The Chosen [IC/PG-16]

[Sethera]

Gilly had to fumble a bit to catch what was for her an unexpected throw from Mr. Lindow, but she held the scarab up proudly to show that despite the surprise, she had caught it anyway.

 

"Wise words, my dear. Now how about you use that genius to solve this next test?" Mr Lindow spoke.

 

Taking those words as the challenge they had to be, Gilly puffed her chest out and then stepped forward to the task. "Of course I will!" she looked at the stone desk, taking a minute to really take it in. "Hmm, so it's made out of stone...there's a weird hole in there...and some weird words." She paused, then recite the words out loud. "Together you fall or together you ascend. Well we already fell but Reiny boy was a bit slower," she muttered the last bit. "So we didn't fall together...does that mean we need to go up now?" she looked at the others before turning back to the desk.

 

"Whatever, my head hurts!" she announced and then slammed the scarab onto the desk, accidentally inserting it into the hole. "Ooh, nice, it fits perfectly," she gasped before jerking her head in realization. "Umm...I mean, I meant to do that! I totally meant to do that!" she crowed, thumping her chest. "Detective Gilly strikes again!"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"and that's it. I don't really uh, know all that much about them. Outside of their names, and yeah..."

 

Damien raised an eye at that. "You really are traveling with strangers here aren't you." The young man shook his head. "Do you really think you can work together like that? I know I wouldn't want a complete stranger watching my back." He grinned at her and approached. The man put a hand against the wall and looked down at her, from her seated position. "So, you don't know much about them. But I'm sure you know all about you. Why don't we start there?"

---

As Gilly slammed the scarab into the hole the door above them slid close. Preventing the mummies from the previous room from following them down into this pit.

As she did there was a clicking noise from each of the other pedestals and, a moment later, a strange noise from above.

 

It sounded similar to running water, but there was no liquid to be seen, and it was getting louder.

 

Soon the group would realize that, from somewhere up above, sand was pouring into the pit at a rapid rate. Slowly the level of sand in the room was rising. It would take several minutes but if nothing was done the sand would eventually reach above head level for even the tallest among them.

[Andx]

There was finally something to focus the dazed Draken's mind a touch. Words and an outstretched hand from Lindow. The confusion left Reinaan's mind as a general soreness began to take over. The base of his tail was gonna be bruised something fierce, not that he'd really be able to tell through his black scales. He took the hand and pulled himself up finally. His body caught up with him and stabilized as he took a moment to steady himself.

"Heh... better the back than this charming face of mine." he joked in response to the man's comment on his less than graceful landing. Ziiyol hovered nearby and began patting the boy down all over to be sure he wasn't injured. He didn't really have the drive to complain about it at the moment. He was more trying to examine the room and see what was in it. But it wasn't long before Gilly had moved forward and placed the object from the earlier puzzled into a central altar of sorts. There was a noise above. The door they had waited on so long to open sure closed itself in a hurry. Regardless, it seemed none of the undead creatures had slipped through which almost gave the boy time to let loose a sigh of relief. But there wasn't time for that as it happened.

"Rain?" the Draken questioned at the sound of something pouring down from above. But that was impossible, they were underground. It took a moment but it clicked that it was sand. It was pouring in fast and with no where immediately visible to go there was a sense of panic accompanying it. He'd heard the words inscribed that Gilly had read but that was less his focus at the moment. "Where's the exit?!" he called to the others as he started looking around. The circular walls gave no indentation of a door and it was hard to tell how far up the pit went. At least as far as they fell anyway. Regardless they had to get higher. All they really had were the other pedestals in the room. He began moving toward the southern pedestal. "We gotta get higher." he said, indicating his intention with the things. Standing on it wouldn't give them much longer to live if the sand kept pouring at the rate it was but it was all he could think of. The fatigue from the battle in the previous room had his mind working on low while the body focused on recovering.

[Alaina]

Ryia couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed at the fact that she knew next to nothing about the people she was supposedly going to save the world with. The girl tried to mull over it some more, wondering about the other members of her group, when Damien made his way closer to her. As he pressed his hand against the wall, looming over her, Ryia seemed to shift from awkwardly shy to nervous. Pressing herself closer against the wall, she said, "well, um, I'm Ryia." The girl glanced away from his face as she just repeated something he already knew, before continuing, "and I um, I was from Haven before I um, came here. I fought things, mostly small monsters to um, make money before coming here. It's helped so far." The girl seemed to try and be concise in what she was saying, glancing away from him for every so often as she spoke. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"We seems to have a certain affinity in finding new ways to get ourselves potentially killed."

 

Anis watched without saying much else as sand started to pour into the pit that they found themselves stuck in. She was in no position to think much after her being exhausted from the earlier encounter, so she decided to follow the Draken's lead and found a pedestal for her to stand on....

 

Though, as she walked, she went past the main thing in the middle of the room. Written in it was something strangely readable.

 

"Together you fall or together you ascend."

 

So this was the puzzle that the others were talking about earlier. SHe wasn't really sure about it, but right now there were no time for much guessing. And so, Anis decided to yell the first thing that passed her mind.

 

"Gilly, go stand on top of this thing in the middle. Lindow, go get on top of one of the pedestals. I'll stand on top of the last one. It probably won't help much, but let's try it or we might die."

[Hälō]

"Right."

 

Lindow replied with nod before heading towards the pedestal he was instructed to stand on. As he did so, the man begun eyeing the walls for anything that could be used to help him scale them, should the group find themselves unable to solve this test...

 

Leaping up on the pedestal in a single motion, Lindow peered up to where the sand was coming from to see if anything had changed.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Gilly stood with her hands heroically on her hips and gave Anis a Look. She didn't need to follow any orders she was The Great Gilly! But then the sand started getting higher and she thought that maybe just maybe it wasn't very heroic to be buried in sand.

She crawled onto the table in the middle, noticing...not much different.

 

The others would have a hard time fitting on the pedestals as they were only just barely big enough to stand on. They'd have to balance to keep on but they were now four feet above where they had been.

 

If the looked down they'd notice that the pedestal had a raised, circular, dial in the middle. It seemed able to be turned counterclockwise, though it would be difficult while standing on top of them, and the sand was still raising. Now reaching the midway point on the pedestals.

---

"and I um, I was from Haven before I um, came here. I fought things, mostly small monsters to um, make money before coming here. It's helped so far."

 

"Ryia from Haven, I see. Haven is that huge Human city isn't it? That place always seemed much safer than the others. It also has the highest human population. I suppose that just makes sense, doesn't it?" Damien grinned down at Ryia.

[Andx]

Reinaan managed to make it atop the pedestal as did the others. Balancing was a bit tough given he was still righting his head from the fatigue and the fall but he managed to stand atop it. The sand was pouring in fast, already about halfway up the structures they stood on. Ziiyol hovered near, still in a good mood from the previous room's battle. Naturally nothing she was doing was helpful.

"Sand everywhere!" she giggled joyfully. The lack of awareness to any of the present danger drew a groan out of the Draken at his partner but at the same time it seemed to almost get his head back in it too. He began looking around but was quickly brought to look down by his own feet feeling the top of the pedestal. There was a circle raised above the rest of the thing which seemed to rotate a bit as the boy's feet rubbed up against it. It was all he had to go off of and so he tried to spin it some, but with just his feet working it he was not having much success. Bending over was off the table as he'd probably fall in the process. As it stood that meant dismounting and turning it by hand. The boy jumped into the several feet of accumulating sand and began turning the dial. It went a full ninety degrees and then didn't move. After a moment it snapped back into it's original position. The words in the room came to mind as Reinaan, nearly waist deep in sand, looked to the other podiums that his fellow Chosen stood atop.

"Guys! Check for a spinning thing! If you've got one start spinning it!" he shouted amidst the sand of the cascading sand. It wasn't articulate but what he himself was doing should have been enough of a hint. All the spirit of fire took from this was to start twirling in the air behind her partner, laughing at the sight of her partially buried partner yet also curious if his idea would pan out.

[Hälō]

Seeing the dial, Lindow quickly leaped off of his pedestal and studied the mechanism. The sand was filling room far quicker than he had imagined, meaning that they wouldn't have the luxury of taking their time or letting a single member of the group handle the thinking. 

 

"Guys! Check for a spinning thing! If you've got one start spinning it!" The fire chosen called out to the group, causing Lindow to glance over his shoulder. 

 

"Everyone start spinning on three!" Lindow responded almost immediately before taking hold of his dial and beginning the count down. "One...two..."

[Alaina]

"Um, yeah, I uh, suppose it does." Ryia said, still not quite looking at the face of Damien. She wasn't really comfortable with continuing as things were, and didn't quite enjoy talking about herself to begin with. Damien, however, was not moving from his position nor did he seem to be satisfied with just that answer, and so the girl continued, "well um, Haven isn't actually the city it's the um, it's the island. You're probably thinking of Naporia which well, is also where I'm from. It's a," the girl stopped for a moment before saying, "well, it's got nice places in it." The girl paused for a moment more before saying, "and well, even if you aren't the most skilled or well, delicate of people, there's still work to find which is um, how I got into doing," the girl waved her shield around. "this kind of stuff." The girl looked around for a moment before looking back at Damien asking, "where are- where are you from, Damien?" 

[Sethera]

Gilly climbed to the table, standing tall and proud with a heroic pose. It was actually kind of nice, being this tall for once. She was actually at a head with most of the others around her. "Wow, so this is what it's like to be a giant!" she exclaimed.

 

And then Reiny boy started shouting about a spinning thing that he wanted them to spin, Lindow pitching in soon after. Looking down, the halfling saw...nothing. Nothing at all like a spinning thing. So instead she stood on her tiptoes, trying to grow even taller somehow. So focused was she on that that she actually slipped from her perch and fell face first onto the sand, before scrambling back onto the table. "I meant to do that," she said, not a hint of shame in her tone.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"All these names blur together sometimes. It's such a pain to remember what things are called." Damien said, not moving from his position over Ryia. "I'm from...all around." He answered. "Don't really have a home exactly I just wander where my feet take me. Life's a lot easier when you don't have roots holding you down." He chuckled. "Plus I get to meet people like you."

 

He hovered a bit longer before giving the girl some breathing room and pushing off of the wall to stand upright again. "Seems like you're pretty satisfied with how your life was. I wouldn't expect someone like you to risk everything on such a dangerous mission. Those scorpions are the least of your worries if you intend to keep this up you know."

---

Reinaan and Lindow twisted their dials and it almost seemed like something had happened. But nothing ended up changing and their dials would revert back to their original position once more. And so the sand continued to pour in. It had now reached the point where it was just below the top of the pedestals. Gilly would have to stay on top of the table to not be buried under the sand and the others would find it hard to move any farther. Soon the sand will overtake the pedestal themselves and, not long after, the Chosen themselves.

---

 

Keres woke up in a daze. As she sat up she wondered why she had been laying down in the first place. The pain in her neck reminded her that something had attacked her.

 

Looking around she couldn't quite tell where she was. There wasn't much light to make out any details but best she could tell it was underground somewhere.

She was siting in what felt like a pile of rubble. As she shifted around she noticed that there were large, oval, shapes all around her. Upon closer inspection she realized...they were eggs. She reached out hesitantly and touched one. It was cold to the touch. Almost stone-like in texture.

 

She felt like she was being watched and she whipped her head around in an attempt to catch a glimpse of whatever, or whoever, it was that was watching her. But...she saw nothing in this darkness. Vague impressions of walls could be made out so she thought that if there was something she should be able to at least make out a silhouette.

 

But, no, there was nothing. As far as she could tell she was alone here.

 

She couldn't even see Flux. She could feel his presence, much like she felt the presence of some...other but he was nowhere to be found.

 

Keres attempted to stand up but found that her legs felt far too heavy. Whatever had brought her here must have had some kind of poison, or magic, to keep her still. But...for what purpose?

[Sethera]

Gilly looked confused that the great master plan didn't work. She tilted her head and glanced quizzically at the others. "Huh? Why didn't it work?" she voiced her thoughts aloud. The halfling saw that the sand was getting higher and higher and looked down at it with fascination. "Oooh," she said, "I wonder when it'll stop. Oh, wait, of course! It'll stop right when it reaches our necks, for the most dramatic effect!" she squealed. "I'm right aren't I? Well, of course I am. I'm always right. I'm the amazing, stupendous, most awesome Gilly after all!" she struck a pose.

 

Her attitude dipped down soberly afterward. "Still...I wonder how we'll get it to stop..."

[Alaina]

Ryia seemed to be interested in Damien's response, briefly wondering what life like a drifter was probably like. All the same, when he said that he got to meet others like her, and her group she merely glanced to the side and muttered, "I'm not sure that's a good thing." All the same, as he moved on to talking more about her task at hand the girl merely said, "well, I don't have much to risk." Catching herself the girl said, "and um, more than that, it's not so much that I'm uh, satisfied with having to like, fight for a living. But, well, it's nice to help and be helpful to others, you know?" Glancing to the side, a more concerned look on her face as she said, "but, I can't really say I'm prepared for everything we'll fight. I don't uh, really know much of what's, well, out there or if I'm even strong enough to fight it. But well," she looked towards Damien, a bit of the worry leaving her expression. "I still have to try my best, both my own sake and theirs." After saying that, the girl looked away from him again, a bit more bashful as she said, "oh, um, sorry for rambling." 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Seeing the others try pulling the dials on their own, Anis attempted to do so too, but she felt like she was too weak to do it, and before she was able to, the others had done it and the dial was reset. The sand continued to fill the area, and the threat of being buried alive became more and more clear. They had to try again.

 

"Together you fall or together you ascend."

 

"Right, let's try it again, everyone!"

 

Anis took a deep breath, before Shirin slithered from her shoulder and wrapped itself around the dial. Anis casted a short spell to make it had a bit of strength to spin the dial, and once she was sure that it would work, she raised her voice again.

 

"Sorry for earlier, but now, please pull on my mark! One, two, three!"

 

---

[Andx]

Reinaan was frustrated as nothing happened at Lindow's count. Had he gotten it wrong? The sand was filling up more and more of the room and he was quickly about to be waist deep or more in it if he stayed down here to keep turning the thing. His eyes were scanning the room in a frenzy looking for something else. But before panic could really set in, Anis spoke up. It seems she had missed the call before but now sounded another countdown. At her signal Lindow and Reinaan also turned their dials, the three moving into position at approximately the same time. If these were going to do anything they needed to do it now as the sand would soon overrun the pedestals.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As the trio turned on their dials they would feel slight resistance at the end of the turn. With a bit more of a turn a click would sound. The sand trickled to a halt just before reaching the top of the pedestals.

 

There was nothing more after that however and the door above still was closed shut. Then came a noise from below. A sliding sound that was followed immediately by a sudden drop. The group fell along with the sand dozens of feet through the air. Thankfully their landing was mostly cushioned by the huge amount of sand that had fallen with them. Though it would take a bit to unbury themselves from said sand.

 

The cavern they found themselves in was dark and the air felt strangely moist. They would not be able to see anything without some form of light but once a light was created they'd see that the cavern was roughly circular, and wide, with stone walls on all sides. The pile of sand below them was massive. Larger than the amount of sand that they had come down with which indicated they weren't the first to arrive here in this manner.

 

Along the walls were brackets with roughly made torches that led out into a wide hallway. The floor was still covered in sand but it seemed to be less than earlier and, eventually, they'd find patches of stone floor. As they went on they'd reach a hallway that was less wide than previous. With a ceiling that barely reached eight feet.

 

Upon exiting this hallway they'd wind up in another roughly circular room. The ceiling here was twenty feet high and stalactites hung all across it.

 

At the far end of the room was a oval of rocks with dozens of objects inside. And, in the middle, sat Keres.

[spoiler=OOC]Map

Make sure you write out not getting crushed by the sand and making your way out of it. If you do anything before entering the room let me know I figured it'd be best to give all the basic info at once.

 

---

Damien shrugged when Ryia apologized. "You're just making up for my lack of communication this year is all. Don't talk much to people in my travels. I know. It's shocking with how utterly charismatic I am." He smirks at the girl before backing off away from her and crossing his arms over his chest. "Do you really think you all can do it then? Your group seems a bit...unimpressive for a group of heroes, sad to say."

[Sethera]

Gilly frowned as she noticed the sand stop right before reaching the pedestals. "Well phtooey," she groaned. "And I thought for sure that it'd stop once it reaches our necks. Oh, but then we have to figure out whose neck it reaches. Mine or yours?" she paused to think about that for a moment. "If it reaches my neck then it would reach your uhh...waist?" She glanced at the others. "Or maybe your hips. But if it reached your necks, then it'd probably go over my head." She shook her head, eyes glinting in excitement. "Oh, but that'd be even more heart-pounding, wouldn't it? Too bad that didn't happen..." she pouted.

 

Anything else the girl was going to say got cut off as the group fell through the air along with the sand. For a strange instance it felt like she was hovering on nothing but sand, and then she landed with a thump on the ground below, which was also sand. And then she sunk underneath.

 

Struggling for a bit, the halfling eventually managed to dig her way out of the sand. It was a lot like getting buried in snow, but warmer, and a bit more painful, but she wasn't Gilly the great for nothing. Eventually, she popped out of the sand like an eel, and then slid down on her stomach toward what looked like the exit, if the torches were any indication.

 

"Well," she said, peering down the tunnel. "I think I know where to go now! Thattaway!" the halfling pointed dramatically before starting to march to the beat of a drum only she could hear, her feet starting to make soft noises as they hit stone floor rather than the cushion of sand from earlier.

 

Gilly stopped when the tunnel widened to another circular room, this one filled with all the pointy rock things on the ceiling she'd seen in caves. Stala-something. Was it tites or mites? She honestly couldn't remember. She had Mute Girl or Snowy for all that weird nerdy stuff. Or even Stick-in-the-Mud. She was older, so she probably knew lots of boring stuff like that.

 

Her thoughts rolled to a halt at seeing a familiar person--Mute Girl! She was lying in the middle of a bunch of stuff, ringed by an oval of rocks. "Whoa," she said, before brightening. "Hey, Mute Gi--I mean, uhh," she shrugged, having forgotten the girl's actual name by now. "Mute Girl! We're here to rescue you and save the day!"

[Andx]

There was little time for relief at the sand's stopping as the group began falling. It was much further than the previous drop and this time Reinaan found himself wondering how they'd live as they fell. There were no mummies chasing him this time so that was a plus. Not the most exciting final thought to go out on but there was little to be done about it. Eventually his body came to a stop. A veritable mountain of sand seemed to have caught them this time and the boy was half buried from the fall. He thrashed about just trying to stand up in it and managed to roll down the side of the mound. All the while he began spitting out the mouthful of sand he'd gotten on the landing. By this point the Draken was really coming to detest sand and wanted dirt and rock back.

But now they were in a cave that felt more familiar. It was dark but it lacked the arid feeling of the desert air. Had they gone down deep enough to find ground water? There would be little to explore before getting light. The boy fumbled about on his person. The cloth-belt was still in place about his waist with the sword attached. The amulet was still about his neck. Thankfully he found one of the makeshift torches he'd made and lit it with a puff of his breath. The light revealed some details to the place they found themselves in. It was less a cave and more a constructed room it felt like. It was almost circular and the perimeter was stone, not sand or dirt or anything of the like. There seemed to be some torches in place and the boy took it upon himself to light a few so as to free his hand of having to hold the small torch he'd made while still providing light to the group. Gilly's usual energy led the way to the only real direction they had to go.

By this point Reinaan knew better than to trust anything in this place. He continually scanned the room and made it a point to take up the rear lest anything follow or pop up behind them. They eventually passed through a hallway of sorts into another circular room only to see a familiar face at the far end. She was surrounded by a strange circle of rocks and seemed to have other things around her. But it certainly was Keres. Everything in the boy wanted to run to her and take her away from here but something didn't add up. The Water Chosen would never have come here on her own. And no amount of accidents could place her this far into the cave system. Something had brought her here. Something intelligent enough to move past the dangerous rooms on the way here. And so he turned his back to Keres, taking his watch to the rear and as much of the walls of the tall room as he could.

"Move towards her together slowly." he said instructing the group on what he felt the safest way to approach. "Keep your eyes on everything."

[Alaina]

Ryia seemed to become more pensive as Damien asked if she thought they could do their job. There were nine of them originally and now there were six. And one of those six were missing. And they didn't even know where the first of the demon gates were, let alone actually stop one of them. "I don't know," the girl stated. "I um, I guess we're not really the best group to do this, and I, uh, suppose I'm not the best person for it...either. And I guess as a group...well, yeah." Her expression was a bit downcast before she looked back up with more determination in her eyes saying, "but well, I was chosen for this. And I want to succeed on this. So, I hope we can."

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

It seemed that this time they were successful. The sand stopped, but it soon followed by yet another drop far down below. The next thing Anis knew was that she was finding herself buried beneath the sands, but thankfully it was not deep and she managed to get out of the pile without being crushed by the sands or getting her bones breaking due to the fall. A cavern revealed itself to the group not far away, and they made they way through it. Gilly led the group as they continued, with the rest being quite cautious on what they might find around the way.

 

And, at the end of it, they saw Keres. Surrounded by strange stone structures, she was sitting still, but looking very much alive. However, something felt off. Reinaan seemed to feel that too as he instructed the rest to approach the Water Chosen slowly. But rather than following them, Anis chose to stand still and prepare her bow.

 

"I'll stay in the back. Whatever brought Keres here, they must be still somewhere, lying in the dark. I can't shake the feeling that this might be a trap somehow."

 

---

[Hälō]

"Might be?" Lindow scoffed before shaking off the last bit of sand that had filled his robes after digging himself out of the heap a few moments earlier. "She's not dead, and she hasn't left that spot either..."

 

Shifting his robes to the side to reveal the hilts of his blades, Lindow took a took a step towards Keres whilst glancing around the room once more. "It's a trap. A painfully obvious one at that..." The witch hunter sighed and glanced back to his allies before resting his hand on the Bandit's Cleaver.

 

"Hang back." His gaze fell on the Chosen of Fire for a moment before shifting over to Keres once more. "Be ready to cover me. I'll retrieve her myself... " Taking another step forward, Lindow extended his free hand towards Keres before calling out to her.

 

"Just where might you captor be, little Keres? I'd quite like to thank them for dragging us down here..."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"but well, I was chosen for this. And I want to succeed on this. So, I hope we can."

 

"Ha, yeah, lotta people hope that." Damien said. "I don't know if you realize this but there's a lot of people who think that things will...get better once you Chosen take the stage. It's kind of funny thinking about how normal you all are. I suppose the Spirits have their reasons though." He put his hand on the sheath of his sword and let out a sigh. "Would be nice to see something good in this world again." He muttered before laughing to himself and smirking at Ryia. "So thinking about trying to get extra close with any of them?"

---

As the group entered the cavern Reinaan would be the first to notice something. The torch that he had lit on the way here shouldn't have been visible easily due to the distance and direction they traveled. But the light was still quite bright down the path he was watching.

 

He would soon see why. The flames had went from the torch and somehow had traveled along the walls towards the other torches along the way, lightning them up despite how damp they were. Soon it reached the cavern and lit around in a circle around the entire thing, heading back down the hallway on the other side of the wall.

 

"Mute Girl! We're here to rescue you and save the day!"

 

"Just where might you captor be, little Keres? I'd quite like to thank them for dragging us down here..."

 

Keres looked at them in confusion. They came here just to make sure she was safe? Why? She supposed there were many reasons that it could be. Just like there were many reasons for these eggs that were around her. As for her captor... "I haven't seen anyone, anything, until you." She responded. But that would change rather quickly.

 

The light that now surrounded the cavern revealed what was hidden in the edges of the room. It also shed some light on the nest which Keres sat. In it, along with the eggs, were piles and piles of bones. And around the edges of the room...stone statues. Of various races in various poses with various expressions of pain and fear.

 

"Something's wrong" She called out in a raspy voice, though it seemed the ones not named Gilly already figured it out.

 

They all would hear it then. A slithering noise. A hissing. Rocks falling to the side...And then a creature burst through a crumbling section of the wall to the side.

 

 

The thing that emerged was just human enough to make it even more horrifying. A vaguely humanoid, if scaly, upper body that stretched six feet from the floor was attached to over twenty feet of snake tail. The creature had blue scales and had unusual black markings, seemingly some ritualistic painting, all over. Its face was almost that of a woman's but flatter and with a pair of glowing yellow eyes. When it saw the group its jaw unhinged and it hissed, showing its forked tongue and sharp fangs. Even stranger still was the creature's "hair" which was, in fact, a mass of snakes undulating and swaying as the creature slithered closer to the group.

 

Keres froze up as she stared at the thing. She placed a hand on the wound she had suffered earlier. The one she noticed when she woke up. The one that reminded her of...a snake bite.

 

"Venomous snakes." Keres warned the group. She still couldn't feel her legs much when she tried to stand and, as she tried to muster the energy for a spell, found that it was in vain. Whatever venom this thing had pumped into her had yet to leave her system. If one of them suffered a bite now...

 

"Sssssoooooo." The creature spoke. Her voice sounding like a whisper which somehow made it to all their ears. Not only did it reach their ears but it also echoed in their heads. "You wissssh to take my babiesss food? They're ssssoooo hungry after all thesssse yearssss. I won't let them go without for another day. If you resssissssst...perissssh!"

 

She let out another hiss, the snakes coiled around her head and poised to strike, and her eyes flashed with an eerie glow.

[spoiler=OOC]And it's time...for a mini-boss fight! Meet the boss of this dungeon, the Lamia! Keres won't be of much use for at least the first part of this fight as she is.

Map

 

[Andx]

The torches Reinaan had lit somehow caused a chain reaction, causing the whole line of them to ignite one after the other.  They would be able to see well enough, but something like this had no doubt alerted whatever had brought Keres here. Lindow indicated to the boy that he would go in to retrieve Keres and asked for cover. The Draken nodded in affirmation as he continued watching the chamber. Eggs and bones surrounded the girl, meaning something was indeed living here. Reinaan more heard it before he saw it. The sound of scales sliding along the dirt, rock and sand that was the chamber. Then all at once the side of the chamber blew open revealing a massive snake woman creature. She was more snake than woman but the odd sight of a human-like figure with snake hair and body was unsettling to say the least. The creature was ready to fight for her food as she referred to Keres. Her hair seemed ready to strike and there was the issue of her long body to keep track of.

Despite the initial alarm from the mode of its appearance, Reinaan didn't appear afraid of the creature. His viilage had defended itself from bird creatures bigger than her. And more importantly she didn't seem to be undead like the things they'd fought before. What was a snake before a dragon? Especially one with vulnerable vitals to attack. His confidence lost from the undying foes returned as he felt his instincts driving him straight for the neck of his foe. The boy drew the sword that had been at his side as it was his only physical weapon. His eyes narrowed as he locked into his next hunt. He charged in, holding the sword ready to cut away at any brave lunging snake heads. As he moved he readied his breath, a stream of fire primed for the creature's face should he need it. He had no idea what to expect of the creature's abilities so this would be an important first approach for the group.

[Sethera]

For some reason, the others weren't as willing to get close as Gilly was. She wasn't sure quite why, but it seemed like they were worried.

 

"It's a trap. A painfully obvious one at that..." Mr. Lindow said, causing the halfling to squint. A trap? Really? Hmm...so that was why. The man then asked where Mute Girl's captor was, but she seemed confused by that question.

 

It was then that a giant snake woman thing emerged from the wall nearby. She also had snakes for hair, which seemed really strange. Would that be like if Gilly had mini-halflings for hair? She couldn't imagine it--all those hairy feet. Or maybe it'd just be their top halves, which wouldn't be so bad, but then would she have to share her food with them? Questions like those squirmed through her mind as the snake woman squirmed ever closer.

 

"Venomous snakes." Mute Girl warned the group.

 

"Sssssoooooo." The creature spoke. Her voice sounding like a whisper which somehow made it to all their ears. Not only did it reach their ears but it also echoed in their heads. "You wissssh to take my babiesss food? They're ssssoooo hungry after all thesssse yearssss. I won't let them go without for another day. If you resssissssst...perissssh!"

 

Reiny boy led the way, drawing his sword and approaching slowly. Gilly was less careful, summoning an ice spear and throwing it at the woman, though she did try and avoid spearing the dragon boy. "Gilly toss!" she cried.