Tesarasa coughs and staggers back, her gryphon companion nudging his mistress back to a state of balance.
“Grab it!” Tik Tik shouts, snapping Niv out of his surprised stupor.
The roguish kobold hops through the bright light of the magical shield and grabs the orb, tumbling past the giant bird beast. Tucking the globe against his chest, he rolls past the creature.
“Stop them!!” snarls Tesarasa through a series of more coughs.
The gryphon screeches and swipes a meaty hand at the kobold, grasping and squeezing him tightly in its grasp.
Tik Tik averts her gaze as the fist closes far too tightly against the small kobold's body. The mage sheds a tear for a lost companion and asset, but the confused squawking of the gryphon turns her attention back to the battle scene.
Niv slips out from the monster, unscathed, even though the gryphon’s fist is still clenched, and the thiefy kobold sprints over the bridge back towards Tik Tik.
Tesarasa raises her staff into the air, a swirling whirlwind swirling around her and removing the rest of the smoke that obscures her vision. However, the indignity still leaves her face stained with soot.
“You’ll pay for this, Tik Tik,” she growls. “I was going to keep your friend alive, but now,” she points her weapon towards the evading kobold, a wave of red energy rising from the ground between Tik Tik and Niv. It swings open like a door the width of the bridge right towards Niv.
He has no time to react quickly to this emergence, so Niv crashes against the magical barrier.
With a sweep of her arm, Tesarasa commands the wall to scrape against the bridge, turning as it goes and giving Niv less and less space to move.
The kobold, stunned by the sudden appearance, only has a few moments to see the disappearing space he has before he bolts, desperately reaching for the other side, where he can avoid a terrible fall.
But that’s when Tesarasa slams her staff into her hand, speeding up the barrier, which paddles the kobold, sending him flying off the platform.
The wind whips past Niv as he falls through the sky. He fixes his gaze upon the ground, which approaches with an almost surreal slowness. His hair and cheeks flap about in the force of the fall, and he clutches tightly to the orb, hoping that keeping it with him would somehow offer him protection, for what else can he do?
The world has never been so beautiful to the kobold, who had always seen things from so far below. To look down on where life had been for him in what is likely to be his last moments is a sublime experience.
There must be worse ways to go, right?
His musings end when the gryphon whips past him and loops back upward, screeching with a hellish howl and grabbing him with a terrifying talon.
Just as those claws were about to slash at him, Niv body flattens and spreads out, becoming a thin sheet, his newly widened surface area catching the air, rapidly slowing his descent as he’s caught by the current.
The bird thing yelps as it misses, flapping its wings quickly and watching as the kobold flutters down.
“T… that’s right. Grab me now!” Niv taunts, cupping his hands over his mouth. That’s when he realizes the orb is no longer in his hand.
The artifact plummets downward, and the gryphon spins, loops, and dives, snatching it and flying back up to the sky ruins.
Up on the platform, Tik Tik and Tesarasa stand, the magical energy between two powerful spell casters coalescing between them in a swirl of crackling arcana. They read each other’s movements, twitches, and auras, waiting a moment to strike when the other cannot deflect.
Tesarasa’s mount returns to the platform with a loud screech, bearing the orb. It kneels beside the sorceress, presenting the sphere.
“Ah, thank you, my pet,”
The bird leans in, its beak opening, grumbling into the sorceress’s ear.
“Oh, is that so?” She chuckles, licking her lips. “Tik Tik, it’s come to my attention that your friend is still alive, plummeting to his death as we speak. You could attempt to take this from me or attempt to save him. The choice, of course, is yours.”
Tik Tik takes a step forward, reaching her hand out. The kobold trembles and grits her teeth, and she swears under her breath, turning over the platform’s edge and jumping off!”
“Oh, such a shame,” Tesarasa says. She sits upon the offered hand, crossing one leg over the other. “Let’s go. I have the perfect place for this trophy.” She waves her staff and above them, a door appears. It opens downward, and the bird lifts itself up, taking its mistress. After they pass through the threshold, it disappears into the aether.
Tik Tik’s cloak billows before her as she tucks her arms in, pointing herself downward toward the falling kobold. But, as she gets closer, her eyes widen, seeing the stretched-out parachute of a companion falling down.
He’s still falling fast, but nowhere near as quickly, and instead comfortably makes his descent. This changes when Tik Tik zips past him, waving her hand, which pulls his arms and legs down toward her. She grabs him, turning the descending kobold into a parachute for her own use.
“What’s this?” Tik Tik asks, snapping at him.
“What’s what?” he responds.
“You change shape!”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I can do that!”
“Didn’t think to tell Tik Tik?”
“There’s a lot you didn’t tell me, either!”