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

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Another skeleton, right in front of her! Robin hadn't had the chance to spot the thing. This damn mist made it impossible. Before she had much time to deal with it herself, Lana the axe-swinger had come in, swinging her axe, and breaking the thing down.

"Appreciated," Robin smiled, initially reaching for the second of her more mundane firearms, but stopping. If ever there was a time to see how these things handled fire, it was now. She just needed a good target. And a target she did find. Chris was looking a bit outnumbered over there by himself, and Robin had a mind to fix that. Especially with Lana helping the two friends by the stairs, and both teammates who were potentially in the line of fire out of Robin's way. All that was left was to grab hold of her trusty runelock pistol, take aim, and...

"Let's see how you burn."

For just a moment, the glyphs etched into the sides of Robin's pistol glowed, before the barrel of the thing spat out of a ball of flame, careening through the air toward one of the skeletons near Chris.

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The approach of spraying weaker attacks at the oncoming skeletons had seemed to prove somewhat effective. Each attack that landed slowed down the attackers for a moment which had kept several of the things from rushing Estelle at once. However the skeletons seemed irritated with the suppressing fire and soon one each were breaking away from the pack to get to the mage and the bard. While the Fereis had been slowly stepping back to provide the cover fire, this approach prompted a jump backwards to keep from being grabbed by the face as the monster seemed intent on doing. 

"What is-" Estelle started as a sound interrupted her immediately counterattacking her assailant. To her left another skeleton had emerged, seemingly from the ground, and was soon to be joining the fight. Thoughts raced for a moment, how many more would join the battle before it was over? Was there even a limit? This could go on indefinitely meaning running through the room needed to be their next focus. She could have gone on spinning ideas until the touch of boney appendages to her face elicited a shrill shriek on her part. Turning to face her assailant Estellise panicked and fired a barrage of blasts from the sphere in her hand, all concentrated in the skeleton's chest cavity due to the proximity.

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Chris's movements seemed to, while not necessarily confuse the skeletons as he couldn't be sure they had enough mental ability to be confused, make it harder for the skeletons to actually attack him. The one with the weapon that he hooked fell towards the floor and it's skull shattered as it landed. Though it didn't seem to be immobile yet. The creature started to blindly swing its sword from a seated position. Which wouldn't be so dangerous if not for the fact that it was near enough to swing right at Chris's legs regardless of accuracy.

The other skeleton was about to lunge for Chris but Robin's magical shot struck its side and the flaming ball created enough force to smash the ribs and arm on its right side to pieces. Though Chris, being near the blast, would also feel some of the flickering flame nearly burn him. The skeleton wobbled forward in Chris's direction though it seemed it could barely hold itself together anymore.

Ziun's swipes of his blade may not have had much power behind them but the rapid strikes weakened the bones of the skeleton's legs enough that they couldn't easily support the creature. Causing it to crash down towards the floor. Despite this the skeleton seemed unfazed at having had its legs cut off and grabbed onto Ziun's own legs. It dug its bony fingers into them and began to yank at the bard in an attempt to pull him down with it.

While Estelle's magic was hectic and not concentrated the distance with which she used it and the power behind it managed to shatter a hole in the skeleton's chest. Breaking apart not only the sternum but also part of the spine and many of the ribs. There was now a gaping hole in the middle of the skeleton. Oddly enough despite the bones not having much attaching each other it still held together for a couple moments before the strange purplish haze faded away and it collapsed in a heap of inanimate bones. Though Estelle's worries weren't over as the other two that had been approaching were finally nearly upon her.

Spoiler

Map

 

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It was good that Chris was light on his feet. He already had to hop back to stay out of the range of the now decapitated yet still animated skeleton, and as soon as he touched the ground again he had to throw himself out of the way of an erupting fireball. There were two things he hoped hadn’t burnt up, the first, obviously, was his magic string, and the second was one of his eyebrows. Thankfully, he’d managed to turn away as well, so only his back was really singed, and that could be fixed later. For now, he pulled himself back to his feet.

He was in a safe enough position to take a moment and decide how to deal with the two skeletons. Both were on shaky ground, with one, again, without its head and the other barely holding itself together after its timely incineration. Looking around further indicated that Robin had been the one to cast that fireball, her hands still clutching a literal smoking gun. He unwound his spool of thread again. “I’m trusting you to seal the deal on that one,” he called out. “Me, I’ve got to finish my plate here first.”

The headless skeleton’s swings weren’t exactly rhythmic or really timeable in any real fashion, but that didn’t mean there weren’t opportunities in the follow-through before it was able to strike again. Chris paced around just outside of the thing’s reach. He had in his head what he wanted to do next, now he was just looking for the right opportunity.

It came not long after, a wide backhand with the saber that left the chest entirely exposed. Chris stepped in, building up to a sprint as quick as he was able and, planting his right foot firmly in the ground, ramming his left insole into the center of the skeleton’s ribcage, following through as much as he could before pulling back on the spool to safety again.

He ended up landing on one foot, one that wasn’t as planted as it had been moments ago, but he managed to keep himself steady, only stumbling forward a step or two. Chris coughed. “You’d think with all the teleporting we’ve been doing, I’d be used to something like this,” he said to himself. He unwound the string again. “No reason not to keep trying.”

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Lana paid no attention to either of the thanks that were given to her, already ready to get to running to the next skeleton. As Estelle now seemed to be being harried by two of them, Lana had charged directly towards the one to her south. With her great axe readied, seeing the skeleton getting closer to her, Lana brought up the weapon and held it parallel to the ground. Shouting, "Estelle watch out!" the girl charged past the noble wizard and twisted grip on the weapon, causing the axe head to turn as it smashed into the rib cage of the skeleton. 

Bones shattered and splintered as the skeleton was pushed back from the attack, Lana herself coming to a stop as both recovered from their charges. Once the skeleton had gotten over the recoil of having its ribs smashed, it started to make its way towards Lana with both arms outstretched. Still close to Estelle and not wanting to acidentally kill her on the back swing of the weapon, Lana let go of her axe with one hand and unsheathed her hand axe yet again. As the skeleton moved towards her, the girl swung her axe and in a vertical arc shattered the skull of the skeleton. Weaker, now that it was missing some bones and its head, it continued to reach towards Lana to grab at her. This time one of its arms to met the same fate as its head as the girl brought her hand axe blade into the shoulder of the monster, severing the arm from it. 

Weaker still, the creature still kept moving, grabbing at the arm that was holding her great axe. Her annoyance still prevalent on her face, the girl jerked her arm back before saying, "I keep telling you to get off of me!" With that, she smashed hand axe against the second shoulder of the skeleton, causing the entire rest of the bony enemy to fall apart. Letting out a sigh of relief the girl looked towards the others saying, "please be the last of them."

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With the skeleton grabbing her face defeated Estelle was quick to observe two more of the boney menaces heading straight for her. At least this time she had a bit more room to prepare and would not be as taken in by any other uninvited guests rising up from the floor. Furthermore she had Lana's assistance as her friend's timely arrival took one of the skeletons off of her hand. That left for the mage a skeleton wielding a sword directly approaching her. The sphere of light she had been firing small projectiles from was still in her hand and seeing the smaller attacks lessened effect she thought to end the fight with the monster swiftly. The sphere's shape lost clarity as it began to surround the mage's hand again rather than float above it. With only a touch of focus it was reshaped into a large blast which Estelle soon fired at the armed skeleton's head. The magic shattered most of the skull almost immediately but the mage was bit more than mildly concerned that it hadn't stopped moving in her direction despite this fact.

"Surely you cannot need anothe-" Estelle started in disbelief as the sword was swung at her. It seemed to have only a general idea of where she was, perhaps shooting the head had helped her somewhat after all. But this particular skeleton was more skilled with the weapon it had been holding than the other armed skeletons in the room and shy of the grungy weapon it held being somehow magical, Estelle's mantle wasn't going to provide much protection from it. A mage almost never wanted to be in close quarters and Estelle found herself awkwardly dancing out of the way of the partially blind sword swings. She had little finesse for this sort of activity and several swings landed small nicks and gashes onto her arms and legs, each eliciting a wince. The mage had used up her immediately channeled attack to destroy the head and found herself needing space so she took to a quick enchantment. The magic increased the weight of the sword the skeleton held until the thing's hand snapped off its arm under the weight. Estelle could only blink at the sight.

"A more pronounced effect than imagined, but a welcome one." She concluded as she channeled more magic and promptly blasted the spine of the monster several times. Eventually this skeleton like the others crumbled away but unlike the other times there were not immediately more upon her person. At last she could share her findings with the others. "Be on your guard everyone! There may be more lying on the floor, at least one had joined the battle already. Let us finish these then move swiftly through the room or we may be overwhelmed."

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While Chris was able to finish off the skeleton he had beheaded previously the other one was still, shakily, standing. Instead of Robin finishing it off as asked she seemed to have been distracted by something.

Unbeknownst to everyone else something was occurring above them. Only Robin, having been somewhat detached from the action, noticed it. All the strange purplish smoke that had come from the skeletons as they were broken apart was lingering in patchy clouds above their heads.

However soon Robin would have a more grounded threat to notice as the nearly falling apart skeleton was advancing on her with murderous intent.

With Lana and Estelle each destroying a skeleton there was only one more left unaccounted for. Said skeleton had grabbed onto Ziun's legs and pulled at him. This caused the bard to lose his footing and fall to the ground. He was practically swallowed up by the fog and had anyone not been looking at him they wouldn't be able to notice where he was.

Though they would see the skeleton crawling as it moved up Ziun's body and reached out one of its bony hands to grasp the bard's throat.

Despite this there would be something else the others would notice. While the fog had covered the walls mostly completely there were patches here and there. And now, with the skeletons mostly removed from the view, any who looked towards the opposite wall would be able to notice where the doorway which would lead to the next floor was.

Spoiler

Important. Only Robin noticed the smoke. So only she can point it out (in a Yui post) if she wants to. Also there may be only two skeletons left but if those are finished off and y'all head to the stairs then will need to ask me for um, reasons.

Map

 

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How did the bard find himself in such a predicament as this? If this was one of his adoring fans or perhaps a jilted lover, it would be one thing...but it was neither. It was an undead skeleton with no legs with it's bony fingers trying to grasp at his throat. Honestly...this would make for quite the story... Ziun thought for a moment, before violently shaking his head to bring himself back to this current moment. NOT THE TIME, CASTIR!!! Focus!! You have an undead creature attempting to go for the jugular and end your existence before your name and music reaches the farthest lands and land in the court of royalty!!

It was this thought, along with reaching the further floors to uncover secrets and ancient verses that could be hiding within these dungeon walls, that gave Ziun the passion and the desire to keep moving forward. The question became now: how? He couldn't just grab his rapier and dispatch of this skeleton in his current position on the ground with half a skeleton on top of him. He couldn't exactly use his music to quell the temperament of this foul creature either...again, he was in a moment of not being able to do so. That left his only option: illusions. They did what they could at first when he distracted the bulk of them in order to attack...but he had to plan something else now...the question was, what could he accomplish in this moment?

Hmmm...would the skeleton stop if he saw one of his own that he was on top of? Ziun thought, before exhaling slowly. Not like there's any other option at this point...alright. He did what he could to distract the skeleton long enough for him to work his magic (literally) and have the visage of a skeleton. Ziun needed to really act the part, so swift and erratic movements were done, since skeletons and the undead really couldn't speak. With any luck, he could make the creature pause in his movements, and give Ziun the opportunity to either mount a counter attack or distract him long enough for another to attack...

...of course this had Ziun's full attention at present...not the fog wall and the most obvious door there was...

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It was taking quite a while for Robin to line up that final shot, Chris thought, but he also barely knew how guns worked, certainly less than someone whose fighting experience centered around them (yes, that probably, though begrudgingly, included Leo as well). He wasn’t about to go begging for them to actually keep moving when there were other more important things to be doing. The biggest one was getting his sword back. Now that most of the ground had been cleared of fog and bones, he could easily pick out its glinting metal despite the low light. He hoped he didn’t have to use it again, for this floor, anyway. They were so close.

He might have gone for the door that conveniently showed up just then, but, looking up, he saw that there was one more skeleton in addition to the one he’d indicated to Robin, and it was currently on top of Ziun. Chris was already sprinting in that direction by the time he’d fully registered it. The skeleton looked to be briefly confused by something that Chris couldn’t discern, but he wasn’t sure for how long that would last. Just like last time, he delivered as mighty a kick as he could, slamming his insole into the skeleton’s ribcage.

Not just like last time, the skeleton mostly held together, especially the part where its phalanges, still wrapped around Ziun’s neck, remained connected to the rest of the body. But Chris wasn’t done just yet. His sword was still in his hand, and, replanting his foot in the ground, he swung it in a horizontal slice that directly connected with the skull, and, as the skeleton crumbled, just kept going until it completed its semicircle arc.

Ziun was covered in bone and dust and bone dust, but that was probably fixable, as were any injuries he’d sustained in the meantime. Chris offered a hand to the downed bard. “You okay?” he said. “Come on, the door’s just up ahead. We’re almost done.”

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As it turned out, fireballs were indeed effective against skeletons. They didn't burn though, which was a bit of a shame. Not that she was a pyromaniac or anything, just that it was disappointing to specifically shoot fire at something only for it to not burn. Like trying to cook a meal only for it to somehow still come out cold. Edible, but at what cost?

Robin took a moment to survey the room before her. The group was suddenly cleaning up these skeletons quite well! However, scanning over the busted-up piles of bones, the pirate noticed something. A purple smoke would come from the skeletons each time one was broken apart. And following its trail, it seemed the stuff was gathering up on the ceiling, above the party. That was definitely something worth bringing up. But before she could mention the gathering smoke, her ears also picked something up. The sound of one last skeleton, shambling along the floor toward her. With no wasted time and about as much ceremony, Robin pulled out the second of her bullet-firing pistols, taking aim at the creature's skull and letting loose her shot.

“Come on, the door’s just up ahead. We’re almost done.”

"Not as almost done as you might think," Robin interjected. Pointing her runelock pistol up at the smoke on the ceiling, she simply noted "Look up."

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With the visible skeletons dispatched, Estelle was relieved for any break in the fighting to take stock of injuries. Ziun had seemed to be in a tight spot but at this point everyone was not being attacked and not themselves a skeleton. Wins all around. So long as everyone was still keeping all their blood in anyway. The mage ignored her own injuries and began inspecting the others, uncertain of how the various scraps with all of the skeletons had gone. As it happened she wouldn't have long to take stock of the situation as Robin pointed their attention upward. Above them was swirling the strange smoke that had escaped from the skeletons as they were defeated. With no bones attempting to kill her Estelle was able to inspect it better and soon realized it as the source of magic animating the enemies they had been fighting. There was no immediate direction to its movements, it was just gradually spreading out and back down.

"We should hurry to the exit. Assuming the Dungeon itself is the source of this spell it could indefinitely reanimate our foes. Not that I know if it can reconstruct them." Estelle stated the summary of her understanding of the necromancy at play. The idea of the skeletons coming back in pieces was perhaps as amusing as it was terrifying but regardless it was not something the Fereis wished to witness. After taking a brief moment to simply close the various cuts the skeleton had given her and any other open wounds on the others the mage ushered the group onward, her eyes dashing from side to side for any other late coming skeletons. Little happened until the group arrived about three fourths of the way to the exit. Ahead of them closer to the door and towards the northern corners of the chamber each rose up a new set of skeletons. The three of them each wielded spears this time or at least that's what Estelle thought they were. Upon closer inspect they looked almost like large fangs. In any case the reach of these weapons presented an issue that needed addressing.

"Lana, Chris, if you could each engage the ones on the sides! I'll enchant your gear for easier movement. The rest of us can bombard the center." The mage spoke quickly strategizing what made sense to her. She focused her magic into each hand to multitask the enchantment. Chris and Lana's clothing and armor would softly glow for a moment before the effect took hold. When Estelle said easier movement what she meant was a general speed enhancement. But her friends were capable fighters surely they could adapt. For her part Estelle needed to shift to casting offensive magic to go with her plan but whatever moves the others made would happen first.

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Lana was glad to see that Chris was on top of the skeleton that was on top of Ziun. Which is to say, she was glad to see the problem was taken care of. Naturally, she was one to charge straight at an enemy and strike them down with brute force. But she was fairly certain that trying that with either of her weapons would spell for a much messier end on Ziun. So with that and the one near Robin taken care of, Lana was glad to finally be rid of this room. However, her expression and relief dropped as Robin and Estelle pointed out the gathering of mist at the top of the room. "Are you kidding me? That doesn't seem fair," the girl huffed before following suit with the others and running to the exit. 

As they got near the end of the room, their path to the door was blocked as a trio of skeletons had emerged from the mist, each armed with a very odd looking spear. The girl grit her teeth in frustration at this unexpected, but unsurprising, obstruction. As Estelle gave her her enchantment, Lana nodded saying, "I'll break it no issue!" The girl then began to charge at the one who had emerged on the left side. With axe at the ready she ran headlong at it, ready to smash the weapon down at a moment's notice. As she did her reckless charge towards the creature she couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu about this whole situation, and that there was something important about it she was forgetting. Of course the time it took for her to charge would not allow her to think on such familiarity, and instead simply confused her as she realized she was approaching the skeleton a whole lot faster than she normally would've been able to. 

Being as fleet of foot as she was now, Lana had closed the distance between herself and the skeleton at a surprising rate. So surprising that by the time she realized something was off, with no active effort on the skeleton's part really, she had almost run chest first into its lance. Twisting her body, the girl used the haft of her great axe to shove the weapon to the side, stumbling as she ran past her target after her near-skewered experience. The increased speed only served to further enhance her stumbling as well, very nearly smashing into the wall behind the undead before finally getting her feet still again. With the enemy's back now to her, though, Lana had a clear shot at it as she ran at the creature, bringing the heft of her axe down onto its spine. The skeleton stumbled and wobbled as its back had splintered from the attack, leaving it open for Lana's follow up. Bringing her axe back again the girl gave one more swing its spine, smashing it pieces as the shards of bone and smoke scattered.

"All clear over here!" The girl shouted, getting ready to book it for the door. 

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“You okay? Come on, the door’s just up ahead. We’re almost done.”

"D-Divines bless you, Chris." Ziun exhaled slowly, dusting himself off with the skeleton dust now. His illusion did drop just in the nick of time, but regardless, he was thankful at the young man for the assist. "...that one seemed a bit more handsy than most of the women I play for..."  he attempted to make light of the situation, but regardless, he grabbed Chris' hand and was helped up. Shame, what a terrible display of my abilities...

"Not as almost done as you might think.Look up."
"We should hurry to the exit. Assuming the Dungeon itself is the source of this spell it could indefinitely reanimate our foes. Not that I know if it can reconstruct them."

"I believe she's 100% correct. So let's move on as quickly as possible!" Ziun nodded, starting to follow in Lana's footsteps and make it towards the door. "I can at least cover our tracks somewhat and make sure the skeletons aren't just bothering us." It was a long shot attempt, but he did what he could with what short timing and planning he had here.

Within moments, a series of illusions were cast behind the party of...well...themselves. Ziun's plan entailed that the real party would make it towards the door while any skeletons behind them would end up just having to deal with the illusions before them. There would've been an issue with the skeletons in front of the door, but Lana had already taken care of that. "Ladies and gentleman, I believe we take this moment to make haste towards the exit and our goal!" he said with quite a bit of urgency in his voice.

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In the face of all this undeath, Chris felt more blessed by Estellise’s magic than any sort of divinity, but he accepted Ziun’s thanks all the same. Really, he felt more cursed, though, as his words had quickly proven ironic with the creation of three more skeletons, these ones carrying tooth-like spears. Fighting against spears was a bit more awkward in Chris’ eyes, what with their extended reach and a big ol’ stick to block with, but it wasn’t like he was going to run away, especially with the door already in sight.

Lana broke left to deal with the skeleton over in that direction, which left Chris to go right, right towards the extended pointy bit of the spear before breaking, sliding under the thing to get up close and personal and slashing up into the skeleton’s shoulder joint.

If he hadn’t received the aforementioned blessing, he might not have actually managed it, but instead, the cleave worked too well, turning Chris’ lunge upwards into a full-on jump. Like, at least it worked, but the landing was absolutely going to catch him off-balance now unless he did something about it. The something he decided to do, then, was to simply roll with it, and he put his weight into a second, downward stroke that went through the skeleton’s other shoulder.

The skeleton was now disarmed in that it didn’t have a spear anymore and also in that it didn’t have any arms, but that didn’t keep it from attacking all the same, and Chris had collapsed in the landing, still getting used to his new enchantments, which meant he wasn’t in the right defensive posture to defend against, say, a headbutt, which was exactly what happened. He gasped in pain, clutching the impact point, though still managing to hold on to everything and scramble to his feet one more time.

He still had to be a little careful, like, one wrong move and he’d probably let go of his sword again and he didn’t want to be caught with non-enchanted weaponry, so he planted his feet firmly in the ground and focused on his stroke, aiming for the skeleton’s midsection, just below the ribs. It was a harder sell. Even the enchanted sword didn’t go all the way through the first time, but now that he was focused, he could avoid the hissing and kicks the defanged skeleton could manage and soon he’d made short work of the thing.

“All clear over here!” Lana said.

“All clear over here too!” he shouted back, and he too turned around and started running back to his party and the stairs ahead.

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As the group proceeded toward the door and thus the exit out of this foggy, bone-filled room, one last set of skeletons had risen up to the challenge of stopping the adventurers. And already, the others were on the case. Lana went to the left, making a rather impressive move by darting past the skeleton before tearing it apart with her axe. Chris went right, sliding under his skeleton before similarly slicing and dicing his target bag of bones. Well. Robin, for one, didn't want to be shown up in such a manner. She could have just shot the center skeleton and called it a day, but that would be a bit anticlimatic after all that. So she didn't settle for just shooting the skeleton dead...er.

Tossing one of the empty pistols toward Estelle, Robin called out "Heads up, enchant this then toss it to me! I'm going in!" Estelle, for her part, fumbled the catch and nearly dropped the gun, but catch it she did, and she soon started work on an enchantment meant to make the weapon more powerful.

While Estelle worked on that, Robin took aim with the trusty runelock pistol, and already running in to close the distance between her and her quarry, shot forth a fireball aimed at the creature's hands. As she shot, however, Robin had to take a quick hop back away from her target, to avoid getting caught in the resulting blast of fire. Which made the return pass of her now-enchanted pistol all the easier for Estelle.

"Only one shot is safe!" she warned, as the pistol went through the short distance of air between the two girls.

"One's all I need!"

Normally, a normal pistol wouldn't work with magic in the same way as her trusty runelock pistol. But with an enchantment in place, it was surely quite a different story. Robin swung the enchanted pistol down hard onto the skull of the skeleton near her, dragging its skull down beneath her before unleashing the enchanted shot. A mighty blast of fire shot out of the pistol, with enough recoil that it lifted Robin a short distance off the ground. The skull was surely well and truly gone if the shot was that powerful. While airborne, for good measure, Robin aimed down and fired one last fireball from her runelock, aimed at the spine where she was about to land as well. The fireball made impact, the explosion cleared, then the pirate's boots landed on the bony back of the beast.

"Hell of a kick to that enchantment," Robin remarked, with a whistle that clearly communicated how impressed she was. "Center's clear. Let's get going."

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With the last enemy dispatched the group was able to take a breather. However the purplish energy was on the move as they did. Where it had been gathering together before it now started to separate into patches. And a keen observer would notice they were hovering around the places the skeletons they had felled had been.

It was clear they’d need to get out soon and thus they made for the staircase before whatever magic was happening had finished.

Despite the floor itself being different than the previous ones the staircase seemed to be the same. Though it was somewhat longer which gave them some time before winding up at the next floor.

Which looked very nearly the same as the previous floor. It could have been either smaller or larger it was hard to tell as the fog had grown even thicker than before. Without any of the previous patches. It had also gotten taller as well and instead reached around the waist of an average human.

Here, too, were skeletons. Though they were standing much more uniform than the others had been. Three groups of three, mostly evenly spaced, in three locations, could be seen standing almost at attention and facing them.

The only outlier was a tenth skeleton who seemed to have been pacing back and forth and was quite nearby. It had just finished turning and beginning to walk off to the right of the entrance when the group entered the floor.

It seemed to be about to be a repeat of the previous floor. But then some would notice something else. Movement of something that wasn’t much higher than the fog itself. For a moment they could see what seemed to be a skeletal canine of some sort slinking across the floor but the fog quickly hid the creature’s form. They wouldn’t be able to tell if it was the only one and soon the skeletons would begin to advance in a methodical but brisk march.

Spoiler

Map

for some clarity, feel free to discuss things and prepare on the way to next floor but not much time to linger.

 

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Chris spent the in-between time mostly gazing wistfully as Estellise’s enchantment faded from his weapon and shoes again, allowing himself to be healed where necessary (though really he’d managed the floor with only a few scrapes, so there wasn’t much “necessary” work that needed doing), and watching as everyone else geared up for the floors ahead (or below, as the case may be). He took particular interest in watching Robin reload her pistols; the pirate was meticulous in her work, and all that for single instances of destructive power. It was the first time he’d actually seen a gun go off, now that he thought about it. Leo had only brandished his.

Maybe it was his chosen profession, but Chris also idly wondered what it would be like to have one of his own. Not that he was about to steal anything he’d regret, but he’d started seeing them more and more. Then again, Robin’s seemed to be a focus for her magic -- or one of them, anyway -- and he didn’t have the smarts for any of that, so maybe not.

In any case, they were soon on their way to the next floor, which turned out to be much like the previous one, including the fog, the lack of an obvious egress, and, yes, the skeletons. These ones were much more organized, though, and Chris sensed there was something more even besides them. It wasn’t something he could say for sure, it was just a gut feeling, or maybe just an errant movement out of the corner of his eye. Still, he remembered more skeletons rising up out of the fog, or even being made out of it. That was something to keep in mind.

He turned to his compatriots. “Okay, so if it’s more skeletons maybe we should start with the enchanted weapons thing?” he said. “I mean, if you’re up for it, Estellise? And then I would also say stick together this time. Don’t want anyone’s ankles getting grabbed or worse in more of this fog.”

They did have to hurry, though. One of the skeletons was coming their way.

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With the skeletons in front having been dispatched, Lana awed by Robin's theatrics in particular, the path to the next floor had been cleared. Swiftly following behind the ground of mages they had made it to their first set of stairs in this journey down the dungeon. Lana thought back to all her altercations with the skeletons, and specifically back to how she had been injured. All that really happened was her getting whacked in the arm, which she could definitely feel the soreness in it now that her adrenaline was settling a little, and the clawing at her face, which she could only hope didn't leave a lasting mark. With only those things taken into consideration she figured that so far her training with Joan had certainly been paying off. Though, she couldn't help but feel like she hadn't done anything particularly different then in any other fight. Maybe she had just gotten that much better? 

Lana didn't think too hard on it, especially as they were now on a new floor that only seemed to be thick with even more fog. Lana's distaste for this was clearly evident on her face as she let out an annoyed sigh. The room seemed to be more of the same as last time, with more skeletons walking about, and the girl could've sworn she saw something shifting under the fog though with how brief it was it might've just been the fog moving itself. As Chris brought up his plan Lana nodded, "I don't want to have to run from wall to wall of the room again either.  Also maybe we should pick a side of the wall and stick to it? I can't see the door but there's no point in tearing through all of these skeletons if they're just gonna come back right?" 

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The next floor of the dungeon brought little changes to the group. Thicker fog but a similar style of room and further skeletons to contend with. Estelle took note of the increase in their organizational skills with some concern but the group soon voiced a desire to be organized in their approach to this as well. The mage quickly agreed with the ideas presented to stay together and not fight through every undead that they saw. More could raise at any moment and even the destroyed might return without a means of dispelling the source of their animation. 

"Yes of course. This should help you sever their spines and move on." Estelle spoke as she began weaving magic over Lana and Chris' weapons. The enchantment was simple enough to increase the sharpness of the edges of the weapons. Once seeing her work was satisfactory for the duration of the floor she turned to Robin as the spell shifted, this time to reinforce the enchantment on the gun she had hastily thrown together on the previous floor. With any luck it would last a few more shots before threatening to explode. "I trust you recall this one" Estellise teased gently in place of repeating her warning. That left herself and Ziun, neither of whom had taken to using a physical weapon thus far and thus she ceased channeling her enchantment magic.

"This wall to our left is closer" She spoke in favor of Lana's idea. So long as the group moved fast enough they could dispatch only a few assailants and be done with it. For now she readied an offensive spell and trained her aim on the approaching skeleton. She didn't immediately fire for fear of causing the rest to start collapsing on them early.

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As the group hustled down to the next floor, the first thing Robin noticed upon arrival was that this floor was like the last floor, but more. More skeletons that seemed more organized, more things besides the bony soldiers, though Robin didn't get a good enough look to tell what exactly those other things were. The best she was able to manage was a brief glance that there was something. And more of that fog, of course. Which meant the party of would-be Spark-hunters would have to be more organized and efficient themselves.

“Okay, so if it’s more skeletons maybe we should start with the enchanted weapons thing?”

Robin nodded in agreement, fetching the pistol Estelle had enchanted previously. If they were going through with this, it would be better to have the thing ready to go as soon as possible.

"And then I would also say stick together this time. Don’t want anyone’s ankles getting grabbed or worse in more of this fog.”

"I don't want to have to run from wall to wall of the room again either.  Also maybe we should pick a side of the wall and stick to it? I can't see the door but there's no point in tearing through all of these skeletons if they're just gonna come back right?" 

"You'd both make good captains on the high seas," Robin praised. For a pirate, strategy was everything, and these two wasted no time coming up with a plan that sounded pretty damn good! "Let's do it."

"I trust you recall this one."

"Only one is safe," Robin winked back.

"This wall to our left is closer."

"Then let's follow that one to find the door out of here," Robin suggested, brandishing the enchanted pistol in one hand, and the already-magical pistol in her other hand. "I'd like to suggest Lana and Chris take up the respective ends of our little group huddle, so that we're covered from both flanks with someone who knows how to handle skeletons up close. I'll take up the middle with our magically-inclined friends if it's all the same."

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The group set out. They moved towards the left wall. Or, rather, what they felt was the wall, but it seemed that the room stretched out more than they realized as they had gone some distance without actually finding said wall. The farther to the left they went the more uncertain it became and the fog started to creep in around them. If they went too far to the side it would begin to envelop them. However if they were to focus they would see what might be a wall in the midst of the thickest parts of the fog.

Meanwhile the skeletons were on the move. The three trios moved down towards where they had come from. However after a certain point the three in the middle turned around and began walking the other direction. None of them seemed all too focused on the group yet. Except the one that had been nearest. Who was steadily following behind the group without making much of any noise.

Lana, in the front of the group, would be the first to notice more movement. Then, suddenly, from her right side, something would spring out from inside the fog. A skeletal hound leapt towards her with its fangs aiming to bite into her shoulder. The creature made no noise beyond the sound of its claws scrapping against the ground as it took off. No growling or snarling like a dog would. Yet it still moved just the same as a flesh and blood canine.

Spoiler

Map

Arrows indicate direction moving. Don't know exact formation of y'all so sorta guessing.

So basically the map wasn't necessarily meant to show "this is the exact size" sorry if this feels like a trick it wasn't meant to be. But yeah you COULD go towards the wall, just, you'll be inside of the fog instead of it just being covering lower parts.

Also yes most the skeletons are basically just marching up an down as of this moment however do be aware they will begin to pay attention as it were when actual movement/combat begins.

 

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Chris could hear… something going on out in front of the group -- whatever was making that scraping sound, it didn’t sound like Lana -- but he kept his attention in front of him. Everyone else could deal with that. He was the rear guard, which meant making sure nothing tried to flank them in the meantime. There was something, one of the skeletons, the one who hadn’t been marching in formation with the rest, who had decided to follow along, just keeping pace with the group, just out of reach of, like, a good, solid lunge.

He probably should say something about this, right? “Just one back here so far,” he said. He didn’t want to distract them too much. A skeleton, somehow, was familiar now. They’d already enchanted their weapons against them. Whatever was in front of them (still behind him) was, well, not. He also didn’t want to break formation and actually do something about their tail. That was how the last floor devolved, and while they won -- decisively, even -- that didn’t mean there wasn’t room for improvement.

It would probably go for his neck, Chris thought. It didn’t have a weapon or anything, so it would have to close in, which meant he just had to wait for that to happen. It was kind of like that fight with the Kalo goons, where he’d tried to provoke them to make the first move, except this time there was no provoking necessary. The skeleton, what with how it almost seemed to hiss at everyone (could skeletons even hiss? It certainly seemed like this one was hissing) was already certainly hostile.

Though that meant it was waiting for the right moment too. It was smarter than it looked. And it turned out it didn’t have to wait for long. At the same time that he heard a patter of scrapes behind him, probably indicating whatever was up ahead was attacking as well, the skeleton charged forward, reaching out with both hands to throttle him.

Chris had to be a little careful. He was being attacked, after all, but also because Estellise’s enchantment could work against him if he wasn’t careful. What he wanted to do was bat the skeleton’s arms upwards with his sword to leave its chest exposed, but with magic thrown into the mix, he had to make sure to use the flat of his blade to avoid getting his sword stuck in the bone or something. That carefulness changed when he swung around, though, almost to the point of recklessness, and he brought his sword arcing through any bone he could manage to find.

In the background, the other skeletons had noticed the melee and were starting to break formation. “Head’s up!” Chris said. “More coming in!”

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With the plan decided on Lana decided to walk towards where she presumed the wall to be given the room. As she walked up to it and put her hand on it to start sidling across it better, she found her hand pass completely through the fog. Now made curious about the lack of physical wall, the girl couldn't help herself before stepping into the fog proper only to find herself completely submerged in, well, fog. Walking a bit forward, this didn't change for the few paces she took and the inability to see any thing, save for what was directly in front of her, was starting to unnerve her more than she would've liked. As she was starting to move away from the fog this sort of nervousness proved to be with warrant. 

Out from the veil of the fog a skeletal hound made its presence known as it came out and leaped at the girl. To add to the creepy nature of the creature it made no sounds that the girl would expect from a dog, instead the only noise it really made was that of its footsteps against the ground. Coming out from nowhere and surprising the girl, Lana no time to properly swing at the creature and instead, in a panic, let out an, "aahhhh," and shoved the butt of her weapon at the creature's face. This attack did nothing to halt the hound's advance, instead acting as something for it to bite down on instead of her shoulder. As it bit down, seemingly chewing on the haft of her weapon, the girl's panic gave way, now awkwardly jabbing the spine from the inside with the butt of her axe while saying, "g-get off, get off of it!" It seemed to have little interest in ending this game of fetch. 

Frustrated, the girl let go with one of her hands and brought up her hand axe. Not wanting to accidentally cleave her own weapon, the girl spun the hand axe around before saying again, "get off!" and smashed its snout with the back of the head of her axe. The skull cracked and the dog let go of the weapon finally, only to then disappear back into the mist. Her hairs now standing on end and her nerves on full alert that she could no longer see the dog the girl said, "uh, alright. I'm getting out of this fog." 

As she began to walk back towards the entrance of the fog wall, looking every which way as she moved slowly. Her vigilance was rewarded as well, as she saw the dog reemerge from the fog, ready to bite at her again. This time, prepared, the girl let out a wide swing towards the rib cage of the creature, splintering a few bones and knock the dog to the side though doing nothing to prevent its charge as it continued to move forward. With the creature so close Lana had no time to actually wind back and go for another proper swing before the creature would bite at her, though there was something familiar about this thought process. The girl didn't have much time to think, so she just went to what her vague memory was telling her to do. If a full swing wasn't an option due to time, then just make the swing shorter. 

Readjusting the grip on her axe to be closer to the head, the girl swung again at the dog. This time, though, with how close it was the girl managed to bludgeon it with the haft of her weapon rather than the head. All the same, the bludgeoning force of her attack had knocked the creature away, breaking its skull further and causing it to slump on the ground. After a few moments of staring at the skeleton she felt relieved as it was no longer moving. Looking away, a smile on her face for a job well done, the girl's expression dropped. "Ugh, there's more coming," the girl saw the closest patrolling trio of skeletons turn to start moving towards them. 

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As it turned out, the wall was no wall at all! Just more fog! From within the foggy depths, Lana and Chris had been accosted by a dog and a normal skeleton respectively, and while Robin wanted to offer some literal supporting fire, there was a problem. With the fog this thick, and the enemies so close to her allies, it was just too risky; Robin could have just as easily wound up shooting Lana as the dog that had attacked her, and that would be all kinds of bad news. The same problem existed in Chris's case. It seemed Robin would have her time to shine though, as the main groups the adventurers had spotted had now spotted them in return. Or heard the commotion, at least.

“Head’s up! More coming in!”

"Ugh, there's more coming,"

This was more her style! If it was enemies approaching the team, Robin was perfectly suited for the task. Taking aim with both the enchanted and runelock pistols, Robin set her sights dead ahead at the approaching trio of skeletons. Then she fired, one fireball after the other. Did she have a specific skeleton in mind? Absolutely not. But she'd be damned if she was going to just let them get up close to the party unharmed.

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Chris managed to bat the skeleton's arms upwards momentarily. That moment was enough for him to follow up by slashing clean across the skeleton's chest. The blade sliced into it and also took a few ribs on the way out. More of the dark smoke left the wounds yet unlike before they seemed to just fade away.

The skeleton itself wasn't stunned by the attack despite having been damaged a fair amount. With its arms in the air it simply reached instead to grab onto the top of Chris's head with what would prove to be a much stronger grip than should be possible for a being made of bone.

Through all this, and literally through the gaps of the skeleton, Chris would notice something low to the ground slinking towards them.

While Robin cast and/or shot her spell the skeletons had continued their march forward. Not stopping even as the fireballs flew through the air towards the one in the lead. The first one struck it almost straight on and blew several chunks off of the skeleton and it began to tilt towards the side that had suffered most damage. The second one hit closer to the ground nearby but as the blazing ball hit and exploded the skeleton was pushed off to the side and, as it fell, they could hear more shattering of bones.

The skeleton didn't reemerge but the other two seemed to quicken their marching and would soon be right on them. Lana being the nearest would be the target of their attacks. Instead of trying to throttle her like the others they seemed to intend to bash her with closed fists.

Though they were still single-file so the second one would have to move around the first to reach her.

Spoiler

Map

Only Chris has noticed the hound but it will go for whoever of Robin/Estelle/Ziun that posts first (yes even if it means skirting around Ziun according to map, tbh I'm not sure what the actual order is there for which of the two is closer)

 

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