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LordCowCow

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

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One eye down, one to go. No, that was wrong. Being under that red cloud of fear had made Chris forget that he’d spotted another group of zombies and their overseer eye while there, though they were moving to be more clearly in sight now. So two to go, then, and hopefully any remaining zombies would follow in that demise by the end of that.

Chris wanted his daggers back. They were obscured by the fog on the ground, though at least he remembered where that zombie had landed. His movement was cautious; he remembered what could be waiting for him even if the fog wasn’t as thick. It was a tenuous position, too, only really secure as long as that one zombie was too distracted by Ziun’s illusion to properly flank him. At the same time, though, that did give him an idea.

Once he picked up his daggers, Chris motioned for Estellise to ready her bow again, and for Robin to load up another one of her guns. Then he turned his attention to the zombies. “Hey!” he called out. “Why don’t you all focus on me over here? I’m healthy. I even eat my vegetables sometimes!” Chris omitted the fact that frequently Hector, and the Ellwoods before him, had to force those veggies on him, but the zombies wouldn’t have been able to understand that, and those in earshot that could understand didn’t need to know.

As the zombies approached it occurred to Chris that he hadn’t exactly communicated what he’d hoped to happen here. If the eyes were controlling everything, it made sense to target them first, so the zombies had to be drawn out of the way. Of course, if this went wrong, he’d be fighting three, maybe four zombies by his lonesome, so he hoped everyone else was smart enough to pick up on what the real target was. And just in case, he took out his magic string too, in case he had to start running.

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The one zombie did what Ziun expected of it, but alas...the illusion was beginning to fade, and for good (or in this case, bad) reason. The young bard was starting to lose concentration and growing tired, and the zombie constantly touching and running it's bony hands through it made it even more difficult to keep up. And once the illusory bard finally faded, the real bard started to take to a knee for a moment, trying to keep himself together...but alas, the invisibility dropped as well. Rightfully so at this point, due to him being the only one left inside the bubble.

Now he was wide open in plain view again...and he cursed under his breath about it.

W-Well...it managed...to fool...one of the zombies... he thought, huffing a bit to catch his breath. H-However...both illusions are down...damnit...and I tried so hard to get us all out without a hitch...

It was back to the planning stage of things. Though he had an idea...it was a stupid one at that, probably more stupid than his illusory bard trick just moments ago. He surveyed his allies, before settling on one. "Lana..." he muttered, nodding somewhat, now shuffling slightly in the axe wielder's direction. "Lana! I need assistance from thee..." He glanced in one direction, seeing the floating eye. "My dear, what I need for you to do, is act natural...I'm going to cover you in an illusion...or rather, I plan to misdirect the eye into thinking that you are one of the undead. With that, you should be able to walk freely for a while and then...potentially, take out whatever remaining zombies there are while we deal with the eyes."

“uh, sure, I guess?” Lana seemed confused at the comment made.

"Marvelous!" Ziun smiled widely. He prepared himself, concentrating hard to perform this illusory spell. Now he had only used this once before, and that was to get out of paying a tavern and inn once, only because the innkeep was one woman he did not want to continue to anger...how was he supposed to know the barkeep that was swooning over him was her daughter? Nevertheless, it would in theory, warp the perception of a target to see someone...differently. Back then, he made the innkeep's perception of him be that of another patron, one she never had an issue with. This time? With the eye in his sights and Lana the main focus, he began to work it to where in the floating eye's...eye...the resident axe-wielder would be nothing more than a simple zombie. "I'm unsure how long I can keep the ruse up for you...so do your best, my dear."

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Lana had been ready to keep trudging forward and intercept the zombies before they could make their way over to the others of her group. However, Chris had already made the move first and went to distract them all, leading the three away from the group. The girl was about to go help him out when suddenly she heard from Ziun, who had opted to give her an illusion of some kind to make her appear like a zombie. Lana decided to take his word for it, not wanting to look down at her skin to see if it was rotting or not, saying, "uh, gotcha. I'll do my best at being a zombie?" The situation was certainly atypical to the girl and she wasn't even really sure what "acting like a zombie" meant. From her limited sample size they didn't seem to use weapons, shambled a lot, lunged when close and enjoyed biting people, especially on the neck. While Lana was trying to think of how to put all that to practice she realized that if she dropped her weapon there was no way that having the element of surprise would even matter if she didn't have her axe on hand. Add to that there was absolutely zero chance of her biting a zombie. 

So, she went with using the remaining two aspects of the performance and attempted to put them into practice. "Okay, so maybe like...this first?" She muttered to herself. The girl walked slowly forward, shuffling a bit and already walking a bit awkwardly from her still scarred foot. Walking with clear uncertainty in her step, she attempted to circle around and flank one of the zombies that was moving towards Chris, likely the closest one that was approaching him, before going for the kill. Lunging forward, she brought down her axe in an attempt to destroy the head of said zombie. 

Estelle had figured what Chris's plan was and, seeing that the eye was dangerous in a less defined way then the zombies turned her attention to it. With the last time she had attacked it, it had managed to avoid her attack and also took several to bring down. So this time, it was more prudent to destroy it as fast as possible before it could pull out any other debilitating magics. Lowering her bow, the girl's hand crackled with electricity before firing a linear bolt of lightning straight towards the eye. 

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Chris's words seemed to have done the trick. While it was doubtful they actually cared about the content of said words the zombies were drawn over towards his movement and loud noises. All of them shambling on their own in his direction. One of them had been close enough that they reached him quickly. However as it opened its mouth up and began to lunge forward it caught a sudden axe to the side of its head. The zombie was dispatched quickly and without any attempts to fight back.

The other two didn't care about this attack. Merely trudging forward towards the nearest bodies. Chris and Lana both now had one zombie bearing down on them.

The eye seemed to be surprised by the turn of events. It focused more on Lana, seemingly trying to stare right through the illusion. Eventually it looked to be about to cast a spell but then Estellise's lightning struck it. The creature twitched mid-air as the electricity coursed through it, and appeared to lose focus on the group. A bit of smoke could be seen coming off the top of it yet the creature yet lived for the time being.

Off to the side, though only Lana and Chris would notice, the larger group of zombies continued to shamble around and the eye in their center became focused on them. More specifically on Chris.

Meanwhile, the illusion Ziun had cast that distracted the other zombie was fading enough that the zombie decided to look elsewhere for its meal. And Robin was nearest, and seemed to not be moving, so it began shuffling towards her.

Spoiler

Map

Didn't mention the exit in post cause none of you are in position to notice it yet but its there.

 

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Smiling, feeling a sense of pride that her sneak attack had managed to work, as the zombie fell to the ground Lana quickly readjusted her grip on her axe. She knew from last time with the skeleton that reveling in her pride mid combat would only lead to her face being clawed, or in this case her neck being eaten, and that was something Lana did not want to experience. So, with her grip further up the haft of the axe the girl turned to face the zombie that was approaching her and waited. She didn't want to run at it, knowing how it would act from her last encounter, and instead waited for it to lunge at her. Once it did, the girl swung her axe, managing to bury the blade into the neck of the creature. The zombie, now with an axe in its neck, still had something of a one track mind and continued to push forward towards Lana. 

With it there, the girl pushed her axe against the creature trying to keep it at bay for as long as she could. Then, letting go of it with one hand, the girl drew out a hand axe with the other. Bringing the smaller weapon up the smashed the blade into the skull of the zombie managing to drop it. Removing both of her axes from the creature's body, and sheathing her hand axe, the girl looked over to the west side of the room.

With her spell having caused great damage to the floating eyeball, Estelle readied her bow. Conjuring an arrow of light the girl pulled back and shot at the eye once more. The arrow pierced the creature, causing it to drop as it was felled. 

At this moment, the west side group seemed to fully turn their attention to both Chris and Lana. The girl let out a small groan saying, "ugh, I can't they just leave us alone? Oh well." Readying her great axe, the girl braced herself for what was coming, thinking Chris probably had the zombie that was approaching him under control. 

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Estellise managed to kill the eye with her second shot. The plan had worked, which meant there was just one more and a whole load of zombies left to go. They also had to deal with the consequences of his actions. Successfully getting the attention of the zombies meant they were now nearly on top of him and Lana. As the one nearest him lunged forward, Chris instinctively dropped back, his magic string at the ready. It unfurled a little, and he saw it still hanging in the air,  but he hit his heel in the fog and fell onto his back, and the zombie fell on top of him.

For some reason, Chris’ mind went to think of that time he fought Leo outside of the Drooling Dragon, how Chris had ended the fight with a kick to the unmentionables that his opponent had only just avoided. The same trick wouldn’t work on a zombie, Chris thought. A zombie wasn’t about to remove its deadened fingers from their grip around his wrists, trying as hard as it could to pry Chris’ sword arm out of the way of his neck and other fleshy bits. He tried anyway, but it was nothing doing. Maybe if he had boots enchanted for strength instead of speed or even just those sabatons he’d seen knights wearing. That was something he could steal, right? And just get those enchanted instead?

What the kick did do, though, was shift the zombie in a way that he could move his off-hand again, and actually pull on the spool. He teleported to the spot he’d left the string, but he hadn’t accounted for position and fell on his back again. At least the ground was soft enough to be just a “hurt” sort of fall instead of anything serious, not that he had time to rate the pain as he scrambled to his feet. The zombie was still pawing at the fog where Chris had been, not knowing what had happened there, and Chris was tempted to give the thing another kick just for good measure. He thought better of it, and instead just ran up and chopped its head off.

Chris looked over at Lana who had just finished dealing with her own zombie, then looked at what Lana was looking at. All the remaining zombies were now bearing down on the two. “Oh,” he said. But he tried to calm down. “Uh, hey, that’s just -- one… two… -- what, two each between all four of us? And the eye, which is the most important part, but, you know, progress.”

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Perhaps it was the spell that had suddenly weakened her. Perhaps it was the surprisingly fast paced battle with the zombies the others had. Or perhaps it was the warning about the horde of zombies approaching them. Whatever the case Robin didn't notice the zombie coming in from her right until it was nearly too late.

Due to her weakened state she couldn't push it back as it lunged at her. The pirate did manage to get an arm up and therefor avoid it biting into her neck. However she instead felt as the zombie bit down on her forearm. The creature was beginning to crunch and it would only be seconds before the undead managed to bite into the girl's unprotected arm.

Chris, Lana, and Estelle would find a spark of good news that was immediately dampened by circumstance. They could see the exit to the room. However the horde of zombies was now crossing right past it. And the eye, seemingly aware that it existed, was positioning itself near its location. As though expecting them to head that way.

Spoiler

So, yeah, I think that sums it up well actually any questions or concerns let me know

Map

 

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And just like that, something shifted in the distance and, as Chris rounded around the mausoleum, he could see the exit to the floor in the distance. He almost dashed straight towards it. He saw the remaining eye and the remaining several zombies, but nearly disregarded them before he remembered the remaining unfinished business. The zombies were part of that, yes, but one of the dead zombies still had his throwing daggers stuck inside. Those couldn’t be replaced, not without more jobs than he was willing to work. So the plan was those, then the exit.

But as he jogged over to the place where he’d felled that particular zombie -- a task made a little difficult by the presence of the fog blanketing the ground, but not impossible, especially when the daggers were sticking out a little bit over it all -- that plan gained extra steps. The first problem was the way the eye and its zombies were moving. He hadn’t been the only one to notice the dungeon room’s new feature; the eye was directing everything to be in their way if they wanted to get out of here. There was also a lone zombie from the previous hordes still harassing Robin and Ziun, so that needed dealt with too. Was Robin still dealing with the effects of that energy beam that eye had hit her with?

The questions and extra considerations kept swarming Chris’ head as he imagined the zombies swarming him also, but in the end, he just shook them off. “Alright, here’s the plan,” he said, sheathing one dagger and replacing his string with the other in his off-hand. “Sometimes, when you’re spotted you can’t stay to fight all the guards, you just gotta get out. We’re going to charge forward and break through to the exit.”

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It seemed his initial plan worked...but alas, all good things come to an end. Ziun lamented silently that his little 'disguise Lana as a zombie' plan didn't last very long, but alas, it was the downside with illusion magic. Regardless, a way seemed to present itself after all that time...an exit, what luck! However, it was going to be very tight on trying to make a break for it...but surely no one would be crazy enough to...

“Alright, here’s the plan. Sometimes, when you’re spotted you can’t stay to fight all the guards, you just gotta get out. We’re going to charge forward and break through to the exit.”

"...so we're just going to rush the exit?" Ziun asked, sighing heavily. He was slightly hoping that this would be a bit easier or quite frankly, closer to where they were, but unfortunately, it was on the other side of the room and they had more opposition in their way. The odds, which were very heavily one sided, were not on their side at the current time. At the same time, he did find the simplicity of the plan to be...a nice change of pace in the long run. "Hold that thought..."

The young man quickly turned to his right, taking his rapier and immediately striking at the zombie that was giving Robin a bit of trouble. "If you please! We're having a conversation here!" he groaned, dispatching of the zombie as quickly as he could.

Ziun exhaled sharply, still trying to catch his breath with everything he had been working with at the time. "If I'm honest, that may be the only option we have, albeit...it's quite the risky one. I'm not sure how much more I can assist with this..." he said, forcing a small smile. "But...nevertheless, you will have this humble bard to assist in any capacity."

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Lana couldn't help but feel like there was something a bit off about the comment that Chris had made, but the stress of the situation just made the girl shout out, "got it! Escape time!" With her hands on her axe gripped tightly the girl knew that though the path was pretty clearly straight forward there were zombies and a floating eye that were determined to get in her path. Three of them in particular were already square in the way with more coming up from either direction. Lana had been fighting in a mostly reactive and defensive fashion so far, to moderate effect, but even to her it was obvious that such a style wasn't going to work if they needed to get to the exit. So she would have to get a bit more reckless. She knew that if she did, though, it would be only a matter of time before she was surrounded by zombies around her. 

Taking a deep breath she said, "alright, I'm going in first. Cover for me!" The girl just had to put her faith in the people with her to see if they could make it out. And so, the girl charged straight to the exit. As soon as she was in range of the one in the middle of her path she brought down her axe with all the force she could muster, directed at its head. 

In order to give her and the rest of the group some space Ziun had opted to cast yet another illusion. A repeat performance of the one that had captivated the zombie that had just recently attacked Robin, in an effort to keep them at least busy enough until they could reach the exit. And so, an illusory bard created noise behind the southern group of zombies. 

Figuring that the eye had some degree of sway on the zombies and was generally threatening with magic, Estelle decided to keep that one busy for the time being as well. As Ziun brought out an illusion and Lana charged Estelle, moving forward slightly pointed her finger at the floating eyeball. A bead of white light formed at the tip, before being launched towards the floating ocular monster. Rather than be some large fire ball or laser to see if she could kill it, however, Estelle had opted for simple debilitation and when the bead struck something it would explode into a large blast of light in an attempt to temporarily stun and/or blind the eye. 

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Lana's charge, despite the awkward footing, was quick enough that she was able to cleave the zombie's head before it could attack her. Having to put so much force into the swing kept her from being able to move before three of the zombies closed in on her. Two of them close enough to lunge forward.

The eye watched her as she approached and, right at the moment that she attacked the zombie, it acted. While Estelle got into position to cast a spell the monster managed to get off a spell of its own. At first none would be able to tell exactly what it had done. Just that there was a slight distorted field in a cone shape coming from the eye that covered the area Lana and the zombies were.

However Lana would notice a change as her vision suddenly went completely dark just as the zombies attacked.

The three furthest zombies turned at the sudden cacophony that sounded behind them. They couldn't see anything to attack so they slowly shambled in the direction of the noise. The eye would have reigned them in immediately if not for Estelle's blast of light which disoriented the monster and making it unable to focus on its minions. And so the three zombies, for the time being, wandered in the area where the noise could be heard. It wouldn't be long before they decided to go after the fleshy meat that was in the opposite direction.

Spoiler

Map

The speech bubble is the illusion.

So a lot happened in this small post but essentially.

1. Zombies 1, 2, and 3 for this round will be distracted by the noise but after this round will start heading back
2. Zombie 11 is near Lana, 10 and 12 are attacking
3. The eye cast Blindness on Lana and is currently dazed until next round

 

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Chris was generally pretty happy with how his lanky body allowed him to do all the things someone in his professional field might need to do, whether that was the nimble fingers facilitating a good lift or being light enough to climb around in rafters. However, in this moment, in the charge to the exit with enemies still in the way, he wished to be someone more like Sergei. Even without his magic runes to boost his toughness and endurance, he could probably bowl through some enemies like they weren’t even there. Sergei would probably also have been able to scoop up Lana and carry her the rest of the way, something Chris definitely wasn’t strong enough to do either.

Oh well, he thought, he’d just have to do the next best thing. “Lana!” Chris shouted, even if he wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to say next. “Hold on, Lana, I’m gonna- whoa!” Whatever it was, it was interrupted by Lana swinging her axe wildly, just missing Chris and colliding with the zombie next to him.

He changed tactics. “Estellise!” And this time, he didn’t have to say anything else; an arrow of light whizzed past and made sure that the zombie stayed down. He stayed out of range for Lana’s next swing, then rushed in while she was still following through and rammed his sword into the neck of the other zombie attacking Lana. Chris pulled back and kicked, and that got that zombie to the ground as well.

He turned around to face Lana and grabbed her hand. Chris could feel her flinch at that, and he was still aware of her axe, so although he tried to calm her down, he did have to talk fast. “Lana, it’s Chris. We’re really close to the exit, so hold on and I’ll make sure you get there, okay? Estellise is going to keep the eye busy and there’s only one more zombie in the way and, like, five of us, so just keep hold of my hand and then we’ll fix whatever that thing just did to you, okay?”

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Lana had charged into the horde of zombies, her axe managing to fell one of them as the others began converging on her. There wasn’t a lot she was expecting would happen. She was pretty sure all the zombies were just going to pounce on her and she’d have to find a way to wrestle them off as always. At worst she’d have to deal with some funky eye laser magic. What she was not expecting was for the world to go dark around her.

Lana was dumbfounded at first, confused as to why she was seeing nothing but black. She blinked trying to right her senses only to realize that blinking had changed nothing. Sudden fear and anxiety came over her as she realized that all of the same sounds were still around her. It wasn’t as though she were somewhere that was dark, it was that everything was just dark now. 

Feeling a lot less confident in her chances against the zombies now, Lana took a step back and, more so out of desperation then anything else, took a wild swing. Her blade hit something, filling her with confidence only to suddenly feel her hand grabbed. The girl flinched and was ready to take another swing only to realize that amidst her panic and the sound of zombies Chris had been calling out to her. As the boy ensured that they were almost at the door, the girl stammered out, “r-right! Got it!” 

She immediately proved that she did not “got it.” Hearing the zombie that was still in their path Lana, now filled with more confidence with someone guiding her she tore away her lifeline of confidence as she ripped her hand out of Chris’s grip, grabbing her axe with both hands now. “I got this! Uh, duck!” And with that girl swung blindly in front of her.

Her axe found purchase in the zombies flesh, presumably it’s outstretched arm. Lana, now that she was in this position,  wasn’t quite sure how to attack it next. Being unable to see, the girl could only think to swing blindly again. However, unbeknownst to her Chris, who had in fact ducked, cut through the legs of the zombie. Unable to stand anymore the creature fell to the ground. Lana was unaware of all of this and instead, confused, just said, “oh…I killed it.” 

Feeling a sense of pride from having blindly defeated a zombie the girl charged forward, stumbling over the mound that was now collapsed in front of her and almost falling down. Narrowly catching herself, the girl found herself incredibly directionally disoriented. She also only loosely knew where the exit was to begin with. “Oh. Yeah.” The girl took one hand off her axe and held it out, “Chris? Chriiis?” 

Once that was taken care of the girl made her way to the exit. 

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Never had Ziun decided to ever make a repeat performance, especially in one day, but when Lana suggested it be a way to work with it to buy them some more time, who was the bard to argue it. He did exactly the same as the last time, though he was still trying to focus whilst also attempting his best to focus on his surroundings as well. He noticed most of the group beginning to move forward and towards the now visible exit...that was, all but Robin. For whatever reasoning, she was lagging behind. The bard simply sighed and grabbed a hold of Robin's wrist and gave a quick wink with a smile.

"I believe it's time for us to get a move on, dread pirate." Ziun chuckled lightly, beginning to drag her with him. "No party member left behind, no?"

That was the last thing he needed on his conscience right now, as Robin was the closest thing he had to a true friend since he got in this gods forsaken city. Right now, he intended to catch up to the others, make it off this floor and just continue. He did truly hope that there might've been a moment for them to breathe and get a bit of rest...and for someone like him, he definitely needed the break to catch and collect himself. With all the illusions he had conjured up to this point, it was starting to wear him.

Edited by Chaos Sonic

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The way was clear. Or so it seemed. Lana, Chris, and Estelle were able to get through and to the exit. In their rush to escape before the other zombies overwhelmed them they stepped right into the staircase.

Only after they had entered did they turn and notice that the other two were trailing behind. However if they tried to step back out, or attack through the exit, they would find they could not pass through and back onto the floor. In fact as time went the view into the room was starting to get blurrier and blurrier.

For Ziun, dragging Robin, whose strength should have returned by now, towards the exit the danger wasn't over. As he went through towards the exit he ended up in the path of the zombie that had fallen but wasn't destroyed. It reached out and grabbed Ziun by the leg with an iron grip as he tried to escape. At the same time the floating eye shot a beam at Ziun, which was the same spell that had caused Robin to lose her strength before.

The other three zombies were returning back on the hunt for fresh meat. The only which they could find now being Ziun and Robin.

Spoiler

Short post pretty self explanatory. Any questions and responses to actions needed please ask.

Map

 

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Chris couldn’t carry Lana, but they made do all the same. Chris made it through the exit first, and wrenched Lana into the familiar stairway behind him, just managing to stop her from falling down the stairs. “Sit. Just… sit,” Chris said. “We can fix this.” He knew he’d already said it, but he had to say it again just for his own peace of mind.

It was either this or go back out and lug the other two party members along. Chris almost went and did just that, but ran face-first into an invisible wall blocking the way back up. He could only watch, except the dungeon wouldn’t even let him do that. The barrier at the threshold was getting darker with each passing moment. Even now, Robin and Ziun were barely in view. “Hurry up!” he shouted. He wasn’t sure if they could hear him, but it didn’t hurt to try.

It was weird to feel so powerless. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, but those old memories were ones he’d tried to repress. He didn’t want to think about the times he didn’t even have a roof over his head or when a job had gone wrong and he’d been left by a contact to fend for himself. Those times, though, he could still do things. He could run or fight or accost a travelling carriage to give him something, anything. Here, he couldn’t even do that. Chris clenched his fist and punched the barrier.

He turned back around. “Is it getting any better? Do we have to take a closer look at it?” He knelt down next to Lana. “We’ve healing magic and it’s been a bit.” He held up his hand. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

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Ziun would feel his strength sapping from him as the eye's beam attack struck his body. He wasn't entirely powerless but he could clearly feel himself grow weaker. It would be near impossible, even were there not zombies in the way, for him to pull Robin along with him any longer without taking the risk of being overrun.

Said risk was still present though as the zombie that was grabbing his leg now pulled itself farther up his leg and, by doing so, pulled Ziun down towards the ground. Something made easier by the weakening spell.

To make matters worse the other zombies during all this had just about caught up to them. The one closest had gotten near enough to Robin that it rushed towards her back with the intent to grab onto her shoulders and bite down wherever it could sink its teeth into the pirate girl.

While this all went on the eye wasn't idle. It floated closer towards the stairs, and upon doing so it looked towards the stairs for a moment and the group beyond would feel a strange tingling sensation, before turning back towards the remaining pair. It would then attempt to shoot another beam at Robin this time. The previous spell having had worn off this would simply put her back into a weakened state were it to land.

On the staircase the trio would hardly be able to make anything out anymore. They could vaguely see the shapes of their companions and the monsters but it was difficult to tell who was who. And as time went on they could feel a familiar pull, as if the dungeon was telling them it was about time to continue.

Spoiler

!Caution: 7 Days Until The Stairs Close :Caution!

Aight so here's the deal. Chaos, Yui, you have 1 (One) week until I post again. Once I do, essentially, this floor, and everything in it, will vanish.

You must fend off the attackers and make your way to the stairs before then or your characters are lost forever.

You also MUST ASK FOR INFORMATION. Especially with all that's happening every action will have to be run by me first. It's very possible to get out of this mess but writing out results of your actions yourself is still a no go.

Map

 

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Lana was guided by Chris to the exit and at his behest sat down. A relatively mundane task that she realized, without sight, was proving much more difficult then usual. Really, in general moving seemed to be a task that she had taken incredibly for granted when she had eye sight. Dropping her great axe first, the girl slowly lowered herself before misjudging how far she was from the ground and landing with more of a thud then she would have liked. 

The girl tried to focus, seeming to realize that it was in fact that she was the one who was blind and not that the world around her had gone dark. It was certainly more believable then everyone else seeming to be able to see perfectly in the pitch black and be a skill that Lana simply lacked. With her initial panic having already been gone through and vented out on a zombie that she most certainly thought she killed, Lana was left with an incredibly bizarre sense of resignation to her current condition, sort of like an "it is what it is" kind of thing. Of course, this was met with incredible frustration, thinking about how inconvenient not being able to see was and she most certainly did not want to go through the rest of her life like this. Perhaps not being able to see what kind of gross stuff was in the dungeon was a bit of a blessing in its own way, though she had felt more off balance then ever before swinging her axe which certainly made getting through it more inconvenient then before. And forget trying to navigate back to anywhere around a town she unfamiliar with while being sightless. 

Downplaying the issue and just being annoyed by it seemed to work in her favor though, as the dark world around her slowly came back into view. As Chris tried to check up on her, with her vision returning it became obvious that the large blurry mass in front of her was in fact her male friend, which caused the girl to back up a bit from feeling like their was a sudden invasion of her personal space. "Yeah, I'm starting to see again and I know we have a healer. I was blinded not concussed." As the boy asked how many fingers he was holding up she said, "hold on a second uh...four?" Eventually her vision was fully regained, and the girl stood up. "Well, my eyes are back and working so let's get going." Looking around, she suddenly realized something. "Where're the other two?" 

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Ziun hated this...he hated it with every fiber of his being. He was struck by one of the eyes, and slowly but surely he was feeling weaker and weaker. His strength, being sapped and siphoned away by that damn beam. He kept trying to pull Robin along, but it was getting harder and harder to do. If he kept this up, he'd be overtaken...unfortunately that's what happened. The zombie at his leg began to pull itself further up his leg, in turn made the bard falter and he was pulled to the ground. Both he and Robin now were on the ground, a zombie still crawling up the bard's side.

He cursed under his breath at this display, his teeth gritting. This wasn't how his song and tale was supposed to end, it was unheard of! Regrettably, he let go of Robin's hand, in order to shift around to grab his rapier out. "G-Get...OFF!!!" he cursed, stabbing the zombie. Once he knew it was dead (again), the bard slowly got up, his legs still wobbling under the lack of strength he had. But he was still determined to leave with Robin. "C-Come now, Dread Pirate...we're falling behind..." he moved slightly to reach down to help Robin up...but he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him turn as white as the spirits in the previous rooms.

The eye had a small glint in it's...well, eye...and Ziun knew what this meant: another beam. Instinctively, he stumbled back away from the trajectory of the beam, only to see that Robin got hit with it rather than he. Another curse was had under his breath, as his shaky grip on his rapier continued. "R-Robin...I'll keep going...follow after me, please!" he said, his voice having a bit of shakiness to it. But nevertheless, he turned and started to move forward. Robin was a tough fighter, she wouldn't be left behind like this...would she?

Regardless, Ziun noticed the eye now positioning itself in front of the stairs from the exit...but this did not deter him. Perhaps it should've, but he was determined to leave still...so much so that he attempted to run past the eye, though his weak, strength stripped body betrayed him. Halfway through this, he was struck again by the eye's beam. Ziun figured he knew what this was...another strength sapping spell...unfortunately it wasn't. Slowly but surely, his vision went darker and darker...until he could see nothing. "N-No...NO NO!!!" he shouted, flailing slightly in panic. He kept going though, he was scared and frightened at this, but he knew the direction he was facing was the way of the exit...so he was close...VERY close.

However, he felt something looming near him...it had to have been the eye. The next thing he felt was his body shiver and shudder, feeling the tendril of the eye make contact with him. Instinctively, Ziun took the rapier and began to flail his arm slightly, trying to strike at the tendril. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was so close to the eye, or vice versa, but he landed a hit...blindly. Once he felt the looming sensation back away from him, still feeling the uneasy feeling of the eye's contact, he did his best to run blindly forward...until finally...finally he hit the threshold. He fell on the floor, tripping on his own feet passing through the threshold and began to breathe heavily. "A-Am I alive? I-I still can't see... R-Robin?? R-Robin...did she make it?!?" he shouted, his hands feeling around the ground to attempt to feel anyone's feet.

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Robin, weakened by the second ray she was struck with this floor, was unable to get moving before the zombie grabbed her from behind. She was able to struggle enough to keep it from biting onto her however by the time she broke free the other three zombies had caught up.

As Ziun stumbled his way into the staircase the eye turned its attention to her as well. Floating slowly her way as the zombies surrounded her.

And then it all was gone.

Inside the staircase, the moment that Ziun crossed the threshold, even the blurred image from before vanished. All that could be seen was an odd shaky black and white void which then turned completely black. Not only could they not see beyond but they found they couldn't even touch said blackness.

It wasn't long, just enough for the blindness to wear off on Ziun, before they felt an urgent need to continue. One that could not be ignored. As if the dungeon itself was pushing them through to the next floor.

Unlike other floors they weren't able to linger in the doorway to check out the room and they found themselves standing in the next floor soon after.


The room was filled with a reddish tinted fog. As soon as they stepped into it they felt their heartbeat intensify. A vague feeling of panic entered their mind, causing them to be more nervous and jumpy than they already were, and each of them would have to, on occasion, fight an urge to flee.

There was not much in the room, especially compared to others. A large, open, coffin rested on a dais in the middle. On the left and right of it were two men. They wore dark purple robes and had their faces mostly covered, and each of them carried a dagger in their hand. They seemed to have been chanting, or praying, when the group entered.

And on the other side of the coffin was a huge creature. It was, in a way, humanoid shaped. However it was ten feet in height and it had grotesquely bulging muscles all over which caused it to look strangely lumpy. Its skin was grey, and its eyes milky, which made it resemble the zombies from before but it was clearly many times more physically imposing. At the moment it seemed to be entirely passive, arms hanging limply as it stood almost like a macabre statue.

And then the robed men noticed the group enter.

Spoiler

Floor 14 time! And yes Robin is now gone. If you need a visual aid for the monster, imagine the tank from left 4 dead.

They will act basically as soon as any of you do so be sure to get information. It's especially important to get info and talk among yourselves here given how open and relatively straight forward this is.

Map

 

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Chris was worried he’d have to look away to avoid seeing Ziun and Robin get torn apart by zombies and was almost relieved when the threshold to the stairs became almost completely solid so he wouldn’t have to even will himself to look away. His choice had been removed. It did mean, however, that when Ziun burst through at the last possible second, he was caught completely unawares and both he and the bard fell down several stairs before coming to a stop. Thank goodness Estellise had healing magic, right?

“Where’s Robin?” Chris asked. He already knew the answer, though, and didn’t need to hear it said out loud. He swore instead. Technically, the letter of his oath that he would protect Estellise was intact, as was hers to protect him, but the spirit had been broken. He wasn’t always able to protect those he was dungeoneering with. Chris wanted to mourn. He wanted to at least feel Robin’s absence for at least an amount of time equal to their time spent together, but the dungeon wouldn’t let that happen. They had to move on -- he could feel the dungeon beckoning them onwards. They could mourn later.

Like the previous floor, this one had one key feature in the center of the room. Also like the previous floor, there were two different classes of enemies: robed cultists all chanting around the central coffin and a singular, well, Chris wasn’t really sure how to describe the monster in the middle of all of them, but it was large, vaguely looked like a person, and didn’t look happy. It wasn’t moving, at least, so maybe it wasn’t actually a threat.

Then, of course, the cultists noticed everyone enter. Chris hadn’t even realized that everyone had stepped into the room. He couldn’t even berate everyone else for not doing the usual thing and hanging out in the doorway where they wouldn’t be noticed -- he’d done it too, and he was at the front of the line. But the cultists weren’t reacting too much; they mostly stood where they were and stared back at the floor’s newest occupants, and the hulking monstrosity with them continued to be inert. It was actually kind of awkward. It was an atmosphere he felt he had to break somehow.

“Uh, meow?”

All at once, the cultists started chanting again, and this time, the hulking thing started moving, stepping up and over the coffin in the middle of the room as it lumbered towards the four remaining adventurers in the party. Chris recognized his mistake. “Oh, that was stupid,” he said. But he couldn’t yell at himself for too long about that, not when they had precious time remaining to avoid fighting that thing. “Estellise?” Looking back, he saw that she had already conjured up her bow. “Okay, uh, uh,” He pointed left, along the outside wall. “This way!” He started to run.

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After Lana asked her question, as if on command, Ziun had burst out of the now fading doorway. The girl was taken aback by surprise as he did, saying, "oh, there you are." Chris had asked the next question that was on her mind, but seeing as the door had completely faded out of existence now and Ziun was panicking more than anything else, even the usually slow witted Lana knew the answer already. She furrowed her brow, frowning a bit at the revelation and sort of frowning at her own lack of reaction to what had just transpired. Someone she had just been with died, so clearly she was upset by the whole thing. But, perhaps it was because she had her own panic to deal with at the time, perhaps it was because she couldn't see the girl actually die or perhaps it was because she just didn't know her all that well to begin with, Lana didn't really feel a true sense of mourning of her passing. She wasn't so jaded a person to think that, "death happens all the time, you get used to it" - it truly did suck that Robin couldn't make it out of these five floors with them and that her life ended the way it did. But, well, it just sucked and that was that. Maybe she was just in shock and would feel it more once they left the dungeon proper, but for now outside of a souring of her mood Lana didn't have much issue following the urging of the dungeon to keep going forward. 

She certainly had an issue with the floor it decided to drop them off at, though. This was hardly surprising at this point. Similarly not surprising was that this room had been covered yet again in fog, only this one was a familiar red hue and the presence of it made the girl's hairs stand on end. Her upset feelings were now being mixed with a sense of urgency and paranoia, feeling like she wanted none of whatever business was being cooked up on this floor; that the longer they stayed here the worse and more doomed everything for them would be. This was before she had time to process the four freaky figures in cloaks and their enormous friend, causing Lana to gulp in nervousness and take a step back for the time being. There was no going back up the stairs, but there was no reason she had to be front and center of this terrifying monster's attention. 

This worked, to an extent, as Chris seemed to be the one to take initiative in drawing their attention. Unfortunately, everyone was still with him when he did, and Lana couldn't help but be a bit spooked as the hooded folk started chanting yet again. As the hulking monstrosity started making their way towards them, Lana most certainly wanted to run away, but running backwards was not an option. So she just shouted out, "uh, right!" As Chris guided the gangs escape once more this dungeon run, and followed after him.

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Prior Floor Exit

The sight began to finally return to Ziun, but when he looked around...he wasn't thrilled about what he saw. He was indeed alive, there was Lana, Chris and Estelle...and yet, she wasn't there. This began to make Ziun feel a knot in his stomach, causing the bard to turn around to see the door way all but faded. He scrambled to where the door was, only to put his hand where the door remained at one point...

This wasn't how this was supposed to go...not in the slightest. It was supposed to be the two of them with this new little crew making out with whatever riches this dungeon had at the end. That was their plan from the beginning...the Dread Pirate Robin and the humble bard Ziun. He simply let out a sigh, standing to his feet as he did his best not to show the tears that he wanted to let free...it wasn't something he figured Robin would be appreciative of. After all, they still had work to do here...he couldn't wallow in the pit that he was finding himself in.

Instead, he removed one of the feathers in his hat and pulled out a small notebook. Opening the notebook, he proceeded to write a few things.

An ode to a dear friend, one who swore we'd see the end
But alas: the time came and went, and while she was the one the goddess sent
She was the one the zombies hate, thusly she was ate
To the Dread Pirate Robin, for she'll continue to sail untrodden

A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he turned around on his heel, the feather returning to his hat and the notebook being put back into his pocket. He slowly pulled his hat over his eyes and finally spoke: "...let's keep going..."


Present Floor

The room was filled with a reddish tinted fog. His heartbeat intensified the moment he entered the room. A vague feeling of panic entered their mind, causing them to be more nervous and jumpy than they already were, and each of them would have to, on occasion, fight an urge to flee. But Ziun couldn't...he was already working on keeping on this...he had to at least for Robin's sake.

There was not much in the room, especially compared to others. A large, open, coffin rested on a dais in the middle. On the left and right of it were two men. They wore dark purple robes and had their faces mostly covered, and each of them carried a dagger in their hand. They seemed to have been chanting, or praying, when the group entered. It was the worst thing that Ziun saw, it would be absolutely the worst thing he could've seen...and he was already dealing with skeletons, wandering eyes and zombies...which was already the worst in general.

“This way!”
"uh, right!"

"Right behind you!" Ziun huffed, following after Chris and Lana. He decided, perhaps, there could be a way to give them an out...all he needed to do was finagle some stuff. "In the meantime, let's see if we can give something to deal with." While he ran after his party members, he threw his right hand in the direction of the cultists and the hulking creature and threw an illusory cone of various, vivid colors. The hope: it would stun them, blind them or maybe cause them to fall over due to a seizure with the various flashing and moving colors. One could only hope.

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When the group took off the cultists began to make their move. While the creature was still in front the four robed figures did step away from the coffin, intending to intercept the group in some way. What they intended to do was uncertain as Ziun's magic caused them to recoil from suddenly being practically blinded by the flashing lights. The group wouldn't be able to tell what was happening immediately, since if they looked they too would be dazzled by the lights, but as the lights faded they heard a surprised shout.

The creature hadn't been affected by the illusion at all. It instead began to charge right for them and as one of the cultists had been in the way they were tossed to the side. Despite this the creature still didn't slow down and continued its charge, powered mainly by momentum as it wasn't incredibly fast otherwise, right for the nearest of the group which in this case was Ziun.

The cultists seemed to be recovering from the sudden illusion, and they could be heard all chanting something in a low tone.

Spoiler

Short post but important stuff still, if you want to make more progress you'll need to include reactions as the cultists and bloodhulk are now able to respond.

Map

 

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Chris had hoped that the giant mass of flesh was as slow as it looked, but no, it was normal speed, and “normal speed” plus “massive body” meant “faster than them.” Running was out, then, and fighting still looked pretty unappealing. What did that leave them? Well, if he were being charitable, Chris could have called their remaining options “taking advantage of the party’s own advantages,” but he was a thief and had been raised rich besides. When had he ever been charitable? No, this was just “fighting dirty.”

In lieu of some other plan, they kept running, but that didn’t mean Chris wasn’t trying to figure something out. He already had his magic string in hand, maybe something with that? Or they could hack at the thing’s ankles, keep it from going as fast? Maybe it was controlled by the chanting cultists and if they killed all four of those the bloody hulk would go down with them? They’d chanted even through some of Ziun’s illusions, so whatever it was, it did seem important. Their numbers were just about equal too. That had to be worth something.

“See if we can’t deal with those cultists,” Chris said. “I’ve got an idea to slow this big thing down.” It was a stupid idea, but it was an idea, and there was not a lot of time to think of something better. He anchored his string in the air and split off, running perpendicular to everyone else as he extended the string out behind him. Eventually, he curved around, making sure the thing’s feet got wrapped up, and then he stopped and braced for the line to go taut.

He wanted to trip it. Ideally, it wouldn’t be able to pull itself up after crashing to the ground, but Chris knew better than to hope for something like that. He didn’t even get to get that far, though. He caught the thing’s legs, yes, but although his string was able to anchor itself, he wasn’t able to anchor himself. “Um. Um!” He could feel his boots give way against the floor and he started sliding along. “Okay, it’s slowed down now, but, uh, new plan: help!”

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