In the Depths of Madness (IC)

[Thaelasan]

As soon as they entered the door, Apollo used his free hand to shield his face from the dust that scattered from the open pathway. Artemis seemed to follow his example the moment he did it, her own face scowling.

"Don't even clean up before they invite us, eh?" Apollo turned to her, jesting. But she didn't return his smile, but continued to look forward, gesturing for him to do the same.

A large, monstrous, single-eyed creature was emerging from the fog in front of them. Carefully, Apollo placed the boy on the floor next to him, laying him against the wall in the passageway. But Amos was in front of him, and in this claustrophobia-inducing space, Apollo could only draw his sword and hope Amos would move. Artemis had already done the same, standing close to Apollo's back.

"Is it only one?"

"It looks like it." Apollo replied, trying to peer further into the black abyss. "Sol and Luna give us strength..."

"It doesn't look too tough..." Artemis frowned.

"Appearances can be deceiving. Aim for the eye." Apollo added, readying his blade.

"Damn this tight space." Artemis growled. "They will not make it easy at all, will they?"

"Doubtful."

"Wonderful."

[Felixr2]

After being put back on the floor by Apollo, Mygon regained conciousness. It took a second for him to remember what had happened, and another to realize where he porbably was. This was the room behind the enchanted door.

 

The dust... I can't see clear.

 

Mygon felt on his back, happy to feel his bow and all 15 arrows. I'll be fine, I can defend myself with this.

 

He looked to his right and saw a shade in the dust that could only be from a huge monstrosity. Mygon had seen lots of terrifying things in the forest, fought many of them and almost always emerged victorious. But the thing wasn't anything like the creatures in the forest, and this wasn't the forest. This was a dusty area of which he didn't know what it looked like, where he could hide, where he could climb, where he could run without hitting something, this was unknown terrain to him; the monster had an advantage.

 

"Aim for the eye", Apollo had said. But where was the eye?

 

Mygon decided to use the tactic he always used in the forest when he was blinded; he closed his eyes and listened. He listened and tracked the thing's movement. He tracked the thing's movement and waited until he heard it blink, revealing the location of its eye. But it didn't blink. However, Mygon did notice there were no special echoes of the monstrosity's movement; they were in an empty square room.

 

"I can't see well in this dust, and the sound doesn't reveal where the eye is." Mygon said. "If anybody hits the eye, please say so, I'll then know where it is and be able to keep track of it, thus fire arrows at it." He said, with a bit of a loud voice, to anyone who would listen.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Felixr2

[Riath]

Rinharl watched the scene unfold, doing a double-take when he saw the book glow and the door open. His disbelief only grew as some sort of fleshy abomination came through the fog. Oh hell no. He wasn't qualified to fight monsters. He had been planning on snatching whatever valuables these people had and setting off. But the presence of the beast posed a huge problem. At the very least, it was a good way to measure how competent these people were in a fight. Rinharl looked around for some kind of weapon, finding nothing. He turned his attention back to the blob, getting ready to leap out of the way if it started towards him.

[TehUltimateMage]

Satisfied that the youth could maneuver himself without assistance, Rupert gave a nod, and then turned to the dainty dancer woman to assure her: "We're going, yes." And not a moment too soon, he covered his ears as a screeching echoed through the chamber, following a timely introduction by the book. He looked at the tome under Amos' arm. Was it summoning the monsters or just warning the humans of them?

 

"Pardon me, but would it be more wise to flee?" Rupert alerted the group. Nevertheless, the drew his sword and held his shield at the ready. He stayed near the door to defend the passage and those around it. "Best to save our energy and all." Better to turn and run away to live and fight another day.

 

The door was only wide enough for a single person to pass at a time, meaning that they will have to proceed at a someone reduced pace as they funneled to the next room. No one knew what awaited them over the threshold, but Rupert hoped it wasn't another of these eyeball monstrosities. There was no vanguard to their party because everyone thought it was a good idea to defeat this monster before proceeding, even though it probably couldn't fit through the door to chase them.

[Riath]

"Yes, I agree with you."

 

Rinharl smiled warmly at Rupert, alternating between looking at the passage and the monster. There was a perfect escape path here. But it seemed like three of the people in the chamber wanted to fight the monster. The rest seemed to not have decided yet. He had no idea what situation he was in, and the others were his only way of finding out. But hey, at least he wasn't in prison anymore. He took a step towards Rupert and the door, his padded soles not making any noise as he stepped on the hard floor.

 

"We don't have to fight that thing. We can just go."

[Felixr2]

"Wait, what?!" Mygon said, surprised. "We can leave this place?!". He felt to his right, feeling the pattern on the door and the texture of the wall border eachother. On the edge of the door there used to be a border of some sorts, now it's gone, did the door open?

 

Mygon stood up, keeping his hands pressed against the door and his eyes aimed at the eyeball thing. He could now see the eye clearly, but didn't bother firing an arrow. There was a way out without losing any, according to Rupert and Rinharl.

 

Mygon's right hand quickly slipped through the hole in the door. This surprise shocked him just a little bit, making him stop walking immediately. He turned to look at the gap. A human could fit through this hole, but not more than one at a time. "I most certainly wish to get away from this place, I just wasn't aware there was an exit. I will go along with you, Rupert, Cana and.... what is your name? And when did that child over there show up?"

[Clown_of_God]

Sienna watched as the crippled child conversed with the knight for a brief moment before scooting closer to the doorway where the others were beginning to gather. Mentally shrugging and letting out a sigh, she turned back towards the area she had been laying in, eventually making her way towards the wall and leaning against it. If they wished to leave, then they were free to make such decisions, being of no concern to Sienna if they died along the way. Of course, when the doorway suddenly began to open, after the book released whatever seal it had placed to keep it closed, there was a moment where she glanced over to examine the contents beyond. A single, narrow passage, large enough for a single person to walk through, lit only by the lighting from within the room they were currently inhabiting.

 

Now, when the hairs began to stand on the back of Sienna's neck and the atmosphere grew heavy and dark, it became clear to her that something dangerous was approaching. So, that's what the book meant. Malice began to fill the air as the far end of the room, opposite the doorway, began to seemingly stretch further and further away, a thick fog settling into the area and masking the creature's overall approach. Yet, once it made itself visible, Sienna bounced off the wall and clutched at the handle of her dagger. Whatever greater power created such a monstrosity, it certainly had a sense of morbid humor. With a single, giant eye centered on a spherical body, tentacle-like appendages swam through the air like those of an octopus, and a long crack towards the lower front side indicated it had a dangerous maw as well. Lastly, it was gross, like the pigs that bet their money on who the victor would be while surrounding themselves with skimply clad women that whispered lies into their ears.

 

Without a second thought or a moments hesitation, Sienna charged at the creature, dodging past the whips as she got closer and trying to find a weak spot to drive her knife into. Of course, the eye was the most obvious go-to spot, but the closer she drew to the creature the more she noticed a dull glow forming in the beast's eye. Ducking down, Sienna drove her knife into the ground, using it as leverage to skid across the surface and avoid a beam that suddenly erupted from the creature's gaze. Unfortunately, upon a self-check, Sienna found she hadn't evaded the attack completely. Some of the exposed skin on her upper shoulder and midway down her back was freshly scalded and part of her top had turned to ash. Rotating her shoulders and cracking her neck, Sienna grasped the handle of her dagger even tighter than before as she began to lean forward, preparing to charge again so that she could get equal with this beast. Things were beginning to get interesting.

[Chandra]

When the door opened and the monster appeared Chandra was confused as what to do. She could leave or fight with the others. She was still debating this when her previous captor went straight for fighting. She glared realizing that she didn't have a choice now. Chandra was extremely annoyed at the fact that the woman didn't discuss this with anyone and just rushed into battle. She put her hand on her sword just in case but did not move to fight.

 

A bright light came out of the monster's eye and slightly hit the fighting woman. The eye used to be the point she would go for when fighting the monster, but the beam made her reconsider.

 

She looked back at the doorway and pondered just leaving, even if it meant leaving anyone who charged into battle to deal with it.

[Coryn02]

When the creature approached, Amos prepared to fire several bolts from his crossbow into it, hoping to injure it in such a way that it would be easier to take down.

 

Then, he saw it shoot a pink beam of energy from its single eye. Grazing the pale woman with white hair along the back, this was an unexpected show of power from something that seemed to be nothing more than a beast, no matter how monstrous it looked.

 

This complicates matters somewhat.

 

Amos gritted his teeth and loosed two bolts at the brown creature. One of them hit it next to its eyelid, barely missing its large unblinking eye. The other hit it in the side, piercing one of its squirming tentacles.

 

The monster's maw opened as it shrieked in pain, then fixing its gaze on Amos himself. For something so horrid, it seemed to know exactly who had injured it, and dove straight for the man.

 

Amos threw himself to the ground as the thing swooped above him, trying to bite him. When it missed, he tried his hardest to get back onto his feet and run back away from the doorway as the monster fired another beam of energy after him, which he only just avoided.

 

Gohrm was still on the ground, pulsing in a purple light. The monster was completely ignoring it, and similarly the tome did not move at all. Naturally, Gohrm was not to interfere with the events unfolding; this was all apart of the show. More so if any of the humans did not survive.

[Thaelasan]

Apollo spread his legs and took a firm stance, grasping the hilt of his greatsword and lifting it from his back with a bit of effort. He grasped it with both hands, making sure the balance was proper.

"By the mark of the Sky,..." he began, his sword shining barely in the light as Artemis joined him. "A chosen of the Sun..."

"And a chosen of the Moon.."

"Decide, as one, that the Sky will deliver upon you.."

"The Retribution you deserve."

Artemis bared her sword with one hand, the other used to steady herself. They nodded to each other, then Apollo ran forward, dragging the tip of the sword along the ground to cause sparks to fly. He swung it upward underneath the beast, cleaving the bottom half of it slightly so as to cause corrupted blood to spill onto the floor.

The large crescent would have left him open for retaliation, but that's where Artemis stepped in. As soon as his attack had connected, Artemis slid past him, coming up behind the beast to strike in the same wound, more blood spilling from the gash.

A laser fired, and Artemis pushed Apollo to the ground as the two narrowly avoided becoming scorch marks and burned meat. The smoldering hem of Apollo's sleeve and the bottom half of his robe served as mark of the intensity of the magical blast. Groaning, Apollo grasped the sword again, preparing for another attack when an opening presented itself.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Thaelasan

[Felixr2]

Others started attacking the creature that had suddenly spawned in the room. Idiots, wasting energy is one of the dumbest things to do. Amos is even wasting bolts. Also, nobody has answered my questions yet, I wonder what that's about.

 

Overthinking the consquenses, Mygon decided it was best to back off from this fight, especially now the thing started moving pretty fast and well... firing pink beams of heat from it's eye.

[Clown_of_God]

Muscles tightened as the burns began to blister on her back, the pain the surged through her body wasn't anything new, but it certainly wasn't anything pleasant either. Yet, she still charged back at the beast, adjusting course when she noticed the few others who decided to join in the fray. While the young lad who held the book was shooting crossbolts at the creature, instigating a charge from the creature and another beam being shot from its eye, the pair of priests used the closed distance to charge in and deliver what seemed to be a heavy blow on the monster. Unfortunately, it seemed to only anger the beast further as it shot yet another beam out at the duo.

 

Regardless of the scenario playing forth, Sienna was using this to her advantage, maneuvering to the monster's backside while it was distracted and lunging onto its back, driving her dagger into its leathery skin. Slowly, she ascended further, the creature beginning to flail like a mad fish in an attempt to shake her off, but latching onto both her dagger and onto one of the very tendrils sticking out from its back, Sienna maintained balance.

 

As she reached the top of the monster's figure, the flailing intensified and she wondered if the creature was going to roll over or not. Moving within reach of the beast's eye, she paused a moment as its gaze shifted upward to her, their glares meeting for just a brief second before Sienna drove her dagger into her intended target. Yet, no sooner had she accomplished her goal did she feel one of the beast's tendrils wrap around her ankle and proceed to hurl her from her perch. Crashing into the wall near the entry, air and blood ejected from her mouth even before she fell down onto the ground below, the world around her fading in and out as consciousness began to slip away from her. Ribs had definitely been broken and her hand felt slightly numb, but the creature's cries rang in her ears as clear as bells.

 

Despite her condition, both mentally and physically, Sienna stood back up and clasped the dagger's hilt. Even now her consciousness was still fading, but her body had been trained to fight and fighting is what it would do. Stumbling slight as she started to move forward, other beast's cries began to resonate from the fog and she came to a halt. This beast before them was still alive and now others were coming. Sheathing the dagger in an improvised sling-style scabbard, Sienna clutched at her chest and proceeded to turn towards the doorway that had opened earlier.

 

"I'm not dying here..."