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

[Skaia]

As Lana leaped off the platform she had to leap further back once on solid ground, seeing the previously mage form spikes of blood around his hand and leap down at her. The man crashed his fists into the ground where Lana had been previously before standing back up and getting ready to strike at her with another onslaught of attacks. Lana stepped forward only to then step back immediately as the mage started to move towards her with fists at the ready, taking one punch after the other in a furious onslaught that seemed to have no end in sight. As she continued to back up, she cursed under breath as she realized no matter how far back she moved the man was clearly picking up speed and closing the gap between them. 

Thinking it best to try and hamper him a little girl waited until one of his swings came at her, ducking under it and quickly moving forward, swinging her axe at the back of his legs as she moved in. Though his leg buckled under the injury from the attack, the frenzied man was able to catch Lana with a return strike. With weighty fist striking into her back, the girl grimaced as she grit her teeth, stumbling forward. Between the fire and this she was starting to feel worse for wear, but with a glance noticed that everyone else was managing to deal with their own fights. "Ugh," the girl groaned, clearly frustrated that she had to deal with this brute but said, "if that's all I got to do then...come over here!" 

The girl ran northward, taunting her foe who was had seemed to get ready to charge at her. Knowing that he would collide with her in no time, and not wanting a repeat of what just happened, the girl rolled to the side, wincing in pain from her back injury. Standing back up she just muttered, "alright, don't get hit, don't get hit," before readying herself for the next charge from the mage. 

[Chaos Sonic]

One of the cultists finally dropped... as a red mist started to escape from them. Ziun knew what this had to mean: Rage was ending. Thank the goddess above!! However, the other two were still running... er... more like hobbling, but either way, one was dealing with Chris... while the other...

Ziun watched as his mandril had taken a fist to it and immediately shattered and dissipated. He cursed, seeing that this one hobbling towards him was still affected by Rage. "So now I just need to wait out the clock..." he muttered, as he decided to cast another icicle that was aimed directly at the cultist's chest and he started to wiggle and thrash about to try and free himself from the blood.

While Ziun could only get everything but his legs free from the blood, meanwhile, the cultist had the icicle embedded in his chest, stepping back slightly but simply kept hobbling forward... further... further... until he was right at Ziun, preparing to swing down his readied blade.

The bard began to grit his teeth, not liking the situation he was in (or he had found himself in this entire floor, but he digressed)... I hate that I can't wield the weapons I conjure nor wear the Mage Armor, because at this point... either one would be greatly appreciated... he thought, trying to piece together a plan. Then, inspiration struck him. The weapon could be used... just not wielded. Ziun proceeded to conjure up a cloud of daggers, though he was at the edge of the cloud, but he did what he could. Thankfully he cut it close, but the cloud of daggers did just what he needed: it made the cultist lose control of the sword. The moment this happened, he took the moment to swing at him with his free arm. "Ngh... you just don't quit!" Ziun groaned, lifting his free arm up and proceeded to block the punch... though it felt bad, a nearly broken arm... but it was better than being slashed at or through. "This... hopefully should do it!" Ziun immediately fired off another icicle at him, point blank.

Ziun hoped it was the time frame where Rage would possibly drop. And thanking his lucky stars, the bard watched as the same red mist left the cultist and he watched as the one before him finally falling over. He let out a long drawn out sigh of relief, as the 'Rage Issue' was finally over. "Now... let's try and get the hell out of this!" Ziun groaned, still wiggling and thrash. Least this small problem was something he could easily handle.

[LordCowCow]

All that remained was the raging blood mage. While it would normally be a relief to only have one opponent this one was proving to be incredibly hard to put down. As Lana expected it charged in at her and completely ignored the other two as he made his way towards the other end of the area.

What she likely didn't expect was that, despite the rage, they seemed to still be somewhat in control of their magical ability too. As they charged blood raised up from two of the grooves and formed a wave behind the mage.

When he got close to Lana the wave moved forward and split to not crash into the mages back. Instead the two-pronged mass of blood came crashing down towards Lana and if she was hit she'd be slammed into the wall and pinned there by the pressure of the large amount of blood.

Spoiler

No map necessary I'd say. Just know they're past the thing in the middle and closing in on the wall opposite where you came in from.

 

[radio414]

Chris needed a breather so badly, but there was one more mage to fight on the floor, and he wasn’t about to stand around while that was happening. The last time he had thrown a dagger at the blood mage, it had barely noticed anything had happened to it. And sure, the same might be true of a second dagger, but then again, if the blood mage was using magic to just ignore its wounds for as long as it could cast, Chris wanted to make sure those wounds were worth something by the time its spells wore off, just like the other cultists.

He didn’t exactly charge -- Chris didn’t have the energy to charge forward anymore -- but he did manage to clamber on top of the dais in the center of the room. He could see why the mage chose this spot to attack from originally. He sure did feel taller, able to look down on anything as he was. It gave him a good view to see the massive wave of blood headed Lana’s way. Chris readied his second dagger. Unless the mage wanted to get swept up in its own barrage, it was going to have to do something.

The opportunity was obvious as soon as it showed up. The waters parted around the mage, literally leaving its back exposed. “Hey! Bloodface!” Chris yelled as he let his dagger fly. The distraction was the point, after all. He probably couldn’t stop the mage’s magic, but he could at least flank it and divert its attention when it really mattered.

All the same, the dagger sunk into the mage’s back, and the mage kept walking forward, with its crashing wave towards Lana. Chris had managed half of his goal, at least, and in lieu of trying in vain to accomplish the other half after the failure of yelling and daggers, he drew his sword and tried to make the successful half of the plan as damaging as he could. He took out the magic string too, just in case, but he made his approach, sword readied, trying to pick out where he would swing if he got the opportunity. The ankles, he decided. It had worked out so far.

[Skaia]

As Lana was continuing her retreat away from the mage, she saw that he had continued his simple minded charge towards her. While she was sure that she could just keep rolling around and let the others do something about this, having the assumption that they certainly had to be done with their fights now, she was not expecting what had come next. As the grooves of blood rose once more, two waves appearing on either side of the mage, he charged once again with a rushing tide coming towards her. "Oh come on, pick one or the other!" Lana cursed the fact that she was born into this world without any magical talent of her own, though readied herself for the coming charge. 

If the blood had hit her she didn't really want to think about how much it would hurt and to say nothing of it hardened on top of her, and so she instead decided there was only one thing to do. The waves of blood parted on either side of the caster as he charged her so her only way now was forward, towards her opponent. Raising up her axe, the girl charged with the blade at the ready to slash and tackle into the man. Though he looked poised to smash his fist into her, a sudden dagger in his back had caused his movements to falter. With the blood surging past her now that she had managed to slip in the gap, the girl swung her axe down onto the man's head landing a direct hit. 

Letting out a deep exhale at her triumph of her presumably fatal blow, her grip suddenly tightened as the man continued to move. Refusing to acknowledge the fatal wound he had been given the mage moved his arms, attempting to cast once again. Lana glanced to the side to see that the blood that harmlessly splattered against the wall had formed into spikes that were all now rushing to impale her. Reflexively the girl dove the ground, only to be splattered with blood as the spikes that would have impaled the mage turned back into a harmless liquid. A look of disgust formed across her face, either from the feeling of having blood fall on her or simply the mage's persistence, as the girl quickly scrambled to her feet and backed away from the mage. 

[Chaos Sonic]

Finally free from the bloody casing, Ziun finally was able to move around and no longer be bound to the casing of blood. He thanked his lucky stars for this, but all that remained was... the Blood Mage. He started to grit his teeth, looking over at the direction of the imposing figure, as he was fighting Lana. He hoped the blood spikes that were heading towards the Mage would've killed then, but alas, that wasn't the case... nothing but returned to a splatter of blood.

However, this gave him an opportunity. Mustering some strength, Ziun began to close the distance between himself and the Blood Mage, although he found himself cursing himself due to not wanting to be attacked yet again... Luckily for him, it seemed to be that him and Chris started moving and working on this at the same time. The rogue seemed to be going low... so...

"Guess I'll go high..." Ziun said, closing the distance and immediately casting Color Spray in the Mage's face whilst also calling forth a swarm of bats. "Enjoy this, why don't you!"

The Mage began to swat wildly and blindly at the bats, not seeing much after the flash of colors invading their peripheral. Same time, it wasn't just this that occurred. While they did this, Chris delivered a blow on the Mage's ankles, cutting into them. It would seem that they were starting to get off balance. Perfect...

Ziun cast a series of icicles right at the Mage's chest, watching the Mage immediately fall due to being off balance. "Perfect! Blinded, dealt with bats, cuts to the ankles, and now on the ground... but you are far from done!" He began to cast and place various amounts of webbing along the Mage's body to keep them in one singular place. "T-That... should do it..."

The Blood Mage tried to push through it, starting to rip at a few of the webs, but alas... the Rage faded in the same manner as the other cultists... and the Blood Mage died there.

"That was the last one..." Ziun huffed slightly, looking at Chris and Lana, lifting up a thumb slightly. "E-Everyone good...? S-Still in one piece?" he asked, concerned with everything up to this point but was still glad they made it through another floor.

[LordCowCow]

The previous room had been entirely devoid of the fog that plagued the other levels. Yet the one they stepped in next seemed to have brought it back. Though it was denser, darker, and seemed more like shadows clinging to the floor walls and ceiling. Which made it hard to make out the exact size and shape of the cavern that they found themselves in.

Across from them was a massive door. It seemed to be made of some sort of black steel and there were chains covering it. In the middle of the door there was a dead body attached to the chains as if it was keeping the door closed.

In front of the door were two dozen more bodies. All of them on their knees with their foreheads touching the ground as if bowing in reverence in the direction of the door. They didn't move at all and it seemed that they were all dead.

There was movement in the room however. Two large figures stood across from each other about halfway between the group and the door. They were generally human shaped but stood at eight feet tall. Their skin were a greenish black color with brown patches. These creatures seemed to have no heads, instead just a lump of flesh, on top of relatively small torso, where the head would be. Their torso had a large mouth right in the middle that was partially open to show rows of sharp, hooked, teeth all around the inside.

Their limbs were incredibly long, with clawed hands nearly scrapping the floor despite their height, and strangely thin for their size. And coming out of their backs were four black tentacles that waved around as if constantly searching for something.

When the group entered both of the creatures turned towards them and the large mouth opened wider and let out an unsettling screech.

Spoiler

Map

Feel free to do stuff before entering the floor just remember won't have more than a couple minutes before you feel compelled to go down the stairs.

 

[radio414]

“That was the last one,” Ziun said, and Chris felt all that pain adrenaline had been holding back rush back in all at once. His shoulder was throbbing, and just because he was no longer magically fatigued did not mean he wasn’t exhausted. He very nearly collapsed on the spot, but he managed to hold onto consciousness, and even had the wherewithal to collect both himself and his belongings. A dagger here, a dagger there. He double-checked his sword and his string, making sure he still had both of those too.

When it came time to check himself, though, he winced. “Only halfway, huh?” Chris said. Then he recalculated. “Well, it’s technically more than that, right? Five per run and that was three?” He was trying to be optimistic. The effort was good enough in its own right, right? And even if he was completely without hope, there were always other emotions that he could fall back on. Pride was a good one. He wasn’t about to fall apart when he’d made two separate promises contingent on staying alive until that evening.

Pretty soon, the dungeon started to push them onward. That was another feeling, a subtle one that took over entire thoughts. Chris resisted it to a point, though. Just a few moments longer. Plus, a glint of crimson under Ziun’s sash caught Chris’ eye. He’d been chased away from enough storefronts to recognize what was in that glassware. “Hey, give me one of those,” Chris said, already fiddling with the arrow in his shoulder, ready to rip it out and let some real potent magic do its stuff. He’d ask where the hell Ziun got it later.

One healing potion later, and suddenly things were looking up. He felt great, actually! Well, there was still the whole psychically urged deeper into the abyss by a magic dungeon thing, but whatever said dungeon could throw at them, he was ready for it now. Lana took the other healing potion, so they were out of mulligans, but Chris was ready to make this opportunity count.

Chris wasn’t sure how a day that started with a literal actual grave site was getting even creepier, but it sure was. The previous floor had had enemies notice the team right away, sure, but other floors just had spooky flavors of monster, with increasingly difficult-to-spot weak points. These… things were screaming at him right away. If he didn’t have a bladed weapon keeping his hands busy, he probably would have covered his ears out of sheer instinct. As it was, all he could do was wince and hope that it might stop.

He thought the monsters kind of looked like leeches. That made them more comprehensible, but it also made the differences stand out even more. “Well, uh, don’t get grabbed, I guess!” Chris tried to yell over the screaming. “And be ready for them to do something worse than that.”

[Skaia]

Lana let out a sigh of relief as the mage had finally fallen dead after being stalled out by Ziun. Lana looked at the mage, annoyed, as he asked if they were still good answering, "not even a little. I got burned, tossed around by blood and punched by a mage. At least nothing tried to eat me I guess," the girl grumbled, walking over as Chris had taken one of the healing potions. "I'm taking this too." As Lana drank the potion, feeling her body being mended from the beating it took, she couldn't help but give a look of disapproval at Chris's attempt at optimism. "Ugh, there's still two more of these." She didn't even want to think about what would be waiting for them at the bottom of this dungeon run. 

As the group made their way down the stairs, Lana stopped for a moment, wondering if she could just walk back up the stairs and leave. Of course, she had been down here to know that that wasn't remotely possible, but the sight before was equally unsettling, with the praying corpses, as it was grotesque, with the strange abominations that turned to face them. "Maybe..." Before Lana could make any comment she was cut off, wincing as the creatures let out an unnatural shriek towards them. "Ugghhh," Lana was looking forward to fighting them even less now, but simply nodded at Chris's obvious warning. "Got it, yeah. Ugh, guess I'll go up." 

Taking her spot as the group's primary front line, the girl started to walk towards the abomination on the west which had slowly matched pace with her. Wanting to see what it's next move would be, the girl started to run quicker towards it for a moment only for the tentacles from its back to lash out at her. Stretching far beyond the length of the creature's body they attempted to strike at her, only for Lana to dodge to the side and attempt a swing of her own, striking empty air as the tentacles retracted back to the main body. "Tsk." The creature then swung its arm at her, prompting her to hop to the side to avoid being swatted only for it to then swing its other arm. 

Not wanting to try and keep diving away from this creature the girl hefted her axe and swung it to meet the creature's arm. It was in that clash that the girl realized her mistake, feeling as though she were trying to chop through a log rather than some kind of spindly arm. Being thrown off her feet, the girl was knocked away and fell to the ground as it was clear to her just how strong this strange abomination was. Picking herself up, Lana wasn't even particularly surprised by this, given every other undead she had fought this far, and just muttered an, "of course."

[LordCowCow]

Lana had been knocked back by the strength of the creature. Most beasts would have taken this chance, while its prey was prone, to go on the attack and try and finish them off. However this creature seemed to work quite differently from regular beasts. It began to back away closer towards the door instead. Its tentacles, and arms, swaying back and forth as its body kept pointed in Lana's direction. The mouth on its stomach opened and closed as if anticipating a meal.

The other undead moved in closer as the two other living souls in the room hadn't moved forward yet. It didn't charge in however but suddenly two of the tentacles on its back stretched and shot towards Ziun. They grabbed the bard by both arms and started to drag him closer with formidable strength. As it did Ziun would notice the mouth opening wider and could feel an uncomfortable breeze.

The creature was pulling him in but it also was sucking air with enough force that he could feel it at a distance. The intent was clear to anyone. The abomination wished to drag him close enough to pull him into its mouth.

Spoiler

Yummy

Map

Chris could be farther in than that if desired.

 

[Chaos Sonic]

"A please would've gone over well too..." Ziun shrugged, sighing slightly, but he did remember he offered the potions to the both of them prior, so it was only fair. Both healing potions dealt with, Ziun nodded as he gave them both a thumbs up. Honestly, right now what they needed to find at the end of their excursion was some gold or maybe even some items that could bolster defense and maybe even grant some healing. This wasn't a great thing to be doing thus far, especially after the couple of floors they went off with. A terrible start in his mind...

But once their breather and healing moment ended, onward they went, and to the fresh new hell they arrived... He felt and noticed one glaring pattern for these floors lately: a lot of graves. First it was the sarcophagi, then the dead mounds, then another literal graveyard. But that wasn't the worst part of it... well, two dozen dead bodies are worse, but it wasn't any better than what they did in fact half as well. Two large figures... no heads, which was always a good thing to bring up in a creature. Their torsos had large mouths in them... which the sight did make Ziun shiver a bit at the sight. "...and I didn't expect them to be any more ugly." he muttered to himself, trying his best not to gag at the sight.

“Well, uh, don’t get grabbed, I guess! And be ready for them to do something worse than that.”

"Aye... will do." Ziun nodded, already watching Lana jump in again. He must be getting slow lately, otherwise he would've been able to cast his Mage Armor on her quicker than that. Oh well, he just needed to make sure he did it the moment the opportunity presented itself. He moved slightly towards Chris and cast the Mage Armor on him, before nodding. "That should help, now allow me to go assist our axe wielding compatriot." ...which is what he would've done, if he wasn't grabbed a hold of by the abomination of a creature. "Oh COME ON!!!!!" he groaned, his irritation like that of an impatient father waiting for their child. Well, there went any chance of Lana getting her Mage Armor as of present. "Bards need to stay off the damn menu!!!" he shouted, wriggling and writhing around, trying to escape this leech-like creature's grasp. "A little assistance here, Chris! Can't cast anything like I want right now!!"

[radio414]

Chris wasn’t even immediately pulled by one of the leech creatures, and yet he still found himself split in two in the figurative sense, with Lana in one direction and Ziun in the other. Seeing Lana’s axe bounce off of the leech’s tentacle had him worried about his chances, and worse, he had been proven right that there was a “worse than that.” Still, he had had a healing potion. They weren’t going to get a better shot at getting through this floor than the state everyone was in right now. There wasn’t an option anyway.

Ziun was the one actively calling for his attention, and he did need it, already grabbed by one of the thing’s tentacles and both pulling and sucking him in. Chris ran in and tried to hack at it with his sword -- a running maneuver in the hopes of avoiding getting caught himself -- but if Lana hadn’t been strong enough, there was no shot of managing himself. Plus, now that he was directly in the line of fire, he could tell how distressing the leech’s suction was. Even without being grabbed, Chris had to focus to keep his footing and not slide the monster’s way.

The second option was to wrestle with the tentacles and pry Ziun out of there, but again, they ran into a problem of strength. The leech was surely more used to wrestling with its tentacles than they were with grabbing and forcibly moving them, and it also invited the worst-case scenario of Chris getting grabbed as well.

Thankfully, there was one final option open to them. Chris ran back around so Ziun was between him and the monster, giving himself a little bit of extra time to get out his magic string and unwind some from its spool. “Alright, Ziun,” Chris said, as he anchored the string in place in the air. “Be ready to pull on this real hard on my signal.” With that, he ran back in and jammed the spool into the bard’s hand. He skittered back again and yelled. “Now!”

[Skaia]

Lana picked herself up with a huff as she recovered from being tossed back by her collision with the monster. Clicking her tongue as the monster backed up, she could only think the fact that it wasn't advancing on her was a troubling sign for some reason. It certainly made it more annoying for her with its incredibly stretchy body. The girl also looked to the side, seeing that Ziun was now being grappled by the other monster and being pulled towards its giant belly mouth. Lana couldn't help but feel the smallest sense of relief that for once she was not the one experiencing first hand what kind of horrific properties the monsters in this dungeon had, but also knew that the last floor was anything but smooth when they had all split up their efforts. 

Taking in a deep breath, the girl brought her axe low as she started to move forward towards the abomination. The creature began to step further and further away from her, trying to keep its distance which was certainly alright with her right now. As soon as she got within the creature's striking range it lashed out with one of its tentacles, aiming to grab at her only for Lana to narrowly duck under the attack. With the appendage now harmlessly above her, she continued to sprint though turning immediately eastward. 

She didn't have a lot to go off of but her instincts told her it was a lot safer behind one of the creature's than it was in front. And she hoped that its tentacles were a lot softer than its arms. Raising its axe up as she got behind the one that was grappling Ziun, she brought the blade down against it. Though not quite like hitting a wall like the arms were, the tentacles still proved to be remarkably sturdy. At least she could feel some give in the flesh of the tentacle. "Ugh, if only he could make my axe chop better too," the girl lamented, again, the loss of their previous mage before turning to see that the original abomination she had targeted was still focused on her. 

A quick lash of its tentacle came towards her, but Lana managed to swing back against it. As her axe collided with the tentacle it recoiled back, like it had just touched a hot pan or something. She gave a raised eyebrow before shouting, "I am not getting grabbed again!" 

[LordCowCow]

The creature that Lana had run from was just moments ago in action. And yet now, after its failed attempt to snatch the girl before she could run again, it was eerily still. The creature stood close now to the group of corpses near the door. The front side was still facing the group but besides the slightly waving tentacles it wasn't moving. Simply standing there, in a menacing fashion, and seeming to be watching the group somehow despite the clear lack of eyes.

The other creature was very much moving. Ziun was able to teleport using Chris's string away from the creature. Though, unused to it as it was, he ended up landing on his face in the process.

Lana's swing had cut into one of the thick tentacles but they still wave around. It did seem like the injured one moved a bit more jerkily than the others which had much smoother motions. The creature seemed to stop in place much like the other one for a moment or two after Ziun suddenly vanished. And then it turned around to face Lana.

The creature let out a shriek and then reached out for Lana with its long arms.

Spoiler

Very short post but that's what happens when only a couple enemies to write for I suppose.

Map

 

[Chaos Sonic]

Ziun wriggled and thrashed while being held by this abomination of a leech, as he kept trying his hardest to break free... unfortunately to his dismay, it was not working... as expected. However, help was on the way in it's own manner...

“Alright, Ziun. Be ready to pull on this real hard on my signal.”

"P-Pull? What good is that going to...?"

“Now!”

Ziun watched as the spool of thread had been jammed into his hands and when he pulled... he was immediately teleported out of the way... although his landing could've done way better. One face plant on the ground later, and the bard was already groaning as he stood up, handing Chris back his spool of thread. "M-My thanks to you on that assist..." he said, looking at the leech abomination that was attacking Lana. "Me thinks we should focus on the one for right now and take it out before moving to the second one... working together on that should help."

Without much else after that, Ziun immediately began to cast a few icicles and launched them at the abomination's back. They hit the target's back true, aside from one that was knocked away by the tentacle it had... it was very unsettling the way it did that, but nevertheless, damage was done to it. Wounds were left by the icicles that hit it's mark, and this gave Ziun an opening for his next strike. Moving a bit closer to the abomination, he aimed for the open wounds and immediately cast an Acid Splash right into them. The acid splashed on the creature's back and it began to sizzle at the skin, perfect. However it still went for Lana and did not stop in it's approach.

"Persistent aren't we?" Ziun scoffed, preparing to cast as much webbing as he could to hinder the creature's movements... more accurately, the tentacles. With those being webbed up a bit, he looked back at Chris. "You're up!"

[radio414]

The fact that Ziun toppled over the moment he teleported to the other end of the string was a little strange, but then again, his physical position had already been compromised by the time he had zwooped away. If his feet weren’t already on solid ground, it made sense. Still, Chris readily accepted his magic item back. There was no way he was about to go without it now. He unwound the string for his own purposes and hefted his blade with his other hand. It was time to fall back on old tactics. He circled the edge of the chaos, looking for his opportunity, and found it as soon as Ziun started casting more spells. The exterior of these things was tough, but if they were softened up enough first…

“You’re up!” Ziun said. Chris didn’t need to be told twice. He ran in and jumped, putting his full weight into this one downward stab, and just when it seemed like he too would be caught up in all the acid and webbing, blinked away to safety.

Chris exhaled. No, no matter how many times he did it, he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the spindle either, but it still felt like he was getting closer each time. Well, the times that he didn’t feel like throwing up, anyway. Still, he couldn’t think about that too much right now. He had to ready himself to face a counterattack from either monster -- or really, since the dungeon so loved to surprise them, anything else.

Was it really still going for Lana, despite all that? And the other one, why was it also so focused on her? Chris flinched when the screaming started again, but he still made his way to Lana’s side. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Chris said, as though answering a question that nobody had asked.

[Skaia]

Lana was not so much focused on what her allies were doing as she was the large creature that was attempting to grapple her. With there only being one direction that she could go in this situation, Lana moved backwards and away from the attack as it made its wide sweep towards her. The creature then had followed up its attack with yet another sweep of its arms. Not wanting to go any further back, worried about the mound of praying corpses behind her, the girl instead opted to duck under the swing and move forward. However, before she could go any further, the abomination had swung its tendril at her once more. 

Standing back up the girl brought up her axe quickly to attempt to parry the strike away. As the two collided, Lana grunted from the force of the two attacks meeting and the tentacle, not fully stopped from her attempt, started to try and worm its way past her axe. The girl wasn't sure if it was going to try and strike or grapple her, but either way she could only let out a, "ew, ew, get away." 

Pushing with her axe the girl hopped to the side to avoid the tentacle. It twitched around for a moment, before the girl grimaced as the beast let out yet another shriek before beginning to furiously swipe its arms at her. Lana attempted to keep ducking and dodging away from the attacks but she didn't have much of a way to press her own assault. In fact, as she saw Chris running towards her, she shouted, "go after the tentacles! They're like, way softer." She knew she couldn't dodge forever, and so when an arm would to swipe her in the direction of the wall opposite the other abomination, the girl brought her axe up to try and parry and absorb the attack, making what she assumed would be the ensuing being thrown around much more bearable. 

[LordCowCow]

The creature shrieked when Chris stabbed into its back and yet it still seemed to focus its energy on Lana in front of it. The singular tentacle that it had managed to free from the webbing before the others were covered waved around almost lazily as the creature tried to use its claws to rend into Lana. The girl was thrown to the side but this time she wasn't thrown off her feet. She could feel the strength of the creature through her weapon which vibrated her arms forcibly.

The creature began to turn towards Lana and moved to pursue her once again. However it stopped a moment and then the singular free tentacle shot towards one of the corpses. The move seemed surprising and didn't make much sense but then the creature quickly dragged the corpse, much like Ziun had been dragged not long ago, and pulled it into the mouth on the stomach, devouring it whole despite the sharp teeth inside.

When it did some of the wounds on the creature's back started to heal themselves. Which was followed by the creature going for Lana again. Swinging one arm then the other even before it got close enough to strike.

Spoiler

Full disclosure I may have messed up a little and missed some stuff in the two weeks but yeah basically three of the tentacles are webbed up and are pulling at the webbing and the other wormed free. And now you get to see the other mechanic of this. To be clear it didn't fully heal but it did regain some HP as it were.

Map

 

[Chaos Sonic]

It appeared that this abomination had another little skill handy... the corpse that it drug ended up feeding it, to which it simply just started healing the wounds it had inflicted on it, slowly but surely. Ziun wasn't too thrilled with this revelation, nevertheless, he figured they'd make it out like they had been the last few floors. He watched it try and go after Lana again, a singular tentacle being free from the webbing he had put on the other tentacles.

"I suppose it's safe to act as a distraction then..." Ziun muttered, sending off another flurry of icicles in the creature's direction, one aimed at the singular tentacle, while the rest hit the areas where the wounds were being healed at. Keep the pressure on this area for as long as he could. The creature stopped for a moment, with the tentacle recoiling back slightly after being hit and proceeded to launch itself right towards the bard, whilst continue it's charge towards Lana. "As expected..." he said, diving to his left to dodge. Once he rolled back to his feet, Ziun immediately cast another Acid Splash, this time on the tentacle, which seemed to cause it to sizzle and flail around.

This seemed to garner the attention of the abomination as it officially stopped in it's tracks of heading towards Lana, now it started looking directly in his direction and proceeded to move towards him with a loud screech. "...well, I did say I'd distract it..." he chuckled nervously, as he proceeded to start running away from the creature, whilst shooting icicles at it, doing his best to keep the damage up. Now while he was being given chase, the bard noticed that the other creature start to shift in response. "...of course, the moment I start running towards the direction... it starts to move..."

[Skaia]

Lana winced as she felt the force of the attack of the abomination reverberate through her weapon. While she, thankfully, wasn't knocked back and to the ground the by the attack like she had been last time she still could tell trying to take these attacks like this was a bad idea. As the creature's attention finally shifted towards the other two, or at the very least Ziun, Lana took the moment to catch her breath and shake her arms out, getting the vibrating tingling sensation from the attack out of them. She didn't have much time to rest, though, and it seemed like the other abomination had started taking notice of Ziun as well. Lana had no intention of running up to that creature just this moment and figured that all Ziun had to do was not get grabbed. So, she opted to go and attack yet again on the one that had already been injured. 

She was frustrated that it was able to mend itself up, to say nothing about how grossed out she was by the method of its healing, and so decided to continue at her original goal. With Ziun having webbed up the other tentacles the girl made her way to for the one that was currently exposed. With the top already starting to sizzle from the acid and flailing about, Lana attempted to go and sever the appendage at its base. With a focused strike the girl swung her axe, chopping into the tentacle only causing it to start to flail about even more wildly. While her attack hadn't managed to cleave it off, it had certainly done its damage and done the work in getting the creature's attention. 

With the other tentacles beginning to struggle against the webbing and it starting to turn to face her, Lana quickly backed off, not wanting to be right next to the creature when its grotesque stomach mouth would be facing her. 

Spoiler

To clarify in my edits, Lana attacked Abomination 2, hurt its tentacle and backed off from it. 

 

Edited March 19 by Skaia

[radio414]

Chris was about to fire back that he had already tried slicing the thing’s tentacles to no avail, but after a flurry of webs and acids and axe strikes, this one was certainly looking worse for wear. “Right!” he called back. It couldn’t hurt to try again, anyway. Even if his sword acted more like a metal club against these things, that would still be annoying, right? This one seemed intent on focusing on Lana despite its bindings -- anything he could do to draw it away, even momentarily, would surely help.

He wanted to aim where Lana had just hit it, right in the exact same wound, but the thing was flailing the tentacle around to the point it was hard for Chris to keep his eyes on it. He didn’t want to charge in and get slammed by an errant reflex if he could help it. But as he crept around, looking for an opening, he did spot the areas where the thing’s tentacles attached to the rest of its body. Those looked much easier. After all, just like a shoulder, no matter how the arm moved, the shoulder had to be closer to the rest of the center of mass, and Chris had made a habit of aiming at the joints of more normal monsters.

The other tentacles were still dealing with Ziun’s webbing, but they were freeing themselves. It was only a matter of time. If he was going to do this, it had to be now. Chris stepped in with his sword already raised, and brought it down into the creature’s free “shoulder.” It hadn’t been damaged in all the previous fighting, so Chris was unsurprised that he couldn’t fully separate the tentacle from the rest of the monster, but the attack still noticeably affected how hard the rest of the tentacle was flopping around, dramatically reducing the intensity of the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the monster was almost done freeing itself from webbing on its other tentacles. Chris quickly gave another tentacle shoulder a taste of his blade, then fell back in case one of them came his way. “Aim further up on them,” he said, reiterating out loud what he had just figured out. “Don’t risk getting too close for it, but hopefully it’ll make it easier to hit and we can focus one spot easier.”

[LordCowCow]

The wounded tentacle on the beast flopped some more before hanging there, seeming to be useless now, across its back. The other three tentacles had burst free of the webbing by now and were thrashing about wildly almost as if in celebration.

The beast itself continued its previous attempt to attack Lana. Despite having been struck by multiple blows the creature had still been moving forward and was now closer than before. So this time when it swung its long clawed arm at Lana she was right in the path of the attack.

The second beast was still standing in the same spot. However it had turned its body so that the mouth, the closest thing to a face the beast had, was facing Ziun. It opened and closed the mouth as if trying to taste him from the distance and the four tentacles stretched out slightly to its sides but beyond that the creature did nothing more even as its fellow was shrieking and fighting.

Spoiler

Getting harder to justify a host post I swear

Make sure to try and be specific of where on the map you're moving

Map

 

[Chaos Sonic]

With the others being able to do more to the one creature, Ziun made an effort to turn back and make his way towards them again. He made sure to heed Chris' warning, namely because he didn't feel like being grabbed yet again. Right now, however, he had somewhat of an idea on how to keep this thing occupied: the webbing. With that on the creature's tentacles, it would be preoccupied with that, along with being hit by every side. Speaking of which...

"Hear the verse and rhyme that I sing...
Come forth and assist thy master..."

To his side, appeared the celestial mandrill he summoned prior. "Give us a hand with this, if you please." Ziun gave his commands, as the mandrill simply nodded and rushed forward towards the creature. Meanwhile, Ziun began to conjure and launch more icicles at the creature, watching the mandrill go for the creature's back... only to be swatted away by the tentacles. Should've been expected, though now he watched as the creature's hand was preparing to strike at Lana. Despite the icicles assault, it still was going through with this. "Aim for the arm!" he shouted, as the mandrill let out a loud sound and rushed in again. The conjured creature landed on the arm, proceeding to scratch and bite at the creature's arm, and although it didn't do much in the realm of damage... it threw it's aim off... it would definitely give Lana enough time to dodge.

"Perfect, now, let's swap to this then!" Ziun shifted his conjuring to the webbing as he started launching it at the creature, hoping to keep these tentacles in place. A couple did get all webbed up, however it seemed to know what he was doing, and thusly, a lone tentacle began to shoot directly towards him. Ziun immediately dropped to the ground to avoid the appendage, before conjuring an icicle and stabbing it in it. It didn't go all the way through with a piercing, but it did damage enough. "I'll be happy if I never see another leech again in my life..."

[Skaia]

As the creature turned to face her, Lana sighed as she knew it was about to start attacking her again with its ridiculously long arms. To make matters worse, she was now right next to the thing and able to see its grotesque mouth thing from right up close. Getting into a defensive stance, as the creature swung its arms again, Lana looked baffled as some kind of weird monkey creature was suddenly on top of it attack it. She didn't seem to be the only one distracted by it either as the swing of the arm of the creature seemed to veer off course as it went to attack her. Figuring this was some kind of new whacky magic that Ziun had acquired the girl didn't question much else and instead dodged forward, avoiding the arm entirely. 

Already this close to the creature and seeing how it was more of the slow, hulking type, the girl figured she'd try to test its ability to turn and finish off what Chris had started, rushing forward immediately after her dodge. Getting past the creature, now seeing the roughed up tentacle that both she and Chris had been striking in clear view, the girl raised her axe back and with one swift chop cleaved the tentacle off. A moment of relief went through her only to soon be reminded that this creature in fact had 3 more of these things, which prompted an, "ugh," from her. The creature itself made sure to remind her, using one of its free tentacles to swiftly strike towards the back of Lana's head prompting the girl to duck to being struck. 

As it was beginning to turn towards her, Lana figured that it'd be bad if any two of them were on the same side as the creature and so dashed northward to give an opportunity for Chris to get a hit in and Ziun to not be eaten. Of course, she didn't have to worry about the latter issue as it had seemed much more intent on killing her after her antics of severing its wiggly appendage. Swinging its arm at her, Lana struck with her axe to clash with the creature again, prompting the monster to then bring another arm in, screeching at her. 

"Gah!" With both the arms and the sudden shriek of the monster now right near her, Lana flopped backwards onto her butt and avoided the arms. However, being on the ground like this, she was now more face to face with the hideous creature letting out an, "oh, no no no no no," and started scrambling backwards from it only for it reach down and grab her with both of its arms. As she was caught in its grip she looked to the other two and shouted, "heeeelp!" 

[radio414]

Everyone else’s attacks went about as well as could have been planned, if “planned” meant Chris’ vague pointers in the right direction. That meant it was Chris’ turn. Lana had managed both the remainder of a tentacle and a gouge into one of the creature’s sides, and Chris immediately leaped in to plunge his sword deeper into the wound. It wasn’t enough to down the thing, but it still felt like progress.

Unfortunately, as Chris was yanking his sword back out, Lana started moving on the defensive, deflecting a tentacle with her axe, sure, but falling backwards to avoid another and ending up basically supine on the ground with a monster towering over her. On one hand, it was the perfect time to panic, but then, Chris had also dealt with this situation already, and his spool and thread were already in his hand.

“Lana, I don’t know if you saw Ziun do this, but-” Chris said, but he paused. He had already anchored the string, but to get it to Lana’s hand was going to require a bit of work. Ziun had just been grabbed by some tentacles. Lana was in dangerously close proximity to the monster -- any approach was going to be dangerous. He ran to the side and tried to shove the monster, but it was crouched down now, and with a lower center of gravity, well…

Chris grit his teeth. There wasn’t really any way around it, was there? He took a step back to regain his momentum and vaulted over, around, and through the tentacles between him and Lana. “Pull!” he yelled as he got the spindle to her hand. But even as he said it, he could feel the tentacles shifting targets. He just managed to turn around and at least face the thing, but he also started to feel like he had just traded one problem for a different one.

He still had his sword, though. If he could just manage a free enough arm to thrust it…