[IC] The Collector

[Scarifar]

Daniel took the vial back, grabbing it gently with his fire construct hand. He examined Alexandra for a few seconds, then decided it was safe enough. He gently placed Sasha on the ground sitting up, then brought the vial near her lips and said, "Alright, open up."

[FoxFireOfDawn]

Xerc shifted slightly when Alexandra stopped leaning on him and payed more attention to the vial. The green liquid in it smelled sickly sweet and he had shook his head in disapproval of the smell. Noticing the girl was indeed now ignoring the group, he took note she already knew their names. The vial that she had given them appeared to work thanks to Alexandra volunteering to try it first. Apparently, it burned slightly but tasted horrid. Looks like scents can be deceiving, he thought. He patiently waited for his turn at sipping the green liquid, him now lay down, scratching at himself as his eyelids felt heavier by the second.

[yoyohayli]

Bea had remained in her fairy form through this whole ordeal, managing to evade the black goop that seemed to make the others sleepy. This girl dancing beyond all of them was strange and enigmatic. She seemed to know the tricks and rules of this place, as Bea was sure there were many tricks and rules to be discovered. She wondered if this girl had started out like them, trapped in this place until her time ran out and she was here for good.

Flying over to the door Marianne had pointed to, Bea inspected it carefully, buzzing around and finally landing on the doorknob. "Do you think we should really trust her and go this way? She seems to know more than we do about this place."

[TheWendil]

Grumbling about not being weak or something, Sasha reluctantly opened her mouth to take in the vile liquid. She tried not to gag on the taste or the burning sensation, less she choke on it. When she finally swallowed her sip, she wiped her mouth and stretched out to regain the use of her limbs. "Tastes like crap....but it works all right." Seeing as Xerc was now the only one left who still needed the antidote, Saha swiped the vial from Daniel's hands and held it for the demonic looking wolf to drink. "Here you go Bigger Wolf Thing. Don't drink it all though." Her eyes narrowed as she said this. "Who knows when we might need it again."

The feral human then looked at the door Marianne had directed them to before answering Bea. "Well...as creepy as she is, she did just save our asses...I'm thinking it's safe to assume we can trust her for no-ah, yuck!" Sasha's nose wrinkled in plain disgust as a horrible smell wafted up to her. She couldn't smell it before due to having the drug in her system, but now it was as storing as ever. And it was coming straight from Marianne. Having a better sense of smell than most humans, she doubted anyone here could detect the odor as well other than maybe Xerc.

"Gah! I'm calling her Rotting Girl from now on, cause that's what she smells like!" It was true. A strong scent of decay and rot came from the dancing girl in black. How curious...just who, or what was she?

[shi12]

Alexandra glanced back at the strange girl. There was something about her, a dark sense of foreboding that put a chill in the shifter’s bones. The feeling was familiar though and strangely peaceful, like she was an old friend, yet Alex knew she had never met this girl in her life.
Where had she acquired that potion…and when did she learn their names?
The shape-shifter tensed, suddenly suspicious of the dancing girl. She found it odd though; if there was any malice towards them why help? The girl wasn’t like the beings they had met before. Maybe they should trust her suggestion. She had helped them when she didn’t have any need to.
“Maybe we should listen to her…” Alex chimes, her aqua eyes turning to face the door. It seemed ordinary enough to her.

[Scarifar]

Daniel wasn't going to trust Marianne that easily, but it seems that there was no other option but to head through the door she had pointed out. He walked up to the door and opened it cautiously. There was most likely going to be some sort of danger, and it was best to be ready for it, at least as ready as can be. He peeked through the crack in the door, hoping to see whatever was inside before anything inside it saw him first.

[FoxFireOfDawn]

Wuen the vial was passed over to Xerc, he showed no hesitation on drinking it. He took it with a shaky paw and took a small sip, or rather a lick. After that, he coughed a couple of times, not used to the taste. While he pawed at his muzzle, the sense of heaviness disappeared and he felt much more active. He now sat up straight, no longer feeling the side affects of the black substance.

Suddenly, a strong waft of decay made its way from the girl in black. Xerc shook his head and whined from the horrid smell "Smells like a corpse has been left unburied and is decaying in here." He said, pawing at his nose still. It was rather obvious that he would much rather go through the door than to stay here.

[Kaiden]

.

[rocketrobie2]

Mr.T was still nervous about the door. He didn't know what could be beyond that door, what monsters or people or some hybrid of both, that could be lurking around elsewhere in the house. Mr.T was terrified but he thought that as long as he stayed with the group he would be able to get back to Dexter. When the fairy went up to the door Mr.Teddy stared at her for a bit. He remembered Dexters mom telling stories to Dexter about fairys and all of their magical powers so just seeing the fairy was amazing for Mr.T.

[TheWendil]

"Well, I'll have to agree with Bigger Wolf Thing. I'd rather take my chances in there then sitting here with that stench..." Deciding to take the first initiative, Sasha opened the door fully now and took about three steps forward...before judging that it was likewise safe enough. The passageway looked like it was underground, with large torches on either side of the walls. It was dark, dank, and humid, but at least it was a step forward.

"Alright come on, let's get this over with," Sasha grumbled. A seemingly normal pathway. Maybe Marianne was right? Perhaps the mysterious girl did have some worth to her? After all, did she not just save them from being captured once again? Whatever opinions and thoughts each member of the group had on the girl, they were ceased once Sasha suddenly tensed up and paused mid-stride. "Wait....that noise...hey Cotton Candy Head, is that you?"

Sasha turned to Bea with a questioning look on her face. The others wouldn't be able to hear it, but they might be able to sense the approaching presence. Small...coming closer...and a loud buzzing noise. Soon, it didn't take one with superb hearing to notice it now as the shrill sounds began to envelop the entire group now. Something was coming...

[yoyohayli]

"It's not me!" Bea yelled, not knowing exactly what cotton candy was, but feeling it wasn't the nicest of nicknames. But then she realized what the reality was. If the noise wasn't her, then something else was coming at them, and fast. Bea took a cautious stance as she buzzed up towards the ceiling. Maybe she was safer up here than in the middle of the hallway.

"I think we should get out of the way of whatever's coming," she said with apparent nervousness in her voice. "If it's anything like last time, I don't want to be caught in the middle of it!"

[Scarifar]

"Sasha, get back here now," Daniel said in a tone that sounded calm, although his wide eyes and strong grip on the edge of the door suggested he was anything but calm. As soon as she got back he was going to slam the door closed, perhaps create a firewall to block the way of whatever was coming as well if she wasn't fast enough.

[shi12]

“That doesn’t sound pleasant.” Alexandra said, her ears being bombarded by the multitude of high pitched noises in the air. Whatever was beyond that door made the hair on the back of neck stand on end, anticipation and fear taking over her senses. Her eyes flickered from the dark hallway to Bea, noting the slight similarity in the buzzing/ flapping sounds. It seemed this mysterious being had wings of its own and from the sound it was making it was fast.
Preparing herself for the worst case scenario Alex shifted, her bones creaking as she took on her dragon form once again. It seemed to her the best bet due to the abilities it possessed. Now all she had to do was wait and see if these things meant to fight them.

[rocketrobie2]

Mr.T cowered in fear as he heard the noises coming from behind the door. He then jumped back away from Alexandrea as she turned into a giant monstrous dragon which added to the fear felt by Mr.Teddy. Mr.Teddy quickly ran up to where the fair was above and hoped that some how with her magic fairy powers that she would protect him. He assumed she had fairy powers due to the stories he and Dexter heard from stories.

[TheWendil]

"Yeah...doing that now..." Sasha carefully backed away from the end of the hallway, choosing to instead run once she felt something heavy clamp on her shoulders. Leaping out the doorway, she rolled on the ground in blind panic. "Get it off, get it off!" After several quick moments of shaking, the thing finally released its grip on Sasha and hovered above the group. It had the eight legs of a large and hairy spider, but the top portion was a slender and gray body, almost like a corpse. Its head was sharp and narrow, accompanied by serrated buck teeth and white pupiless eyes. Large insectoid wings kept it airborne as a metal mask was fitted to its its face.

It looked like some twisted nightmarish version of a fairy, and it even had the same height as Bea. Backing off, Sasha couldn't help but shiver at the thought of something like that clinging on to her. Unfortunately, for all the warnings her comrades were spouting, it was too little, too late as the chorus of mindless chattering escalated suddenly. A swarm of the damned creatures bombarded the doorway, breaking free and now blanketing the entire ballroom with sheer numbers. Marianne was nowhere to be found, having seemed to vanish in the middle of the commotion. "Spiders...these things have s-spider legs...." Sasha couldn't stop shaking as the mass amount of sheer noise began to get to her.

The evil beings then changed their noise into high pitches of squeeling that grated the ears. Laughter. After a few more defeaning moments, the fairies from Hell descended upon the group in a mad frenzy with claws and fangs outstretched. They were out for blood.

[Scarifar]

Daniel swore. He could have used a fire shock wave to take them all out, but then he would hurt the rest of the group. Fortunately, he still had the use of his fire, and he knew bugs couldn't stand fire. At least he hoped these couldn't. He engulfed himself in fire so the bugs couldn't touch him without being burned, then created 2 square panes of solid fire that burned anything it touched. He began sweeping them around, taking out the bugs around him and the others in large numbers. The bugs screeched in pain as they burned, but there were still too many. Then an idea occurred to him. He created a dome of solid fire around a small area, burning any bugs within it. Then he hollowed it out and opened a small area for the others to get in. "Everybody in there!" Daniel shouted, trying to be heard above the bugs' screeching. This would completely exhaust him, but he could see no other option for removing the swarm.

[yoyohayli]

Bea screamed as one of the spider monstrosities lunged for her. Elbowing it sharply in the abdomen with her stinger a couple of times, she managed to paralyze it and get away. A few more of them were hot on her trail as she buzzed wildly around the room, stinging a few spiders and then having to retreat. Their legs grabbed at her painfully and threatened to tear her limb from limb. Her stingers were the only things she had to protect herself, but she could feel that the poison contained within them was beginning to reach its limit.

Then she noticed the Teddy bear, frantically trying to reach her. She buzzed down to it and grabbed it's paw. Looking around for somewhere the two could get out of this swarm, she saw the fire dome Daniel had made and felt her whole body seize up in fear. 'Fairies and fire aren't supposed to mix,' she thought. 'But do I have any other choice?'

"Come on!" she yelled to the stuffed bear over the horrid screeching. "We have to move now!"

She tried to buzz through the opening in the dome with Mr. T trailing behind her, but she buzzed away at the last second, the flames too close for comfort. She tried again and, this time, made it into the dome safely with Mr. T in tow. Her stingers were messed with spider innards and she felt weak from overusing her poison. That flight had taken her breath away, as well, but she tried desperately to clear the opening of the dome with whatever strength she had left.

[rocketrobie2]

Mr.T was terrified when the weird bugs began swarming from the hall way and began to swarm around the group. He was standing still in fear until the fairy came over to him and got him out of there defending them as they ran for the fire mans shield. Mr.T didn't like fire much due to his flammable material skin and innards but he hated evil monster bugs even more than fire.

When the fairy finally got them both inside Mr.T was panting heavily even tough he didn't have any lungs his chest went up and down as if he did. H was about to pick up the fairy and help her up due to her seeming tired but then he realized that he'd be doing more harm to her. He still had some of the evil black goop from before on parts of him and then that gave him an idea. Mr.T mustered all of his courage, closed his eyes and ran out of the dome and into the swarm. The bugs began to attack him ripping his limbs from his torso and ripping his material but in doing so they got goop on themselves. After a few minutes there was a great number of bug creatures on the ground immobilized but there was also stuffing and Teddy bear skin material everywhere along with one dismembered plastic eye.

[shi12]

Alexandra had been shocked by the creatures that swarmed in mass numbers, but the reaction of several of her companions was much more shocking. It seemed there were a few terrified of spiders. Even so when several of the nasty creatures flocked around her she realized she wasn’t a big fan of them either. One of the braver ones latched onto her with a vengeance, digging its claw-like nails into her thick dragon skin. A yowl of pain left her maw, the being turning with a small spout of fire escaping its lips. The creature burned to a crisp as the flames caught it but several others lunged at her, meeting the same crispy fate as the first.

Once fending off a short wave of her own attackers she noticed Pyro make a dome of sorts. He had yelled to everyone about getting inside but she wondered how much energy a construct of that size would take from him. She backed up slowly, fending off an oncoming group of these fiends from hell. As she did she watched in horror as Mr. T. ran at them, taking them on with careless abandon as he was injured. With a single burst of fire she scorched her surrounding attackers and took off towards him, her body shifting back into her usual form.

As she ran she picked up as much stuffing and fur as possible before finally sweeping the injured creature into her arms and hightailing it for the dome. “What the hell were you thinking?” she questioned, a little annoyed by his carelessness. Truthfully she was worried though.

[Scarifar]

Daniel had no time to waste, and the bugs were getting braver, trying to approach him despite being engulfed in fire. After Shi entered the dome, He sealed it and attempted to create separate, smaller domes around everyone else who hadn't made it in the original dome yet. He was careful not to make the interior of the domes burn them, which took a fair chunk of effort. If he succeeded he would unleash a shockwave of fire, hopefully destroying every single bug. He would probably be unconscious after the effort, but it'd probably be worth the risk if it succeeded.If any survived, he would only hope that his friends could take care of them for him. At the very least, the others would be freed from the domes as soon as he fell unconscious.