---

---

Hafrbjǫrn silence had been his undoing, of course to his dismay the worst of all scenarios had unraveled before them. With quick grit the commander told them to promptly step into battle positions. He along side with Garrett and a couple others began to move towards the doorway to be met with more of these odd creatures. Two swiftly made their move and began on the offensive, these creatures slithered rapidly towards the corners while the final two remained at the distance clutching the safety of their bows. What to do...? He couldn't allow a single Irregular to perish, therefore, he would take up arms as their shields. He placed his hand on the odd fellow who masked himself under these avian guise. Pox, he believed he was called, pulled him closer and handed him his pouch. There were his throwing bombs. "Use 'em well."

He pulled his large axe, held its grip with tightness and made a dive towards the snakemen at the left corner in an attempt to halt its flank. His massive axe swinging towards its torso with all the strength this brute could muster. Immediately, the left-ward lizard had halted its track before the slam of the axe would pierce the earth beneath their heel. Yanking such of the ground, now Hafrbjǫrn had to asses the fact that there were two at the ends... The archers would also pose a problem for any who were in the midst of battle. Of course, that's were Pox would be able to come in handy, he found at the distance. While they archer's looked for an opening, he could bother to use the bombs at his leisure. Hafrbjǫrn did not have need for them at the moment, he was too busy trying to defeat this monster before him. Another charge, this time Hafrbjǫrn leaped into the air, and brought his axe above his head, both arms this time holding it tightly in attempts to cleave his snakemen's skull in two.

@Lyla@Sync@Arthanus

---

As the group sunk deeper into the crypt, Pox felt himself gulp several times, his nerves tense with anticipation at what was bound to be an attack at some point. He kept his head on a swivel, but he couldn't see much, seeing as many of his companions were bigger and bulkier than he was. He did away with his crossbow in exchange for his hands to be filled with a handful of darts and a vial of blue liquid, something he intended for his closest companions as hostilities started.

Inevitably they did...

The door slammed and immediately with a yelp Pox broke the vial, some of the distilled spirit stone breaking with a splash over Hafrbjǫrn, Lyra, Alm, Garrett, and Sybille. The liquid would shine for a moment before evaporating into motes of light. The enchantment of Iron Transmutation would infuse clothes and flesh, making the surfaces upon them more durable, even though nothing would seem to change at a glance, but closes inspection, cotton of clothes would resist being separated as if the fibers were coiled wire, the elastin of skin would do the same, the skin resisting the natural give. Pox hoped it would be enough to stay a mortal blow from harming his companions, it was all he had time to do. "Father, keep us far from harm." He prayed.

The giant of a man got his attention as he looked up at him, more than a foot higher, pulling him closer, though Pox had no such say in the matter. The beak swung to look at him, though it appeared that only a ghost may possess the space behind the green lenses of his mask, though movements and tone would suggest quite differently. He handed Pox a pouch which Pox was quick to inspect. "Oh. I certainly will." His mood seemed quite elevated, hoping by his tone he could be given an offer of thanks. These bombs were powder charges in woven sacks with bits of iron scrap within. Cheap, efficient while the blast itself was pretty small, chunks of metal flying can cause quite a bit of damage, and thats what Pox intended.

With Hafrbjǫrn covering their flank with might, Pox focused on the battlefield, the far end, namely the archers already under fire. Pox meant to add to the pressure, as before making it unwise to aim properly. "I'm gonna need you to stop shooting please!" A spark of knife to flint lit the wicks and Pox began to throw them. It was something he seemed quite adept at. While they may be off by a number of feet, he didn't really need to aim. A lob across the room, out of range of his allies and in the vicinity of the archers was what he needed. Anything to keep them from firing properly.

He stepped up to move to Bjorn's flank, moving between him and Nanami. He wanted to be shot or struck before his giant comrade could be hit, and more importantly, be a more enticing target than Nanami and keep some of the heat off of her if it came to their corner of the battlefield. Pox felt he could probably take a hit, out healing anything these monsters could dish out, so long as it wasn't more than one at a time.

Their footsteps made a hollow resound; a loud, rhythmic "clicking" which resonated through the dark hallways of the tomb. The passageways eventually led them to a large door, heavy and metallic. They proceeded through the doors with caution, and it closed behind them with a loud thud. The Bloodrose Irregulars found themselves standing inside a throne room of sorts; a dome-shaped room which looked like it had been ripped out of a history book. The soft light which emanated from the roof top lit the room aglow, setting off a regal ambiance. Octavia had to resist the urge to stare in awe at the ostentatious designs that riddled the ceilings and pillars. Perhaps later.

The arrow that whizzed through the air signaled the beginning of the battle. The snakes slithered and dashed towards them aggressively, leaving no room for distraction. The deafening silence was drowned out by the clinking of metallic weapons, followed by gunfire and a blast. Octavia unsheathed a dagger and took up a defensive stance, her eyes remaining leveled and focused. At the corner of her eye, she detected an incoming armored snake-man. With its speed, it easily covered the distance between them in no time. Octavia only had a fraction of a second to swing her blade and block the incoming attack, but the tooth-like edges of the snake-man's blade hooked the edge of her dagger and had sent it flying, the strength of the attack knocking her back into a backward roll. Her hand immediately reached for the hilt of her sword as she dashed forward, leaving no chance for the snake-man to gather its bearings.

Truth be told, Octavia was not a fan of the idea that she may have to make such a risky move, but it wasn't like she was flushed with alternatives at this point. So as she closed the distance between her and the enemy, she positioned her sword and prepared for the worst case scenario, her expression oddly calm at the task before her despite her misgivings. With a steady hand, she leaped forward and aimed for its forehead.

[♪ Battle Music] The door slammed, causing Nanami to draw her short blade as if by second nature, even as she studied the golden floor and long lost artwork etched into the very walls. She could only analyze it so much before her eyes were drawn to the queen, though they did not stay long, taking the battlefield before her. It was obvious that at least there wouldn't be three battle fronts to cover - something that would have easily put the irregulars at a noticeable disadvantage even with their new friend. Either way, the first arrow let loose, signaling the start of battle as the snake men started to slither their way out of their hiding places.

Given her command, she nodded and dashed to the side with the others - the action started quickly and she knew her place well, watching the others as they engaged. 'The right one is mine then!' Weaving her blade to produce it's song, she first sped herself up and followed with a flurry afterwards, producing piercing notes at the creature which drew its attention just like the other before. Apparently angered by her song ability, it was slow and gave her an opening to lash out with her own blade, sending notes of battle into the hall. As she slashed at the beast, the music formed into magical energy and attempted to cut several times into its flesh - even if he blocked her physical blow, he wasn't likely to avoid the magical bursts lest he had mystical defenses, which she doubted.

@Lyla@ShwiggityShwah@Sync

It only felt like an instant before the battle fell into full swing, Shion's arrow was dodged and countered as the Snakeman sent his own arrow at the young lad who in turn dodged the incoming arrow. Knowing this game would just last until one got tired Shion took a gamble moving into a rapid fire drawing three arrows at once and quickly firing them off one after another trying to predict the snakeman's dodge with the second and third arrows.

Sybille's snake was not as lucky as it dodged some of the Ice Shards but was soon impaled by many more and it wasn't long until the Snake dropped to the ground. It was then that Sybille came up with an idea, "Hold them Off, I know how to make this an easy win" She yelled out as she retreated out of combat and began to chant something.

Garrett's opponent was a smart one indeed, after having its weapon knocked to the side it quickly went in for a charge ducking under Garrett's elbow and then coiling around the man in an attempt to squeeze the life out of him.

Alm's fight was going well enough, the snakeman barley moved back just enough to prevent it from being injured as his blade sparked across the metal breastplate. But Alm did not give the snakeman the time to retaliate altering his grip and jamming the hilt end of his Naginata into the snakeman's face causing it to tumble backwards. With this break in combat Alm quickly channeled his energy into his fingertips and ran them across the blade of his weapon leaving what seemed to be a frozen edge on the weapon before he moved to engage the snakeman again.

Haf's massive swing caught the Snakeman by surprise, although the beast tried to block raising its sword and bracing it with it's free hand. But it didn't matter the sword shattered and Haf's axe easily cleaved the snake, until the blade hit the Soulstone cracking the gem causing it to rupture in a small explosion that would knock Hafrbjǫrn back but thanks to Pox's earlier enchantment wouldn't do any serious damage.

Pox's mad rush of throwing grenades worked out well the Snakeman archer was distracted by Pox's first bomb allowing Shion's first arrow to land squarely on its shoulder its attention instantly snapping back to Shion the snakeman moved to avoid the other arrows coming its way which left it open as luckily one of Poxes bombs fell at an appropriate distance catching the snakeman in the outer edge of the blast taking a few chunks of shrapnel to the body and even one to the face. Heavily injured the Snakeman turned its attention to Pox starting to left loose a volley of five arrows at the man not moving or caring. The snake wanted to bring down the Apothecary with him knowing it would not survive anyway.

Nanami's attacks worked as well as she expected, the snakman easily blocked the girls physical attacks but was caught off guard by their magical follow up cutting gashes into the snakeman's chest. This only seemed to enrage the beast as it then went onto the attack letting off its own flurry of attacks the final strike being a solid overhead diagonal swing with quite a bit of force behind it.

________________________________________________
@athol@HowlsOfWinter

Jing Continued to hold back his two opponents in what seemed a deadlock waiting for one of the snakemen to give him an opening, a chance to strike and even out the fight. But so far there was no opening give, at least not one he could take advantage of as he continued to poke and prod as well as knock away the snakemen's attacks

Yui's first shot at the Queen almost hit its mark but it to hit the stone throne as she retreated back after firing her arrow, But at least Yui's shot broke a chunk of the heavy stone off of the throne. The queen once again moved to retaliate but went back into hiding as Gwen let forth a barrage of flaming missiles directed at the queen. They had no chance of killing the queen but they would keep her locked down for a time allowing the rest to fight without the fear of her arrows.

Allant felt the effects of Yui's second shot as it stuck the Snakeman that was moving to attack him. the shot hit the beast square in the upper torso sending it wreathing back but not out of the fight. After the beast got up it charged at Yui swinging wildly as it approached. This opening gave Allant a chance he delivered a quick kick into the armored Snakeman to free up one of his blades and quickly plunged it into the other snakeman's face dropping the snakeman almost instantly. Now squared up against a single Armored Snakeman Allant had much more confidence cracking his neck before stepping into the next round of combat.

Jenramo grinned at the snakeman's attempt letting the snake get its hit in before bringing down his own sword to the nape of the snake's neck cleaving off its head. Yet again his sword absorbed its foe's life force healing the wound he had just received. And it was at this point the rear doors once again opened and more snakemen seemed imminent to rush into the battle. Jenramo didn't wait for this to happen he instantly turned and charged the doorway disappearing into the darkness to slaughter the snakemen.

Octavia's attack was sort of successful as her blade slid across the Snakes forehead leaving a deep gash, but the snakeman used this to its advantage continuing its lunge whole opening its mouth revealing its sharp fangs moving in to bite the girl.
Stephan saw this and after rolling to dodge the attack coming after him he quickly drew a set of throwing knives and planted three of them square into the snakeman's back momentarily stopping its attack and giving Octavia a moment to make some distance. He then made his own move kicking his own Snakeman in its back before following up with two strikes to it's back with his knives before falling back and creating some distance before the snake could retaliate.

---

---

Under the weight of his own might, the blade of his foe crumbled and broke in one fell swoop. The center of his axe cleaved its head in two, and reached what seemed to be the soulstone. Witnessing its brim in the shine of its unstable magical eminence, Hafrbjǫrn had realized a moment too late the error of his action by placing such great strength on the back of his sing, he injured a core structure of this beast, causing a visceral reaction. His eyes noted the shine of the light soon shift into a cycling flame followed by a cascading boom. Reflexively he placed his left hand in front of his face to shield himself in what is a foolish attempt against the blast, sent backwards in a flight, his feet swept the earth under him to halt himself from furthering into the seams. A shine gleamed upon him, one which soon meshed into flesh an instant later. He has been boon'd with magical defense properties, noting his sides there had been some liquid on his armor which stained some of the leather fabric. Placing his sights towards the end the room, he concluded that it was this weirdly shifty man who he gave the bomb's too. Pox was what he was referred to, however this boon wasn't too potent to sustain the blast. The tried curling up his fingers and pain began to surge through them, he couldn't properly close his fist with the tendons screaming for freedom, fingers jammed and palm shaking. His double handed grip would certainly be hindered, but it shouldn't pose much of a problem. The battle continued, he needed to move onto battle once more. Ignore the pain, for now, your new comrades await for your testament of strength.

Alm and Sybille seemed to have been at their best with their targets, Pox remained at the distance so he remained at the safety of reach. The archers were certainly being pressed into a corner, but he needed to sustain his position in the front. Whatever the mage was doing, she held an idea to rid themselves of these obstacles in an instance, so he needed to pose once more as a threat. But, he found something rather interesting about the targets. He took one of the soulstones of these monster's previously. He picked it up from his pouch and pondered upon it. The blast from such was potent enough, at close range it would be quite dangerous... Garrett was upon the clutches of another one of these annoying monsters, Nanami was under the attack too... Which to choose... He needed to reach quickly. Damn it.

"Rouge Lass! Jump as far back as you can!" He ordered as he picked up on of the smaller axes, jammed the stone onto its bladed steel, and threw it at the earth near the Snakemen's on the right's tail. He would lose a weapon, but this is a menial loss to get rid of these creatures. With prejudice, Hafrbjǫrn moved towards Garrett's side, pulling his other small axe and swung at the tail. He wanted to slice it off so it would release Garrett of its clutches.

---

Grinning and gratified to see that one of her shots had found it’s mark, Yui met the attack on the wounded Snake Man. The beast was losing blood fairly rapidly, but it was still very dangerous, and melee fights were not her strong suit.

Parrying the enraged slashes, she countered with blows targeting the wounded side. The Snake Man was still a bit too fast for her to get inside its defences, but in its weakening state it was too slow to overwhelm her. Just gotta wait. She thought, eyeing the ever widening blood stain on its side. Circling each other, they parried and counter-attacked neither gaining an advantage; but Yui was just playing for time so-to-speak. No sense in taking a risk on an inevitable outcome.

---

Pox had been turning the far corner into little scorched patches of black soot and scratches, really hammering that archer with what he had. It was actually on the last bomb that he and the archer had an exchange. Not moving enough to notch the arrows, the last bomb would be more accurate then the others, but it was a trade off as he notched arrows, two no three at a time.

Pox was the target and thankfully no one was next to him against the wild arrows. Missing the first was easy, that was a miss. The next one, it was a hit but it dinged off the metal lense of his mask. The enchantment held true and he only received a surprising clunk for his trouble and a crack over his left lens. The next volley even as his bomb went off, one miss, but then a direct his, in the process of moving left leg was struck, the head burrowing deep. It was enough to make Pox stumble even as the last arrow whizzed through the air and socked him into the chest, knocking the wind out of him and burrowing deep, past aprong, past leather, and burying itself deep into flesh. Pox was knocked back by the hit but amazingly seemed to remain on his feet. He seemed ready to fall over in an instant, leg, chest injured but yet he remained up, nearly motionless.
_{You don't have my permission to die. You don't get to feel pain. You haven't earned it. No excuses. You stay up.}
Pox's twitching hand went to a oddly ornate syringe on his hip. He plunged it into his thigh and he seemed to almost come back to life again, sinking back behind the line of battle. He went to work on himself. He looked at his thigh, he took the arrow, struggling, he pushed it through the meat and out the back, barely making more then a stiffled whimper as another wound opened on him. He snapped the arrow, pulling the head through one side of his leg and the shaft through the other. His hand glowed green as he held his leg, applying the healing magic to seal the tissue damage.

The chest was a trickier injury, he felt the wound and knew his lung was punctured. It wouldn't be able to inflate properly. He went to his pouch and applied tincture after drug after potion, at one point he just stuck a syringe into his chest next to the arrow and topped the plunge. an unsettling hiss escaped from it as he released the pressure in his lung. He worked fast, but he wasn't finished, but he focused on the battle, surveying if the others were also injured.

He said coughing, sputtering up blood in his mask as he put a hand up "Blla-hackk- I'm oookay..." before holding his chest. He was still standing thanks to his drugs, it only hurt when he breathed. "Just need someone to rip this out..."

He had to deal with it. Pulling the arrow on his own out was agonizing and would open the hole worse. He couldn't just push this one out his back. He'd need some time to perform the proper surgeries so a healing spell would have to be enough for now, but he needed this silly arrow out of his chest to mend the flesh. Maybe that big fellow could rip the arrow out of him, in the meantime, he still had another lung. Thank goodness for spares...

Octavia's plan was to pierce the enemy's weak spot: it's head. Much to her disappointment, the snake had moved quicker than she'd expected. Octavia had managed to lacerate its head, but it ducked just in time to avoid a fatal blow. "Tsk. How vexing." She glowered, and the snake looked just as miffed as she did. It was enraged — to be more accurate — and it was quick to retaliate. It opened its mouth to bite her, revealing deadly, sharp fangs. It seemed highly determined to sink its teeth into her flesh, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Octavia placed one foot back and stood her ground, both hands firmly gripped around the hilt of her sword. If it continued its hasty advance, it would find her blade up its throat.

But the attack never came.

The snakeman had stopped it's advance, momentarily stunned by an attack that came from behind. Disoriented, it tried to reach for the knives that were plunging out its back. Octavia made use of this distraction and launched forward to aim for another attack. In one quick motion, she stabbed its tail with her sword and impaled it on the ground. The snake let out a harrowing shriek, and Octavia followed up with a kick to the gut. She grabbed the knife hidden in her boot and propelled herself upward to deliver the finishing blow, and while her knife had managed to cut deeper through its open wound, the attack lacked the strength it needed to penetrate the skull. "Shit!" She cursed to herself. Octavia's strength was beginning to wane; she knew she had to finish it fast, but the enemy wasn't relenting. She had to take a step back and catch her breath, but it angrily lashed out and struck its blade. She dodged (what could have been the end of her) with a nimble leap to the side, but the cutting edge grazed her cheek. "Urk.."

Octavia's breathing was now rapid and heavy. Even moving her own limbs took twice the effort. "Okay.. We're gonna do it this way.." She exhaled sharply and locked her eyes on the target. Thanks to the sword that kept the snake in place, she was allowed to take a few moments off to catch her breath. The sword was a memento from her father and it was powered up with a rune, allowing it to pierce through armor, though in this case it was the marble floor. Octavia pulled out another dagger from her boot and held it up. "This knife is my last one. So please, die." She took a deep breath and poured every strength (and prayer) she had left into this attack. In an instant, the knife whizzed through the air and found its way through the snake's skull. The snake-man slumped backwards with a heavy thud. The sweet sound of victory.

"Huff.."

Octavia leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. She took deep breaths to calm herself from the adrenaline rush and physical burnout. She wanted nothing more than to go home and have a nice, long bath. "Soon." Octavia heaved a long, exasperated sigh, before straightening her back and eyeing the battlefield. The others were still fighting, and she had to help them despite her fatigue. She spotted Jing a couple meters away, trying to fend off two opponents. She decided to go assist him but as she took a step forward, a green light at the very edge of her vision caught her attention. It was barely visible from where she was standing, but her keen eyes couldn't possibly miss it. She soon learned that the light was coming from Pox's hand. Was he healing himself? It took a second look-over before she noticed the arrow that was sticking out of his chest. Octavia's eyes widened in shock, and she immediately ran towards him as fast as she could — which wasn't too fast considering she was still out of breath.

"Pox! Goodness. Are you alright?" She made it by his side and immediately examined his chest — if the word examined meant staring and panicking. "— wait, don't even answer that. You have an arrow in your chest!" She narrated the obvious in such a panic-stricken frenzy that if they weren't in such a serious situation, it would be comical. "Let me help you. Tell me what to do, because I might end up killing you — b-but I won't." She stuttered and panicked as she placed her hand on his chest. Octavia couldn't help but react as if she was the one with an arrow sticking through her chest. It just looked so painful and uncomfortable, because it definitely hit a vital organ. Before anything else, Octavia quickly ripped the hem of her robe and wrapped it around the wound on his leg. Pox was already in the process of healing that one, but his other injury required a more immediate attention.

[♪ Battle Music] She expected the next course, swirling as if in dance around the snake's attacks, though admittedly he got off a scratch or two - but what battle did one leave without injuries? She gritted her teeth easily through the stings and quickly found her opportunity.

As the snakeman lifted his blade above his head, she stood still only long enough to faint the beast into an attack before rolling to the side. As it came crashing down, she tried her best to jump onto the blade safely, keeping it grounded. However the warning snapped at her, causing her eyes to glance towards the cracked soul stone. With quicken reflexes from her magic before, she jumped backwards into a roll, leaving the snake man in surprise as the stone burst in force right in front of it's face.

@Sync@Lyla@HowlsOfWinter@ShwiggityShwah

With the snakeman archer focused on Pox Shion quickly finished it off. With the sounds of more approaching snakemen Shion ran forward. "Pox, Octavia time to move back I know this will hurt but we gotta move you." He said while helping pox move over away from the combat before turning to rejoin the combat. "Don't die doc were going to need you later. Also remember to take a dose of your antidote." He added readying a few arrows for the soon to arrive.

Alm wasted no time delivering a quick slash that caught the snakeman's sword, the clash resulted in the snakeman's blade freezing catching the creature off guard. Alm quickly followed up with a second strike shattering the blade. Now unarmed the snakeman wasted no time in the counter attack and tried to lunge forward fangs beard but Alm sidestepped the attack bringing down his own blade cleaving the creature's head from its body. As the body fell it turned to ice shattering on impact with the ground leaving nothing but the worn piece of armor and the beast's soulstone in the chunks of ice. With his enemies defeated Alm started to make his way to the doorway ready to intercept the oncoming snakemen.

Garrett Struggled to free himself from the snakeman, but the more he tried the tighter the grip got. The metal of his armor started to buckle but then came a bit of a saving grace Haf came to help cleanly cutting off the snakes tail and loosening the grip. With its grip loosened Garrett got a hand free and grabbed at the snakeman's throat crushing it. "How do you like being the one getting crushed" Garrett said as there was a popping sound of the snake's neck snapping as the creature went limp Garrett moved to free himself and threw the corpse to the side. "Thanks for the hand there, much longer and the beast would of had me..." he said while moving to hold his side. "Think I might have to take a rest for the rest of this, that thing broke my ribs I believe." he said making his way to Pox and Octavia to see if there was anything he could do to help.

As Nanami jumped away the Snakeman tried to lunge at her, but it was to late the sole stone exploded and without Pox's magical protection the blast tore through the snakeman. It took a chunk out of its tail and blew off one of its arms and shot shrapnel from Haf's axe into its back. But the blast did not kill the beast only leaving it at deaths door. Still a dangerous beast the Snakeman slowly made its way back at Nanami fangs bared and sword in its good hand.

As Alm had predicted more snakemen pored into the room from the open doorway another group of Four Swordsmen and two more archers. Not giving them a chance to catch their bearings he quickly charged into their ranks shoulder bashing the first swordsman he could. Shion followed this up unleashing a volley of three shots at was would be an unsuspecting archer. ans Sybille continued her chant nearing the completion of her spell.

-----------------------------------
@Athol

Waiting patiently worked well for Jing, the opening he was waiting for finally showed itself, one of the snakemen looked away for just a second as the Second Soul Stone explosion occurred. With one strong thrust Jing pierced the Snakeman's skull not even waiting for the creature to fall before using its body throwing it into he second snakeman knocking it over. Not giving it a chance to recuperate Jing plunged his blade into the second snakeman's heart being careful to avoid the soulstone and avoid an explosion as Haf had seen. With his foe's dead Jing pressed on making his way up the to the throne to face the Serpent queen in combat.

Allant moved in almost playing with his target easily parrying any attack the snakeman tried to make while quickly delivering an attack of his own slashing at the snake's exposed arms or lower body avoiding anything that would kill the beast but instead just injuring it putting it through as much pain as he could.

Stephan had injured his opponent putting it into its own fit of rage charging at the Thief the poor creature didn't even see the strike coming. Stephan easily ducked underneath the snakeman's attack with a short lunge forward leading to an upward strike from his knife cutting open the beast's throat followed up by a second slash from his other knife creating a cross like wound on the creatures neck and dropping it almost instantly. With his snake dead Stephan moved to help Yui, not directly attacking her foe, but he quickly threw a few small smoke bombs at its feet distracting the creature and leaving her an opening to strike.

With Jing moving to attack the Queen Gwen ceased her barrage and upon seeing the stare of the ongoing battle started to make her way to Pox. None of the rest of these fools could heal him. She didn't know why they even bothered to try and "help".

@HowlsOfWinter

---

Shion moved them back to behind the line of fire, giving them a bit of time to initiate some first aid.

A very strained bit of words repeated as she came over to him. But then she thankfully told him it was no need to do so. He was essentially nursing his wound and the little valve that he plunged into his chest to keep deflating his lung. It would be felt as a nice and painful pressure that would cause him to gasp for breath.

She pointed out the arrow, and his beak nodded in approval of her diagnosis. His mouth filled with blood and he coughed it up before answering her. "It's just a lung... but if it fills with- blood- I'll go into Hypovelmic Shock... not great... He coughed again before he prepared for some impromptu first aid, getting a pouch ready for her to use.

Octavia's eyebrows furrowed. "Just a lung?" She replied, angry. "I have every reason to worry if your lung is involved." She said through gritted teeth, but now was not the time for scolding. She'd give him a great deal of it later.

Pox felt her chide him a little but he retorted with a bit of gallows humor. "We have two of them. Blag- One to spare."

He allowed her to bring him, it would be better than his magic or his robes and he nodded when the task was done. "Okay- you're not doing surgery." He said bemused despite the situation. "But you'll-do better than me... Here." He handed her the pouch. It contained bandages, patches, vials of clear liquids, scalpel, scissors, clamps, a jar of thick paste. "Start- start by ripping out the arrow, keep - keep it as straight as you can, and pull straight out." He braced himself for it, bending his knees and leaning forward. He wished he could lie down for this but he didn't have the luxury.

Octavia's hand trembled as she slowly reached for the arrow. One wrong move, and she could do further damage. It would have been a different story if it were his leg or his arm — anywhere but his chest — but it was a lung puncture, out of all things. What luck.

She took a deep breath as she wrapped her hand around the arrow, careful enough to avoid any unnecessary movements. "This is a lung puncture." Every word rolled off her tongue sharply. "If I pull this out, you're going to bleed out. You better have a plan, or I might just have to kill you myself." She glared at him, concern evident in her eyes. It was unlike her to speak in such a rough manner, but she was losing her composure. Injuries to the chest were common, with large numbers of death associated with lung punctures. She did not want to add to the list of dead people in her life.

Pox raised his hand and nodded. "We'll be fine... Everything you need is in - the pouch." His speech was sounding worse. He tried to sound calm, control his limited breathing, but he knew how you could atleast temporarily treat such wounds. They were common, hence why the pressure valve next to the arrow was needed. Course that wouldn't help things now. They were about to make a hole.

Octavia released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Sweat started to pool at her temples. She placed her left hand on his shoulder, while her other hand was firmly gripped around the wooden stick.

3...2...1..

In one swift motion, she pulled.

Pox made a gurgling sound and what would have been a screamed if he wasn't biting his tongue to attempt to muffle it. The drugs only worked so much but he seemed determined to try to show as little pain as possible. The tension on his body would clearly show that he was in agony, torturing pain as his chest screamed. He grabbed her wrist to brace himself, his gloves squeezing enough to leave a red mark. With her pull his chest heaved even as he pulled back in an attempt to assist her, the arrow head shredded more flesh on its way out but it needed to happen. He wasn't going to be able to heal or get any better with a piece of metal and wood inside him. He made a rasped gasp when it was finally out of him, and he seemed to slump over her arm.

"Pox..?"

He tried to breath, it was a bit easier, but he couldn't let the blood fill his lung. Slowly the delirioum of the moment subsided and he raised a shakey hand to the pouch. "The gel..." He pointed to the fresh wound. "Fill...it..." He instructed.

Octavia winced at the sight of blood oozing out of his wound, but she didn't waste a moment as she grabbed the pouch and dug through it. There were plenty of vials, bandages, and a bunch of other things Octavia (quite frankly) didn't recognize. When she found the gel, she quickly grabbed it and positioned it over the hole in his chest. With shaky hands, she filled the wound as Pox instructed. He was trying hard to make it seem like he wasn't in too much pain, but it was clear as day to Octavia. She held his hand and squeezed it tightly, while her other hand applied pressure to his wound. Octavia wanted to help ease his pain, but there was little she could do with no magic. She tried to brush aside her frustration as she spoke, "tell me what to do next. "

The breathing was audible through his nose, he just didn't seem to be breathing too good but he clenched her hand and tried to stay still. The Gel should act as a coagulant for now. Enough to at least keep things from life threatening to merely just bad. Enough to maybe keep his insides in until stronger magic or a more definite procedure could be enacted.

He nodded as she had the goop fill the wound, leaving it pasty. There was a large sheet that held an adhesive. He pointed to it. "All we can do now is patch that over it. Its-not a permanent fix but Itll keep me going. Gwen can finish it up."

With a softness and poise he looked down at her, eyes could be seen past his lenses. It seemed impossible to determine what the color were, but they were gentle."Thank you. Octavia." her fast actions were beyond appreciated.

A part of Octavia felt angry with herself for being incapable of doing something more. She felt powerless in this situation, but he was right. Only Gwen was capable of helping him now.

There was a moment's distraction when her eyes caught sight of his for the very first time, but she managed to look away. "I did what anyone would have done.." Her voice trailed off. At the corner of her vision, she could see Gwen approaching. "Gwen will handle things from here. I'll go assist the others." Having said that, Octavia started to walk away, her bloodied hand still trembling from almost losing a friend.

Pox, now atleast healed enough to function made sure to head to Garrett complaining of ribs. "Here." He beckoned, reaching out. His hands glowed a bright green as he placed them over the warrior's ribs and concentrated. He could do this, magic was a force of his emotion, his knowledge of the arcane arts and perception of his soul stone. He could knit the cracks, reduce the swelling. He was already casting the incantation which would sound like a light prayer. He would release him with a nod. "Good to go, I recommend bed rest when you can though..."

He then would finally address Gwen already raising his arms despite the pain and allow her to address his injury. He already drew enough attention.

---

Yui twisted and dodged as the Snake Man came at her again and again. Although weakening, it was still a dangerous threat that she wasn’t taking lightly. Bleed out already! She was considering making a move, when several things ‘clacked’ on the stones near the two of them, and the immediate area filled with smoke. That works… The Snake Man had instinctively lashed out into the densest part of Stephan’s smoke cloud, obviously expecting an attack from that direction.

Instead, Yui went to opposite way and found herself almost tripping over the Snake Man’s tail. Bringing her blade down into a viscous low slash that connected with the exposed flesh. The naturally tough skin of the desert-dweller resisted to some degree, but not enough to prevent Yui from drawing blood. It roared in pain and rage and rounded to strike her, but she’d already brought her blade up, and instead ended it with a cleaving blown between the eyes. Prying her sword free, she nodded a ‘thanks’ to Stephan through the thinning smoke, and looked about. They seemed to be winning, and rather handily at that; Pox seemed to be attending to Garrett, but from where she was it didn't seem to bad.
@Arthanus

---

---

What had occurred in the span of a few moments had left Hafrbjǫrn at the ready, although the tide of battle wavered at their favor it didn't demonstrate any means of of ever halting anytime soon. Garrett seemed to have downed the monster that clutched to him without a means of respite. Now pox, who laid stricken due to his previous injury now healed the young knight. The giant once more took upon himself to take notice at his left hand, it trembled under the weight of a pain brought upon that explosion. He could feel the tendons swelling and the joint stiffening further. Gripping the axe properly with both hands would reduce his ability to deliver a proper finishing blow. He could still manage with it, but his chances have decreased rather prominently. He sheathed his smaller axe, and once again brought to his grip the larger one. Sybille was his priority, as she was still chanting... Whatever she has been doing was certainly something of impact, something that would cease the continuation of this fruitless battle. A deep inhale, followed by a slow controlled exhale. Eyes gazing towards the entrance as more made their way in, tracking towards the far end somewhere upon the center, there stood the Queen upon her throne, bellowing its presence upon the Irregulars. Cockroaches the lot of them, if one fell three took its place. Hafrbjǫrn placed his hand on Garret shoulder and the two shared a glance. Once more not a word was utter on behalf of the giants mouth, but the firmness of the grip spoke of something foolish. If they were to be embroiled in a battle of tenacity, then... Perhaps after the head has been taken care, the rest will surely follow. Like before, he handed the young knight the bow he picked up on the previous battle before entering this place.

Their eyes connected once more, Hafrbjǫrn was trusting that Garrett would deliver suppressive fire towards those who would dare loosened their fury upon them. Hopefully, the same Snakemen were vulnerable to their own poison, but somehow the giant didn't believe. His feet stomped the earth beneath his heel in a furious display to stampede towards the entrance past the swordsman, grip on axe tightened, trashing through them. He needed to buy time, that Sybille had the only hope she could offer. And with a large yell, he kicked the ground to propel himself further to the air, and with one hand this time, had prepared to clobber the beast that were incoming under his might, if not get their attention. He could sustain a bit more than the others, it was time to play the shield.

[♪ Battle Music] Covering her eyes for a moment as the flash ripped the snake man in front of her, she sneered slightly in response to its sheer will power. It was in half and yet it still continued to push onwards, making her wonder if it was something instinctual in the creature or that perhaps her music had a stranger impact than she realized - it was only the second time she used it after all.

Regardless, she gracefully rolled to its injured side as it swung towards her and jammed her short sword against it's neck and let it bleed out as it gasped for air to breath - finally, it was down, though it seemed a bit more hardy or stubborn than the others. The chaos of the field had left a few others on the ground as well as her allies assisting. As Alm crashed into the new group of soldiers, whom seemed less experienced, she did a small twirl to ease the pain of those still fighting - though it was not even near the level of healing Pox or Garret would need.

As Hafrbjǫrn charged with Alm, her gaze went to her father meeting in battle with the queen. If anyone needed extra assistance it was him and with a swift flick of her sword, an energetic tune whistled towards him, granting him extra speed to fight the bitch. If she went down, mayhaps the rest of the snake creatures would bow out and stop posing a threat. One could hope. With one final flick, she sent energies towards Sybille as well, to help complete that spell of hers.

Jing quickly made his way to the Snake Queen preventing her from taking more shots at the rest of the group. As he drew close the Queen drew a set of twin curved blades and the two locked in combat. The queen was fast pressing the attack from the start and putting Jing on the defensive. But luckily thanks to Nanami's enchantments Jing was able to keep up with the Snake Queen although he was being pressed back. But Jing was playing the waiting game knowing the Queen would soon wear herself out or at least that was what he was counting on. He continued on the defensive until he was backed almost off the edge of the throne pedestal where he lashed out with a powerful slash pushing the Snake Queen back although she was able to parry the blow itself without taking any real damage herself. Jing did not wait for the Snake to regain the upper hand and pressed the attack following up with a series of quick jabs keeping his distance and forcing the queen to exert more energy. After Jing's final jab the queen didn't wait knocking aside his blade and lunging forward getting inside the reach of his weapon. But before the Queen could strike the tide of battle changed. Jing smiled and let out a small breath fogging up as it left his mouth.

The temperature in the room sharply fell almost instantly as Sybille finished her spell. The Queen slowed and Jing abandoned his weapon with a light jump back while drawing his short sword to continue the fight. Jing easily blocked the Snakes advances with his single blade as her movements continued to slow in the cold. It wasn't long until the Snake couldn't keep up with Jing who not only began to press the attack but was winning the fight being able to land blows cutting into the Snake Queen's skin. With the battle now in his favor Jing knew not to drag out the fight, even though he was winning his age was getting to him and Jing was starting to tire. After one good push to create distance Jing recovered his Glave and with a single strike as he picked up the weapon he was able to cleave the snake in two. After the snake fell her upper body began to flail unwilling to give up. Jing quickly plunged his Weapon into her skull and the snake fell limp. He then turned to see how the rest of the irregulars were faring with the remaining Snakemen. Sybille's spell and the queens death had all but destroyed he snakemen's moral allowing them to easily be finished off by the rest of the irregulars.

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(At the same time as above)

Gwen came up to Pox with a disappointed look on her face. "Was it really that hard to just dodge?" She asked sounding annoyed as she knelt down beside him with two balls of green aura forming in her palms. As she reached down pressing the balls of light onto the wound Pox would feel a lot of discomfort as Gwen accelerated his body's healing basically stitching his innards back together. Pox would know that she could of made the process soothing, but instead she was making him feel what she was doing, probably as punishment for taking such an injury. Once Pox's lung and other internals were patched up Gwen pulled back taking a deep purple liquid with her. "There you won't die now, and you should still be able to function as a healer. But stay behind our fighters We can't afford to have you injured like this." She said as she got up to look over the rest of the battle. She had made sure to take away any life threatening part to the injury as well as pull out the Venom that would have coated the arrowhead. But the gel filled wound remained probably as a lesson for him to remember.

After Alm knocked the first entering snakeman down he quickly readied himself as a second snakeman didn't give him the time to finish off the first. Alm quickly knocked aside the Snakeman's blade with his own before moving to try and counter strike. But the first snakeman had had its time to recover and charged Alm with its counterpart. The snakemen were successfully working together attacking in turns not allowing Alm to act on either of them. Knowing this method would only wear himself out Alm took a risk. The next strike came Alm only deflected the blow enough to avoid any serious damage but still took a slash to his side as he moved forward letting go of his weapon with one hand delivering a strong punch to the snakeman's jaw while still using his weapon to block the following attack from the second Snamkeman locking its blade with his own. With their rotation disrupted Alm took the opening he had made, he quickly returned his grip to his weapon and flicked the snakeman's sword from its hand. After that it was a simple matter to behead the creature and turn his attention to the other snakeman who was still recovering. It was then that Sybille's spell went into action as the temperature dropped Alm charged, and as expected the Snakeman's reaction was slower than normal allowing Alm to quickly finish it off. And as the Snake Queen herself fell the remaining Snakemen either retreated or were slain by the other irregulars.

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(after the battle)

With the Snakemen broken and retreating the battle would quickly be over finally giving the irregulars a moment to breath. It wasn't long before Jenramo walked back into the room covered in blood (no one really sure if it was his or the snakemen's) and with a big grin on his face and as par for him any wounds he might of taken had been healed by his sword. Allant spent his moments of silence starting to remove the cores of the monsters so they could be divided up by Jing when this was all over. Sybille made her way to one of the walls and plopped down for a rest as the spell had drained her. Shion and Stephan started to check the bodies of the snakemen for anything of value that would be worth taking. Gwen from to member to member checking for injuries and healing anything that was serious, but always left a part of the wound like she did with Pox to teach them a lesson. Jing sat on the ledge of the throne pedestal watching the others thinking over the battle and its outcome.

And once the "loot" was collected Gwen looked everything over and found out that there had been two relic items among the Snake Queen's gear. First was her Long Bow which Gwen explained the queen was using wrong before demonstrating that if you flowed a little of your own magic through the weapon it could fire arrows made of magic not requiring any physical arrows. The choice was quick to give the bow to Shion, but his lack in magical aptitude forced him to pass on the bow. Then Gwen decided to give the bow to Octavia knowing with a little practice the young girl could easily master the weapon. The second piece of relic equipment was the Queen's Breastplate And although it was made of a light leather like material the armor was stronger than steel, and still allowed the wearer to move around without restriction to their movement, in fact it seemed the armor gave its wearer a boost to their speed (probably why Jing was forced on the defensive at the start of the fight). Jing quickly decided the armor was going to Nanami and wasn't going to hear any argument otherwise. The rest of the gear and Soulstones were divided up quickly and Jing gave everyone a bit of time to rest before they would make their way back out into the desert and make tier way back to human civilization.

After deciding to take one of the Queen's swords for himself, Alm took this time to to go and study the room. It was amazing how much of the artwork was still in tact. making his way around and any type of pictographs or writing he found he tried to roughly copy into a notebook he kept in his pack with hope to one day find someone who could decipher their meaning. When he had copied everything he could from the walls he made is way to a nearby rock and sat down still looking and studying the walls. "Who would of guessed we would of stumbled across a piece of the old world that was left so intact and preserved." he said to himself out loud, "Now I wonder if this place holds a secret to bring humanity back to greatness like Sir Darkwing had said in his journal." Alm continued posing the question to anyone who was listening.

---

With the last Snake Men either dead or is full retreat, Yui retrieved her rifle once more and reloaded it, before sitting against a wall; when Gwen came past to check on her, she waved the sorceress off. She’d suffered nothing worse than a little fatigue, and maybe some minor bruises.

”Well what do you know,” She quipped to no one in particular. ”We all lived.” Though from the sounds of it, it may ‘ve been a near thing for Pox. With other sorted out the loot situation, she took a personal inventory. So far she’d expended five shots, with another five ready to go; but she didn’t have a whole lot of spare powder. The little Stones, she’d replaced with fresh ones before they’d set out, so those would be good for a bit. Should see if there’s an apothecary or alchemist in the town we get to…maybe do another patch of powder if there’s time. She grimaced at bit at the thought. Her rifle was great for un-levelling a battlefield in her favour, but it cut into her purse to keep in ammo.

”So boss,” She called out from where she sat. ”We heading back to what passes for civilization out here?”

Pox felt like he was being scolded but he just nodded. "Octavia and myself took care of- okay...". He already dealt with the big issues, Octavia and he made sure of that but Gwen of course was a better option to look him over. Otherwise he'd have to work on himself, something he didn't want to do for the sheer lack that he'd have to do it by touch. That wouldn't have been great. Gwen did her job, doing perhaps a bit more than she needed and he winced even more so. "You really don't need to do... ouch. I can do it if it's too difficult." Why she needed to leave a scar was something Pox didn't quite get, knowing her methods would inevitably lead to such. In fact she made it meaningfully painful, and in a very short moment, Pox lost a lot of respect for Gwen. To use pain to 'teach' someone- when they were already in pain for doing their efforts in battle was not only cruel, it was childish. It was unrefined and petty. Like she decided on who did a good job and who did a bad job in a battle.

"Is it really that hard to heal properly?" Pox snapped back at Gwen when she left him, his hand already moving over his wound and then moving it, the cloth of his leathers re wrapping himself as part of its enchantment. He would make sure to not give her the satisfaction and would fix her work like a real teacher. He ignored any remark she had made regardless only replying with "I'm going to have to recheck everyone knowing what a shoddy job you plan to do." Pox spit venom, showing he had zero tolerance for her way of thinking, and did just that, making sure the wound healed properly. Wasting his time and resources, he no longer trusted the 'healer.'

If she had a problem with it, she was welcome to bring it up to him later cause he would give her a piece of his mind. A doctor that left scars was an amateur at best, and someone who did it intentionally had no place in the operating room.

---

Pox had calmed down by the time they divided up the spoils. He went to inspect the remains, having the pictures catch his attention. The remark Alm made Pox trace his finger over the findings. He had to talk aloud in response to the question. "Looks like they collect things, but why? What would these creatures want artwork for, old human stuff?" He picked one up and studied it, a still life with a beautiful woman. Pox tried to look at the room itself, maybe they weren't collected, maybe they were always here, he checked for the dust gathered on them, maybe figuring out how long they were there.

---

---

The battle has ceased well enough before Hafrbjǫrn patience did, the rummaging blood trails which adorned his steel were a testament of a hard fought battle. With a mighty swing, the blade was rid of any excess of vital fluids and holstered once again. His eyes started blankly at the Irregulars who seemed to have found upon themselves upon a squabble, if not minor between the healer mage and the witch doctor. Indeed, Hafrbjǫrn agreed more on what the doctor did, but he had not a single shred of interest in harboring more tiding with these people. Although his fingers trembled still under the strain of pain, fingers still finding trouble making a full fist, he proceeded towards his employer and questioned his thought. "Aught you considered what situation we have ventured upon, Garrett?" Without much pause, he followed through "We have, on three occasions, found ourselves at the behest of danger in which two of such have lead us highly astray by your insipid curiosity. We garner no quarter of the spoils of these men of guild presence and yet you find yourself upon intrigue at their posture." Crossing his arms, the giant looks down at his contracted 'companion' by trade of soverns and relentlessly allowed himself to venture further from his path of usual silence. The thunder deep brusque of his tone led notice of his discontent. "Unless you rather combat the guild mates over their riches, I suggest you tidy up and double-down. I rather not lose another of my axes, by extension of not allowing the spilling of human blood. Pick up your things, get what you need and we will accompany the Irregular upon the time we reach a place with roof and nourishment, if not, I suggest you reconsider our agreement and hand over what's left of my soverns with welcomed and necessary interest."

Octavia unclenched her fists as she moved towards the throne, picking up her sword as she eased a step further along the path. She took off her torn robes and used her teeth to remove her glove, tossing them to the side as she continued to walk through the battlefield. Her eyes darted around the room, eventually homing in on Gwen, who was carefully examining the spoils of the battle. After some careful consideration, Gwen handed the magic bow to Octavia, leaving her with a puzzled look on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed them and nodded a small thanks.

Octavia's avoidance of magic was understandable given her circumstances, but after today's events, she realized that it might've been worth considering. Still, that would require some careful rumination; there were potential dangers to consider. The last thing Octavia wanted was to make things go from extremely bad to extremely disastrous. Magic was a fickle thing, especially for her.

To her frustration, she hasn't felt much like herself in the past week. There was a distant look in her unfocused eyes; her mind seemed to be elsewhere despite the task before her. An odd feeling of lightheadedness swept over her, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut for a moment. Shaking her head, she willed her legs to move forward, heading over towards the nearest pillar.

Octavia plopped herself down on the ground, leaning her back against the structure. As she sat there to rest, her eyes began to feel heavier and heavier. There was a strong desire to shut them and doze off, but she managed to keep them open. A blanket of tiredness wrapped itself around her body, but the events of their arduous journey replayed in her mind, demanding her to stay awake.

For the first time in a week, she felt like she could finally rest. The journey back home was another thing, but the travel would feel less taxing knowing they were headed back home. Her body begged to sleep on a soft mattress, and a warm bath would do wonders for her aching muscles. With that in mind, Octavia released a long, much-needed sigh. Her eye throbbed for a brief moment, but she ignored it. Perhaps she'd find some answers to her predicament when she got back home. After all, her mother's journal remained untouched in her storage box.

Maybe it was finally time to read it.