Kalai scarcely had time to get on his feet before the ground started rumbling. Before he'd had time to look, his thin shoulder was gripped by the infinitely more robust barbarian, and the invoker almost choked on the man's breath as he roared his accusation. Lifting his hands in a gesture of alleged innocence, he protested, "I do nothing!". He seemed to have been forgotten even before he was finished, however. Seeing the elemental heave its way up out of the ground, he could not even bring himself to feel indignant. It was not so much that he doubted the druid's ability to summon such a monster, as the fact that he knew the druid was after the escapee. Needless to say, he was getting some seriously bad vibes from the rising monstrosity. Now, if the barbarians were to distract the thing, he could of course have begun a spell to blow it to pieces - Kalai was more or less a living artillery piece, after all. Instead, he turned tail and ran for his companion. Those filthy savages could fend for themselves.

Ask, on his part, felt the approaching beast moments before the rumble. He felt its presence, but he could not tell its motivation or its will. Why it had come to this place eluded the druid completely, but if the creature was hostile, everyone in the area was in a dire spot, indeed. Ask would have to speak with the elemental, but he would not have the opportunity to do so until the genderless one lay dead. As the rumbling began, Ask used the ground's movement to his favour, grasping a large stone just as it edged upwards, and shot it from the ground straight into his own budding elemental - and that was all he could do. There were too few rocks left in the area to make a difference, and calling another type of elemental would take much too long. His creation was now chest-high, and Ask balled his fists, reaching beyond the mortal world to call an earth-spirit to his aid. The rock pile at his feet suddenly came alive, and the amorphous elemental rose to face the druid's quarry. The largest of the stones swung like the head of a flail, effortlessly tearing down one of the shaper's magical webs in a taunting gesture.

The druid watched his work with displeasure. It was too small - there was a good chance that a fighter with a magical weapon could banish it. Thankfully, Kalai was on his way. With him, it should not be a difficult battle.