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

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Ziun was pleased to see his illusion worked...not greatly, mind you, but it did something. Downside: the hulking being was now barrelling towards him, this wasn't the best outcome. However it only got worse after Chris decided to wrangle the hulking beast...only for him to be drug along for the ride.

“Um. Um! Okay, it’s slowed down now, but, uh, new plan: help!”

"Not the best plan you've had!" Ziun shouted, already turning heel and running away from the rest of the party, leading the hulking beast (and Chris) towards the top left corner of the room. Due to Chris' efforts, however, he was slowed down...so that made trying to evade the being a bit easier. "Hmm...if this beast has some forward momentum...perhaps a bit of a trick might help!" He kept running, but casually conjured up an illusion a few feet in front of the hulking beast...a nice sized hole. The hope was that the beast would try to halt itself, trip and fall over.

Alas, this wasn't the case. Ziun looked over his shoulder, seeing that the beast...ran completely over top of the illusory hole in the ground. It was almost like it was oblivious to the possible danger. ...great...it's as daft as a jester... he thought, lamenting as he kept running. An idea came to him, possibly using the power of music to soothe the beast. The saying was: music soothe the savage beast, after all. However, surprisingly, he thought against it. No, if it's as daft as it is...then my music will fall on deaf ears. Typical...a potential group to play my music for and one is as dumb as they come.

What was the only option? With a sigh, Ziun knew what it was: fight it. He hated that he had to resort to this, all the fighting. If they could've just done this quietly or worked the illusions to the point of hiding themselves, they could've slipped through undetected. That was his honest hope, but it wasn't to be. He grabbed the hilt of his rapier and moved a bit, before turning around and making his way towards the still advancing hulking beast. With a quick movement, he immediately struck at the creature's legs...once...twice...thrice! However, he noticed the hulking monster lifting it's arms up...about to smash him into the ground. The bard immediately moved to his right, feeling the ground somewhat rumble as beast slammed his fists into the ground. Ziun kept the attack up, slashing at the left arm and even leg of the beast...though he watched the arm being swung in a wide arc...he narrowly dodged it...but he still got clipped by it. Close proximity and dodging...seems like that's a bit harder...

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Lana had been running alongside everyone up until the point the large hulking creature had started to barrel its way towards them. Frightened of the creature and seeing the others being the one it was chasing after Lana decided to enact a plan that would give her a better a chance at dealing with someone she would've wanted to. So, she ran opposite the direction of everyone else, and with Chris asking for someone to deal with the cultists well, that was already Lana's plan here. Not being able to see their faces and seeing that they were vaguely humanoid shape, Lana felt a bit odd thinking she was just about to charge some random person in the middle of the dungeon. Even if everything they had met so far had been out to kill them. "Hey uh, you better stop that big thing...or else!" She unthreateningly threatened. Seeing that there was no change in demeanor and feeling on edge as it was, the girl readied her axe and charged the cultist. 

The cultist readied its dagger and raised an almost skeletal, with how bony and pale it was, arm from under its robes. Lana, heedless to danger, swung her axe down against the cultist who attempted to deflect it with its dagger. The axe powered through the dagger with little effort and she slashed into the creature's body, only to then feel its hand touch her and send a chill through her body. Wincing, which turned into a grimace, as she felt the cold sting and flow through her, the girl then noticed her axe had started to feel heavier. "Oh great, more tiring magic," the girl grumbled before pulling her axe back and going for another swing, stepping away from the side without the dagger as she did. 

Estelle, meanwhile, had been running along with the rest of the group. Seeing Ziun's efforts to bring the beast down, she cast a spell to empower the lad's rapier. 

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Estelle's magic enchanted Ziun's weapon and sharpened it, along with making it feel lighter and easier to swiftly swing it. The boost would help with damaging the hulking undead but it wouldn't stop it from continuing its assault. As it had stopped in front of Ziun it was no longer dragging Chris however it also was essentially unaffected by the string across its legs.

The undead pulled its left arm back as though readying a punch and at the same time slammed down its right, going for a directly overhead swing towards Ziun's skull.

Some sort of mist looked to leave the three chanting cultists and gather around the creature. As it did the creature's movements seemed to be faster and Ziun would need to be quick if he wanted to avoid being crushed by the swing.

Lana would notice something as she fought the cultist. The hood covered their face mostly but the brief moments she could see some of it there was an oddly waxy quality to their skin. Almost as though they had recently passed away. She couldn't investigate this any further as she swung her weapon. It almost seemed too easy as her axe buried into the cloaked figure's chest. Despite having been struck the cultist, knife raised, lowered their arm and plunged the knife into Lana's shoulder. Its grip on the knife tightened for a moment and then their hand slipped off, and Lana could feel the cultist's body slump against her axe, pushing all of its weight onto it in the process. Which felt much heavier than it normally would due to the spell the cultist had cast.

Spoiler

Map

 

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Chris’ only solace was that the hulking thing didn’t notice why it had slowed down, because he’d been left kind of a sitting duck holding onto that string. Not that the alternative was much better. It just loomed over Ziun instead, arm raised to deal a crushing blow. “Hey! No!” Chris said. He brought his sword into the back of its leg. It was a blow that, on, you know, a person, might have hobbled them for life, but the hulk had no such issues. Chris didn’t even get to distract the thing, Ziun still had to deal with its fist, and then Chris had to deal with the backhand that was almost like a follow-through.

He tried to fall back but pulled on the string and teleported to the end, which got him out of the way, yes, but because he wasn’t expecting it, he got off-balance and had to turn his dodge into a failed half-somersault and he had to scramble back to his feet. He had its attention now.

It was hard to think with that sort of monster in front of you. Even other large monsters they’d faced -- a minotaur, a particularly unusually-sized rat, whatever -- weren’t this big. Chris fell back on his baser instincts and the actual swordplay instruction he’d received. His opponent was bigger than him and had a bigger reach. It was to his advantage if he got up close.

Well, so long as he didn’t get grabbed. But he could be on the lookout for that, at least. He ran back in and took swing at the thing’s other leg. The swing had a similar effect as the last: not much, and the reaction from the hulk was much the same, but this time, now that it didn’t have to readjust, it raised both fists and brought them down. Thankfully, the gap between its legs was big enough that Chris could just sneak through, and he found himself next to Ziun. “Okay, while it’s distracted,” he said, “uh, get away from it?” He swiveled his head and locked eyes with another cultist. “Estellise, cover me!” he said, and charged in.

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Lana's eyes widened as the axe struck true against the cultist's body and she was able to see the pale face of her opponent. Her expression became more and more creeped out the more that she was dealing with this creature, only for her to be even more creeped out - and annoyed - as the humanoid brought its dagger up and stabbed her in the shoulder. Gritting her teeth and letting out a strained noise of pain, she shouted, "what the hell is going on with you why don't you just - hey hey hey!" The girl suddenly cut herself off as the figure's body slumped against her axe and she felt the full weight of the cultist being forced towards her. The girl grit her teeth, pushing against her axe and twisting her body to the side. It took more effort then she would've liked, her arms not feeling up to their usual strength, but eventually she was able to toss the robed man away from her and to the ground next to her. 

Pulling her axe out, the girl looked at the corpse cautiously. It hadn't made much of a reaction when she hit it at all, and none of the things that they had fought so far she would classify as particularly "alive" to begin with. As such she wasn't sure if the creature's death throes were actually it dying or not. But, as it remained motionless and not attempting to stab her any longer, Lana figured it was a good time to move on. With axe in hand, the girl walked towards the two cultists that were close together. Knowing what happened last time she heedlessly charged them and still feeling incredibly on edge, she opted to walk cautiously towards them rather than just full on charge. 

Estelle, meanwhile, had taken a back step back from the Bloodhulk. Though she was not the immediate target of its ire, she didn't want to be in swinging range of it to begin with. As Chris went to charge one of the Cultists, Estelle thought it better to keep the large hulking creature occupied with her and Ziun to buy space for him. Waving her hand, two beads of fire appeared on an equal number of finger tips. Then, tossing them one after another, rays of scorching flame were shot towards the body and head of the beast. 

 

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Ziun narrowly dodged the beast's strike that was aiming straight for his skull, thanks to Chris. Once he dodge, Chris seemed to find himself next to him, both seeming to catch their breaths for the moment. Now, what brilliant scheme would Chris have ne-...

“Okay, while it’s distracted...uh, get away from it?”

"That's the best plan you have?!" Ziun asked baffled, watching Chris now rushing towards the cultists. He had a thought in this moment...could he possibly use this hulking beast to his advantage and have it knock the cultists out of the equation? If he was chased by the creature, heading towards the cultists, he COULD get those cultists out of the way. A moment before he put his plan into motion, however, he watched Lana attack and kill a cultist. After that, she rushed behind Chris towards the cultists.

Alas, my plan is basically fruitless now... he sighed, before actually having another thought. ...perhaps this beast might actually be more along the lines of a dunce, meaning the plan wouldn't work. On the other hand, I'm positive those cultists would be the brains of the operations...so it wouldn't work. Perhaps this now is the best course of action. So now what was he supposed to do?

It was at this moment that he glanced down and finally noticed about his rapier...it was...glowing a bit. It seemed...sharper...and when he gently swung it, it seemed quicker than he had ever swung before. He connected the dots, glancing over at Estelle as she began to cast fire against the beast. "Seems like I'll have to do this then...t'would be a shame if I neglected this gift of a buff." Ziun said, moving towards the hulking beast, immediately proceeding to deliver slash upon slash on the beast. The rapier in his hand was quicker than he had ever used it, and it felt natural...almost like the true potential of the weapon was seen in this moment. Maybe it was the spell that was cast upon it...or maybe it was his own mind playing tricks on him. Regardless, the bard continued to deliver quickened, sharp cuts and slashes on the beast. This plus the fire would definitely wound the beast.

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When Chris rushed the cultist they stopped chanting. As soon as they did the other two stopped as well despite Lana being farther away than Chris.

The two cultists Lana was approaching cast a spell but Lana didn't feel any effect immediately. Instead she saw as a pair of semi-transparent hands formed next to each cultists. These hands began to float through the air towards the girl as she approached.

The cultist Chris went after didn't cast a similar spell. Perhaps due to how close, and fast, Chris was. This didn't stop them from readying their dagger and, with the other hand, firing off a beam that looked similar to the one that the eyes from the earlier floor had used.

The bloodhulk was struck by Estelle's ray. It didn't seem to react to the attack, similar as to how it hadn't reacted to much else, but they could clearly see the scorch marks on the undead creature's body. Similarly Ziun's slashes cut into the thing's flesh yet didn't, outwardly, slow it down. Instead of simply slamming its fists down on Ziun again the bloodhulk lunged at Ziun, bringing its weight down towards him and spreading its arms as if going for am incredibly unwelcome embrace.

Spoiler

Pretty simple stuff, wonder what those hands are for hm...

Also be sure before having Estelle do actions to check if Doggo wants to post again.

Map

 

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“You know, I just fought guys like you the other day,” Chris said. His encounter with the Kalo family goons had been what, yesterday? Two days ago? It was hard to keep track of when the dungeon magically reset the day when they left it. “Back then, it was three of them at once, and now here, I just have to focus on the one.”

At least this cultist knew how to shut up. That was appreciated. Like, even if it was waving a dagger around and gesturing wildly in a way that suggested magic, at least it wasn’t telling him to know his place or anything like that. They were almost on equal ground. When they fired off their beam, Chris dropped to the ground, and as the magic sailed over his head, he kicked the cultist’s legs out from under them, so they really were on equal ground then. Chris recovered first by virtue of expecting it, and scrambled to his feet only to fall on the cultist again, driving his sword into their chest.

There was a problem, though. Technically, there were two problems, but both of them stemmed from the fact that the cultist wasn’t quite dead yet and someone looming over you was a hell of a target. Dodging the wild dagger stabs was easy enough, but he was so focused on that he didn’t notice the approaching, more ethereal hand until it was too late and had already grabbed him. Chris wanted to strike back, but he suddenly didn’t have the energy to do so. More magic, just without the rays. “Cheap trick,” Chris mumbled. Still, if he was going to fall over, at least he could try to fall over in a way where he could pin the cultist’s dagger-arm to the ground and let his own sword fall in for another stab.

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As Lana warily approached the two cultists, she stopped immediately as they had cast their magic. The last spell that they had used, Lana figured, required them to actually touch her and being not next to them she figured from whatever magic they were trying to do. However, this changed when they had actually finished casting and summoned a pair of semi-see through hands. She guessed that if the hands needed to touch her then it only made sense to make magic hands to do so. Of course, this rational was buried underneath a set of emotions being grossed out by the severed body parts, frightful of what they were actually going to do and as well annoyed, shouting out, "oh come on that's cheating!" As was all magic at this point to her. Except Estelle's, of course. 

The girl readied herself for the hands coming towards her, figuring that even if they were spooky and magic they were still just hands. Putting her axe parallel to the ground the girl took a swing at the two hands, her axe powerlessly going through the spooky hands and leaving them untouched. "Ugh, cheaters." With her attack having done nothing and not wanting to be grabbed by the ghost hands, the girl quickly hopped to the side and away from them, only for the hands to continue their pursuit of her. Thinking there was no way that she could win like this, Lana took the lesser of two evils and threw caution to the wind once more as she charged the two cultists. Hefting her axe up the girl brought it down with as much force as she could muster, striking into the head of one of the cultists and causing them to drop instantly. This success was fairly short lived, however. 

Feeling the ghastly hand grab onto her Lana, firstly felt grossed out, felt an immediate surge of energy pulse through her. Or perhaps it could be described as the exact opposite of energy, as her body suddenly went rigid; her grip tightening on her axe, her limbs getting stiffer and also a bizarrely foul stench she could feel coming from her body. The girl's eyes were still moving responsively enough, so she was able to see the other cultist brandish its dagger towards her. While her body could not keep up with her brain it wasn't completely unresponsive. And so she went with her tried and true method of blocking. Shifting her body the girl moved her outstretched arm to take the dagger attack instead, wondering if perhaps it would be better to invest in heavier armor when she got out of this dungeon. 

 

Estelle, not being the subject of the Bloodhulk's ire presently figured that she would take the time to take precautions for if that ever change, casting a spell on her shoes to increase her own speed. Then, going to aid Ziun the girl once more conjured two rays of fire and shot them at the ankle of the bloodhulk once it landed. 

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It wasn't the cleanest fight Chris had had but, while he was more worn out from it than he likely expected due to the cultist's magic, the second sword strike seemed to be enough to stop the magic-user. The drained feeling didn't go away but at least the opponent was now good and truly dead.

The cultist targeting Lana managed to drive its dagger into the girl's arm. However it wasn't satisfied with just that, as it reached out with its free hand to try and touch the girl's face. Were it to work she would feel the same painful chill from before overtake her while the cultist pulled the dagger out for another attempt.

Meanwhile the spectral hand made its way towards Chris.

The bloodhulk hadn't reacted to any of the attacks on it until now and even with Estelle's magic burning a hole into its ankle it didn't seem to care much about its wounds still. It wrapped its arm, or rather due to its size one of its arms, around Ziun's body and put its full weight onto the young bard which would easily push him to the ground. However even if he weren't brought to the ground by the force of the slam the creature was ready to begin to squeeze which wouldn't take long to crush him.

Spoiler

Map

There is a way out of this. But it will most likely require help from others. However I will allow Ziun to be able to get out by himself if Chaos manages to post before next Monday.

 

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Ziun hated this...one moment he was perfectly fine and out of the hulking creature's way, the next moment he blinked, this creature was barrelling down on top of him in a massive bear hug attack. He basically had his life flash before his eyes...this was NOT how he thought he'd go out...then again, Ziun wasn't going to go out like this at all. Not after losing Robin the floor before...he said he was going keep on for the two of them, and he meant it!

But the question became...how would he possibly be able to get out? It was getting so bad that the bard was currently sweating like a mad dog. Wait...sweating...? The gears began to turn in his mind, which caused him to sweat even more with all the thinking and mind racing. Ziun started to wriggle in the hulking creature's arms, doing his best to break free from the creature's grasp. The sweat, surprisingly, seeped through his clothing to the point where he was just basically...a sweaty mess. "The one time...my fear...has come in handy!" he groaned, still wriggling further within the hulking beast's arms. Eventually...the wriggling began to work and after a moment or two, he finally got to a point where his arms were free, now able to finally push himself out of the arms of the beast.

"G-Gah..." he huffed, scrambling away from the creature. "N-No offense to you, but if one is to touch me like that specifically...they need to at least buy me a drink first!" He now watched as the hulking beast was on it's knees after the whole situation. Ziun took the opportunity to make a move, thanks to Estelle's reinforcement to his rapier, he swung it a bit before striking at the hulking beast, making more and more gashes along the beast's arms and even it's sides. "Such an uncivilized creature...I swear."

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It hurt to breathe, but in a different way from, say, a broken rib or some other physical ailment that Chris had experienced before. It hurt to breathe because it took energy to breathe, and he had lost a lot of it just then. Thankfully, there weren’t many things left out to kill them, even if one of those things had proven to be the hardest thing to kill thus far. Chris wondered how good Estellise was good at healing magical damage. He hoped it was easier, like, good magic just cancelled out the negative stuff. That made sense to him, at least.

The thing that he had to deal with in the meantime was the spectral hand floating toward him. He stabbed it with his sword. The sword passed right through the hand, though, crawling up through the blade like it wasn’t even there. Chris almost let out an annoyed chuckle at that, but managed to contain it before it turned into a coughing fit. He stepped back and tried a few more times, just in case it was just a one-time deal or something, but no such luck. The hand wasn’t about to be stopped by anything Chris had up his sleeve. He looked to one side, and there was a cultist stabbing Lana in the arm, but it was casting magic still so maybe- wait, no, that first thing was more important.

Lana had just taken a dagger to the arm, and was in severe danger of taking another. Even in the state that he was in, he had to try. It felt like he was running in slow motion, and he had to get around the hand still locked onto his position, but he wasn’t that far gone. He had his sword arm outstretched, even if he couldn’t manage an actual thrust, at least he could let his momentum carry once he started going.

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Lana grit her teeth as she was stabbed in the arm, a task her minor paralysis made all the easier, as she let out a cry of pain through said teeth. The cultist didn't seem to think this was enough though, likely not thinking that Lana was dead and not going to stop until she was, as it pulled back its dagger and started casting a spell. Looking to both stab and grasp her again, the girl didn't really know what to do. Her body was still feeling rigid and she was hardly able to skillfully dodge both attacks at once, but she had to do something or else things would get much worse for her. As she looked to both hands, her eyes darted to behind the cultist to see another figure rushing towards it. She didn't have time to think about what that other person was doing or even who it was and instead decided to go on the offensive herself. 

Turning her body, her already outstretched axe was swung towards the waist of the cultist, the haft striking into its side and causing a few audible cracks to be heard. At the same time, the person rushing in had stabbed the cultist's side and caused its dagger to falter and fall from its hand. The magic was still going towards her, and Lana had decided that there was only one way to avoid it. Shifting her body weight the girl fell backwards, going towards the ground. As she did, the axe head that was now behind the cultist came down with her, piercing the cultists back and hooking into it dragging the cultist down with her. With a resounding thud the two of them landed, the girl letting out an, "ow." Once more through gritted teeth and strained voice Lana looked up to see Chris and said, "thanks." 

Estelle primed her bow and fired an arrow of light to head shot the big ol' bloodhulk. 

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With the cultists dead it wouldn't be too strange for the group to think that the massive undead creature would follow suit.

Yet this is not what happened. The bloodhulk did not seem to change much at all with the passing of the spellcasters who presumably gave it life. Yet Ziun's attacks had landed easily upon its body as the creature slowly got back to its feet.

It was unusual. Clearly he was injuring it, the damage on its unnatural body was piling up, but the creature through the entire thing did not react. It was hard to tell, though surely it must be, if they were any closer to slaying the beast. This wasn't helped by the fact the creature didn't seem to bleed much.

However one thing Ziun's assault did was put him behind the creature when it finally stood up.

Estelle's arrow struck the beast in the head and, for a moment, the undead actually reacted by recoiling. And then it began to move again. Not towards Ziun, who was out of line of sight, but towards Estelle instead. It reached out one large hand to try and grab the girl who was before it.

Chris and Lana were some distance behind but able to react as the creature stood. Standing next to the coffin they could now smell an uncomfortable scent from inside, yet also they could clearly see the exit on the other side of the room as though tempting them to run through it.

Spoiler

Map

 

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“Thanks,” Lana said.

“Welcome,” Chris said. He was so drained, he couldn’t manage much else. Now that all the cultists were dead, leaving just that one bloodhulk still rampaging around, it was a lot easier to let that come back to the forefront. At the same time, he wasn’t in immediate danger, so he had some time to catch his breath.

He did not want to fight this thing. He’d tried already and each sword stroke didn’t seem to affect it at all. Estellise had come the closest with her magic, but her best strike had still needed Ziun to distract it first, and there was no way the bard was going to be able to do that forever. He still felt like he had to fight, though, for that very reason. Maybe one more swing was all it took. Maybe they needed to aim somewhere specific.

His sword still felt heavy in his hand, but he could heft it now. Before he charged in, though, he saw the open door at the other end of the dungeon out of the corner of his eye, and he remembered why he had directed everyone at the start of the fight the way he had. The door had always been open. And yeah, they’d been waylaid when the enemies in the room proved faster than, say, the mushroom people a few floors back, but that had always been the goal.

With his current fatigue, the door seemed so far away, but they could make it. They had to. “Come on,” he said to himself. “Just one more burst.”

Chris took a deep breath, gathered what little energy he had left, and called out to Estellise and Ziun. “Hey, the door’s open! You don’t need to kill it, just stun the thing and let’s get out of here!”

Estellise’s bow immediately disappeared, replaced instead by the magical ball of light she’d used to distract the village full of goblins which she threw at the monster’s face. It didn’t actually manage to stun the thing, but as she got out of the way and headed towards the door, the magical enchantment encouraging her own movement working double-time now, the bloodhulk still charged towards where she had just been standing a moment ago. The thing was blinded, at least for a little bit.

“Come on,” Chris said to Lana, “we need to get going before it figures itself out again.”
 

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Lana was taking the moment to get her breath back now that she was no longer in immediate peril of being stabbed, slowly lowering her stiffened arms to not have the axe blade above her. Unfortunately, this brief moment of respite was interrupted as Lana remembered where she was and the sounds of a large hulking monstrosity trying to crush her friends reminded her that they weren't safe here. Lana really didn't want to have to get into an actual brawl with it though. She was feeling weaker and was similarly slowed down in her movements, not to mention the creature looked far more difficult to kill then any of the robed individuals. And so, she was all for Chris's plan when had mentioned bolting. Putting her axe on her back, the girl slowly picked herself up saying, "y-yeah. I'm coming." Having the exit in clear view, the girl took a deep breath as she pushed herself, awkwardly sprinting as hard as she could to the exit. 

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“Hey, the door’s open! You don’t need to kill it, just stun the thing and let’s get out of here! Come on, we need to get going before it figures itself out again.”

"C-Certainly don't need to tell me twice!" Ziun nodded, just witnessing Estelle blinding the bloodhulk with that ball of light. Once she passed him, the bard immediately sheathed his rapier and made tracks towards the exit.

This whole dungeon experience thus far showed him something though that he thought about the entire time he ran for the door on the other side of the room: he needed to better himself. What did this entail? Could it be that he needed to work harder on his illusions? Perhaps finally find a way to learn those songs and rhymes that would provide a sort of buff to his allies? Both options were good, but the fact of the matter was...Ziun needed to better himself on the physical combat side of things. Yes, he could still assist in a venue and way that could befit someone supporting their allies, whether it be a good exit strategy or trying to avoid conflict...but at the end of the day, conflict was to be had. And these last few floors proved to him that his skill set for illusions weren't going to always work.

Skeletons...zombies...floating eyes...freakishly idiotic hulking beasts...his illusions would only do so much against them, if anything at all. No...he actually had to try something else. The bard's eyes were trained on Chris the whole time as he ran. That young man...he could possibly prove to be a helpful assistance to his needs and cause...perhaps he start there, then eventually work his way to bettering and rounding out the other aspects of his being. Only time would tell.

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With escape too close for comfort and aided on multiple magical fronts, Estelle found herself running well past her usual athletic prowess through the doorway and on the path down to the next floor. Only when the temporary safety of the transition between floors was well in hand did the mage stop to take stock of the situation. Her breath escaped her for a moment while she scanned each of her companions for injuries. With the next floor likely to prove yet more precarious Estelle instead of ministering to each wound individually began her incantation to summon the large healing field Chris and Lana had seen on previous excursions. This she maintained until each of them were satisfied with their physical condition.

"Well... Well done everyone." She congratulated the group for their efforts thus far in an attempt to rally their spirits. Though perhaps she needed some convincing herself. Losing people in the dungeon was not an unfamiliar reality to her from her previous excursions with the mages as assigned by her family. But losing one who she had personally invited was wearing on her mental strength in a way the young woman had yet to experience. And after several floors more of physical exertions the combination was likely to bog even the strongest warrior down. If the others were feeling at all inadequate she could only do her best to support them and see them all safely home, no matter the amount of magical energy and kind words that required.

"While predicting the Dungeon is outside anyone's ability, if there are any preemptive enchantments you might want I would be happy to oblige." Estelle offered thinking some precaution was well in order. Whenever the group was sufficiently prepared she would move down with them to the next floor.

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The room was full of fog. This had been true of the other floors as well but this one much more so. Visibility was low as the thick fog covered everywhere they could look. As they stepped into the room they could no longer tell if they were inside or outside. The floor was soft dirt and they could not see any walls. In front of them some ways away they could somewhat see a large object, some sort of building, shaped similarly to the mausoleum they had seen on a previous floor.

They could make out other shapes, gravestones, scattered about. Many of which were cracked and broken. And they could see three creatures from where they stood, albeit only barely.

To the right was what seemed a typical zombie, an undead creature of human-size with rotting flesh and a vacant look as they shambled about.

To the left there was a skeleton, old yellowing bones covered in essentially rags, holding a curved and chipped sword. And near it was another creature. At first glance it seemed to be a zombie but it had key differences. Its skin was gray and stretched tight over its bones, looking incredibly emaciated. Even with the low visibility they could tell that the creature had clawed hands and its eyes faintly glowed red. And unlike the zombie as the group entered it seemed to look right at them, aware and alert.

This wasn't the only being that they could see. There was one more that seemed even more unusual than the undead trio they witnessed so far. They only caught a glimpse of it as it was heading deeper into the fog and soon vanished from sight. Deathly pale and hairless the creature was more or less the size of an average human, though they walked slightly hunched forward. Yet it wasn't this that was most noticeable. For a moment, as the creature turned its face to the side, they could see a horrifying visage. Its face was distorted, twisted, and much too long to be human. Its eyes were so sunken in that they couldn't be sure the creature even had eyes. And its mouth was a long oval shape that hung open vertically. In the moments before the creature faded from view each of the group would feel a draining sensation as though their life force was being sucked away.

Spoiler

Welcome to the 15th floor. After this one you'll be able to "save your progress" and exit the Dungeon. But first there's the small matter of the undead...

The area is so foggy that you can barely see even the monsters I described so you'll have to be clear where about you're heading. The "walls" of the map are just there cause I needed a shape to approximate where things were. Also yes, you cannot tell where the exit might be.

Imgur being a pain so map will be put up in the chat once you've all read this.

 

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It took some time and more than a little of Estellise’s magic to get everyone back to normal, but things worked themselves out in the end. Chris was glad to be rid of all those cultists and their massive undead spawn, even more than the other floors. Fighting was exhausting, he didn’t need to be made even more exhausted through magical means. They made do, though, and found themselves on the final floor of the run, once again, shrouded in fog.

Chris instinctively got closer to his companions. He could still see them -- the fog wasn’t thick enough for that -- but he still wanted to feel their presence. He also kept his sword out, alternating pointing it at the room’s three big points of interest. Two out of three of them were things they had seen before, which was reassuring, though Chris didn’t like how the one he didn’t recognize was looking at them already, eyes piercing through the fog and right into his soul.

No sooner could he make that thought, though, as he spotted one final creature walking through the fog. Chris immediately shifted his sword to point it out, though by the time he had done so, it had disappeared, and he started to doubt that it was anything more than a greyer patch of fog than the rest. Still, his intuition told him otherwise. How many times had he evaded a particularly dim-witted guard because they thought an errant heavy footfall was “just the wind” or “probably just a rat?” No, he saw something, and even more than the ghoulish creature, just a glimpse filled him with dread. They would probably have to fight it at some point, but for now, he just wanted to avoid it.

He pointed back over toward the zombie. “This way, I think. Get them one at a time,” he said. “And watch out for anything that might come out and get us. One thing already disappeared, no reason to think there aren’t any more.”

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After having had her arm wound restored and her strength revitalized, Lana was ready to get going on to the next floor down below and put the whole hulking abomination thing behind them. Her nerves were no longer quite as frayed as they had been after leaving the red smoke, which she was glad for, but that anxiety was filled more so with dread and loathing as she approached the last floor of their run here. After being attacked by skeletal dogs one after the other, being forced to butcher enormous eyeballs and zombies, and now having been stabbed and drained it was safe to say that Lana was both ready to leave the dungeon and also not at all looking forward to whatever heinous creature that they would find at the end. The last time they had gotten to the end of one of these dungeon runs they had to deal with a giant bipedal bull man with an equally giant axe. That was, while terrifying, at least straight forward. Lana wasn't so sure that she was going to have such a luxury in the coming floor. 

The girl sighed, clear annoyance in her tone as the fog had obscured their view of everything once again. She briefly imagined herself with an enormous fan, swinging it around to clear the fog and make it no longer a hassle, but unfortunately such things were only for her fantasy. The reality of the situation was that there was a few undead scattered about the room, two of which seemed to be just a plain old zombie and skeleton, and the third of one which only served to unnerve Lana. It's grotesque appearance and the fact that it was watching the group already brought little comfort to her, and the fog only added to its creepiness. But worse yet was the fourth thing she saw. 

Her irritation had immediately been replaced by a moment of terror as she saw the elongated face of the undead that had been shambling about. She couldn't make out much details about it, in fact she wasn't even sure if there were many details to make out, but the sight of it took her breath away both figuratively and literally; the creepiness of it causing her to grow silent and a strange sensation not dissimilar to that of the magic the cultists used washing over her at once. Nervous and anxious, the girl's annoyance returned with her now clearly on edge as the creature vanished. Following Chris's lead and slowly making way towards the zombie she said, "yeah, I have had enough of creepy things jumping out at me." 

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The new room...shockingly...was a room full of fog. Truthfully, Zuin was absolutely disgusted by the view of it, well...what he could see of it at least, considering the visibility was low...and the fog was thick. The floor was soft dirt and they could not see any walls...which was sort of strange, namely due to him thinking of simply being outside...but he couldn't tell if they were or weren't at this point. Before them, there was a large building...it was similar to that mausoleum...which didn't bode well in the grand scheme of things.

Continuing, there was...a zombie, a ghoul and a skeleton. All things that Ziun was non-plused to see...he had seen his fair share of them since he entered this dungeon...perhaps more than enough for one of his lifetimes.

“This way, I think. Get them one at a time. And watch out for anything that might come out and get us. One thing already disappeared, no reason to think there aren’t any more.”
"yeah, I have had enough of creepy things jumping out at me."

"Me thinks we're still going to have to fight...even if the one disappeared. With these last few floors, I wouldn't put it past anything at this point to happen..." Ziun lamented, following after Chris and Lana. It's not that he was being pessimistic about this, not at all...just more like actually understanding that all this wasn't turning out in their favor with all the undead. "I will say, however, so long as there are no more skeletal dogs or hulking savages, we should be safe..." He truly hoped that the keyword there would be correct and they would actually be safe.

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As was her norm at this point Estelle followed her companions in the rear of the group so she could more effectively provide support and not get immediately attacked herself. Still the overall ambience of a fog filled room filled with the undead on the outskirts of their vision didn't make any position in the group feel particularly safe, even less so after the magical exertions needed to heal the group to even prepare for this floor. Still the mage was ready to think of yet more magical solutions to the problems that would face them. Fog naturally prompted additional lighting yet the apparent gaze of at least one of the creatures soon dampened the idea in the woman's mind. If it was the only creature watching them it was better to keep things that way. One at a time as Chris suggested while taking point seemed to only make sense as she filed behind the group moving toward the zombie.

"With cat-like tread it is." Estelle whispered her approval of the plan while laying out an enchantment across the boots of the group of four. Its goal was to soften the sounds of their steps but unless she wanted to plant herself and really focus more magic into it, spreading it out like this was going to diminish the efficacy. She could make one silent or four a bit more quiet. And while sending the agile Chris ahead on his own for a quick assassination had its merits, the fog again made a point against this plan. The closer the group remained together the better.

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As the group was heading towards the zombie in essentially a line, it wasn't long before they were closed in on the creature. As their steps were quiet it seemed that the zombie was unaware of their presence. It simply groaned and shambled back and forth, basically pacing through the muck, wandering between a couple of cracked gravestones.

The skeleton, while it didn't notice them at first, was at least more alert than its rotting brethren. It raised its sword and followed along behind the group, heading straight for Esteliese and prepared to swing its chipped sword at the young mage girl's back.

The ghoulish creature from before had vanished. Not only did they move away from a position they could see it but, if they had watched the creature, they would have noticed that the ghoul had slowly backed away, red eyes still on them, and vanished from sight even before they moved towards the right.

From their new position they couldn't see any new creatures. However they could occasionally hear the sound of some creatures moving about nearby as if just out of sight.

Spoiler

As before yet more than ever I'd like to know about where you're moving since I need to keep a vague idea of all of your lines of sight. For a peek behind the curtain, I have another map that has all the enemies, so I know which ones you'd see if you were in what spots.

Map

 

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The zombie didn’t seem to react much to Chris’ approach (or to anyone else behind him who might be less used to sneaking around) so when Chris got close enough, he went up and chopped its head off. It was surprisingly easy to do so. Distressingly easy, even. Chris immediately looked up and around to try and find what trap had been laid ahead of them.

He saw nothing, though, not through all this stupid fog. The only real difference was the large building up ahead was revealed to be a mausoleum, poking its way through the fog, and just up in front of it, he could see a figure marching around. He pointed his sword at it so the others could see his intent and moved in. It turned out to be a skeleton, and maybe it had been aware of Chris and the rest too, because it already had its sword raised and was ready to strike. 

Down came the sword, but Chris quickly pulled out a dagger with his right hand to block it, and he turned inwards so he could try and cut off the skeleton’s sword arm, an attempt that partially worked. He managed to cut most of the way through the joint, but only too late remembered that he’d needed Estellise’s enchantments to fully cut all the way. He tried to find her behind him to try and give her some silent, pleading eyes, but she was hard to make out amongst everything, and with an active enemy right in front of him, he couldn’t look too hard.

He did see more figures in the distance, though, up ahead and ahead to the right. “Don’t go too far,” he said, “but look out, there are more coming in. I’m, uh -” He returned his attention to the skeleton just in time to catch it lashing out with its other hand, its fingers sharpened into a claw, almost like it had an off-hand dagger of its own. He spun back out to avoid the thrust and returned to a neutral fighting stance. “I’m a little busy,” he finished saying. “But I can handle it. Come here, you. You know how many undead we had to fight just to get here?” He took aim at another joint -- one of the knees this time -- and swung in.

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