[IC] The escape from Wolfwing's lair

[Lord of Evil]

"Looks like there's no going forward..." Derrick said quietly, peering around the corner.
There was no guarantee that they would be safe around the corner, but it was probably the safest spot they could find right now. Safer than the room with the sleeping creature, most certainly, and almost certainly safer than being on the other side of the corner. Still, the hunters faced a conundrum. The source of the light and wind was behind the spiders, the numbers of which would hamper them more than any wall. They couldn't exactly jump over it, and fighting the whole tide would definitely be a mistake. So what did they do?

Derrick ducked back towards the rest of the crew and mused on their options. Couldn't go forward anymore, so should they go back? A fire could help clear the room, but then it would probably spiral out of control. He didn't exactly want to burn the whole library down. He wished he hadn't thrown the lantern, but then again, it probably wouldn't have helped any.
"What do you guys think?" Derrick asked. "Should we go back? Maybe we could find something to deal with the spiders."
@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Typical]

"We should look for another lamp, or something of the sort," Kenza agreed, thinking to their path through the dark stone floors. There had seldom been a light source, but there was no other way to get rid of the spiders. They numbered too many and moved too quickly for three hunters to clear them out, and Kenza didn't see the point of taking the risk of trying to distract them by throwing an object.

Eyes catching on a loose piece of wood on the ground, Kenza bent down, examining the broken piece. Running a finger over it, the hunter found that there was no dust. It's fresh, she realized, but wasn't surprised. Obviously, by the large arachnid corpse's extent of decay, some creature — likely the Wolfwing — had come through recently and slew it, perhaps breaking some of the library decor in the process.

"Something's broken — should we check it out?" she asked, looking between her two companions.

Mistletoe looked up from her thoughts to glance at the wood. To her, it seemed like it was clear that the library would not be their means of escape. The mass of venomous, roving fangs that called the exit their home seemed neither welcoming nor inclined to move, and Derrick's suggestion of fire was but an unnecessary risk. The Wolfwing, keen as its senses were, would certainly pick the arid scent of burning wood and paper up in a heartbeat.

"I say we look for another exit," Mistletoe said, crossing her arms. "It's not worth it, and the sooner we find another exit, the better. As for the wood," she said, glancing down at the innocuous block again, "I don't see why it'd be vital to our escape. But, if we're quick about it, finding its source might not be a bad idea."

"Okay then — split up and do a quick perimeter check, and then meet up back here?" Kenza asked, looking between the members of the group. "We'll avoid the side with the spiders entirely."

The group dispersed, Mistletoe and Kenza each running in a direction, leaving Derrick the face of the wall nearest to the door.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Derrick looked on as the others left, before looking back to his own surroundings. Where should he go? He'd sort of forgotten where he was in relation to everything else. He remembered that the spiders were further down, the door was behind him, so he was... somewhere in the middle? A perimeter search meant looking around, but where?

Derrick looked left, and then right. It all looked the same to him, but that was probably what a search was for. In the end, he decided to look somewhere that hadn't been covered. To that end, he went off in the opposite direction of his teammates. He wasn't sure what to look for, but anything interesting would probably do.
@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Hekazu]

Kenza and Mistletoe took off, dispersing to get a better look at the immediate surroundings without risking getting too close to the spiders again. Mistletoe did not find much, the direction she had picked being mostly void of anything worth noting. Kenza, on the other hand, did find the origin of the freshly broken wood. One bookshelf that had once stood next to the wall had been close to obliterated by something, probably a fight taking place here if she was to judge by the general disorder of this general area. To her surprise, she could actually see the way beyond the web! Most of the intact webbing was now behind her so that would not be too much in the way, although many strands still crawled near the floor. And unfortunately the carcass of the big spider was still quite near the way out. But it was something.

Derrick who headed his own way quickly ran into the intact webbing still covering major areas in that part of the room. Knowing better than to tangle himself up in it, he slowed his step down well before touching the strands. This wouldn't be a way anywhere unless he was willing to do some cutting.

However, with all of the hunters eyes away from the door they had entered from, they noticed a newcomer to the room only once it sat on top of a bookshelf with a heavy thud, a sound that resembled a heavy statuette being placed onto a pedestal. And at the origin point of the sound sat a small gargoyle, the spots where eyes would exist on it's smooth face gleaming yellow. A pattern including an ornate circle began lighting up on its torso as it sat still in silence, looking down upon the hunters.

@Dusksong@Lord of Evil

[Typical]

When the heavy clunk sounded, Kenza's eyes flicked to the source, and the hunter immediately froze. A gargoyle! she thought, recognizing the monster's trademark skin that was mottled with impurities where stone had worn away. Her eyes were drawn to the statue's glowing yellow eyes, unwavering in their brightness, and then to the radiant circle carved into its chest. What was the circle — its one source of energy, or an additional source possibly?

The gargoyle remained motionless on its perch, but Kenza wasn't about to take any chances. That it was currently in the room watching the hunters was enough to say that it was another one of those "wardens" of the garrison, intent on keeping their prisoners inside, and Kenza flicked her eyes around her view to try to pick out her teammates. The library had gone silent, save for the skittering of arachnid legs over where the rugs had decayed over stone.

Mistletoe had frozen at the clunk, turning her head slowly to look at what had caused the sound. The sight of the gargoyle sitting there, silent and still encouraged her to maintain her status as a statue as well, but her brain had possibilities that thought otherwise. If the gargoyle had been intent on killing the hunters, the best way to dispatch them would have been picking them off one by one when they were split apart, yet the carved piece of stone hadn't done that. Rather, it'd sat down — an action that so obviously announced its presence that the only conclusion was that it had wanted to announce its presence. Meaning that, ignoring the other parts of her screaming and arguably more sensible mind, the gargoyle wasn't here to kill the hunters.

This is borderline suicidal, Mistletoe thought, tensing her muscles and taking a step to her right, in the direction of Derrick and the door. But the line between life and death here is thin enough that this barely matters.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Derrick was distracted from his search by a strange sound. He looked up but saw nothing, although considering he was between two particularly tall bookshelves, that didn't really mean anything. He crept out from between the shelves and spotted a stone statue that wasn't there before. A rather familiar looking stone statue, in fact. But it most definitely wasn't the warden - there was a distinct lack of magic stuff and death threats, which he felt characterized the warden a lot. But still, it was a gargoyle, and he was going to assume that it was something similar to the warden. Thankfully, it didn't seem that interested in the group.

Derrick noticed that Kenza was moving closer and followed suit to meet here halfway. As he did, however, he noticed that they were down a member.
"Hey, where's Kenza?" Derrick asked.
@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Typical]

Maneuvering herself around the web was a simple enough task for Mistletoe, whose livelihood depended on her being silent as she waited for the perfect moment to loose an arrow. The only difficulty was picking out exactly where the spiderwebs ended; in the darkness, the translucent thread was — smaller quantities — almost invisible. Mistletoe nearly stepped into loose webbing multiple times, since she was trying to keep as far as possible from the center of the room. The creature may seem neutral, but that was only at the moment; what did its arrival mean? Did the Wolfwing notice that its prisoners had gone missing?

The webbing arced towards the middle of the room in a thick, opaque wall that threatened to never let go once it'd caught a struggling creature in its grasps. Mistletoe held her breath as she followed the webbing around the bend, but she needn't have; the gargoyle in the middle of the room didn't budge from its spot on the bookshelf, instead remaining as still as the lifeless material it was carved of.

Soon enough, Mistletoe spotted Derrick, and the boy, her, moving over to meet her. "She must still be on the other side of the room," Mistletoe whispered in response to his question. The third hunter was probably too cautious to attempt to move, so something would have to be done to indicate to Kenza that movement was allowed. "Kenza!" Mistletoe called through the room, voice raised well above a whisper now, which served to echo her voice through the skittering of the multitude of small spiders.

A whisper through the shelves alerted Kenza to the presence of her teammates, but not to their exact location. The dusty rows of books served to distort the sound, and Kenza had only a general direction as to where the other hunters were — near the door.

Mistletoe met up with Derrick, she realized. She looked behind her, memorizing the location and details of the gap in the web before moving quickly in the other hunters' direction. The statue, since it hadn't yet budged, was assumably only interested in watching the hunters.

Is it here to make sure we don't escape? Kenza wondered as her fellow hunters came into view. Did the warden send it, or perhaps the Wolfwing?

Upon arriving, Kenza explained what she'd seen of the light through the webs — a possible escape route that laid tantalizingly out of reach now that she'd headed away from it. Leaving alone had crossed her mind — she could burst out, alerting the spiders and rendering the exit unusuable — but there had been no guarantee that she'd make it. "Should we try it?" Kenza asked, eyes flicking to the gargoyle.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Derrick quietly considered the risk to trying to go through and not trying to go through. He wasn't sure if these spiders were poisonous but if they were, one bite and it would probably be over for whoever was bitten if it wasn't treated immediately. And considering they didn't have any antidotes, if worst came to worst, they'd have to do an emergency amputation. Derrick eyed his old halberd and decided that probably wouldn't work out too well. But this was a difficult opportunity to pass up, even if it might not even work out.

"Say, did you check if there was a way for the spiders to get through?" Derrick asked. "I don't really want to try our luck if they're able to swarm us."
@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Typical]

Mistletoe listened to Kenza's description with some amount of revulsion; the crack didn't sound safe, being surrounded on four sides by spiderwebs, and she didn't much like the idea of having to brush past spiderwebs to get out. With any luck, she'd get stuck and end up the next meal for the eight-legged insects. Perhaps that was their fascination with the large carcass?

"I don't like it," Mistletoe admitted, looking between the two other hunters. "It doesn't sound safe, and then there's the matter of the 'tame' gargoyle. What are the chances that it will keep still as the humans it's watching escape?"

"The carcass is quite close to the crack I saw, but spiders aren't exactly known for their sight either," Kenza said in response to Derrick. "Haven't you ever tried teasing spiders? They rely on the vibrations passed along the webbing, and the crack was out of the way of the main webs."

At Mistletoe's comment, Kenza paused, eyes flicking to the seemingly-inanimate statue in the middle of the room. "So you think that thing's sitting there, watching us because it finds us amusing?" she asked quietly. The hunter rolled the possibility around in her head, silent. Was that why the Wolfwing kidnapped them?

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Derrick thought about the statue for a moment. It was a wildcard in this situation, and that wasn't a good thing to have around. If they really wanted to make an effective move, they'd need to know if it was going to get in their way, but how to do that?

As the others discussed what to do, Derrick quietly moved to a better position to inspect the statue. Its eyes were glowing and it had a strange pattern on its chest. Derrick stared at it a little, then moved left and right, before moving behind it where he would theoretically be out of sight, watching its eyes as he did. If they followed him even behind the bookshelf then it would probably cause some trouble for the hunters.
@Hekazu@Dusksong

[Hekazu]

The gargoyle that had been sitting suspiciously still spread its wings again once Derrick had left its view. It did not turn to look for him, but hovered in the air, keeping an eye out on Kenza and Mistletoe who were closer to the torn webbing the wind pushed through. The hole in it would be sizeable enough for them to go through... It wasn't flying onto their way yet, but it was more active than it had been just a moment ago.

The door that led to the room had been nobody's centre of attention for a moment, but that would likely change as an unfortunately familiar creature flew through it, blue flames blazing among the floating fragments of black stone. "No further! The Maze calls for you!" it bellowed in its almost telepathic voice. The Jailor had found them. And, coincidentally, it was accompanied by only one gargoyle. It still carried the shackles that had chained it to the floor in the room where it had been awakened, their clinking being the most distinctive sound it made other than direct speech.

The webbing that had separated the hunters on one side of the room was quickly removed from the equation by a blast of the blue fire it had last used when attempting to strike at Derrick in the lower floors. The wings of flame and stone carried the creature towards the two hunters who the first gargoyle to arrive still had in its sights. If the hunters did not yet have a plan, they might want to figure one out soon. Real soon.

@Dusksong@Lord of Evil

[Typical]

Kenza and Mistletoe both froze when the gargoyle took flight. Previously calmly watching Derrick test the statue's lack of animation, they both knew there was some conclusion to be made.

The hole in the web, Mistletoe realized. It's watching to prevent anyone from escaping. Derrick's not the closest to the door anymore, so he's a "lesser threat" at the moment.

Before either hunter could make a move, however, wingbeats from the direction fo the main door captured their attention. Looking over, the hunters took in a familiar-looking gargoyle that glowed blue. Its voice resounded in the hunters' heads, loud and clear.

The Jailor! Kenza thought, recognizing the familiar gargoyle doppleganger. The single gargoyle beside it resembled the gargoyle that had entered the room earlier, which explained why the first gargoyle had been interested in the hunters. The "Maze?" What's that? Is there a maze somewhere in this garrison?

He wants to keep us away from the exit too, Mistletoe thought, glancing in the direction Kenza had come from without turning her head so that she wouldn't draw attention to herself. The creatures seemed very sensitive to any movement towards the door, so Mistletoe was intent on avoiding it. This didn't, however, mean that getting answers was out of the picture.

"What's the 'Maze?'" Mistletoe asked loudly. There seemed to be no clear escape at the moment, so she figured she'd make the most out of the situation and perhaps buy some time.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

In retrospect, it seemed obvious. The Stone Gargoyle, while distinctly not the Jailor, was probably one of the Jailor's lackeys. That should've been an easy connection to make. And now the Jailor was here, flames and death threats galore. Thankfully it hadn't seen him yet, or at least, it wasn't looking at him. That gave him an advantage, but what could he do with it?

Derrick crouched behind the bookcase, trying not to be noticed. He eyed his halberd carefully, wondering if it would be any use against stone. Edging around the corner, he peeked out to watch as the scene unfolded. It was his first time taking a good look at the Jailor so he took the opportunity to study it. It looked old, and it looked like it was on fire. Then again, he'd never seen blue flames, but that was what it looked like. Maybe they could use it to burn all the spiders? But the library would still burn down...

In the end, he wasn't sure the halberd would hold up, and he wasn't entirely sure what the Jailor could do to them. He couldn't just run out recklessly either, so he'd just have to wait. But that didn't mean he wouldn't act if he needed to. He tried to catch Kenza's eyes, to signal that he was ready to do... something. He didn't know what he could do, but that was no reason to try nothing.
@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Hekazu]

"Ekil Erif, Ekam Erif, Erif Erif..." the creature recited as it flew closer, slowing down as it approached Mistletoe. "To your question, I'll answer. But none elude death for long. The Narrow Maze is my domain. You brought me to this realm. I must fetch you to the realm. Now, follow me... into the mist!" the Jailor echoed, before making an exaggerated gesture of inhaling and breathed a cloud of the blue flame towards Mistletoe. From this range, there was no way she could avoid all of it.

As the Jailor himself assaulted the other one of the female hunters, the two smaller gargoyles set themselves to circling around Kenza. At first it seemed there was nothing else, but if she tried to move, the gargoyles would pepper her with some yellow projectiles they created before their featureless face.

At least for all it was worth, the creatures had not noticed Derrick.

@Dusksong@Lord of Evil

[Typical]

Mistletoe watched a slow-motion sequence as the warden finished speaking, inhaled deeply, and opened its glowing mouth. A glowing smog of blue emerged from the back of his throat, lighting up before engulfing the cavity of his mouth, and—

"Mistletoe!"

Kenza's voice interrupted the flow of the moment, causing Mistletoe to snap out of her staring and throw herself to the side, turning around as she did so. The flame grazed her injured arm, searing the outer shell of light leather away and inciting an inferno of pain that bubbled on her arm. Groaning, Mistletoe stayed sprawled on the floor, cradling her seared arm.

"Mistletoe!" Kenza called again, making a move forwards. Sudden movement from the gargoyle beside her sent her shooting back just as a glowing yellow projectile imbedded itself in the stone floor below her before dissipating into the air. "Bastards," she cursed, shooting the stone beings glares before trying to catch a glimpse of Mistletoe. From what she saw, the other hunter was now sitting up, obviously injured by the flame.

At least it's her injured arm, Kenza thought. The Warden's on Mistletoe, the two gargoyles on me, and then there's Derrick...

Glancing to her side so that Derrick's hiding spot was in her peripheral vision, Kenza vaguely made out that the boy was looking at her, waiting for a signal. She gave a single shake of her head — no. Better that one of us makes it out alive.

Mistletoe, having successfully pulled herself up into a sitting position, waited in trepidation for the Warden's next move. If the winged figure wanted to talk it out, she would listen, since the main exit of the room was behind it. If not, she would take the risk and make a sprint into the bookcases which, although a poor barrier, would work as obstacles for the flying creatures.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Derrick almost cursed, but managed to keep his voice in check. Getting injured would be very dangerous for them considering they didn't really have a safe place to rest. But they would have to think on that later, there was more action to be had yet.

Derrick stared on as the warden breathed fire and switched positions as the gargoyles moved, trying to figure out what he could do for the team effort. He could push over some bookcases, but he doubted that it would hit the Jailor at all. Still, better than nothing, right?

He picked up a book, lobbing it at the jailor, before pushing the bookshelves between him and the gargoyles forward. As they fell, Derrick ran and away from Kenza and Mistletoe, behind another set of bookshelves. He hoped the jailor would follow, but more than that, he hoped his actions hadn't impeded his teammates.

[Hekazu]

The beat of its spectral wings brought the Jailor ever closer to Mistletoe, all the while its gargoyles kept an unbreaking watch over Kenza. "Do not run from me, fragile one", it echoed at the hunter it had just injured. "You only prolong the inevitable." The shackles it carried clinked as they shook with each beat of wing, but before it quite reached the one of elven blood, it turned to look back and made a quick evasive move to the left. It had heard the shelves starting to fall and avoided them to its best.

Even the gargoyles were momentarily distracted by the sudden jolt of their master, but quickly set back on guarding Kenza... or chasing after her, if she decided to run. As for Mistletoe, the Jailor seemed suddenly disinterested in her, instead turning to face the location from where the shelves had begun tumbling down. "I see. Prepare yourself", it declared in as a matter-of-fact tone as a spectral echoing voice at all could and began its flight towards Derrick.

The rumble of the bookshelves soon reached the final one, sending the final domino piece crashing down on the mutilated carcass of the spider that had once called this library its home. Undoubtedly the same structure would crush many of the smaller arachnids, but as evidenced by the amounts of them that began pouring out from underneath, that was hardly all of them. They had been startled.

@Dusksong@Lord of Evil

[Typical]

"Damn it, Derrick," Kenza cursed under her breath, taking off in the direction of the crack she'd seen earlier. If she was going to die running for something, it was going to be the light. As for Mistletoe, Kenza figured that this moment — if not anytime before now — was when "every man for himself" was most applicable. Going to help the clearly injured hunter up and away from the scene would lead to certain death, and, if there was one thing a hunter was required to learn quickly, it was that death didn't appreciate heroics.

The warden soared overhead, heading straight for Derrick and knocking over the wooden shelves underwing as he did so. Kenza narrowly dodged a falling shelf, clambering over the one on the other side as the gargoyles behind her got over the crash and resumed their chase. The path around the spiderwebs was longer than the path towards the door, but it was a risk she'd take.

When the warden flew past her without another glance, Mistletoe quickly started scrambling to her feet. The smaller gargoyles — while clearly still a threat — seemed to be the soldiers rather than the general, and when Kenza sprinted off, leading the soldiers away, Mistletoe made for the door to the hallway, cradling her injured side. In the hallway, she fled for a door two doors down from the library but on the same side, opening the door quickly and peering inside. If it was safe, she'd close the door behind her and attempt to wait out the storm while searching the room for supplies.

---

@hekazu@lord of evil

[Lord of Evil]

Well, the plan had worked to some extent. In an ideal world the shelves would've fallen onto the warden and crushed it, but he supposed that they would've had to jump up into the air to come down on the gargoyle. Still, he'd achieved what he wanted to - he'd managed to take the heat off his teammates. Although now it was chasing him instead.

Derrick ran between the fallen bookcases as fast as he could. The current state of the library floor would and the fact that the Jailor could fly would most definitely spell doom for Derrick if he didn't do something about it. He did have a plan in mind, but unfortunately, it wasn't very good. He briefly debated not going through with it, citing the Jailor's apparent ability to show up out of nowhere as an argument against carrying it out. But his legs were already moving, leading the Jailor away from his friends, towards the carpet of probably rather angry spiders.

The plan was as follows: Have the jailor chase Derrick and shoot fire at him, he lures it to the spiders and then quickly retreats just after the Jailor shoots fire. Hopefully the fire would hit the spiders and go to town on the Jailor while Derrick runs to safety. It wasn't what you could call a solid plan, as things that didn't fly probably didn't have a good chance to get tot he jailor. Still, it would buy time for the rest of the team to run away, and if it went well, he would also get out scot-free. But that was a pretty big if.

Derrick saw the spiders up ahead, pouring out of the fallen bookshelves. He stopped running and turned straight around to face the Jailor, halberd at the ready. He eyed a set of intact bookshelves by the side that had escaped the chaos, as well as the spiders coming up from behind. He had to time this right or it wouldn't work. Tightening his grip on the halberd, he steeled his nerves and waited.

@Dusksong@Hekazu

[Hekazu]

The library that had just a few moments ago been quite peaceful was now the scene of a fight between the Jailor and the hunters. What kept the situation from escalating further was how the hunters kept splitting up, forcing the stone creature and its gargoyles to do the same. There was no way of telling how an all-out no holds barred fight would go between them, but it would be likely for it to not favour the hunters.

Kenza had taken all out of the momentary distraction of the gargoyles, running to the broken down part of the library, through the opening in the collapsed wall and the webbing covering most of it. The room beyond still housed quite a bit of webbing, but it was much less prevalent than in the "doorway" she had used. She couldn't really note more than this and the fact this seemed like a workroom before a gargoyle collided with her back, sending her tumbling down as the creatures circled above her. Her head just happened to be turned the way the wind was coming from: There was a gaping hole in the wall and it led outside!

Derrick's plan saw relatively more success as most of it came true. The biggest deviation happened right at the start: While he had anticipated the Jailor to open up with a breath of flame, it also tried to crash into him. As he had been prepared to dodge something, he managed to avoid the assault, as well as the gout of blue flame joining the fray soon after. And the flame scorched some of the spiders as well. Some of those little creatures headed for Jailor, but most scattered away.

But there was something more that happened. From the spiders that had been scorched, small white wisps flew to the Jailor's wings, bringing forth yellow symbols much akin to those that were visible on the gargoyles. Having noticed this, Derrick could also feel a familiar cold closing in with the shadowy hands grasping at his body like they had done back in the lower rooms. The Jailor stared through the hunters eyes, meeting his very essence beyond them. "Come to the mist..." rang in Derricks head.

As for Mistletoe, she had vacated the library where the grand spectacle was taking place and rushed into a room further down the hallway. A quick peek inside showed nothing too dangerous about it, so she entered the area. It was dark in here, but that was pretty much a given at this point. No sounds could be heard from the room itself, but from the one next to it she could barely make out the sound of something falling to the floor.

@Dusksong@Lord of Evil