Satilla Valen

Everything had happened so fast and Satilla could see the emotions on Sana's face. It had affected her a lot. They were really close, probably to a point Satilla could barely comprehend. It was a reason why Kyra felt so protective of the bard when she was injured. Now that partner and person who felt as family had been killed. Satilla hated herelf in thi very moment for the lack of strength. She regretted not being able to protect or save Kyra, she wasn't going to let Sana die now. Especially since the bard dashed upstairs in chase.

"Sana!" Satilla called and quickly tried to run after hte bard. She couldn't allow the woman to die. She would never forgive herself if she did so she ran. Or tried to at least, Keystone as usual was big and hindered her path. She threw herself at the openeing between him and the staircase, pressing herself and pushing through the gap finally. Once free of hte Keystone barrier, she ran for the upstairs.

---

---

• CMC
  • The centipede that was crawling over and around what could have been its twin untangled itself from the other and scurried up the wall. It's legs clicking away until it started onto the ceiling. Its claws digging into the stone surface as it moved quickly above the ones that were starting to come up from the floor below.
• Hooded Figure
  • "Hindsight is twenty twenty isn't it," the Hooded Figure said with a chuckle as he started taking steps backwards. Placing more distance between him and the ones coming up. The grin on his face grew. "You act like you will get another chance. I gave you a chance to leave, you didn't. Not my fault." The man was rather arrogant but one couldn't exactly blame him. He was fine and the rest of the group was down at least one so far, maybe more. No one knew what was happening on the first floor.

---

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Cyne

Location: Tower 2F
Interacting with:Satilla technically

There weren't many times Cyne found herself desperately wishing that she was not a bear, but the body she had assumed lacked the ability to properly express any of the emotions that she had to deal with since arriving on this floor. Just when she had started to calm down from the insult delivered to her by the undead lying in the bed, Satilla comes by and drops the bomb that Kyra was dead. Cyne didn't know the ranger very well, but she kind of liked her, and the fact that she was dead because of some summoned beast made her just a smidgen absolutely livid.

Unlike Satilla and Nor before her that were primarily chasing after Sana so she didn't charge into sure death, Cyne dashed ahead for similar reasons as the bard: so she could do horrible things to that damn necromancer who caused all this. What she lacked in a long-standing emotional bond and years of friendship she made up with violent animal instinct and a whole lot more muscle to apply in the service of gratuitous violence. It would be the only way for her to grieve while in this form in this tower. However, before she could get to that, she found herself stuck behind the witch halfway to the third floor. Despite being a smaller species of bear, she was still a bear, and there just wasn't room to try squeezing past anyone. The only way to get ahead of her would be to trample the witch, and even now, Cyne knew that was just bad manners.

• CMA
  • Seemed Centipedes, no matter how big, preferred to be on the ceiling as one of the two larger bugs in the room turned, went up the wall and to the ceiling as well. This one though seemed be going more towards Nor than Sana at this time. Fuck these buggers are fast.

---

---

This guy was really wearing on Sana's last nerve, if she even had one to rub the wrong way at this point. Did he know that Kyra was dead or was he just this cocky all the time? Necromancers.... She didn't know if this jackass was worse than the Lych she had to deal with years ago, it was a toss up at this point. Granted, this guy hadn't tied her to a marble slab and tried to sacrifice her so that was something. The fact he seemed to prefer summon bugs over Hellhounds was something else. Sure bugs were heebee-geebee material but she would take bugs over hounds any day of the week. (Shit she preferred bugs to Paladins if we were being completely honest.)

Pulling back on the string of her bow she took aim. She had two targets she could aim at. The big mouthed fuckwad at the back of the room or the Viper right in front of her. Sure there were other targets but they were the two in her direct line of sight. She opted for the more immediate threat - the twenty foot long viper that looked like it out weighed her by a good fifty pounds. Letting out a calming breath she let the arrow loose and it flew. Striking the snake about a quarter of the way down from its head along the length of it.

---

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• V:
  • The viper jerked back as the arrow embedded itself deeply into its flesh and stopped as the head passed out the other side. It whipped its head about trying to shake it off but it couldn't, of course. Didn't matter, it still tried before it darted towards Sana and tried to bite into her with its long poisonous fangs. Thankfully this time it missed.

---

---

One long staircase just going up,
And one even longer coming down,
And one more leading nowhere,
Just for show!

"Ugh..." What happened? Last thing Thomas remembered was trying to rush down the stairs and suddenly he was on the floor. Did he trip and fall over his robe? Impossible, given the lack of any lower robes to slip on. Nothing quite like waking up lying face-down in some stranger's place without your pants on. The young sorcerer's limbs felt as if someone had dislocated everything, articulating all the joints until they could no more. Arms flailing back and forth as his hips swung with a waddle one step a time. Spastic or rather tonic-clonic in his movements, that or possessed by the spirit of funk. Either way pushing himself off the ground took at least two tries as the first attempt failed with limp noodles buckling under him. At this point Thomas had about as much dignity left as he did worn clothing. It seems the stars were not in his favour for quite some time. Perhaps they wanted this necromancer to be victorious?

Eyes blinked seeing no one left but Keystone manning the stairwell. He was quite a big fella, standing in the entry way and all that. Monk muscles primed to punch whatever threat it was down there. Probably, taking the guard position as they moved on up. Something about Kyra? He didn't quite have the best of memory during his episode. Kneeling steady then up to rise, Thomas' wider gait moved him towards the stairwell, hands out for balance against the stonework wall. He had 3 spells left, and wouldn't be very useful very soon. Maybe it was time to just pack up and go home? No, they accepted him into their group and now he had to stick it with them...

"Agh...Right Behind you Keystone." Leaning against a wall to brace himself, the post-ictal was still affecting Thomas' recovering neurons. "Did the others make it down there?"

---

---

Alright, so maybe Keystone wasn't totally mentally prepared to deal with what came next, mostly because 80% of what he expected to come next, or at least some variation of it, decided not to show up to the grand event that would very likely result in a monumental, nigh-epic beating of his arse. If he lived past today, the hulking pugilist very likely would look back upon this hour as one of the least planned, most spectacularly banjaxed combative engagements of his lifetime, complete with (at least) one of his group taking the big dirtnap. He had been party to this scenario, or many like it, for years now. Mostly, these little roadblocks in his life were peppered heavily with the undead. Go figure.

So aside from this undertaking utterly sucking out loud, Keystone was left with an option that really wasn't an option. He could either continue downstairs and try to recover Kyra's body, avenge her death against the monstrous centipede that Satilla described briefly and save her dire wolf, or do what motivated him to skirt around Sana in the first place: Protect his people. Yes, he had to admit to himself that these two-legged social annoyances were, in fact, his people. At least today. And he would be damned thrice over if he was just going to let some necromancer/summoner/asshat run roughshod over any more of them. He had full intent of running blocker for Sana, pulling the attention of the bad guys to himself, and making that smug bastich swallow bloody shards of his own teeth before using his unconscious and/or dead gullet as a pay toilet.

"Bloody, fonging, bacon-damned 'ell!" growled Keystone, giving only the barest glance in the direction of the downstairs. He slipped his hands into his pockets, switching out his silver-inlay brass knuckles for a pair of lusterless black ones. They did not have the lunar, purifying qualities attributed to silver, but they had their own interesting and painful quirks that made them worth the investment of his time and money to commission. "Ash! Come!" he roared down the stairs. It was fleeting hope that the noble beast was still alive, or that he would leave the body of his fallen master. Or that he gave a rat's hindparts about listening to Keystone's commands in the least. There was still a centipede down there, a detail he could not easily forget. But Keystone couldn't go down there now. Luck be with the canine, but as stated earlier, there was no real option here. With his mind officially changed on the matter, he turned his attention upstairs and began moving as fast as he could to aid his people.

---

Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:Viper

Nor smirked at the Hooded Figure's words behind the faceplate of his armor. Mages were always full of big talk when things were going their ways, but as soon as their reality rewriting trickery was stripped of them, their tune changed to a pleading babe. Of particular note for the dwarf was how as soon as he had the chance, he got as far away as he possibly could from them. His words and actions contradicted, and the dwarf was looking forward to seeing that smug look wiped off his face.

That said, there were like 7 different beasts standing in between him and the robed faggot, including one of which that had the nerve to bite him. His first instinct was to lash out against is and stab it, but given the numbers of the situation, such a course of action would be unwise. When outnumbered like this, the bes course of action was to coordinate and try to take out as many enemies possible, one at a time. If you could reduce their numbers by even one, the momentum would begin to swing against them, and the easier it would become. So he stepped forward towards the great snake and took a couple stabs at it, the first one getting little better than a glancing blow, but the second hitting deeper. It'd take more to bring it down, but it was a start.

---

---

---

End Last Round

• GRZ
  • Moves 1 space, apparently he is as slow as his troglodyte counter part.

---

New Round:
Rotation:
CMB
CLA
Sana
Thomas
CMC
Cyn
V
Keystone
TZ
Nor
CLB
CMA
Sat
H.F.
GRZ


• CMB:
  • It comes up behind Sana and lands a good bite into her, and then another, when he goes for the 3rd he ends up biting himself. ~Sana is poisoned - is not known to group~
• CLA:
  • Moves over Nor - misses its first attack, hits the second as it hangs from the ceiling. Does medium damage, Nor resists poison.

---

---

There was no getting around the attacks that came at her from in front of her, to one side, and behind her. She managed to keep the majority of them from hitting or doing a lot of damage. That was until one hit from behind. She could feel the queezy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had been poisoned but there was nothing to do for it now. There was no point telling anyone, they were in the middle of a fight, and she couldn't cure herself because she was took busy trying to keep another hit from landing on her. Being boxed in on three sides left one point of exit open.

So she took it. Swinging her bow at the Viper in front of her and carrying the swing to large centipede to her side she did what she did best. She improvised. Her body turning slightly she faced down the large centipede head on but she wasn't even going to try to attack. She was best at a distance with her bow. She needed space. A double back handspring that would have gotten her a perfect score in something known as the Olympics elsewhere she landed sure footed on the bench away from the stairs and the group of deadly shit bothering her. Nocking a bow into place she took aim.

---

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---

Okay, Thomas is up currently. Remember where you are on the map, when calling rolls I need to know where you are, where you are going, and what you are trying, plus any skills. Getting around people needs rolls, so call for it before hand. Try to remember everything, I probably won't give you a reminder this time after this or answer questions at this point. You should have it down by now.

---

A stairway to Heaven?
Or a highway to Hell?

The perfect choke point. Trickling in like lambs to the slaughterhouse, their formation did not bode well. The footing of the stairwell gave the enemy the high ground, and gods knows what below waiting for them. Maybe it was time to turn back? And yet it was too late, they were fully invested now, to go back would be just as much a labour as going over. Yet to wade in a river of blood was far easier than a sea of bodies. Ahead of him was Keystone, Satilla, and the furry behind of a Bear, giving the boy not much room to squeeze past and ascend the perilous stairs. Thus whatever chaos ensued above them would have to wait for now, until a break in the line and they all inched forward to their certain doom. Alas the true enemy were the stairs, capable of congesting all traffic into a room, sealing them off as all combatants rushed the stairwell as fast as possible. Halfway up now behind Keystone, waiting for the rest to move on out.

With only three spells left, Thomas would not be a too useful if there were more summons found above. Maybe they could strike the summoner down quickly and all would be well. Disappearing as the concentration broke by the caster, but then again this necromancer seemed far more dangerous than first thought. Summoning minions? More so than the mere undead at his disposal but infernal boars and evidently centipedes. Maybe they should ignore the smaller targets to focus on defeating the necrolord? Without the caster, most summons disappear back from whence they came. Each needed a conduit to materialize them after all, if they could take out the source...

Cyne

Location: Tower 2F->3F
Interacting with:CMB

Somehow, Cyne had managed to move past Satilla on the staircase leading to the third floor. A few seconds ago she had been fairly certain that it was impossible given her greatly enhanced bulk, yet here she was. Not that she was going to complain. Whatever it was on that top floor, she was certain that the healer should not be the first one to reach the top, if only to minimize the chances of her being gravely wounded by some attack she didn't see coming and that she didn't have the skill to avoid or fortitude to resist.

The bear made its way up the staircase to find something that made her very glad that she had come up first: a giant, demonic looking centipede. Lots of other things were moving in her periphery, but Cyne had neither the time nor patience to try figuring out any of that when there was a perfectly good target right in front of her. The bear reared back and with a powerful bear roar put in a full-body swipe against the centipede. The bear's paw crushed through exoskeleton and sent all sorts of internal fluids this way and that, covering it in even more gore. If the hide was canvas rather than black fur, at this point it would look like a bloody Jackson Pollock painting. However impressive the blow was, it failed to put down the over-sized bug, but it wouldn't take much more to put it under.

Satilla Valen

Satilla's movement on the tower finally proved better as she didn't trip or hit any hindrances in the way now that Cyneburg had gotten up the staircase. The witch resumed her dash upwards until she reached the top of the stairs, only to be met with the most unpleasant of views! Why did it have to be multilegged monstrosities from all things?! Like seriously? She was willing to deal with ordinary undead well enough after witnessing all the centipedes around this place. This bastard who pulled their strings was not a cool person at all!

The witch's quick decision was to just pull her staff into defensive position on the top of the stairs, behind the protection of Cyneburg. Partially because there were monsters on the ceilings too and also because moving out in the open could lead to her demise which in turn could leave the others without healing which she couldn't allow. Thus she took a firm defensive stance, waiting for the others from the stairs to join them. This was not going to be a pleasant fight at all.

---

---

---

• H.F.
  • Seems to be holding his position and smirking as he watches.
• GRZ
  • Is able to move up one square this round.

New Rotation:
Cyn
Nor
Keystone
Sana
Sat
Thomas
CMC
CLB
H.F.
CMB
V
CLA
CMA
GRZ
TZ

---

---

---

Cyne & Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:CMB, Viper

The bear roared as it rose up onto two legs proper. Cyne was not going to let this stupid centipede turn into another Bob situation where it refused to die even after losing the vast majority of its limbs and intestines. No. This invertebrate died right here, right now. Bringing down the full force of its body down in one blow, the centipede was slain. Bear claws tore through the length of the arthropod, providing a clear view into the now ruined innards. Interestingly enough, the closest equivalent that sprang to mind was not anything remotely similar to organs, but pie. Specifically blackberry pie filling. It certainly didn't smell like that, but the odd visual link stuck in her head.

Unlikely mental connections aside, the bear's endocrine system was pumping it full of serotonin and other chemical cocktails that were making her feel good and dominant. The rush was enough to make a small part of her that wasn't completely lost in the moment question if she might be enjoying this all too much considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, said circumstances and the limited available mental resources dictated by them stopped this thought from being anything more than a brief flash as a pretty picture was painted on the floor by centipede guts.

Nor on the other hand had already had well enough of this whole situation despite being up on this floor for less than half a minute. The limited range of sight afforded by his helmet made dealing with being surrounded bad enough without the buggers scurrying up and down the walls going who knows where and trying to nip at his backside constantly. Once the serpent bit the dust, he'd be going after those leggy fuckers next.

Speaking of which, Nor hilted his knife into the viper once again, this time in between a couple of its ribs. From there he jiggled it around a bit, both to "loosen it up" so to speak and make his weapon easier retrieve and also to hurt the beast more. He knew it didn't really cause much more damage if any, but the dwarf wanted to make the snake suffer for daring to be the nearest nuisance to him. He had no interest in trying to prolong its suffering, but any extra he could get along the way was icing. The barber stabbed yet again, and with displeasure noted that it still drew breath, even if barely. Hopefully Sana would be able to finish it off so they could move on to more crawlie foes.

---

---

Every so often, Keystone wished that there was a viable, marketable alternative to stairs. He trained on stairs, carrying water buckets up and down and whatnot, and was a very constitute fellow as it came to acts of endurance, but stairs just seemed to always be such an obstacle. Maybe that was the point of them in a fortification. Whatever the architect who designed this place had in mind, it was his burden to bear now, so he'd better get to bearing it.

What awaited Keystone on the third floor struck him as peculiar. And very much not what he was expecting. The group had made some headway, but were still outnumbered and in horrible tactical position. As much as the large man hated using magic, it looked to be an appropriate time for it. With a sigh, he breathed the word, "Arcos." activating the bracers on his forearms. The tingle of magical energy answered, and he raised his hands to a ready position before setting to task. From the stairway, Keystone began making his way over to the centipede harrassing Sana to the side of the room, shouting in the manner of the City Guard of his homeland, "What's all this, then?"

---

---

More of the group was getting into the room, which made Sana about as happy as she could be. Well not happy. Nothing was going to make the woman happy right now. Kyra was gone and there was no sign of Ash yet. This was not sitting well with her but she didn't have time to mourn right then. They were highly out numbered. Granted, Cyn had just taken one out and it laid there on the ground dead. That was something to help evening things out. Yet there was still work to do.

Sana drew back and took aim at the large Centipede on the ceiling that was starting to come towards her and let her arrow fly. It hit and it hit hard. Hard enough to embed into the ceiling above it and pin it there. This gave Sana a hell of an opportunity as she nocked another arrow into place rapidly and let it fly. It hit as well. It didn't add to the pinning but that Centipede now looked like it was close to death and it couldn't move to attack anyone right then without causing itself more damage.

---

---

---

Satilla Valen

There were plans and there were PLANS. Satilla clearly had one of the latter right now. As the fight progressed, she had a bear between her and anywhere she could or had to go. Not exactly optimal thing to get in the way of big burly animals that can tear your limbs with one swipe of their mighty paws, be they a ally even. She took a breath and quickly studied the situation, before making her move. Keystone was to her left, so she took the chance and dashed in his direction.

With decent move she hopped by his side, reaching to her bag in motion. From inside it a nervous meow was heard as she pulled one of the daggers she had. It was her own dagger, she then shifted slightly, turning to the side as her hand arched backwards, building the needed potential force for the throw. Sadly this is where the Ancient Cosmic Powers of bad luck struck her. It didn't take more than a fraction of a moment for her to realize the error of her ways.

First was the fact she swung too fast. The dagger slipped from her hand going somewhere behind, probably towards the poor Thomas down the stairs, then there was the fact her rapid swing backwards, led to her feet somehow slipping and in the next moment she was looking up. With the mighty sound of crash, her back impacted the floor, sending ripples of impact energy through her torso, not to mention her head also hit the ground. She was dizzy, confused and the stars were dancing nicely in the air well at least before her skirt was covering her face, leaving her nice white linens to clear view.

If animals could speak, she would have received a rant from the good ol' Skittles about doing stupid shit and that they should name her Leeroy Jenkinsssssssssssssssssss.

How long could it possibly take to get up a single flight of stairs? Keystone had kindly entered the fray above, letting Thomas begin his ascent to join the rest of them, however the big bruiser was now replaced with something else that blocked the young sorcerer's path. Well true she was far more pleasant company, not that Keystone was bad but rather his malodorous rancorous emissions were certainly not missed, Thomas did have reason to be wide-eyed and bushy-tailed about Satilla's sudden appearance. The woodland witch had seemed to had what Thomas was currently experiencing, no not the cursed bad luck of having tumbled towards the boy from the top of the stairs, but rather fact that both had their undergarments exposed.

Cheeks turning a rosy red as any boy his age would at the sight, dumbstruck and staring a bit too long a gentleman ought to in a such a scenario. Clearly robes were not as concealing as they were advertised to be today, and at this point the party's wizardy types might as well be parading around in their linens and things. With the mix of stupefied serendipity and sated salaciousness, the surprised sorcerer suppressed the wild thoughts of a wanton youth and bent down to pick Satilla. Reverting the inverted robe edge and pulling down for modesty, Thomas had seen enough right? At least they were even now, she seen him in his whites, and now...

A shoulder underneath her arm to help prop the dizzied witch, while his right arm wrapped around to control her far shoulder in an awkward embrace. Oh the irony of having their healer down. Of course potions were a thing too but, their dwindling numbers did not bode well for this expedition and Thomas's uselessness would be gone after his expended spells. Maybe it was fortunate that lady luck had thrown Satilla at Thomas. "Hey Satilla, you okay?"