---

---

---

• CMC:
  • Moves above Nor and Cyn. Tries to take a bite at both of them, misses both.
• CLB:
  • Holds Position.
• H.F.:
  • Is starting to chant something.
• V:
  • Tries to bite Nor, twice. Misses both times.
• CLA:
  • Attacks Sana. Misses multiple times before landing a bite on her calf. Sana resists poison.
• CMA:
  • Moves over to Keystone, and attacks. Misses both times.
• GRZ:
  • Moves up 1 block
• TZ:
  • Moves up 1 block

---

---

---

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

Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:Viper

Nor was really starting to get into the swing of things. Now felt a bit like his days in the service where he and his squad would occasionally get detached from the rest of platoon and have to fight through the green skins to regroup. They were all much taller, and at a certain point, attacks from a taller enemy more or less became an attack from above. Back in those days he'd have his shield and access to a polearm, generally a spear of some sort, but he'd make due.

First thing that tried to nip him was one of the two centipedes on the ceiling. A quick sidestep was enough to avoid its mandibles. He noted that it also tried to go after that druid; the bear behind him. Rookie mistake trying to attack everything within reach, but he couldn't expect a bug to know how to fight intelligently, let alone effectively as a group.

The next sap to try going after him was the half dead Viper. The first strike was almost too fast for him to react, but its fangs were stopped cold by thick, dwarven plate. When it tried to bite again, this time, he didn't even try to dodge, but just let the armor do the work. This time, before it could retract its head, he grabbed the serpent and jammed him blade into its eye socket. Before it could appreciate its loss of sight the dwarf withdrew the blade and thrust into its maw and up through the roof of its mouth, right into the pea brain encased within. A spasm or two later, and the beast fell limp in his hand.

Serpent now dead, he turned around to face one of the four remaining centipedes that bastard mage had conjured up. Sure he might technically have a clear shot to the bastard, and that chanting couldn't be anything good, but he didn't have any ranged weapons and running off alone was a good way to get killed. See: Sana had everyone not chased after her. He'd have to hope the princess would be sufficient in disrupting his concentration.

"Oi Big Bloke," Nor called out to Keystone, choosing not to use one of the five racial slurs that ran through his head first, "don't worry about the details, flank this bug with me!" Although the sheer numbers might have been starting to swing their way, they couldn't count on things to keep going well. If they were to make it through this without any more deaths, they'd need to do as their foes didn't and fight as a team.

---

---

Keystone assumed a rigid stance, bracing for the winding, undulating approach of the monstrous centipede. His aim was to take some of the heat off of Sana, but that wasn't going to happen while a giant bug was trying to take a chunk out of him. The beast's many segmented legs clicked rapidly upon approach, seemingly even more rapidly in building anticipation of a free meal. Rather than attempt to bowl over the pugilist, the creature reared back and snapped its venomous mandibles at him, hissing and squealing sounds alien to his experience all the while, save for a chance encounter with a Carrion Crawler. This thing looked nastier. Its first attack missed barely, its head lancing at Keystone's unprotected face. A disciplined shift of his head in one direction kept it from ripping into his more sensitive flesh (or blinding him, most likely), but just barely. The second attack was clumsy, however. A follow-up with little zeal, almost like hesitation on the centipede's part. Perhaps it had some form of fiendish intelligence that Keystone did not immediately detect, and could tell that this human was not frightened, and was not easy meat. It missed again, apparently rethinking its haste.

From off to one side, Keystone could make out the words of their recent, diminutive companion, calling for his help to "flank this bug". No problem! He could flank. "Sec on that!" he growled, angling for an opening to get the creature between himself and Nor. The Centipede reared back for a better grab at Keystone, and that was when the big man saw his opening - not to maneuver, but to strike. With speed that was surprising for a man of his size, Keystone darted forward, planting a foot firmly on the ground and channeling his inertia into a good, solid punch. The black metal of his knuckle dusters connected heavily, oddly making no noise upon contact but obviously doing damage. It was more than enough to disrupt its plans to attack, and the advantage was pressed aggressively by Keystone. Another strike followed; not as powerful but still damaging and an excellent setup for what was to come.

The power of his bracers coursing through his arms and chest, Keystone stepped inward one more time to deliver a telling blow. He began a cutting inverted fist strike with his legs, tensing and releasing each muscle as quickly and fluidly as was humanly possible. A wave of power generated by his technique built, traveling up his body and meeting with the magical energies of the bracers. The two forces came to a sort of agreement and focused in the points of his knuckles like hardened Chi, unerringly striking the underside of the centipede's head. If the monster was even physically able to blink, it wouldn't have had time to as exoskeleton crushed inward, severing cerebral ganglia and rippling the beast fully straight and upright before allowing it to crash back down to the floor below. It was dead and Keystone was just getting started. "Right. Flanked'im." he growled again, already turning his eyes toward his next obstacle. "You." he intoned flatly. It seemed he had picked another target.

---

---

Sana did not take too kindly to the Centipede coming to her from above. She did what she could to keep it from being able to take a bite out of her but the sad fact of the matter was she had been poisoned earlier when a hit had landed and it was making it more and more difficult for it not to cause her to be a bit slower than she would have wanted. So in the end another hit landed on her. She wasn't going to let it get away with though. Fuck that.

The bug was too close and over head for her to be able to take aim with an arrow and she dare not try to sing right then. That would take too much time. So what does a woman do when she is cornered by an over touchy feely groping maggot with legs? She does the only thing she can. She bitch slaps the hell out of it. Yet Sana couldn't exactly slap the centipede right then, not without dropping her bow and she wasn't about to lose touch with her weapon.

So she bitch slapped the thing with her bow. Lucky blow or just low on life points, it didn't matter. She knocked the shit out of the bug and its grip let loose from the ceiling. Coming crashing down at her feet and landing in a dead pile. It was dead and gone. Well not gone, its life was gone but its body was still there. Sana let out a slight breath of relief and then cringed as the poison took another chunk out of her from the inside. She would need an antidote eventually but for now there was a much bigger target coming her way.

---

---

---

It seemed Satilla was still out of it. And Thomas was not the best person to resuscitate anyone given his track record. That said, laying down Satilla by the stairs in a relatively safe location was his best course of option, and letting her come to on her own as he should probably join the fray at last. Propping up the girl to sit at a level of steps just a half turn from the top, making sure her body was leaning towards the wall rather than gravity, the young sorcerer trudged onwards and upwards. The climb to the top was met with the witness of the cavalry, bodies stewn across as his team managed to fend off a good amount of enemies. Namely, it appeared to be a great amount of massive centipedes, of which Thomas would have to note to harvest their organic parts. That alchemy fellow might be interested in them, same with those boars from earlier.

Now with the majority of the enemies cleared, it was far easier for Thomas to get a clean view of the source of all their ire. That hooded enigma, mocking them all with his magicks most malefic. How much more could the necromancer churn out? Another army of undead with exploding deaths? Thomas was in no rush to find out, pointing at the ceiling just above the frames of the figure and the nearest centipede by him. Thomas' last daily spell, the magic in his blood surging as the last of the celestial light poured out into a pillar of glorious incandescence to illuminate the dastardly duo. Calling for the searing light of the noon sun inside the dark tower, the six foot round spotlight burned the gruesome twosome with wholesome light. The orange orbs of fairie fire glow of the wil-o-wisp's, motes of light which mirrored the cosmic plane, lingered there as a ward against movement outside of the sealed space, buying them perhaps some time until the minute was over.

Of course Thomas would also be slightly out of it for the next minute or so, shaking his head as a strong headache furrowed his brows and a dizzy daze made his check of his success quite possibly a dream. They were hit right? But definitely not out, not quite yet. But at least... At least now the others could figure out... Figure out that... That there were no... No wards around... Around the... The...

Cyne

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:CMC

A rational mind's next move might say something along the lines that her next course of action should be to focus her considerable physical bulk on taking out as many foes as possible so the rest of the group could focus their efforts on more challenging foes that couldn't be dealt with so easily. The horomonal raging bear brain said to Smash Puny Bug, Cyne the strongest there is. The veracity of the bear brain's assertions were questionable, but seemed to be supported from the battles that'd occurred in the tower so far. However; both minds would agree that that big centipede on the ceiling would be the next to go.

Taking a good swing, with a single blow the invertebrate was slain. Unlike most of the other things that had died messily due to her bear claws, this was relatively clean. Instead of being rent until its innards looked more like ground beef than organs, the blunt force of the swipe was great enough that its body broke almost cleanly into two separate pieces, with the part not fortunate enough to be pinned to the ceiling soaring across the room before it slid to a stop somewhere in front of the troglodyte zombie. The centipede's legs squirmed a bit before it realized it was dead and froze up. The rational mind considered that maybe the bear was right about being the strongest.

Satilla Valen

'Stars... dancing kittens...pretty...petty...it hurts.' Satilla's head was currently filled with random gibberish of thoughts that were racing through her confused mind while she was still out of it. She didn't even register much as Thomas had pulled her skirt from her face. She probably would have been very embarrassed about the whole thing if she wasn't kind of out of it right now.

With a groan she finally began to gather up her thoughts as everything was slowly slowing it's spining motion and the blurr was going out until she finally could understand the right directions and she could seen clearly as she very slowly pulled herself up from her position. Right now she regretted throwing her dagger... actually no she didn't regret even if it didn't hit anything. She regretted having missed, not the tumble. She groaned once more as she finally was up on her feet, leaning on the wall.

Cursing under her breath she quickly moved upwards, heading to the top of hte stairs once more to see how it was going on there and if anyone needed her help. With a few shacky steps, her legs finally steeled up and she got to the top stairs, to see hte situation. It appears to have went quite well actually. She could see the dead critters.

---

---

---

• TZ:
  • Moves up 1 block
• CLB:
  • Holds position but is looking pissed - that is if a centipede can look pissed
• GRZ:
  • Moves over to Sana and manages to slam her and take a bite out of her. Sana takes MAJOR damage, with a side helping of poison kicking her another round. She is held in a grapple currently. (Sana is down to less than 25% of her total hp
• H.F.:
  • Summons new shit....

---

---

---

New Rotation:
Keystone
Sat
Cyn
Sana
Thomas
Nor
FA
CLB
FC
FDW
GRZ
FSC
TZ
FB
HF

---

---

Yes, Keystone had picked another target, for whatever good that did him. He announced his intent to engage with said target in such a manner that might make lesser mens' bowels unclench and empty into their pantaloons in a most undignified manner. But this thing didn't seem to care one way or another. And then it did something that earned it as painful a death as he could administer: It attacked Sana. Keystone had been worried that it was after the pushy, sarcastic archer from the start, which was why he decided to clear a path to the massive creature and engage it in the most direct manner he was able, which obviously would involve the correct and ouchworthy application of metal reinforced pugilism. It was kind of his thing. Obviously, when the thing bit into Sana and then got her into a grapple, Keystone's more protective instincts fueled directly into his rage.

He crossed the distance between the stairs and Sana's attacker as fast as his legs would carry him, arms at the ready. The idea was to remove the beast's spine from his back and beat it back to death with it like a huge, bony bludgeon, but he wasn't quite as lucky as all that. Approaching from a rear flank, Keystone hammered punishing blows into its backbone and kidneys, hoping to quickly render the physical support keeping the thing upright into a more malleable form (prompting its collapse and/or the spine beating thing), but it was a tough bastard. Moreover, it still had a hold on Sana. Damage done. Ugly damage. But a LOT more was required. Time to change the plan.

Satilla Valen

Satilla's impression that things had taken a turn for the better quickly scattered. Not only did things turn to the worse moments after her initial assestment, but Sana took a pretty serious hit. What's more the hooded douchebag quickly summoned more monsters! How on the blood soaked tower was he doing that so easily!? I mean he wasn't just summoning one or two of something normal. He was summoning a decent number of frankly horrendous creatures that Satilla was frankly doubting as of why they even existed to begin with! What's with these nightmare fuels that were showing up? Was this the twisted joke of a deity that was governing the world? Or was this just a cause and effect of the world going on without care for the mere mortals on it?!

Keystone was the first to react to go help Sana, but as Satilla was about to follow after him, planning to heal the woman, she was halted when he didn't quite free her from the monster. There wasn't much place for her in that close, she'd hinder the fight and probably make things for him harder to safe Sana. Then she noticed something with the corner of her left eye and quickly halted to turn to the left. THERE WAS A CROCODILE! FIENDISH CROCODILE!!! Why!? Just why!? The fact he only summoned such things, made the witch highly question the personality of the hooded caster.

There was little choice, she quickly pulled her staff and took a defensive stance, looking at the creature, hoping that Keystone deals with the one holding Sana soon, so she can heal her.

Cyne

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:FC

Just as they were clearing out the enemies, a fresh new batch appeared for them to kill. Whilst it was extremely frustrating, she was also high on a hormonal cocktail that welcomed the challenge. Yes, more things to kill, nothing can stand in my way right now. The bit of her that was still rational knew this wasn't the case, but she liked nothing about this situation and the only way to improve it at this point would have to involve plenty more bloodshed. If you were in an extended fight for your life, there were worse things to experience during it than a rush that brought the sensation of being into hyper focus.

And then Sana got grabbed by the zombie. Her first instinct was to go after the grey abomination herself, but there were a few immediate problems that managed to stop her from following through this line of thinking. First was that as far as combat went, she didn't have the finesse to try attacking that thing without endangering Sana. She almost certainly had the power necessary to get her out, but given the shape the bard was in, she didn't want to chance it. Second was that Keystone had gotten there first, and her being there as well would probably start to make things difficult to maneuver around properly.

More importantly, she could smell another enemy, one that was right behind them and too close to Satilla than she'd like. The scent was familiar and when the bear turned around, it found itself unsurprised to find a big, demonic crocodile. That wasn't going to fly. Getting on all fours, the bear rushed at the reptile. The first image that flashed through Cyne's mind was to attack as she had been before with another claw attack; however, that mental simulation quickly ended with the thing tearing the offending limb off. Having just been a crocodile a few days prior, she was well aware of the form's strengths and weaknesses.

Rather than present an easy target for biting, she'd give it something far more difficult to get ahold of: the bear's entire body. She threw her significant bulk into the fiendish crocodile with enough force to smash it against the wall. The impact certainly seemed like enough to at least crack a bone or two, but not nearly enough to bring the thing down. However, it had a target that wasn't a delicate scholar, which would be enough for the moment.

---

---

This was turning into a proverbial shit storm. Just as she lowered her bow form taking out a nasty bug she barely gets a glance of a rather large monster before it slams into her body. She did not see that one coming if she had she would at least tried to dodge it or jump back so it tripped over the bench she had been standing on all this time. Yet there was no chance and just as soon as it wrapped it large arms around her it took a bite out of her. With its mouth. That was just rude.

Barely catching a look of Keystone as he came over and tried to rip the creatures spin out - granted she didn't know that was what he was doing, she just knew he was there and that he was behind the thing and that she was being jostled more and it was a secondary thing, not coming from the monster that had her in its grasp.

Sana wasn't one to sit there and just let herself get squeezed to death though. She was at least going to try to get out of its grasp. Yet, each time she tried it wasn't any good. This thing was far stronger than she was and she was already injured. In fact the poison that was coursing through her veins took another hit at her and Sana started to feel rather down. In fact she was starting to turn gray at this point. She could feel that thing was not going and if something didn't change quickly she wasn't going to make it to the end of the fight.

---

---

---

Now it was Thomas' turn to be out of it. His attack on the necromancer was successful, although perhaps only provided to anger the stranger more. Maybe it was the after-effect of the spell, or maybe Thomas needed glasses, but the boy swore there were more enemies now than before. More angry-looking furry things and scaly bothers. Oh and a creepy-crawly. If they were not fighting for their lives, Thomas would be impressed at the summoning abilities the dark lord had. There was perhaps an ounce of respect for the man's capacity to summon an endless array of minions. How much more though? Didn't all magic have an innate drawback? There was after all the universal law of reciprocal resource reconciliation which basically stated magic was not free, and there was a cost to using magic one that is usually equal in magnitude to the spell being cast. Summoning and controlling all these creatures for example... Unless... Was that a summoner's circle?

The glowing ward faded from around the figure and his pet centipede, the one closer to whatever we decided to call the man, and not the one near Thomas's left flank. And with the fading of the celestial light, Thomas' dizziness was shaken off to adequately access the new hell just raised. It wasn't a dream after all, but a nightmare. All things unleashed, fiendish fur and sinister scales, a new wave of enemies to be fought for a team that was already just threading the deep waters. To his left just behind his shoulder the sounds of a bear combating with a centipede, to his left, a threesome of Keystone and Sana and the rather Grey Gray Render. And by the looks of it, the gruesome Mr. Gray, was having his way, with the Greying lady. Not Good, They were in a tight squeeze, one more literal than the other, and Satilla didn't seem like she could get in to heal Sana who looked rather unwell. This of course left the Dwarf to be their sole bastion against... 1, 2, 3, 4... 5... 6... Enemies. Oh the odds were not in their favour, not at all.

Seeing how Satilla would be preoccupied, and the number of enemies far exceed the number of would-be heroes, with a hard swallow Thomas steeled himself. His usefulness in battle was going to be burned up rather quickly with the last of his two spells, but he wasn't going to let that necromancer best him without a fight. It was a matter of who's magic was mightier now. Raising his right hand just before him Thomas focused his arcane energy, concentrating on the feelings that surged within. Light, light turned into Warmth, warmth into Fire. Pure Cosmic Fire, all consuming fire that will purge everything and from the searing ashes arise the reborn. The sphere of the sun envisioned in his grasp, traced out before as a clockwise circle was pantomimed with his right hand. The Sunflare spell was set.

Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:His Left Leg

Now that he had dispatched the snake and the rowdy human had slain the centipede, Nor was freed up to start dealing with new targets. Well, he would have been had things not taken a turn for the FUBAR. His hatred for mages only received further validation when the cocky hooded bastard whipped up half a dozen more enemies to contend with. Furthermore, one of the big zombie blokes got ahold of Sana and was doing quite the number on her. He wanted to chalk it up to her breaking one of the rules of combat: never separate yourself from your allies, but she was a lass that used a bow and arrow, and he didn't really see how she could use those effectively in their specific context without splitting off a bit.

The big bloke immediately ran to the gypsy's defense, and seemed to be making slight progress on that endeavor. Additionally, there were more enemies within his striking range. However, the dwarf didn't want to overextend himself and end up being surrounded, and Nor was here in the first place to make sure Sana didn't get herself killed, so he would continue to utilize his strategy of 'always gang up on an enemy whenever possible.'

The zombie had Sana in a grapple, so the first solution Nor thought up was to take out its ability to effectively hold one: remove its ability to move, and it lacks the stability and mobility to really defend itself. Luckily for Nor, he was short enough to be able to reach it. The dwarf stepped forward and struck, and right then, out of the corner of his eye he saw a bear body slamming a crocodile, and that was enough to distract him for the split second necessary to fuck up his aim, missing the zombie entirely, and by sheer bad luck, slipping right through one of the few exposed sections of his armor to embed in his leg.

Cursing his own stupidity, Nor grit his teeth and with a clean yank removed the knife, splattering his own blood all over the floor. Weapon in hand once again, Nor attempted to swing again, only this time to find his footing fail. He slipped on his own blood of all things and ended up stabbing himself in almost the exact same place, but at a somewhat different angle. When he extracted his blade this time, he couldn't stop himself from swearing externally as well as internally.

[Son of a Duergar whore!]

---

---

---

• FA:
  • Moves 1 square, takes a swipe at Nor, misses.
• CLB:
  • Is rearing from last attack still for some reason, holding position
• FC:
  • Tries to get out from under the bear, fails strength check, is still trying but it isn't working.
• FDW:
  • Fast little fucker, moves quickly, seems to be heading for Thomas or Satilla
• GRZ:
  • Can only go one way at this point - towards the wall - slams Sana into the wall as it lets her go - does moderate damage but Sana is on the ground now and not moving currently. Turns and is now facing Keystone.
• FSC:
  • Slithers to the wall, up it, and onto the ceiling.
• TZ:
  • Moves 1 square
• FB:
  • Moves 2 squares
• H.F.:
  • Like the Centipede, he is stunned for some reason. Holds position this round.

---

---

---

New Rotation:
Sana
Cyn
Keystone
Sat
Nor
Thomas
H.F.
FDW
FSC
CLB
FB
fC
FA
TZ
GRZ

---

---

Sana had a feeling climbing out of bed today that it was going to be a bad day. Had she known it was going to be this damn bad she would have stayed in bed, or left the village, or put a tea cozy on her head and ran through the village singing for the hell of it. Getting nearly hugged to death was just not the Gypsy's idea of a good time, nor was getting slammed against the wall. There were many things on her top one hundred list of shit I'd like to do today, these things were no where on it. Granted they weren't on her don't do today list but it was a rare day indeed that someone woke up and went to themselves, "you know? I know what I don't want to do today, get hugged to death by a zombie..." It just wasn't one of those list out things. Until now that was.

On the bad side, Sana hit the wall, and feel like a heap of discarded clothing to the floor. Good news was that the poison that was in her system had finally run its course. Very good thing considering how bad a shape she was in. While she didn't have a lot of external injuries save some cuts and abrasions, she was severely damaged on the inside thanks to hug/wall (which trumps face wall any day). It was a moment or two but she finally moved, coughing harshly as she drew in the first full breath she had been able to in far too long. Resting a hand against the floor she began to try to push herself up but this was going to take a bit. She was nearly as gray as the zombie behind her now. The only real color about her now was the blood splattering around her lips from where she had coughed. Yet by the end of her turn she was on her feet, if barely.

Cyne

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:FC

Things were getting pretty wild elsewhere on the floor, but Cyne was busy with other things. Namely the giant Fiendish Crocodile she decided to grapple with. It shook its impressive bulk to and fro in a valiant attempt to shake the bear off, but there was no way that Syne was going to let that happen. Directly above or below the reptile were the safest places to be. There, it wouldn't be able to effectively use its obscenely powerful jaws, paddle-like tail, or even try to take a swipe with its claws. Anywhere on level footing was death. Or a lot of prospective pain at the very least.

After a bit, she managed to find an opening where its thrashing died down for a bit, perhaps worn out from exerting so much vigor over such an extended period of time. If she recalled correctly, crocodiles didn't have the greatest amount of endurance. They were like a great, hot flame that burned through its fuel very quickly. But whatever the case, she wasn't going to let it go to waste. Rather than trying to smack it or bite it, or anything of that nature, she used what was already in place: she was grappling the crocodile, so she'd give it a great squeeze.

And squeeze the bear did. The first thing to give way were the Fiendish Crocodile's ribs. Then its scales cracked. Soon after that Cyne could feel the organs give and tear under the pressure of her assault. Then, like a bag of popcorn microwaved for too long, the reptile burst open, shooting blood and viscera everywhere. Cyne couldn't see her comrades, but she wouldn't have been surprised if they had all gotten an unexpected shower of crocodile bits. Had she not already been covered snout to paw in the innards of at least two other kinds of creatures, the druid mind might have been grossed out. But as it was, she could only stand back (in a mental, figurative sense) and watch at what she was doing in a mix of awe and horror. Perhaps she had been underestimating the black bear shape all this time and had never realized it. Or maybe she had never really gotten to know the full extent of any of the bear forms' true physical might.

---

---

This new adversary was huge. Huge. Not the largest opponent he had faced before up close and personal, but damned close. Okay, check that - this was the largest undead opponent he had gotten up close and painful with, ever. It led to an interesting change in tactic.

The creature had smashed Sana into the wall, then thankfully let go. When the bard collapsed bonelessly on the ground, Keystone's sense of urgency kicked into overdrive. He didn't know if she was alive or dead, hovering on the cusp or otherwise. Keystond did know that he was virtually helpless to do anything about it right then. He was no worker of magical feats, nor was he particularly in good with any deity. Gods and the like had little to do with people like him, he figured. He was just some guy that hit people really, really well. If that was the base sum of his existence, then he might as well go with it. Be true to who you are. The broad Pugilist intended to do just that.

First, Keystone dipped low as the great, lumbering creature turned toward him. Just as he selected the giant as his opponent moments earlier, it appeared that the Grey Render Zombie had used whatever decision-making ability it retained to likewise call him out. This suited Keystone just fine. From his low stance, he rotated his body in a single, fluid turn, bracing with a wide, powerful stance. He could feel the wind of a wide swipe ruffle the air above him where his head was just a half-second before, and responded by implanting the black metal of his Dwarfcraft knuckle dusters into the side of the creature's knee. It buckled.

The force of the blow combined with the great zombie's ponderous weight caused its knee to fold sideways. Unable to maintain its stance upright, it began to collapse as a mighty tree felled by a rage-inspired lumberjack. The creature's head wobbled and arched toward Keystone as the zombie fell, which the experienced brawler connected against with a sharp, bone destroying uppercut, its jaw coming partially unhinged and teeth spraying outward in a gory, black-blooded spectacle.

But the spark of undead animation lay within it still. The split second that Keystone recgonized this, he leapt into the air and focused the entirety of his weight, coupled with the speed of his arm, into a pulverizing downward strike. The Grey Render Zombie's cranium folded under the ferocity of this final, finishing blow, what remained of its head a fetid mass of bone and spoiled meat. His peripheral vision let him know that Sana was moving yet, if shaky. Good. She was alive still.

Keystone looked toward the summoner of this latest abomination and issued a single, wordless shout of triumph. Sometimes, just being a guy who hit things very well was enough.

Satilla Valen

“SPIRITS!” The witch exclaimed at the events that were unfolding. She could feel the weight of the bear slamming the croc, there was also the spell that Thomas was pulling off and then Sana took yet another hit. Even the dwarf had the run in with the cosmic powers of misfortune. The witch though had something else in mind as it raced through and her eyes locked on Sana once more. It was now or never!

The witch suddenly bolted towards the fallen bard while her attacker was being taken care of. She had to protect Sana, she owed it to Kyra whom she couldn't safe. Yes, Sana had to survive this. As many of their comrades had to. She had her remaining spells still so had no choice.

Dashing didn't quite work wonders, but she got into reach of Sana and immediately went to her knees, placing a hand on the other woman's torso. Focusing her mind the magic power inside her stirred as the spell of Cure Moderate Wounds activated, the spell's power flowing into the bard. Hopefully this was going to pull some good healing.

Nor

Location: Tower 3F
Interacting with:Malicious Mandrill

Nor drew his attention away from his leg just in time to see Sana get smashed against the wall, where she just kind of laid there before slowly pushing herself back onto her feet. On one hand, he was glad that she survived, it meant that his time here had not yet been wasted. But on the other, he was kind of astounded that she was still keeping it together in the shape she was in. Had he not known better, he could have mistaken the bard for one of the undead they'd been fighting since entering this blasted tower. Sure, she was better preserved, but she could've been a freshly killed pawn.

But there was more going on in this battle than just the near death of the one person he had any sort of attachment to whatsoever. Namely, that they'd gotten themselves surrounded by foes. Well, they would be completely surrounded, but a quick glance here and there showed the the two burliest members of the group had quite messily (euch) made short work of the targets they'd been facing. So they were cornered and they didn't have the numbers to effectively shield the weaker members of the party. The situation by all means could be far worse, but it was no picnic at all.

So since they lacked the positioning, resources and numbers to fight defensively, they'd just need to punch through as quickly as possible. Nor turned around to come face to face with a giant ape that looked like it didn't know its rear end from its head and was quite pissed about that fact. As sturdy as he was and encased in armor he may be, he didn't doubt that the beast could tear him limb from limb if it got its big, dumb paws on him, so he decided to err on the side of caution, despite needing to get this thing dead as quickly as he could muster.

Nor darted forward to attack the ape, but in his periphery, he saw it take a swing at him. He stopped his attack prematurely to side-step the blow. The ape twisted its body to see where the dwarf had went, but in doing so, left its body exposed enough for an opening. The mercenary switched his grip on the blade to a hammer grip and shanked the beast in its abdomen, leaving behind a bloodied gash before he retreated back a step to where he had been a moment before.