Things happened quickly. As the beasts attacked, Shadow jumped out of her arms in an attempt to protect her. And that attempt failed...horribly. Ari'sora was unable to do anything but watch as the one person she cared for most in the world was ripped to shreds.
"...Shadow?" she breathed in horror.
"No, no, no..."
Ari'sora felt vicious claws tear into her left arm as she shoved the shard into her pocket, and grabbed Shadow's ribbon. It was spattered with her blood, and bits of fur clung to it as Ari'sora clenched it tightly in her hand. She screamed in agony. Her scream was loud, and shrill, filled with all of her pain, devastating grief, fear, and horror. It was also filled with the hatred and rage she felt for the monsters that had torn Shadow apart. Part of her wanted nothing more than to follow Shadow into death. But Shadow had died saving her, and Ari'sora wasn't going to allow her sacrifice to be in vain. Not if she could help it.
After the first pain, nothing else attacked her. When Ari'sora looked around, she saw that something strange had happened. Three of the four monsters had stopped when she screamed. Two of them, both monsterous looking wolves howled in agony while the third, which was unlike anything she had ever seen before exploded into thousands of...ants?
One of the wolf monsters continued its attack, but when one of the other wolf monsters stumbled into it, disoriented, it attacked the monster instead. They fought, and the one that had stumbled into the other one was torn to shreds just as Shadow had been. But not before it managed to injure the beast that killed it.
Rage, hate, and grief clouded Ari'sora's mind, but she was still thinking clearly enough to realize that her scream had hurt some of the beasts somehow. So she screamed again. She screamed as loud as she possibly could, allowing every bit of her raging emotions to be heard.
The ants streamed towards her, but an opening had been made. With one monster dead, another injured, and the third wolf like monster stumbling back as it howled in protest, she had an opening, and she planned to take full advantage of it. Ari'sora charged forward with wings spread wide, screaming as she went. With each step she took, some of the ants were crushed underfoot. And as soon as she had enough momentum, she was in the air. As she flew, she clutched the magic ribbon in her hand as tightly as her injured arm would allow. She could feel the blood running down her arm, but she still had at least some use of it, even if the agony of even the slightest movement of her injured arm would prevent her from doing much with it.
Shadow, I know your soul is out there somewhere. It has to be. You might be a cat, but you can talk. You can think. You are so much more than just a cat. You have a soul. Thank you for protecting me. I won't let that go to waste. If there is any part of you still lingering here, attach yourself to your ribbon if you can. Let its magic protect you as you protected me. she told Shadow, believing her soul was still lingering to see if Ari'sora made it out of the house alive.
"And you." she told the ribbon firmly.
"You're a magic ribbon. Help Shadow now. Save her the way she saved me. Keep her soul safe inside you, and when we're safe, bring her back to me. Take whatever you need from me, but please...please bring her back. I need her." she begged as she flew towards the door.
She felt something strange in her head, and the ants changed direction, heading towards the door leading back to the first library. But she was able to fly faster than they could run, so she reached it first. The door wasn't wide enough for her to be able to fly through, so she landed, and used the momentum of her flight to carry her through the door. Ari'sora slammed the door shut behind her. It might not stop any of the beasts for long if any of the survivors followed her, but it might slow them down some.
Ari'sora took a trill to look around. She didn't see any more monsters in the room, but the cat that had been turned into a book earlier was now back to being a cat. There were also some piles of books on the floor that hadn't been there before. One of those piles of books looked as though it had been made out of blue crystal or glass. Ari'sora glanced at the tree in the center of the room warily. Had its rays of lights turned any monsters that had been in the room into books the way it had turned the cat into one?
Ari'sora hoped that that was the case. She wanted...no, needed that to be the case...very much so. She could feel herself getting weaker from the loss of blood. But she wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.
Unwilling to leave the cat to its fate, she shoved the magic ribbon into her pocket, and transferred the glass book to her injured hand. Then she took a trill to grab the cat, and hold it snugly against her chest with her good arm. Some cats would have struggled at such treatment, but this one did not. Either it seemed to understand that she was trying to save it, or it was just a very mellow cat.
Once the cat was secure, she was running once more, wings spread wide. As soon as she had the momentum she needed, she was in the air, and headed towards the door to the entry way as fast as she could fly. If she made it to the entry way, she would only be a few feet from the front door of the house, and she do everything she could to make it out of the house.
Off Topic
Ari'sora's actions: When she screams, the three with keen sense (hearing) cease their attack, reacting to the agony her scream causes them. The Moderate beast, being more intelligent than the others, turns into its swarm form in the attempt to escape the pain as ants are unable to hear (if I remember right). Beast 4 stumbles into beast 2 because it is disoriented by Ari'sora's scream. Since both are beast level intelligence, this causes beast 2 to attack it instead of Ari'sora. Beast 4 is killed, but not before beast 2 is injured.
When she screams again, beast 3 is disoriented, and that gives her an opening. She charges forward, running to gain enough momentum to fly, and as she does, some of the ants are crushed underfoot. Ari'sora makes it into the air, and although beast 1 uses telepathy while in ant form to see what she is going to do, she makes it to the door faster than the ants can. She has to land in order to go through the door into room 1, but her momentum from her flight carries her through the door before the ants can reach her. She slams the door shut behind her.
There are no monsters that Ari'sora can see immediately in room 1 (though that doesn't mean there aren't any), but she does see signs that there might have been in the form of piles of books on the floor that weren't there the last time she was. The tree and its rays of light might have had something to do with that.
She takes a trill to attempt to save the cat that has been transformed back into its original form after being turned into a book the first time she was in the first library. Then she continues with her escape attempt.
Nightmare Beast 1: Moderate
Sentient, 4 Minor Traits & 2 Major Traits, 150 Skill Points (up to a maximum of 60 in any skill)
Major Traits: Swarm (ants)
The beast is able to disperse into a swarm of smaller creatures, like wasps, birds, bats, rats, spiders or other small bugs, critters, avians or even aquatic animals. The type of creature they are able to disperse into a swarm of is detailed when the trait is selected. Once the swarm converges, the creature is able to recover their physical form. Any of the smaller creatures being destroyed will result in visible injuries and damages on the beast’s recovered form.
Telepathic
The creature is capable of communicating with thought, and to a limited degree perceive the surface thoughts of those they focus on in their vicinity. Their communications are limited to images and emotions unless they possess proficiency with any language.
Minor Traits: Keen Sense (hearing)
A single one of the beast’s existing senses are keen and improved over the normal, giving them increased benefits. This can account for any of their natural, normal senses, or any acquired through other Traits.
Levitation
The creature is capable of levitation, giving them a permanent state of weightlessness where they float harmlessly off otherwise deadly heights, traverse over liquid surfaces and may elevate themselves slowly into the air, maintaining altitude for a few moments before descending again to floating a few inches above ground level.
Bestial (wolf)
The beast has many of the characteristics and the appearance of a specific kind of beast. While it doesn’t have to be exactly like the beast it’s based upon, it takes many of the defining traits of said beast. A Nightmare Beast based on a wolf may have the snout and fur, but beyond that have a nightmarish and monstrous appearance. Taking Bestial means that the beast has enough defining characteristics based on the animal that they are easily identified by it.
Natural Weapons (claws)
Note: Taken repeatedly for each separate form of natural weapon.
The beast possesses some form of natural weapon, be it horns, claws, teeth, a tail or similar. For each form of weapon they naturally possess as part of their body, this trait needs to be taken once for each. Without this trait, all such details are treated as cosmetic and have no tangible benefit to the beast in practice.
Skills: Detection: 60, Endurance: 15, Linguistics: 15 (Common, and Rakahi), Strength: 60
Nightmare Beast 2:
2 Minor Traits, 75 Skill Points (up to a maximum of 30 in any skill)
Minor traits: Natural Weapons (claws)
Note: Taken repeatedly for each separate form of natural weapon.
The beast possesses some form of natural weapon, be it horns, claws, teeth, a tail or similar. For each form of weapon they naturally possess as part of their body, this trait needs to be taken once for each. Without this trait, all such details are treated as cosmetic and have no tangible benefit to the beast in practice.
Natural Weapons (teeth)
Note: Taken repeatedly for each separate form of natural weapon.
The beast possesses some form of natural weapon, be it horns, claws, teeth, a tail or similar. For each form of weapon they naturally possess as part of their body, this trait needs to be taken once for each. Without this trait, all such details are treated as cosmetic and have no tangible benefit to the beast in practice.
Skills: Endurance: 30, Stealth: 15, Strength: 30
Nightmare Beast 3: Minor
2 Minor Traits, 75 Skill Points (up to a maximum of 30 in any skill)
Minor traits: Keen Sense (hearing)
A single one of the beast’s existing senses are keen and improved over the normal, giving them increased benefits. This can account for any of their natural, normal senses, or any acquired through other Traits.
Bestial (wolf)
The beast has many of the characteristics and the appearance of a specific kind of beast. While it doesn’t have to be exactly like the beast it’s based upon, it takes many of the defining traits of said beast. A Nightmare Beast based on a wolf may have the snout and fur, but beyond that have a nightmarish and monstrous appearance. Taking Bestial means that the beast has enough defining characteristics based on the animal that they are easily identified by it.
Skills: Endurance: 30, Stealth: 30, Strength: 15
Nightmare Beast 4: Minor
2 Minor Traits, 75 Skill Points (up to a maximum of 30 in any skill)
Minor traits: Minor traits: Keen Sense (hearing)
A single one of the beast’s existing senses are keen and improved over the normal, giving them increased benefits. This can account for any of their natural, normal senses, or any acquired through other Traits.
Natural Weapons (claws)
Note: Taken repeatedly for each separate form of natural weapon.
The beast possesses some form of natural weapon, be it horns, claws, teeth, a tail or similar. For each form of weapon they naturally possess as part of their body, this trait needs to be taken once for each. Without this trait, all such details are treated as cosmetic and have no tangible benefit to the beast in practice.
Skills: Endurance: 30, Stealth: 15, Strength: 30
