Even when he had disposed of his torch, Sylvia had still followed Sif through the tunnels for a long while, using her natural intuition and perception as a guide until the narrow mining shaft gradually branched out in all directions into a long, wide hallway. It also helped that she only really needed to follow the tunnel one way.

Coming out into the mines, she saw what she initially thought to be a wall, but realized that it was moving, and had arms and legs. It was the back of the rat ogre, another hulking mass of fur and flesh.

She recalled her encounter with the first rat ogre, how she failed to pierce the beast’s spine, and almost paid for it with her life. Well, now she had two blades, and a bloodlust to fill, thanks to that earlier stormvermin retreating from the fight. Despite her wound, she was aching for another fight.

The ogre seemed to be transfixed by something flickering on the ground; Siph’s torch. And the beast, oblivious to the small human who had just entered the hall, had its back turned to her.

Perfect.

Sylvia recited her transparency spell, and stalked towards the ogre, both blades in her hands. Unlike the last ogre, which had been thrashing and swinging at nearly everything nearby, this one was docile, at least for the moment. It was a strange thing, getting so close to an opponent who could crush her in a single blow. But then again, it had to catch her first.

Silently, like a shadow in the dark, she snuck up behind the ogre and searched for any weak spots. Of course, on such a massive beast, it was difficult to find any among its mass. Still, everything always had a weakness. Everything.

Won’t risk the spine again, it’s too damn strong.

Even though the dwarven shortsword probably could have pierced the bone, she wouldn’t risk getting grabbed by that thing, since she wasn’t certain she would have any backup. So, she looked lower. Its waist was covered by a ragged loincloth, but she wasn’t going to go there.

There are some things even I wouldn’t do, and that’s one of them. The ogre’s probably castrated anyway.

So, she looked even lower, towards the legs, more specifically, the tendons and ligaments which held them together. Easy pickings. She aimed for its right leg, slicing towards its achilles and hamstring areas, hoping to cut deep.

The orc stumbled through the tunnel as the darkness of the tunnel strained his sense. As he traveled deeper into the tunnel Gorrmar was getting annoyed at the lack of skaven. "Come out ya zogin pansy!" the orc angrily yelled into the darkness. After several moments with no answer the greenskin restarted his trudge through the tunnel. When the ringing of the accursed bell reached Gormarr the greenskin dropped to his knees clutching his head. The orcs body was wrack with the feeling of dread as the sound reverberated through the dark tunnel. But slowly a new emotion began to take hold: Rage. The thoughts of dread was pushed out of his mind a rage burn brightly into his heart. Getting back to his feet as rage boiled over him as he glared down the tunnel. Drawing his ax and helbert he let out the ancient war cries of the orcs. "WAAAGH!," the roar echoed off the tunnels as the orc charge down the path to find who ever rang that bell and beat them to death with said bell.

After a few moment of running the tunnel began to widen and became better lit. Gorrmar soon spotted a large furry mass blocking his way. "Get out of my Zogging way!" the greenskin yelled. As he unknowingly charge at rat ogre he raised both of his weapon aiming the strike at the creatures neck.

"Must... retreat... regroup... retreat... regroup..." Marianne mumbled as she ran away. Even when Fariha took a grip of her shoulder, stopping her on her tracks, she was still in her mumbling delirium.

"U-uh? F-Fariha? I-is that you, Fariha?" she said to the elf, her eyes glazing around everywhere, "T-that's great! T-the more the merrier, they say! B-but I think we still need more people though so w-we should go back for now, yes?"

When she felt Fariha dragging her by her hand towards the direction where the horrible bell sound came from, she tried to go back to the other direction, resisting Fariha's tug. But Fariha's grip was strong, and her strength was currently gone due to how much she was shaking. So she couldn't really do anything as she was forced to follow Fariha forward. Fariha's words of encouragement didn't really have an effect in calming her down, it seemed.

Thankfully, she soon got her much needed cure, in the form of a good old blunt force to her head. In a single moment, she actually managed to overpower Fariha, but she was surprised by the force she was giving to get out from her grip, making her trip on her own dress. She fell to the ground, face first, accompanied by a loud ripping sound. It would actually be quite a comical scene if not for the situation they were in.

That was enough to bring Marianne back to her senses, so as she got up, wiping her dirty face with her hand, she said to Fariha, "T-thank you for stopping me. I've seemed to become overcome by fear thanks to that terrible sound of a bell. Surely you heard it too, Fariha. It echoed through your deepest veins, turning your blood cold and addling your mind. I tried to cover my ears but it did nothing to preserve my calm mind. It was certainly... an embarrassing thing for an adventurer to do so I would like to apologize for my weakness also." Marianne did a little bow to add to her apology.

"And speaking of embarrassment, it seems I have... ah... ripped the front of my dress when I fell to the ground. Perhaps you could see it with your sharp vision but now my legs and thighs are quite visible. I'm just warning you since you would see my insects swarming there so please do not be alarmed."

Marianne could feel her cheeks reddening a little. Ever since she was fourteen, she only wore long dresses that covered her legs all the way to her boots. This reminded her of her childhood days where it was common for young noble girls to wear knee-length dresses. She could imagine her mother freaking out when she saw her at this unladylike state.

...Well, she really shouldn't feel terribly shameful as she got her insects covering her down there. Most people would just feel disgusted at the sight, which was why she wanted to warn Fariha first. She didn't know how good her vision was after all.

"At the very least, I should be somewhat more mobile now, though I certainly wouldn't be able to compete with your agility, Fariha," Marianne added with a light chuckle. On many aspects, she was the opposite of the elf, even though they both fought from a distance.

"Now, let us make haste. I worry about Siph and the others."

@Rekaigan

Rairsun marched stoically into the tunnels along with the archer Fariha, his royal guard was a meager few brave souls who went with their newly crowned King into the breach so that the others could recover. They were armed with golden shields and sharp weapons to match their determined gaze. The tunnels were tight, cramped, dark, everything a Dwarf enjoyed of their tunnels but they silently raged at the idea of filthy rats tunneling through dirt and stone into their very midst to deal such a grievous wound!

Rairsun held his hand to halt the march when the bell tolled through them, a wave of magical fear washed through them like a tidal wave. Their rage denied the rats their first attempt to steal the courage from them here in their own home. Their throaty growls confirmed their conviction to silence the bell and aid their saviors.

The archer briefly exchanged words with the Entomancer with the ripped skirt. With that business dealt with, the group of grim faced Dwarves flowed around the two heroes further into the tunnel where a single torch glowed softly amid the darkness.. Their pace doubled when they heard the Ratkin Ogre roar.

"FOR THESURI!" Rairsun chanted, his guard echoing that call with every heavy footfall.

The five Dwarves emerged from the tunnel into the dimly lit and smooth floored tunnel carved by their ancestors to see the Ratkin beast in a desperate fight.

"Marvo! Light, now!" Rairsun shouted to the Guard with the golden pendant. "Thesra, Bjorn, Darka! KILL THAT ABOMINATION!"

Rairsun hoisted his heavy mace in both hands and felt the aches across his body fade away with the thrill of combat pumping into his tiny frame. The others all but snarled with hatred as they raised their shields and banged their weapons across the heavy metal to get the beasts attention.

Marvo Thrund whispered to the gods under the mountain, patron saints of the Dwarven people, and coaxed into being a blinding light. Golden radiance washed over the room to expose every shadow and reveal the filthy ogres hideous body.



Bathed in the burning golden radiance the Rat Ogre howled its rage as its eyes failed to adjust quickly enough. Already it was wounded from the distraction of Sifs discarded torch, the slippery human had cut at its legs but thankfully the metal grafted to its lumbering form had blocked its hamstring from being severed but it did receive a nasty slash along its thigh as it reacted to the surprise attack, attempting to turn and swipe its arm across.
Gormarr put a stop to that.

The Greenskin struck hard at the mass of muscle that was the ogres neck, the sharp blade easily parting flesh to draw a deep bright black line of dripping blood. Again caught by surprise at the shouting thing attacking it! AGAIN IT BLED! Thought was not something Rat ogres ever had to use, so the brute responded the only way it ever had. Violence.
In the golden sunlight bathing the tunnels they could see its form now. Both legs all the way up to its hips were grafted with metal plating directly to its skin, its chest had chains wrapped across it front and bank offering a very small amount of defense against the slashing blades it would no doubt face. Its left arm had been severed off entirely, in its place was a two-headed hammer that had seen much use. Its right hand, which had been used to swipe at the pesky woman, was still flesh and blood with a tiny bit of metal grafted onto its wrist.

When the Dwarves emerged to assault it, the Rat Ogre followed its orders. Destroy!
Its hammer hand went high and came down hard, the Dwarf banging its shield barely avoiding the titanic blow. The shockwave alone threatened to stumble him but years of fighting kept him steady.
Axes lashed out as the Ogre swept its hands about frantically, one such meaty appendage catching the Orc in the chest and sent flying across the tunnel into the smooth walls.
Sylvia was much quicker and the Ogre much wilder, its hammer hand missed by a small margin with each swing as it was forced to refocus on multiple targets.

Rairsun watched with satisfaction, hands tight on his weapon, waiting for the opportunity to catch the damn thing where it hurt.

In the back of Fariha's mind, she remembered that the Dwarves were following close behind her, so when Marianne was concerned about numbers, the elf merely smiled at the other girl before continuing down the tunnel. As a wood elf, she was expected to have exceptional reflexes, however the huntress could only watch as the mage fell to the ground, face first. Although it was extremely comedic to Fariha; now wasn't the time to be joking around. Fariha couldn't help but look away slightly as she noticed the damaged dress, she wasn't too used to suddenly seeing someone partially naked. It's not something you'd expect in these situations.

"Don't worry, you're just inexperienced. Even though I'm a seasoned hunter, that bell still gave me a bit of a chill." She stated to the now slightly naked girl. Had the tunnel not been so dark, she would've shown the other girl that the grip on her bow was more tense than usual. Thankfully, the spirits coupled with her strong will, prevented her from going into a full panic like Marianne. The wood elf stole a glance at the bugs that swarmed around the mage's legs. It was odd to see, but it wasn't as alarming as others may think. She chose not to comment on it.

"Maybe after a solid decade of training, you'll get there~" She responded, chuckling in kind before continuing down the path with the mage.

A roar echoed through the tunnel, a roar that Fariha identified as an Orc's. Gormarr. Perhaps the bell had sent him into a rage. Fariha caught a glimpse of a rat ogre staring placidly at a fallen torch light. Siph's torch. Of course, Siph couldn't have possibly been bested by such a beast, thus she assumed that he was further ahead, not wasting time on the ogre. There was also a slight silhouette near the giant rat, possibly Sylvia.

Fariha suddenly pressed Marianne against the wall of a tunnel, finding a small gap in the rock for them to squeeze into. The Dwarf group marched passed them, their armour clanking away as they marched. The elf pulled the girl and herself out of the gap as the last Dwarf stomped passed. "Stay behind the Dwarves and Gormarr, they'll protect you. Help them as much as you can. I'm going to catch up with Siph." She said simply as she advanced behind the Dwarves.

Fariha shielded her eyes as a bright light filled the tunnel. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the Rat Ogre was blinded and enraged. The huntress rushed forward, dodging under the swinging fists. She slid under it's legs, ending up behind it at the cost of a few arrows tumbling out of her quiver. She quickly fired a mithril arrow, aiming for the lower part of it's spine before looking for any sign of Siph. She noticed an arrow sign carved into the stone wall. Quickly acknowledging the sign, she sprinted down the tunnel to follow Siph's trail, her eyes quickly readjusting to the darkness.

@Hammerman@Zelosse

"I see... Indeed, I lack experience... This is my first real foray into adventuring after all..." Marianne replied, a little downcast. At times like these, she really felt the difference between her and her team mates, who were all more experienced than her in life and death combat. But, like the elf girl said, there was nothing else she could do other than continue on and gather experience with time as her only teacher.

Marianne followed Fariha down the tunnel, with the elven girl taking the lead since she had better sight than her. As she walked, she certainly could feel the difference as the white underskirt she was wearing was now gone at the front, so no fabric brushed with her legs and tights. In exchange, she could feel the coldness of the tunnel going straight into her insects down there. She hoped they wouldn't be that bothered with it. Checking the edge of her dress however made her realize that her underskirt wasn't really there the more her hands got near the center where the rip started. At said center, after she felt the fabric of her red outer dress she could feel the silk of her pink panties directly. This made her blush once more as she ordered her insects to cover the area. Luckily, it was dark and she was only with another girl so it wasn't that embarrassing to her.

Suddenly, she could hear a roar coming from her front. She could tell it was an orc's roar, so it had to be Gormarr. So he had gone ahead before them, it seemed. And judging from that roar, he should be in the middle of a battle right now. Marianne soon found out what opponent the orc was facing, as she saw the gigantic rat ogre at the end of the tunnel. She only saw it thanks to the torch lying on the ground. Marianne didn't immediately make the connection that it was Siph's torch, unlike Fariha. She also didn't really notice Slyvia being there, thanks to her poorer eyesight.

Suddenly, Fariha pushed her to the side, into a little crevice in the wall of the tunnel. She had no idea why she would do this until she heard a dozen of footsteps marching from behind them. The dwarves were rushing through, determined to have their revenge for their fallen king. After they went through, Fariha told her to support them in combat versus the rat ogre, while she would go after Siph. Marianne nodded in agreement, as she felt her skills could be served better in a support role, now that her mantis was unusable.

Arriving at the end of the tunnel, she was greeted by a dazzlingly bright room. So sudden was the change in brightness that she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened it back, she saw the ogre fighting against the dwarves. But she also saw her comrades fighting as well, with Gormarr being on the front line as usual while Slyvia looked around for a good weak spot for her blade to land.

Marianne quickly ordered her bees to swarm the ogre. She saw how Gormarr had wounded the beast on the neck. And with the wound still being fresh and open like that, it was the perfect target for her to focus her bees' poison into. If she could get the poison right into the creature's bloodstream, surely it would become far more potent, she reasoned. Nausea, dizziness, and muscle-ache. The ogre would soon feel all that. Perhaps even the lethal effect would activate sooner though she doubted that it would kill the creature right away. Nothing was ever that easy in the rifts.

@Rekaigan@Zelosse

There is an old Sektephi saying about luck, "A nomad can spend an entire day with clear skies, or struggling to keep the sands out of his eyes" It seemed as if fortune saw it fit to hurl a handful of sand into Djin's face as the elf began her assault. Backstepping as fast his feet would allow, the wanderer watched for when it seemed Syndana would cease her advance. After a good number of swipes and thrusts the Lost threw herself back to prepare for another attempt. To see an elf in Omujir, let alone their fighting style, was an extreme rarity. But Djin wasn't some newly arrived Sektephi, her unorthodox fighting style would be met with his own, knowledge gathered along his journey from numerous culture. One such technique was relieving himself of a now useless bow. As soon as Syndana leaped back, Djin hurled his bow as hard as he could at her, spinning as it flew across the room before deflecting the metal projectile. Unsheathing Daityat he charged forward wielding it with a single hand while his free hand formed a tight fist. His only thoughts were, "If only I spent more time with the Sehrai, I could have ended with fight long ago"

Djin brought forth his blade to deflect the first dagger swipe, should it connect he would follow up with an elbow strike to the face and hopefully gain the opportunity to grab the elf's off hand. In his mind it would be a simple thing to do; block the first strike allowing him to disorient his foe with an elbow bash then follow up with a punch to the gut which would send their upper body forward and vulnerable to a finishing strike should he not be able to disarm her off hand. As much as he was against pointless bloodshed, Djin secretly loved duels. The finesse it took to study your opponent's moves and formulating a plan to defeat them as the battle carried on. To see how his opponent fought against him would tell him so much in such little time. It was an intimate thing, intense and eye opening as to what kind of a person your adversary was.

"I would offer you the Nil Miasleten but you are a Lost. One without honor cannot be granted such", Sektephi customs allow for a combatant to offer the Nil Miasleten which gives their opponent the ability to concede defeat without any loss of honor or harmful punishment towards either party. If a combatant is casteless, not capable of complex thought, or is simply deemed honorless then there is no choice but to fight. "A shame really, I would have very much liked to speak with you"

(Thanks to Zelosse for helping me edit this)

The sanctification of scoring the wound on the Rat Ogre was short lived. The limb of his foe crashed hard into his chest and sent him hard into the tunnel walls with a meaty thud. Standing, though dazed from the strike, the greenskin heritage bubbled to the surface as per usual. The rage of his people filled Gormarrs eyes with hatred aimed solely at the abomination.

Gormarr ignored the Dwarven soldiers that passed by him and readied his remaining weapon, the other having been dropped in the tumble. The burst of light revealed the monster in all its splendor, twisted steel limbs and armor coating its foul body, but if the Orcish battle rager cared at all for this new set of challenge it wasn't shown.

With a shout, the Orc pushed off the wall and charged the monstrosity while its focus was on the Dwarves. Ducking under a sweeping backhand that wasn't aimed at him, Gormarr struck. His axe dug deep into the creatures elbow joint, luck was on his side and the blade cut deep into the bone. How the beast HOWLED!
It's pain drove Gormarr further into his own bloodlust. Muscles bulging from the strain he held on to the axe handle with as much strength as he could muster. The Rat Ogre would not be stalled for long, but its bleeding and nearly severed arm would put the group at a massive advantage.

Sylvia deftly dodged the ogre’s crushing blows, thankful for the backup now present. Still, she couldn’t let her guard down. There it was again, that feeling of uselessness she had. Really, what could she do with a knife and a sword that might as well have been a largish dagger? That orc was battling the ogre head-on, swinging his axe like a savage while the ogre either took the hits or staggered out of the way. Did he have to worry about fragility? Hell no.

She pushed away the distracting thoughts and decided that she should use her skills to target something truly vital. The scattered bits of armor the rat ogre wore protected most of the vital areas, except a precious few. Namely, the eyes. Mentally, she planned out her attack. She would run up to it while it was distracted; climb its fur, then jab it in the eyes with her swords.

Easier said than done.

She took a deep breath, then sprinted towards the ogre, making sure to avoid the sudden swarm of bees manifesting behind her, and jumped as high as she could, grabbing onto the ogre’s coarse wires of hair. A few of the cords broke off, but luckily, the rest were sturdy enough to support her weight. Hoping the beast was distracted, she continued to climb up inch by inch, hand after hand. The stench of rot and excrement didn't make the climbing any easier.

Eventually, she scrabbled her way up to the thing’s neck, thanking her lightly armored self for making the climb so much easier than it would have been had she been wearing restrictive armor and clothing. Now came the hard part. The bees were all over the thing’s neck, making it difficult for her to concentrate, but eventually she had her legs securely around its scruff, and in both hands she carried her knife and shortsword.

“Alright then, beast. Let’s see what happens when I blindside you.”

Her voice was barely a whisper, but the threat it carried was real. Gripping the two blades, she thrusted both of them down towards the ogre’s eyes.

The Ogre abomination bellowed in helpless agony, its swipes and attempts to crush the tiny creatures assaulting it were meeting with nothing but air. Blinded by the bright light, wounded severely, and being accosted from its blindsides at every turn had cost it what little vitality it had left. Already the swings of his grafted arm were growing sluggish and slowing down bit by bit. The Dwarves had been relentless on their assault, taking the heavy hits on their braced shields.
By the time the Rat Ogre realized what was about to happen it was too late.

The ogre didn't comprehend what was happening as the womans knife arced down. The blade was sharp indeed, easily cutting into the eye socket and into the tender brain tissue. If only as a show to its unnaturally strong body, the Ratkin managed to stay on its feet as Sylvia retracted the blade and slid off its body with ease, the beast touched the bloody socket once before it finally realized the truth. The thud of its lifeless corpse hitting the ground shook the stone corridor, amidst the clatter of chains and steel grinding into the stone as its body leaked out its black lifeblood.

Rairsun scowled from behind his shield dwarves. Too easy it had been to kill this one. Hadn't even gotten a chance to strike, in the end the mercenaries had done all the work.

"Lets go lads. Real fights up ahead or I'm a Bearded gnome! Off with ye'!" He commanded, his shield dwarves lining up for the march. Few they may be, but each one was still a veteran. Prepared for a fight they could see coming, they were worth their weight in dead rats.

----------------------------------


@Rekaigan

Fariha followed Siphs trail down the long winding tunnels, careful to watch for the marks of his passing, until the sound of battle caught her ears. A deafening explosion rocked through the underground with enough force to threaten the subterranean complex with a cave-in. Green light spread lit up the corridor the Archer was traversing, bathing the stone walls with the sickly glow of the shamans chaotic energy.
As she approached the breach opening she would see it all.

The great cart that had served as the mobile altar for the ratkins foul worship lay at the far end of the wide open cavern. Two rat ogres, one dead, the other standing at its masters side. The Grey Rat Shaman was again aflame with its sinister green magics swirling in a hellfire around its obscured form. In its hand was the grimoire, a collection of living preserved flesh worshipping the horned rat.
The chain to the bell had been severed completely and had dropped the ball onto the cavern floor and caused the Shaman to lose its already short temper even further.

Siph had his back to Fariha as she approached, the rat ogres severed head was under his foot, but the old barbarian was gasping for air. Close to a foot of jagged steel was sticking out of his lower back, the right right side of his body was coated in a mixture of black and bright red blood. The runic tattoos aglow with his own strange magic, trying to stem the flow of blood but failing, as he brandished his bloodied polearm.

The Rat Shaman was whispering words of power, its flaming barrier burning dimmer as more power was being siphoned for its spell.

@Zelosse

As she traveled through the cavern, she heard a deafening blast. She doubled her pace, noticing the sickly green flames that licked at the tunnel walls.

Upon reaching Siph, she noticed his injuries, the dead rat ogre, the broken bell, and the mobile alter. She was only half surprised that the hulking man could take down an ogre by himself, but his injuries seemed fatal. Unfortunately, Fariha wasn't a healer of any sort, so she couldn't waste time trying to help him when it was futile... An idea suddenly sprung to mind as the elf silently approached the man from behind. The center ring on her hand glowed faintly as she touched Siph's back. A small amount of nature magic flowed from her hand into Siph's body, hoping to act like some sort of catalyst for his runic magic. The elf wasn't too skilled at magic, so it only had a chance of working.

She pulled away after a second, focusing on the rat shaman now, it's vile green magic swirling around it. A bad omen if anything. It seemed as though it hadn't noticed her presence yet as it focused on it's own magic. Fariha pulled back the string of her empty bow; this time she was going to put it down for good. Again, the center circle of her five-fold glowed, but this time it was stronger than before. She slowly stepped out from behind Siph as the bright white arrow came to full form. She braced herself as the tension in her bow caused her to shake. With a deep thrum, she unleashed the arrow. The blinding light arrow soared towards the rat shaman, aiming for it's chest, hopefully putting an end to it's sorry life.

After releasing the magic arrow, Fariha felt a sudden spell of dizziness wash over her. She struggled to stay on her feet, but she fell to one knee, panting in exhaustion. If that didn't work.. Well.. She didn't know what else she could do.

Marianne watched as Slyvia put the finishing blow on the rat ogre. The creature was indeed repulsive, even as it fell down to the ground with a loud thud. She recalled her bees afterwards, thanking them for the good job as usual.

"Lets go lads. Real fights up ahead or I'm a Bearded gnome! Off with ye'!"

The dwarves charged forward right away, not even staying a while to rest. She was happy with this development however as she was now reminded once more that her skirt was quite in an indecent state. She certainly didn't want the dwarves to notice the fact.

She quickly followed them from behind, as she worried about Fariha and Siph. She hoped the two could handle themselves, fighting against whatever terror lied beyond.

When she arrived however, she saw Fariha on one knee, panting in exhaustion, and Siph beside her, standing but with a terrifying wound that made her cover her mouth with her hands. She quickly came to their side, saying, "Are you all right, Fariha, Siph?" as she bent over, looking at the elf with worry as she put her hand on her shoulders. Fariha seemed to be merely tired but Siph, Siph, she had no idea what to do. If only she had bugs with healing capabilities right now...

@Rekaigan@Zelosse

(Insert rat shaman banner here)

The Rat shaman was lost adrift its foul castings, words of power flooded every inch of its body in stinging green fire that burned it from the inside as the hellish magics pumped the blessing and unbridled hatred of the Horned Rat deep within the shamans dirty frame.
The spell was one of the miracles of Ratkin kind, an art that could only be cast by one who was overflowing with their chaotic gods evil might. Rather than obliterate this idiotic man-thing back to dust it would snap victory out of the very JAWS of this disastrous near defeat.

Before Farihas blinding arrow could punch a whole through its chest the last syllables to its demonic chanting reached its apex.

------------------

(Image coming soon)

Eternity. To oversee every act of history repeated time and time again. The same dragon killed by the same brutish humanoid.. but then there were times when the dragon was a gigantic worm, or a drider armed with its hideous trident. Everywhere the being looked it saw only the mundane scene of history long past repeat itself..

But things change. Sometimes it is only a minor thing.. othertimes-

The swirling reality about the figure shattered. Magic of great power, not once but twice, called across the infinity. In a rift there was an unwritten rule that every creature followed subconsciously and that was avoiding astral or large teleportation magic. For this very reason!

The collective realities of each and every rift were intimately interconnected by the threads of the crystal! The infinity stone was their access point ans exit but when you made another one..

Realities shattered. In a panic the figure reached out to try and grasp the bubbles of amassed history before they shattered with a violent popping of energy that assaulted even the figures immaterial body painfully, a feat not thought possible. It had to find the source!
Through infinity it gazed out and found the problem.

A holy man and an eccentric wizard had activated a recreated portal that had connected reality to the burning hells of the demon planes and had further altered it. Looking for another exit portal or effect, but rifts did not exist to handle that kind of madness!
The other was a shaman. The oddity here was.. it was trying to manifest its god!
The imperceptible roar of outrage coursing through the infinity spoke of its outrage as the stone all but shuddered under the weightof infinite potential and the chance for infinite disaster. Given that there was few options to stop the shattering, countless worlds and realities within had already been shattered irreparably, that only left one option.

The portal looking for a new exit answered the call of thr ratkin, the figure forcibly altering its intended pathway to stabilize reality itself. The cost was unexpected. Sharss of shattered reality still whistled through the empty space between rifts and whenever they cane in contact with one..

-------

The Ratkins look of success shattered as it felt it. No, more than that. Ot saw it. Time had stopped long enough for the Grey seer to truly see. Siph Barou, legendary humanoid, Fariha. Archer. The entomancer behind it.
The dwarves marching forward.. all a lie. A recreation. The 'figure' held them all here in an endless loop.
Its own magic had failed to summon the horned rat to wipe the slate clean but had done more damage than ever thought possible.

Looking at its own clawed appendage, the bright green hell flame slowly being replaced by the magical power of another, Skritch realized his many errors.

The white arrow punched through its feeble shield and through the grimoire restingnover its heart, and kept going right through until it hit the cavern wall behind the shaman. There was no pain. Just emptiness..

The rat ogre, infused with the horned rats blessing, had cracks of blue forming across its skin as well. So this was how it ends...

A blinding light erupted from every ratman in the tunnels that had tasted the chaotic magic, their frames simply shattering into sparkling motes of light. As if they had never existed at all. The second coming of the strange magic shook the tunnels with cataclysmic force, throwing anyone on their feet into the walls as the earth seemed to reject what was coming.
Everything became distorted as ripples of some unknown force invaded them and their world, altering details or removing some entirely. When at last it faded there were new problems to be dealt with.

Hideous Naga creatures, humanoids with snake bodies and thick arms brandishing pikes or tridents had replaced many of the rats, greenskinned orc savages had fallen from the sky or been ejected from the walls were climbing to their feet brandishing weapons of crude stone design. The two opposing forces were clashing wherever they met, as more and more creatures from different rifts no doubt flooded the current one.

Where Fariha and siph stood, a portal shimmered into life. @manofthenorth

(Tunnels now have orc and naga enemies. Fight to regroup!)

Marianne certainly didn't foresee what came afterwards.

The shaman managed to finish his spell before Fariha's arrow reached him. But said spell wasn't like something she had ever seen before. She had expected it to be a terrible attack of some sort, perhaps a blast of fear and darkness aimed right at them, but instead...

Instead... it tore apart the reality around them.

The arrow ended up piercing through the shaman's heart, going straight to the wall behind him, but it didn't matter, as the spell could not be stopped any longer.

Marianne fell down to the ground as a terrible quake shook the earth around them, losing her balance. It lasted for what seemed like an eternity until the ripples on reality faded away. She then looked up, only to see that they were now surrounded by new enemies.

Orcs and nagas.

It seemed they had fallen from the rifts caused by the tears, as they scrambled up their feet (or in case of the nagas, their tails), brandishing their weapon as they looked upon the other with hate and distrust.

This was their chance, Marianne thought. As they were distracted with each other, they could regroup to a more advantageous location to fight.

However, she then saw a portal shimmering at where Fariha and Siph were. This portal... they could certainly take it to escape but they had no idea where it would lead them. What if it led to another ambush by the enemy? Or how it just dumped them in a hazardous place like in lava? And it could even be a broken portal, leading them in-between dimensions, crushing them to nothingness instantly.

She quickly scrambled to where Fariha and Siph were now, asking "W-What should we do?" with a panicked tone. Like before, when things didn't go her way, she would lose her calm composure. "I-it seems that spell had tore apart reality, connecting this realm to another. S-shouldn't be retreat to somewhere safer? Y-you two look to be in a terrible condition. If we're going to do it, then we'd better do it now, while they are distracted with each other."

@Rekaigan@Zelosse

Upon the death of the rat ogre the let go of the abomations arm. With a roar of victory before he started to look for the halberd that was lost. Recovering the pole arm he looked around for his companion. The orc quickly notice that he was alone. Shrugging to himself he took. After a few the greenskin felt foul magic of the gray seer wash over him. The magic force from the spell knock the large orc flat onto his back. As Gorrmar tried to recover a reptilian shaped formed above him slowly took a much more solid shape and the orc was found staring down an angry naga with a trident plunging right at his head. Quickly rolled to the side and avoided the trident taking off his head. The orc quickly brought his ax up and embedded it into the naga's chest. Getting back to his feet he ripped the ax out of the naga.

Gorrmar could hear fighting all around him and set off towards the largest about of fighting. Gorrmar soon came across some orc that were looting the bodies of fallen naga. "OI, you gits were da fightin'?" he asks the orc. The orc blinked before he tried to take a swing at Gorrmar. the larger greenskin deftly doge the attack before delivering a power punch before dropping the younger orc. As the orc collapse Gorrmar realized two things that first the orc are yoofs and second he was larger. A plan quickly formed in the greenskins head, "OI, listen up ya gitz grab a gubenz and follow me ya grotz!" he roared at the Yoofs. The orcs on instinctto listen to the biggest and loudest orc quickly fell in line.

Leading the small band of Yoofs Gorrmar repeated the process in till a sizable mob of orcs were following him. Soon Gorrmar and his mob emerge into the room were the rest of the party was. Seeing his allies sicked his mob on the nagas. As he approach the part took stock on the situation, the elf and Siph look in pretty bad shape. And bug girl was in a middle of panicking as he swaggered over to the group, "Dem Yoofs are zoggin good at fightin' n such," he said as he walked up to the group. 'By da looks of fings ya got dat rat. Good riddance ya magicky git" the green said as he walked up to the portal. "Now letz get some grog." the orc said gesturing to the portal.