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

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As the group of them passed Edgar and his compatriots, Sergei adjusted the pack carrying their supplies and moved to say hello to the group. Edgar, however, was quick to dismiss him. Even though he wasn't a part of one of the major families, Edgar wore prominence well. 

"That was the group I told you all about earlier. I wonder if they already tried the Dungeon." 

"State your names, your purpose, and any family you represent."

This was always a bit of a moral conundrum for Sergei. Technically, he was a part of the Allagi family and surely if he claimed to make any significant progress in The Dungeon, they would be quick to claim him as their own. However, he had given up the rights to that name a long time ago. Fortunately, Estellise was quick to relieve him of that particular burden. He was beginning to like traveling with some that drew more attention than him. Even though he stood a head and a half above the rest of them, most of the passerby and the guards were far more attentive to someone that came from House Fereis. 

As they descended the steps into The Dungeon, Sergei let the familiar sensation of the breeze wash over him. He took a deep breath and stepped into the long tunnel. Darkness stretched on ahead, shrouding whatever obstacles that laid ahead behind a veil of shadows. 

As they pressed forward, he watched Estellise's manner change. Whereas before she strode about, nobility tucked beneath her chin, now Sergei could see the fierce spark of curiosity and wonder that she had kept well contained. The sight of it made him chuckle.

"Careful." He warned, knowing that danger could strike at any moment. 

As if to lend greater weight to his warning, Sergei caught the faintest bit of movement ahead of them. He stared at the fork in the tunnel, trying to discern where the sound had come from. 

"Our first decision! Which path will lead us onward? Splitting up so soon would be ill-advised, but what say you, friends?" 

"Quiet," Sergei cautioned, "there's something in here with us." 

"Most people follow a right-hand rule, right? So, if we want to go to places they won't see, we should go left! Right?"

Sergei nodded. "That's fine with me. Let me go first though." 

Sergei concentrated a moment, channeling energy through the tattoos that spiraled up his arms and coalesced on his back. His compatriots would note the dull flash of green. Sergei felt his skin grow taut and grow rough like sandpaper. He stepped to the front of the group. 

"Left it is."

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What else was there to say? Nothing, right? Chris racked his brain as he ate his portion of the now-shared apple pie and came away thinking the same things Sergei and Estellise and even some of what Lana had already said. They had to be ready for anything because the dungeon was going to throw anything at them. Making any other plans without seeing what that “anything” was was a fool’s errand.

He chewed on it a bit more -- about as long as he spent chewing on his food -- before following Estellise out the door.


Chris hadn’t had any trouble when the guard had asked each of their names; he was still plenty proud of his even if plenty other people weren’t. The trouble was with the “family you represent,” because despite that pride, he definitely didn’t think declaring himself their representative was the best idea.

Again, though, Estellise took charge. A preliminary investigation or whatever she was talking about? Sure, that worked. All he had to do, then, was say, “Christopher Ellwood. Um, I’m with her,” and sneak right past.

The first stretch of the dungeon itself reminded Chris a lot of an old wine cellar he’d stumbled upon while he was wandering Ellwood Manor shirking some responsibility or other (not that he could remember too clearly which one it was). They both had that same dank atmosphere, though the smell was significantly different. The dungeon’s was just… indescribable, or at least without compare to anything Chris had encountered before. He closed his eyes to get a better picture of it, and just managed to barely avoid crashing into the rest of his group, who had stopped at a crossroads.

“Our first decision!” Estellise said.

“Right-hand rule, so left, right?” Lana said.

Chris frowned. “It was always the left-hand rule for me. Maybe that’s because I’m left-handed, though? I mean-”

Sergei cut in. “Left it is.”

“- yeah, okay, let’s do this.” Sergei had even volunteered to go first, which was even more of an upside and even more of an excuse not to argue about it now. Chris followed close behind, peeking forward past the hulk of a man where he could to get a better look at whatever was coming next.

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They had chosen the left side. Led by Sergei the group makes their way through the similarly sized tunnel. At first it seemed to be mostly straight but not far along it started to curve back towards the right. The scenery was much the same as before. Several more piles of junk littered the ground. Though one of them would step on something as they went that appeared to be a humanoid skull.

They hadn't gotten far when the scurrying noises from before got louder.

Sergei would be the first to notice movement. But it was only a moment before they all would see what lurked in the shadows.

Battle start

A rat came from further along the tunnel. It was large even for a dog let alone a rodent. Its fur had missing patches and its yellowed teeth had a chip in them. Beady red eyes seemed to flash while the rat ran at Sergei and leapt. The beast opened it's mouth and let out a hissing noise as it aimed to clamp down on Sergei's arm.

Close behind it a second rat could be seen following the first. Though it didn't jump along with it.

If any were to look farther behind they would be able to see figures, roughly the same size as the rats, making their way closer to the group.

Spoiler

And what better way to start us off than with the classic Giant Rats!

There are two nearby, and uncertain of how many more, or if they are rats, beyond.

Reminder the tunnel is eight feet high and roughly the width of three people, or giant rats, side by side. Imagine what would be a "large" dog and that's about the right size for these.

As always let me know what you need for info and try not to step on each other's toes with your posting. But you have some level of leeway given the basic nature of this fight.

 

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Lana had been glad to see the others go along with her decision, and didn't have any reservation in letting Sergei take the lead. As the man seemed to charge up with some kind of magical energy, Lana was more wiling to let the man take the front, as she could only marvel at how intimidating one man could possibly look. Walking down the left path, Lana found it to be pretty similar to the path they had just come from. Lana couldn't help but be a bit freaked out at the human skull she saw, not really  trying to wonder how it ended up here. And so, walking forward, the group seemed to come to a halt as they were no longer alone in here. 

Lana physically recoiled as the enormous rat made its way out of the shadows, letting out a, "oh gross." As the rat thing seemed to be accompanied by another, equally disgustingly huge, rat Lana got her axe off her back and ready to brawl. With one jumping towards Sergei, the girl decided to return the favor. She didn't feel at all comfortable swinging her greataxe at something that was right next to Sergei, so she opted to charge at the rat behind that one, rushing forward with a, "yaaaah!" Swinging her axe down on the creature. 

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Chris saw the runes on Sergei’s back lighting up and became acutely aware that they were being watched. Some of that was, yeah, Lana and Estellise were right behind him, but there was more to it than that. And between all the shuffling the party was doing, was there something more? Almost… squeaking?

It turned out it wasn’t just early-dungeon jitters. Almost as soon as Chris had even registered the sounds, out came a pair of rats. He very nearly jumped out of his skin; they were huge! Rodents of such an unusual size were things Chris hadn’t even believed in until he was finally confronted with them.

Lana was the one to break him out of his flat-footed shock, even if it was likely unintentional -- her own battle cry as she charged the rat coming up the rear, greataxe drawn and raised, was probably enough to snap anyone out of anything. He was ready now, and his sword was already drawn.

His movement was deft -- the kind that could only come from sneaking around a creaky old mansion in search of sweets -- as he wove his way around the battle before ending up right behind the first rat (or right in front of Sergei, depending on how you looked at it). His stab was considerably less practiced, but (he hoped) it was enough.

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Estellise's more observant companions had taken notice of something in the tunnel with them. They had decided on the left of the two paths but as they continued even the energetic woman caught onto what was happening. The sound of several feet running quickly through the stone floor was getting louder. Before the Fereis knew what was happening there were large rodents upon the group. Caught somewhat off guard despite hearing them approaching, Estelle quickly jumped back. This was to be her position anyway, behind the group so long as there was only a threat coming from the front. So far that seemed to be the case as she confirmed herself there was nothing following them. Further down in the tunnel she could make out other figures, they seemed to be of similar size but it was difficult to tell. While her companions moved into action against the closets rats, Estelle gathered magci in her hands which began to glow as she produce two orbs of light that shone fairly brightly, illuminating the area around them. These she then tossed, sending them down the tunnel to shed some light on the figures farther off. The light quickly confirmed two more of the large rodents were on their way before fading.

"Two more where these came from!" she called out to confirm her findings as she shifted attention back to the closest beasts. For now it wouldn't do to attempt to attack the beasts herself. While her friends were still in motion she ran the riks of attacking them as well. Instead Estelle held her hands in front of her chest and below her chin, palms touch, as light began to glow again between her hands. She would stand ready to attack or support as needed.

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Sergei knew there wasn't much hope of dodging the rat as it leaped toward him, there wasn't enough room in the tunnel for his large frame to deftly maneuver the much more agile creature. So instead, he raised his arm as a shield and let the rat sink its teeth into his flesh. Fortunately, he had, had enough foresight to magically raise his defenses. The bite was still painful, but he doubted it would even leave much of a scar. 

Catching a flash of blonde to his side, Sergei caught Chris' eyes he flanked the large rat. With a shout of rage, Sergei attempted to grapple the rodent and position it so that Chris' blade struck true. 

"Two more where these came from!"

Sergei briefly glanced to see the incoming rats. 

"Lana! Don't split too far away from the group," the ax-wielding girl had charged further into the tunnel and was at risk of being overwhelmed if the approaching rats got to her before he did. Attempting to free himself of the creature that had attacked him, Sergei shoved the creature to the side, hoping to hear a sickening crunch as the rat made an impact with the wall. He then moved to provide back up to Lana.

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As Sergei thought the rat's bite didn't cause him much harm. Though he would bleed and the rat's teeth managed to piece his flesh. Chris's stab went into the side of the rat and it let out a squeal as Sergei pushed it to the side. The wounded creature rolled into the wall and hissed at the two of them. It looked to be moving slower from the wound but it would dive towards Chris nonetheless, going to bite the boy on his ankle.

Lana's attack was much heavier and had more strength behind it than Chris's stab. And, while the attack wasn't the most precise, the weight of the weapon along caused it to bury deep into the rat's back. It didn't get enough time to even make a noise before it tensed up and collapsed. Though this also meant that Lana would have to work to pull the weapon from the beast.

Which put her in a bit of a troubling spot as the two rats farther along the tunnel were soon not that far off at all. Both of them were approaching fast and heading for the furthest of the group. Which of course was Lana herself.

Spoiler

Short I know but only so much I can do with rats.

Here, a rough map to show situation more/less. Letters for characters and numbers for rats. Font size isn't indicative of space. Might not be perfect position but it's what I'm thinking.

Map

 

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Lana let out a triumphant, "yeah!" As she had felled the rat with one hefty swing of her great axe. This had come at a cost, though, as Lana had only heard the warnings from Sergei and Estellise after her attack had hit. Looking to see the two other rats down the tunnel, both snarling angrily at her, the girl said, "oh. Uhhh..." Looking blankly as the two rats were making their way towards her, the girl put her foot into the rat as she tried to pull the blade out of it. The girl wretched a bit at the noise the rat's body made as she tried to pry her axe from its body. Yet still, not retreating nor stopping what she had started, Lana eventually managed to yank her weapon free, and with the rats fast approaching made a very heavy swing, swinging her axe like a bat. 

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Estellise took stock of the battle as it unfolded while continuing to channel her magic between her palms. She needed to be ready to strike or support at a moment's notice. Sergei was swift to intercept attacks while Lana was the most aggressive, managing to slay one while pushing forward to meet the two newcomers head on. The Fereis' first thought was to press forward behind the others to close the gap between them and the axe wielding woman but matters closer at hand took priority. Sergei had suffered a minor injury which she took stock of to heal after the encounter. But more importantly was Chris, the injured rat's next target.

"Watch your feet!" she called out as she separated her hands. The glow between them was now a bright shine that filled the cavern. Pointing her palms forward, Estellise's magic formed into a sphere of light in front of her which she sent sailing off through the air at high speed on collision course with the rat mid lunge. The attack connected, passing fairly close by Chris' legs, and knocked the rat back and away from Chris with a squeal while singing it's fur until the magic dissipated. The ball now faded from existence, the cavern was restored to it's more natural, dark state. The rat of course wasn't dead from this as she hadn't put enough magic into the attack in general, let alone shaped the evoked light for more severe injury. But at the least it would give Chris more time to react to and perhaps dispatch the beast. She had promised Hector to see no harm come to him after all. But for now she felt the need to get closer to Lana who was perhaps getting in a bit over her head. While keeping her eye on the closest rat she began slowly shuffling forward toward Sergei. If she could get closer to Lana she could lend some helpful enchanments to speed the process along.

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Sergei watched Lana's ax collide with one of the rats, a horrible squelching sound accompanying the heavy blade as it cleaved through sinuous flesh and bone. One down, three to go. Sergei sprinted to Lana's side, the adrenaline pumping in his ears. An intense flash of light from behind him signaled that Estellise had moved to defend Chris. Hopefully, they would dispatch their combatant quickly.

As Lana freed her ax from the corpse of the first rat, Sergei took stock of how close the approaching adversaries were. She swung wildly at one of the approaching creatures. All Sergei could do was pray that she found her mark for a second time. Letting out a shout of exertion, Sergei dove to intercept the second creature. He cocked his elbow back, preparing to clock the creature with a flying haymaker. 

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Chris didn’t even register that Sergei had shifted the rat so his sword would strike true (or truer, like, he thought his aim was pretty good) until it happened. But the rat didn’t even have the good decency to die like it was supposed to! It just rolled into the wall and righted itself to go on the attack again.

“Watch your feet!“ Estellise called out as a bolt of her light magic struck that same rat. For a moment, the magic illuminated the entire room, and Chris saw how feral the rat in front of him really was, its blood-crazed expression only exaggerated by its wound and its singed fur. The light faded quickly, though, and the way the rat was moving meant he had to act soon.

What else could he do? He slashed his sword in a downward arc, aiming to take the rat out for good this time, or at least protect his ankles.

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Sergei would be treated to a solid cracking noise as his fist struck across the rat's skull. It didn't so much as let out a hiss as it collapsed onto the ground. Yet, listening, he could hear the creature making a low hissing noise. As it still remained alive, and conscious, if dazed.

The other rat seemed to be having a better time. Lana's heavy swing was without much aim and the creature, as unintelligent may it be, was able to react fast enough to scurry away from the swing. Having hit nothing Lana ended up overextending and needing a moment to right herself. Which was when the rat came in once again. Jumping at the girl to bite down on whatever part of her she could and drag her downward.

Chris's swing came right as the rat reached him. The, somewhat desperate, swing managed to bite into the rat's neck. It sank past the fur and flesh and partially cut into the creature's bone. With its teeth scrapping against Chris's boot it twitched a few times before letting out its dying breath and slumping over.

As he reacted to this Chris would hear more shuffling noises. Coming from the other side of the tunnel. Somewhere around the area that the path had split before.

Spoiler

Alright, remember, don't necessarily always have to do one and done for actions, especially with such a simple set up like this.

But in any case, here's the map at the moment.

Maaap

 

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As Lana's axe managed to find nothing but the air, the girl herself stumbled as the weight of the axe ended up pulling her to the side. Catching herself from actually being dragged down by the attack, the girl then looked up only to have a face of horror and disgust as the giant rat was now inches away from her. Grunting in pain, then letting out a yelp of surprise as she was dragged down by the rat, Lana let go of her axe and was brought to the ground. "Get off, get off, get off!" Lana shouted, as she pulled her hand axe before hacking repeatedly at the creature's neck. 

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After his fist connected with the rat, a satisfying crack splitting the cavern, Sergei rolled into his desperate dive. His shoulder connected with the hard floor, though he hardly felt it. He rolled once. Twice. Then, steadied himself on the tips of his toes and his open hand on the cave ground. He looked back to the rat that he had hit; it was stunned but not dead. Launching from his three-point position, Sergei descended upon the creature and rained blow after blow. His fists connected with the matted fur over and over, before it gave away to the flesh beneath. Blood splattered across his face and seeped into his clothes. Neither rage nor fury, escaped Sergei's lips, just his labored breaths.

Never assume it's dead, make sure.

"Get off, get off, get off!"

Sergei slammed his fists down once more on the bloodied creature to make sure it was dead. 

"Hang on, Lana. I'm coming!"

Sergei stood up from his crouched position and went to pull the murderous rodent off of Lana, trying to avoid the frenzied strikes of her ax. 

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Killing didn’t get any easier, even with rats. Especially with how it died, twitching like it did before falling over onto the cold dungeon floor. Chris just stood over it for a moment or two while Sergei and Lana dealt with the other rats further on. He couldn’t dwell for too long, though; his attention was diverted by whatever was going on earlier in the dungeon.

It was weird to even think that there could be an earlier, given how close to the start everybody already was, but no, there was definitely noise coming from the way they came. It didn’t sound like adventurers either, though the melee made it a little difficult to know for sure. If it was actually adventurers, they probably had less to worry about, right? Like, they could either work together or one of them could just go the other way, hopefully without too much arguing about who did what. But if it wasn’t…

“Hey, Estellise,” he called out before getting closer and motioning back to the beginning of the tunnel. “You hear that, right?

“I’m going to- I’ll be in eyesight but I just want to check it out. I’ll be right back.” With that, he took off down the hallway.

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For a moment Estellise seemed content that her comrades were getting a handle on the rat situation. Sergei and Chris both seemed to be dispatching their foes with varying degrees of effort. However Lana was soon on the ground wrestling with the last rat. The Fereis moved to help but Sergei was quicker and began attempting to pull it off the woman. In the moment Estelle's only thought had been to attack the rat, and doing so with the two struggling so closely with it seemed dangerous. A thought crossed her mind of a possible action before her attention was called for by Chris. At his word she began listening and indeed could confirm the sounds he was intent on investigating.

"Wait, do not go in alone and blind!" Estellise called out as once again she produced an orb of light between her hands that she sent down the hall the way they had come to illuminate Chris' path. It didn't travel long before the source of the sound was revealed to be another of the large rats making its turn around the bend of the tunnel. With her focus already in this direction Estelle felt it best to injure it quickly to aid Chris' inevitable battle with the monster. The mage held her hands out in front of her, a strong light glowing as she pulled her right hand back while keeping the left in position. The light drew out into a line to follow the motion, not unlike an archer preparing an arrow. Indeed, this was an arrow of light which when she released her right hand went flying through the air toward the newest rat to arrive on the scene. This first shot merely grazed the rat which prompted Estelle to draw again and fire another arrow of light which connected solidly, eliciting a squeal of pain as the rat fell to the ground. It wasn't dead but it was a start.

With this quick action taken, Estellise returned to her first thought as to how to aid Lana. She turned about quickly and approached the struggle ever so slightly before holding a hand out with a distinct lack of light this time. With a shout the mage sent out an enchantment of paralysis toward the rat. All at once it seized up, completely stunned from the spell. For the moment it would no longer be able to put up a fight to either Lana or Sergei.

"Let us regroup quickly; there may yet be more." she cautioned after seeing her spell's success. 

Edited by Doggo

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The rat, not all much smaller than Lana herself, proved to be rather heavy. Despite using her smaller weapon Lana's flailing didn't seem to amount to much. On occasion her axe would clip the rat and blood would splatter across the ground, and her at times, but it didn't keep the rat at bay. Sergei's attempts to pull the rat away met with similarly sub-par results. At one point the rat ended up biting on the man's hand.

Though soon after that Estellise's spell took hold and the rat locked up. Its body growing stiff as the magic held it in position momentarily.

Meanwhile, nearer to the other side of the tunnel, Chris would no doubt be shocked entirely to find that the noise was being made by another rat. Having moved over from the other tunnel only to be pierced by slightly glowing arrows from the mage girl. The beast let out an angry hissing noise as it tried to steady itself back to its feet. The light from the arrows dimming but still bright enough to clearly see the beast as it ever so slowly crept its way across the tunnel floor towards where Chris was approaching.

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"Gross, gross, gross," was all that Lana could say as she continued to hack away at the rat. Its thick neck was proving to be too difficult for her to actually kill, and ultimately all she ended up doing was covering herself in rats blood. Something she was certainly not fond of. All the same as the rat seized up, the girl moved scrambled back away from it. Not wanting to have to deal with this gross creature any longer, Lana dropped her small axe, grabbing at her great axe instead. Hoisting it up with both hands, she brought the axe down with, "raaaah!" With weighty blade crashed into the rat's back, and at that moment it was no longer bound in place, as its body crumpled under the blow. With the rat dead, it's body making yet another sickening noise which caused Lana to look yet again disgusted, she looked over to Sergei. Taking one hand off of her weapon, she gave a proud expression and a thumbs up to her companion. 

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Estellise’s light was something Chris very much appreciated. Seeing yet another rat at the end of the tunnel, though, was very much the opposite. But not only had Estellise provided the light, she’d also sent arrows of light the rat’s way, scoring a hit on one of them.

The rat was moving slower than Chris was now, and Chris didn’t intend on slowing down. As soon as the rat was in striking distance he lunged forward, sword outstretched based on his vague recollection of fencing instructions from his youth, aiming for the rat’s center of mass. 

He struck true, the rat squealed as the blade sunk into its side, and the shock running up Chris’ arm caused him to stumble to a halt. But the rat was still moving, and Chris’ ankles were well within reach of its gaping maw. He had to hop back to avoid it, and in his surprise, he left his sword behind, still sticking out of the creature.

Chris took out a dagger. The light had all but faded, but he could still just make out the snarling beast in front of him. He had to be fast, but, thankfully, that was what he was good at. In one, two quick steps he was up close to it again, and he thrust the dagger over and over into the rat until it stopped moving.

It took a moment to register, but once he had, Chris gasped for air. That was two, now. Maybe it was going to have to get easier, he thought to himself. They were barely a hallway in and he was already breathless. He’d also already gone and split the party, which, as far as he understood, was something you weren’t supposed to do.

Cleaning up was a bit of a process -- his sword had been more firmly stuck in there than he had expected, but he managed, and soon he was making his way back to the rest of the group, who had dispatched the rest of them in the meantime. He tried to be nonchalant about it, but he was also acutely aware of how he was failing in that regard. So instead he just pointed forward and said, “I guess we keep going, huh?”

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Sergei recoiled a bit as the rat bit his hand.  Durability spell or not, the hand had many nerve endings that shrieked in protest. "Die already!" Sergei shouted in frustration at the rat. Lana managed to scramble out from under the creature and reclaimed her large battleax. Surely the rat didn't have long to live with the number of gashes that she had inflicted, but he didn't begrudge a single bit as she brought the heavy weapon down on the creature. Lana turned to Sergei, the two of them breathing heavily. Her young, almost cherubic, face was coated in a thick, heavy layer of the rat's blood. The combination was unsettling. She gave him a thumbs up and beamed at him.

Sergei paused, caught off guard by her enthusiasm.

Then, his boisterous laugh filled the cavern. It exploded from deep within his chest, unannounced and unhindered. Hearing it cascade against the rocky walls of the cavern, Sergei attempted to stifle his outburst, reducing it to a low rumble. He returned the thumbs up, trying to match her cheer.

“I guess we keep going, huh?”

"First, is everyone, alright?" The duration of Sergei's spell came to a close and he could feel the muscles across his body untense. As they did so, the wounds on his arm and hand began to bleed a bit more heavily. 

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Rather pleased with herself and her magic's work, Estellise turned to her companions who had gathered together again as the rats had been disposed of. Chris seemed alright as he was already speaking of moving onward. But the Fereis' concerns were on Lana and Sergei who she knew to be injured from their tussled with the greater number of rats. She stepped toward both of them and looked their bodies over to confirm the total number of injuries sustained. Nothing looked incredibly serious thankfully but the blood loss definitely needed to stop here before pressing on. A soft light began glowing in the palm of her right hand.

"Lana, Sergei, hold still for a moment. I am going to close the wounds on your bodies. I could more thoroughly heal the injuries but I need to be a touch more conservative with my magic this early into things. So do be careful and realize you will not be quite at one hundred percent for it." Estellise began as she brought the light closer to Lana first. It would feel somehow soft and warm to the touch as the injuries began closing under its presence. The woman was thorough to make sure neither of her friends would be bleeding after her work was done.

"There, how does that feel?" she asked both of her patients with a smile as the light in her hand faded away.

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Reactions to Chris’ suggestion to keep moving were mixed. It seemed like the common thread between everyone -- at least Estellise and Sergei -- was that they needed to stop and take a breath first. Not him, though. Not Christopher Ellwood. His head was half-full of adrenaline and half-full of pride, and that’s what kept him going forward as Estellise began tending to the wounds of the rest of the party. “I’m going on ahead,” Chris said as he passed them. “I’ll give you all a shout if I see something. Or I’ll run back if I see something really bad. Or- okay. Be right back.”

The cavern continued on without much incident, despite Chris having his sword drawn and a steel focus bent on sussing out any irregularity he could find. It was only when he reached the next fork that he even needed to pause to weigh his options again. The path on the right was wider, but it seemed to lean back around to the direction they all came from, which was, you know, not ideal for dungeoneering if it actually did. Meanwhile, the path on the left, while narrower, also followed the left-hand rule Lana had been so insistent on at their first crossroads, so it was clearly the obvious choice forward. He didn’t even bother consulting with the group first, either, he just went ahead and went for it.

His mistake quickly became obvious, though. The further he went, the harder it became to see, and though he braved onward, the second he came across something out of the ordinary -- a square patch of ground significantly darker than the rest of the floor -- he turned around, went back to the crossroads, and, once everybody had caught up, he said, “There’s something this way. And bring some light.”

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"Lana, Sergei, hold still for a moment." Estellise instructed.

"Oh, that's really not necessary," Sergei moved his injured arms as if to hide the wounds, "I heal pretty quickly, it'll--" Sergei stopped his protest at the Fereis' persistence. He let the warm magic wash over him. It was a strange sensation, to actively feel his flesh mend back together.

“I’ll give you all a shout if I see something. Or I’ll run back if I see something really bad. Or- okay. Be right back.” 

"Woah, hold up just a second." But, Chris was already gone. He moved down the tunnel with a self-assured speed that reminded Sergei why he had been hesitant about the group in the first place. Sergei fought the urge to chase after him. Normally, he would have, but he didn't want to take a risk of interrupting Estellise's magic and further deplete her energy or somehow make the spell reverse its effects. So he anxiously waited for her to finish, keeping his eyes and ears perked for any disturbance down the way that Chris had disappeared.

"Okay, let's hope he hasn't gotten too far ahead of us." Sergei began to follow the swordsman's path. "Thank you for doing that, by the way," Sergei said to Estellise, making sure that she and Lana were close in step with him. "You're very kind and thoughtful for a--," Sergei stopped himself a moment too late. "You're very kind and thoughtful." He amended, his face grew warm. He hoped that Estellise hadn't noticed.

Sergei heard Chris before he saw him. 

“There’s something this way. And bring some light.”

"Chris, you can't go off on your own like that," Sergei admonished, his tone not unlike his father's had been when he and his siblings would act up. 

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Lana hopped back a bit, surprised, as Sergei let out his boisterous laugh. The girl, as a result of her nerves at the situation, couldn't help but laugh back with him. Though hers was clearly more awkward and forced. As the man asked if everyone was fine, the girl looked and, scrunched her face in irritation at the bite mark. "Well, I'm not really hurt, but this stings and is kind of annoying. That's about it, though." She didn't really think it would effect her that much, but she also knew that she'd rather be without it. All the same, as she was getting ready to start moving onward, Estellise walked over and examined them, holding out her hands. As Lana was first up, the girl stood motionless and a bit in awe as the light spilled out. 

With her arm having been fixed, the wound having vanished, the girl blinked a few times. "Whoa." She looked back towards Estellise saying, "Estelle that was awesome! It feels good as new. Like, whoa. Wow. You can do stuff like that? Like I knew magic was awesome but like, wow. Super awesome. You're super awesome Estelle!" Declaring this, after a rampant stream of consciousness, she looked over to see that Chris had vanished off on his own. Crossing her arms, letting out a huff as the boy ran ahead, she looked back and instead decided to kill time by watching Estellise's magic do its work again. 

When all was said and done, Chris had come back stating that they needed a light, and Sergei had seemed none too pleased with his antics. Lana too was annoyed, as the only way they would get to the next floors were as a group, thinking on it she also was glad Chris was willing to brave danger for them and help them get through the whole thing faster. Of course, she wasn't going to argue with the disappointed muscular man and instead stayed silent. Looking over to Estellise she then realized something saying, "oh wait, Estelle, you can make lights and stuff right?" The girl had seemed excited once again to watch the young noble use her magic up close.  

Edited by Skaia

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