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

[Skaia 552]

With the group having met back up again, Lana grimaced at the sight of the shadow darting away from the light and listened to what Estelle had said about their mystery enemy. "Great. More magical zombies to deal with." The girl let out a heavy sigh before Estelle asked if they were injured at all. While it was true that she had gotten a small hit from the zombie earlier Lana didn't really think it was something so urgent that she needed healing from. After just shaking her head no, the girl looked towards the mausoleum near them. There was a door on the east side of the building, and as she made her way over to the rest of the group she was able to notice that there was a second door on the southern side. 

Not wanting to just blindly wade further into the mist and deal with the creepy staring shadow zombie thing, or the what sounded like a zombie coming from the north end of the room, the girl walked over to the mausoleum to check it out. After all it was the biggest point of interest in the room. "I'm gonna try to open it," the girl declared as she paused, grimacing and saying, "uh, get ready if anything crazy jumps out." Walking up to the door, the girl placed her hand on the door and pushed, only to find that it didn't budge at all. Looking at the door, she noticed that there was a keyhole on the door of it, and started saying, "hey Chris, the door's locked do you think you could-" 

The sound of something running towards her interrupted her and the sudden clawing of her arm made her swear under her breath. The girl reflexively looked to the side, seeing the figure of a ghoul that attacked her, before swinging her axe immediately towards it. The ghoul dodged backwards from her attack and Lana herself was starting to feel her arm numb, a familiar sensation though not quite the full paralysis she had encountered on the last floor. As she cursed under her breath again, the girl saw a skeleton approaching with a sword in hand. Her mood only turning fouler the girl said, "oh great more of them. Ugh, alright." The girl gripped her axe, her annoyance growing as the numbed arm wasn't gripping quite as tightly as she'd like. "Stupid undead." 

OOC

New Map

[radio414 864]

“I’m fine,” Chris said. He didn’t need any healing in specific, though if Estellise could conjure up a nice warm bath or something, that would be great. Oh, and if Estellise or anyone else could get his dagger back from that one creature’s head, that would be great too. But there were small blessings. Everyone was together again like he’d wanted, and now they could see part of the dungeon a little bit better. There was still all this fog, but they had some light now. Would torches be useful in later runs? He wondered how many other preparations could be done, assuming everyone still wanted to explore with him after his plans for that night. Not that he could look too much further into the future. They were still in the middle of combat. Chris could see new shadowy figures dancing in the fog. 

Lana moved to the center of the room and tried the door. “Chris, the door is locked, do you think you could-” She got cut off by one of those creatures jumping out at her. Thankfully, Chris had already been heeding Lana’s other instruction, to be ready in case something jumped out, and though coming from behind one of the pillars of the building was not what Chris had been expecting, he’d still been ready enough to rush in.

“I’m on your left!” He didn’t want to be a hypocrite and not warn his teammates. Chris took a running jump and whirled his weapons around, bringing them both down upon the monster’s arm, the same arm that had just struck his friend.

That certainly got the thing’s attention, but Chris hopped back instead of staying within grabbing range, and stepped back behind Lana, getting a closer look at the door. “Oh, it’s one of these,” he said as he dropped down to be eye-level with the lock. This was the plan, huh? Well, he could oblige if everyone else was willing. “I can probably get this open, but you’re all going to have to watch my back as I do, ‘cause it’s going to take a bit.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them -- this wasn’t the first time he’d had to jig open a door while they kept him safe -- but just in case, he didn’t sheathe his dagger as he took out his lockpicks, instead keeping it in the same grip as his tension rod. If anything happened, he could whirl back around, but otherwise, he kept his full attention on the puzzle in front of him.

[Doggo 216]

For her part Estelle wasn't entirely sure how best to heed Lana's advice. They needed to be on guard for further surprises, but when a look from one of them could cause you to writhe in pain and hallucinate it put a damper on wanting to keep a proper look out. It was no surprise then that Lana was first to catch on to their next assailants, especially when they attacked her first while she investigated the locked door. With Chris' help Lana was in a position to at least fight the ghoul on fair terms while the former took to picking the lock. Estelle for her part readied her magic, uncertain of how best to intervene with the immediate threat. She was as liable to hit Lana from this angle as she was the monster and her brain hadn't as yet thought to move, perhaps fearing the risk of being out of sight of the others due to the fog.

"Lana, are you-" the Fereis tried to assess her friend's situation. But it was then the unfortunate silhouette of the sword wielding skeleton came into view for her. The mage gasped and nearly squeaked in fear that the bodak had returned to the fight. Less than eager to see her death again, at once her aim was on the skeleton. The magic in her hand erupted into a fireball rather than her usual fair of elegant light constructs. The spell sailed away from her hands at alarming speed and exploded on impact with the skeleton's ribcage and spine. It was a messy but effective separation of its legs from its torso. The sound of shattering bones after the explosion's reverberation through the cavern confirmed the skeleton to be all but unable to move but Estelle couldn't see it clearly enough through the fog to tell. It was enough to know the larger threat still loomed in the fog somewhere though which didn't help her nerves.

"Ziun, I advise we split our watch." She called out to the bard behind her knowing she wouldn't be able to react in time if something came from that direction. "I shall attend Lana from our front, you alert us of anything from behind and keep it off Chris." Estelle said trying to employ a simple plan to keep Chris covered from all sides. She readied another fireball, taking her time with this one as she looked for a clean spot to intervene in Lana's confrontation.

Edited October 30 by Doggo

[LordCowCow 816]

The ghoul didn't seem about to back off after its arm injury. If they were paying attention they would notice it seemed more cautious than the other undead, as though it had some level of intellect left. Despite this, now that it was out in the open, it didn't seem to be much for strategy. It crouched down and rushed at Lana. It seemed wary but still decided to attack head on. Perhaps in part due to the lack of space on top of the steps.

Ziun would soon see a zombie, possibly the zombie he had previously distracted, come out of the fog towards him. Ambling without any thought in its head except to reach him to attack. Out of the corner of his eye he would notice something else. A ghoul like the one fighting Lana sneak out from behind a gravestone and clamber atop of the steps heading for Chris.

Estelle, for her part, wouldn't notice anything from the direction the skeleton she had destroyed. At least not directly. Near where her orb of light hovered she noticed something. Something moving nearby it. It seemed to be intentionally trying to keep away from it so it likely off to the side of the orb and coming closer.

Spoiler

Things are heating up, the undead are coming from all sides at this point basically. Radio already knows what needs to happen for the door plan to work but will tell the rest if he has to stop to fight it will take a lot longer.

Map

 

[Skaia 552]

As the ghoul got ready to move towards her, Lana locked eyes with the creature. Based on how it had moved before it was fast enough to get away from her swing and, unlike every other undead she had fought thus far, actually seemed to be somewhat aware. Annoyed at having to deal with an actually thinking opponent, Lana tried to slow herself down as well. She could feel the numbness in her arm hindering her a bit and knew that the straight forward approach didn't really work with the mindless zombies so it was probably not going to work against something that could think. Taking a deep breath, Lana shifted her grip up the haft of her great axe and readying herself as the ghoul made its charge towards her. Thrusting the axe head forward, the ghoul swiftly ducked under her attack opening its jaws and readying to bite down on her. Gritting her teeth she grunted as she swung her axe above her and as result the haft of the weapon into the ghoul's face. With the wooden pole stunning it the girl shouted, "just die again!" bringing her axe down onto the creature's shoulder. 

Her numbed arm was starting to lose the strength behind it, and even with gravity on her side she didn't manage to do nearly as much damage with her axe as normal. "Tsk," the girl could start to more plainly feel the weight of the axe, her still good arm straining more as most of the burden of carrying it started to transfer to it. Needing to use more than just her arms to dislodge her axe, the girl kicked the ghoul, pushing it away as she pulled her weapon back. The ghoul, however, wasn't stunned by this for long as it lashed its claws out at her. Off balance, Lana pulled her leg back hastily and as a result ended up falling on her face. Letting go of her axe, feeling that she couldn't properly get up if she was still holding it, and letting it fall to stone floor of the mausoleum she was at, Lana stood back up.

Using her good arm to ready her hand axe she kept a watchful gaze on the ghoul. It, in turn, seemed perched up on all fours, as if trying to get a read on her. The two of them were both waiting for their moment to strike but, with a shorter weapon and a bummed arm the girl didn't think she would win a direct clash again. It was then that the girl thought of something. While she had won the last clash, that was mostly on instinct. But, what if she could plan to do something like that? 

This time, Lana had been the first to make the move, charging towards the ghoul. As the girl readied her axe to swing, once in range, the ghoul instinctively dodged away from her attack as it had each previous time. However, Lana had never swung the axe. It had never dodged an attack as there was no attack to dodge to begin with. Smiling as she caught the ghoul in its movement the girl said, "gotcha," and swung her axe for real this time, burying it into the undead's skull. Pulling out her axe and letting out a sigh she looked over to Chris shouting, "how's it going with the lock?"

[radio414 864]

The first thing Chris tried was just raking his lockpick through the pins trying to get any of them to stick up through the force of his tension rod alone. He figured if the dungeon was eternal and timeless, it wouldn’t exactly follow the latest lockpicking technology. But the lock was as tricky as it looked. He wondered how everyone would react if he got it open that quickly after saying it would take a bit of work. Probably they’d just scramble through the door in the heat of the moment, but afterwards?

No, he did need to focus. He took his pick back out, reset the tension bar, and tried again.

Once upon a time, back before Chris could ever have conceived of doing this for a living (because earning a living was for peasants, obviously), back before he was even picking the locks the maidservants set on the larder, a man came to Ellwood Manor looking to ply his trade. As it turned out, the man was a locksmith, a new trade branching off from the classical skill of blacksmithing, specializing in exactly what the name implied. If a noble needed something secured, a locksmith was who they would turn to.

Now, this was back before Chris’ father and mother, patriarch and matriarch of the Ellwood estate, had imposed any sort of restriction on Chris’ activities, so the man never went near any of the things Chris cared about. He didn’t actually want valuables, yet. In fact, Chris was encouraged to be around the locksmith, helping the guards keep an eye out in case the man tried to pocket something from the coffers. “It might even teach him something,” Chris’ father said. “What a good work ethic looks like.”

In a way, his father got what he wanted. The locksmith invited Chris to get up close to an installation, to survey his latest installation. Even to Chris’ untrained eye, it looked like a masterwork. “It’s perfect,” he said.

The locksmith shook his head. “It’s not perfect,” he said. “But it’s okay. You make enough of these, you learn to spot the imperfections, the ways to do it better next time. That’s lesson one -- you can tell your father I told you that. Lesson two is this: Nothing is, especially not locks. If it can be opened with a key, it can be opened with a pin and some dedication. My job is to make there be as much dedication as possible.”

Well, he certainly was dedicated now. He could feel a ghoul breathing down his neck over on his right, but he just had to keep trusting the rest of the group.

Lana broke his concentration. “How’s it going with the lock?” she said.

“It sure is going,” Chris said. Only then did he feel the first pin click into place. “Okay, that’s a start.”

[Chaos Sonic 435]

With a skeleton gone, thanks to his and Lana's efforts...Ziun now was staring down a zombie...again. It was the one he previously distracted, to which he slightly cursed under his breath, really hoping this one would end up being distracted a bit more until after they were done. But alas, they weren't...and lo and behold, the zombie now was shambling towards him from the fog...and now a few feet away. The bard simply stayed his blade, waiting for the zombie to make it closer to him...which only took a few seconds...to which he watched the creature rushed at him with arms out in front of him.

"Confound it, you undead creature!" Ziun huffed, crouching down and immediately attempted to cut the creature off at the knees. Which worked...sort of. The moment he crouched down, he felt the zombie grab a hold of him as his blade began to cut into the knee. "T-Tch...damnit...will you just die...again?" he pleaded, taking the weapon and proceeding to make a few slashing motions, really cutting into the knees. After a few swings, the knees came off...now it was holding itself up by grabbing Ziun's shoulders...and it was going in for a bite.

"O-Oh no you don't!!" he shouted, shoving the rapier upwards, having it stab into the zombie's chin. This made it harder for the creature to make a move on biting, but it was giving the bard a moment to get out of the way...or in this case, stand up. After he finally stood up, he slammed the zombie onto the ground...albeit with some difficulty...and immediately yanked the rapier out. "Accursed wretch..." he said, simply kicking the zombie's head and immediately returning to where the others were. "...so...how's the escape plan coming along?"

[Doggo 216]

Upon even the glimpse of a figure moving in the edge of the light her prior sphere was still casting Estelle instinctually averted her gaze to avoid a repeat of her earlier encounter. Thankfully Lana seemed to have her opponent well in hand because this shift in focus drew the mage's attention to the new assailants coming from the other direction she'd turned Ziun's attention to. Said bard was engaging a zombie while another of the ghouls was making a mad dash to Chris who was still devoting himself to lock picking. Estelle turned about to better aim and attack the monster, quickly shifting from the exploding fireball strategy back to a more common approach for the Fereis. A lance made of light sailed through the air piercing the ghoul through the chest before lodging itself into the wall of the building. The thing's movement was stopped just a hair shy of being able to reach Chris which gave Estelle a moment to pin down the figure she had spotted.

"Where are you hiding?" she muttered as she shifted the orb of light's direction of travel upward through the room. If she really had seen the bodak it was trying to get closer to them without coming into view. There was no sign of anything except the outlines of head stones marking graves along the ground. That was until the orb stopped at its new intended destination. Again another figure hiding in the edges of the light, just out of view. And again Estellise jerked her head away for fear of seeing her own death. Thankfully all she saw was the ongoing struggle to keep Chris protected so they could leave this undead nightmare of a floor. She returned to the ghoul still trying its hardest to tear Chris apart. Her spear wouldn't last long so the mage aimed and shot several more arrows of light into the thing's head. It died fairly quickly and just in time as the lance spell faded, letting the now corpse slide down the wall.

Edited November 13 by Doggo

[LordCowCow 816]

For a brief moment all they could see was each other. As Ziun got closer they all were in clear view and as far as any of them could see it was just them. This didn't last long. First came the now familiar wave of fear as the bodak emerged from the fog. Coming from nearly exactly where Estelle's orb of light was. The creature didn't lurch like the zombies but it did move at a steady, slower, pace. It seemed to be focused on the two standing near the door as it made its way forward.

And as it moved it turned its twisted face towards Lana, gazing at her intently.

Ziun would suddenly feel something at his back. Claws slashing him from behind. Another ghoul had emerged from somewhere nearby and had attacked him as he made his way towards the group. As soon as the ghoul's claws sliced into his back he could feel a numbness spreading and a paralysis setting in.

Estelliese, too, would have an encounter with a ghoul. As it emerged from behind a gravestone and rushed at her. Because of Estelle's position she could see the creature coming for her, unlike Ziun, but wouldn't have long to react before it was upon her.

Spoiler

Map

How ghastly. Things are getting close here. Already told radio but essentially Chris will be able to unlock the door this round. However they have to be the last post of the round. Once radio posts no one besides me can post after so try and get posts out sooner rather than later and communicate with each other.

This also means that Chris will only be able to open the door. I'll have at least one more post before you can try and get inside.

Of course if Chris is interrupted during this he won't be able to unlock it anyway.

 

[Skaia 552]

"Well that's reassuring," the girl muttered towards Chris's less than favorable response. At least she didn't have a ghoul immediately pressing down on her. Unlike her other two door guarding companions. With the sound of a ghoul coming from behind her as well as seeing a ghoul go towards Estelle. While she had a half mind to go intercept the latter, she was paralyzed and unable to move forward as she felt a wave of fear rush across her. Out from the fog, lit up by the orb of light behind it was a creature that made her hairs stand on ends. While it was certainly a disgusting looking beast, like a zombie but with worse skin care, there was something about it that unnerved her. Add to that her numbing arm and hand and her primary axe on the ground near her, she was certainly feeling threatened by it. Her fears also were becoming more justified as it seemed to focus its attention on her. No really knowing of what it was capable of nor if there any more ghouls near it readying themselves to spring out at her, Lana did what she was learning to do more frequently and that was take her time. Taking one cautious step forward, she looked the creature in the face -

She was running. She didn't know why her legs were moving but they were. She didn't how she got into this place but she was. She couldn't understand what she was seeing, which was herself, running. And the ground beneath her started to give way. The once solid ground beneath her feet had started to turn to some kind of sludge, to some kind of thick substance that pretended to be a floor. Her feet were moving less, she was running slower until finally she came to a full stop. She didn't actually stop running so much as the ground had rendered her immobile, her feet, ankles, legs slowly sinking deeper into the muck that this floor was now made of. Of course she tried to free herself. She tried to push her legs to the limit to force them out. She placed her hands on the ground to try and push herself out. But try as she might she was just sinking deeper and deeper and deeper until - 

Her eyes widened. Her chest was in pain and she gasped for air as she tried to get her bearings back again. She saw sweat dripping from her face onto the floor below - the stone floor of the masoleum she had dispatched the ghoul on. She looked back to see Chris still working on the lock. And she looked forward to see that the creature she had met eyes with was now closer. Estelle had mentioned something about a monster before hand and only now did she really understand what they were talking about. Gulping, she took a step back as the creature was alarmingly close now, standing at the foot of the steps. The girl planted her feet on the ground, nervous to even take another step as if the ground under her would give way at the slightest movement. But she still had to keep Chris safe from this creature. 

And so with her first hand axe, without looking at the monster, she tossed it towards its chest. The toss was somewhat blind as she couldn't afford to keep her gaze on it for too long, but it was large enough that that didn't matter and the axe found purchase. However, the creature didn't seem to be bothered a bit by it and continued to move forward, taking a swipe at her with its arm. The girl stepped to the side and dodged before drawing her second axe and going for another swing at the monster. It proved to be more nimble and aggressive then she thought such a beast would be, grabbing her arm and stopping her swing. Lana grit her teeth as she could feel a burning sensation coming from its grip and could tell the monster was moving its head closer to her in an attempt to lock eyes with her once more. She had no idea what would happen if that occurred a second time, but she had a good idea from the position she was currently in that she was likely going to die. And so, the girl took a deep breath, dropping the second hand axe to the ground and using her free hand to grab the axe still in the monster's chest. Closing her eyes she shouted "get off of me!" and tackled the monster, freeing her arm and axe from it as well as sending the creature down the stairs. It was certainly strong, stronger than her, but the natural disadvantage of standing on stairs was enough for her to overpower it. A burning sensation coursed through her still as the girl did her best to keep the monster in view without looking directly at it. "I feel like I've said that a lot today." 

Edited November 25 by Skaia

[Chaos Sonic 435]

"What in the devil is that?!" Ziun exclaimed noticing the bodak, not being privy to noticing it before. But alas, he couldn't handle that right now...not when he had a surprise attack on his side...or rather...his back. The bard felt the claws digging and slashing at his back, causing him to yell in pain as he tried to gather himself. "T-Tch...that was my favorite coat you imbecile!!" he shouted, gripping his rapier...though he started to feel...numb...it was spreading. It hit him on what this was a moment later: Paralysis. "D-Damnit...it appears I've been more careless than I wanted..." he muttered, gripping his rapier tighter as he just stared the ghoul down.

With a quick flick of his wrist, he tried to slash at the ghoul. However, to his dismay, the ghoul seemed to be more limber and agile than a normal zombie or even skeleton. No, this ghoul simply crouched down and hopped backwards as it glared at the bard. It seemed to just study the young man, almost waiting for him to make another move. Ziun wanted to, be he glanced back in Chris' direction...it was a last line of defense situation here. With a slight exhale, he remained in his position, moving slightly in place in an effort to stave off the paralysis. ...got to make sure he gets the door open... he thought, staring the ghoul down yet again.

The ghoul made the move first: rushing towards him to attack yet again. Ziun gave his weapon another quick flick, hitting the creature's shoulder...but alas, it was weaker than it should've been. Ziun cursed under his breath at this, watching as the ghoul now grabbed his sides and proceeded to pull him down. "G-Get off!!!" he shouted, attempting to push and kick the ghoul...though it only proved to have him end up on the ground either way. Now the bard found himself grappled with this ghoul. "A-A-Any time now would be most appreciated, Chris!" he called to his ally, hoping he'd be finished soon.

[Doggo 216]

The bodak didn't keep Estelle waiting long. She'd wanted to know where it was hiding and it soon made itself known in spite of the light. As did some other undead, a ghoul most particularly attention grabbing for the mage as it was coming right at her. With a bit of luck the bodak's gaze did not seem to be on her as she couldn't help but look its way once or twice instinctually to make sure it wasn't looking at her. The paradoxical nature of that line of thinking would have to be parsed out later as she returned her attention to the advancing ghoul. Making use of the time it would take the creature to close the gap the mage aimed carefully to blast an arrow into the things head. The magic sailed not a moment too soon, striking the creature down. This seemed enough to stop it unlike some of the zombies taking damage to their heads. Useful information maybe but again something for another time. From the sounds around her the mage could take stock of Ziun being in immediate distress and Lana having perhaps experienced some of the bodak's powers for herself. The latter was at least not immediately grappling her foe so despite her concerns the mage moved to help the entangled bard.

"Hold on!" Estelle called as she took off running toward Ziun. Given she was as likely to hit Ziun as the ghoul from this range it seemed only right to attack the thing directly. What would normally be one of her arrows condensed into a rough approximation of a dagger in her hand ready to slash the beast off her ally. That seemed a bit less likely to accidentally hurt him at least.

[radio414 864]

Chris wondered if Ziun had ever picked a lock in his life. It wasn’t just some magic “wiggle some pins in the keyhole around until it works” method (that was reserved for the actual magic tricks -- well outside Chris’ purview), doing something like this under pressure was work! The sounds of the battle behind him obscured any audible clicks from the pins, which left the job of detecting his progress to however delicate his hands could be and a dose of intense concentration. It was enough that Chris didn’t even bother responding to Ziun’s question. There was just a little bit of work left to do.

Just like that, he felt the lock give way, and he was able to turn the lock. Chris would have pumped his fist in success if there weren’t so much riding on this and so little time to do it in. He’d noticed before starting that the door didn’t have any hinges, which meant he had to push it. Of course, the dungeon didn’t make that easy either. Pushing shifted the door slightly to the left, enough to realize that it was more of a sliding mechanism with a more complicated deadbolt than he’d assumed. There wasn’t more time to think about that, though. He pushed the door open and saw the contents of the building beyond.

That was to say, he tried to see, but all he could make out in the darkness was a passageway leading downward. “Stairs!” he called out. “Door’s open, everyone in!”

[LordCowCow 816]

If Chris looked closer at the darkness he'd notice that it didn't fade into black like usual darkness. Instead there was a certain point down the stairs that it simply cut off into a screen of blackness.

The sight he saw when turning back was not the most heartening either. The Bodak had been slowed and had taken a tumble down the steps but it was already back up and approaching again. The undead paused as it started up the steps and grabbed the dagger still in its head. It yanked it out and took a look at it.

There was a moment where the creature seemed lost in thought, if such a thing had any thoughts, as it looked at the dagger but then it resumed its approach. This time holding the dagger properly as though it were intending to use the weapon. Lana would feel the paralysis more strongly in her arm now which made that arm nearly useless.

The ghoul grappling with Ziun didn't seem as strong as the zombies had been but it was strong enough. Especially as the paralysis seemed to be working harder now. Ziun would find every movement difficult to do. The creature would have overpowered him by now but Estelle, using her awkward makeshift weapon, stabbed the short blade of light into the creature's back. It barely seemed to notice it but it noticed it just enough that Ziun was able to squirm out of its grip.

Though as soon as it noticed that it had lost the advantage on Ziun the ghoul sprang back up, ready to attack Estelle or Ziun. Whichever one moved first.

Spoiler

So the door is open for anyone to go in, provided they can reach it.

The Bodak is now armed for whatever that's worth. Speaking of arms Lana can only fully use one atm.

While Ziun will only be able to do simple movements.

The ghoul will attack whichever between Chaos or Doggo posts first essentially.

Map