This was distressing.

The smell of blood and sulphur still suffused the air, but now the kits were up and trying to fight. One of them was… odd. Alien. Made of insects and moving wrong. The beast didn’t like it.

Another was smaller, weak, fragile. It had to be kept safe, had to grow… but the beast was confused. One of the group had a similar head, the creature could tell on an instinctive level that it was the same as the beast. But the others were different, strange. They had metal armor and strange appendages, moved wrong and used strange words. It turned its head to look at the biped with a similar face, simultaneously asking for clarification and guidance. The skull-man had a small item in its hand, and had conjured green flame along the side of the bridge, but it looked like the creature. Surely it was still kin, if none of the others were?

Regardless, the monsters from the ceiling were beginning to converge on the group on the bridge, and the skull-man was standing still while it threw about its green flames. The beast didn’t know much, but it saw more and more of the abominations coming towards the bridge, and knew that there wasn’t much time for the group to make their escape. They were all kin… it thought. It just had to make sure that they stayed alive long enough to figure things out.

Breaking its thoughts, one of the monsters scrambled out from the side of the bridge, only to be knocked screaming into the fire by a ball of something thrown by the alien biped. The ones around the beast were fighting, even the small one with the fluffy tail. This all was foolish. There were more coming than were already converging on the bridge, and there was no way the group could handle all of them, surely.

The creature didn’t understand. There was a growing threat, it didn’t make sense to stay. The beasts hackles began to raise, a rising snarl issuing from its throat and mixing with a small whine as it looked around. There were too many to fight, many too many. If nothing else, that was something the strange one of its kin seemed to understand. The monsters were swarming on the walls, the ground, the ceiling… and several of them were beginning to drop down onto the bridge from a low-hanging stalactite. One of them dropped down immediately next to the skull-headed kin.

Without thinking, the beast lurched forward, foaming at the mouth and crying out with a guttural call. Its teeth sank deep into the back of the thing, blood and flesh and bone compressing and snapping between its jaws. In the beast’s belly, another small growl came forth, but the creature ignored it. Snapping the monster's neck, the beast threw it over the bridge, smacking into another one of the creatures. There was no time to play, no time to eat. More were coming.

The beast slashed and clawed and bit and tore, fighting like the cornered animal it was. On one side were the monsters, but the kits had to be protected, had to be kept safe. The creatures were landing blows on the beast, but its claws were strong and its teeth were stronger. Half a dozen bodies were lying around the creature, but more were coming fast and their claws were like razors. The beast was already bleeding from a series of slashes on its hide.

Reaching with its snake-headed tail towards the skull-headed kin, the beast made to wrap its tail around the biped and run to the edge of the bridge, attempting to scoop up the fluffy-tailed kin in its jaws as it ran. It knew in its heart of hearts that it would be faster than either one of them, and they had to GO.

It only hoped that they would understand that this wasn’t a hostile action. They were defending themselves, but they were still kits, after all. If not, why did they lack claws and teeth?

The Lava Lord burst from the lava pool. Its horn rose into the air as its serpentine body arched into a crescent, dropping lava of scalding liquid gold from its glowing, sweltering scales. The wave of lava its body conjured from merely swimming swiftly through the dense magma, crashed against the stone bank, sending a bright yellow pool, flooding across the stone to wash into the pin, which had held the endless amount of spirits. Unable to cry as their gleaming bodies were swallowed in the lava, the cage melting and crumpling into a pile of liquid metal mush, the Spirits perished and were no more. The Lava Lord rose to a 30 foot height, its webbed wings twisting and curling in the hot sulfuric air. Its maw parted, the mandibles on either side of its jaws spreading, as its burning gullet swelled with a low, haunting bellow.

The colossal beast reached the apex of its ascent before its body began sinking back into the molten river. It swung its head forward like a hammer, its head slamming onto the stone ground. The beast, through a pair of three eyes that gleamed like turquoise jewels gazed upon the lone creature that faced it. Flaming tongues lashed in and out from behind its teeth. Its body behind its head inflated like a balloon as the flames began to flicker wildly. Parting its jaws, its throat deflated on a fiery blast as streams of fire gushed from its mouth, passing over the golem with a current so violent, it incinerated the stalagmites in its path. The flaming stream extended like a swirling torrent, churning as it reached the bridge and incinerated the remaining six Fleshnids that had been behind the group. The stream would not stop there…

@Scarescrow's sacrifice delays the Lord for 1 turn.





Captain looked to Luxek, when the lantern-wielding creature selflessly announced to its comrades that it would block one side. Waving and blowing on its lantern, Captain thought the wispy green flames would burn the arachnid creatures, but it hadn’t done a thing but frighten them. The Fleshnids on the wall shrieked and immediately turned thorax, fleeing from the flames as though they truly burned.

The fox girl was next to volunteer, demonstrating a power over ice as she froze the ground and then the Fleshnids in its path. Four Fleshnids were frozen solid in mid-step, and the remaining six were sliding passed them as though unfazed by their chilling fate.

Captain gazed forward at the intended path. The one with the holes in his face had started to clear the route ahead with his bug balls. He turned back around to attack one of the Fleshnids who had climbed out from under the bridge, his ball striking the creature in the back and causing it to flail and screech as the invading parasites burrowed into its flesh. Captain watched it collapse into the bubbling vat below and frowned. Behind the bug one, continuing to descend from the walls, their efforts didn’t seem to matter for more were coming!

“We need to move!” Captain yelled.

He felt useless. He raised a hand to protectively cup the Spirit on his shoulder as he lunged into a jog. The others seemed to have impressive powers,while he lacked a noticeable weapon. A slender, red leg darted out from under the bridge into the Captain’s path. The man tripped, falling onto the hard ground and gasping as he dropped the poor Spirit, sending it tumbling. The luminescence in his eyes briefly brightened as they grew with fright. The Fleshnid crawled like a spider on its numerous appendages onto the bridge, swiftly approaching him. Captain flipped over onto his back, bending his legs at the knees as he brought them closer to his torso to avoid the blade-like legs that stabbed into the stone of the bridge. As he thrust out his right hand toward the creature, his arm split into rectangular panels that began to flip, pile, and gather, forming into the shape of an alien cannon. The Fleshnid screamed just before a single plasma orb burst from the cannon’s crackling muzzle to pop its head like a bubble of blood. Captain gazed upon his strange weapon in fascination before his eyes went to the beast that was tearing and plowing through the other Fleshnids that were trying to lay siege to the bridge. Beyond the beast, and beyond the fox girl’s ice sculptures, the area brightened with a yellow, sun-like radiance. He squinted his eyes and felt the heat rising about them as it grew closer. Whatever it was, it didn’t feel good.

Flipping over onto his hands and knees, Captain pushed off the ground, reaching down to once again scoop up the Spirit and return it to his shoulder. He protected it with his left hand while his gun arm was occupied with its current transformation.

“RUN!” Captain warned.

He continued to shoot down the bridge, shooting passed Troy without even thinking. The action felt practiced. He had done it before and somehow his muscles knew where to aim. The blaze disintegrated the ice sculptures and was disintegrating the bridge as it continued to expand.

At the end of the bridge, where Fleshnids were beginning to gather was a circular passage leading to another chamber. The Fleshnids were trying to block the groups’ escape, crawling over each other as they formed a net-like barricade with their writhing bodies. From the passage, a distant caw of a familiar bird was heard echoing from the next chamber.

---

GM Note: A sacrifice is never necessarily a bad thing neither is it a good thing. If your character dies, then you are not kicked out of the game. Just like Dark Souls (but not the same), you merely start all over as a Spirit with 0 souls. This rule MAY change later depending on how frequent characters die, and if you all vote to have the rule taken away. Majority wins. A player can join as a Spirit in the next area, or if a Spirit is discovered before the next area. The GM will announce the appearance of a Spirit or "Spirits" if any are to appear. Take this warning into consideration as you make logical decisions throughout the game. You also cannot rely on my PC to always help you make logical decisions. He is expendable.

Strategy: There are a total of 30 Fleshnids on the bridge. They are Ascendant 1 much like yourselves. How you go about defeating them is up to you all. HOWEVER, the longer you remain on the bridge, the more Fleshnids will arrive. For each turn the group remains on the bridge and doesn't advance, I will add 30 more Fleshnids. Yes, they're like a serious pest problem. You do not want to remain on the bridge any longer. That is all the obvious hints I will offer to you.

Boss: Lava Lord
Status: Alive

Minions: Fleshnids
Total killed: 23/30
Added: 30
Total Remaining: 37

Tail stiffening as her pale fingers were glazed over in a light frost, the girl continued her icy assault, her clear eyes darting from place to place in order to avoid any monsters sneaking up on her. Well, it wasn't necessarily something she had to worry about, per se, as it looked like the man from before was taking care of a few on his own. That's right, she shouldn't have told him to run like that; if anything he's already proved how capable he is when he helped defeat the Horned Guard. She knew she had to repay the man for helping her out earlier, but now was not the time to be thinking about something like that. Getting out alive was what mattered the most.

Unfortunately, as he girl let her mind wander for a brief moment, she failed to notice more monsters take the places of the ones that she defeated. Okay...this was getting a little overwhelming at this point...and what if that huge beast from before catches up? They really needed to get going, but how could they do so if the enemies they defeated earlier are being replaced by more the longer they stay?

It was clear that the others were thinking the exact same; the black and white man was rushing them, and the quadruped was crying out. Letting out a distressed noise herself, the girl slowly began to back up, now only shooting spurts of ice at the new enemies, hoping it would be enough to slow them down and increase the percentage of their escape.

The girl's ears twitched at the sound of the familiar bird flying away in the distance. Good, she could still hear it, which probably meant it wasn't too far away; they still had a chance. She gave a quick glance to determine which direction the bird was going and if she could possibly see it among all this chaos, but she was instead met with the sight of the quadruped running straight for her, baring all his teeth.

Unable to keep a calm composure after seeing something like that, the girl let out a squeak, causing her to drop her orb with wide eyes; luckily the orb dissipated into nothing before it touched the ground. Was that animal actually feral? But it had to be one of them, right? It just had to be! So why was running after her like that?! To scared to moved, the girl closed her eyes tightly, expecting the worse, only to open them quickly when she felt something snag on her hood. In a matter of seconds, the girl was whisked away by the beast's teeth only hanging on by her hoodie. If her expression didn't show how frightened she was, her childlike voice gave it away in an instant, as she let out a startled cry, unable to do anything to get out of this predicament...

The heat was nearly insufferable, stinging the maggot's light receptors. Trough the stinging and the sweat pouring off of his pale skin, Troy was able to see that the few fleshnids they had killed were pretty much pointless - several more slowly began their descent, attempting to block off the exit. Troy quickly grew more and more panicked, slightly edging further from the scene. That was when the metallic man, 'Captain', dropped his morsel. The spirit was obviously frightened, and would have almost certainly died...

That was when Captain revealed his skill.

His arm seemingly morphed, panels flipping with uniform precision, folding to reveal a hole in his arm. The next thing he knew, Troy was jumping back as a blast of plasma erupted from Captain's arm, obliterating the being that stood before him. He looked towards what looked like (and felt like) a second sun, slowly making it's way towards the group. Captain rose, gripping the spirit before turning in Troy's direction and making a run for it.

"RUN!"

He passed Troy quickly, before firing off several more shots towards the growing hoard. This was when Troy decided to follow Captain's advice - he quickly turned on his heel, running as fast as he could. He could hear pattering behind him, which he could only assume was that beast... but there was no way in hell he was turning around to check. This was a nightmare, and Troy refused to die - survival was all that mattered... He just prayed that the others were hot on his tail. After a short run, they made it to their next trial - at the end of the bridge, there was an escape, from the fleshnids, from the... thing chasing them, it was their only option. But the monsters knew this - they were rapidly enclosing around it, forming what could only be described as a fence of bodies... a wall of flesh. They were trying to stop them.

"No... Goddammit!"

Despair clung at his heart, an emotion he despised. There was nothing they could do - no escape. They were going to die.



The sound filled him with anger - the man that had triggered this event, that had fled and left the group to perish, all while mocking them with that annoying cawing. He sure as hell wasn't going to die here - Troy was going to find that bastard and show him a reason why you never mess with Troy Crane.

Pain flashed in his mind as he thought this, but quickly fled, just as he reached into his face and pulled out a ball. The maggots bit into one another, tightening themselves as much as possible, and Troy adopted a pitching pose. He took aim, planning to hit the top fleshnid - if he was lucky, it would fall and knock the others down with it.

He breathed silently, the maggots in his arms and legs preparing themselves. He raised his leg, before pulling his arm back and, with all his might, launching the ball. He didn't even know if it would hit, let alone do anything - but there was really nothing else he could do. This was his only option, his only way to have even a chance at survival - and Troy Crane was a survivor through and through.

The beast had… missed. The monsters were ripping apart the kinbeast, the kit that needed protection. There was a scream, strange gurgling as claws tore through newly molded flesh, then nothing. The beast didn’t see, it was too busy hauling the small, furry-tailed kin towards the end of the bridge, dodging through the aberrations that sliced out towards its flanks. But it didn’t need to. The screams were loud enough.

One of its kin had perished. There would be time to mourn, but this wasn’t it. It still had to protect the rest of the kits, and the monsters were converging down the bridge, forming up on a wall. The strange ones were still pushing forward, and two of them seemed relatively capable of defending themselves. The problem was that with their two legs and small size, they were too slow.

Behind them, a gout of heat seared the creature’s tail, a bellowing roar echoing through the cavern. On an instinctive level, the animal was terrified. This wasn’t right, it was a predator, but whatever was in this cavern with them was an absolute horror. There was no fight to be had, only escape. It had to get as many of the kits out as it could.

The animal growled through the mouthful of hoodie, flexing its tail as it made to grab the… uncomfortable one. Shaking its head ever so slightly as it tore down a nearby fleshnid with its raking claws, the beast’s tail reached out towards the strange one just as he threw a fevered pitch towards the top of the fleshnid wall. The beast saw what he was doing.

The strange one needed more force. It was a wise choice, but the beast could do nothing but run and pray that it could barrel through. Pain ached through its body, blood soaking through the mane behind its skull-like face as it panted hard. They wouldn’t make it, not like this.

Except for the young kit. In a flash of inspiration, the beast remembered the strange ice the young kit had made. Between it and the metallic kit, the precision of the unpleasant one and the sheer mass of the beast, they had a chance of breaking through. Desperately, the beast shook its head towards the wall, making a large show of preparing to leap through it. Its legs tensed, muscles coiling against femurs, tendons stretched taut, fur flaring on the creature’s neck. It couldn’t speak; it had to broadcast its intentions as loudly as possible. If there wasn’t enough weakening fire through the wall, they would all perish.

If there was, this would be one hell of a beginning for the pack.