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

[LordCowCow 842]

Chris managed to slice into the skeleton's knee pretty easily. He cut through one of the knees before the skeleton even realized he was there. With only one leg to keep it standing the undead began to topple to the side. However before fully falling it did attempt to swing its sword down at Chris on the way to the ground.

The other nearby skeleton seemed to realize Chris was there and raised its blade and began to approach him. While the three on the outer ends were just now realizing that there were living creatures moving around at all. They looked away from the stationary illusion and turned their eye-less gaze towards the group.

The wrapped undead in the coffin raised its left arm as Lana swung her axe. The axe blade bit into the creature's hand and cut deep into it but the undead didn't react nor did anything come out of the wound. It pushed back on the axe with strength at least comparable to Lana's own and pushed her a few steps away as it stepped out of the coffin and swung its other arm like a club at Lana's own head.

 

Spoiler

Pretty simple overall yet nothing big to explain but here's a Map anyway.

 

[radio414 910]

Before the skeleton’s sword could strike Chris’ flesh, he pulled back on his string and returned to the entryway to the room. Things were moving a bit quicker now, so Chris took a moment to reevaluate where things were.

“Where things were,” it turned out, was on the left wall. Ziun and Lana had dealt with the skeleton over there and one of the coffin lids opened up, revealing some new type of undead monster inside. It was not something Chris recognized, though, if he thought about it, he really shouldn’t expect to recognize any sort of undead creature. That wasn’t his, or anyone he associated with’s, line of work. He saw Lana cut a gash into the creature and how ineffective that was. Maybe if a blow went all the way through it would work? He didn’t exactly want to tell Lana to just do it again but better this time, though.

Chris unwound the magic string again. It felt like he needed to be in two places at once, and this was the best way to do it. The skeletons were only going to get closer while everyone wasn’t looking. He took one or two steps back before breaking into a run towards that corner. When he reached the coffin, he leaped up onto the edge and used that to propel himself higher He still had his sword in his dominant hand, and as he jumped he held it high above his head before bringing the blade, his body, and his entire weight down on the wrapped thing’s raised arm, right in the shoulder.

He teleported away before he had to experience the consequences of such a reckless leap, though he still had to brace as he hit the ground back where they started again, eventually falling to his knees. Still, he was quick to pick himself back up. “Try hitting that with magic!” he called back to them. “That or, uh, I dunno, aim for a joint? Or where a joint should be, anyway?” He turned his attention back to the skeletons coming his way and readied his sword.

Edited April 22 by radio414

[Skaia 581]

Lana grit her teeth as she tried to push back against the strange wrapped zombie, only to find herself pushed back away from it and overpowered. Pulling her axe back, the girl saw the creature bring its arm up, about to swing at her only for Chris to appear and bring his blade down on the arm, forcing it to go off course. Before she could even react he was gone again, a visual that she had seen many times but still wasn't sure she could entirely get used to, before calling back to his now much further away voice. "Got it!" Thankfully, there was a now injured joint ripe for the hitting. 

Bringing up her axe, the girl took a swing to bury the blade into the monster's shoulder, nearly lopping the whole thing off as a result. Nearly. "Tsk, why are you all so tough, you're already dead aren't you?" The creature then brought down the hand it had blocked her with earlier down to strike her. Pulling her axe back, the girl stepped away for the swing to miss and the zombie to start walking her way. The room was pretty cramped as it was and there was more than just this monster to deal with here so she wanted to make sure it was dealt with quick. Stepping to the side of the injured arm, the girl took yet another swing, this time aimed as the monster's neck. With the blade managing to get a clean hit the zombie, Lana let out another frustrated grunt saying, "oh come on." She had proved that nothing short of total decapitation would stop it, as her axe failed to do just that. For that matter why was this thing's neck so tough anyway? 

As it brought its arm to swing at her again, the girl once again back stepped to avoid getting hit in the gut. She could've been reckless to try and kill it once and for all, but she was pretty sure that getting hit in the gut by this would be worse than anything the skeletons could do. However, she was running out of time as the skeleton to the north was now just one coffin away from them. "Alright..." Winding her axe back for yet another swing she shouted, "Ziun! Do that magic thing again!" If it was able to soften it up like it had the skeleton than that would be all she needed to kill it. And so when Ziun would fire his magic Lana would follow up with another swing. 

[Chaos Sonic 444]

"Alright...Ziun! Do that magic thing again!"

"Gladly, my dear!" Ziun gave a nod, turning on his heel to cast another Acid Splash at the mummy that was currently dealing with. He was, surprised that the acid did what it was supposed to with the skeleton, so a repeat performance would go great. He actually felt...proud...that he could be of some proper use at this moment, much better than he was on their last delve into the depths of this dungeon.

Nevertheless, the bard moved and cast the Acid Splash directly at the mummy's chest. Naturally, the wrapping around it started to melt away and the rotten flesh underneath was beginning to sizzle. "...oh that's a wonderful aroma..." Ziun groaned sarcastically. With that out of the way, Lana swung the axe and the hit connected...cutting deeper into the chest, almost halfway through it at this point. "Perfectly executed, if I do say so myself."

Then there was the issue with the skeleton that was soon to be upon then. "Retrieve your axe for the moment, Lana, allow me to hinder this one's progress." Ziun moved out of the axe-wielder's way before casting a series of ice shards right in the direction of the skeleton. Naturally, all this amounted to was it being something akin to like a heavy hailstorm, but nevertheless, it hindered the skeleton's stride...but it unfortunately didn't destroy it. "Naturally, your bones are made of sterner material. No matter...if I cannot destroy you myself..." he then proceeded to conjure up some spider webs and sent them to the skeleton, which was now stuck for the time being. "Perhaps I can just stall you until someone else can."

[LordCowCow 842]

The mummy now had two major injuries. One shoulder was cut deeply into and left one arm hanging while it had a huge gash in its chest. The ace had cut into it so much that, when Lana did remove the axe, she could literally see through the body with the wedge cut into it.

At first it seemed that the creature was still not done for but as it began to move it seemed its body could no longer keep itself together and it quite literally fell apart. However Lana would have to move back to avoid having the upper part of the mummy's body fall on her.

The skeleton that had been making its way towards them had nearly gotten within attacking range when Ziun's spells slowed it down. It currently was struggling against the webs that was entrapping it. It managed to get is sword arm out but it was struggling to realize how to get the rest of itself out.

Meanwhile the skeletons in the middle were looking about for where Chris had ran off to. He would be able to tell when he landed on the ground, kicking up dirt and dust as he did, that they didn't immediately realize where he was but it wasn't long before their empty sockets turned in his direction and they resumed their advance ready to attack.

Spoiler

Map

In order to cast the web without Lana being in the way Ziun is right next to the wall right behind Lana.

 

[Skaia 581]

As Lana had managed push her axe through the acid weakened chest of the zombie, the girl just as quickly pulled the blade out and got ready for the creature's counterattack. However, though it tried to stumble towards her to try and keep its attack up it eventually fell back to the ground and stopped moving. Seeing the skeleton in front of her now, covered in webs and unable to move forward, Lana smirked. The girl brought up her axe and, being unable to properly move, the skeleton soon had the blade crash straight through its skull and splitting down the neck and part of the spine before it finally stopped. Pulling her weapon back again, the skeleton soon clattered to the ground in its second death. As it did, though, Lana looked further north to where she was, seeing yet another one of those weirdly wrapped zombies come out of it. "Oh come on, another one?" Letting out an annoyed sigh, wondering why the enemies she saw at the start of the floor couldn't just be everything she had to kill, the girl looked around to her right. 

Chris was engaged with two skeletons with a third coming to flank him. She wasn't exactly worried about his ability to handle himself but knew that he did a lot of hopping back and forth from place to place and if that thread thing was in an area that was already surrounded that wouldn't be good for him. Besides, she was starting to feel like all of these coffin boxes were holding more of these zombies, so getting rid of the skeletons before they all sprung out and overwhelmed them would be for the best. Gripping her axe Lana nodded in the direction of the zombie, calling out to Ziun, "watch out for that guy," before rushing to the skeleton on the eastern side of the room. 

Seeing her come it raised its weapon, aiming to strike her, and so in turn Lana raised hers. In the past she might've tested her luck and seen if she could simply kill it before it managed to properly hit her. But Estelle wasn't with them and Joan's chiding of her carelessness had come back to her. In her last attempt in the dungeon she felt like she tried to apply what she learned from the brawl but ultimately still relied on being healed up at the end. So this time, she would aim to not be hit in the first place. With confidence in her strength and the weight of her weapon, the girl brought down her blade clashing with the skeleton's. True to her expectation she managed to win the clash of weapons, pushing the skeleton back, only for it to swing its weapon by the hooked end and pull on the blade of her weapon to try and seize it from her. The girl instinctively grabbed her weapon with both hands, pulling on it in a clash of strength. As the girl tugged, unsure of the outcome as she did, she looked down to her hands and realized something. 

Releasing one of her hands from her axe, Lana let herself be pulled closer by the skeleton as she shouted, "let go!" Clenching her gauntleted fist, the girl punched the skull of the skeleton forcing it back and alleviating some of the pressure on her. A sense of exhilaration as she had never quite punched a monster like this before went through her as she decided to go for another one. Reeling her hand back, she crashed her metal fist into the creature's skull again, this time cracking it. However, she could feel her hand start to lose the tug of war of weapons which pushed enough sense into her to not go for a third. After all, "I just got this axe!" The girl grabbed it with both hands again, pulling back against the skeleton's sword.