The Chosen [IC/PG-16]

[Alaina]

With one of the scorpions felled, the girl's attention immediately to the next remaining one. While it was being shoved away by the animals, the girl began to move in to aid the swordsman in his own charge against the creature. However, as he moved forward, the stinger appeared to be rushing towards him as well. Remembering what had happened yesterday with Reinaan, the girl moved to block the stinger as best she could. Unfortunately, the swordsman was in the way of her block, so through drastic action to help, Ryia shoved the boy to the side before using her shield to defend against the attack. While she had managed to save the man from his peril, she heard him make a growl towards her, causing a brief look of worry to cross her face before asking, "are you alright?" 

 

Though he didn't respond, he didn't seem injured and so the girl proceeded to continue her own assault on the scorpion. Bringing her mace down onto the scorpion's face, she let loose a powerful hit which caused the scorpion to stumble back. However, it was not without retlation as the scorpion had brought the claw over to smash into her. Raising her shield up, the girl attempted to pivot with the attack to deflect some of the force away, yet the scorpion had still proven to be plenty strong as it was. Being knocked onto the ground, the girl struggled a bit to get herself back up due to the sand, before seeing the stinger stab down at her once more. "Ackrin!" The girl voiced, and as she did the spirit split from her once again. Using its power, the ground had become more level and less difficult to move across. Using this to her advantage, Ryia stood back up as she parried the stinger away. 

 

Moving forward towards its face again, the girl was stopped as the creature brought its claw over to grab at her. However, rather than just attempting to shield against it, the girl merely channeled her magic into the ground, causing a wall of sand to erupt and intercept the attack. With nothing stopping her, the Earth Chosen struck with yet another powerful blow to the creature's face. Before she could get a third shot in, however, the creature brought both its stinger and a claw to strike, at her in tandem. Parrying the stinger away from her with her shield, the girl moved towards the base of the claw's arm, trying to see if the creature was inflexible enough to grab her from there. 

 

As Ryia had managed to pull off her evasive maneuvers, the swordsman who had been biding his time and waiting for an opening had found one. Moving towards the scorpion, ready to slash at it, Ryia looked around to see if there was anything that would stop him. With the creature going in for a claw attack against him, Ryia acted fast and attempted to deflect the claw away from the man by charging into the side of it to shove it away, rather than blocking it head on. 

[Sethera]

Gilly's stab on the mummy's hand connected. However it was still moving forward and so it bowled into the halfling, dragging her down onto the ground and under his weight. It couldn't seem to reach her like this but its weight would put great pressure on the girl.

 

The halfling stabbed it multiple times wherever she could reach with her ice spear as she struggled to get out from underneath it. "Grr, get off me and face me like a man...bully!" she wheezed. She wasn't strong enough to lift the monster up herself, but she could attack it more accurately now that it was on her like this.

 

Snow had recovered enough to jump onto the right arm of the mummy attacking Anis, summoning his mini blizzard once more. He couldn't keep this up forever, though, and he could only hope that the mummies would soon fall.

 

Meanwhile, Hob took advantage of the remaining scorpion's distraction to charge at it once more.

[Maeriberii Haan]

[hr[

 

Anis managed to dodge the last swing from the corpse before it fell victim to her magic, thanks to Snow's magic. She let out a breath of relief that it worked before attempting to decapitate the mummies and mutilate its limbs just to be sure. If only her sword was magical, she would be able to dice the corpse, but sadly it wasn't. With the corpse seemingly taken care of for now, Anis went and stabbed at the other corpse that was now pinning Gilly before trying her best to push it away from the halfling.

"Let's regroup with the others. We need to get close to the door too."

 

In the meantime in the surface, Ileca noticed the remaining scorpion was attacking the stranger, and decided to rush into action too, pecking at it relentlessly with her sharp beak.

[Hälō]

Upon hearing his comrade's warning, Lindow quickly leaped backwards so that he was outside the range of Reinaan's tail. The fumes from what he could only assume had been the embalming process were beginning to make his eye water, but they'd have to continue to endure with door moving at a snail's pace.

 

Seeing the newest mummy make it's appearance, Lindow cursed before rolling up of his right sleeve. Crackles of energy danced off his skin as he called upon the power of thunder yet again, and his eyes glowed cyan as he cocked his arm back in preparation to release another discharge. "Reinaan, back up..." He growled as he waited to see what kind of damage the young Draken's attack had done to their foes. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Reinaan's tail carved an arc of flames in the air. The attack managed to cut through the mummies' midsection. Each of them would stumble and nearly fall over as a chunk of their flesh was suddenly missing. Though as there were no internal organs to damage it seemed that they were still able to continue. The two would be able to get a head start before the mummies could act again.

 

Meanwhile the newest mummy made its way around the podium and towards the group of burning mummies.

 

The mummy atop of Gilly wasn't budging even as the small girl assaulted it over and over. Each strike did serve to slow its actions down more and more, however, and the creature was simply laying atop of her without being able to act.

The sword in its back didn't do much more to deter it but Anis would, with some help, be able to roll the mummy off of Gilly. Though the mummy she attacked before, head hanging from its neck, with slashes across its body, would be on her again soon after.

 

The creature raised its arms shakily, still having difficulty with motion due to the plant inside it, and moved to slam its arms onto Anis's back.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Map

The "with some help" includes Gilly. So if Gilly helps Anis push the mummy off it'll roll to the side.

The door is 30 inches open.

 

---

With the aid of two relatively large creatures attacking from the side, and Ryia's shield, the scorpion was unable to land an attack on the mysterious swordsman as he charged in towards the creature's head. He lowered his sword and swung in an upward arc, slicing through the creature's head.

 

The scorpion's body shuddered and then collapsed to the ground.

 

"Well, looks like that's taken care of." The mysterious swordsman said. "You didn't have to come out you know." He said to the mounts. "No one's making you fight." Then he glanced up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the ever present sun. "We should probably get back inside."

[Andx]

Reinaan was impressed to see his makeshift plan work out as the creatures stopped again due to the blow from the flame claw extending from the boy's tail. Lindow had reacted in time to ensure he wouldn't be hit in the process and the Draken was sure to try and turn about to face them again quickly. Piles of flesh dropped from each of them as they nearly fell but it wasn't enough. They still pressed on trying to get them. Lindow's warning to get back seemed wise. The newest of the creatures seemed to be moving their way too. Circumstances were quickly requiring they find an actual way to address these undying monsters. There wasn't much of the room left behind them and with four approaching, three of which were on fire, it was only going to get worse the longer they let it go. The Thunder Chosen seemed to have another magical attack ready which was more than the boy could say about his flame breath. He had already retracted the claw from off his tail to try and conserve on the ability.

"I can't think of what else to do..." he started, a hint of panic setting into his voice. Reinaan had never hunted a pray that couldn't die. The endless shamble towards him, the unnatural strength and weight, the awful stench, it was all building a sense of horror he hadn't experienced before. The bandit chief had felt like he could have died in the process but he hadn't been afraid of him. But these creatures were beginning to get into his head. But he couldn't let it take over. He had to stay calm. He'd coordinate with Lindow again. Working together with the man had always proved to work thus far, it would work again. "Alright... I think we need to sever them at the waist. I'll wait for you to call it." he said to his partner, indicating that he would wait for the man's next move to make his own. He extended the claws from off his right hand in preparation. Once Lindow called it he would attack the one closest to him, the left most of the three on fire. The maneuver would attempt to swipe the claws horizontally at the side of the thing and then try to pull through to the other side. There was no clear indication it would work. Just the idea of attempting to saw a flaming corpse in half that was probably strong enough to throw him across the room was a bit unnerving. But he couldn't think of something better.

[spoiler=OOC]
Reinaan is waiting to attack mummy 1 once Lindow calls it. When Hollow posts this action can be assumed to take place if he gives the signal, if he has a better idea or talks Reinaan out of it then we'll see what happens.

 

[Alaina]

With the scorpion having been felled, Ryia let out a sigh of relief. Looking around, she saw the mounts of the group move around it as well as they had finished their own attacks against the scorpion. Looking over to them she said, "um, thank you for your help." She felt a bit awkward, nodding respectfully towards them, but as the swordsman mentioned the heat the girl nodded as well. Even if she wasn't in her armor, the sun was still unforgivably hot and after just fighting staying out in it was the last thing she wanted. As she walked towards the door, the girl was soon reminded of how she had shoved him earlier and, wanting to apologize and check up said, "oh, um, sorry about earlier. Are you alright?"

 

He waved her off. "Nothing to worry about, a love tap like that's not going to do me in."

 

"Oh, that's good to hear." Thinking more on the fight, the girl also remembered something else. Twiddling her fingers around for a bit, the girl was stuck thinking to herself for a moment, before the words were just blurted out of her mouth. "Um, what's your name?" As she realized how odd it probably sounded, the girl's expression became more embarrassed as she looked to the ground. 

 

"Oh look at that, we're taking the next step in our relationship." He said. "My name is Damien."

 

Flustered, the girl stammered out, "oh I uh- um, just thought it'd be convenient because yeah um...Nice to, uhh, meet you Damien." Ryia seemed to be in disbelief at herself as the embarrassment on her face did not seem to fade at all. 

 

"Yes, nice to meet you as well..." As he trailed off he looked to her as if expecting something from her. 

 

"Right. Ryia. Uh, my name's Ryia." 

 

As they spoke Ryia soon heard the sounds of wings from behind them, outside of the building. "Let's get away from the door, shall we? Nature is taking its course."

 

Nodding her head, Ryia said, "right yeAH-" her voice cracking as Damien grabbed her by the hand and lead her inside. Following him inside, the two would soon hear tearing noises from outside as it had seemed that nature was taking its course. With Damien adjusting his sword and sheath, before sitting down on the ground, leaning against the wall. Ryia, meanwhile, moved to the opposite wall of the room, sitting against it as she placed one palm firmly over her face as she looked down to the ground. 

[Hälō]

"Alright... I think we need to sever them at the waist. I'll wait for you to call it."

 

Lindow could her the panic in the boy's voice. This must have been his first encounter with the undead...

 

"Keenly observed. Dismemberment is the way to go..." Seeing Reinaan prepare for his next attack, Lindow reached down and grabbed the hilt of the Bandit Cleaver whilst his right other hand continued to dance with static. "After I release Lily's magic, I'll try to weaken our friend further, I need you to strike immediately after me." Their foe's flesh was unnaturally durable, meaning that their best bet was to combine their efforts on one target at a time. "After that we regroup to the left. Our objective isn't to defeat them all, we just need to buy time or disable them until the door opens." 

 

Not wanting to let their head start be for not, Lindow thrusted his palm forward immediately after conveying his strategy. Blue electricity to the air and crackled fiercely as it bombarded the flaming thralls with it's magical current.

 

Quickly drawing his hand back Lindow, suddenly dashed towards the mummy on the far left, attempting to widen it's wound with a swift slice with the Bandit Cleave as he ducked down low and darted to the left of the group with his naturally impressive speed.

 

"Now!"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The mummies were, yet again, stunned by Lindow's electrical attack. The combination of Lindow's blade and Reinaan's claws, though more-so the latter, managed to sever the mummy at the torso. But only barely.

 

The creature's flesh hung on but as it lurched forward its upper body detached from the lower. It's legs stopped moving, though didn't fall, and the upper body slammed into Reinaan as the mummy grabbed onto the Draken in a tight grip.

 

The other mummies would take some time before they began advancing once more.

 

Meanwhile the mummy on Gilly wasn't budging. In fact it was now in a better position, with its hands on either side of the girl and its face mere inches from her own. She could see its mouth open and would notice that its teeth were blackened and decayed. The smell that came out of it was similar to rotten meat as it leaned down in an attempt to bite onto Gilly's neck.

 

The other mummy, with its body full of plants, connected with Anis's back and forced her into the ground next to Gilly. The mummy then lurched forward to grab onto the back of the woman's head.

 

And even as they struggled yet another mummy dispelled from its sarcophagus and headed for Anis and Gilly.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Map

The door is open 38 inches

Please don't die

 

[Sethera]

Gilly had lost her focus and energy briefly, but it was enough for her opponent to take advantage of the opportunity given it, and reposition itself, hands on either side and face mere inches from her own. Its mouth had opened and its breath stank to high heaven as it lowered its head to bite down on the halfling's neck.

 

"Ew!" she groaned. "You're stinky!" and with that, she summoned an ice spear, and stabbed it, aiming for the head, but if she couldn't reach it, then anywhere she could reach.

 

Snow was exhausted, and lay limply on his side as he rested.

 

Hob baa'd when the pink-haired girl said something to him. While he didn't know what she had said, her voice was soft and soothing, so he licked her hand before waddling away.

[Andx]

The young Draken was more than happy to follow the more experienced fighter's lead. Lindow's attack created an opening and Reinaan's maneuver nearly severed the creature at the waist altogether. What little he failed to cut through quickly burned away. He wouldn't have time to run to the left before the upper body of the monster fell forward and yet still managed to grab hold of him. Its arms latched around the boy's shoulders, its face close to his own which only made the repulsive smell worse. To make things worse, the torso was still on fire which would be okay for a moment due to the heat resistant nature of the fire draken's scales but that wasn't going to protect him forever. These things were heavy even with the legs missing, and Reinaan's initial thrashing and struggles proved how strong they were. He did everything he could to wriggle out of its grasp and was managing to stagger a bit to the left. His arms could move some underneath the hold.

"Get off!" he growled in frustration as his movements continued to prove unhelpful. His breath wouldn't be ready to and at this proximity posed a danger to himself as well if it were. He had no choice but the flame claws still burning about his right hand. The blades moved about as he wriggled his hand under the oppressive grip which seemed to be growing tighter by the moment. He was able to position the claws upward so that at least one of them was beginning to cut into the shoulder blade of the creature but the angle was such that he had trouble moving it through the flesh to actually cut an arm off. All he could do was keep trying. Eventually his flame claws would explode on themselves, hopefully with enough force to rip the creature off of him. He just had to hope it happened before he was crushed, he never could exactly tell when it was going to happen.

[spoiler=OOC]
Reinaan's struggling to get the thing off of him and is keeping his claws active hoping on the recoil explosion to free himself. If freed by something else prior to this we can avoid blowing up his hand.

 

[Hälō]

"Splendid." Lindow growled as the young Draken struggled against the enemy that clung to his neck. With the other three chosen each in the grasp of a mummy, and the foes he struck with Discharge still stunned, Lindow quickly returned his bandit cleaver to it's scabbard before flicking his wrist to the side. 

 

In that same instant his hand was cloaked in a crackling aura, and as Lindow dashed forward behind Reinaan, the lightning magic shifted to form slicing edge like the one he had used to widen the entrance of this place earlier. Meeting the Reinaan's gaze as he passed, Lindow swung the Third Blade over his shoulder to try and severe one of the mummy's arms whilst continuing his sprint toward Anis and Gilly. 

 

"So much for conserving energy..." He was a fool for holding back. 

 

After weaving far to the right to avoid one of the other mummy's, Lindow let himself slide downwards where his shadow was already waiting to swallow him whole. Using the shadow dimension to travel across the ground as blot of darkness, Lindow resurfaced between Gilly and Anis. 

 

The witch hunter emerged from the murky doorway knife first. Stabbing his dagger through Gilly's attacker's mouth, Lindow proceed to push the blade deeper into the mummy's head as he fully emerged so that he was kneeling at it's side. Not wasting any time, Lindow quickly grabbed the mummy by the face, and buried his fingers into it's rotting eye sockets as he brought himself to his feet and used all his strength to try and pry the creature of the Ice Chosen. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Ack!"

 

Anis lost herself again during an important moment. She failed to get the mummy off Gilly, and she was pushed away by said mummy, whose body were no longer slowed down by Anis' magic. Reeling to get herself off the ground as she tried to get herself focusing again on the fight, Anis then found herself being at the mercy of another of the living corpse. The back of her head were grabbed, and she was unable to let herself free without suffering a significant damage to her skull. Anis, in her desperation, signalled for Shirin to come out from its perching point, and slither away towards the arm. With great effort, Anis touched Shirin and channeled her magic into it, allowing Shirin to assume its large form, who went to tackle and wrangle away the living corpse in an attempt to get Anis away from it.

 

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Gilly's spear pierced the mummy's neck, skewering it and making it difficult for the creature to advance farther down towards the Halfling. Its strength was much greater which meant that as time went on it would be able to move lower, itself along the spear, mouth opening and closing as it tried to bite down on her even before it was within range.

 

The knife through the mouth didn't seem to deter it much, as it merely attempted to instead bite down on the offending object, and the hand attached to it, but Lindow's attempt to drag it off managed to pry the monster off of Gilly.

Its reaction to Lindow's actions was to swing an arm into his side, striking him in the rib, even as it was being pulled away.

 

Shirin's body wrapped around the mummy. At first the creature didn't respond, merely pushing the woman downward with great force. But as Shirin continued to pry at the creature it found it difficult to continue. Thus, the mummy released its grip and tried to throw Shirin off. It seemed that the creature had trouble actually grabbing hold of the snake and thus it toppled over, landing on the ground with the Spirit underneath it.

 

The other mummy had made its way towards the fight. The closest of the Chosen to it was Lindow and so it lurched towards him, swinging its arms down towards the man's head.

Reinaan's claws had slowed down his assailant and Lindow's attack, while it didn't land squarely due to its haphazard nature, did manage to cut nearly through one of the arms and Reinaan would be able to fling it off. As it landed it would continue to try to crawl towards Reinaan.

To make it worse for the Draken the other mummies, with only a single target, began to converge around him. As they neared they'd try and swarm and grab onto him. Their long and powerful arms reached out towards him, dry groans came from their mouths as the creatures all came for him at once.

 

Then a terrible sound came. The noise of not just one, but five, sarcophagus opening. The one closest to the door as well as the four on the other side.

The horde was growing larger, and none of them seemed as though they were relenting.

 

However the door continued to open. A dim light of hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.

[spoiler=OOC]Map

The door is now open 48 inches.

 

---

Damien watched Hob's interaction with the young woman and a faint smile crossed his lips. Then, with a grunt, he stood and made his way towards the entrance. He didn't leave it but he did lean against the crumbling doorway and looked out. "Everything lives and dies for a reason." He said. "Do you know your reason for living?" He craned his neck and grinned. His expression full of reckless abandon. "How about for dying? What do you have to die for?" 

[Andx]

With Lindow's help, Reinaan managed to toss a now one armed mummy torso off of him. Despite being in that condition it still seemed determined to approach him and now he had several others nearly surrounding him in the process. His eyes were bolting around the room, trying to keep up with what his ears heard. More of the boxes opening, more of the creatures pouring in. The door was open wide enough they could all go through fairly easily so long as they got these things out of the way. But then there'd also be an army of the undead following them on up. All of these thoughts meant very little in the face of multiple of them reaching out for him. He turned to run back towards the door they came through. More of the creatures had emerged this way but he had to get out from and around this group collapsing on him. The boy's feet started but he was jarred when one of the creatures had managed to grab him. A single hand clasped around the back of his neck and stopped his momentum. If he wasn't fast, there would be many more joining it.

Fast as he could, Reinaan swung his right hand with the claws still burning behind him and into the forearm that was grabbing him. As he struggled to cut and pull away he eventually broke free by tearing the arm off. It clung to him for the moment but it was hardly something to worry about. He had several more creatures to evade. He retracted his claws, feeling they were ready to backfire on him any second, and focused his mind and energy on running and evasion. He ran back towards the creatures that had emerged along the south wall. But before he or they could approach he started turning in a wide arc to take him around and past the altar in the middle of the room. As he did so, some of the newest creatures from the north wall grazed the scales on his back with a finger but weren't able to get a hold of him. He kept running and was past the podium approaching the others on the other side of the room. In truth he didn't want to stop until he was well through the doorway.

"We need to go now! We can't fight this many!" he called out as he ran. As he did he could feel the hand still about his neck and so he reached for the severed limb with his left hand and promptly removed it from his body. It began twitching as he did so and in a shiver of disgust he tossed it behind him.

[Sethera]

Gilly was just about to try for another Gilly Stab when Mr. Lindow stabbed it in the head and tried to lift it off of her. While normally, the halfling would be too proud to admit she needed any help, she was starting to get a bit squished...and out of breath. And that thing was trying to bite her too. Thankfully, the Thunder Chosen managed to pry the monster off of her.

 

The girl rose and paused for breath as the monster swung an arm into Mr. Lindow. She had to help him. She couldn't let him help her and then do nothing back! That was...that was...well, it was just bad manners! That was it.

 

"We need to go now! We can't fight this many!"

 

"What?! I was just getting started!" Gilly pouted, but miraculously enough, whether it was her close shave with being squashed to death, or bitten, she started moving toward the opening door nonetheless. "Thanks," she muttered as she passed Mr. Lindow. She bit back a "but I could have handled it myself," which, going by her scrunched-up face, was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do.

 

Snow hopped back into his Chosen's bag, and closed his eyes as he gave into his exhaustion. He had never really thought himself much of a fighter, but he found he was having to do it more and more after having met Gilly. He sighed. Sometimes, being her spirit was more trouble than it was worth.

[Alaina]

Sitting in silence, Ryia was fine not opening up to any discussion at the moment, as all ones she had had with Damien thus far ended with her wanting to continually bury herself somewhere deep. This silence, however, was eventually broken as the man spoke up once more. She was confused by the suddenness and philosophical nature of his questions, causing the girl to stammer, "wh-what? I uh, um, I don't know?" She wasn't quite sure how to answer his question, though given the smile he wore across his face and the energy he tended to exude, Ryia wasn't quite sure she would be able to get out of it with just that. So, looking around sheepishly she said, "I uh, I guess I um, do all of this to uh, help people. So um, that?" She looked awkwardly to the side as she managed get out a, "wh-what about you?" 

[Hälō]

Having let himself be knocked to the side after seeing that Gilly was free, Lindow groaned as he looked up in time to see that the group's situation had managed to decline even more within only a few seconds. There was now way that they could handle more of them, and it seemed the fire chosen also knew it. Watching the boy break for the door, Lindow glanced over to make sure Gilly did the same, before finally meeting his own threat.

 

"Mhm," With a new mummy now swinging it's arms down towards his face, Lindow didn't have a chance to acknowledge the ice chosen's thanks. Grunting in pain, Lindow dodged to the side before swiftly lifting himself to his feet.

 

"With any luck the terrain further in will make it harder for them to give chase..." The man called after his allies as he too begun to fall back towards the door. "Anis, let's move!"

 

 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"We need to go now! We can't fight this many!"

 

"Anis, let's move!"

 

"...Yeah, let's."

 

Shirin had pushed the Mummy away from Anis' head, and she was recovering herself while the others started shouting about how they should get out and make a run. Anis saw how the door had opened by a significant amount of gap, and realized that this might be the golden chance for them. With Shirin still wrestling the mummy behind her, Anis followed the others as they fell back to reach to the door. Going inside this early left them the question on what the hell would they do to get out of the place, but at the same time, they had no hope of defeating the living corpses on their own as they were right now.

 

"I just hope our allies are safe with Ryia up there."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Reinaan was getting near the door. At the speed he was going he would be able to make it there soon. However there was one last hurdle he would have to make before he could.

 

The trio of mummies near the door had started shuffling towards the door when the others had left through it. However, once those three were out of sight, they began to turn around to set their focus on the last living creature in the room.

 

They hovered near the door, groaning as they started to shuffle in his direction. And even still a horde was close behind him. If he stopped for more than a moment they'd be upon the Draken. And no amount of flames could protect him from their numbers.

 

The others, who left the room, would be in for a surprise. As they entered the doorway they'd find that there was no floor beneath them. And they'd suddenly drop down into darkness.

The fall was at least a ten foot drop but it seemed as though they landed into sand. It would hurt, but nothing would break, and it would take a moment for them to regain their footing.

 

The room they were now in was roughly circular. Without many features to it. Except for a trio of pedestals along the sides with a fourth object in the middle. Rectangular, it was simply a four foot tall stone desk. With an indentation in the middle which, were one to examine, would show to be the same shape as the scarab that Lindow had taken from the above room. Words were carved into the top of it, reading "Together you fall or together you ascend."

[spoiler=OOC]Upper floor map

Lower floor map

Okay so there is another "puzzle" here but it's quite simple. If anyone figures out what to do, which will need some investigating, then we can continue on pretty quick. Also Andx make sure that you get Reinaan through the door somehow.

 

---

"Help, eh? Doesn't seem all too solid." Damien responded. "But I can't really say much, I don't have any particular reason for doing any of this." It was up to Ryia to decide if that was the truth or not, but it was hard to read from his expression. "So this group you're traveling with...I guess so am I now, I don't know much about them. I'd like to know them more so maybe...you can tell me something about them? Why don't we start with that girl who everyone's after."

[Andx]

Interestingly enough, the others had listened to the Draken's words and promptly fled through the now practically wide open door. Reinaan almost felt relief at seeing them get away safely before realizing that still left him with a veritable wall of the creatures to break through to join them. He didn't hear the footsteps of the others either and the way they'd been running he very much doubted they'd turned around or stopped so abruptly. But under the circumstances that fact wasn't going to register as critically important. The boy kept running as he had little choice in the matter. A trio blocked the way but a swarm tailed him so slowing down or stopping wasn't on the table. His breath seemed to be ready for another round but he wasn't certain if he'd be able to get the full stream out. With his claws reaching their explosion limits it seemed as reliable as anything else he had.
 

The lizard boy continued running toward the trio now blocking the door, their groans incessant with their ever-reaching fingers. The foremost of the mummies reached out looking to grab at the Draken. He spat a quick burst of fire at the hands which at once stopped them and set them ablaze. The creature reeled for a moment and that was all the boy would need to keep going. He would skirt past them to the north and keep running down the passage he thought. But the initial burst of flame breath caused a bit of a spasm in his diaphragm that caught him off guard and almost unbalanced him such that he spat another while brushing up against the north-most of the creatures. This set him into a sort of spin with puffs of flame still coming out and hitting the trio at random. The south-most creature had yet to catch fire and thus was the only one still free to move aside from the still-approaching horde. Reinaan was almost to the door but with its long hands the creature managed to lunge forward and catch hold of the boy's tail with a hand. This was quickly met with a blast of fire to the face and a swipe of fire claws severing the hand which fell to the floor. Reinaan's momentum had only stopped briefly so on he went right through the door. And right into nothing.

He was falling. It was an odd sensation. But then it would explain why the others footsteps had stopped earlier. He'd explored many a cave, he should have seen a shaft coming. But his attention had understandably been elsewhere. As he fell Ziiyol's power begin slowly draining out of the boy before he hit the bottom of the pit. It hadn't been an overly long fall but the sudden impact, the exhaustion of the fight, and the disorientation of the fire spirit separating from him was enough to knock all sense out of the boy. He had landed noticeably after the others and likely after they'd already gotten up. Assuming they were still alive anyway. He didn't particularly understand much of anything that was happening. He had landed on his back and felt sand beneath him but everything sort of hurt generally.

"Reiny!" Ziiyol called a few times, mostly giggling the word as she said it. It was nice that one of them had enjoyed everything that had just gone on in there. Reinaan however was simply moaning and snarling a bit as his senses attempted to return to him.

"Ugghhh" came his signs of fatigue echoing through the new chamber. He thought for a moment maybe he was just daydreaming. He could still be back home getting ready for another hunt or some sort of ceremony with the village. Or maybe some of this had happened and they were still in the little building and Kloqah was going to kick him away any second now. Whatever it was, he wasn't getting up like he kept thinking he was. His arms and legs and tail were all moving about but not in a coordinated way. Eventually he gave up and decided that either he got helped up or he just took a nap here. Either idea felt okay.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Oh, what a relief, we finally can esc-"

 

Moments after Anis felt relief that the group had finally managed to escape the living corpses and found their way through the now-opened door, her joy disappeared immediately as she realized that she was stepping into nothing, and would soon immediately start the process of freefalling. It was a weird sensation, and an unpleasant one at that. The fall felt a lot longer than necessary, and the moment that she hit the ground, she thought that perhaps she might've broke a bone or two. Thankfully, she didn't actually break anything, but for her old bones, it was still a very unpleasant experience. She spent the rest of the time catching her breath and recomposing herself.

 

"So, while we probably would continue the exploration here, any of you have some sort of idea on how would we escape from this place once we're done? It seemed like it becomes more and more of a tall order now."

[Sethera]

Gilly hesitated at seeing Reiny boy not quite there yet, but as soon as she saw him running for the door as well, she went on through, breaking into a free fall that ended with her landing on her butt. "Owie," she groaned, though her pride was more injured than her body at the moment. The halfling glanced around the room. It looked like they were in an egg-shaped room, with pedestals and a stone desk.

 

Nearby, Reiny boy groaned. And she took the time to sit as well, still not quite recovered from her earlier almost-death by crushing from a mindless monster.

 

"So, while we probably would continue the exploration here, any of you have some sort of idea on how would we escape from this place once we're done? It seemed like it becomes more and more of a tall order now," Miss Stick-in-the-Mud said.

 

Gilly stood up and shook her fist at the walls heroically. "There's always a back way!" she said. "We'll probably find it when we find Mute Girl, because we're the heroes, and we always find a way!"

 

[Alaina]

Ryia looked a bit bothered as the man found her reason lacking, though it wasn't as though she had much conviction in it when she said it herself. She hadn't ever really had much of a goal herself, merely to make ends meet, and that was more so to help her family stay alive then anything else. Regardless, the girl looked at him as he seemed to be more the whimsical type in what guided him. As he started to ask more about the group, the girl, started to think. "Well, her name is Keres and she's, um, well a bit quiet, but uh, she's nice and..." The girl trailed off as she thought more about her. Her expression became more pensive as she said, "and that's it. I don't really uh, know all that much about them. Outside of their names, and yeah..." The girl trailed off once more as her mind was set more to the other members of the group and how little she knew about them.

[Hälō]

Landing on his hands and knees, Lindow sighed before glancing upwards into the darkness above. His gut quickly told him to move, and upon following it he would soon see why as the sound of hasty footsteps grew louder and louder. 

 

"..." After watching Reinaan slam down on his back at the exact spot he himself had just landed, Lindow scoffed in an amused manner before stepping forward and offering the fire chosen his hand. "Ever the graceful one, eh?" As he spoke Lindow glanced around the room to study their new environment.

 

None too pleased to see that there was yet another puzzle to be solved, he quickly pulled the scarab from his robe and tossed it gently towards Gilly. "Wise words, my dear. Now how about you use that genius to solve this next test?" He spoke in the soft, friendly manner that he always reserved for the ice chosen. If the next battle would be anything like what they had just experience, this time was best used regaining his strength.