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

[Chaos Sonic 454]

Ziun found himself in quite the predicament, with Chris in the process of slashing a mummy's leg off and the other side was Lana being attacked by the skeleton. A bit further, was a crawling mummy and it was heading towards the closest coffin in order to right itself up. The bard took note of this and nodded. "Perhaps this will work then..." he muttered, before making a bee-line straight for the space between Chris and Lana's respective battles and he turned to deliver a strong ice spell right towards the skeleton. "This may get a bit cold for a moment, just bear with me!" he said in warning.

The icicle strike immediately hit the skeleton's wrist and it broke it off...now Lana was free once more. "Perfect! Now...if you'll please...back up!" he shouted, delivering a shoulder check right at the skeleton, sending it stumbling back. Ironically it landed right on the mummy who had reached the coffin and was in mid motion to grab it. "Now...another set of acid on the both of you!" Ziun delivered another Acid Splash on top of the mummy and the skeleton. The mummy soon had it's head ate away and removed by the acid, while the skeleton was already banged up from the fall just ended up crumbling.

"P-Perfect..." he said triumphantly, before noticing the coffin in the upper right corner slowly open up as another mummy began to rise. "O-Oh no you don't!" Ziun immediately cast another Acid Splash on the rising mummy, though at the same time, he was feeling the same feeling as before. It wasn't as bad, but he knew he needed to pace himself. "G-Goddess a-almighty...this is ridiculous..."

[LordCowCow 877]

Chris had managed to, after several attempts, do significant damage to the creature's leg. Despite all this the thing didn't relent in its attack. Chris would notice as it turned itself that the one leg seemed more wobbly and unsteady but it seemed to still be enough to keep standing while simply turning around. The creature swung one arm down at Chris and at the same time raised the other in preparation to swing again even if Chris dodged the first blow.

The last undead to arrive was also the last one to move. It made its way out of the coffin and went straight for Ziun with a single-minded determination. The wrapped creature was moving in a straight line and it seemed momentum carried it towards Ziun slightly faster than normal and the creature brought both of its arms down towards Ziun's shoulders.

Lana was closest to the exit and, despite what was going on in front of her, she thought she heard something. A slight noise. Some sort of rattling coming from behind her. If she were to look she wouldn't see anything different than before.

Spoiler

Only two foes remain. One with a very damaged limb and one entirely....well fresh isn't the word.

Map

 

[Skaia 611]

Lana was glad that the acid had melted the arm off the skeleton she was fighting. However, as Ziun shoved it together with the zombie and she saw him about to cast yet another spell, the girl gave a "thanks," followed by a "wait don't -" though her warning had come too late. As the the wrapped up zombie had come out of the coffin, being ushered in by the death of the skeleton, Lana watched as it charged over to and grabbed at Ziun. She couldn't help but wonder if this was what people meant when they used the phrase "reap what you sow," but now was not the time to ponder such things. Her attention was briefly, as well, distracted from the fighting as she could've sworn she heard something coming from the exit, but when she looked saw nothing at all. "Great, another creepy floor of the dead," she muttered. Letting out a sigh, turning her attention back to Ziun now, the girl gripped her axe tightly with two hands and shouted, "no you don't!"

Bringing the axe down, burying the blade into the back of the monster's skull, it seemed to knock the attack of the monster off course and away from the bard. This had turned its attention over to Lana instead, who for her part was not trying to give it a chance to finish its movement. Bringing the blade back, she buried her blade this time into its neck which did nothing to deter the zombie's next action. As it swung its arm down at her the girl took a back step away from it to avoid the attack. However it still seemed intent on attacking her, this time using its full body weight to try and shove into her. Breaking out into a full blown retreat to avoid getting hit she shouted back to the bard, "he's all yours!" 

[radio414 936]

Of course, the monster didn’t have any sense at all. The fact that it was still standing was impressive, but Chris didn’t really have any time to be impressed with blow after blow raining down on him. He sidestepped the first one easily enough, but he had to block the second one, jamming his sword into the arm with as much force as possible to keep it from crushing his skull. It was kind of like a riposte if he thought about it, not that Chris had the time as the other wrapped hand raised back into the air.

It was weird how he kept forgetting how hard it was to wrench his sword back out again. Chris blamed the chaos of the fight. Each time he yanked his sword from one of these things was a little harder than the last, but he had been managing with two hands and now that he had a dagger in one of them it took his entire weight. He staggered back, trying to regain his center of balance and only just managing. “Can’t you just die again already?” he said. But he tried to focus his energy less on complaining and more on readying up again. The blows to the leg were helping, and he had just gashed one of its arms. Maybe it would listen if he gave it one more proper stab.

The creature wobbled like it might come towards him but did not quite have the strength to pursue Chris to his spot a couple steps back, which was fine by him since he was about to close that distance right quick. He didn’t grip his sword with his dagger hand, but he did try to steady it as he ran in to pierce the thing in the chest, and now that he was way too close, he went to work with his dagger too, giving a few extra stabs before he raised his leg and kicked off, taking his sword back with him.

He chanced a peek behind him to check on Lana and Ziun and exhaled. “Okay.” They were still okay. For one last good measure, he wheeled around and gave one final swing at the monster’s tattered leg.

[Chaos Sonic 454]

The one Acid Splash he had delivered to that mummy did not hinder it's stride...quite the contrary, it actually just upset it more to the point where it reached Ziun and attempted to grab at him. "A-And this is what I was trying to avoid..." he groaned, preparing to brace for impact, but it never came. No, quite the contrary, it seemed that Lana came to the rescue and buried the blade of her axe into the mummy's skull. "A-A marvelous shot, my dear!"

It was now focused on Lana for the time being, which gave Ziun enough time to attempt to do something. Best course of action...get it to fall over. While it chased the axe-wielder, Ziun immediately fired off another ice spell at the mummy, aiming for it's legs. Given the right angle he had, the mummy began to fall because of it. "Now...let's give you that treatment like your fellows..." he said, casting another Acid Splash right beneath the mummy, to where it landed in a puddle of acid. Unlike the others, however, it wouldn't immediately melt...unfortunate. However, the fortunate part was there wasn't any way for it to get back up without pushing up into the puddle of acid. A catch twenty-two scenario here...and Ziun was happy for it.

"That should take care of this one..." he muttered, leaning against one of the coffins for a moment. Two...that was two back to back. His limit currently was three back to back...at least he was pacing himself. He glanced over and saw Chris taking swings at the other creature's tattered legs. That could in theory be the last thing they need, and they could rush off to the exit. Leave one legless over there and the other one in a perpetual state of melting due to the acid. "I-If you're about done there...we m-might be able to leave for the next floor..."

[LordCowCow 877]

The creature that Chris was facing off against had a multitude of injuries that would usually add up against a living opponent into leaving them a bloody torn up mess. This creature didn't seem to bleed though so it was only torn up. Still this seemed to be enough that, as Chris backed away after his last attack on the leg, the creature toppled to the side.

Its leg tore off and one of its arms was hanging uselessly at its side. And yet the creature would continue to, slowly, attempt to drag itself towards Chris with one arm.

The other undead remaining had fallen into acid. As it tried to push itself back up its hands met with the acid as well and part of them began to melt away. Which caused it to slip into the acid puddle again. Yet the creature clearly felt no pain from this and didn't cease in its attempts to get back up.

Even though much of it was falling apart it still would eventually find its way, albeit with much less in the way of hands and arms, back up. But this would give the group plenty of time to reach the unguarded door.

Or so it would seem.

The standing coffin next to the door was making noise. Something inside was moving back and forth and causing the thing to rattle. And then it began to creak open.

Revealing another mummy. But this one had its legs, chest, shoulders, and head covered in golden armor and in its hand it clutched a spear.

Spoiler

the pharaoh! or something idk but yeah imagine something kinda like this but with covering over the chest too.

Map

It's in the coffin but will be stepping out right away.

 

[Skaia 611]

Lana was glad to see that Ziun had made some use of the distraction she provided, toppling the zombie to the ground. And then behind that, Chris had managed to take care of the zombie he was dealing with as well, or at the very least made it fall to the ground. With the field clear of opposition, the girl was ready to book it to the exit only for her path to be barred by yet another coffin opening. As an armored zombie with a spear popped out, Lana let out an exasperated sigh saying, "really!? Ugh, alright then..." The girl was getting ready to charge it when she had remembered her whole, "try to be cautious," thing. Especially with Estelle no longer here. It had a reach weapon and she knew there was no way she could just overpower and kill it in one go. So, instead, she'd wait for everyone else to help her out with it. 

To that end, the zombie that Ziun had dealt with wasn't dead it was just heavily injured and still getting back up. Thinking that it would be a problem to just keep that around while they were trying to deal with this last guy, the girl quickly retreated and moved over to the zombie. Bringing her axe up from behind, she was able to finish what she started with relative ease, striking through its neck twice while it was busy just trying to stand to actually retaliate at her. With the zombie beheaded and now motionless properly, the girl looked back to the other two. "So what's our plan for the big guy?" 

[radio414 936]

Chris couldn’t believe the thing was still moving. Before he could do anything about it, though, noises from further down the room caught his attention. One more of those creatures stepped out of the final coffin, and this one looked more important than all the rest -- or at least meaner if such a thing were even possible. It was imposing enough to almost remind Chris of that bull-man they’d fought a few days ago. He couldn’t help but stare as it lurched towards Lana and Ziun.

It was a moment of weakness for him. He forgot about the creature at his feet until it was batting at his ankles. Chris noticed just as it was about to make a good solid grip on one of them. “Hey!” he said, twisting out of the way. He hopped over to the other side of the creature and watched as it slowly tried to turn around and meet him where he’d moved to. They really didn’t know when to quit, Chris realized. Like, he knew that, after floors and floors of the things, but the extra reinforcement didn’t hurt. He almost wanted to kick it to death again but that was what daggers were for. He had them already in hand.

He nearly fell on the creature, dropping to a squat so he could keep up with the still-constant turning it was doing, even as it was taking more and more stabs to the back. Occasionally it would even take a wider swing with its arm, maybe trying to catch Chris off balance, but it was still easy enough to see it coming and get it with another stab to the back. It took way too many, but the dance eventually subsided; the creature slowed down until it stopped moving altogether.

Chris stood back up and caught his breath. Lana had dealt with the monster harassing her with what seemed like much fewer axe swings than the dagger-stabs he’d needed. He felt a pang of jealousy rising up but swallowed it back down. She was asking for plans on the last, crowned one.

“We could, I dunno, flank it?” Chris said, moving to catch up with everyone else. “One behind and two in front to keep it busy?” Part of him wanted to steal the crown, too, but he kept that part to himself.

[Chaos Sonic 454]

Just when they were finished, another mummy appeared... and this one looked more important than the others, on the account that this one adorned in golden armor and held a spear. So this thing had a long range advantage from the looks of it, so this would be an issue to an extent. Ziun huffed slightly, shaking his head at this sight. "...I swear..."

"So what's our plan for the big guy?" 
“We could, I dunno, flank it? One behind and two in front to keep it busy?”

Ziun heard the plan from Chris, before rubbing his chin slightly, now this plan had merit... a LOT of merit. However, to his plan, the bard had to think of a different manner of it. Two in the front would indeed help, but he knew better... with this situation, things had to be a bit different. "Aye, I believe that plan may work... however..." he held a finger up before, looking at Chris. "...but may I suggest an addendum to that plan of yours?" Ziun paused before sighing. "Don't get me wrong... I love this plan, but perhaps tweak it? Let's be honest, the two of you are able to hit harder than one of us here... That being the case, I'll offer myself as the distraction. I can conjure something to keep it in place while keeping it's attention solely on me with the illusions I make. I can cast about three spells in succession... I'm starting to learn that now. But with its attention on me, you both attack it's rear flank. Will this suffice?"

It seemed like a drawn out silence between the three, but he noticed Lana nodding at the idea. She was on board, but what about Chris?

"Uh, yeah, sure," Chris said. "Just watch out for that spear."

"Naturally." Ziun gave a smile, before nodding. "I'm putting my trust and life in your hands... don't disappoint me now." he said, allowing the others to get in position as he immediately cast the Webbing that he cast earlier and then proceeded to cast a kind of Hypnotic Pattern at the mummy, dancing shapes and colors... weaving into what would then be a series of dancers. "Now... let's keep your focus on me..."

[LordCowCow 877]

The mummy was struck with the webbing as it took a few steps out of its coffin. This slowed the creature down as it moved its way towards them. The lights didn't appear to have much of an effect on it but when they transformed into more visible shapes, seemingly small humanoid things, it took notice and swung its spear as if to bat them away.

This would give the other two enough time to circle around out of its immediate line of sight though it wasn't long before the mummy took notice of the bigger, and more solid, thing he could see. Which was Ziun. It moved directly for him, the webbing slowly tearing off as it moved, and by the time it reached him much of it had been removed.

Instead of swinging wildly like the other mummies this undead took a wide stance and brought the spear it held backwards and then thrust forward at surprising, considering the other undead they had faced, speed right for Ziun's face.

Due to its movement the armored creature was now standing almost directly in front of the doorway. They no longer had any chance of getting to the door without first going through it.

Spoiler

I doubt you need a map for this one. Honestly you probably don't need host posts for this one either until you go to next floor though I still will keep track of who posts and when they post.

 

[Skaia 611]

Lana readied her axe as the plan went underway and Ziun was now the target of the armored zombie. The girl wasn't sure that attacking it the same way she had been the others would work as well this time as it had a weapon and seemed to be much quicker in its reactions then the others. As such, she figured rather than going for the kill immediately it was better to use this time to try and rob it of its weapon to make it even easier, or at the very least if Chris was going to go for its neck she'd be able to act as a secondary distraction for both him and Ziun's acid attacks. Charging forward, the girl brought her axe up and struck the arm that was thrusting towards Ziun, managing to get a solid cut into it. This naturally attracted the creature's attention, prompting her to back off before immediately going in for yet another attack.

The zombie then turned to face her, swinging its spear towards her, to which the girl retaliated with a strike of her own. Swinging at the arm again, the girl managed to cut into it once more though not quite where she had hit previously, as well as knocking the spear off course and allowing her to duck away from the attack. This small victory was met with a much less pleasant defeat, as she felt the force of the monster's fist, from its free hand, smash against her head. "Ow, ow, ow..." The girl muttered, before backing off and letting the other two have their go at it, now having the monster's attention on her. 

Edited August 19 by Skaia

[radio414 936]

Everyone was moving without him, but at least they were moving along with the plan. Ziun took one side with his magic and Lana went the other way with good old-fashioned metal. Chris knew where he was supposed to go, but since he was already behind, he took an extra moment to line himself up. The way Lana was fighting, hacking at the shoulder to remove whatever guard the creature’s mantle had, it looked like she was trying to get the neck exposed for him. Well, Chris thought, it would be rude not to try and take that opportunity. When Lana got bludgeoned by the thing’s wrapped fist, he knew he had to act quickly.

Chris sprinted in and took a running leap, sword in both hands as he aimed for the bottom of the thing’s headdress. From a distance, it looked like a gold adornment, but Chris knew from experience (a hilarious story involving a frog, a makeshift batch of itching powder, and just enough sword training to know enough but not know better) that he could slice through gold if he put his mind to it. He did, in fact, catch the monster in the neck, chunking into it. But before he could land and regain his footing, the back of the spear caught him in the chest.

He flew backwards. Even when he landed, he still slid quite a bit further, though he was at least able to avoid falling over. Chris’ hand drifted to his chest, to the impact point, and immediately regretted it, swearing under his breath. This was the sort of thing Estellise would have been helpful for. As things stood, he could already feel the bruise forming, perhaps even something worse. One of many sore points he’d notice walking out of the healing tent up above, he was sure. But it didn’t seem to impair his movement too hard, so he readied up and tried again.

“Readying up” meant two things. The first, Chris noticed that the monster was quick enough that feinting was a relevant strategy again. With the other creatures of this type, it was more efficient to just hit them again instead of doing some tricky maneuver. Not so here. For this attack, Chris darted Ziun’s way, just careful enough to stay out of the line of fire of any more spells while also making sure he was being tracked by the monster, before bounding back to Lana’s side and swinging in again, dodging a spear strike before the point could even get near him and he caught the creature in the neck again.

The second bit of readying up was his own magic, the magic string. Because he needed to keep the spindle in hand, his second swing was a bit weaker, but a whole lot safer for it -- at least for the time being. After Chris landed and made sure he wasn’t going to get all dizzy again, he looked up and saw that the monster was now giving chase, turning away from Lana and Ziun to come after him. “Rotate!” Chris said. “I’m ‘it’ now, you two, uh, your turn to follow up!”

[Skaia 611]

Lana shook her head a little to reorient herself after taking the blow. Thankfully she didn't have to hold onto the zombie's attention for very long as Chris had gone in to do his next attack. The girl saw that the zombie was still pretty swift to be able to react with its weapon to Chris, and it only made her job all the more clear. While Chris had called out for her and Ziun to go next while he kept the monster's attention she took a moment to steady her grip and take a deep breath. She knew that simply attacking at its neck again was likely not going to be able to kill and that would just put her in range for another counterattack from it. She was fairly certain that with their combined efforts the head of the monster wouldn't last particularly long, but she didn't want to take any more damage than she had to as they now lacked a healer. So she waited and bided her time. 

As the zombie made its way towards Chris, Lana slowly shuffled to keep herself in range and made sure to focus on the point she wished to strike. Instead of going for a few reckless swings merely to get its attention, she was going to go for one focused strike. And then, after a moment had passed, the girl lunged forward brought her axe down on the wound she had formed earlier on the creature. Her axe had managed to cleave through the zombie's arm, causing it and the spear to drop to the ground. "Take that! Alright he's unarmed now guys!" Of course as she said this the zombie, momentarily dumbfounded by this, simply reached down and picked up the spear with its other arm. "Oh...right. Tsk." While it certainly presented an opening to her to attack she wasn't sure she would land a fatal blow and with it one more armed she simply took to ready herself and keep a safe distance from the monster now that its attention was back to her. 

[Chaos Sonic 454]

"Thanks for the assistance..." Ziun was glad Lana stopped the thrusting of the spear in his direction, but right now it seemed like the plan was now officially them moving in a circle to shift the change in direction and attention of the mummy...which now that it was in execution, it was sort of genius. At this point, it was on Lana...and then...

“Rotate! I’m ‘it’ now, you two, uh, your turn to follow up!”

Ziun took notice and rotated when he was told to, now he was able to get a different side of the mummy...though right now he was still trying to keep in mind his three spell in succession limit. While he did that, after Chris, Lana now had the attention of the mummy yet again. It was down by one arm now, but at the same time...it was obvious it was still going strong even after the dis-arm-ing...

"Seems like I'm up then..." he said, immediately casting his webbing spell, trying to slow down the creature as best he could...but he knew one time wasn't going to be enough...so he cast it twice. If one web spell would hinder something small like the previous undead...then perhaps a version of this spell cast twice would do the same here.

The webbing would coat the the mummy quite a bit, though despite this nuisance of the webs, it kept wanting and trying to attack and move...albeit just doing it all a bit slower. Which Ziun knew would play into their favor. If the three of them were faster than this creature, they could continue to rotate and change the creature's target up with relative ease. However, he knew another way to put the pressure on this creature in it's slow stupor.

He exhaled slowly, before glancing at Chris and Lana. "Be mindful of your footing when making any other moves from here onward...I'm putting whatever pressure I can on this thing..." he said, immediately conjuring a puddle of acid beneath the mummy's footing. The webs would hinder it's movement and speed, while the acid puddle it was standing in would slowly start to eat away at it. And it was indeed doing that, sizzling away beneath it's feet. "I suppose, that should help for a bit..."

[radio414 936]

Chris really wanted to think of something quippy to say when Lana cut off the creature’s spear arm leaving it without a weapon, but couldn’t think of anything before it just picked up the spear with its other arm and kept trundling onward. The moment passed. He was grateful for Ziun stepping in and impeding the monster’s movement, too, even if it did make rushing to stop the monster from bearing down on Lana a little trickier. He’d done the required movements already, but now he had to be aware of where he stepped and how his legs were oriented in the air to avoid the freshly conjured pool of acid on the ground.

“This better not give me another headache,” Chris said as he unwound more string from his spindle. Magic was about belief, right? He’d heard something to that effect, anyway. It couldn’t hurt to hope as long as he was still prepared for the possibility things of things going horribly wrong. Despite such reservations, Chris took off and did another running jump, pushing himself as high as possible and cleaving through the webbing and bandages covering the monster’s neck, just where he’d made a gash already. Before he could even run the risk of touching the acid, he was gone again. “Tag,” Chris said.

But all that focus on airborne poise caught his legs in an awkward position when he came back to earth by teleportation rather than natural forces. After so many times nearly doing so, Chris finally lost his balance, and he fell squarely on his butt. Unfortunately, his proclamation of attack had proven accurate as well, as the creature turned to face Chris and, though still impeded by webbing, advanced on him. As Lana had put it, he was “It” now.

Chris pushed himself to a crouching position with one hand, the other holding his sword out in front of him in case of a spear swing that would surely be plenty mighty even if the thing only had one arm. “Come on, then,” Chris said. “You don’t think you’re going to lose the other arm too?”

[Skaia 611]

Lana continued to hold her defensive stance, waiting for someone to get the attention of the zombie, with her wish being answered by Ziun next. As the zombie was struck by both webs and acid, Chris was then the next to make his move, delivering a slash yet again against the creature's neck. His maneuver ended with him on the floor, and Lana knew that she needed to move quickly. With Chris on the ground the length of the weapon the monster had, if he managed to close the distance between them it would be trouble for the boy. However, Lana took a deep breath and kept herself calm. It was moving slowly, and currently in a puddle of acid, and so there was no actual rush on her part and there was no need to recklessly endanger herself. Instead, she gripped her weapon tighter, waiting for a clear shot at the thing's neck and lining it up as she had done the arm before. Then, once it had taken a step too far, she made her move. 

The monster, however, was ready for her advance. Bringing up its weapon, the girl's axe was stopped by the spear, though given the force of her blow and the weapon that it was using, her axe had managed to force its way through the spear and sever the spear's head from its haft. Taking a step back, now the attention on her again, the girl knew that once again there was no rush. If she had charged in to go for a finishing blow it was likely to be met with some retaliation, and she couldn't afford any more injuries then she had already sustained. So she waited, readying her stance such that when the zombie had thrust with its broken spear she was able to strike at the haft, bringing the weapon down with the weight of hers. With no more means of defense and a clear target, Lana took one more swing at the zombie's neck severing it from the body complete. 

With the zombie falling to the ground, Lana let out a sigh of relief as her shoulders slacked. "Well, that's that for this floor. There's way too many things that treat coffins as a bed," the girl complained before walking over to Chris. Reaching down a hand to help him up, she added, "looks like we should be able to get going now. I'm not looking forward to the rest of these floors." Not like there was ever a time Lana was. 

[LordCowCow 877]

The group had some time to catch their breath but it wouldn't be long before they felt compelled to leave this room and go through the door which had unlocked and had started to open when the final enemy had fallen.

Once again they found themselves on a familiar staircase heading farther down into the depths of the dungeon. The door at the other end opened up into a tunnel. The floors were entirely dirt, and in many areas quite mucky, and now and then they could see stone slabs that looked to be grave markers along each side of the tunnel.

It was wide enough that six people could walk side by side down it and it stretched quite a ways ahead. Off in the distance they could see the doorway. Unlike other floors this one didn't have a door in it at all and was completely open.

The ceiling was only seven to eight feet high, close enough to fairly easily touch if they wanted, and seemed to be dirt as well. As though they had just walked into a tunnel dug out under the ground.

Beyond that they could see....nothing. No enemies were in sight. Beyond being a distance away there didn't seem to be anything to stop them from going straight across and through the opening to the next floor.

At least that is what it seemed as they stood in the entrance and looked into the room.

Spoiler

And now we have hit floor 17. I'm sure this is perfectly safe....so who wants to go first?

Be sure to decide who will be going first in chat and they can get any information....not that there's anything to give, of course.

Also, make sure to check with the group how close they're following behind and if they'd stop at some point.

Map