Doggo

Reinaan let out a hearty laugh at the sight of the extinguished halfling. Another case against gross, disgusting hair as the boy thought of how his scales would have never caught fire like that. But with how unfazed the man seemed by the whole ordeal but the draken couldn't help but feel some sense of respect for this total stranger. Now the fire chosen didn't know much of anything about shops, having been to the majority of the ones he'd visited in his life here in this city. But something about these explosive salesmen, if that was indeed who they had found, seemed different. "Hope you still got some stock left after all that." he teased. The halfling looked at Reinaan for a moment before letting out a giddy giggle while jumping from one foot to the other. "Most everyone stays far far away! Especially when we're testing. But you came up close. That must mean you're....CUSTOMERS!" As he said this another halfing came out of the tent. This one had a full head of hair and a soot covered face. "Customers? Did I hear you right? Did customers come?" the newcomer asked. Reinaan couldn't help but appreciate the energy the two were displaying about all this. Granted he assumed his human companions would be a fair bit less unaffected by burning most of their hair off than the first halfling had been. "Long as it only blows up when we want it to, yeah we're customers." the boy said. "Well I don't know if..." the one with less hair started only for the second to interrupt. "Of course of course! Only the best exploders for our customers!" he then headed towards the tent and shouted inside "SIS! CUSTOMERS!" Unsure entirely what to make of the situation they'd gotten themselves into, Reinaan led the group of chosen up to and into the tent of the explosive salesmen. The immediate impression was overwhelming for the boy more than anything. The contraptions that dominated the space made next to no sense to him and it was difficult to tell where one stopped and another began. Tubes and gears where everywhere, connecting to large metal vats of unknown contents. A bit simpler to process were the several tables atop which lay flasks and other containers. One might naturally expect this to be the things actually for sale. But with the open fires dotting the space too this felt like anything but a normal shop. A female halfling, much more well kept than the other two and likely the sis yelled about earlier, was standing on some sort of miniature tower holding a pair of binoculars, looking up at a large hole in the tent. Reinaan settled near one of the fires, appreciating the warmth on his backside, as he tried to work through the awe to get back to business. "So what's actually making the booms here?" The draken asked vaguely of the halflings. A look in his eyes betrayed a desire to start tapping and poking at things but given the boom that had greeted them he was able to show some restraint to avoid a repeat incident. "Anything we want really!" The first halfling said. "Well. Anything we put our secret recipes into." "All those things on the tables are completed devices; fully ready and full of potential." "We can't test them because if we do they'll be gone but they probably work!" "They DEFINITELY work." While not the most confidence inspiring interaction, Reinaan was still captivated with the fact this business even existed. So at this point he turned back to his companions who knew the ways of business a sight better than himself. Perhaps they could make better sense of the stock on display. "What do you guys think? We need some booms?"

Between the exertion of magical energy and the brightness tied in to her own spell, Estellise was somewhat disoriented as she began moving with the others. It was simple enough to keep her eyes fixed on Lana's back and simply follow it as best she could but that still didn't mean she was processing the physical space around her quite as well as she needed to. Thankfully she hadn't as yet tripped but she was slow to react to the few goblins that had come into their path next to her more martially inclined comrades. Both Lana and Chris rushed into battle and both seemed to trade injuries but ultimately handled the threats well enough that the latter was moving on to trying to get the lock to the next set of stairs open. With the briefest moment to ground herself, Estelle wanted to begin healing them but wasn't granted the time as the hobgoblin approached the group. The look it gave her and Lana spoke to some form of intelligence but the mage wasn't entirely sure she liked that. As Lana charged in to clash with the armored goblin, Estelle moved to the side toward the cavern wall. As the Fereis channeled magic into her hands the air about them seemed to ever so slightly shift and distort yet there none of the characteristic glowing. As light had been the diversion the mage was not looking to use light here in case they suddenly find themselves swarmed by a village's worth of goblins at once. Instead she opted for an enchantment and only when she had a clear line of sight on the hobgoblin that didn't go through Lana. A bit tricky perhaps given the clash of axe and sword they ultimately settled into but nothing Estelle couldn't manage. The spell successfully landed and if the dulled look in the hobgoblin's eyes that took hold didn't give it away the mage's words soon would. "That should have confused him!" Estelle called to Lana, inviting her to break the clash and take advantage of her dazed opponent.

Megaman Zero Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land Tales of Phantasia Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel lotta big ones already hit by other peeps for me so that was good to see

That Keres of all people would put forward the idea of blowing things up to pass the time was perhaps unexpected but Reinaan wasn't one to focus on the unlikely source. The information is what interested him. Blowing stuff up sounded like fun and in a non-combat context almost stress relieving even. He wouldn't have to worry about Ziiyol's magic blowing up in his face. The fire spirit would probably enjoy it a lot too. It seemed like a good idea all around. That said, for the time being the boy was content to go with Lindow as he was somewhat concerned about the damage he'd taken in the last moments of the battle at the gate. Even if it had been some time one could never be sure. And another trip to a weapon shop could potentially have something cool catch his eye. After the scratches from the demon his mind lingered on the idea of some form of armor but he still had principles to maintain. If it didn't look good on him it wasn't to be. The two chosen went on their way. The blacksmiths in the area were nothing to write home about but were by no means amateur. Most any of them would prove capable of meeting Lindow's needs and offered plenty of wares to browse. The halberd had performed wonderfully in the battles here thus far so the draken was all but ignoring weapons at this point. His eye was on forms of protection. The shopkeep they ultimately settled on sized the two up immediately and Reinaan still wasn't used to being taller than his companion, let alone the humans he interacted with in these cities. "Sure you aren't looking for a tailor my friend? I know a guy who could get you set up nice down the way." the blacksmith teased Reinaan. "No thanks." Reinaan managed to respond with a weak laugh to try and keep the situation friendly. "More here for him." the draken said as he motioned to Lindow and gave the thunder chosen time to do his business with the man. The boy took to looking at the things on display but as yet nothing in the armor was catching his eye. The heavier pieces reminded him too much of the Templar Draken who so readily served the still-less-than-trustworthy-in-Reinaan's-eyes-Council. So those were off the table. There also wasn't much in any extravagent colors but that was to be expected by anyone who knew the business unlike Reinaan. Eventually when Lindow's business was sorted the draken wandered back to the shopkeep. "A friend was talking about stuff blowing up, you know anything about that?" the boy asked clumsily. "Dear lord did something blow up again? I swear those people need to be more careful with their wares!" the man responded in alarm. "Those people?" Was all Reinaan could ask back. "Merchants that deal in explosive goods, I don't make it my business to ask questions of what the others do so I can't say for sure." the man replied. Reinaan's interest was piqued so he knew where he wanted to go.

It had been some time since another person had been at his eye level, or rather since Hari had been at theirs, so the sudden appearance of April stooped down to speak to him was enough to make the already nervous man-turned-monkey hop in place. Nothing about the woman should have scared him but the cheer she carried while she directly called out his exact circumstances made him panic all the same. Hari had always had to tell people what had happened to him so that someone had figured it out on their own was tripping alarms in his head about the man he was looking for even if by paying the slightest bit more attention he would be easily able to see April carried herself nothing like him. As his fidgeting with his hands intensified the monkey defaulted to muscle memory. "I-I didn't possess it, I didn't even want this I got put and well I'm not sure exactly how but-" Hari began speaking until he cut himself off. This was only what he had intended to say but all that had come out were very bizarre monkey noises and grunts that couldn't even really approximate the words yet also didn't pass for a normal monkey. He knew he had to use telepathy to be understood but his nerves had gotten in the way. Thoroughly embarrassed at this point he didn't dare try to reach out to April's mind directly instead opting to make several small bowing motions as if to excuse himself from the conversation they hadn't really had. The movement of the other espers to find and dispatch the ghosts present in the building provided a convenient opportunity at the least. It wasn't like he'd see her again after this job so this could just be a one and done awkward encounter, no problem there. Hari had started climbing the stairwell as suggested all the while deep in thought about what he was doing here, how he intended to help, if he would even get paid and a whole host of other ideas. With no obvious offenders among the gathered espers this was just a job now so there wasn't a need to be so wound up about it. Eventually the monkey seemed to light up at a certain realization and he exited the stairs on a lower than the target floor. "Need to mark some stuff or finding a ghost doesn't mean much." he thought as he entered what was definitely office space, just not geared for the proper game development the company was known for. The thought of walking into HR under the circumstances elicited a weak chuckle as Hari set to work looking around the desks for things he could borrow that the workers hopefully wouldn't miss. It would be rude to use anything but the most common objects he thought so he restricted himself to pens and the like and even for that much he offered a quick apology in his head to each worker who would have to spend several minutes replacing whatever he had taken when they next came to work. With a handful of things to pocket, if he had pockets, Hari was ready to turn around. The motion was well timed as a knife flew past his head the moment he did so. As the adrenaline of nearly dying took hold of him Hari followed a chain connected to the projectile back to a ghost. If one could call it that. It more directly resembled what one might think of as a demon, red and horned as it was. The thing was Hari's same size really making for a proper stare down for a moment that felt like eternity, until the ghost retracted the knife by pulling back on the chain. Hari scrambled to the side between desks but the ghost was quick and had already jumped up onto one of the nearby desks and thrown the knife again. The blade stuck into the desk Hari found himself immediately under and he couldn't help but let out a small scream when the blade appeared so suddenly only inches from his face. Off he scrambled again looking for cover only to find the knife nearly hitting him at every turn. The ghost moved so effortlessly but maybe that was just par for the course when you didn't have a body. Hari eventually tried throwing a stapler that had fallen to the ground at the ghost but the object simply passed right through it. "How long have you had your powers Hari?" he berated himself as he began marking objects, while also letting go of most of the pens he'd collected. The glow from his left hand's fingertips copied themselves onto the targets he marked: a pen, a paper weight and himself for now leaving one mark unused. Hari touched his index and middle fingers to his thumb in quick succession and the pen and paper weight switched places as he did so, a faint aura now present around them and growing fainter. Hari lobbed the paperweight at the ghost which made no motion to dodge given the last interaction only to be struck squarely on the head and staggered back. It began lashing out with the knife, the chain allowing it to function as a much more deadly whip, which forced Hari to keep on moving through the office. Monkey and ghost alike were dashing from place to place, objects were flying and swapping occasionally. Eventually the ghost seemed to tire of the game of cat and mouse as it jumped ahead of Hari's path and sent the knife on a course directly to his chest. Yet in the blink of an eye it struck only a pen and the monkey now found himself in the air some several feet off to the side. A swap with a thrown pen to avoid the danger. With a less than graceful landing Hari took off running, not wanting to have to repeat the trick.

"-up!" What did up even mean in the presence of that thing. Nothing had ever been so terrifying as the thought of infinity. "-ke up!" Nothing could compare to it, not even the man who stole his body. "-wake up!" Hari jolted awake in bed to Brooke's voice. "Hari, wake up already!" she nearly shouted as she continued to shake her partner awake. Hari thrashed about a bit in the bed before sitting up to turn to and look up at his girlfriend. "Sorry, sorry was I sending you stuff in my sleep again?" The man-turned-monkey spoke to his partner's mind with a look of concern on his face. Brooke sighed. "No, but I don't need you zapping your dreams into my head to know you're having a nightmare. It wasn't about the that day again was it?" she asked. Hari had often had nightmares about the moment he lost his body but they never elicited responses like this. "No it was..." his thought trailed off. How could he even describe the thing he saw in a way Brooke could make sense of? Nevermind that, how could Hari make sense of it. "I don't even know." he picked back up. The couple laid back down for what time they had before needing to rise and meet the needs of the day. Brooke held Hari close to her like a teddy bear to try and help calm him which did wonders for settling the sounds of screams the dream had been filled with. If there was much more time in the morning they might have fallen back asleep. But rather than an alarm the cry of "Mommy!" sounded into the master bedroom of the small apartment the young family had now occupied here in Megalopolis for a week now. Both parents wordlessly began getting up, Brooke to tend to their son, and Hari to get breakfast going, a task insisted he could still help with for some time as long as he still had opposable thumbs. With a less than graceful breakfast made and eaten, a shower taken and several hours of playing with his son behind him Hari was ready to depart. He had a job today however weird that felt to be saying at the moment. It wasn't the first since getting into this predicament but it was the first in Megalopolis. Brooke had taken the day off to look after their son while Hari went about his way to deal with a ghost. Since seeing his own spirit leave his body he had finally been made to pay attention to the ghosts that occupied the world. It turned out even some people without powers were aware of ghosts, more especially when these ghosts caused problems. And there was something of a market for people capable of getting rid of them. Finding such work in his previous residence had proven difficult given his appearance and he'd still yet to actually put a ghost to rest largely because he was trying to build connections with people experienced in the field. After confiding in a number of other espers about his problem and the man he was looking for who had his face he'd finally come to Megalopolis. He had a point to work off from a previous job. A man named Jeff who had been recommended to him by one such esper he had cooperated with before. Jeff was willing to set up less than fortunate espers with work around the city for a cut of their pay. He had laughed for a solid three minutes upon meeting Hari and confirming there was really an esper in the body of a macaque. And much as Hari wasn't a fan of Jeff for it, he couldn't much turn down the only source of info he had. And so it was Jeff who had sent Hari on his way to the ToSoftware office. Unlike several of the others, the man-monkey's first order of business was not comparing his PPL with the others present but rather confirming his own face wasn't among the hired hands. That was easy enough but if the man had stolen his body it would only make sense he could do it again to someone else so he still had to stay on his toes. Moving about the city was one thing but Hari attempting to enter the building had really raised some eyebrows. Not that many employees were present to do said raising. But there was one security guard who would be questioning his sanity for most of the rest of the day between these ghost stories and a monkey asking him politely to open a door for him in his mind. For his part Hari stood with the other gathered espers, trying mostly to not draw attention to himself if he could do that as the CEO explained the company's plight. He looked attentively at each person who spoke all the while running his left hand all over every nook of his right hand at a casual pace. Aki as he called himself was quick to take charge of the situation, claiming his PPL to be 1400 and much higher than anyone else present. It didn't take much on Hari's part to confirm he was speaking the truth and honestly he didn't have any issues letting the man do as he wished. Unless the ghost was connected to his body thief this job now didn't mean much more beyond money to help keep food on his family's table. He didn't quite want to rush into using telepathy to speak yet after the guard's reaction to it. The thought didn't cross his mind that as fellow espers they might be significantly less put of by it so instead Hari meekly began following Alice as she spoke of wanting to go and look for the ghost. He didn't think it wise for anyone to go alone, let alone one of the youngest looking there. As he began walking he heard others ask further questions of the group, one a man looking for more information, the other a woman looking to take bets on the case for some reason. "Is ghost hunting that much of a game to experienced folks?" Hari thought to himself as he curiously examined Vivian before turning back to Alice.

It took him the longest but even Aduain took note of the increased temperature when its source finally manifested itself. It was at this point the hunter began to think maybe hatsu wasn't the explanation to everything he was seeing in this strange place that Prana was. At the least he'd never even heard of a hatsu that might turn someone into a giant flaming skeleton. That didn't stop the idea from putting a smile on his face. His own control of nen was pretty good but if he could eventually do things like what he was seeing here then there was still a lot of room for him to grow. Getting caught up in the moment nearly cost the boy his stubby tail as one of the three sharks in the immediate area of the elemental decided to try and snap at him. The fish reacted in time to avoid the injury but that didn't spare his back side from sliding contact with the fairly rough shark skin. "No one taught you how to kiss huh?" Aduain asked to continue his pointless taunting of the sharks who didn't understand him. The others were moving into action to fight the new fiery monster, an effort the hunter really wanted to join in on. But he didn't get to being a hunter by ignoring problems to look for some glory. Left alone the sharks might start going after the citizens again, or even bite one of the fighters butts like this one had just tried to. At least this new girl Salvo was pretty on top of things as she'd already taken care of a few of the stragglers. The fish landed on his own two feet as the trio of sharks circled at a distance around him. He doubted he'd get a repeat of the three crashing into each other to try and eat him so it was finally time to focus a bit. Aduain closed his eyes briefly as he centered himself mentally. With a deep breath his eyes shot open with a gust of wind surrounding him as his nen flared explosively. One of the sharks leapt from the circle as the others maintained the perimeter. Before it could reach his position the shark was violently sent upward several feet higher than the apex of its jump. Visible underneath it was Aduain who had reached the spot before any of the beasts could see him move. The boy had kicked the shark squarely in the stomach. "I'll be the only flying fish today thanks!" The hunter called out as he touched down quickly to the ground only to immediately jump to now be above the still airborne shark. With a flourish of unnecessary twirls with his trident Aduain's nen filled the ends of his weapon as he thrust it into the top of the monster's head, the impact sending the duo down together. When the shark hit cement the trident's momentum continued, handily skewering its brain. Before the corpse could even fully decrompress from the impact Aduain was pole vaulting off his target to the ground below. The circling sharks had moved and no sooner had he touched down than did the floor break beneath him as the second shark's fin broke through. He stumbled forward only to get a hearty slap to the face from the tail of the shark as it dived deeper down. After some tumbling the boy settled, the floppy tentacles taking the longest to settle. He stood quickly to see the third shark surfaced and charging, all of its teeth on display. Another quick leap and he was out of harm's way for the moment but again a surprise awaited him on landing. The shark that had dove down now was coming straight up to meet the hunter. Its mouth wide open and ready to close around the boy. The shark found its meal but would have only a moment to enjoy its catch as a hole in its lower abdomen ripped open. On the ground with shark guts spilling out around him stood Aduain the hunter, who had chosen a path more immediately fatal to the ambitious shark. Shark three was back on the move still on the surface and charging him. One more pulse of nen and the fish stood his ground, a hand extended. The shark made contact and pushed Aduain only a few feet before being ground to a halt. It flopped about in place unable to move. There was only a smirk on the hunter's face to meet it. "You're not gonna liiiike this~" the fish teased as two small geysers appeared in front of the shark's face. Small high pressure jets of his water nen shot into the sharks eyes, blinding it and throwing it into a rage. Aduain leapt away to let it thrash about for a bit before holding his trident over shoulder and taking aim. He threw it with force enough to make it whistle through the air as it lodged itself into the blinded shark's head, killing it quickly. The boy looked over his targets, confirming each had stopped moving before sighing as his nen calmed down. The fish wiped at his head despite his lack of sweat glands, glad he hadn't had to use more of his nen given what was still left to fight. "Hope they saved some for me." He voiced his thoughts allowed as he turned back to the elemental.

There was a moment of confidence as his wind seemed to be effective against the enigmatic entities marching on the town that soon slipped into panic as Flurry saw the rest of them switch their focus. The town was safe but that left him and Roxie in a lot more danger than they would have been otherwise. The hedgehog was quick to point this out and already the lemur was trying not to immensely regret his actions. They needed to get to her ship now. Even if Flurry could blow a few over here and there but there was definitely many more than he could realistically handle. That didn't stop him from sending stray blasts behind him as he turned and ran as near fast as he could at Roxie's side. They needed to keep things off their tails as long as possible. "Dunno what came over me" Flurry started in a huff as he kept running. Somehow he felt the need to explain himself almost more to himself than Roxie directly but she deserved something given the danger now posed to her. "It's not like I'm attached to the town or anything but it just didn't feel right-" he started but jolted away from the rest of the thought as one of the figures had managed to leap ahead of the pack and grab a hold of the end of his tail. If he hadn't been panicking before the yelp he let out now confirmed it as a very powerful blast of wind was sent out in all directions except Roxie's as a last minute act of control over the panic option. That was encouragement enough to focus on running and wait for the explaining. "Your ship close? I could probably fly us to it" Flurry offered as an alternative to getting overrun by the army of shadows.

A small sphere of light formed between Estellise's hands as she readied a repeat of the trick that had gotten them past an earlier floor without fighting anything. The Fereis seemed to be making a concerted effort to control the magic so that the orb's light was dim until it was ready and in place. It expanded to about a foot in diameter, large enough that as it sailed above the buildings it would catch the eye of the goblins. The mage listened intently as Chris began the count. No sooner had the man spoke the word now than did Estelle send her spell on its way. The orb flew out toward the way they'd come in some ten feet before rising above the roof level of the village to start gathering attention. It's velocity slowed to almost nothing as it reached its destination where it began to shrink and intensify in brightness. "No looking back now." Estelle quickly reminded her allies as she turned to move in line with the plan. Not but a moment later the spell expelled its magic outward in a blinding flash off light that filled the room for a handful of seconds that would prove difficult to maneuver through even if not directly looking at it.

The energy from the soul that the two-headed lion had left behind gave Reinaan the energy he needed to do anything other than sit and breathe. Ziiyol wasn't long for reappearing after the gate was destroyed and the removal of the haze of negative emotions was an additional boon. The draken carried himself fairly quietly on the way back, first making sure the more severely injured Lindow and Damien were alright before looking to administer even first aid to the wounds the demon had given him. The fatigue and slowly abating sick feeling left the boy a less sharp watch on the return trip than he would have liked to have been. It would lead to him cursing his negligence when the dire weasel appeared but the beast wanted no part of them and left peacefully. Reinaan never fully relaxed again until they reached the walls of the city and was curious as an aching sensation set into his legs. No that he would have been able to partake in any such festivities, but the Fire Chosen was still somewhat disappointed at the relative normalcy of the town after the gate's destruction. It was just another day for these people and maybe that was all for the better. Reinaan could almost be happy with that vague sense of accomplishment until Madelyn spoke her intentions which only elicited unintelligible grumbles from the boy. He didn't remember much of this incident she was still holding over him but it wasn't like he could do anything with the memories if he had them. With a long sigh rather than engaging the woman the boy dismounted Kloqah and led her to the mule's side to take the two mounts in to their lodgings before deciding what he wanted to do. His body said sleep but heart of the dauntless dragon inside of him wouldn't let Reinaan keep the night completely uneventful. "Anything cool happen in human cities or is it just more buying stuff?" he asked of Lindow, Ryia, and essentially anyone who wasn't Madelyn.

The group was not quick to take up Estelle's offer of a flashy distraction and it was for the better the more the mage thought about it. Once she made her move they would be forced into action. Not escalating where it wasn't needed seemed wise. And so the lady Fereis followed Chris and Lana as they moved quietly about the collection of buildings. The group wasn't long to run into more goblins which Chris and Lana moved in to attack. Despite the circumstances the mage never seemed altogether ready for battle when it broke out. It simply wasn't her instinct. Added to this Chris' narrow evasion of a mace and Estelle could hardly suppress a loud gasp. Lana was quick on the save and the group was back to stealth for the moment. The group now gathered in the cleared building, Estellise tried to take stock of the surroundings. She could hear something, perhaps other goblins. But it did not seem to carry the sound of an alarm. Their presence was still largely concealed for now. Through the window of the building there was a shadow cast, like something was close to the fire, but they were in no good position to find out what from this angle. "Something or someone has moved to the central fire. I think it best we find out what." Estelle offered as she stepped out of the building cautiously. To the northwest was another building, barely any different from the one the mage was exiting. The woman stuck to the wall as best she could, taking great effort to keep her footsteps quiet. Once she reached the corner Estelle peaked around the corner ever so slightly which brought the fire into view. Meat was roasting over the flame, a large rat carcass. But much more menacing was the hobgoblin that stood head above the other goblins at some six feet tall. He wore rudimentary armor and bore a sword and shield and seemed to be directing the others as if trying to encourage patience in the ranks of his fellow goblins. "They know something is amiss." Estelle whispered back to her allies. "Unless a well placed dagger toss might fell a large armored goblin I think we ought to consider making a distraction and running for the stairs." the mage offered the ultimately less glorious but in her mind safer route to progression.

Speak No Evil

"You have to be done by now!" Reinaan hissed back at his spirit partner who was still carefully warming his body. Keres was going to have to stand alone to the headless beast at this rate. "You still haven't moved your foot." Ziiyol returned as she carried on. The Draken was made to look on as Keres took on the still moving remnants of the monster. He was impressed to see her attempt to restrain it with her water but it didn't seem like she had enough power to do it by herself. That was until the Water Spirit offered its aid. Together chosen and spirit were able to summon an amount of power that impressed the boy as he saw the beast impaled along the wall of spikes. Keres was clearly spent as she took to her knees and despite his own condition the boy wanted to go to her to check on her, but this wasn't to be. The Earth Chosen had taken to fighting the two demons that still stood. Ziiyol seemed confident enough she had done her job and not a moment later Reinaan was on his feet, raggedly running at the remaining demon that was currently trying to fight its way around a wall of stone to get at Ryia. Reinaan arrived, tired as he was, and plowed into the demon, forcing it up against the wall. He attempted to grab hold of each arm to pin it down but despite being nearly half his height the thing had remarkable strength in the long twig like arms. Both combatants had the same idea, that of biting the other. The demon bit into the boy's side, bypassing all defenses both magical and natural. Reinaan meanwhile bit into the top of the thing's head, a disgusting taste of ash coming to his tongue that was only surpassed by the taste of its blood. Despite wanting to gag on it, the draken bit down as hard as he could and a large chunk of the things head came clean off which he spat out ot the ground. The demon had left its mark and Reinaan was feeling sick to his stomach from the affair but it wasn't over. Rather than vomit he exhaled as much flame breath as he had left to his name directly at the thing's head. The demon was moving slower but it still managed to push Reinaan off it and swipe at him through the flames. The Fire Chosen managed to catch the hands as they were swung, taking a great deal of exertion to keep them from touching his scales lest they pierce him again. It took everything he had not to wretch as he thus labored. But for now he kicked at the thing's legs, knocking it off its feet. That made holding the arms only somewhat easier as he now held the beast off the ground by its arms. Feet were flailing wildly looking for any scratch they could get, a few indeed did land. Reinaan for his part attempted to pull the arms of the demon out wide to pull them off but the flesh didn't give under the strength of his arms quite like the chunk of head had under the sharpness of his incisors. So a change of plans was in order as he brough hte demon's hands together, grasped the wrists with both hands, and with all his might slammed the dying creature into the stone wall. One wasn't enough and he was still getting scratched here and there. So he repeated the effort, slamming the demon into the stone a good few more times than was necessary, even after it had stopped moving and resisting him. He dropped it, now lifeless, and kicked its head one more time for good measure before falling to his hands and knees to catch his breath. "Is everything actually dead this time?" He muttered, not wanting a repeat of the headless lion's last stand. The demon had nothing more to show for itself, leading the boy to think the fight was truly over. The moment the idea of relaxing his guard entered his mind, his control of his stomach flew into the ether and the boy raised up onto his knees before spewing the contents of his stomach and an uncomfortable amount of bile onto the floor below him. Somehow the aftertaste was still preferable to the demon blood. The sick feeling abated some, though it still lingered. At the least he didn't think another purging of his insides was in order. Of course things weren't done here he thought as he looked to the gate still standing. Without going around the wall to check Reinaan spoke to Ryia. "Keres and Madelyn might need a hand." He said through heavy breathing. "Ziiyol and I will handle the gate." He stated. Even if Ryia was less injured than him he only felt it right to send her instead. He doubted Keres much wanted him close anyway and there was only so much he could do to help anyone here. Ziiyol hovered behind her partner as he forced himself to his feet to waddle over to his fallen weapon closer to the gate. The draken walked up to it, the swirl of evil emotions getting stronger the closer he got. "Your turn Ziiyol. Go do whatever Flux did to the last one." Reinaan commanded while motioning to the inactive gate. "Even if the outcome is the same, I could never do anything the way water does." she teased back before disappearing into the gate. Reinaan didn't have the energy to do anything but agree with that one. With what strength he could still offer, Reinaan swung his halberd down on the orb at the center of the gate structure after Ziiyol's part partially activated it. The structure shattered, putting the gate down for good. The boy took a moment to be sure he'd done it right before plopping down squarely onto his back side on the ground with a sigh to wait for Ziiyol to reemerge.

Well the others seemed busy doing crazy stuff to the sharks. And the people of Prana were busy running away in terror. It was looking more and more likely no one had seen his particularly cool antics and this much had Aduain all the more ready to do a bit more. But it was hard to be too angry about it when he saw the display of bizarre hatsus from the rest of his fellow shark-fighters. Controlling ice nen wasn't anything too unheard of but the boy couldn't help but appreciate it all the same. Then healer plant man decided his nen was balloons now and that much had the fish boy ready to do flips and clap except for the fact that there were still sharks to deal with that wanted to eat people. From behind the shark packs he took careful note of how the school was swimming together, or not together in this case. Splitting them up would have been a smart idea for those with the power to fight them to undertake, but as a group of scared citizens fled in the opposite direction of Melissa's protection, they were taking some few sharks after them as well. That wouldn't do. Aduain concentrated his nen into his feet as he needed to stop lazing about behind the sharks. With the sudden burst of speed and a few well placed hops he soon found himself running alongside the small group of citizens who hadn't gone with the others. This was a bit awkward as he didn't have his nice hat Mauvache had given him on, but as most of them didnt' have their hats either he figured they wouldn't hold his lack of etiquette against him so long as he dealt with the things trying to eat them. It was time to communicate. "Hey folks, your Hunter has arrived! I need ya to keep running just a lil more!" he tried to get their attention. But they weren't intent on friendly conversation at the moment. Fleeing from giant fish as they were, the arrival of the young fish wasn't immediately comforting. Some seemed even more panicked that this shark could fly. While he appreciated being called a shark this wasn't the time for compliments. And being lumped in with these ground sharks wasn't amazingly appealing either. "I'm gonna get 'em to follow me, try to get somewhere higher up!" he shouted to whatever effect he could have on the terrorized people. Action was gonna be necessary first. Aduain slowed his pace a bit to be the closest to the sharks. But this alone wasn't enough to make all three of them want him over the pack of people up ahead. He was smaller than most of them, wouldn't make for much of a meal. But not to be deterred, the hunter began hopping and kicking at the ground as he continued his run. The nen in his feet made for heavy impacts that sounded like a much larger piece of prey. Mostly submerged as they were, the sharks could only really go off these vibrations and after enough kicks they were all intent on following the fish. Seeing his plan working, Aduain slowly started veering off course to see if they would follow. Sure enough he had three bites. Well it was more like three bites to avoid. The sharks were all after him and slowly beginning to surface to prepare to attack. But what mattered was they weren't heading the same direction as the people anymore. Aduain slowed himself to nearly a stop to bait an approach and all three took it at once, diving into the air too late to realize the presence of the others. The trio of sharks crashed into each other and all flopped about on the ground for a moment. Aduain had already jumped well over the point of collision and after a few spins in midair to show off he landed onto the back of the middle shark. Once again he planted his trident into the beast's back and started shooting off nen geysers at its gills to get it to move roughly where he liked. The geysers had to increase in quantity and frequency to keep the attention of the two the boy wasn't immediately atop but it seemed to be working. Shark surfing round two was underway, this time the boy led a trio of them along the surface back toward the main pack. "Woohoo!" Aduain shouted as he drove his pack of sharks. If they could get all the sharks back together surely someone had something at their disposal to knock a large number of them out at once. "Come on, I've seen better waves in puddles!" he taunted the sharks. Not that they understood of course but the boy was hoping to drive them to swim a bit faster to catch up to the pack of balloons. That seemed like the place to be. So caught up in shark surfing with the wind on him was Aduain that he barely noticed the increasing temperature in the area.

The Fereis mage looked over her comrades but saw no obvious signs to doubt that they were okay as they said. At both of their urging Estellise was forced to acknowledge the injuries her own magic had caused her. She wanted to protest the use of healing magic on herself as it wouldn't make sense. Giving her body her own magical energy to repair itself was foolish as it would look and maybe feel a little better without any actual net change in the energy in her body compared to when she imparted magic to them. There were about ten other theories she could think of and another dozen or so scenarios in which she might want the magic she would expend to use for the dungeon or for them, but while the mage's mind so buzzed the thoughts began to subside with the much simpler answer that Chris and Lana were both likely to double down on their earlier encouragements. And so the mage took to tending to her own arm, the soft magic causing the burns to recede. Though the woman made an effort to not expend a drop more of magic than she felt necessary to heal the skin and make things looks pleasant again. While she had been thus engaged, the others had opened the door to the next floor and so the group descended once more. Estelle had still not learned to stop being surprised at every new thing the Dungeon did for the quaintness of seeing something of a village as the next floor distracted her as she began taking in the structures around them. It was the other's attentiveness that brought the goblins to her focus. Chris wisely wanted to dispose of them both without direct conflict. The mage was excited to see the mastery both he and Lana would display as they took aim and threw their weapons. One of the goblins was felled immediately but the other seemed to have survived the maneuver, which led to Chris calling on Estelle in some hope of taking it out before it could rouse the village, if there were other goblins to rouse of course. "Right, yes!" Estelle started in alarm, not expecting she would have a part to play in this plan. She readied her magic quickly and in her haste fired off a light arrow that still struck the goblin but would not fell him. Thankfully she had fired another very quickly after which sailed on a more direct course into the goblin's back. The monster fell to the ground from the double injury compounded with the axe Lana had stuck into it. The goblin died before passing the first building, but it remained to be seen if the noises it made had drawn any attention. For the moment, a crackling fire was the loudest thing on the floor. Estelle spoke in a hushed tone so as to not break the otherwise silence of the room. "I pray we need not wake any others if others there be." she began as she turned back to surveying the village structures. "I can provide us distractions as the need arises though I fear they might only effectively work once." the mage concluded without speaking directly to the details of her intended distraction. As for what path they might best take she turned to Chris as the man seemed much more in his element with these stealthier operations.

This is too scary. So yeah I'm here for it we'll see how character creation goes.

There was only the sensation of cold. Reinaan hated the cold. He was a fire Draken, he lived in volcanic caves, bathed in volcanic hot springs. Why then the cold? The boy hardly processed his movements until he was already on the ground, half covered in ice. His eyes flickered to labored attention as he tried to push himself up to see what had happened. The process of moving only reinforced the cold consuming him which only seemed to grow worse. A fire was leaving him, he couldn't have died her could he? Sure enough it was just his spirit partner exiting his body after his brief flirting with unconsciousness. Still, he could have done with holding onto her warmth a little while yet. As he struggled to move he saw that his and Lindow's efforts had won the day. Both heads lay at the ground. It had to be over. Yet the beast's body continued moving. With no heads to guide its movements or launch the breath or roar attacks it couldn't be that dangerous but the fact it hadn't fallen was deflating the boy's pride. He tried standing all too quickly, and a frost covered foot slipping along the stone floor reacquainted the boy's face with the floor. He spat and cursed as Ziiyol finally registered the scenery around her. "Reiny! This is horrible..." the spirit started as she looked over her partner. "This earth magic removes the wondrous luster of your scales" Ziiyol pouted. "The ice!" Reinaan managed to shout, clearly irritated and gasping a bit. His spirit turned her attention to the ice also covering parts of her partner and held a hand close. "Yes, you're right, this will not do at all." In the spirit's hands appeared her fans which flickered alight with flames. She had to resist the urge to dance as she instead summoned more bits of fire all along the arc of the fans which she began holding close to Reinaan's body. The ice began receding but the process was not going to be swift, nor painless. Heat returning to the affected parts of his body was a unique sensation. "That stings!" He protested loud enough for the whole room to hear. Even in this position the fire chosen and spirit managed to find something to bicker about as the spirit explained she couldn't simply set him on fire and call that good either. The boy's impatience dominated as he saw Lindow and Damien had taken worse than he had and Ryia was busy with the demons. This left only the mages to finish the twice-headless lion. He had to get moving sooner than later. But Ziiyol insisted, there was to be no rushing this.

With both of her allies' weapons enchanted, Estellise took stock of the flow of her magic to make sure it was stable. The last thing she needed was another explosion, particularly with her magic now so close to her friends' faces. As the others engaged the mimic, largely robbing it of its arms and plant an axe or two into its body, the Lady Fereis focused herself and readied an attack. With the monster on the ground and flailing it's tongue at Lana she was ready to act. The thing's mouth was agape and the mage readied the familiar light magic between her hands. She had a fairly easy target and so she launched the first first of several projectiles. Each struck through as they pierced the inside of the monster, filling it with holes the more she fired. It's tongue relaxed and life seemed to be leaving it. "One can never be too certain..." Estellise said hesitantly as she observed the beast. Just to be sure she conjured what appeared to be a hammer above the beast made of light. This swung down fiercly onto the top of one of Lana's implanted axes, forcing the blade of the lodged weapon deep into the mimic's core. This was the nail in the coffin needed and the monster fell limp and dead. Only at this point did the woman relax and release her spells. All at once vanished the further lighting of the ceiling and room, any trace of the weapons of light she had summoned, and the enchantments on both Chris and Lana's weapons. With a long sigh the noblewoman's posture slouched for a moment before turning back to her friends. "Are either of you injured?" she asked, blatantly ignoring the burns covering her own arm.

Reinaan had to control himself from stabbing the lion all along the way as he scaled it for the second time. The frustration of having been thrown at all was sitting nicely in the forefront of his mind. But Lindow was putting in a lot of effort to keep the thing's attention so he could get a decisive strike. It would be a waste to anger the thing now and ruin the plan. And so the boy continued climbing until he was higher up on the fire head's back and neck than he'd even managed to be before with the ice head. By this point the beast had launched another breath attack at the Thunder Chosen and even behind the source of it the Draken could feel the immense heat given off. It would have been reminiscent of home if it wasn't coming from a giant monster that was summoning demons. The urgency of the issue that was killing the thing was made apparent when Lindow's latest thrown blade wasn't able to pierce through the flame stream. The Fire Chosen readied himself, trying to be careful not to overuse it, and summoned the flame claws again which he plunged deeply into the top of the fire head of the lion. Except nothing happened. Reinaan wasn't sure he believed it as it happened but the flame claws did nothing to the beast's skull. It was like they weren't even there. Reinaan's own physical claws were able to pierce the skin of the head but there was little chance of making it through the skull and into the brain. And so he looked to Lindow with a face expressing his disbelief and simply shook his head instead of shouting. The flame breath had stopped but this was far from the lethal blow they needed. If the beast manipulated fire it made sense fire couldn't hurt it. But the boy was furious with himself for only thinking about that after scaling the beast again and making an ineffective strike. At this time the ice head, injured though it was, began rearing up to look at the draken. Lindow seemed to grasp the situation quickly and began charging in with the power he had been building. It was time for Reinaan to get out of the way of another strike ally's strike and so he leapt. The draken knew he could kill the ice head. So long as Lindow had the means to kill the fire head this would work out fine. The Thunder Chosen closed the gap quickly as he readied his Third Blade which took on a long cutting edge shape which the man swung for the fire head's neck, looking to sever it. The efforts weren't entirely fruitless, but the head readied another breath attack, that should Lindow avoid he would find himself unable to finish. The ice head too unleashed its breath at Reinaan as he leapt through the air from neck to neck. But with the protections he had in place he felt there was no choice but to take it. As long as he could kill it. Lindow shared the sentiment for he made no effort to avoid the fire breath. Instead he raised his buckler iin some effort to shield himself but was otherwise committed to his attack. Both Fire and Thunder were determined to land the killing blows.

Despite the lack of real mirrors, Aduain was confidently content with his new look. It was an odd style but perhaps that was perfect given the oddity of this Mauvache woman. The fish could definitely get used to the fashion sense and if it helped the people of Prana feel more at ease around their new hunter-protector-fish-person then the boy was all for it. His giggling was calming some the more he strained to look into the screens to see himself and ultimate cut short by the sound of yelling. The shapeshifter guy was having a really bad time from the sounds of things. Melissa who had stayed the nearest to them the whole time since the group's arrival seemed busy offering what comfort there was to give to the collapsed, shapeless form so for the moment Aduain refrained from intervening. He had never seen a hatsu so out of control like this but until he could actually grasp what Devin's nen was like, or if they had any for that matter, he felt like any advice he could offer might prove more harmful than helpful. Mr. Purple was the one occupying their host's time now and he seemed more familiar with her than any of the rest of the group. It was at this point Aduain was ready to get going. If he was going to do his job her he needed to get a feel for the lay of the city. Getting lost was always the worst when coming to a new town. The hunter didn't have to wait all that long for something to come his way. Mauvache described the city was under attack as they spoke. There had been enough talking anyway, so getting into action was the best thing to do now. Aduain had to cover his eyes when the light came upon the room as he had been staring straight up wondering how they were going to leave. The process tingled as promised but the fish barely had the time to process the twitches and tickles his entire body was experiencing at once before he found himself standing not in the room with the screens but back in the city with the others. "Woooaaaahhh, no way!" the fish nearly cheered in awe of the sight before them. Sharks! And they were swimming in the materials of the street somehow. They still had gills but there was no water to be seen. Not that Aduain was one to talk given the passive nen adaptation that allowed him to breathe on land hard at work. Impressive as nature was at allowing all these different fish all these ways to move about outside of water, the hunter could see why these would be less than desirable. They plowed through walls easily and were big enough to eat a person whole. Some were already in the process of finding a meal. Aduain was almost ready to leap into action before he thought to remove the gifted tie and shorts-hat which he neatly folded and placed on the ground beside him. It wouldn't do to ruin these nice gifts right after getting them. But with that short delay he was right into action so as to keep attention off any of the group who were less than immediately ready. "Over heeeeere!" he taunted the nearest shark to have surfaced. The sound did little so the fish began doing cartwheels which got the beasts attention much more effectively. It dove into the street some more, only the top of it's fin visible above the surface as it carved through the city structures as if it were simply crossing a rough patch of turbulent water at worst. The speed of its movements made for some amusement as Aduain took off running, his fins slapping the pavement like the wet noodles they effectively were next to fins on these sharks. Somehow his land adaptations didn't feel nearly as impressive at the moment. Aduain was pleased to see he didn't need to fully exert himself to keep ahead of the shark's charge as he looked behind him every few seconds. Just clever distribution of nen to his legs and he was doing fine. That meant he had room to play around, and that was pivotal to everything. Having driven the shark a ways from its pack and the others, Aduain could see it slowly begining to surface. He intentionally slowed his pace to goad the beast into going for its attack and sure enough it took the bait as it scented prey closing in. With the upper half of its body visible, the hunter waited for the creature to begin to shift its weight to lunge forward. Right as it did so a geyser of nen-water opened up beneath the shark's jaw, which exploded upward with some force. Enough in fact to stop the shark's advance and push the front half of its body out of the ground altogether. Curiously, as the nen splashed against the creature's gills, the shark put out a sound that could only be described as coughing though it had a more cavernous mouth to echo in a bit. Aduain scrunched his face in curiosity and something of disgust. "Wait, you don't just breathe air, you can't handle water? You call yourself a shark?" Aduain shouted at the shark who obviously didn't respond to anything he was saying. The hunter didn't waste anymore time but the thought was going to linger with him the rest of the enounter. The small fish soon found himself hopping onto the back of the semi-beached big fish. Stretching a bit to raise it high as he could, Aduain plunged his trident down into the back of the shark. The skin was tough but it wasn't anything he couldn't pierce. He might need a bit more nen behind his blows to keep doing it though. The shark for its part of course didn't appreciate the injury and began thrashing. And idea came to mind as Aduain opened a small geyser aimed at the shark's right set of gills. Another splash, a louder cough, and the beast began thrashing more in that direction. A quick test to the left side and it responded in kind. It wasn't the smoothest ride but the hunter was riding the shark and had devised a steering method, an accomplishment that elicted no small amount of laughter from the young boy. The affair got a bit more serious of course when the shark got itself slightly into the ground again. It was moving faster and Aduain's steering method wasn't exact. He was in the middle of trying to make it turn when the beast plowed into a wall, tossing Aduain into the mix of rumble. Now dusty and a little bruised, the hunter stood ready to take the fight a bit more seriously. He readied his trident and- wait where was it? The fish looked around, patted his body as if he had any pockets that could be concealing it, and found his weapon was not with him. A glimmer soon showed him it was a ways off outside the building and there was a land shark in the way of his retreiving it. "Uh-oh" he started, not really wanting to try and fist fight a shark that could plow through walls like they were nothing. "Gotta go!" Aduain called as he hopped over and out of the rubble pile that had formed insdie the building. For the moment he was running in the opposite direction of his trident, which seemed counterintuitive. But circling back felt safer than jumping across the endless rows of teeth. But that was coward's talk. Where was the fun in fighting a shark if he didn't nearly get his leg bitten off? And so Aduain began hopping as he ran, encouraging the shark to come and get him the while. The shark was happy to give chase and soon enough began making small jumps out of the ground to try and bite at the boy. Eventually it disappeared underground altogether. The fish knew what it was plannning and so slowed to a near stop to let it. Sure enough the ground below him started shaking and giving way as he jumped right at the last second. The world slowed down as his jump carried him just high enough to avoid the tip of his tail being bitten off from the shark's dive straight up to bite him. "Haha! Gotta jump higher than tha-" Aduain started taunted as something slapped him firmly across the face. It was was the tail fin of the shark as it turned in midair to dive face first back into the ground. The fish was sent flying a dozen feet or so, with some more rough tumbling. Getting back to his feet, Aduain shook himself and readied himself as the shark was already charging him again. A serious look took hold of his face for perhaps the first time in the battle as the shark dove out of the ground to bite at him. With a burst of nen to his legs, the hunter quickly jumped to the side and then into the shark as he kicked the side of its jaw and sent it some several feet away. Landing somewhat gracefully, Aduain found himself nearer to his trident and so quickly ran to retrieve it as the shark recovered from the fierce blow. Now he channeled his nen into his weapon as he decided his next course of action. The shark had taken a moment to recover before beginning a charge anew. But this time, when it jumped and opened its mouth, Aduain charged in faster than it could close its teeth and found himself inside the shark's mouth before he could bitten. The shark's belly skid across the asphalt of the street for a moment as it came to a stop. Odd behavior to be sure. But it was soon explained as the tips of Aduain's trident emerged out the top of its head, a stab from inside. A few moments more passed as the tips disappeared before several teeth came flying out to reveal a blue foot that had kicked them out of place. The hunter emerged shivering in disgust at the shark saliva he had subjected himself to. "Eeeeewww, shoulda thought that one out a bit harder..." the boy started as he felt the spit slowly sliding off his scales. "Looked really cool at least... well probably." he looked around to see if any of the others had been watching him if not already fighting or dispatchings sharks of their own. "Totally did, even if no one saw it." Aduain reassured himself before he vigorously shook every part of his body and began running off toward the others and any remaining sharks.

The ice head of the lion was clearly doing poorly from his work and this much had Reinaan happy with how things were progressing. That it wasn't dead or dying yet was frustrating but perhaps only fitting of prey with two heads. He'd have to get a solid strike into the fire head to really see the usual effects of stabbing a thing's throat. For its part the fire head seemed content to merely take stock of the battle. That was fine. If his prey was putting up less of a fight that just meant it was on the brink of dying anyway. The draken hunter would have liked that had that been all it was. A pointy sensation in his rear end and lower back soon alerted him to another issue he'd have to handle first. That of one of the demons attempting to scale him like he had the lion. And annoying as that was he didn't release the flame claws yet. He had to get as much damage as he could in on this thing. But then Damien's maneuver came into view. From his position Reinaan couldn't be sure, but it looked a lot like the sword was going to cut him with the lion. "Could do with you not trying to kill me too!" he growled at the man as he prepared to exert himself. He doubted the message would land on receptive ears or in any way change Damien's intended course of action. And indeed they didn't. So instead Reinaan released the fire claws so that he only had to remove his own claws from the beast's neck. Both elbows bent as far as they could before the boy pushed with all his might to get to his feet. The demon was dragged along for the ride but the draken was now standing on the creature's back and well out of harm's way for however Damien's attack played out. Here he took note of the now weakened ice head moving to intercept the swordsman and the boy thought to take care of two birds with one stone. Reaching behind him with both hands, as he had left his halberd before climbing the beast to put all his claws to use, Reinaan grasped the demon's grotesque head. The monster quickly attempted to resist what he was doing but with another heavy exertion the boy was abl to pry the demon off of him and then throw it at the ice head to interrupt whatever attack it was preparing. But the throw wasn't clean so Reinaan found himself slipping and then tumbling off the side of the lion's back as the demon went flying. The boy let out hiss of a curse his grandmother would have slapped him for saying as he tried to lodge any claw he could into the beast's hide but ultimately he still tumbled to the ground. A bit dazed though not as badly as the last time he had fallen off the creature, the draken took a moment to breathe before standing to try and repeat his last maneuver, hopefully demon free this time.

This particular room of the Dungeon seemed intent on ever surprising Estelle. For even standing by, ready to intercept something from out of the chest, as she was she was still taken aback at what unfolded. Chris' chest opened without issue. But Lana's suddenly had arms and a mouth and was attempting to eat the woman. Lana's cries filled the room as Chris sprung into action, attempting to cut the limb nearest to him off. The man's confusion of what this monster could even be was well founded when the arm acted more like wood than flesh upon contact with his blade. Estelle's first thought was to try and pull Lana out, but she doubted she much had the strength herself to accomplish such a task. Her eyes looked back to Chris' blade and a mage's solution came to mind. "Chris! Again!" Estellise called attention to her teammate as she sent a spell his way. It rested upon the man's blade, bestowing it a soft glow. This was an enchantment, bestowing the concept of sharpness to the blade. This was something the blade already had of course by virtue of being a blade but the magic would help it go beyond its natural capabilities. Chris had no complaint with the plan and moved swiftly to deliver the follow up blow. WIth the enchanted weapon, the limb was completely severed, leaving only one hand clasping onto Lana. Or at least that was what Estelle had assumed. But the severed hand still clung to her body. Still, it couldn't be doing much for pulling and this time a very non-mage solution came to mind. Chris seemed to have it just as readily as he and Estelle both grabbed onto Lana. With their combined exertion they were able to pull the woman out before the tongue inside the chest had found its way around her neck. Estelle found herself on the ground from the sudden release of the tug of war but her focus was on Lana's well being. "It did not hurt you did it?" the mage asked in alarm as she tried to process the string of events. She could see no immediate injuries but whatever magic had brought life to a chest could just as easily attack in unseen ways she thought. Instinct was taking over at this point that despite freeing her friend she was naturally shuffling her way back from the monster and dragging the now-rescued Lana with her to avoid a repeat of the previous scene.

Might be able to cook something up here so sure I'm somewhat interested. Crouching Dragon, Hidden Also a Dragon

The draken was clearly pleased with himself. The damage Reinaan had gotten in on the lion as well as the ease with which his stone-enhanced scales had slid across the cave floor had him feeling good despite the earlier impacts. He was ready to keep tearing into the beast however much it took to get its weird blood flowing normally. But he didn't have the time to admire what he'd already done, further action was immediately necessary. Ryia had been pinned by one of the front paws. The impact on his shoulders and back was enough to know how painful that was and the fire chosen began moving to get the monster off of his fellow chosen. The boy retracted the fire claws for a moment as he ran up to and grasped onto the beast's hind quarters. With minimal exertion he was able to pull himself up onto the monster's back. Reinaan shuffled up some before extending the flame claws again and plunging them deep into the monster's back, hoping to strike at the spine. Loud roars filled the room again as the monster registered the pain it was in. It reared back off its front legs in response to the sudden pain which gave Ryia enough time to start rolling out of the way before it brought the paws back down. For Reinaan's part he kept the claws in the monster's hide as deed as he could to hang on and he found it a lot easier than hanging onto the thing's stomach had been. As the monster settled back to all fours it began shaking its torso in an effort to dislodge Reinaan. The boy fought his hardest to stay on, digging into the fur and skin with every claw, flame or otherwise, his body had to offer. He managed to stay on but the shaking soon started subsiding for actual movement as the twin-headed lion began moving toward the two demons closest to the two mages. Reinaan found himself crawling slowly up the beast's back, his goal being one of the two necks. By the time the monster was half way to the demons he was still a ways off. "Sit still and die!" the draken hissed in frustration as he withstood the urge to stab the thing again shy of his mark. As the beast arrived behind the two demons Reinaan was now within range of either of the necks and so with another shout he plunged the fire claws as deep into the back of the neck of the ice-breathing head as he could.

Best RPer: radio414 Best Host: LordCowCow Best Character Design: Chaos Sonic Best World Design: Mr. Hyde Best Writer: () Most Reliable: Skaia Most Cooperative: radio414 Most Helpful: Skaia Best in Chat: Yui Best RP: The Chosen Best Character: Cyanthrax, from Overlap/RP Smash/Whatever he was originally from As always been a fun year of rp'ing with you guys. If best RP and Character is just a buncha single votes by no means do I want what i put winning cuz that's not representative of us as a section. Just wanted to shout out my old standby in the form of chosen and then Cyan's always funny so wanted to put that to words. But a lot of you got some great characters I've had fun times doing stuff with, even just hypothesizing stupid stuff in various discord chats that was never gonna get in the rp. Lotta strong second or even third choices for a lot of these other categories too so keep being dirty memers everyone I thrive off it. Looking forward to another year of cool new concepts and keeping on with what we got already that's going good.