[center]
[h2]Vs. Core Stone[/h2]
Feat. [color=BC8DBF]Therion[/color] and [color=ea590c]Edward[/color]
[sup][@Yankee][@DracoLunaris][/sup]
Word count: 7197 (+8)
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Thankfully for Therion, xylem (or whatever it was that actually flowed through the Qliphoth's veins) was not water, so as he traveled through the demon tree's bloodstream he was unharmed. He was pissed off though, not to mention drenched, so he cut himself free from the vessel as soon as the pressure began to decrease. He burst out of the vein, making a three point landing on the uneven ground with his dagger raised and ready to shred anything that might jump to attack him.

But nothing did. Actually, the only other living being in the room at the moment was... one of the new guys. Therion didn't know his name. Had he introduced himself? If the man had, Therion had forgotten already.

Washed of mud and grime but now covered in crimson, Therion's shaggy wet hair and sad waterlogged fur gave him a drowned cat appearance to go with the man's disheveled pigeon look. After a moment of calm Therion stood upright, studying the arena the two of them had found themselves in. It looked like a cave more than anything, with sloping walls and chunks of stone jutting out of the walls and floor, and some kind of aura surrounding the perimeter. In the center was the only thing of note, something his partner had already picked up on: a dark crystalline structure. Once his eyes adjusted, the thief could make out [url=https://i.imgur.com/KlSySJE.png]something[/url] encased inside.

Therion didn’t stow his weapon just yet, but he did relax slightly once it was clear nothing was coming up after them for the time being. He glanced at the other man, and the magic circle he was fiddling with, then went over to the only other visible vein. He attempted to place his hand on it, but as he suspected - the barrier prevented him from doing so. 

Finally he made his way over to Edward, crouching down a few feet away from him.

[color=BC8DBF]"Do you already have a plan or something?"[/color] The thief asked, eyes flickering down to the magic circle.

[color=ea590c]”Only the simplest one: to face whatever that is with as many forces as can be mustered”[/color] the man replied, before the spell circle on the ground blinked, and he excused himself for [color=ea590c]”one moment”[/color] before completing the pair of rituals.

First, the spent rifle that had been sitting in the circle vanished in the blink of an eye, sent back to the armory after the somewhat lengthy return sequence was completed. Then he raised a hand and pulled at the copper wires stuck into the floating magic circle, extracting them from it and then, with his other hand, flicking some mechanism at his waist that caused them to reel back in to a coil sat nested among 12 small batteries that thrummed softly as a result of the mana that had been compressed into them. 

Enough time had passed, between Therion’s scouting and Edward’s surveying that it was rather clear that [color=ea590c]”It looks like it will just be us”[/color]

As such the commander requested [color=ea590c]”Could you give me a quick summary of how you fight? You seem to be something of a skirmisher, but I’d like to ensure I construct a supporting regiment that best compliments your capabilities”[/color] before adding, as something of a formality [color=ea590c]”oh and could have your name as well? Mine would be Edward Portsmith”[/color]

Therion didn't answer immediately. Since they actually had the time to prepare, he took said time to consider how best to answer the man. Skirmisher seemed right, but he hadn't really thought about it before.

[color=BC8DBF]"It's Therion,"[/color] he started with. [color=BC8DBF]"You've got it about right. I'm quick and accurate, way faster than I am strong. I've got some magic, and I can weaken my opponents. Among other things."[/color]

Listing out everything would be a pain, so he left it at that for the moment. Normally he might have been more guarded with even that basic information, but hey, he was a team player now. And if the two of them had to work together to get through out of this area, it'd be better if Edward knew what he was working with.

[color=BC8DBF]"And I can turn into a giant cat,"[/color] the thief added, deadpan, with a flick of his ears. Now it was time for the dreadnaught to return the favor. [color=BC8DBF]"And you're some kind of… wizard? Golem-mancer? You don't really look the part."[/color]

[color=ea590c]"Like the Tigran mystics once did"[/color] the other man replied to that last piece of information without missing a beat, before he retrieved a pair of tomes that hung at his waist.

[color=ea590c]"Dreadnoughts are generals who make practical applications of magic for the common good, rather than mages who plumb the depths of the arcane. Without an industrial base I am, however, relying mostly on golomancy, yes. A few army wide enchantments and an instant spell as well, but I think given the situation, giving you a defensive line to dart in and out of, or pin your foes against, might be most optimal. Plus something to break that stone"[/color]

With a plan in mind, the two tomes flipped open, and the man began incanting from them, first repeating the spell he had used outside to form a singular cannon, and then began one as of yet unheard:

[color=ea590c]"Since before history began, the humble spear has been raised in defiance against all manner of monsters. It is a great equalizer, and yet, also, oh so often, a burden thrust in the hands of those least prepared for war who then suffer the greatest from it. No more! Let us build bristling walls to shelter the living behind! Let us send forth mechanical might, the likes of which will make the horrors of the night know pause, and in that pause, we shall break them, once and for all!"[/color]

A dramatic speech for sure, though perhaps it would have been something of an over embellishment when the much lauded ‘mechanical might’ came in the form of a somewhat spindling looking man sized [url=https://imgur.com/09mlry6]copper golem[/url].

It helped that they came in packs of six. It also helped that the man proceeded to forge six total packs of these, for a total of 36 additional combatants added to their ranks. He spread them out in an arch defending the cannon and himself, both of which had their backs to a piece of cavern wall. Lanes were left between them, enough space for one man to shoot or slip through, but thin enough that the spears could deny entry with ease. One of these lanes naturally pointed directly towards the obelisk, with the cannon pointed straight down it.

With a defensive perimeter formed, Edward added that [color=ea590c]"I have reserved 2 mana fuel cells for spells that will briefly make a target more vulnerable and easier to strike as well"[/color] before inquiring if [color=ea590c]"this will be suitable?"[/color] 

At the beginning of Edward's conjuration spell, Therion had raised an eyebrow. Now that he was seeing these things up close, they didn't seem as impressive as they had from across a battlefield. But as more and more were gradually summoned into being, Therion's doubtful expression morphed into one of mild surprise. Sure it had taken more than a couple of moments, but being able to create a small army on the field was one hell of a skill.

[color=BC8DBF]"Yeah, this'll work,"[/color] the thief replied. He noted Edward's comment about the mana fuel cells, his brain taking a moment to parse out what a fuel cell could be. Then he stretched his limbs out lightly in preparation for what was to come before making his own final comment. [color=BC8DBF]"Call out to me if you run out of mana, I might be able to help with that."[/color]

[color=ea590c]"Interesting."[/color] 

The two men were as ready as they could be. Therion snaked around a couple of the golems towards the front of the line so that he was in a better position to go on the offensive when things kicked off. He didn't wait long for it - as soon as Edward was ready the man set his magelock cannon to light, and the wicked artillery weapon blasted a condensed ball of magic at the core stone in the center of the room. The firing shook the arena slightly, and on impact the hardy dark crystal broke apart.

The encased core stone was then freed, itself unfortunately undamaged by the blast. It remained suspended in the air, floating ominously while it began to form a dark glow around itself. Along the walls behind itself a similar glow began to form, rapidly ripping open portals from which creatures began to surge out in droves. [url=https://i.imgur.com/wmqmX5m.png]They[/url] were roughly humanoid, appearing part man and part deep stone, and they ran on all fours directly towards the Seekers and their golem guards.

[color=ea590c]"Of course, fresh horrors"[/color] Edward noted with casual resignation, before tapping the Amory screen interface he’d had open (having said he’d use it so select appropriate weapon when they knew the nature of the threat) and summoning his magelock rifle into an empty hand. He then rested the barrel against his buckler for support, lined up a shot, and sent the magical round slamming into the skull of one of the creatures- only for the round torichet off the beast’s armored cranium.

It still staggered it, and then prompted it to roar in anger/defiance, skull splitting right down the middle and open exposing a host of squirming tongues and feelers, and revealing the head to be more of a 3 part jaw than an actual, well, head.

[color=ea590c]Delightful"[/color] Edward called this display, before pumping a second round right into the creature's open maw, putting it down for good. Its blood splattered to the floor, a purple goop that shimmered like the gateway and looked mighty unpleasant to step in.

This was confirmed a few moments later when the creatures reached the spears. They rose up on their hind legs, roaring, and then came slashing both front limbs downwards at the golems. It was an attack style that let them hit a fair way above their weight class, but the nature of it left them very exposed to being struck before they could land it, and striking first was exactly what the spears were built for. As one, all six golems took a step forwards when an attack was incoming, driving six sharp points into the foes, and at least some of these got lucky hits, spears driven right into the maws of the beasts.

It was after this that the spears suffered. Those that had failed to take down their attackers inevitably lost members of their unit to the blows, while those that stopped the attacks found their positions splashed with the distorting goop, forcing them to take a step back lest it devour from the feet up.

The creatures that survived lept back, seeming to prefer hit and run tactics, which proved perhaps not the best strategy when a pair that had made the mistake of lining up had a cannonball rip through the pair of them. Edward would have joined in on trying to take down the wounded, but unfortunately he was trying to stem a bigger issue: the creature's ability to climb on and leap between the chunks of cavern littering the area, which they were attempting to use to reach the chunk the formation was using to cover their rear inorder to bypass the spears.

Recognizing the threat the crawlers posed if they got behind the line of golems, Therion targeted these opportunistic monsters whenever he spotted one. A well placed reaver bolt would drop a leaping one from the air, where it could be swiftly dealt with by himself or a round of spears.

Although debuffing was Therion's niche, without Primrose to spread the effects to every enemy at once it would take too much time and energy to go about weakening every individual creature in the pack. So he'd been focused entirely on offense, blitzing in and out of the wall of golems to strike at the core crawlers. In his right hand was the dagger Bronllavyn, and in his left the spectral Wraith Blade. Therion had quickly learned that while the creatures had extremely tough face plates and their backs were near impenetrable, the rest of their body featured no such armor. Though the thief preferred a quick take down through the weak points in their head behind the face plate, since they still died when their necks or bellies were cut he wasn't going to be picky with where he attacked them. He easily finished off any of the wounded crawlers, and took out his fair share of fresh ones by employing the same tactics they did: land a hit or two to a critical area and then dart away only to repeat the process. Therion escaped between the copper golems, letting them take any retaliatory slashes aimed at him and using their bodies to physically block any of the residual goop left behind from the crawlers' bodies.

A summon of an angelic striker by Edward patched up the squads all at once, fallen golems being replaced by freshly printed duplicates foged using the excess healing magic. This, however, did not give them back any of the ground they’d had give up, gradually tightening the formation step back by step back.

Although able to deal with the host of crawlers in the short term, once it looked like the flood of creatures coming in through the portals wasn't going to stop any time soon it became obvious that the two Seekers weren't going to be able to hold out in the long term. It stood to reason that the source of the portals was the core stone itself, so as soon as he took care of the closest few crawlers that were attempting to leap over the remaining golems, Therion broke away from the formation and made a beeline for the stone. Some crawlers turned to chase after him, and those he passed lashed out by raking their claws against him as he ran by. As soon as he was close enough Therion leapt at the stone, clinging and climbing up onto its rocky top half while driving both of his weapons into the glowing bottom half.

The core stone stuttered, its glow flickering but remaining lit. A pessimistic thought, or more of a hunch occurred to Therion, but attacking the stone was definitely the right way to do this.

[color=BC8DBF]"Aim at this thing!"[/color] The thief shouted at Edward as a handful of crawlers converged on the stone.

The man didn’t need to be told twice. With a flap of his wings he launched himself into the air, only to be surrounded by a circle of runes that momentarily anchored him in it, holding him steady as he aimed, while he also designated the target with a blood red aura. Right before he fired, his cannon rang out, its own round curving slightly in the air as a result of the debuff, before it detonated in mid air and sent its wide burst pulsing through stone and crawlers both, clearing the way for Edward’s magelock rifle round to slam home into the stone.

Therion had leapt off of the stone ahead of the dreadnaught's attack. Able to observe up close he noted that the stone's flotation was starting to falter now too, though it was able to stay airborne. The portals it had summoned remained open and more core crawlers continued coming through into the arena, and on the floor beneath the core stone Therion spotted some kind of rumbling. He narrowed his eyes, his ears turning to lay flat against his head. [i]Shit.[/i]

The meaty interior of the tree, the bloodstreams they'd had to travel through, the infected enemies they fought... it all unpleasantly reminded Therion of everything that had happened in The Under. There had been something like this in the Under too, a concealed device that called forth hordes of enemies to protect it. The similarities could have been a coincidence, but when combined with everything else? It gave the thief the feeling he knew exactly what was coming next.

[color=BC8DBF]"Portsmith!"[/color] Therion barked, bringing both of his weapons up and lunging at the core stone once more. [color=BC8DBF]"Hammer this thing quick before it rebuilds its—"[/color]

Too late. The same dark crystal that had surrounded the stone when they first entered shot up from the ground violently, slicing Therion as it emerged. It reformed around the core stone, shielding it from any further harm. It'd have to be broken again it seemed, but worse was that it did not reset the state of the battlefield. The portals remained open around the arena, and more began to form on every wall spilling yet more crawlers. [i]I hate being right,[/i] the thief thought.

[color=ea590c]”Focusing the cannon on-"[/color] Edward started to call out, only for one of the portals to open on the stone he was using to guard their rear. To his credit, the man must have expected this inevitably, as rather than panic or be taken by surprise he pivoted on the spot and pumped a maglock round into the shoulder of one of the emerging crawlers, before dropping from the fringe pose and using the enchanted buckler to block a two clawed swipe from another.

Another rushed past him, slamming its claws into the back of the magelock cannon, disrupting its attempt to blast the piller. The construct was fortunately fairly durable, but it couldn’t exactly fight back against melee attackers, and if it went down, they would be in trouble. 

[color=ea590c]”Moving the formation! Therion, help clear some untainted ground!"[/color] Edward called out as the cannon uprooted itself and began to roll forwards, spears marching ahead, doing their best to hold the perimeter even on the move. 

Behind them Edward attempted to hold the rear of the formation while the copper golems repositioned to try and convert the semi circle it had been into a full one. His strategy seemed less focused on killing, and more about enduring and exploiting the creature’s psychology. The man hurled himself in the way of foes, in order to prompt them into retreating after delivering that attack against him, and in doing so, preventing them from slipping in between him and the spears and going for the cannon.

A shallow pool of water began to spread underfoot then, gradually healing up Edward and the golems in place of the featherstaff. Therion's striker Nayan stood in the center of the defensive circle, her palms pressed together as her Calling Spirits completed the revitalizing water well encompassing the formation. Any of the core crawlers that did manage to get lucky and slip through slowed down as soon as they touched the water, ripe for being picked off if they couldn't escape in time.

After passing through to drop off the striker, Therion circled around the perimeter like a predator, swiftly taking advantage of the crawlers' retreats or lunges. Unlike the dreadnaught he aimed to finish the monsters off - and each time their bodies crumbled into ash and left a mote of light behind, the thief's wraith blade sliced the spirit in two. Being on the outside of the healing pool, this was how he kept himself fighting fit. The spirits were absorbed into the sword, and in turn the cuts on Therion's body began to cease bleeding and stitch themselves together slowly. Stamina was still going to be an issue, but for the moment he kept clearing out as many core crawlers as he could get his hands on, twisting and stabbing across the arena until the herd was thinned enough to give the cannon room to work.

Edward did his part in this in the end as well, having taken so many blows from them that the crystals on his buckler had begun to glow with stored energy. Mustering it, he left forwards with a flap of wings and slammed into the ground in a superhero landing, sending out a circular shockwave that knocked crawlers down and cripled limbs. 

With the thinning of the herd by Therion, and the moment of space granted by the drednaught’s shockwave, the spears finished  forming a hexagon around the cannon. The gaps between them were larger, the space between smaller, but still, better than having the wall you’d pressed their back to betraying them, and thus the guns could sound once more. Targeting. Naturally. The obsidian pillar, into which cannon shots began to pound, chunks being blow free til once again, the stone took to the air once more.

[color=ea590c]”Marking the target in five! Let’s take it down post haste!"[/color] Edward called out before he leapt into the air with a flap, freezing himself up there with the magelock’s accurate boosting self buff. Once more the bloody aura surrounded the stone as he designated it as their target (expanding his last mana fuel cell in the process). Once again its defenses were lowered and shots struck truer against it. Once more Edward’s mage lock sang and slammed a round into it.

Therion sucked in a breath and chased after the shot, this time tagging the stone with Armor Corrosive as he slashed at it with his dagger and piling on the defense lowering debuffs. After the initial strike he kept some distance between himself and the stone, wary of it suddenly sprouting a new crystalline shield again. He swapped to using his own projectiles, a mix of reaver bolts and crystal darts that he powered up with a soft silver glow. This was the most reliable way for him to deal damage at the moment, and it kept him free to deal with the every increasing numbers of core spawn crawlers as well. He back stepped as a pair leapt at him, switching his focus to protecting himself. It was a vicious cycle; if the pair of Seekers didn't deal with the swarm, the core stone was likely to just build its protective shell back up. But if they focused only the stone, the portal-summoned monsters would threaten to overwhelm them.

A fiery blast heralded Therion's return to the inner ring of the golem circle. More than one of the crawlers had been getting too close for comfort, lucky claw swipes catching him in his blind spots while he fought off those in front of him. When eventually too many bunched up close to him, the thief lashed out with his Wildfire to scatter them. With the wall of golems in front of him once more, reduced as it was, he redoubled his efforts on the stone - and as expected, once the build up of damage got too much the crystal's growth rapidly accelerated and surrounded the core stone, throwing the men into round three.

[color=ea590c]”Focusing the cannon’s fire again"[/color] Edward announced, because that was their only option right now. With it no longer blasting between the lanes of golems however, the inevitable eventually happened. Thined, and rendered less effective because of it, their attrition had accelerated, and then, now, right when they needed the formation the most, one of the squads was wiped out, and there was no bringing them back from that.

Edward ditched his rifle there and then, drawing his machete and accompanying flintlock and planting himself in the resulting breach, demanding the remaining golems [color=ea590c]”Hold fast! They’re almost beaten!"[/color] in a way that would have been inspiring had his troops been flesh and blood soldiers. As it was, it was likely the words were primarily called out to bolster his own morale as claws crashed against his armor, blade and shield and his troops fell around him.

While Edward focused on protecting the cannon, Therion set about to clear its firing line again. If they were in danger of losing it then they had to make the most out of it before it was gone. Therion remained in his human form if only to keep getting use out of his wraith blade, mitigating a small portion of the damage being done to him. For every crawler he ambushed, one ambushed him. For every few he killed, more just poured in.

[color=BC8DBF]"Set it off!"[/color] Therion called back whenever he managed to clear even a slight opening, figuring the cannon blast could get through a few monsters on its way to smash against the crystal. Each time it struck, a host of crawlers took the opportunity to move in on them with their claws and maws snapping.

Things weren't looking good to say the least. But Therion did have something up his sleeve that all of the fighting so far would allow him to use. If he was lucky it would solve a couple of their problems all at once.

The thief cast his eyes about the arena, swiftly settled on a course of action, and then abandoned his post. The unit of golems he'd been assisting would have been swallowed up soon anyway, and the first of them crumpled as soon as he moved. Therion's direction meant he was heading for the nearest cavern wall, moving fast and dodging as many claw swipes as he took. He made a detour only to snatch Portsmith by the collar and drag him along too at the last moment. He hoped the man wasn't going to ask questions, because he wasn't going to answer them at the moment. A bright aura began to form around the thief, rapidly shifting from white to gold to holy blue and getting larger as it did - and when they'd exited the center of the arena for the most part and the majority of the crawlers were in front of them, Therion used his divine skill.

Dozens of spots in the air around the thief began to shimmer, forming small pockets of what looked like they could have been portals of his own. What came out of them were almost too fast to see - a storm of daggers that ripped through the air like divine bolts of light. They covered a huge swath of the hollow, slicing through core spawn crawlers and copper golems alike, and despite the devastating force it was over just as quickly as it had appeared. It may have taken a sacrifice of the last of the dreadnaught's forces, and a not insignificant chunk of Therion's remaining energy, but in return the majority of the monsters lay dead or dying. Those that had been lucky enough to avoid the kill zone lingered on the fringes of the arena, hesitant but slowly creeping forward while looking for a chance to continue the attack.

It wouldn't stay that way for long, however. Aeber's Reckoning had done nothing to put a stop to the spawn portals themselves, and the next batch of crawlers were already pulling themselves out of the swirling purple masses.

Therion took a few deep steadying breaths through his nose as his battle boost aura bled away. He'd released Edward as soon as he was sure the man wouldn't get caught in the Reckoning, and now he re-summoned his wraith blade to swipe it through the small collection of spirits in front of them. It wouldn't get him back to full health but it was better than nothing, and as his wounds slowly began to close Therion looked towards the core stone. At the very least the pillar encasing it had broken under the cannon fire once more, and the dagger rain had chipped away the last remaining chunk of it. The core stone floated ominously, its glow daring the Seekers to continue fighting.

[color=ea590c]”Seems I will need to replace-"[/color] Edward began to say, before pausing as his bent in half magelock rifle (which had been left behind in the rush) fall out of the sky from where it had been blasted and bonk one of the Remaining Crawlers on the head, and adjusting too [color=ea590c]”-repair that then"[/color] 

Despite its miraculous survival (if it could be called that) the man’s main ranged damage source was in no state to be retrieved, let alone fired, and so there was really only one thing to be done: charge the stone.

It wasn’t going to make that easy however, as a fresh rift opened right in between them and it, and fresh horrors spilled out to bar their way, or to at the very least slow them enough that the older horrors could catch up with them. 

Without hesitation, Edward started moving forwards, leather boots trapping against living flesh, wings unfurling, flapping as he made a running liftoff to try and get over the Crawlers. Naturally, they disagreed with this course of action, and attempted to leap up and swat him out of the air. He hacked at one leaper with the machete, deflecting its reaching claw, and then pumped the flintlock round that slash had loaded into another, the recoil from the shot boosting his height enough that he cleared the rest with ease.

[color=ea590c]”Intriguing"[/color] he mused, through a somewhat labored breath, before tilting his flight and beginning to glide down towards the stone. The flintlock was holstered, the machete gripped in two hands, and then he banked at the last moment, burning all his momentum for hight, and delivered a downwards gravity assisted chop to the stone, before flapping his wings at the last moment to prevent himself from breaking his ankles upon landing beneath it.

Around him, the crawlers closed in from all sides, converging to come to the defence of their summoner.

Without the benefit of a pair of wings to boost himself over the masses, Therion had to keep to the ground. He fought as ruthlessly as possible, pushing to put an end to things. They could only hope that once they took out the stone summoning them, the waves of crawlers would cease. With that in mind Therion took shots at the core stone whenever he had a decent line of sight to it, silver empowered darts and bolts striking its glowing section. Eventually the crawlers got wise, using the time he aimed at the stone as a safer time to pounce. He already had his hands full with fending them off, especially bad as his attack and defense were reduced in such close quarters and getting rougher by the moment now that it was just he and Portsmith with no support.

Suddenly Therion took a heavy strike from the side, one of the crawlers tackling him to the ground instead of the usual dart-in-dart-out swipe of its claws. It moved to escape back to safety and let its brethren have a go at the thief, but on the way down he jabbed it in its back leg with his dagger, drawing its vitality out of it and siphoning it back to him. He twisted the knife and pulled the creature back to shield himself with its body as pairs of claws came down at him, then sprung back to his feet through the ashes in order to dispatch the monsters around him. Another crawler rounded at Therion, its hard nails connecting with his manacle and bracer as he raised his arm to block it. He chanced a glance at the stone Edward was fighting under. [i]Damn it, we're so close,[/i] he thought. The floating rock's light was flickering, and surely it didn't have enough energy to conjure yet another crystal.

Edward for one did not seem to want to find out, and so, even as the Crawlers threatened to overwhelm him, the man, wings bloody, armor dented, limbs burning from exertion, raised the flintlock that was his main source of damage up above his head and pulled the trigger.

The crack of gunpowder barked, the round flew, straight up, and into the core stone, resulting as a second all mighty crack as it shuddered, wobbled, and then its light died, and it fell from the sky. 

As it fell, the Crawlers wailed and then collapsed, life gone. 

A moment later, and the core stone landed right on top of Edward’s head, and then everything went dark.

Well, dark except for the three floating boons that were presented to both the seekers for their victory.

[hider=boon choices for Edward]
[b]Soot Sprint[/b] - while sprinting, a fiery aura burns away most projectiles and inflict Scorch on those responsible, a short-lived but fiery DoT that intensifies based on instances applied
[b]Disruptive Pulse[/b] - when HP falls below 50%, restore 50% of your cells. This can only be triggered one every 40 seconds
[b]Gas Blood[/b] - grants immunity to poison, decreases fall speed, and causes you to bleed gas instead of blood, which can be ignited by flame to cause explosions that don't hurt you
[/hider]
Edward was not, it had to be said, in the best state to be frozen in time like this, what with his blood leaking from his wings and his head ringing from the core stone’s impact with his cranium. Said stone floating in the air, frozen in time, in front of him certainly didn’t help his cognition at the moment. Still, it was a little reminiscent of how tome research worked, with three options on offer, so he leaned on that familiarity even while his head threatened to kill him.

His eyes briefly skimmed what was ahead of him, reading two things involving blood and injury, and one that did not, and given his current state went for the option that did not require being in this state to be made use of.

He was rewarded by a vision of an [url=https://i.imgur.com/uNagmFW.png]woman[/url] of quite the age, but who nonetheless had plenty of fire in her. Also on her, considering the hat of burning coals she wore.

“Oh, dearie, you look like you’ve been through a lot, and so far from home though. No time for longing for that though, you’ve got horrors to burn. So chin up sonny, and keep pushing through, because Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, is watching over you”

And then she was gone, and the world was back once more.

When darkness overtook his vision, Therion assumed there actually was some fourth more dreadful phase to their battle. He was tense, locked into fight or flight mode until three cards appeared a little ahead of him. This too was familiar - it wasn't entirely similar to the Basement rooms that had featured mysterious items on pedestals, but it was close enough that the thief lowered his guard enough to read the text on them.

[hider=For Therion][b]Exit Wounds[/b] - physical weapons/ammo lodged in an opponent is dislodged after a couple seconds, dealing an extra burst damage on the way out.
[b]Excitatory Gland[/b] - increases your basic attack damage by 30%. When using BP, there is a 15% chance to regain 1 BP.
[b]Plague Rats[/b] - enemies killed near you have a chance to spawn hungry plague rats that will do your bidding, but will disappear after 20 seconds. Also makes rats unwilling to attack you.[/hider]
So they really were rewards of some kind. [i]Interesting,[/i] he thought. Assuming there were no strings attached, any one of them seemed like they'd make decent benefits. Therion usually went with his gut however, and his gut was telling him to take the middle choice. The power reduction he now experienced when he was fighting in close quarters was annoying, and he wasn't sure exactly which spirit was doing it to him. This way he could fix at least one of the drawbacks, with a bonus to boot.

As soon as his fingers brushed the card he was treated to a vision of some kind. A huge, [url=https://i.imgur.com/BEgApj3.png]insect-like figure[/url] accompanied by the sound of hissing and skittering took over his senses for a moment. The next, it and the dark space was gone.

With their duly earned rewards chosen, light and color filtered back into the men's visions. Time resumed, and the energy barrier around the perimeter of the hollow had disappeared. They were left with each other, piles and piles of ashes and core spawn crawler spirits, and the core stone itself depleted of its glow.

Therion stood still for a few moments, once again making sure nothing was about to jump out at them now that all seemed quiet. Then he sighed, stowing his dagger until the next hellish fight they would surely have to go through. The wraith blade was still tightly held in his fist, and he swiped it through part of the mountain of spirits to heal up the various cuts and gouges he had on his person.

That had sucked, but they prevailed, somehow. The way forward was clear, but there was nothing stopping them from taking some time to regroup first.

Edward certainly seemed like he needed it, given he was still losing a fair bit of blood from his tattered wings that had absorbed more than one flanking strike by the crawlers. A healing potion from the armory kept him standing long enough for his feather staff striker to come off of its lengthy cooldown, loath as he seemed to be to waste resources oh himself like that.

As for what they had gained, well, after examining the core stone, Edward reported that [color=ea590c]”I am fairly certain it is actually inert and not playing dead"[/color] something he determined via poking it with the tip of his machete a few times.

[color=ea590c]”Best we pile it up with the spirits and my rifle, and send them to the avenger for assessment/utilization?"[/color] he suggested, something that would give him time to recharge his power banks as well.

The questioning tone Edward added to the end of his sentence made Therion throw a curious glance his way. Was he asking the thief's permission or something?

[color=BC8DBF]"I guess,"[/color] he responded. He couldn't really see the use of a bunch of spirits like these, but then again they could always be made into something else that might be more useful. When he looked back over the arena however, he noted just how many were still left. Suddenly he was loathe to assist Edward in sending them back. [color=BC8DBF]"[i]All[/i] of them?"[/color]

[color=ea590c]”That does not seem timely, no, but there’s a fair concentration over there, which should provide Sagi plenty of fodder for her ‘Wyverian Melding’ technique, the results of which I am quite interested in seeing"[/color] he pointed at the point where the spearwall had spent most of the battle, where indeed, a host of spirits that had died in close proximity that [color=ea590c]”We can simply place the returning rituals under those"[/color] 

Therion could deal with that. He left Edward to scoop up the core stone and went about gathering a few handfuls of spirits on his way over to where the dreadnaught would construct his magic circle, dumping them into the largest pile. He continued to drag his wraith blade through others until the only evidence he'd been in a battle at all were the ripped parts of his outfit. Best to save the more limited healing options while he could. Finally he dispelled the weapon and stepped back, giving Edward room to do his thing.

The pile of the core stone, the dead Crawlers, and Edward’s bent out of shape rifle were all swiftly surrounded by the glow of a large arcane circle, a convenient time in the form of a final ring being gradually drawn letting them know how long it would take to finish. As it did, Edward took it to plug himself in to be recharged, and to talk a little. Starting off with [color=ea590c]”My thanks for hauling me out of the defensive line, I and it would have not lasted much longer"[/color] tacitly saying that there were no hard feelings about his constructs and rifle being blown to hell a few moments later.

Since it seemed they'd be there for a little longer, and it wasn't like Therion was all that eager to jump into the next vein anyway, the thief had taken a seat on the (somewhat gross) ground and leaned his back against a boulder. His ears flicked towards Edward before his eyes did.

[color=BC8DBF]"Don't mention it,"[/color] he said, and it sounded like he actually meant it. He'd been running with the Seekers for a little while now, but if they got thanked it was as a group, usually, if they were ever thanked at all. Therion was still a bit unused to direct gratitude. It wasn't his style either, so rather than thank the man for summoning them in the first place (they both knew that without the golems or the cannon they wouldn't have even stood a chance), he somewhat awkwardly followed with, [color=BC8DBF]"good work..."[/color]

And, after a beat, added a cheeky, [color=BC8DBF]"...newbie."[/color]

[color=ea590c]"I am aware the power differentials are quite large"[/color] the man replied plainly, again entirely honestly it seemed, but he did also have secondary motive for this line of reply, which was [color=ea590c]"Speaking of, I don’t suppose you were also offered a (supposedly) divine boon for this victory? Is that a common thing?"[/color] said with a bit of skepticism about the entire prospect.

[color=BC8DBF]"Common? No,"[/color] Therion answered. He did not seem confused about the question, implying that answer to Edward's first inquiry was a yes. [color=BC8DBF]"But anything can and does happen. Just be glad it was something randomly good for once."[/color]

[color=ea590c]"Dice upon dice"[/color] he mused, before actually replying [color=ea590c]"Agreed, any favorable fate in this place of all places is more than welcome"[/color] 

At that moment, the two spell circles they had been waiting on both filled up their loading circles, recharging Edward’s mana cells, and sending the items back to the Avenger.

[color=ea590c]"Your patience is appreciated"[/color] he said, the time devouring tasks done, before he enquired [color=ea590c]"Onwards and upwards then?"[/color] 

Therion pushed to his feet, his tail swaying behind him. [color=BC8DBF]"Onwards and upwards,"[/color] he agreed, though his tone was decidedly lacking in enthusiasm.