it? Felix ran his hand over his face in frustration. "How much blood does it take?"
"Just...a drop is...fine," Magda breathed.
Then say...a hundred Mana should be good, right? Felix didn't ask, he just held a hand over the inscription and willed out a portion of his unattributed Mana. It poured from his hand like a cloud of crackling blue, a tiny storm cloud in his palm. Felix pushed the Mana down and into the inscription itself.
The bandages suddenly clung to her should and arm, tightening as if vacuum sealed. Magda hissed in pain before relaxing, while the script seal began to glow with a bright green gold writing all down its length. The light traced the script being written (revealed?) before fading into a dark black ink, and it terminated at the far end of the seal bandage.
Mana Manipulation is level 5!
Mana Manipulation is level 6!
After a moment, Felix helped Magda to her feet. She wobbled a bit, but quickly regained her composure.
"I'll be...ach, alright. I think. That damn poison is still screwin' with my Body. Can't heal properly with all this muck in my system," she grunted, still treating her left side gingerly.
Felix eyed his own Health. He'd only gained around 26 points back in the ten minutes since the battle, and his aches were slow to dissipate. Stamina moved a lot faster however, having regenerated all of his 721 points, and his Mana was simply insane at this point. In the last ten minutes he'd regenerated not only enough to refill his Mana pool, but to also recharge his shard back to full.
Gotta do something about that Health Regen. Either that or find a way to boost the hell out of my Meditation Skill.
"C'mon. We should get moving," Felix nodded at the open door. "I'm willing to bet that's the center we've been after."
Magda followed his gaze and nodded, her expression warring between pained and trepidatious. Felix didn't blame her. He wasn't relishing the idea of entering that doorway either.
Suddenly, Pit's head perked up and swiveled to look behind them. Moments later, Felix heard it too.
Something was shaking the ground. And it was getting closer.
"Yyero's ass, what now?" Magda muttered, readying her lone shield and turning toward the source, the same path they had traversed.
Less than two seconds later, a massive figure emerged from the fog, dark and near featureless despite the glowlight of the maze. Teeth that reminded Felix vividly of a shark with boar-tusks led the way, the giant's blue skin and dark iron armor the same as ever.
"Well, well, well," Grimmar chortled. "What's happened here?"
From behind him came twelve more giants, each visibly winded but grinning viciously at Felix and his friends. The Nym's sharp eyes picked out signs of battle damage, wear upon their armor and skin that indicated that they hadn't been as careful as Felix and Magda had in their advancement.
"Grimmar," Felix growled. "How great to see you. How's the eye?"
The chieftain snarled at him, his hand lifting halfway to his left eye before stopping. It was still a ruin, the four angry red claw-marks swollen and inflamed.
"I'll gut you for that, worm. You and your tame chimera." The giant glared at a space above Felix's left shoulder before flicking back to his face. "For that and so much more."
Oh right, the shard.
"I won this, fair and square," Felix said, trying to keep his voice mild as he glanced at the dissipating flesh of the Guardian beasts. The bronze spikes that had been within their necks were the only thing left from the first one, and the second was soon to follow. "You should have put more points into Willpower, Grimmy."
"Ta'katha! Riktu na fala!" One of the giants beside the chieftain surged forward, held back only by the hands of his fellows. The way the giant spit at him as he raged made it clear he took offense to Felix's flippant words. He didn't know why the others held the giant back, but he was happy for it.
Good. Gimme just a little longer.
Felix doubted he'd get that wish.
Grimmar held up a hand, and the snarling of his subordinates died away instantly. He fixed Felix with a smarmy, insincere grin...or something close to it. The amount of teeth in the giant's mouth made normal facial expressions a challenge. Felix didn't fully understand how the Risi even spoke coherently.
"This posturing bores me, and I have better places to be. Ossun," Grimmar signaled an older Risi that was nearly fifteen feet tall. A Commander. "Dispose of them."
All twelve giants rushed in.
Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!
The three bronze spikes, the only remnants of the first Bloodtainted Guardian zipped through the air, propelled by Felix's will toward the three giants leading the charge. Ossun dodged out of the way, but the next three took the spikes directly to the neck, chest, and gut respectively. The spikes were extremely sharp, preternaturally so, cutting through the armor like tissue paper. Which was what Felix was counting on...what he didn't expect was what happened after.
Eldritch Contaminant Found...
Isolation Wards Initiated
Bright yellow lightning discharged from the three spikes, the giants attached to them seizing as thousands of volts coursed through their massive bodies. Sigils illuminated along the sides of the spikes, words Felix could neither make out nor understand, and all three spikes were suddenly drawn together like magnets. This meant that the three electrified Risi Warriors were also slammed together, blue blood spraying in a fountain between them as the bronze spikes discharged another deadly charge of power. The crackle of buzzing dissonance was powerful and awful.
Holy shit.
The Risi didn't move for a beat, letting Felix and Magda seize the initiative. Magda grabbed a stone rod, left over from their previous fight, and hurled it among the largest cluster of giants.
"Stone Break!"
At the same time the giants were bombarded with rocky shrapnel, Felix entered range and hit them with Influence of the Wisp. Four giants were hit, all of them succumbing to the Enthrall status condition, even as a blue white fire rapidly ate at their exposed flesh. Their screams shocked the others into motion, and the visceral presence of fire seemed to bring out an unbridled rage in all of the giants. They ignored Magda and headed straight for Felix.
Guess they hate fire.
A Force Wall penned them in, but only resisted a few powerful blows from the Risi Warriors, amassed as they were; but by then, Magda was among them, using Shield Bash on anyone who came close.