A cold breeze. A hard surface. You slowly open your eyes.

Lying uncomfortably upon a cold, uneven floor made of dark stone, you slowly wake. You question how you were even able to sleep in such conditions in the first place. Then it becomes quite apparent that this was not where you were in the first place. You’re not even sure if you went to bed before arriving at this new location. Wide awake now, you quickly take to your feet looking around to gage just where you are.

The room you find yourself in is large ranging almost endlessly to any of the walls that surround you. You look up to see that the room reaches several meters into the air, meeting at the vaulted ceiling. Along each wall are columns that jut halfway out of them, separating it into segments. Carved into each frame are various battles of unknown faction or origin. The room is surprisingly well lit despite lacking any obvious light source. You spin suddenly when a cough echoes throughout the massive chamber.

You become aware that you are not alone. Lying on the floor around you are various other people, dressed in both familiar and drastically foreign attire. They begin to stir, waking up equally confused as you are. Many of them begin to murmur, question and group up trying to make sense of the situation. You join them but before any conversation could take place, the room is filling with another sound that seemingly originated from the ceiling. You collectively look upward to search for the source of the sound only to revolt against the sight.



A fiendish sight rested upon the above the champions’ heads. A spider in shape equipped with long slender legs, and large abdomen, its near black color almost blended in with the dull grey that was the stone ceiling. With webs reaching each corner of the room, it was clear that this chamber seemingly without doors was this monster’s home. Quickly, the creature descended along a series of thin threaded webs reaching the ground facing the newly awoken challengers.

This spider was more than what could be seen when above. Its body towered over the champions’ almost doubling their height. Its body and legs were covered with hairs resembling long needles with sharpened points. The spider was fiendish enough, but sprouting from the between the monster’s eyes was the torso of a female, horrendously malformed, and slightly larger than that of a normal human’s. The body was the female was long, lanky, and colored grey much, lighter than the arachnid body. Each of her arms was abnormally long, almost twice as long as her human body, each hand equipped with long fingers and nails resembling claws. From her head grew very long coarse hair that covered her face and body. The hair made it impossible to see her face, but that was not necessary to sense the malice it held towards the champions. Who or whatever made this thing had a strange sense of propriety.

The spider screeched from its human mouth. If the warriors were not prepared for battle now, there wasn’t much time left to steel them. With a few steps forward, it raised its long front legs higher over the warriors who were still grouped together. In an instant, it slammed them down, seemingly without target. If the champion’s were not sure before, it was clear now of the hostility before them. The creature continued to screech as it swung its legs to its right knocking whoever in their path away. Not only that, but the hairs that protruded from its legs acted liked swords, slashing at and slicing through anything soft that came into their path.

After its initial swipe through the group, it had managed to scatter them well enough. Screeching one more time, the spider charged at the first pocket of warriors that remained standing in front of her. No matter who intruded on who’s domain, it was a battle between spider and man. Left with no options other than to fight, perhaps the defeat of this strange spider abomination would provide answers to how they had come to be in this place.

A fight it is then. Saria had been hit by the spider-thing's initial attack, sending her flying back to the edge of the room, smacking the wall. Head spinning, she quickly shook it off, regaining her balance. Facing the abomination, she assessed the situation at a glance. There were about a dozen people all around the spider-thing, a few ending up next to her. They all wore strange garments, like they’d come from entirely different worlds.

She shook the thought. She didn’t have time to think about the intricacies of the ones around her. Surviving–– no, killing the beast would be the only reprieve from this situation, even if the others ended up being hostile. She was certain she could deal with them, so the spider came first. Glancing at the ones around her, she saw that some were still stuck on the floor, while others were up on their feet like her.

Saria would be the first to strike, but even as instinct coaxed every fiber of her body to rush out and beat it to the ground, her mind kept her focused, but just as deadly. Drawing the Red Blade, its crimson glow accentuated by the strange light that didn’t seem to have a source, she saw the beast begin its charge, dagger-like spines bristling all around its bulbous body, sharp enough to flay an unarmored man with a single swipe.

“If you want to live…” Saria said to the ones around her, some attentive, some not. She clenched her blade like she was strangling her enemy, preparing for battle.

“...Then you’d better get up!” She charged forth, sprinting at the beast. It was taller than her, far taller. If she was any common footsoldier, she’d be speared by a barbed limb before she could get in range. But she was no common footsoldier; she would be insulted with such a comparison. The first limb came like a pike wrapped in barbed wire. She deftly parried the strike as she closed in, feeling something in her shoulder yank painfully as her sword caught the beast’s weapons. It hurt, but she powered through nonetheless, severing some of the spider’s razor-sharp bristles.

But its legs were not what she was aiming for. No, her target was the soft, fleshy bit at the gap between the monster’s eyes. That woman had to be its weak spot. As Saria prepared to deliver a decisive blow, she knew that if she missed, or if the woman had tougher skin than she’d imagined, or if the beast recovered fast enough to intercept her, she would be in grave danger. She doubted that mere strangers would risk themselves to help her, so she eliminated them from the equation. At that moment, she sincerely believed it was either her or the abomination.

She lunged for the beast, blade raised, knowing that she would either win or die.

Cold. Something cold was digging into her bare spine. Furrowing her brow, Kay crinkled her nose and sneered. Her eyes were closed and she had been breathing rhymically just a few seconds ago but it was clear something had disturbed her slumber. Sleepily, her eyes opened. Ouch. She was wearing a crop top, and the natural curve of her spine wasn't enough to prevent it from being jammed by rocks. Sitting up, she rubbed her head and glanced around. She hunched into her shelf and grimaced, shuddering as she heard an abominable shriek. Glancing upwards she caught a glimpse of the horrific woman-beast above her. She scrambled away just in time, running away. There were others around here, but Kay's mind was reeling. What the hell just happened? Where was she? Wasn't she in the middle of something? She was carving a staff to go with her traditional garments, right? Well, that was long gone. Not like it would be much use- without a magic crystal it was just a stick. Someone, a woman in red, told her to get up and Kay had no intention of disobeying. Especially since she spoke with such a commanding prescence. Maybe she knew what was going on?

Kay, breathing heavily, glanced back towards the spider. The woman in red armor was lunging toward the beast. An ally! Kay had never seen such a creature before, but she had read stories of half-person, half-beast abominations that roamed the hills. She had even met some before. The snake men of the eastern swamps were particularly nasty. The centaurs weren't so bad though. They reminded her and the Druid Elves.

Shaking her head of this distraction, Kay got back to the moment at hand. "Uhhh!" She shouted. She had hoped to say something cool like the sword woman but instead she just made a loud, confused noise. Well, whatever!

Raising her hands, she summoned a protective Structure barrier around the sword woman Saria. It would not restrict her movement at all, and in case she was overcome by the beasts strength it would deflect some of the damage, depending on how much was done to her. The tattoos on Kay's body, particularly on the arm she had raised and pointed at Saria, began to glow a dull green. This sucked! Kay was afraid and confused, but she had a fighter's instinct nonetheless. Normally, however, the battles she fought made sense. This made no sense at all.



Natalia had woken up only a few moments ago. Staring up at the ceiling, she saw the spider beast above her. A dream? It certainly felt real. Using her arms, she grunted and pushed herself into a sitting position. Slowly, she scanned the room around her. People, of all different shapes and sizes. Curious. Beside her, her Powered Armor. Dull. Empty. Powered off. A useless pile of junk, right now. Right now, she felt she was in danger. The beast shrieked. Those around her began to battle it. Natalia did not dream often.

Someone told her to get up. That person did not know that Natalia was missing her left leg from the knee down. That swordwoman also did not know that it wouldn't matter, because Natalia's legs were paralyzed. It had been a while since Natalia had to crawl on the ground. The Powered Armor next to her was a hulking gray behemoth, standing eight feet tall at least. Unfortunately, it was laying on it's back. Natalia could only enter the Powered Armor via it's back. The entire thing would open up and she could crawl inside. Usually, she would have the help of several other smaller drones. Now, she was by herself. The beast was closing in.

Suddenly, there was a green surge of energy all around her. Natalia and the Powered Armor were slid along the ground by some kind of glowing verdant scooper. Ten, twenty, thirty feet away. Natalia tried to keep steady but she ended up rolling and flopping around. Her and the Powered Armor slid to a stop well outside the combat zone.

"Sorry!" A cosplayer shouted an apology at Natalia. She was dressed as a fantasy character, with fake ears and everything. Let's be logical here. If the spider beast is real, than it stands to reason the elf woman, and everyone else in here, is real too. Perhaps, Natalia thought, she had been kidnapped and taken into another dimension. Or it was a dream. Either way, she needed to get into the Powered Armor.

"Abi," Natalia said. Her voice was low and monotone. "Activate Powered Armor." She said to the suit. Nothing happened. As she suspected, the armor would need to be turned on manually. Otherwise, it would already be on. The power to this thing was completely off. If Natalia remembered correctly, she had the suit connected to her home's power supply when she was looking through a telescope. At the time she was sitting on her wheelchair, the back wheel was brushing up against the suit's foot. Perhaps she was fortunate to have the suit available to her at all.

Either way, she lacked the strength to lift the suit. While Kay wore her fantastical verdent outfit, Saria had her armor, and the others in the room were decked out in various ways, Natalia was wearing a grey tank top, and some jeans. The left leg of the jeans was hemmed shut just below the knee. She hadn't anything resembling a warrior's frame. All of the ruckus had caused her grey tank top to ride up a bit on her torso, revealing her flat, soft midriff that matched her unmuscled bare arms. From a single glance a warrior could tell she had never been in a fight before. Despite being totally vulnerable and useless, in a life or death situation, Natalia was remarkably composed. Her cool eyes, light blue, almost gray, watched the encounter dispassionately. The sooner Natalia could get inside her armor, the better. Most of the people in the room were most likely distracted by the hybrid creature. Still, if they looked over to the far right of the room they would see Natalia with her right arm draped over the chest of her Powered Armor, leaning on it for support.

Ariamis grunted as wakefulness came to him on the cold stone of the floor making him question just what that damnable artifact had done to him. He stood up quite quickly however as it appeared there were more people around him though if only it were just them and not the horrific almost Drider like being coming down from the ceiling. It gave only a short display before swatting aside anyone too close with its spiked limbs, he would have to avoid those until he could close the gap. It sent several other combatants sprawling before rushing at himself and those who had been initially out of reach. In response, the side opening to his contraption opened to reveal the four clawed arms it helped to house and just like that the Dwarf was ready to fight.

The only problem was they were scattered with only two of they're numbers already in motion which would not do against a creature this size. If they intended to attack frontally he would ideally get to the flank where he could deploy some of his more potent abilities or underneath the beast where he might hold the advantage that his size allowed him. That did not appear to be a working solution however because the three of them alone would not hold for long against the assault. There was an ally to the right who appeared to be unable to move to help them laying against what looked like a mighty iron golem yet did not move as it should. It would be of immense use to them so that was a priority in his mind before directly engaging with the enemy, they would need everything at immediate disposal to assess they're chances.

As the Drider charged he tucked himself and his extra arms into a roll making use of his size to avoid the blows he surely would have taken. He was sturdy for sure but even he had no interest in getting crushed by that thing or trying to match it head of even if he could. After unfurling himself he used his arms to help himself almost gallop over to the fallen construct and its Artificer who despite the strange grab certainly looked the part. He understood why she was not fighting immediately upon arriving casting a glance at the pant leg looking more in length like one of his own than a human's.

"Why does your golem lie dormant? I believe we will need it and yourself shortly." Ariamis said turning to check how long they might have to figure out a solution to reawaken the golem while the very angry problem on the other side of the room continued its rampage, "I could be of assistance though I need to know what to do."

Katelin rolled over and rubbed her lower back. Something is wrong; she didn't fall asleep on hard ground! Opening her eyes, she looked around, shocked to see about a dozen or more other people around the large room, a few standing, others getting up, and the rest lying down like she had been only seconds ago.

Katelin heard a screech, and looking up, she saw something that she had never seen personally but had heard of from the knights' stories of similar mutated monsters, the knights boasting about defeating them without help. Letting out a short scream, Katelin scrambled to get up, forming an ice spear as she did so. She tried to get her heart to calm, but seeing an arachnid that big was too much. One fully armored lady didn't have such fears, as she glared around and told everyone to get up if they wanted to live. The lady then attacked the monster as Katelin saw a glowing shield-like thing form around her. Katelin threw the javelin, but almost missed, the ice getting stuck in some terrible-looking barbs.

Moving backwards to try calming down, Katelin looked around, and saw that most everyone was up. One girl with strange clothing was in a corner, seeming to struggle with some heavy-looking armor on its back. While forming another spear, Katelin saw the girl's lips move. "Is she talking to metal?" Katelin thought, confused. Looking closer, she saw the girl was missing a leg.

Katelin threw the spear, then got her bow off her back - so lucky it was still there - and looked over at the girl again. A Dwarf with metal arms was moving towards the girl. Hopefully he only ment to help. Katelin looked back at the spider, shuddering at the thought of possibly getting eaten by this thing. It looked angry, and that lady on its head looked so creepy.

Aiming, Katelin shot a couple arrows at the creature's eyes, hoping the mini explosions would cause enough damage to hurt it.

Leon had no idea where he was or how he got there and wondered if any of the others knew. Most of the others looked unusual but the half metal dwarf and the woman seemingly wearing leafs took the cake, along with the spider monster of course. He had never heard of anything like it but figured it had to have been created by either a single incredibly powerful magic user or a group of them working together.

Before he could even react Leon as well as most of the others were knocked by the spider monster with a woman in armor being the first to recover and going on the offensive with the leaf wearer casting some spell not long after. Just as he thought that they might be able to deal with the spider monster without much trouble he noticed the one legged woman crawling to a suit of armor on the other side of the room. Luckily for her the dwarf spotted her as well and seemed smart enough to realize her armor was most likely pretty powerful as he seemed to focus on helping her out.

While he was distracted by that yet another fighter had gone after the spider and Leon wondered what he should do, neither of the present options appealed to him. Eventually though he decided that despite the labor that would no doubt be involved helping the legless woman out would at least let him see her capabilities while keeping his own hidden in case any of the strangers decided to attack him.

Hugging the wall and staying as far away from the fight he ran across the room towards the dwarf and the empty suit of armor. "Hang on, I'll help as well!"

The fiendish spider monstrosity was nearly on top of the small group of warriors that still stood in front of her. She raised one of her long arms and clawed hands preparing to swipe at them when one of them humorously rolled away. That did not matter; there were still a couple of small fleshy beings in front of her. Before she could fully attack, a woman brandishing a sword glowing of deep crimson forced her way through the fiend’s bladed legs. If unhindered, the power put behind the red blade’s master would have been devastating. Yet, the broken hairs were enough.

With a snap, the large spider abomination was able to shift her body suddenly, and use her other hand gouge at Saria as she lunged forward. The fiend’s speed coupled with Saria momentum left her with little to no room to evade. Fortunately, Saria had allies though not sought, were willing to aide her. De’kae was able to give Saria a barrier moment before the sharpened claws could rip into her. The barrier was enough to prevent any potential penetration of Saria’s armor, instead repelling Saria backwards. The arachnid beast was momentarily dazed by the knock back, but quickly recovered.

The creature scanned the room darting her head side to side, attempting to find the source of the repelling effect that had saved Saria earlier only for it to catch a spear made of ice out of the air using her long arms. It was aware of the other spear lodged within its spines, but had ignored it. Now, her attention was on the slender girl pulling back her bow. With no one in between them, and no one standing ground next to her, the fiendish spider turned to face Katelin completely.

Opening what could be best described as some kind of mouth from between its large fangs, the spider sprayed out several webs that spread midflight. Acting like a net, the webs caught the arrows she had fired midflight, detonating, and setting part of them on fire. Even so, the shot continued until it had engulfed Katelin, knocking her back onto the ground. Anywhere the webs had contact with exposed skins started to feel numb. Quickly, the fiend had crawled towards her. The webs were partially broken thanks to the flaming arrows destroying part of the web midflight, so Katelin wasn’t completely pinned. But the spider abomination was right on top of her, fang poised to strike. This left Katelin with barely a moment to escape.

Katelin could either fend for herself, or someone could come to her aid. There was still an air of confusion wafting between the champions. If defeating this villain of nature was the goal, it stood still for the time being, making it an easier target. At least, for now.

Where the fuck was she and why does her mind feel clear? Esperanta sat up, dazed, confused, and in need of a drink. Around her were strange people she couldn’t fathom existing and she grew up in a forest with all kinds of...mon...sters. What the fuck was that? Above her was a arachnid creature that looked like a deadlegs, except it had a humanoid torso instead of a thorax. Nope. She not drunk enough to deal with this shit. She looked around the room. Nothing here, but high vaulted ceilings, no doors or windows. No way out. Fuck. She looked up just end time for the legs to crash down on her and the other prisoners. She tumbled across the floor, rolled onto her knees, and looked at the other side of the room away from the deadlegs. She pulled her mirror from her belt, was sucked into it, then popped back out on the other side of the room.

The others were fighting it, but she was looking for a place to hide. Screaming, blood, shrill cries from the all around her while she ran for her life. It was too much to remember, especially in this situation. Deadlegs wasn’t looking at her, preoccupied with enough distraction that she doesn’t have to be involved. Instead, she pulled her flask from her bra and held it up to her mirror. A second flask fell out of it and into her lap. She stuck the original back in her bra and took several twigs from copy. Only half as strong at 48% alcohol, but she’ll have to deal with it until she gets out of here. The vodka burned her throat and sinuses. That’s the good shit. Her head spun for a moment, then she was up and ready to face the copy of her nightmares. A young girl, thin, and taller than her shot arrow after arrow that exploded upon contact with the webs the deadlegs shot out.

Then she was trapped under a web. Esperanta cracked her knuckles, held her mirror up and teleported right under the creature. She opened the copy flask and poured all the alcohol out of it, then made five copy puddles. She teleported to the girl’s side and grabbed an arrow from her quiver.

“I’ll be taken that.” She teleported behind the deadlegs, pulled her arm back, and threw the arrow under the creature. The arrow exploded and burned a fire under the creature. It screeched horribly. Damn. There's fire. It's burning and no water to put it out...Maybe she shouldn’t’ve done that. Too late to care now.

De'kae noted that several potential allies had scattered to the sidelines in order to assist the woman with the big armor next to her. Hopefully that would pay off! The swordswoman did her best, but was caught up in the spider-beasts many legs. Fortunately, the druid elf's barrier protected the warrior enough to stave off the spider-beasts ravenous blows. The barrier exploded and seperated the two of them. As long as Saria didn't land on her neck, she should be healthy enough to jump right back into the fray! Someone tossed a spear into the beast, and that someone would pay for their effort. The monstrosity focused their efforts on the girl. Kay yelped in surprise as the thing shot out webs. She didn't expect that! A woman came to the archer's aid. She had a mirror, and looked like an adventurer.

Before the abomination could attempt to finish off the woman it had ensnared, Kay once again activated her Structure ability. Infront of Katelin a ten foot by fifteen foot green barrier appeared. Hopefully it would be enough to cease the spiders onslaught and give the archer enough time to escape. "Get outta there, quick!" Kay yelled, her voice full of fear and excitement. Her tattoos once again began to glow as she channeled the energy of the world through herself. Her large elven ears were vertical and scanning the room for any other threats. The druid elf was on high alert. Right now all she could do was support her allies the best she could. With one hand focused on the barrier, Kay used the other to fire a weak wayward blast of green energy toward the spider, in order to distract it away from the woman it had ensnared.



Natalia's icy gaze scanned the duo that had approached her. The two of them looked like they had been plucked from a story book. A dwarven master of mechanics and some kind of suave potion seller. Curious. She truly had been transported to another world. Was this result on her research? In her attempts to pierce the veil and gaze into the abyss, had the abyss stared back? There would be more time to reflect on this later.

As the two approached, they would notice a dull blue-green glow emanating from the woman's chest. From underneath an obvious outline on her tanktop, a cylindrical glowing tube had been inserted directly into her chest and went out the otherside. It thrummed with energy. The light dulled and increased at the same frequency as a heartbeat. This was Natalia's energy reactor, and her artificial heart.

"The golem," Natalia said coolly, adopting the dwarves terminology, "has an activation switch on it's back. First, I need it to be flipped over. Then, I can crawl ontop of it and activate it." She said. Most likely the pair had already intuited that Natalia was incapable of walking. The dwarf seemed to be some kind of fantastical engineer. Most likely his devices were strong enough to get leverage on her Powered Armor and flip it over. Natalia spent most of her attention on Ariamis. She spared only a passing glance to Leon. Unless that man had some sort of hidden ability, she thought, most likely the dwarf was most suited to assisting her out of this predicament.

Natalia leaned over and got a glimpse at the action occuring behind them. Intense stuff. In this situation the most logical action would to be to assist her new allies in defeating the monster. In order to do so, her new allies would need to help her get into the golem. This excercise would most likely build trust between them all.

Ariamis listened intently as to what needed to be done to allow the great construct to rise again and was a little astonished it had to be 'turned on', it must be of a more mechanical make than the ones he was used to but that could be done. It was heavy no doubt but six arms tended to make moving large objects easier by leverage and luckily none were in much danger of injury otherwise he would have needed help like when he was just a regular Dwarf. However, the light around the Artificer's chest was interesting as by its light it almost appeared to act as a heart. Curious. A different make than my Enclave to be sure, tis a shame I do not have one myself.

The mechanist stepped over to the golem looking back at the fighting quickly to assess danger which made him think the sooner this was resolved the better. He positioned himself and his extra four arms to provide him with the best possible power and stability before pushing hard against the metal body of the golem with his other arms lifting upwards. He could feel the construct moving so the next part would be to get the lady Artificer to its back which he supposed the other human could manage he hoped. As much as he wanted to take the time to settle in to figure out the make of her creation they were on a time limit so he would have to wait and it did not look like the fight was going particularly well without them though hearing the shriek of the burning beast brought a grin to his face.

"Human ally, could you help the lady onto her Golem? I should have it turned over quite soon but they will have need of me in the battle I think shortly after." Ariamis said towards the man who had also arrived to help.

How am I not dead? That was Saria's first thought as the bristled limb smacked her right in the breastplate, sending her flying back a dozen feet in a flash of green. There was an advantage of wearing a fully-protective set of steel armor, and that came in the form of avoiding injuries from cuts and arrows. But when one's momentum shifts in such sudden fashion, if the armor doesn't give, the body will. She coughed blood as she lay on the ground, the smell of copper infecting her helmet. It was a stench she was used to. She took a deep breath, an ache tearing across her chest. It must have been a fractured rib or two.

She took a moment, but not to rest. While her insides still burned from the impact, while blood clogged her throat, she observed. The spider was assaulted on all sides, and while it did its best to fight back, the sheer power and numbers her side possessed seemed to be gaining them the edge.

My side.... I suppose they're not attacking me. For now, anyway. Around the spider a multitude of strange individuals used strange techniques and skills to injure and out-wit it. Fire, ice, and strange magic were all used in conjunction to bring an end to the beast. Someone among them, a girl with long ears and strange green clothing seemed a bit familiar to her for a reason she couldn't pinpoint at the moment. If she lived, Saria would make sure she found out why.
Another interesting sight was the strange statue-like being that laid on the floor surrounded by more than a few people. It seemed as if they were trying to get it upright, a stout man with metal appendages leading the effort. A legless girl caught her interest as well. Actually, less of her interest and more of her pity.

She won't last long, not with that injury. Staggering to her feet, Saria let the blood dripping from her helmet fall upon her blade. As the crimson drops stained the red-tinged steel, she felt the blade grow hungry. And when it grew hungry, it ate away at her, slowly. She could never sate its appetite, not while she was alive, at least. She felt blood being ripped from her pores and onto the blade itself, until the steel had been enveloped in a sharper sheath made from her own life-force.

Saria saw her chance as the girl in green launched a verdant blast of energy towards the hellish arachnid. Once again, Saria charged forth like a wild animal, prioritizing speed over anything else at that moment. She stomped past the upturned metal statue-thing, nearly stepping on a girl ensnared by silky-white webs, and almost shoulder-checking another woman holding a mirror. Just as the energy impacted the creature, she readied herself to deal a final blow.

She could not see the weak spot through the blast of green, and instead of aiming for an area she couldn't see, launched her self upwards, where she knew the thing's body would be. As the creature regained its bearings, she wagered that she'd land on its back. From there, a strike, two strikes, seventeen strikes from her blade would be no problem. Just as long as she hung on.

When he got closer to the armor Leon quickly realized that he had absolutely no idea how it worked. Despite that though he could still tell it was well made and no doubt quite powerful, the same thing applied to the dwarf's metal limbs and the glowing energy source inserted into the woman's body which he figured was some kind of kind of magic container. He had no intention of admitting it but he would have loved to discus enchantments with both of them as they could easily teach him or two.

"Human ally, could you help the lady onto her Golem? I should have it turned over quite soon but they will have need of me in the battle I think shortly after." Leon knew the dwarf was right and that helping the woman into the armor was the best way for him to help at the moment but he still didn't like the idea of having to lift something as heavy as another human. "Fine."

Before he even got the chance to try and lift her though he smelled smoke and a quick inspection of the room revealed the fire. Whoever started that clearly was an idiot, since there was a good chance they would suffocate on the smoke given the lack of doors and windows. "For crying out loud. I'll deal with the flames in a second, so don't worry about them!"

Gonad sat up like Michael Meyers, single eye wide, muscles tense. He then relaxed, grinning foolishly to himself. Anything can happen. He'd almost forgotten. He glanced about, analyzing his surroundings. A giant monster, adventurers fighting it. Not unusual. He stood with a single fluid motion and hung back, observing the battle. He folded his arms, nodding sagely as it transpired.

Seemingly all at once, heroes, adventurers, and vigilantes charged at the demonic arachnid as she loomed over Katelin poised to strike with its sharp black fangs. She lunged towards the defenseless girl only to be thwarted by a wall of green energy that had materialized between them. Confused, the fiendish spider struck at the wall using her clawed hands, attempting to destroy it. It took a step back but by that time, the ground that surrounded it had erupted into flames, replacing the area katelin was lying on the ground.

Letting out a sinister hiss, the spider shuffled about to remove itself from the flames. Before it could make much progress at all, its body was hit with a wave of verdant energy. It could no longer look for what had happened to its prey, the energy blinding it momentarily. Even so, the spider was able to quickly scurry out of the flames. Clawing away at the residual energy, the spider’s attention turned to the girl adorned in leaves, but only for a moment. As soon as the energy dissipated, a heavy object had landed on its back.

Like the sharp hairs that were more like swords that protruded from the arachnid legs, the hairs that covered the creature’s back were also sharp. Saria’s armor protected her from most of the spikes, but some of the shorter ones were caught underneath the steel hanging around her hip and groin, and some of the longer ones stabbing at her underarms and catching under the hanging shoulder plates. The needles like hairs were not pointed straight, so they weren’t able to cleanly pierce if at all.

The horrific monster was not keen on being mounted. It raised its body, stretching it legs suddenly in order to get Saria to shift and perhaps scrape against the spike trap that was its back. At the same time, it was able to turn it’s human like torso slightly and reach at her using one of its clawed arms. While it attempted to remove Saria, it scampered around the fire pit, stepping into it on occasion the heat forcing it away every time. Eventually after enduring as many attacks from Saria as it could, it latched onto one of the webs that it had dangling from the ceiling, and climbed up, the shift in gravity forcing Saria off of its back. Drops of dark green blood dripped onto the ground as it quickly climbed from the wounds that Saria had inflicted. Unfortunately, it was not enough to dispatch the hellish monster.

Back up on the ceiling, it shrieked once again. Too high up for any one warrior beyond a ranger or mage to reach, it was able to crawl along the ceiling relatively safe from the majority of combatants. Using the webs it was able to produce from its mouth it wrapped its body covering various parts of its legs. Once it was done it quickly descended from the ceiling once again, away from the flames and the warrior wielding the crimson blade. This time, it had positioned itself upon the other side of the dormant metal man. Natalia’s armor and those who gave it their attention were what separated it from the flames. Natalia’s armor and those who gave it their attention were the closest prey the fiendish spider from hell could consume.

The creature shrieked, and Natalia found her eyes glued to the encounter. The thing began to ascend into it's maze of webs above. It would only be a matter of time before it reached them. It seemed to want to put her between itself and the flames someone had created. Unfortunate. They had to act quickly. Fortunately, the fantasy dwarf had used his technology to lift her Powered Armor onto it's back. Hidden amongst the surface of nooks, crannies, and smooth steel plating, there was the activation switch.

She began to climb on, but it became obvious that even her "good" leg was nothing more than dead weight. Despite her vulnerability and the fact a horrific creature was bearing down on all them, Natalia hadn't even begun to break a sweat. Was it sheer courage? Perhaps, in a twisted kind of way. Truth be told, Natalia did feel fear, but it was dulled, and rarely manifested on her face. She also felt as if she was still in relative control of the situation. As long as she remained calm, she could get inside the suit. Having briefly evaluated the capabilities of the creature, her Powered Armor could match it's strength, if not surpass it.

Another green wall of energy appeared. This time, it had interposed itself between the Powered Armor and the encroaching creature. The elf woman from earlier seemed to be fond of that trick.

With the help of Leon pushing her from behind, Natalia could crawl ontop of her suits back. Calmly she reached her fingers into a hidden crevice and pressed a button. The armor beneath her suddenly split open, a dividing itself and two. Natalia fell face first inside as if she was being devoured by the machine. Using her waist to maneuver her legs into a better position, she began to activate her Powered Armor. It had been a while since a manual start up was necessary, but Natalia remembered the way to do it perfectly.

The inside of the machine was dark and complicated, but as Natalia began to quickly and mechanically bring her mechanism to life, her nimble fingers dashing expertly from one switch, to one panel, to another, the thing began to whir, click and hum. Only a few more moments, she thought. A few seconds more.



De'kae was expecting the thing to come after her for revenge, but fortunately yet another ally had lit a fire. They could put it out later, right? Either way, the archer was safe and the thing had scattered to it's webs above. It was horrible, chilling thing to watch, and the young elf withered underneath the woman's glare of pure malice and anger. Nonetheless, she pushed forward, pursuing the monster as it fled on the ceiling. She had to keep in range. If it got too far away, she wouldn't be able to help. Her neck craned upward, Kay galloped horizontally, keeping her eyes on the beast. The shield she had created to protect Katelin had since vanished. The swords woman did not look wounded. Already Kay was getting the sense that the swords woman was some kind of fearless immortal warrior who felt no pain. If she was hurt though, Kay would be able to heal her after the battle. Usually her healing took too long in the heat of battle.

"Careful!" She yelled, as if the people around her needed to be reminded not to throw away their lives.

As she moved along, she heard the sound of what might have been someone harrumping. Whirling around she spotted the shirtles muscle bound man observing the battle. Eyes wide, she and him made brief eye contact. With a glance, she pleaded for him to help. Whether or not he would respond was up to him, Kay couldn't spare a moment more. Following the beast, it began to drop down. It had gained some distance on her, but Kay had managed to stay in range. Approaching the legless woman and her golem, she extended both hands outward and created a large wall between Natalia, Leon, and the monster. As long as she could, Kay would create and recreate sections of the wall to prevent the creature from easily maneuvering around it. Perhaps it could just break through with a concentrated effort, but hopefully that would take enough time for whatever that woman was doing with her golem to finish. She imagined the thing would stand up and start to fight any second now. Either way, she began to panic.

"Just get her out of there!" She shouted, voice cracking.

Esperanta watched deadlegs retreat to the ceiling to handle its burns. If she had more fire she’d follow, but that was probably as bad as an idea as burning its feet. That was a bad idea, right? She made another copy of the flask in her bra, then took a swig and another and another. The room was spinning and she was unsteady on her feet. She took a step and fell face first.

“Fuck, that hurt.” She slowly crawled onto her knees. Deadlegs was back and trying to attack a robot. Similar to the kind she’s seen outside The City walls from the days of the Old World. She learned how to get one started and tinkered with its parts before, but they weren’t conducive to smuggle back into The City. She never thought she’d see one functioning. If what Mani told her about them were right, then it should be able to fight a deadlegs easy. If the girl manning it can get it working. There were others around her trying to help her out. A woman put up a green shield deadlegs was beating on. She screamed to get her out of there.

Esperanta held up her mirror to teleport over to them, but she was seeing double. Shit. Her hand moved left and right, trying to work out which would put her closer or further away. Fuck it. She went right and teleported next to the robot.

“Trip for two.” She touched the robot, then aimed at the area behind deadlegs beyond the flames. She and the robot went in that direction. The landing wasn’t smooth. She rolled and hit the wall, legs upside down, but at least it worked.

Ariamis was pleased that they had managed to get the Artificer settled onto the golem's back though he hadn't expected it to swallow the woman with its back. Perhaps it required a spark of magic to its core not unlike his own and the only way to properly apply it was from the inside. Either way, it was time to get stuck in with the Drider though it did not appear to have been fond of getting lit aflame though that seemed not enough to put a stop to it nor vicious slashes to its back. He had intended to jog over as close as he could safely get what with the firey ground but it turned out to be unnecessary because of the beast fleeing back onto its web to lick its wounds most likely. Or at least that was what he thought until it came to the side of the room he and his companions held but the elf kept the useful barriers up for the moment giving them a moment to react.

It looks like we will need some time. So be it. The dwarf thought stepping forward towards the barrier prepared to fight for the defense on those around him.

The Mechanist's claws arms whirred and clicked as the small modules in them changed to a sickly green producing small nozzles in the center. He heard someone appear behind him but paid it no mind for the moment as it was most likely another adventurer sure to join the fight or assist in some capacity the thud from further behind him he hoped was part of that. He raised his arms higher to allow them to arc over the barrier and begun spraying acid from the four nozzles at differing angles making sure that the Drider would not so easily be able to escape the burning stream of liquid or its droplets. Ariamis himself to something of a boxing stance below them prepared to punch with his augmented arms if need be but he hoped to cause some damage from a distance before relying upon any other tricks up his sleeve.

Staring at the three before it, the spider had what looked to be easy targets. One of the men was finishing handling the metal armor while the woman who climbed atop it was already greatly injured prior. The last of the three was helping the woman onto the machine. None of them were in a position to put up their guard before the fiendish spider could come down on them. Charging forward with great speed, the spider stopped short of crashing into yet another barrier materialized from thin air. It used its forward legs to push off the wall before it could crash into it. It was certain now that these nuisances were cast from the leaf covered elf. Not to be deterred by the barrier again, the demon attempted to climb over it only for the barrier to increase in height to hinder its progress.

By now, the metal man had disappeared somewhere away from the three, leaving only two before it. One of them took to the front, standing his ground leading the defense. Using hose-like attachments, this being sprayed a shower of acid over the protective barrier, covering the fiend with sickly green fluid. The spider hissed clawing at the acidic rain in an ill attempt to stop it. Yet despite these actions, it seemed to be in no pain. The webs that covered its body started to burn away, but its flesh, hair, and spines seemed free of harm. Not only that, but the creature’s mannerisms didn’t seem to be that of pain, rather of annoyance.

After swiping a few more times at the shower, it raised its forward legs, rested them on the barriers, and using its two large fangs positions below her torso at the spider head, pierced the barrier. Injecting the barrier with a black liquid, it immediately started to melt away as if it were a physical object ceasing to exist as the poison spread. When the barrier gave way, the spider fell forward once again standing on all eight legs towering before the dwarf. With a screech, the spider opened its mouth and fired another netted web at the mechanical dwarf, knocking him back several meters and pinning him to the ground. Any exposed flesh the webs had contact with started to feel numb immediately. Unlike with Katelin, however, the spider turned its attention away from the easy prey and focused on De’kae.

While the majority of combatants were either by the fire or making their way to further combat with the demonic spider, it would be able to bear down on De’kae before they could arrive. Even when her eyes were covered by the creature’s long black hair, it gave a piercing glare that could send chills up almost anyone’s spine. It began to charge towards the elf with intent to kill her brutally. Even if she could cast a barrier, the spider would use her speed to climb over it rather than stop this time.

Natalia was focused entirely on getting her suit online. So as the monstrosity began to make it's way towards her, she only hunched her shoulders and gritted her teeth. It all happened very quickly. She wouldn't even have time to get ABI online. At the precise moment, there was a sudden burst of wind and movement. Natalia lost her balance and fell a little into the suit. Poking her white head up from her armor, she glanced around. There was an upside down woman against the wall, and the spider creature was now a considerable distance away. It spat webs at a dwarf. Time was running short, Natalia had to hurry before there were any casualties.

In a matter of moments, the Powered Armor came to life. It began to thrum and vibrate with energy. Several internal graspers pulled Natalia within as if it was devouring her whole. The inside was dark, and her weapons were still offline. But it was better than nothing. Even in this state, the Powered Armor was a force to be reckoned with. The panels above Natalia slid together and the legless woman vanished entirely within the machine.

It's eyes began to glow with a dull grey-blue light. The engineer inside had her body pressed up against various cushions. A UI displayed itself infront of her eyes, telling her that most systems were still offline. That didn't matter. There was a flash of white hot pain as a thin, mechanical tendril impaled itself into the base of Natalia's neck, connecting the armor into the subdermal neural interface she had built into herself.

A second later, the machine rose to it's feet. Simple as that, it rose to it's towering nine foot height. Natalia scanned the battlefield. The elf woman, she was in grave danger. In only a few seconds she would be mortally wounded. The armor had to intervene. She leaned forward and broke into a sprint. It took a moment to build up speed but before long the machine was thundering towards the spider and the elf. It was preparing to collide with the creature, to slam it's steel shoulder into it's form with as much speed and impact as possible.



It was enough! That mirror lady could teleport, apparently, and moved the legless woman and her suit far away to De'kae's left. The thing had managed to burn through her barrier, but that was okay. Unfortunately for Ariamis, he looked to be the spider-beasts next target. Before he could react, it covered him with paralyzing webs.

"Watch out!" She called out, preparing to summon another barrier between the spider and it's prey. But that wasn't what happened. Instead, the spider-beast realised something De'kae hadn't in that moment. She was alone. In the maneuverings of the fight, all of her allies had been seperated from her, and De'kae was standing isolated. It began to charge. A gaze of pure hatred struck her like a lightning bolt, and she shuddered. It was fast, faster than she could prepare.

Kay shrieked in terror. "AAIIIEEE!" Flailing backwards she desperately tried to put as much distance between her and the beast as possible. Once again she tried to summon a barrier, for it was her only real defense against the charging beast. But in her heart of hearts she knew it would only stop the beast for a moment. With that much speed, it would be able to overcome her barrier before she could change it's shape to stop it. If anything, she would just be giving it a ramp. Nonetheless, it was half a second of safety and in her panicked state the Druid Elf could think of nothing else. Everything was going in slow motion, and yet in a blindingly short amount of time the beast was upon her.

Once the spider turned towards her the world started to speed up around Katelin. She couldn't react as webs shot at her, causing a numbing effect. She watched, stunned, as people helped her, green barriers appearing, a girl with a mirror teleporting to her and using one of Katelins arrows to attack the beast - wait... Someone else using her enchanted arrows? That can't be good.

The fire burned around her, everyone was all over the place. Yelling, creaking, screeching were Katelin's only indicators of what was happening around her.

Katelin tried to fight off the panic. On the ceiling, then near the giant armor, the spider fighting in this strange speed-up way was too creepy. Katelin forced herself to get out of her daze, looking around. The fire had burned off the webs, as well as the numbness.

It hadn't been just the numbness that had caused her to freeze, though. She shook off the horrible memories of that prank her fellow archery apprentices had played on her with a giant fake spider. Strange, though. She wouldn't usually freeze like that.

Getting up, Katelin got the fire next to her back under control, making it just like a little puddle of flames. Looking up, Katelin saw the spider charging towards the leafy girl. The barrier that helped save Katelin had seemed to come from over there...

Quickly grabbing her bow, Katelin shot arrow after arrow at the beast, in quick succession, partly in rage at laying helpless for so long, partly because someone with the power to make a barrier is very important.

Out of the corner of her eye, Katelin saw that they had gotten the strange armor up. It was running towards the monster. Katelin walked as she shot, keeping just close enough for perfect accuracy(hopefully), but not too close.