Of Magic and Dungeons [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

[radio414 906]

Either Chris had completely misjudged the speed at which the mushrooms could move or they’d spent too long settling on their plan, but either way, it quickly became obvious that they weren’t going to outrun anything without at least a little skirmish. On the plus side, dealing with the closest ones was less than dealing with all ten? That was something, but the mushroom men were ready now, so not getting bogged down was going to be more difficult than before.

Chris focused on going with the group for as long as possible, getting everyone as far ahead as they could. Once the first of the mushrooms got close enough, he kicked off the left wall, converting all his momentum to move towards it in a flying lunge, swinging his sword in a diagonal arc aiming to cut through the stalk of the thing as cleanly as possible. A battle cry wasn’t normally his thing, but he still let out a “Yaaaah!” as he flew towards the monster.

His sword didn’t manage to go all the way through, though. In fact, he didn’t even manage to get it halfway. It was still a nasty gash, but there appeared to be spores around the edge of it that surely were going to do something, and either way, the mushroom was completely unfazed. Worse, now Chris found himself in stabbing distance and had to pull back pretty far to avoid that particular attack, nearly bumping into the wall behind him. But he managed, and, having wasted enough time, took off down the perimeter of the cavern again. There was still at least one more mushroom they’d probably have to deal with before they could finish their mad dash, but all Chris wanted at that moment was to get as much distance between him and the now crooked fungus, who in turn continued in its chase.

[Skaia 578]

Lana wasn't a mathematics genius but she could tell that they would not be able to get to the exit before the mushroom men caught up with. Pulling her great axe off of her back the girl ran forward and passed by Chris as he went to go distract one of the mushrooms. With her having the best chance at dealing with the second, Lana sprinted past the others before sliding her grip down on the axe. Holding it with both hands closer to the base of the axe, not wanting to get anywhere close to the thing, Lana swung her axe in a very heavy and somewhat unbalanced arc - like an incredibly top heavy baseball bat - towards the mushroom. 

[Doggo 218]

Estellise took to the rear of the group as they took to moving about the perimeter of the cave on the left side. This was never intentional, merely a result of a difference in physique and stamina between herself and her companions due to her life as a mage. She needed to keep magical solutions in mind in the event she lagged behind enough the mushrooms caught here where otherwise the others would have been able to evade the enemies. However, it seemed conflict as inevitable as Chris went into intercept the closest mushroom with Lana following suit with the next closest right after him. The Fereis was concerned as she watched her companions strike and paid close attention to the spores released. She had to be ready to counter any negative effects on the group but oddly the spores didn't fly out into the room or even their way at all. They seemed to hover close to the wound Chris had inflicted.

The monsters were shrugging off attacks in a very troubling manner. One that left Estellise less than eager to stay and fight ten of them. With her companions fending off the nearest she shifted her focus to the next closest approaching mushroom. Readying an arrow of light she fired at the stem of the creature which reeled back but seemed mostly fine for the attack compared to the kobolds who crippled under one or two of them. The woman continued running, her magic still channeling into her hands with additional shots ready. They would be easy enough to hit but she couldn't slow her pace.

[Ren✧ 18]

Chris and Lana moved to intercept the nearest of the mushrooms. Sergei fought the temptation to charge into battle to cover them. He hadn't thought about the fact that the creatures might have dangerous spores until Chris shook some loose with his swing. If he got up close and personal with these creatures, he'd be covered in the stuff. The last thing he wanted, was for Estellise to have to spend more magical energy on him. He looked back to Estellise who had mustered the energy to throw another spear of light at the relatively unfazed fungal creatures. 

"I'm going to split their attention! Keep going!" He gestured for Estellise, in particular, to continue hugging the left side as Chris and Lena kept the closest of the threats occupied. His speed and reflexes quickened by his magic, Sergei made a break for the small gap in between the closest of the mushrooms and the next wave. His hope was that by splitting the party, the creatures would also divide their attention. As long as Sergei maintained his momentum, he was fairly certain that he could stay out of their reach and avoid whatever effect those spores would have on him. 

As he approached the pair of mushrooms, he slid low on the ground, a few loose rocks digging into his calves. Dirt was kicked into the air as he attempted to quickly change direction and break through the center of the approaching creatures. 

Spoiler

For clarity's sake, Sergei sprinted towards number 4, did a baseball slide and rolled back away from the creature (can mushrooms break their ankles?) and then made a break for it in the gap between 4 and 5.

 

[LordCowCow 840]

The mushmen attacked by the three didn't seem to be affected greatly by their injuries. Lana's axe had cleaved through a large chunk of the stalk but even that didn't appear to stop them for long. They could tell that the mushrooms struck were moving somewhat slower to prevent from simply toppling over but they continued their pursuit of the group. Though they were starting to fall behind them they moved along in the most straightforward path to meet up with them despite that.

The other, more mobile, mushroom attempted to catch up but once Sergei broke from the pack, and was closer to them, they shifted direction almost immediately and started to follow him instead.

Those that were farther back couldn't catch up to him before he passed by the pool in the middle of the cavern but even that didn't stop them. Instead they simple waded into the water and seemed to travel even faster across it, floating and propelled by their strange limbs, and ended up on the other side just as Sergei began to make his way passed.

Which ended up with them nearly in the man's way as he ran. They turned as one and approached him in their straight-forward way again.

Spoiler

Map

So, the three could still catch up after a bit due to you all moving in a curve and them going straight, but it would be fairly close to exit by time they do.
Meanwhile Sergei has to get around this bit without the rest catching up to him.
Remember they'll always take the most straight-forward path and always adjust within a second or two to directional changes.
Only 1, 2 and 3 atm are going towards Chris, Lana, and Estelle

 

[radio414 906]

“Keep going!” Sergei said. Which, like, it was good that they were on the same page -- that was what he was going to do anyway -- but now it felt to Chris like they were leaving him behind. He still did as he was told, though, drawing the three mushrooms still following them away from the group along with his two teammates. If anything else, he aimed to make Sergei’s position a bit more tenable. Hopefully.

But the mushrooms were catching up again. His and Lana and Estellise’s racing along the perimeter had allowed another, more direct path for the monsters, one that would cut them off just before they reached the stairs.

Well, that was just the new plan then, wasn’t it? If they could fend off their three mushrooms long enough for Sergei to break from the ones around him, they could disengage again and finish their mad dash, right? It wasn’t like the mushrooms were better in a sprint. With the matter settled (in his head, at least), Chris pushed on, practically daring the monsters to pursue. And when, once again, engagement was unavoidable, he spun on a dime and let his momentum guide his sword, this time aiming for the mushroom’s arms, or whatever you could call the bit carrying the weapons.

[Ren✧ 18]

The mushroom creatures moved with alien-like synchronicity. Sergei briefly wondered if they shared a brain or if they had a brain at all. The goblins and kobolds, they made sense to Sergei. He even felt pity for them. However, these things were so far removed from what it was to be a human. He wanted nothing to do with them. He just wanted off of this floor. He was moving too quickly for the creatures to strike him, though he did catch their attention, which is exactly what he was hoping for. He could only pray that his party could deal with the few that he wasn't able to draw away. 

Sergei tucked his head and sprinted for the stairwell. He was faster than them, more agile. If his luck held out, he could slip through the reach of the nearest assailant and make it to the other end of the room before any of the others could get close enough to strike. With that plan of action in mind, charged with little hesitation for the nearest mushroom. Just as he entered the range of the creature's spear, he tucked and rolled to avoid the biting end of the weapon. The unforgiving, rocky ground would not be kind to him, but it was preferable to being skewered. He could nurse his bruises later.

"Homestretch, let's go!"

[Skaia 578]

Lana was thoroughly creeped out by the strange mushroom creatures and how menacingly they still continued their pursuit of the group despite missing some chunks of themselves. As such, Lana kept running away from the horde as fast as she could trailing behind Chris as she did so. As they continued running she then heard Sergei's voice which made her realize that he wasn't actually clumped up with the lot of them at all. Lana was thus torn as to what to do next. She didn't want to have to fight these weird creepy mushroom people for any longer then she had to. She also didn't want to leave Sergei in the middle of all of them to be stabbed at a bunch. Worse yet, even if he got to them, there was still these three creepy mushroom creatures chasing after them and so he'd just have to kill them anyway. 

As the girl continued to run, she saw Sergei attempting to break for it in a straight line anyway and seemingly trying to do something Chris as well had gone to attack one of the mushroom. Lana figured he was just trying to kill them to make it easier to get to the exit and that was something she could definitely get behind. Bringing up her axe, the girl gave it a mighty swing towards the mushroom, following up on the same one that Chris had struck. 

[Doggo 218]

The Fereis hurried along as best she could while keeping her magic ready to intervene. She was somewhat alarmed as Sergei separated from the group to draw the attention of as many of the other monsters as he could. But the man was fast on his feet and as yet hadn't been swarmed by the mushrooms. Her stamina was going to be the main roadblock to the group getting out safely so she couldn't afford to stop moving. But as she continued with Lana and Chris nearby, it became more apparent they wouldn't make it to the exit of the room without encountering the same group of mushrooms again. Chris realized this sooner than the rest and turned to attack the most immediate of the cluster of three closing in on the group. Lana soon turned to aid in his assault. Estellise kept running past the other two as they turned about, not entirely sure what they were doing until she turned to get a better grasp of the situation.

The mage raised her hands to ready to fire light at the creatures again. The first she had fired on the stem of the body and it had done ultimately little to stop the creature's advance. This time Estellise took aim at one of the two mushrooms Lana and Chris hadn't directly engaged and fired an arrow at the creature's cap. This seemed to be more effective in that it did more damage and halted the advance more readily than her previous attack. But this maneuver released more spores into the air over a wider area. As yet they weren't headed the group's direction but there was a clear trade off being presented. Attacking the caps was the trick to besting these creatures but doing so would release more spores, the effects of which were still entirely unknown. Still, this wasn't the time to hesitate. As long as the group made it off the floor she was fairly certain she could treat any negative effects they might have. And so she turned her aim on the last of the three mushrooms closest to the group and repeated her shot, landing another blow on the creature's cap and spreading more spores into the air.

[LordCowCow 840]

The mushman that Lana and Chris had attacked already had an injury on its stalk. Chris's blade cut into the monster's arm and managed to slice through several of the root-like tendrils. Causing the weapon in its grip to lower to the floor. But he would see more of those tendrils creep out from inside of it and start to reinforce the arm once again. Lana's swing connected near the other wound on the mushroom's stalk and slice into it in such a way that the top was unable to support itself. The creature simply fell in on itself and dropped to the ground. It was hard to say if it was truly "dead" but it wasn't moving.

The spores released as Estellise attacked the other two were close enough that they reached the two melee combatants. They would feel a stinging feeling wherever the spores touched within the first few seconds of contact with them. Any further contact would likely result in more changes. The stinging would increase and come with a numb feeling.

Over by Sergei his maneuver allowed him to get past the line of mushrooms but they turned around so swiftly that one was able to thrust its spear and strike him in the upper back. They didn't seem to have much strength behind the attack but the wooden spear was still sharp enough to injure him. The mushroom around him started to close in more as well.

Each of the group were now beyond the monsters and getting near to the stairs. However the mushrooms were closing in as well. Particularly those near Sergei.

Spoiler

So depending on what Chris/Lana do directly after the spore situation they'll be affected differently.

Map

Sergei in particular you should probably talk to me about your actions from here because some of the mushroom are too close to just run from without anything else now. Specifically 5, 6, and potentially 7
The others could reach the stairs without problem if they just mad dashed for it.

 

[Skaia 578]

As Chris and Lana had managed to execute an impromptu cross cut against the mushroom creature, Lana's face wretched in disgust as the creature was felled from their blades. Even in death it was still pretty creepy. All the same, she was glad that was one less enemy they had to deal with. As she thought this, though, the two that had been getting closer to them had spores explode out of their caps arrows struck them. While Lana was glad that they had been slowed some, the girl winced in pain as  the spores had made their way over to them. While it didn't directly deter her from doing anything, she noticed after a bit that her fingers were starting to get a weird tingly feeling. Thinking that this was decidedly bad and she wanted no more of dealing with these mushrooms Lana ran along with Estellise and Chris towards the exit of the room, hoping that Sergei would manage to be able to get out of his tough spot. 

[Ren✧ 18]

Sergei sprung up from the ground, thinking he had outmaneuvered the mushman, but they were quicker than he thought. The sharp jab of the wooden spear caused him to cry out in pain. If adrenaline and years of mercenary experience hadn't taken over his instincts, he would have paused to laugh at how awry his plan had gone. Fortunately, he had been in enough bad spots to know he needed to act fast. 

Sergei pivoted on his heel, avoiding another jab by the mushman. He concentrated on focusing his the lasting potency of his spell for a burst of speed. The thing about the mushman moving in unison, as creepy as it was, was that they grouped in pretty unfortunate positions. Now he was facing down a near-perfect line of them. His tattoos flashed green as he barreled into the nearest mushman. His shoulder landed solidly in the musman's "face". Glancing briefly at the mushroom cap he made a quick guess that the creature was pretty top heavy. Bringing his shoulder up, he gave the creature a final shove into the mushman behind it. His actions caused some spores to shake loose and fall on his skin. 

Turning tail, he began sprinting for the stairs again. He had misjudged and the mushman didn't fall to the ground, but it did stumble into the one behind it, slowing them down. 

"Estellise! Got enough juice to slow that one down?" He pointed to the third mushman that hadn't been affected by his maneuver.

[Doggo 218]

With the group's engagement on the collapsing trio of mushrooms, Estellise took off with Chris and Lana to get away from the spores her attacks had released. There wasn't much time to ask them if they were feeling any adverse effects but so far they had managed to keep running. In fact they had made it to the exit of the room without further incident as they had done nothing past running. Only when the Fereis heard her given name shouted from behind her did she turn about to see Sergei still trying to make his way to exit after his maneuver to distract more of the creatures. He was mostly in the clear but needed help slowing one more mushroom down. A task the mage certainly felt up to as she channeled her magic again. She drew her hand back and let fly another arrow of light to strike the remaining mushroom. As before the creature reeled back at the hit and let loose a cloud of spores which would prove detrimental to Sergei if they made contact with him. But what mattered was he now had the window he needed to reach the exit with them.

"Please hurry Sergei, it cannot be safe to stay in the spores!" she called out as she readied another arrow. For the moment the man seemed to be in the clear, but she wasn't going to let something go wrong this late into things.

[LordCowCow 840]

Sergei would feel some of the spores make contact as he made his way for the staircase. Stinging and irritating his skin. As the group reached the staircase they would have to go down one at a time and those in the back would find the mushrooms tossing their rudimentary spears towards them. Though some merely glanced off the walls next to the stairs.

The trip down the staircase was starting to feel familiar even to those who hadn't been in the dungeon before this. It seemed that no matter how unusual and different each floor was the stairs were something that never changed.

So much so that the exact time it took to reach each other floor passed and they saw the doorway leading into the next floor. The opening was a bit wider than the others and allowed them to clearly see across into the room they would be entering next.

Much more open than the previous room they would notice that the distance to the other side was so much so that it would take several minutes of running to reach. The room looked like a hollowed out cavern and there wasn't anything particularly special about the walls or ceiling. However there were now several pools of water across the floor along with several more grassy areas. Some that even seemed to have vegetables of some sort planted in them. Small tents, likely for sleeping, dotted the areas between the water and it almost seemed like an actual encampment.

Due to the nature of the room they could easily see everything that was waiting for them even though some were quite a distance away.

Scattered about the middle area of the room were a half dozen Goblins riding atop of large rats, roughly the same size of those on the first floor, some with short swords and some with slings.

At the far end of the room, by the other staircase, was another large rat. However while the others were around the size of large dogs this one was even larger than a horse. It lay across the entrance to the staircase and seemed to be waiting for something.

Off to the right after entering they could see a device that resembled the portal that they had seen before entering the dungeon. And near it were three goblin shamans wearing feathered headdresses and wearing bones strung into necklaces.

The goblins seemed to be moving around aimlessly at the moment but looked to be somewhat alert. It was likely that any action would result in alerting them all.

Spoiler

And now you're in Floor 5. Make the first action count cause once it happens all the monsters will realize you're there.

Map

The four-pointed star is the portal

 

[radio414 906]

Chris appreciated the familiarity of each staircase in the dungeon, though that didn’t mean he didn’t still try to stick the side of them in case of an errant creak in the steps. In that instance they were too familiar, he supposed, too much like a labyrinthine house that he’d been assigned to sneak through than a crack in the earth. To be fair, though, the stairs were the only reminder. No house he’d ever been in had stinging, numbing spores lying around, nor, as he looked onward to the next floor, did they have goblins or rats the size of horses.

Well, Chris thought to himself, at least it was the last floor of the day. He did another quick survey of the area as he tried to quickly identify just how to approach it. “Those ones over there,” he said, gesturing towards the portal (which, unfortunately, looked to be off at the moment) “are probably magic users? Estellise, can you deal with those? I’d rather not get hit in the face with a fireball if I can help it.”

Any other planning would take too long. They were outnumbered enough that time was definitely not on their side. He picked out a target and ran in, sword drawn and ready to strike. If he could get rid of the mount, that’d be a great first step.

His blow landed right between the eyes of the giant rat, which keeled over, tossing the goblin right off. Before Chris could feel too pleased with himself, though, he became acutely aware that every other beast or being in the room was looking directly at him.

“Surprise,” he said.

[Skaia 578]

As the group had managed to get past the mushrooms and onto the next floor, they seemed to have a bit of a large gathering awaiting them. As she had with every floor thus far, Lana's face took an expression of disgust as she looked towards the enemies. The goblins were whatever, though their set up vaguely reminded her of the kobolds that they had just finished dealing with not two floors ago. Now they were only magnified in their annoyance as they rode atop the actual annoyance. Rats. Giant Rats. It just had to be giant rats. And to make matters worse, there was even a super rat! 

While the girl wasn't really sure what to do in the face of their enormous numbers, it had seemed that Chris had both made a plan and sprang to action. Lana didn't really have time to think about whether or not it was a good plan. And she also didn't have time to think of any other conversations she had had about not recklessly charging straight into enemy lines that had happened earlier. No, all she could think about was charging recklessly straight into enemy lines. But in a helpful way. 

Readying her greataxe, the girl charged forward and followed suit with Chris. As the boy had managed to dismount the goblin from the rat, Lana followed up by dislifeing - killing the goblin. Smashing her axe into the prone goblin, it didn't take more than the single swing to kill it. As the girl raised her axe from the lethal blow, she too became acutely aware of everything else in this room. At least Chris could now take solace in no longer being the sole focus of attention. 

[Ren✧ 18]

"Please hurry Sergei, it cannot be safe to stay in the spores!"

"I want me to be here even less than you do, believe me!" Sergei's legs burned as he met the rest of his teammates at the staircase. The spores stung against his skin, he resisted the urge to brush them off with his hands, trying to avoid getting them on those too. The clatter of wooden spears against the archway that overlooked the stairway accompanied their journey to the next floor. Forced to go down the stairs one at a time, Sergei fell to the back, a step behind Estellise.

"Saved my ass, again," Sergei said, keeping his voice low. "Thank you." 

He grew nervous as they descended, knowing that this floor would be more difficult than the others. They were all running low on resources and if things went south, he wasn't sure they would all make it out. His apprehension didn't matter much, however. Regardless, they were going to have to fight their way out of here. He could only hope that luck favored them. 

Coming to the end of the stairwell, Chris whispered a hasty plan to Estellise and then charged into the room. Lana quickly followed. It wasn't until they had moved out of the way that Sergei was able to see the entirety of the room. There wouldn't be any opportunity to sneak past the goblins this time. 

"I'm going to try and clear the way for you and hopefully draw the casters' attention." Sergei looked back at Estellise for a moment. "When we get back to the tavern, first round of drinks are on me." 

He ducked out of the cover of the floor's entryway, catching the sight of Chris and Lana tag-teaming an unexpectant goblin in his peripherals as he ran for the goblin that stood between Estellise and the casters. Pouring the last bit of magical energy into the transmutation runes tattooed on his body, Segei's skin grew rough and dense. Propelled by his sprint, Sergei lept at the goblin seated atop the giant rat, easily dismounting the smaller creature and bringing it to the ground. He smashed the goblin's skull against the stone ground. Once. Twice. Three times. Crimson coated his palm as he pulled it away, the goblin's brain matter now leaking onto the cavern floor.

A sharp pain lanced through Sergei's calf. Shouting in pain he turned to see the giant rat had turned and bit him. He backed a foot or two away from the rat, drawing the large saxe knife that had sat dormant in its sheath until now. He would wait until the creature lunged again, giving him an opening. 

 

[Doggo 218]

As Sergei managed to clear the room without further incident, Estellise became notably more relieved even while adrenaline surged through her body and carried her on down the stairs to the next floor with the others. The next floor held in it their quick exit to the dungeon which seemed the wisest course as their initial decent hadn't been the smoothest one could have hoped for. And sure enough the teleportation device was present in the large cavernous room. But so too were a large number of goblin enemies, some riding beasts, and three of which appeared to be competent in magic if the trend from the kobold's was to hold true. Chris was quick to act and proposed Estelle be the one to quickly disable the magic users. She was the best equipped to deal with them so she didn't argue the point but took to focusing her magic. Lana and Sergei too moved into action, quickly killing opponents, including the non-magical goblin between the entrance to the room and the three shamans gathered by the teleporter. Sergei seemed confident, even offering the first round of drinks.

"We shall have to hold you to it!" she called back somewhat cheerfully as she stepped toward the shamans some. She focused her aim on the middle of the three magical goblins who all were already preparing spells themselves. Estelle did her best to fire a light arrow off before they could finish casting but she was ever so slightly too slow. The three both fired rays of cold even as the arrow struck the shaman. The now injured goblin and the right most shaman grouped together quickly after casting at the left most goblin's location. All three rays were heading toward Estelle, no doubt the creatures had seen her magic and had something of the same thought she had about them. What they lacked that the privileged Fereis did was an enchanted cloak capable of deflecting magic from casters weaker than herself. To this day the woman had not met a goblin capable of casting more powerful magic than her and so she assumed it would hold true today as she grasped the end of her flowing cape behind her and swung it forward as the rays connected with the fabric. Estelle could feel a chill in the air briefly but sure enough the magic flowed with her movements and soon the rays were sent flying back at the grouped together goblins. The injured goblin bore the brunt of the offensive and froze solid on impact, ending its life.

"To even call this magic would be an insult!" Estelle called out, some of her mage upbringing leaking out in her display of superior magical prowess to a couple of goblins in early floors of the dungeon. A victory was a victory whatever flavor it came in. The mage readied her magic again to fire on the remaining mages to keep their attention on her.

[LordCowCow 840]

The group's initial attack was startlingly effective. Surprising the monsters and managing to slay several of them within the first moments. Though now they were gathering their, admittedly few, wits and were preparing to counter-attack.

The rat near Sergei was clearly not thinking much at all as it merely let out a loud hissing noise at the man before running straight for him to try and carve a chunk out of the large man's body. Before he could respond to the attack the shamans made their own move. Instead of trying to attack Estellise again they bunched together and the two remaining shamans looked to chant together to cast a higher level spell.

Which turned out to be a magical darkness. Which covered not only them but also Sergei and the rat. Obscuring the view from those outside but also obscuring the rat and Sergei's vision as the sphere of darkness formed around them.

The goblin "cavalry" descended on Chris and Lana. Moving swiftly across the ground. The sword-bearing goblin to the left managed to reach them first and the rat made its way between Chris and one of the pools of water. The goblin leaning to the side and swinging his sword at the young man.

The two farthest were those with slings and they, while moving, tried to fling rocks at the pair. The rocks went wide and the goblins barked at their mounts to stop and they tried again. Slinging two rocks at Lana from their more steady position.

All the while the much larger rat near the stairs shook its body and slowly began to amble its way closer.

Spoiler

Map

The grey circle is the radius of the Darkness

 

[Skaia 578]

While the intitial offensive had been successful, the goblins didn't seem to wait around to start their own. Lana knew Sergei had run off to the other side but she wasn't really paying attention to that at all. Instead, her focus was on the four goblins in front of her that were all mounted on rats. The girl didn't do anything to hide her disgust as two of them with swords began to charge at her and Chris. While one seemed to be focused on Chris, three of them seemed to have their sights set on Lana. With the two goblins with the slings launching the rocks at her, Lana didn't attempt to move out of the way and instead opted to take the rocks head on. Not literally, of course. She instead raised her arm to shield her from taking it literally head on. So she took it arm on instead. 

As the rocks pelted her arm, the girl winced in pain as the impact of them still stung. Not too perturbed though, just a slight ache, the girl readied her axe as she saw the other sword wielding goblin charging her. As it let out a battlecry Lana matched it with her own, shouting as she reeled back her axe  and swung it, intercepting the goblin in its approach. The axe buried itself in the gut of goblin, especially deep due to a sudden loss of momentum, and Lana finished her swing which hurtled the goblin off the mount and onto the ground. With the rider dead the mount didn't seem all that distraught by this, and instead moved to attack Lana. Bearing its fangs, Lana let out a yelp as her brief victory was overwritten with panic. Hurriedly taking a step to the side, the rat's fangs didn't sink deep into her but they still broke the skin of her other arm. Unhappy by this clear invasion of personal space, Lana let out yet another cry and swung the flat of her axe at the rat's face. 

[radio414 906]

Well, they weren’t immediately dead -- that was step one. But as another rat/goblin pair came at his left side, Chris became acutely aware that his sword was still jammed almost to the hilt in the head of the first, and pulling it out wasn’t going to be a thing until he got at least a moment to breathe, a moment these additional attackers weren’t keen on giving him. He just managed to get out of the way of their swinging sword, though that meant his next action had to be scrambling back to his feet and turning to face his opponent.

He had to take out his daggers, too, that was also important. And while Lana was dealing with his flank (and Estellise and Sergei were off… somewhere (was he supposed to keep track?)), Chris leapt, aiming to knock the goblin right off of its mount. Of course, the goblin hadn't gone through all that recovery time that Chris had, and was ready with a second swing, which caught Chris right in the left shoulder.

The ensuing collision wasn’t enough to knock the goblin down, but it did stagger it, giving Chris enough time to actually take care of that particular half of the problem with his off-hand. The other half, the rat, kept moving, continuing on its route towards the entrance. Chris let it go for the time being. He had to get his sword out of that first rat now that he had a moment to, and maybe (if she had the time) get Estellise to take a quick look at his shoulder. At the very least, he didn’t want it to hurt if he took a swing at something.

[Doggo 218]

Estellise was surprised to see the shamans were capable of coordinated casting. The two remaining magical goblins had worked together to cast their next spell. The Fereis raised her cape, wondering if she could repel magic cast by two mages at once, only to be surprised as instead a shroud of darkness soon engulfed them, as well as Sergei and the monster he was fighting. The woman could make nothing out of what was inside it. She knew the general direction to aim at the shamans, assuming they had stayed in place after casting it. But this assumed Sergei wasn't also on the move. The last thing the mage wanted to do was hurt her own comrade.

"Sergei, choose a direction and get out!" she called out as she raised her hands in front of her chest and began channeling magic once more. If the goblins wanted to hide in shadows she would have to light the lot of them out, and she didn't want Sergei caught up in it. This effort was interrupted as an injured Chris began approaching her. Trusting Sergei to be able to handle himself well like he had on the floor before, the woman turned to Chris and shifted the focus and intent of her magic. A soft gentle light hovered around her hand as she raised it to the shoulder injury to begin mending it.

"Do be careful Chris. I can only afford to prevent it restricting your movement. Once we are out of here I shall see it to it more fully." she warned as the magic did its work. Once done she would turn her attention back to the darkness sitting on the battlefield and look to see if Sergei had made his move yet. Regardless she would ready what magic she still had to at least scare the goblins inside out.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Doggo

[Ren✧ 18]

Sergei readied his saxe knife, waiting for the rat to pounce. He saw the creature sit back on its haunches, the muscles in its hind legs tensing. The time to strike was coming. However, before he could, the world went black. The chanting of the casters behind him filled his ears and darkness shrouded his vision. He yelled out in surprise, slashing wildly. He felt his blade graze the rat's side, but it did not stop the creature, from clawing into his chest, sending him stumbling backward. The cuts were superficial, but Sergei didn't know where the rat was. 

"Sergei, choose a direction and get out!"

"You got it!" 

Sergei moved to get out of the darkness. As he did so the pain of another rat bite slashed through his leg.

"Fuck off!" Sergei shouted, exasperated. He again slashed down at where he thought the rat might be but hit nothing but air. He needed to get out of the darkness if he was going to be of any use. 

He stumbled out of the area of effect, appearing on the southern border of the spell. He took a few more steps back, just to put some distance in case the giant rat followed him out. He again readied his blade. This time, if he got the chance, he was going to gut the stupid creature. 

"I'm out! Do whatever you were going to do!" 

[LordCowCow 840]

Lana would feel the impact of her axe on the rat's face. A crunching noise could be heard as Lana cracked part of the creature's skull. Despite this the rat still was alive. Its face now seemed somewhat more grotesque however. A piece of bone jutting out of the side of its snout where Lana had hit it.

It continued to go for her. Going for her hand or arm, whichever it could reach, in a savage manner. Purely going off of bestial rage.

The other rat, the one that Chris has unseated the rider, seemed rather confused. It ran right passed Chris and didn't appear to notice it had lost its rider at first. Once it did it turned back and, seeing Chris pulling a blade out of another rat, it let out a hiss and skittered across the floor and made a direct path towards the young man.

These two rats weren't the only of their worries. The other goblins atop their mounts had grown more confident due to how safe they felt and so they started launching more rocks at both Lana and Chris. Some still went wide but they had started to pick up the speed at which they slung the stones.

The darkness that the shamans had set up seemed to be fading. It was still hard to see through it but if they were to look they could make out silhouettes. Or rather a single one. The rat had charged blindly out of the darkness and the sudden light seemed to give it pause as it stuttered to a halt and looked around as though trying to find the one that it had been attacking.

Though Sergei was not in the direction that the rat had gone. He ended up closer to the wall that the group had come from initially. Even through the rat didn't follow him it didn't mean he was safe. Because the other shaman had been close behind and while Sergei was waiting for the rat the goblin had crept to the man's side and grabbed Sergei's hip. As he did Sergei would feel an electrical shock go through his body. The shaman's shocking grasp running through his body. Then the shaman inside the darkness shot out a ray of frost to follow the other shaman's spell.

Spoiler

Map

If you feel its going a bit slow feel free to get some more actions out. As long as you check in with those who would be affected.

 

[radio414 906]

The moment Estellise’s spell had finished, Chris started moving his arm around. It wasn’t like he didn’t believe her, but he did want to make doubly sure before he ran off at another goblin or rat or both. It was like she said; it didn’t hurt anymore, and he could move his arm freely, but he did have to wonder if he was just doing more damage to himself by even testing the spell’s limits. At the same time, he noticed the now goblin-less rat wheeling around for another pass, and, well, he figured the jolts from having to stab that one two or three times would probably be even worse, and those were things that definitely had to happen, so…

He still didn’t have time to get his sword out, not with how fast the rat was coming his way. Thankfully, he had already managed a singular rat with just a dagger, way back on the first floor of the dungeon, and this one seemed to be no different. Just one, two steps, stab stab stab, and it wasn’t a problem anymore.

What was a problem, though, was the rest of the room. Chris stood up from the dead rat and immediately got hit across the cheek with a rock. “Ow! Gods…” He looked in that direction and zeroed in on the offending goblin, almost wanting to lob a dagger right back, but decided against it. It would leave him with just one singular weapon, and with everything else in the room, Chris didn’t want to take that chance. He ran over to that first dead rat, the one with his sword still sticking out, and gave said weapon a hard yank. It took another to get it out completely, but he didn’t have time to celebrate his achievement. Another rock flew past him, and more were sure to come until it was dealt with.

Chris gripped his sword tight and charged.