Wind's Fury

It was ten of the empowered dolls, accompanied by the endless army of soulless grunts against them. 2 carried swords,another 2 had an axe, 5 were spellcasters The party of four huddled together, awaiting the movement of the ten.

"What's the plan, Althea?" Telmano asked, keeping a firm grip on his battle axe.

Standing before them were formidable dolls, never had she seen a construct cast a spell before, and of that magnitude. Yazmin did not know the secret behind forging these dolls, but they are deadly enough that she would rank them to be emerald adventurers. If they do not treat them like the threat that they are, they will die.

"Yaz, can you keep the slower dolls at bay?"

"An easy task, I've been doing that before you all arrived." Yazmin replied.

"Good. Marionne, cover us while Telmano and I take them out in melee."

His at the bow ready, Marionne, taut back a wind arrow in, he said, "You want cover? I'll give you the best a ranger can provide."

Althea unsheathed her katana, "Go, destroy them all!"

While the two ran towards the dolls, the doll that cast Earth Spike from earlier laid her hand to the ground again. Instead of offense, it instead took on a hampering approach. The area that Althea and Telmano were treading upon softened, becoming quicksand in an instant. The duo's assault was halted in their tracks by the quagmire spell. Before the Althea and Telmano knew it, the were both knee deep into the earth.

Ah, one his father's favorite spell to cause mischief. Althea grinned, raising her katana up high on a reverse grip.

"Forgive me, Telmano, this might sting a little."

Although a few feet apart, the way electricity coursed through Althea's blade made Telmano worry.

"A-Althea, what are you planning to do!?"

There was no time to answer, lest they find another spell lobbied into their direction.

"HYAAAAAAH!" After gathering all the lightning mana she could channel into her blade, Althea gave a primal shout as she descended her blade into the quicksand.

After an eruption of sand and electricity, Althea and Telmano are both freed. Through sheer spell force, Althea dispelled the quagmire holding them in place.The aftershock did indeed stung Telmano, but it was nothing his absolute unit of body cannot walk off.

While they were recovering, four of the melee dolls tried to charge at them head on, but four wind arrows from coming in from behind forced the dolls to hold and defend.

Althea admired her wood elf companion, gotta hand it to these elves, only a few races could match them in when it comes to shooting arrows.

Taking advantage of the split second of cover, Althea's Katana sliced through both of the axe wielding dolls, their upper bodies sliding from their torso. But her advance wasn't done yet! Althea ran towards the backline to kill the doll mages.

Meanwhile, Telmano axe slammed into one of the sword wielding doll's shoulder, his monstrous strength cleaving through the doll in one swing!

But the other doll was not having it. The blonde doll's movements were refined, like it was a seasoned knight, using her sword to deflect Telmano's battle axe with grace.

The soul deep inside the doll knew not the details of her previous life, but discipline and fine swordsmanship of being an Amazoness was carved in her spirit. A kind of muscle memory but for one's spirit.

Using his tremendous weight, Telmano slammed his battle axe down to split the doll in half, but the doll channeled mana into her blade and arms, her already phenomenal strength was far augmented by her newfound arcane might of being a construct. The result was the doll's sword welcoming Telmano's battle axe. The doll cleaved through Telmano's weapon as easily as it would strike his flesh hidden behind armor.

Before Telmano knew it, it wasn't only his weapon that was struck down. A sharp slash to the centaur's human stomach caused him to fall on all fours, clutching his guts to prevent them from leaking out.

"Telmano, NOOOOO!" The wood elf cried in anguish. Notching three verdant wind arrows, more green and pure than the ones he had shot before, testimony to the quality of mana put into them.

Marionne shot the four arrows up into the air, as if the threat of losing his dear friend made him fire indiscriminately. But the reality was far from it. It was another spell in his arsenal that would swiftly dispose of this doll that would dare harm the centaur further. The wind arrows recurved, one flying faster than the other two. As the doll was forced to dodge, another arrow accelerated to catch the doll off guard. Her sword swung, she was able to deflect the arrow, mana for mana, but the quality of what was imbued in the arrows was more refined. The sensation was like banging your sword through a fortress wall, she might have dented it, but it made her grip shake. Off balanced and disarmed, the other two arrows homed to destroy the doll's head and chest, making them burst with wood.

Abandoning his duty to provide cover, Marionne rushed to Telmano's side. Althea was no damsel, she was the strongest out of them all, right now it was his wounded friend that needed him most.

"Settle, down buddy, I'll get you patched up."

Marrione hovered his hands on top of the centaur's wounded stomach. The same verdant hue was cast upon Telmano's wounds. Slowly, the centaur's entrails began to retreat, his wounds closing at a snail's pace. The elf was no cleric but the natural healing exercised in his forest homeland was enough for first aid.

Telmano groaned, followed by laughter, "We really should have bought those discount healing potions at the market the other day."

"Healing potions or a barrel of ale?" Marionne jokingly asked. If Telmano could make light of this situation then he's going to be fine.

"Oooh, that's a dirty question to ask when I'm wounded like this. Ah, but I won't be anymore thanks to your healing, so I might just pick the good 'ol barrel! Ahahaha...oh shit my stomach!" Telmano's hearty laugh threatened to undo the wood elf's efforts, making him immediately shut up.

Meanwhile, Althea's target fell to the floor after Althea deflected its lightning blast using a single slash. The poor choice of spell could only mean that these dolls possessed hubris, thinking its lightning can outspark Althea's own. Althea's blade impaled the last remaining doll's head, the electricity she pumped into its head made explode inside out.

Now that the dolls had all been taken care off, the party headed to investigate the doll maker's whereabouts, only to find him slumped into the floor, lifeless.

The four gathered on top of the doll maker's corpse.

"He's dead, how the hell are we going to explain to captain Odjour that this is our man?" Althea said.

Yazmin strayed from the group, slithering towards the shady desk. Aside from the tools made for carving, there is also a strange book on it. Its leather covering told of its age, containing within Izma's timeless sins.

"We don't need to, this journal would explain."

A deliver of his craft, the doll maker took notes of every sordid kill, the name of his victims, the combat capability of the converted doll. Even the glee of how he harvested their souls was written on the pages. A sick and twisted man. Yazmin chuckled, does she really have it in herself to pass judgement when she is an assassin?

"Look, there's a dog in here!" Marionne lifted the little canine, only to find out that it was a doll. "You all should come and take a look at this, I think this one's a...ouch!"

The dog bit the dark elf's hand, escaping into the secret passage above.

"What was that?" Telmano asked as he approached.

"Probably nothing, just an odd doll."

While troubles inside the Dollmaker's shop is now sorted, outside, the dolls' rampage had only just begun.