Somewhere in an unknown location deep underground, a soft poof sound was heard as a shadowy figure appeared in the middle of a dark dungeon room. The room was about 20 by 20 feet in size, with one dungeon cell embedded in the northern wall and two in the eastern and western wall each. There was a high ceiling, with a few torches hanging well out of reach, though the flames were so dim that they might as well not have been there. The southern wall was featureless solid stone, with no door in sight. Inside each of the cells was a particular mortal being, chained to the wall with steel shackles, only just regaining consciousness. All of them were nearly naked, as their equipment and most of their clothing had been taken from them before being brought here.

The humanoid creature in the center of the room, little more than a silhouette due to the lack of lighting, looked over the bunch of them. Fodder, just like all the rest. Yes, it was time. “Mortals,” the figure said in a calm voice that seemed unnatural in some way. “You may be wondering where you are.” He spoke to no one in particular, but knew each of them could hear him. “You are in the dungeons of Lord Asmodeus. How you came here is irrelevant. What matters is that you will fight and die for the Master’s enjoyment, like many others before you. But hope is not lost for you. The Master is merely offering you… a challenge of sorts. There is a single exit to this labyrinth. Reach it, and you will be free to go.”

Behind the figure, a glowing-red rune appeared on the wall, about 1 by 1 foot in size. “When you’re ready to leave, touch this rune to advance towards your demise.” The figure snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the torches on the walls grew in brightness and lit up the room, to reveal that the dark figure had disappeared again. With a metallic rattle, the shackles binding the prisoners opened by themselves and their cell doors unlocked and slowly swung open.

Mr. Sunshine, quizzically enough, was not paying attention to his captor. Humming a quiet tune to himself to pass the time instead. The moment that his shackles were removed he tugged on them lightly with his now free hand, trying to see if he could find some give. Maybe tear them out of the wall? To no avail, obviously, they had kept him chained thus far. Why would they give now? Anyway, the doors opened and Mr. Sunshine trotted jauntily out the door. It was revealed to him that his cage had been farthest to the left (When exiting the cell) and it was touching the wall (The door was about three feet from the sheer surface.). Looking up towards the ceiling he spied those torches that were just outside of his reach. With a big push he tried leaping towards them, flailing his arms madly just below them. His reach was just not enough. After a few tries he stepped back from the wall and pressed his clenched hand to his chin. "Fiddlesticks."

For a moment he just stood there, staring upwards at the torches that were a few short feet out of his reach. If the appearance of the room prior to the disappearance of the strange voice was to be taken into account, then a bright torch or two would prove invaluable to escaping. He pushed his lips outwards in an odd sort of pucker, pressing his top lip to the tip of his nose. He sneezed, as he had pushed some of his mustache into his nose. Mr. Sunshine's face lit up with excitement and he shouted in the dim chamber. "Oh my gods! I have an idea!" It echoed for a moment. "Hello? I'm certain I'm not alone here, would someone mind coming over here and assisting me with something? I would greatly appreciate it!" As he spoke he walked over towards his cell door and swung it a bit, testing just how far it would go.

Finn awoke in a dark room, except for a few torches out of his reach. He groaned, he had a slight headache, but he thought it would go away after awhile. He heard the voice of his captor, and looked about for his sword, which he could not find, along with his backpack. He shook his head and fully regained consciousness. "Give me back my stuff, demon freak!" he shouted to the voice. It didn't even falter in it's speech. He heard it snap it's fingers, and suddenly the room was much brighter, and he fell to the ground as his shackles let go of him. He frowned angrily and stomped out of his cell. He heard a voice call out. His anger disappeared. "Hey, were you captured too?" he called out to the guy who had called out to anyone who could hear, as he walked over to him. "Uh, what is it?" he asked, the guy had asked for assistance, and was now swinging the cell door.

Layte couldn't believe she had been caught, leaving her with a simmering anger deep inside as she could do nothing but stand around in chains that dug against her flesh for who knows how long. If only she had been in her jackalope form she could have likely foreseen the surprise attack and hopped safely on her merry way out of the mess, but she had unfortunately been in her humanoid form at the time. It was a form she was stuck with for the time being due to being underground and her transformation powers relying on the moon being out. That was the second problem keeping her contained. A jackalope would have no problem at all slipping out of these confines. Either they knew she couldn't transform while underground or they just got incredibly lucky. Not that she knew what to do once she got free, but at least it would be a start, and surely she'd think of something.

Oddly enough her captives willingly gave her that start only a few moments after she was pondering her dilemma. Not that it made her want to kill them any less. They still deserved what was coming to them, of that she was certain. But for now she was at least a little more content with her situation. Her fate was in her own hands. Well, that and the other captives nearby. Could she trust them? An enemy of her enemy was her friend? Not always. She hesitated in front of the rune, her mind conflicted if she should help them or not. When one of them called for help, she decided that she might as well just pause her escape for a few moments and see what he was up too. She supposed that they'd be worth at least that much. Maybe she was just too soft for her own good.

She walked over to the man in long strides of her rabbit-like legs, stopping silently in front of him an arm's swing away, enough time to spring backwards to safety if he tried anything fishy. She didn't verbally offer her help, but it was at least implied by her standing nearby. She wasn't bothered by the lack of clothing, at least from a social standpoint. Jackalopes never wore clothes anyways, although their humanoid forms did, mainly out of influence by nearby human cultures. The most important part was the armor, and that was what left her with the slightly bothered expression. She could move faster without it to be sure, but jackalopes weren't known for being super sturdy. A solid hit from an attack could make her day take a turn for the worse very quickly. Not only that but she couldn't find any weapons, as to be expected. She did have sharp nails on her hands and feet that could easily kill someone given that she got up close and personal. Without armor that battle strategy was all the more risky. Magic? She didn't want to exhaust herself too quickly without knowing exactly how long of a struggle it would be to escape.

Maybe she did need some help after all.

Adrian sighed as he got up from the shackles that binded him to this cold wall that he was leaning on, before he heard a snap, and he nearly fell over as the shackles undid themselves and the room lit up. It was mostly a shocking experience for him, as he never gotten caught before in his life, even when he was in a gang, but people gotta have their first time for everything... Even him, although this is slightly worse cause he wasn't a child, he was a grown up now. He glanced around his cell before he looked as he notice other captives. He studied the captives carefully before he silently sang to himself, dimming the lights in his cell in the process, before he just sat down on the floor before he waiting what would the other captives do while he was sitting in his cell.

From inside his cell he glanced around looking around the room where he could from his point of view, and he could make out the glow of a red rune not to far from him, but he got the farthest cell from it, so it was hard to define the size of it. Inside his cell the waited until someone else would take the first move uncertain of what to do, while in the mean time he was wondering what did he go wrong? After a few moments of pondering to himself, he deemed that it was probably his seduction of a guard that got him thrown into this place...

'Ehhh, people have to make coin somehow' He thought to himself mischievously

Oh, come on. Braud sighs internally as he hears the mystical voice roust him from his induced slumber. Induced by what though? Club to the head? It's all so fuzzy, he can't quite remember. Probably something incredibly contrived and worthless to think about, for the time being. What is important is seeing about getting out of this here cell, finding the Master, and talking all this out over a pint and some steak. Wait hold on, that's wrong. Beating the shit out of the Master? Braud nods his head, his brows furrowed. Yeah, that's better.

The shackles around his wrists and ankles snap open by themselves, thankfully. They were rather tight on him, like most things not custom made. Rubbing his wrists to get the feeling back into his hands, he wanders out of his cell and begins taking in a better look at his surroundings. Okay, dim rune over there. Touch it and...what? Get teleported out of here with all the other poor bastards in this same mess? Then get brutally slaughtered by whatever monsters are in here? Yeah, that sounds about right. No touching that right now then. What's that leave him with?

"Would someone mind helping me out?" Oh, there are other people here! What a nice surprise. He had assumed, but its nice to know that he won't die alone. Lets take a look-see at these mysterious companions. Big buff dude. Looks friendly. Almost....too friendly. Bah, that probably won't be a problem. So he's fine. A young boy. No? A young man, he appears to be in his late teens, though it's hard to tell from all the way over here. He looks like a go getter, that's good. Sounds like he's got fire and a heart for adventure. Should be useful, though Braud's seen plenty of that type get themselves killed. Hope that doesn't happen this time. Okay, rabbity looking lady. Oh, that's an interesting change of pace. Not many animal like people where he's from. She looks rather...flighty? Probably not the type to get too friendly too fast. That's fine. We all have plenty of time to get along down here. And that appears to be it, though the last open cell looks especially dark. Five cells, four people out here, Braud assumes there's someone still in their own cell. Well thats fine, they can stay there right now. He's friendly, but not friendly enough to wander into an especially dark cell with no equipment and possibly get murdered. No thanks.

So he walks out over to the other three standing out front of one of the cells. Maybe the big guy's cell? Probably, considering he's the one touching it. He calls out as he walks to them. "Heyo! Glad to know I'm not the only one at this party. The name's Braud. Lets do our best to not die, eh? What do you need help with?" There. That gets his name out of the way, establishes the fact they have to work together, and offers his help. He's been in enough party scenarios to know the quicker you get stuff like this out of the way, the better. So now all thats left is to get situated and maybe get to know each other before heading out. Braud glances at the rune.

Couldn't have looked more menacing if it tried.

"Hey, so how many does that make us?" he asked as he looked around. He counted them, and counted five. "So, there's five of us in this dungeon? Well, I'm Finn Adgaurd. I was adventuring the forest, when I confronted a demon. Tried to fight it, but it knocked me unconcious, and I woke up here. How about you guys, how'd you get here?" he asked after he explained his own story.

As Braud approached Mr. Sunshine went to answer the young Lad's question, however, he was immediately and quite rudely interrupted. By the young lad who had asked him the question. If he were the sort to glare, he certainly would have. "Well, as I was going to say! You there, meaty fellow, I could use your assistance most definitely. I wouldn't ask a lady or a lad to hoist my weight up. I will admit, I haven't been watching the biscuits lately. Would you mind giving me a hand up onto this door?" He paused for a moment, looking upwards at the edge of the door. It was only a few inches taller than he was, and it would be possible to climb up on his own. However, he would appreciate a hand up. Due to his. . .Nudity. Don't want dangly bits scraping against a metal bar in a dim cavern, who knows what kind of old rust could be on these cages. "I intend to attempt to grasp one or two of those torches up there." Alex turned and pointed to the torch just out of his reach. "They may prove invaluable later on."

Adrian, from the inside of his cell looked at the two other humans, as he licked his lips excitedly wondering all the things he could do to the two humans... One of the humans he admired his masculinity, his hair was nice and well maintained while his body was a whole another thing else, something he would do latter... on his own time. On the other hand, the younger human seemed not too terribly smart, that he could tell easily but he was indeed cute.

Besides from his moment of checking out the humans, he stood up and brushed the dust off him. He sighed to himself hating the fact he had to brush himself all the time now that he barely had any clothes to wear. So, in the mean time, he looked at the humans entertained about how will they get that torch? He sighed simply to himself, debating on the fact, that he 'could' help them but he liked his privacy in his cell. So, he waited until some progress could be done, before he would act himself

.

"A hand? Absolutely! You can have the whole arm if you're going to do something useful with it." Braud completely ignores how lame that was and keeps right on with the business at hand. Braud assuming that previous request for assistance was directed at himself, for there's ABSOLUTELY no one around as beefy as him. Its literally his thing. Anyway. Braud steps up to the door and gets down on one of his knees, cupping his hands together in the traditional up and over position. "Here you go. Step on up and I'll lift you up to grab some of those torches."

Braud tries not to think about how this position will probably get him a faceful of barely concealed meat. And not that kind he likes either. That's a whole nother kind than what he specializes in. "I'm gonna beat the muckfothering demon who put me in here just for this. This is a travesty." Braud thinks to himself silently, turning his head away from the group. Sometimes its not easy being this beefy. "So uh, while the four of us are getting....acquainted out here, why don't we start building some camaraderie? Like I said, my name is Braud. Braud Werst. I might not look it, but I happen to be an expert mage. And the rest of you are? I suggest we start building trust as soon as possible, otherwise we're all gonna end up dead. Including the person still in their cell!" Braud directs this last comment over to the darkened cell, where the mysterious occupant still sits. "You can come on out you know? Promise we.....or I at least, won't bite!"

Adrian sighed to himself getting up and dusting himself off, he started to walk and he exited out of his cells. "Taa-Dah!" Adrian said as he exited out of his cell and leaned against the stone wall sighing to himself once more. He glanced up from his position and looked at the two awkward humans trying to reach the torch. The scene to him was still indeed entertaining to him as he watched, enjoying how awkward it was for the beefy guy on the bottom. If I was him, I would be checking that man's goods, but onto business he focused once more.

'Ugh this is going to be long, isn't it?' he thought to himself, before he began to go into a state of thinking. But, he just shrugged tiredly not wanting to deal with the complications of trying to introduce himself latter awkwardly he said "Well since you asked for us to bond, my name is Adrian nice to meet you. So, now that I am introduced lets move on to the next person shall we?" He said sighing partially before he glanced at the 'only girl' in this room, signaling her that it was her turn. Oh how wonderful this might be, not knowing how awkward this is going to be for her and the rest of us.

'Oh this is going to get good soon' he thought to himself smiling in the process.

"I'll go next." he said, saying that this would be his turn. "As I had said earlier, I'm Finn Adgaurd, human adventurer." he introduced himself. He felt a little anxious to get going. There was a very large masterpiece of monsters and loot infront of them, and he could see himself finding a sword and fighting the monsters to no end. "Can we hurry up and get going?" he asked.

Layte noticed the wolf person eyeing her as he finished his introduction, implying that he wanted her to go next. She shifted uncomfortably in place, hesitating enough for the next person to start up their own introduction in her place. She wasn't good with conversation, but it was a true statement that they should get to know each other a little better, so she had little choice in the matter. It wasn't for friendship, but for tactical reasons. Plus, if it was about tactics and the like than she would have a much easier time expressing herself. She built up the courage and stepped forward slightly to signify that it was now her turn to take the stage.

"My name is Layte Faurrows. I prefer fighting using agility and weapons of almost any type, although I do know some fire magic. It's taxing on my strength, however, so I'd prefer to limit magic use to emergency situations."

She began to walk over towards the portal, leaving her introduction at that. She'd explain more if requested of her, but for now that appeared to be all of the information expected of her. It was about time to head off on their quest, and she wasn't known for her extraordinary patience. She did wait to see if everyone else would be coming along first before just rushing out on her own. That wouldn't make much sense at all, given the circumstances.

Braud's concerns would be short lived, as Mr. Sunshine hopped up into the palms of his hands and sprung upwards to the top of the door with ease. The boost was exactly what he had needed to get up here. The door wobbled a bit, but it struck into Braud's broad body and prevented him from falling. "Well, since introductions are-" He paused for a moment, nearly losing his footing for a moment. The muscular man wobbled, waving his arms back and forth before resetting himself on the door's edge. "Being made! I shall make my introductions momentarily, once I get my hands on that torch there!" With a couple practice swings of his arms, he leaned forward and hopped off of the edge towards the torches. "Huzzah!" In a frantic scramble he managed to get his hand on the torch, however, the torch was not just floating in air. Which is something that he had not bothered to take account of. The torches were held in place by little iron circlets that wrapped around them.

What does all this mean? Mr. Sunshine fell, but his grip persisted, and his had slid down the edge of the torch before grinding to a halt. Sure to have splinters now, he gritted his teeth and forced a smile. With a pained expression, and the strain quit evident in his voice, he spoke to the group. "I have a torch, but as well, I have a problem. It seems that I may need a second lift to remove the torch from its sconce, otherwise I'm just going to dangle here all day. At least, until I relinquish my grip."

While he waited for a hand to push his feet upwards so he may be freed from this awkward position, he decided that introductions would be the perfect way to distract himself from the splinters that were likely more than a half inch deep in his palm. "Ahem, now then. My name is Alexander Beck Brighton, heir to the Brighton Family Fortune, Son of Royal Blood, and Adventurer Extraordinaire! My friends call me Mr. Sunshine, which means, everyone calls me Mr. Sunshine! A pleasure to meet all of you!" Despite being in comical amounts of pain, his face bore no signs of distress.

Braud gapes at the large man's antics. "Are you kidding me?" With a heavy sigh, and quite a bit of strain, Braud pushes Mr. Sunshine up and over the iron rings, letting him down, torch now in hand. "There. We'll just get that out of the way right now. Good going Sunshine, that was brilliant." Braud takes the torch from Mr. Sunshine with one hand, and with the other hand, holds Alex's splinterized hand. "Dude, you fucked up. I'll see what I can do about this though. But it won't be pleasant." Taking a closer look at Mr. Sunshine's hand, Braud sees one thing that sticks out to him. A bunch of splinters plunged into the now incredibly tender flesh. "Ouch man, you shoulda planned this out a little better. Grit your teeth, cause this is gonna burn."

Taking a deep breath, Braud closes his eyes and concentrates. Magical energy, clearly visible, travels down his arm and into his palm, where it then transfers over to Mr. Sunshine's hand. With a rather gross noise of what sounds like meat smacking together, the flesh in Sunshine's hand begins to repair itself, the splinters being forced out of his hand, the tender skin knitting itself together behind it. This process takes about 30 seconds, with the splinters dropping to the floor with a soft noise when they are out. The hand is now healed, free from any blemishes or bruising, and it won't be super extraordinarily tender, like ramming your hand down a wooden torch base would be likely to make it.

"There we go." Braud says after taking a couple of deep breaths to replenish his energy. Healing definitely takes effort, but something like this is really low balled. It's having to repair broken bones and almost severed limbs that really throws him for a loop. "Try not to get hurt so much in the future though? We'll all need to really not get hurt every room if we want to have any hope of getting out of here in one piece. You know what I mean?" He stands up, torch still in hand, and looks to the rest of the party. "Its a pleasure to meet all of, I hope we all stay alive long enough to become best friends!" This is said with a stale face and incredibly thick sarcasm. "I'll do my best to keep yall alive, so whats next on the agenda before we begin our quest through hell?"

Finn leaned against the wall as he waited for the others to be ready to head to the next room. He was anxious, they were taking quite a bit of time, and there was an entire dungeon infront of him; one that he wanted to adventure through. He fet the rune, but did not make it so he'd advance to the next room, he wanted to wait for them to come with him, because no doubt that he could never go alone, so he just leaned against the wall and waited. "Guys, are we done with the introductions? I'm itchin to get going." he asked.

In his impatience to start exploring, Finn touched his hand to the glowing red rune. Touching it seemed to do nothing at first, but after a few seconds a deep rumbling sound came from inside the wall. A large square chunk of the wall, about six feet wide, began sliding upwards, opening up a hidden passage. The wall showed to be several feet thick, made of solid grey stone. The moving stone slab came to a stop after a few seconds, leaving an eight foot tall doorway. On the other side was a dimly lit hall, roughly 50 by 25 feet in size with a high ceiling. The only source of light was a few burning torches hanging on the wall about 12 feet high, just like the first room. The ground was dusty and scattered with tiny pieces of rubble, mostly chips of wood and stone.

Near the far end of the hall, three humanoid creatures were standing around idly, staring at the ground. They were all skin and bones, like a man who hasn't eaten for weeks, and their skin was discolored and putrid-looking. They wore the tattered remains of what was once cloth and leather clothing. Their eyes were red and bloodshot, with a wide unfocused gaze. They were ferals: men who had long ago lost their sanity and now served as an extra danger to anyone trying to traverse the dungeon. The man most to the left carried an old shortsword, rusty and battered, but still fairly dangerous against unprotected flesh. The middle man carried an iron hatchet, in a similar unmaintained state. The right one carried only a ten-inch-long dagger, old and rusted like the rest.

There was a fourth creature standing in a far corner, facing the wall. He wore a tattered brown cloak and a nearly complete set of old iron armor, so rusted and dented that it must've been many years old. The visor of his helmet was up, revealing the same gaunt discolored face as the others. In his right hand he held a longsword, old and battered, but in slightly better condition than the others' weapons. Strapped to his left arm was a large wooden kite shield with a rusted iron rim.

As the door opened, all four men raised their heads and turned towards the door. “Others. Enemies.” croaked the leftmost man in a strained voice. “Kill to live. Kill to live.” mumbled the knight in the back as he raised his longsword and shield into fighting stance and began slowly approaching the newcomers. Despite being poorly armed, the other three were less cautious. They ran forward with an awkward ape-like gait, the sword-wielder going left and the dagger-wielder going right in order to circle the newly opened doorway. A few paces from the doorway, they stopped. The middle one, with the hatchet, showed a terrible grin full of missing teeth. "Come on in, new ones. We won't hurt you very much." he spoke, followed by a cackling chuckle, while he waved his hatchet around menacingly.

Just then, with a deep rumble, another stone doorway slid open in the middle of the hall's western wall. The three lesser ferals barely seemed to notice, but the armored one turned towards the newly opened passage with his weapons raised and looked at the single humanoid figure that stood on the other side. "Who goes there?" the knight croaked. "Show your face, so i can cleave it!"

So far, Blue had learned a lot about what demons could do. Almost 4 hours ago one of those demonic creatures attacked him in the wilderness and dragged him into this hell hole of the dungeon. After minutes of panic, he was set free with the chance to survive bu exiting the maze like dungeon in the middle on the underworld. The elf happily took this chance and rushed off into the dungeon, and after a few minutes of running down the halls like a speedy blue hedgehog he reached a large stone door. It was unknown to him how the door would open, so he just touched it. Luckily that was all it took to get the door to slide open, and instantly he was noticed by some kind of feral knight.

"Who goes there? Show your face, so I can cleave it!"

"Is that any way to speak to a wood elf of Moss Wood?" Blue asked with a confident smirk on his face. And then he leaped into the air, exclaiming 'ha!'. He directed his jump to land on top of the knight and smash his head in, an unexpected attack for sure.

Layte held back with the rest of the group, eyeing the vile enemies cautiously. She was glad she didn't recklessly charge ahead and have to face all of them by herself. It looked like she could outmaneuver them, at least, but attacking right now would be a bit tricky. She was about to ask about a plan when all of a sudden a newcomer arrived and began the battle himself, leaping towards one of the foes. A completely unexpected turn of events, but perhaps she could use it to her advantage.

EDIT: Although not if her allies wouldn't also spring into action. She stayed put, watching to see what they would do to provide any good openings.