Blaine wasn't looking at the monk that started running like an idiot into danger, he was more interested in the giant snow apes. They were very humanoid, their knuckles weren't flat like a gorilla's suggesting that these creatures were bipedal like a person. The white thick furred creatures also had what seemed like horns growing along the top of their head. Even though they were bigger than a human, Blaine couldn't help but wonder if this beast had some sort of blood curse placed upon it like the curse-blooded people.
Gene had dashed across the room before the creatures even noticed and began climbing up the tall pedestal. Both beasts lumbered quickly towards the monk as he reached the top and grabbed the gem. One of the snow apes howled loudly, allowing its terrifying cry to reverberate off of the icy walls. The monk's pale skin became a light hue of blue as any kind of action he was doing suddenly stopped. It seemed as if Gene was frozen in the place that he stood. The beast then slammed the column with one of its hands that had claw-like nails and attempted to smash the falling monk with his other hand.
The attack came too early and sailed under Gene but unfortunately for the monk, the other large beast pick up its friend's slack. A large fist impacted the monk, hurling him through, and caused him to crash into the wall. Gene's body bounced off the wall a little bit from the impact, like a ball bouncing off the side of a house. During this moment, the second beast that had just slammed him into the wall then backhanded him into the now-forming Gene-sized crater. Purple blood spewed from the monk's mouth as if some of his blood was being suffocated while he slid down the icy surface.
Fern took out some odd-looking seeds from his and form what looked like a constellation on his hand with them. Blaine was no astrologist so he had no idea which one and as the hemomancer stared at it confused, the druid crushed the seeds with a rock in the palm of his. Small traces amount of blood dripped from his hand leaving him with some red powder. The beast that froze Gene's blood could be heard sniffing the air before it turned to face the rest of the Jellybeans. If Blaine figured anything out, it was that these apes craved blood.
Fern finally blew the powder into the air and the small rays of light within the room turned to a silvery colour. The rays almost seemed to move on their own as the light angled themselves towards the creature that was towering over Gene. Fern then morphed into a bear and rushed towards the apes.
Meowlynn then summoned a flame in the palm of her hand and launched it at the creature next to Gene. Its fur caught on fire and the beast started screaming. It pressed its back on the wall next to Gene to extinguish the flames and a weird sigh of relief came out of its mouth.
Seeing the beast's aversion to fire Blaine pulled out one of his scimitars and ran the blade across the back of his next covering his blade in blood that began freezing almost immediately. The frozen blood on the back of his neck lowered the amount of bleeding which was nice and it didn't affect his ability to use his blood magic. He had done experiments long ago with different conditions and he could still control his blood while it was in solid form, in fact, he could do it while it was in gas form as well but that drained him physically and mentally.
The blade ignited beautifully, reflecting light off of the crystal-like surfaces that surrounded him. He ran across the hard compact snow and moved towards the giant snow ape that hadn't had its fur scorched yet. As got within range of the beast slash across its leg causing its hair to burst into flames. For some reason, this ape's fur seemed very flammable. Perhaps they could use it as kindling for campfires. The creature kneeled and allowed the snow to smother the flames.
A flaming arrow appeared in the corner of Blaine's eye, striking the other ape with his back against the wall. He peeked back and saw that Kira had planted her torch into the ground and was using it to ignite her arrows. She then fired a second arrow at the beast Blaine was engaged with.
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While the halfling was firing arrows, Aliya ran towards Gene as fast as she could and began praying. She let out some words Blaine couldn't hear because of the snow apes wailing as they patted their flames out. Gene's blood began turning into a more natural red colour and he was flexing his fingers as he tried to stand back up. A piece of bone that was sticking out of his arm snapped back into place as Aliya's magic healed him. It was slightly disturbing to see.
The giant snow ape in front of him gazed into Blaine's eyes and howled at him. Its eyes became chilling as they seemed to form a blizzard that was filled with death and carnage. Blaine could feel his blood starting to freeze but he raised his internal temperature to fight off the effect. After he witnessed what had happened to Gene, he was not going to allow the same thing to happen to him.
The massive ape then swung at him and barely knicked him with its claws. Shards of frost began forming where the beast had cut him but instead of worrying about that, he dodged to the left to avoid a massive fist slamming on top of his head. Silver flames surrounded the second ape as Fern's magical light tried to ignite the white fur.
Once it started to feel pain it ran out of the rays, sprinted at Kira, and screeched in her face. Kira didn't have any magical powers to keep her blood warm so Blaine watched the poor halfling that was already suffering from being in the extreme cold freeze, her skin shining like ice. Even the flame of her torch froze as the icy wind from the beast's breath passed through it. Helpless to move, Kira stabbed in the stomach by the creature's nails and it hurled towards the underground river where the Jellybeans had just crossed. Her blood luckily didn't leak out because it froze before it could, possibly extending her depleting life. Meowlynn made sure the halfling didn't fall into the icy water.
The beast in front of Blaine roared in anger, most likely because it couldn't hit its target. Rays of silvery light then shifted to blind the creature as Fern bit at the ape's massive legs and then used the bear's claws to tear off a chunk of its flesh.
A scream of pain echoed throughout the cave as the creature fell from the huge opening in its leg that was gushing blood. Blaine took this chance to attack the injured beast once again. He went and stabbed the beast in the top of its head and allowed the flames to grow more. Again, a blood-curling wail resounded in the room which Blaine silenced by using his second scimitar and stabbing into its open mouth, through the top of it, and piercing the melting brain. The great white ape fell at his feet limply and brain matter covered both of his blades as he removed them.
As Blaine turned around he saw Meowlynn create a wave of fire out of her hands. The large creature tried to leap out of the way but still got most of a leg roasted. It rolled on the ground in pain as Aliya ran past it. She grabbed her flower-shaped pendant and stabbed the stem into her arm then dragged it down. Magically, her blood flew through the air without freezing and enter Kira through the large hole in her gut. A warm glow surrounded Kira, returning a pinkish hue to her olive coloured skin.
Gene was finally ready for action again and punch the creature in the leg with his previously broken arm. Then he delivered a few more hit that the beast seemed to shrug off. The creature set its sights on the beautiful and busty wizard. It grabbed her and slammed her into the wall behind her, pinning her there. It then screeched into her fast freezing her the tried to take a bite of her.
Fern tore at the creature's legs to throw off the beast's aim. The giant ape smashed its face into the wall next to Meowlynn's head and fell down in a daze. The druid then used that chance to rip out the creature's neck with his sharp claws. Blood pooled all around the creature which brought Blaine's attention to the beast next to him.
Reaching into one of his pockets, he grabbed out a few empty vials, a funnel, and some sort of needle. He didn't think he needed the needle to extract fresh blood but grabbed it out of habit. The hemomancer placed the funnel into a vial then held it up to the exposed artery that was pumping out a crimson liquid with blue flakes in it.
Thick red liquid filled the vials quickly and Blaine inserted them into his magically made ice pouch to try and preserve the blood for experimentation for later. He then grabbed his scimitar and started cutting off large pieces of white fur as it would make great tinder.
As he turned around a very pissed-off high-elf was behind him. "Move," she ordered.
Blaine stepped aside and watched as Meowlynn started incinerating the body. She did hate to get hit in combat and this time was a close call so she was probably suffering from too much adrenaline from fear. The party watched quietly as the wizard vented her frustrations out.