The combat map on the Link shows the primly dressed woman approaching fast, in the air above the north end of the barracks building. All 45 images plus copies in group9 go into motion as the cackling woman swings into view, her laughter boldly betraying her position. She had swung around for her next attack and came in faster than anyone has a right to do, but with Spellcraft it's clear that this did not have the familiar look of a Haste Effect... she simply seems to have a frightening economy of motion: minimum fuss, maximum result.
Many things happen nearly in the same moment, as if the nightmarish cascade of events inside the prim woman's Dream far exceeds the rush of events elsewhere in the Bral compound.
Ror9 thinks "
Chicka-Chicka-Boom-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!" and he can feel the two charges at the bridge erupt, sending rock lazily soaring toward the ceiling and cracking apart the support wedge underpinning the foot of the bridge; the huge pieces of the wedge begin a slow tumble toward the river. Ror9 immediately loads the Circle of Blood.
Even though the woman is quick, group9 is quicker, anticipating her every move slightly via the combat map on the Link. First Vir9, then Halt9, then Tanatou9 surge a bit closer to increase the surety of damage, as they begin firing and snap off shot after shot in quick succession. Tanatou9's crossbow crank whirs with blinding mechanical speed; he gets off two shots. Halt9's hand is a blur as well, winging four arrows at the horrid creature. Vir9 adds three more.
Ror9 triggers the Circle of Blood he just loaded, hoping to beat the shafts to their destination to give them extra damage, and hoping that the worst of the shrapnel has either passed unseen through the impenetrable fog already, unnoticed, or falls short of group9 - but he can't wait any longer, it has to be Now.
The shafts arrive on target and EVERY SINGLE ONE HITS!! The shafts pound into her with extra force from Ror9's Circle of Blood. The marksmanship is uncanny... but the shafts don't seem to be doing as much damage as expected, and some don't seem to damage her much at all, as if the damage sent was not entirely received. Nevertheless, nine shafts protrude from her prim suit, and red dampness spreads from several.
Arrow 1: 19+1+10=30
Arrow 2: 18+1+4=23
Arrow 3: 19+1+7=27
Arrow 4: 19+1+10=30
Vir9's very tiny, nonmagical arrows do minimal damage of their own, but still each one strikes with the force of Ror's Circle of Blood behind it.
Arrow 1: 1+10=11
Arrow 2: 1+5=6
Arrow 3: 1+7=8
Crossbow Bolt 1: 9+10=19
Crossbow Bolt 2: 4+4=8
To Halt9's practiced eye in attacking human opponents, something seems wrong; she just isn't quite responding in a human manner even though she looks the part she is playing, and his expectations drop slightly for the damage he can inflict from his detailed knowledge of where to hit a human opponent. It's her Dream; who knows what she really looks like?... more information from group9 onto the Link.
Then a very deep rumble of sound finally arrives from the bridge explosion, more felt than heard, and a slow shockwave rolling through the air tosses everyone, bowling them like tenpins. Star's urgent voice on the Link is almost lost:
{Star} ...Sonic... Halfaz9 follows the shafts to the same target, buffeted by the deep roar from the bridge. He is caught mid-change from Lillend to Efreet, a strange looking mix of Blue Green wings and Red massive arms.
Shimnack9 flickers in Halfaz9's heated attack that leaves the woman's clothes and hair smoldering with scorch marks. He strikes so deeply on the first, second, and fourth attacks, Halfaz9 has to wrench Shimnack9's double blades free. The third attack scores her as well. She is fleeing, trying to elude him; to continue the attack he must follow; he finds he is flying faster than she is and can stay with her.
Deep bass rumbles, smashing sounds of tumbling rock, punctuate Halfaz9's attacks.
As Halfaz9 comes in for the fifth attack, another massive wash of sound and vibration rips the air as the bridge finally plunges into the river and smacks the surface in twin geysers toward the ceiling. Halfaz9's aim is thrown off and the woman finally manages to evade his swing.
With his superior flying speed, Halfaz9 swarms all around her, swinging his long, wickedly curved sword Shimnack9 from above, below, and all sides in a true three dimensional aerial attack. He hits again on the sixth, but then Halfaz9 is pelted by a few heavy chunks of rock spinning slowly past him, and he misses the seventh attack. He moves into Dancing Mongoose form which steadies him and his two final attacks hit her as well. His strikes too gain extra weight from Ror9's Circle of Blood, but once again they don't seem to do as much damage as they should and only the first four attacks leave spreading red stains though all of them leave scorch marks.
Attacks 1,2,4 Crits confirmed!! Woo-hoooo!! Attacks 3,6,8,9: hit. Attacks 5,7: miss.
Technically, Crits require a second damage roll, but for simplicity I just doubled the damage roll instead of asking for another post. It's in Halfaz9's favor, since damage rolls 1,2,4 add up to an above average total.
Attack 1: 12x2+6=30
Attack 2: 13x2+6=32
Attack 3: 10+8=18
Attack 4: 8x2+8=24
Attack 5: Miss
Attack 6: 8+8=16
Attack 7: Miss
Bonus Attack 1: 9+7=16
Bonus Attack 2: 9+11=20
The few chunks of rock that hit Halfaz9 were just the leading edge of a deluge. A flood of water and rock shards begins to tumble down in slow sheets, a slurry of water and gravel in undulating, Dreamy motion, and visibility drops toward zero.
At last the woman manages to elude Halfaz9 in the fog, rain, and shower of falling rock; he loses her momentarily.
Finally free of Halfaz9, the woman rights herself. Her fury only seems to have increased. Then, she shouts one Word.
One Word only, filled with the power of Divine Law, she unleashes in a terrifying shout, right above group9, focusing her anger, her hatred, spreading Dream wide so that none escape its area:
!יהוהHalt9 and Vir9 wink out, along with their sixteen Mirror Images.
The seven arrows Halt9 and Vir9 fired wink out as well. With the shafts gone, the woman's freely bleeding wounds quickly stop; it's not clear how much damage remains, though it must be some, because the rents in her clothes are still very damp with red.
Then she is gone, as she vanishes into thicker fog.
As she departs, the shower of water and rocky chunks suddenly races back to normal speed, and quickly lessens. The remnants of group9 are elevated in flight and well away from the foot of the bridge, so while some of the biggest chunks leave bruises, no real damage is sustained.
Ror9 the Lillend, Halfaz9 the Efreet/Lillend, and Tanatou9 the Lillend feel unaffected by the Word the woman pronounced.
On the Link, as the combat map updates, the woman's placement is colored approximate, based on her speed and trajectory when last seen, but her Life Energy is much dimmer than before. She seemed badly injured when she flew off into the fog.
Once again, Star's warning begins on the Link, just before Halfaz9 finally completes the change.... but even the two seconds are not enough; moving with unbelievable speed, a big, muscular cloaked figure appears in the fog cloud, wielding a blade of humming, crimson light. Completely ignoring the Mirror Images and going directly to the real 9s, the figure takes two steps, swinging the humming blade once each at Ror9 and Tanatou9. Each feels a sharp, searing cut, and then nothing as the bodies wink out. The symbols for Ror9 and Tanatou9 disappear off the combat map.
Ror9 takes 213 points, Tanatou9 receives 207, each from a single blow.
The figure takes two more steps, cloak whipping, closing with Halfaz9 much more quickly than should be possible. The crimson blade flashes once, removing Halfaz9's left arm at the shoulder with the ease of a hot knife through butter. Along with the hum, there is a crackling hiss as the wound is immediately cauterized.
Then, with a final, spinning movement, the blade flashes again, and removes Halfaz9's head.
The first attack against Halfaz9 deals 138, leaving him still standing; he is finished by the second, which deals an additional 114.
The area of the combat map around location9 loses most of its information as the entirety of group9 is destroyed by the woman and the cloaked figure. Small bits of data are received from the parrot cloud deep in the ground, but other than that the map is blank.
In rapid sequence, first HaltO and VirO feel a 10HP loss, exactly when Halt9 and Vir9 disappeared from the Link. Then RorO, then TanatouO, and finally HalfazO. Fast Healing from Ror and the area of Healing around Star quickly erase the damage.