Graded [Ryken City (PD)] Tutoring Session with the Dead

[RavenSong]

Scylla peeked back at the apparition, it seemed the crossbow bolts had gone straight through him. As if he was some sort of ghost, his laugh sent shivers down her spine, and made her take a step back. “Uh.. h-he’s not d-dead.” She stuttered her statement, before Dahak’s shade began to speak. A bit shocked, but quickly determined this was some kind of projection.

Upon the necromancers explanation of various details when referring to Kalina, Scylla looked on with a blank expression as she scratched her head, her bubblegum mind trying to make sense of everything that Dahak spoke, “Family reunion? What does he mean by that Chand-“ Her eyes widening with surprise all of a sudden, “..wait! you’re a vampire!?” She had already suspected it, definitely a giveaway when she didn’t want any cake. Like. Who doesn’t love cake?

Then the shade moved in between her and Kalina which made the witch jump back, resisting to shake out of fear in her shoes. “Eek! T-too close, sir! Much, much too close!” Trying to bring up a lecturing finger to the necromancers face but obviously afraid. What really creeped her out however was his attempt to flirt, mixing her intimidated expression with red from embarrassment. Covering her face, “I.. that’s.. uhm..” before she could continue to flail however, the witch felt the vampires cold hand pull her back in, yelping at the sudden tug, her feet following behind her frantically.

Scylla looked at Kalina with wonder when she revealed aggression towards the shade for coming onto her. Not really having much time to think about it, she turned look at her, and nodded as Dahak continued to speak. “Okay..” suddenly covering her mouth with a giggle, “..Dahak, Hey! Not another word out of you! How about instead of laughing at us you help us out? How do we find the other witch with the tome you mentioned earlier huh?” Her confidence returning. Besides his flirtation this Dahak seemed fairly harmless. At least for now.

Just as she had started making her way forward, looking to explore their surroundings, Dahak brought the slithering abomination to their attention. What little sense of safety she was starting to feel vanished once again. This time turning as pale just as her vampire partner when the horrible sounds emitted from behind them. “Uhh.. Chandra? I think my tummy literally just said, ‘food’.” She said as the disgusting slithering got closer and emitted yet another grumbling roar. She quickly snapped out of it however, when Kalina made her distaste known by firing a few bolts at the creature.

For an instant she went through her mind figuring out what kind of spell to follow up with, quickly turning to look at Dahak, "Did you say an 'everlasting source of magic?!" but before the intrigue could set in she suddenly had a change of heart, and wasn’t about to attempt to deal with that thing after all. It was simply much too creepy for her. “WAAAHH!! I CANT!!” Grabbing hold of Kalina’s arm she pulled her away, snapping her fingers frantically, emitting sparks for a few moments until the way was lit before them through the fiery ember in her palm. “No way! No way! Nope! We’re not fighting that thing! Renee!! Renee!! Can you hear me?!?!” She called out to her teacher within the echoing caverns.

 

[Garbage Pail Kid]

M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠d̶̡̲̗̼̮̤̤̳̲͖͓͍̓̎̽́̽̏̐͂̆͆͘͘͘ M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠ẃ̸̝̝̰͋͒

Skyhunter TheTimePiece The Last Curse Elvario RavenSong​

---

Mad Maw followed The Coven and Co. Her legs kicking up in flourishing hikes as she tried to find the quietest way to keep herself entertained. She knew to further pester Renee would simply lead to her death, or had it already? If this strange humfuckery happened once maybe it could happen again? It reminded her of those damnable days in containment, under drug and key. Madness had claimed her just vividly back then, only it didn't come with arcane talents. She had seen that sheet of music long before she ever heard it's sepulchral melody. It was something that she had never connected until...now. Had this been preordained somehow? It slowed her wild gait as she gripped Hope's hand as she drew closer to the gnoll; Madeline looking at her with a surprisingly warm smile. A moment of mania subsided "I believe we were fated to be friends! Isn't that so fun?" She asked before the smile stretched bac as the moment. It was the closest she ever felt to being driven.

The sickly-sweet aura of magic here clung to the air like corpse flies; She just had to get a candle made out of it! She remained silent as the the source of this strange aura was made apparent. Renee stating their case quite clearly, and she was actually glad for it as MM did her best to suppress her immediate reaction of absolute delight and excitement at meeting something she's never seen before. The threat was absolute, but damn was it cool! She couldn't help but bounce on her heels as the largest and likely leader of these creatures actually considered Renee's offer! It seemed they understood the concept of trade and also understood the value of a good threat. She didn't doubt Renee could handle this situation, but paranoia had kept her alive this long and she wouldn't leave her life in anyone's hands. Mad Maw chiming in quietly to both renee and the others.

"This one has a plan yes? yes? Food is easy, but a spectacle is rare, I doubt much entertainment is found in this realm, or what you'd consider entertaining anyways. Might I offer them some song from an instrument I doubt most of you have heard, especially them. A real stumper of a riddle might be fun too! and if it all falls to pieces Renee will just set everyone on fire!"

She considered that a good huddle and decided to stick her own neck out for the plan she made.

"This one eagerly wishes to offer a worthy toll for passage your...greenness" She said, shaking with both fear and excitement, removing from her back a likely unknown instrument to them. Her hand running down it's well kept surface. The only possession she seemed to actually care about. That and her book of (self made) riddles. "Have you heard of song? This and more is what Mad Maw provides! Please allow me to provide you with something rare indeed. Spectacle! It is what many from where I once came from craved. It is a gift I one day want to share with everyone! And lucky you, are among the first to hear what I consider real effort on my part! Perhaps sample of some fine riddle delicacy?" She questioned, taking a cautious step forward as she tuned the instrument a bit before she started to turn the hand-crank. The rosined wheel rubbing against the strings and producing sound, music. [Performance D].

"I can fly like a bird,not in the sky,
Which can always swim and always dry,
I say goodbye at night and morning, Hi.
I'm part of you, what am I?

I follow and lead as you pass,
Dress yourself in black, my darkness lasts,
I flee the light, but without the sun.
Your view of me would be gone!"
(Credit to Elena Siegman, cause goddamn)

The moment she finished her riddle; the music soared into an intense melody that she both spun with a crank and strummed the strings along the face of this strange instrument; her thumb striking buttons on the edges of these strings and producing beats that sounded like a drum. A bizarre and intricate piece of sheer artistry that was as unique and absurd as it's wielder. Her body beginning to warp and change ever so slightly as the music seemed to entrance her body as she played; the sound of many mad musicians across her world resounding from Kanicula as she refused to forget the music of which kept her sane so long in that cage of her previous life. [Madness Affinity F]

Spoiler

 

[TheTimePiece]

Iberis
​

She perked up at first what MM had to say and thne what Hope had to say in response, regarding the strange 'jerky', "Oh! right, yes, thank you, I'm definitely sure that they'd appreciate some of it if they aren't foes." She replied with a smile, knowing full well that Hope, just like herself was probably a bit concerned about contracting something if either of them actually partook in consuming any of Madeline's generous offerings.

Iberis was vigilant as they descended to meet whoever had entered the world it sounded like, she kept her staff close and gazed around their surroundings. It just made her all the more glad that Renee was there with them. Madeline and Hope were also welcome additions truthfully since they knew their way around magic too. Naturally she stayed near Renee through once again. Iberis wasn't too keen on the sensation that her skin was receiving from their environment, wondering what was causing it. It wasn't before too long before she found out. The voice was immediately disconcerting, but what it said wasn't exactly at least at first. She really hadn't been expecting the beings before them, truthfully she suspected most things in this realm were much like the shadowy beasts above, but these didn't fit that expectation at all. These slimes varied in size, and the one who was speaking was obviously some sort of leader with a catalyst which Iberis could only assume was made of a rather unfortunate substance.

She didn't dare speak on behalf of the group in that moment. Being the youngest she certainly didn't feel empowered too in that moment, even if she felt increasingly qualified by the day with how her powers grew. She nodded in agreement with Renee, trying to give the most harmless friendly look she could despite how she was really feeling deep down toward the group of slimes despite how she felt, which was very on edge. [Deception F] In actuality She was definitely ready to fight if the time was right, but she'd prefer not to truthfully for the time being. As soon as she saw an abrupt move from Renee to cast, she was there ready to join in.

What was a variable which was pretty difficult to predict in this instance was Madeline. Iberis honed in on what she had to say, and was very intrigued to say the least regarding what kind of show she had in mind to pay the toll. Instead she decided to roll with it, "She really is a spectacle I promise, a very skilled musician. .." Iberis chimed in a bit meekly order to hopefully help sell the show, not sure what else to do at this point. While Iberis wasn't sure mentioning Renee's inclination towards magical violence was the best move here in trying to convey to this group that they were friendly, she tuned in. She was quickly transfixed on the movements and sounds which came from Madeline and her instrument. They weren't quite like anything Iberis had heard in her life frankly. Nor had she even gotten to see an instrument like that in action before, truthfully she was realizing that she was missing out on quite a bit doing busy jobs on the street after being in the orphanage for so many years, but now she was finally getting to hear it, this was all quite exciting. All she could really hope for now was that their protection rings would continue to hold and they wouldn't have to deal with more unwelcome visitors coming down to deal with them yet again, for the whole duration of the show. Watching the shifting body with a bit of awe, along side the unique sounds.

Tags: Skyhunter Garbage Pail Kid The Last Curse Elvario RavenSong

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter Elvario RavenSong TheTimePiece Garbage Pail Kid ​

Grateful for Iberies' part in her little ploy, Hope gave her a slight nod in thanks. "Thank you!" She'd whisper to her as they all made their way down. The further she went, the less enthusiastic Hope became, doubting they'd even find something remotely friendly in this cave. Just like outside, she could only describe this place as dreary, depressing, and, most importantly, weird. However, she couldn't attribute the cave's weirdness to Mad Maw's presence but to the strange sensation burning at her skin, as if she were splashed with battery acid. Immediately, Hope's gaze flitted over to Renee, but the woman wasn't projecting that baleful energy as before. Neither was Iberies nor Mad Maw. "If it's not them," Hope thought, "Then who the heck is it?"

Finally, when Hope did see them, a large slimy, blob-like woman, she suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. Then, when her eyes caught sight of the monster's staff, and she saw more of its subordinates starting to make their repulsive appearances, Hope was sure she wouldn't ever be hungry again. "Take a deep breath..." She tried her hardest not to dry-heave, "And be respectful..." But, of course, that was hard when the only thing she could smell was putrid filth. And when she realized the slimes were planning to eat her.

Fortunately, Mad Maw came to the rescue yet again. With more of that mystery jerky, Hope prayed, though it seemed Mad Maw was more interested in sating the slimes with music. Hope wasn't sure if that'd be able to fill their bellies, but as the wild, eccentric tunes of the gnoll's instrument started to fill her head, she felt herself beginning to get hooked in. Soon enough, her head was bobbing subconsciously to the energetic beats, and the queasiness in her stomach was replaced with fervent excitement. It felt like she were in one of those indie concerts! She'd thought she would never experience something like that ever again!

For a moment, Hope completely forgot about the cave. "Woo!! Go, Mad Maw!!" She cheered gleefully, hands brought into uproaring applause. She didn't know Mad Maw could play this well; where was all this during the ruins? "You see her, Iberies? You see her, Renee?" Through arched eyes, she craned her neck to look at the two, "Did you see-" Her praise trailed off once she spotted the searing red energy blazing off Renee and the wispy, purple chaos that quivered apprehensively around Iberis. [Sixth-Sense Chaos - F]. Then her eyes locked onto the group of slimes closing around them, and the gravity of the situation quickly settled back in. "Oh...right..."

Maybe there was still a chance for diplomacy. "Um, and if that music doesn't suit your fancy, miss, maybe if you let us meet up with our friends, we can all work out something together?" Hope offered to the slime leader, "You said you got folk down there too, right? Don't you want to see what they found? I know everyone else here does." Her eyes glowed a bit brighter as iridescent magic channeled into her vision, searching the monster for any indicator of what she was truly planning. [Scrying Eyes - E]. Meanwhile, she ran her fingers nervously over her catalyst, anxiously awaiting feedback from her spell.

Spoiler: Abilities Used

• Scrying Eyes - Appraisal F + Magic Range F + Magic Targets F + Empathy F + Sixth Sense (Chaos) F + Affinity F (Chaos) + Insight F + Magic E - Hope utilizes all of her awareness skills to determine a target's true intentions. Does not reveal thoughts. Works up to 10ft and up to two targets. - Grade E - 1 post cooldown

 

[Skyhunter]

Dark Cave


Renee Nyx

​

Renee sighed deeply while her eyes closed once she heard Madeline speak with these strange dung slimes around them, was that what they were called? Oh gods no... Renee's eyes opened up when Mad Maw spoke of Renee burning them all if need be. It wouldn't go that way if Mad Maw wasn't so... Herself. Renee was already regretting bringing this stupid little hyena along. When she began to play on her little instrument, Renee wanted to snatch her lute and destroy on the spot. Even burn the Gnoll in the process for doing such a stupid thing in this situation, the witch brought a hand up to her face and took a deep breath. Then Hope cheered on the Gnoll, which made Renee roll her eyes and get a little frustrated with the two. " Yes I see her, Hope... " Renee sounded unhappy, she had a feeling that all of this was going to go sideways.

​

These strange slimes stared at the party without moving, their faces all full of confusion as the hyena began to play her music. They all looked at each other then back before they began to clap at the music, " That waz amazin'. Not bad. " The female looking slime cheered. " More, we want more! " They called. Renee sighed; she could not believe that actually worked. " We 'aven't 'eard music in a lung time. We want more! " They demanded. And there it was, they wanted more. Renee tried to gain their attention, but they didn't acknowledge her, they just stared at Mad Maw with anticipation for more. Renee looked at Iberis and Hope, " I think we can go without them noticing. " Hope would be able to see that they wouldn't do anything to them now, previously they were most likely attack them, but now they just wanted music and were full of excitement. They were distracted, Renee looked at Madeline, " Keep playing for them, we'll see if we can find Dahak. " Renee looked at Iberis and Hope, " If you want to stay here go ahead, but I am going after Dahak. " Renee began to walk, moving pass the slime looking opponents that didn't even see her.

But as Renee stepped further down the cave, she would hear more squishing and movement just for new slimes to appear, blocking their way. Renee huffed seeing them move slowly, ready to wall them off. " Crap. Iberis. Should we blast our way through? " Renee asked pulling out her journal. The witch looked backwards at the main figurehead who was still mesmerized by Madeline. " Maddy, be a dear and keep them entertained. " If the Gnoll allowed the slimes to come back from their hypnosis, the witch would most likely burn Mad Maw after getting her and Iberis away. Renee called to the Gnoll as she stared at the slow-moving slimes moving towards them. Renee huffed looking forward seeing the slimes, they were about twenty feet away from Renee and slowly made their way towards the group. Then Renee would hear her name faintly being screamed, Renee perked up as her eyes glowed red, " Get out of our way. " Renee growled as she was beginning to cast a spell, " Iberis, cast a spell, I'll cast one after you. " Renee commanded.

Flesh Caverns


Dahak
​

Dahak chuckled at Kalina's freakout, " It is fresh to see you lose your composure, vampire. I can offer this witch great power. " Dahak's head turned to the young witch, laughing at her naivety. " No, I am not dead. I would have been if I wasn't helped by a power-hungry witch. I am still alive. Somewhere in the Eastern Empire. " His eyes looked over at Kalina after saying that, she would get the feeling he was smiling under his mask to taunt her and make her seek him out. " I'll just remember all this later on. " The necromancer looked back to Scylla who tried telling him what to do, which made Dahak shake his head, " Actually, not another word out of you. " Dahak pointed at the witch, " You are nothing more than a novice at spellcasting, i suggest you heed my words. " Dahak said with a cold tone, " The way to find the witch with the tome is to escape this dump. Meaning to go up. " Dahak cackled a bit evilly and stepped away as the strange monstrous horror appeared.

​

The slug looking horror squirmed about as it came ever closer, it laid about twenty feet away from the two, twisting its head around as its tentacles and maws opened up. The slug looked in Kalina's direction, " Foooood? " It asked as it began to squirm closer but then it suddenly stopped hearing Scylla scream, it roared, " FOOOOOOOOOOOD! " Then charged forward with incredible speed, its maw opened widely, increasing in size as the maw wrapped around Scylla and completely devoured her without chewing. Its large maw closed as it swallowed Scylla whole. Scylla within would begin to roll deeper into the throat of this creature, being covered in slime as she could feel the slime cover her up, it would begin to irritate her skin as the inside skin would wrap around her and pull her deeper into the belly of the beast. " Foooooood... " The creature grumbled with a satisfied tone while it raised its head and neck high for Scylla to fall deeper inside. Kalina wouldn't be able to really see Scylla through the skin of the creature, but she would be able to hear Scylla's screams. Muffled.

Dahak even appeared beside Kalina looking up at the creature as it devoured Scylla, " What a shame. She should have kept her mouth shut. Ah well. Another annoying pest gone. What a terrible way to go. " Dahak had his hands behind her back as he stared up at the vore happening before them. Dahak chuckled a bit at this scene before shaking his head. " Do what you can to try and save her. Well, we both know that won't happen. You'll fail her just like you failed everyone else at Kananto. Especially the little furry annoyance and Garrett. Even that priest you disliked oh so much. " Dahak turned his head to look at Kalina, taunting her. The creature luckily was now in a state where it couldn't attack while it was feeding. Kalina's appraisal would come back, this creature had very thick skin with F grade Blight saliva, the large creature was slow unless provoked with loud noises in which would charge at a fast pace but grow incredibly slower. Kalina would shoot her crossbow at the maw of the beast, her bolt would enter it's mouth that ended up sticking into the top of it's mouth, the creature screeched in pain while shaking it's head, flailing it's tentacles around, turning it's head in the direction of where it got fired at. It lowered it's head and began slowly moving towards where it got fired. "Now you've done it. " Dahak chuckled, the creature was leaking acid and brown blood as it dropped on the ground.

Scylla within would see nothing but darkness within, she would only hear the squishing and slime of this creature devouring her, Scylla could still move but she would notice she was falling down headfirst as gravity was pushing her. She could barely reach her catalyst as it was. The young witch would feel herself now laying on her back while being pulled deeper into the belly of the beast.

 

[Elvario]

Chandra Jarmil
​

Mentions: Scylla RavenSong | Dahak Skyhunter

Annoyance was the key emotion Kalina felt at this point. To be laughed at by that foul necromancer annoyed her greatly. Oh, how she wished she could just tear him apart limb by limb. His claim to still be alive was even more annoying, but it also gave her the nice prospect of hunting him down. However, she didn't believe his thinly veiled suggestion that Renee might've helped him. Her sister was obsessed, but surely not to the degree to work together with filth like this. Surely his sister was better than that. She didn't believe this filth. She didn't want to believe it. The vermin was just trying to get her angrier and more agitated so that she'd act recklessly. Surely that was all there was to it.

She sighed, trying to refocus and regain some sense of composure. She'd just managed to do so when she saw Scylla gobbled up in a flash. That... pretty much shocked her. She hadn't known the witch for long, but she knew Scylla was too good to be gobbled up by this snail-like thing. Besides, she'd yet to taste the witch's blood. Considering there were still sounds coming out of the snail, it was possible Scylla could be taken out alive. With a quit sigh, Kalina settled on her course of action. It was worth a shot. She ignored the necromancer. For one, he wasn't worth replying too. Secondarily, she didn't want to make any sounds as this snail-thing clearly being drawn to them.

Her bolt had managed to strike true. Even though it had thick skin and had some really gross blight saliva it wasn't invisible. If it bled, it'd die. She'd make sure of that. She wasn't scared or surprised when the creature was heading towards her. Instead, she smiled. “I'll gut you like I'll go and gut Dahak...” She uttered silently under her breath. She imagined this thing to be Dahak, which made her all the more eager to cut it down and gut it open.

Despite her rising bloodlust, she was well aware of the fact that she'd need to play this carefully, lest she end up in the same situation as Scylla. As the creature was heading in her direction, she quickly and silently withdrew from her previous position. Without a sound, she prepared for a [Sneak Attack] against this creature, going around it to attack it from behind as it was slowly crawling towards where Kalina had previously been. She had full faith in her ability to move silently enough for this creature not to notice her move around it.

That said, she she didn't wish to risk piercing Scylla, so she jammed her rapier through its head, above where she last heard the Scylla-noises coming from from within the creature. She'd follow the sneak attack up with a second attack, this time using a [Piercing Strike] to jam her rapier through whatever seemed to be where this creature's brain or ears might be, whichever she could locate first. Either she'd kill it or she'd deafen it. Both would be good enough. That said, Kalina was still royally pissed off at Dahak, so whilst she was at it, she'd continue by trying to cut off it's tendril-like appendages with a regular attack from her rapier. Either she'd torture it a bit more or those tentacles were the senses it used to get around. Both options were good enough for her to pursue them.

B Grade CD's (0/4)

• Sneak Attack: – Appraisal D, Darkvision F, Stealth B, Concealment F – Character uses their stealth and concealment to stay hidden while using their appraisal and darkvision to find the best moment of opportunity to suddenly strike at a target from the shadows, making it much more difficult to dodge or counter the attack. - Grade B – 4 Post Cooldown.

E Grade CD's (01)

• Piercing Strike: – Fighting Style [Precision Strikes] E, Accurate F, Penetrating F – Character attempts to pierce through an opponent's armour with their strike. [Accurate] - the technique makes it so the target's speed is treated as though it were reduced by 1 letter grade. [Penetrating] - weapon can ignore armours of similar or lesser grades and still hurt target. - Grade E – 1 Post Cooldown.

 

[Garbage Pail Kid]

M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠d̶̡̲̗̼̮̤̤̳̲͖͓͍̓̎̽́̽̏̐͂̆͆͘͘͘ M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠ẃ̸̝̝̰͋͒

Skyhunter The Last Curse TheTimePiece​

---

Mad Maw knew she had the capacity to play for the great annals of apocrypha and oblivion; weaving dissonant sounds into wild and energetic melodies that could drive soldiers into pushing that final inch or giving a chef the final manic inspiration for his dish; To see her music so hungrily consumed and enjoyed by both her friend and these slimey friends of hers. Her performance hardly tiring her out so of course she could play more for them! It was one of the first audiences she truly had and she was enjoying it as much as they were. His legs hiking up high as she rolled her top hat down one arm and flipped it back on her scraggily ears with the other. Her skills of showmanship showing as the rest of her group started used this opportunity. If Hope tried to lag behind for MM's sake, she would see the wildling shake her head and wave her hand dismissively toward Renee.

"Oh you poor creatures, barred from the likes of music and song? Of course this one would be glad to give you an encore!"

She went with a far less sensical piece this time around; it was one of her favorites and while Renee had long since tired of it's wild orchestration. She knew that the slimes would likely enjoy it for all it's chaotic worth. Her eyes lighting up behind her goggled eyes as she started to kickstep in beat to the music that she started to play. The lyrics she started to sing making no sense but having a rhythm to the sound as she started to pick up it's pace. Mad Maw sidestepping and leaving behind a clone of herself that started to wildly dance in an absurd manner. The music starting to pick up in beat and chaos and while the clone didn't match her features entirely, it still did her choreography all the while she played and sang. Mad Maw starting to skip around The Queen Slimer herself as she started to make straight up noises and cackles in-between the faster and faster cranking of her instrument [Performance D] [Madness Affinity F]. A mote of possibility flaking off her performance as she felt [Lucky]

"Ai forzen dibzadon reez dingy dong gon gon reedbareedbadee HA Ha Ha HAAAA"

Spoiler

 

[RavenSong]

Scylla stopped in her tracks when Dahak belittled her abilities. Her bottom lip quivered, as she did her best to hold back tears. Stomping the ground she shouted,“Y-you take that back! I’m a really REALLY good spellcaster!” She shook her fist at the abominable Necromancer apparition. Quickly noting that he actually gave her directions for which to follow next. But little did the witch know, that the slug beast creeping up on them was in fact hyper sensitive to loud noise.

As it squirmed towards her using some kind of echo-location the creature zoomed in for the kill. Scylla gasped, in a desperate attempt to keep the monster at bay, raised her foot straight into its mouth. Barely pulling away, it ate her shoe first, but then quickly got a hold of her and began to devour the helpless witch whole. Clawing desperately at the cobbled and fleshy ground, “Chandra!! Help!” She screamed as she struggled, but then sighed, giving up altogether, shutting her eyes. “Oh.. whats the use?” Holding her breath as she went into its stomach with a 'thump'.

Once inside the belly of this slimey monster, Scylla began to feel herself being digested, perhaps it was the digestive fluids, but her skin began to burn. Suprisingly the monster wasn’t exaclty all fluid inside, she could still breathe but was up to her neck in gross-mess. “Chandra! Can you hear me?!” She called as she be reached for her short staff while pushing against the walls of the creatures stomach.

“Yuck!” She exclaimed disgustedly as she reached further into the pool of bile. When she finally reached her catalyst, “aha! There you are!” She muttered. Picking up the magical staff, she began an incantation, twirling her fingers as elemental fire mixed with wind, creating a fiery vortex. Effectively immolating the creature from the inside.

• Flaming Twisters- Magic Affinity E- Wind Affinity F - Fire Affinity F - Magic Range E - Duration magic F (1 minute) - Energized E - Scylla's short staff comes to life emitting magical power. She mutters the name of the ability before black clouds form above their targets and with a final swipe of her staff, tornadoes come rushing upon targets. - Grade E - 0 post Cooldowns

 

[TheTimePiece]

Iberis
​

Iberis was quite relieved to see that Madmaw had gotten back to it so soon when the slime like beings wanted more music, frankly she wasn't surprised the music had been quite the spectacle as she claimed in Iberis's opinion. Just the same it was a large stressor that had just been metaphorically lifted off of her chest, now that she knew that they weren't going to have to throw down with the leader at least, as she was uncertain what sort of abilities they had but she was more than happy not finding out. She also found it rather endearing when Hope was so excited to see Madmaw performing earlier, as she gave her a smile.

"Yeah I can see her!" She'd say back happily. "You Got this Madeline!" She was fairly involved in watching but did somber some when Hope did, and nodded in agreement to what she had to say. This was until she heard Renee speak up, and say that they could go without them noticing, she nodded and stayed near Renee following her moves for the time being, hoping that Hope was going to follow. She had no intention of staying and listening to the rest of the show when there was work to be done.

"I"ll come too." She said with intentional constraint in the volume of her voice. She was also in agreement that they should get moving as she found herself carefully moving down the cave area with Renee, quite glad that the slimes didn't seem to be noticing them in the slightest even with their movement away. She hoped that the leader would consider the music to be toll enough and there wouldn't need to be further conflict. She was a bit surprised when more of the things started to appear and seemingly want to close them off however, gripping her staff yet again, it was a bit of a habit for the young witch in these tense situations. When Renee asked her she looked back a bit nervously before nodding in agreement that they probably should, even with the potential consequence. She had faith that between them they could take on all of these slimes if need be.

A glint of determination appeared in her eyes as she heard Renee give the order.

"On it Renee."

She moved to the rightest side of the space, and forward to get into range.

Iberis moved her staff around once more this time in the zig zag pattern towards the top as red energy began to build with her movement, before she attempted to target their slimey roadblock with a bolt of energy in it's general direction.

• Energy Bolt- Magic Affinity E Arcane Affinity F, Magic Range F, Magic Targeting F, Energized E, Focus E -A more refined more powerful variation of Mana strike, Iberis sends forth a bolt of energy to strike a single target up to 10 ft away. Grade E - 0 Post Cooldown (Energized)

RavenSong Garbage Pail Kid Elvario Skyhunter The Last Curse

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter Garbage Pail Kid Elvario TheTimePiece RavenSong ​

Eyes staring intently at the empty space above the monsters' heads, Hope was afraid of what she'd see next. She wondered, what if the slimes didn't like Mad Maw's music? What if they really did want to fight? Her pupils shrank at the thought of yet another confrontation, but then she saw the familiar, yellow energy seeping from the leader slime, and her ears picked up applause that wasn't her own. Hope almost gasped, "It's working!" She never expected monsters to have a taste in music, but here they were, demanding an encore like a fervent audience! Of course, Hope just had to smile. "Keep going, Mad Maw! They love it!" She whooped, starting another wave of applause herself, "Encore! Encore!'

Happily engrossed in Mad Maw's crazy tunes, Hope hadn't noticed Renee or Iberies slip past her. It was only until she heard the faintest vestige of a scream that she momentarily stopped her clapping. "Wait! Was that-" The words caught in her throat as her eyes finally saw the fight brewing between her two allies and yet another group of slimes, seemingly uninterested in Mad Maw's performance. At this distance, she couldn't see what mix-up of emotions had caused the fight, but it quickly dawned on her that it wouldn't matter now. Mama slime wouldn't be too happy to have her subjects killed, and Hope realized she and Mad Maw were standing right next to her.

Hope resumed her clapping, although the tininess of her eyes betrayed whatever cheerfulness she attempted to show. "Oh god, oh god, what do I do? What do I do?!" Hope screamed internally, gazing about the cave for some sort of clue. She couldn't sneak away now, not with her hands joined in on applause and definitely not without Mad Maw behind her! But if she stayed, Hope hadn't a doubt the slimes would turn on her - right after beating Mad Maw first. She couldn't let that happen. She had to do something!

"Wait, I know!" She thought, clasping her hands around her catalyst. Then, she closed her eyes and channeled her chaos into the shadows surrounding her, long tendrils of iridescent mana seeping into the darkness and molding it into a pair of levitating, ethereal hands [Umbral Reach]. Hope floated one over to Mad Maw, giving a noticeable poke on the shoulder, the other floating above her, empathetically waving goodbye to the leader slime. "Um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Slime, but we've really got to get this show on the road," She said meekly, "But don't worry! If we see you on the way back, I'm sure MM'll be happy to give you another song!" As Hope backed away, the hand prodding at Mad Maw rested on the gnoll's shoulder, ushering her backward. Meanwhile, the other stuck out its pinkie. "I-I promise! Uh, pinkie promise?"

Oh, had she hoped her magic would save her this time.

Spoiler: Abilities Used

• Umbral Reach - Magic Range F + Affinity F (Shadow) + Magic Targets F + Magic E + Affinity F (Chaos) - Hope conjures a floating, solid shadowy hand that can be used to grab objects from a distance, manipulate items, and all other actions a hand can do. Can be controlled for up to 10ft, and up to two hands can be created. - Grade E - 1 post cooldown

 

[Skyhunter]

Dark Cave

​

With Mad Maw's skipping about and "singing" the slimes were still intrigued with her music, smiling and clapping, although while they were mesmerized their eyes showed that they were trying to break out of the spell they were under. " More! More! " The large female slime called, although something was pretty amiss about the entire situation. Although the music would begin to somewhat make the cave rumble, Mad Maw would look up and see that there were stalactites overhanging throughout the ceiling of the cave. They were massive and sharp looking, as Madeline played her music, the massive spikes were shaking caused by the previous rumbling. Must have been happening farther in the cave, there was distant roaring of pain. Although while it looked like Mad Maw had them under control, Hope's hands distracted the slime, explaining they were leaving then snapped her out of it. The female shook her head and fell out of Madeline's spell. " Wh-what? O-Oi! You're on the menu ladies! " The large female slime yelled as she waved her large dung staff in the air.

​

A large splash of gooey water that smelled of feces swept over both Mad Maw and Hope, washing them away towards the entrance of the cave, the waves were quick and slammed the two into a pillar in the cave with enough force that made them exhale their breath. As they fell to their knees after the wave of shit mellowed, large spikes from above the two fell all around the two, stabbing the ground with a lot of force, the two would find themselves about 60 feet away from the rest of the group as now Iberis and Renee were taking on all the Dung Slimes. There was three in front of the two witches and now had four turn on them from behind.

Renee Nyx
​

Renee smirked watching Iberis cast her magic, firing an energy bolt at the nearest slime, her arcane magics pelted the slime in which disintegrated the slime in its place, causing it to turn to ash, dust and dry feces. It did not emit any sound, but it definitely looked painful as the slime quickly spasmed around. Renee witnessed this and had a smirk on her face as her eyes were glowing a dark red, pulling her journal out as it floated into her hand, Renee looked at the slime in front of her as it lumbered towards her. Renee looked at the slimes around her, turning her head she would see that the slimes were now aware once more and that a wave of shit had swept both Hope and Madeline away, Renee's anger was something to fear at this point. " Useless! " Renee growled deeply, she now saw the situation they were as it was dire. They were not tanky people, rather fragile as they were mages. Renee clenched her fists as she raised her hands conjuring magic from her journal. Five runes appeared on the ground, glowing with orange energy as out of each floated a blazing fireball. Renee's eye twitched with rage as then each of these fireballs flew to a different slime around them [Flaming Targets D.] Each slime burned around into ash as the only one left was the large female slime and one of her subjects that still lived. The queen looked a bit shook seeing Renee use her magic, Renee turned around to face the slime with anger in her eyes. The female slime pointed her staff ahead and released a torrent of rotten energy towards Renee and Iberis.

The witch Renee threw her hands out and emitted her own magic, pushing her own mana into the attack, holding it back from touching her and Iberis, Renee growled as this magic glowed, pushing it back, the clashing magics of dark green, and a bright blue caused a loud swooshing, the stalactites above them began to crack and sway as a lot of energy began to emit from this clash of magic. " Iberis! Quickly! Kill her! " Renee yelled over the loud sounds of clashing magics.

• Flaming Targets - D - Magic Affinity D, Energized D, Fire Affinity E, Magic Range E, Magic Targets E: Renee casts a fireball in the air that fires 5 balls of fire that fly at their target in a straight line up to 30 feet, burning them. - 1 Post Cooldown (0/1)

• Great Exploding Bolt - B - Magic Affinity B, Electric Affinity C, Magic Range D, Magic AOE F: Casting a stronger and more unstable bolt of lightning 100 feet away and exploding on contact that affects the area 10 feet out. - 4 Post Cooldown. (4/4)

Flesh Caverns


Dahak
​

With Kalian's empty threats, the necromancer chuckled, " I implore you to come try, little vampire. I'll show you how to work for blood. " Dahak backed away from the fight or feast he was about to witness, wanting to get a good view of it. As this massive slug quickly moved forward towards Kalina's position, it did not notice her walk on by, the slug even reared its head back like it was going to strike as it let out a growl just feet away from the wall. But then it did not attack and instead turned its head slowly to both sides and began growling around, it looked like it was using echolocation to try and find Kalina snapping its many jaws as the cries of Scylla could be faintly heard, which also blocked out Kalina's movements. As it turned it's head to Kalina's new position, she thrust her rapier through it's head where the beast roared loudly and pulled away, Kalina had pierced where its brain should have been but it looked like it was still alive, swinging its whole head and even body thrash around like a fish out of water. Kalina's attacks to swipe and cut it's tendrils from it's head caused Dahak to laugh as he appeared in front of the slug Kalina was attempting to kill. " Thinking of me? How adorable. I may have to keep you in cuffs when we meet again, that anger could be put to better uses, vampire. " Dahak shook his head, taunting and flirting with the vampire as he watched her slowly eviscerate the large acidic slug in front of them. This brash move to attack the slug while it squirm would be somewhat foolish as the slug swung its head at whatever was attacking it, Kalina would feel the brunt of a massive head slam into her body and send her flying to the side, where she hit the side of the large slug and flipped over its body, dropping her rapier about fifteen away from her, her rapier bounced off the flesh and rolled through the slimy excrete it emitted.

Dahak was standing where Kalina's rapier was at, kneeling down to look at it, " This little prick has made it this far huh? How adorable, you like playing with pricks it seems. " Dahak mocked the vampire as he stood up, laughing at his own jokes about the vampire who was hungry for blood. " I got one you'd be able to play with, Kalina. " Dahak chuckled evilly at the vampire as he stood there watching the scene. With Scylla being tossed around the stomach of this monster, she would hear it roaring and screaming while thrashing about, she was able to grab her catalyst in which it began to glow for a moment as fire burst through the slug's stomach and throat, Kalina would witness hot flames shoot from its maw as it lit the entire cave up, its pain filled screams were louder than before while it thrashed and bashed into the wall, the cave rumbling and moving, above them would be hanging stalactites that were easily moving about, Scylla would feel nothing but hot heat. But the flesh around her began to open up and she would move freely again, seeing the ceiling of the cave as her fire was melting its skin away and she could get out as the slug itself was thrashing and moving in pain, the flaming tornado still firing off powerful flames and burning the inside of this beast. While she was able to get out, it still wasn't dead.

 

[TheTimePiece]

Iberis
​

Events were developing rather quickly in that moment, so much so that Iberis had to think quickly on her feet. Thankfully it looked like her attack had been successful at getting rid of one of the hostiles. She realized then and there that she really ought to learn some multi targeting spells, when she saw what Renee was capable of, seeing the space light up aflame just like that, with the firey balls striking slimes all around them. She was once more awed by the display of magical might. However a look of concern fell on her face as it didn't take too long for her to see Madeline and Hope getting washed away by the now very aware leading slime, as all of them in the area had seemingly been alerted.

"Madmaw and Hope are!..."

She'd exclaim without thinking, she couldn't very well do anything to help them in that moment, not finishing her sentence a tone of dread in her voice, they'd have to deal with the wave themselves, and lingering on it any longer wasn't going to do too much. It was obviously that she was extremely concerned based on that alone, but she needed to refocus on the task at hand and do what she could do in this high action environment, completely unaware of the additional high stake combat activity that was going down with Scylla and Chandra. Frankly it was probably better she didn't see what Dahak was doing, it would only upset her to see that they were working with someone who was doing what he was at that moment from the taunting and general endangerment.

Seeing Renee get so serious was definitely an additional stressor nevertheless, the burning away multiples had bought them a window of time in that moment for her to act. She tensed her hands on her staff. She then looked towards the slime's leader and saw her casting towards them, Iberis was just about to make the gesture to cast her shield spell, on Renee so that she could step behind her if worse came to worse like she had with Scylla during the exams, until she saw Renee counter the energy assault that came from the slime leader and seeing the magic clash before her illuminate the space was an incredibly dynamic visual spectacle to behold. But she honed in quickly on the verbal command from Renee,

"I'm sorry but you've given me no choice, I won't let you eat my friends!"

She proclaimed with a steely look of conviction in her eyes once more, diligently moving her staff around in the zig zag shape once more to build up the magical energy, in place, the circular red symbols appearing before her which shifted before letting off a sizable stream of energy towards the slime, once again using one of her most powerful moves in her current arsenal, if it was good enough for the wolves hopefully it was good enough for this thing, aiming it towards the center. She might have attempted to cast her shield anyway in addition but it felt like she was too pressed for time with the perceived urgency from Renee's voice demanded swift and affirmative offensive action.


Energy Stream- Magic Affinity D, Arcane Affinity F, Magic Range E, Magic Targeting F, Energized D,Focus D- A more focused advanced attack than a simple Mana strike, Iberis focuses a red concentrated beam of energy from her staff to use offensively against a target up to 30 ft away,- Grade D - 1 Post Cooldown (Energized)

RavenSong Skyhunter Garbage Pail Kid Elvario The Last Curse

 

[Elvario]

Chandra Jarmil
​

Mentions: Scylla RavenSong | Dahak Skyhunter

Hearing Scylla's muffled cries from inside the slug-slime monster thing would've almost been funny. Almost, if it wasn't dangerous and if Kalina hadn't been so heavily agitated by Dahak. The snail using echo-location was surprising and annoying in equal measures. Her rapier being unable to finish it off was plain annoying. She took the counter-hit from the slug with a fair bit of ease. She was sturdy, had good armour and was able to regenerate in the worst-case scenario. The only annoyance was that her rapier had been ripped from her hand. For a second, her instincts wanted her to try going at it with her claws, but she managed to abstain from going fully feral.

This wasn't working. If she let this foul necromancer agitate her even further, she'd be unable to make clear-headed decision. When he started talking about pricks, however, she grinned. That's how she could clear out this frustration. Play the necromancer at his own game. Show him she wasn't scared of him and that his words didn't get to her. Prove that to herself while at it. With flames coming from the slug's mouth, it seemed like Scylla was still alive and getting closer to getting out of there. She also spotted the stalactites hanging around. Now there was a fun plan!

“Hurry up and get away from it!” She yelled at Scylla, as she noticed the witch become visible from within the slug thanks to burning straight through it. She'd give the witch a few seconds to get away, before firing her crossbow at the stalactites hanging above the slug, hoping the earlier fire had weakened them enough to drop down upon the slug and pierce it. That'd finish off one foul creature for good. “Are you okay?” She'd yell out to Scylla.

However, there was one more foul creature that needed to be dealt with. “You should tone it down a bit, as I'm afraid it sounds like your mother never taught you the difference between being a huge prick and actually having one. Whatever lump of lose flesh might be hanging off of that rotting corpse of yours, I suggest you go play with it by yourself, if you can find a set of tweezers small enough.”

That's right. She'd forgotten one simple thing. This foul creature wasn't worth taking serious. She only managed to get herself more frustrated with it, which wouldn't serve anybody. She'd simply toy with it as it toyed with her and enjoy ripping it to shreds later. That'd make things all the more pleasurable, wouldn't it? She'd settled on it. That'd be her way forwards, the manner with which she'd ensure she wouldn't lose her cool so badly again. As she walked over to pick up her rapier, she grimaced. “Man, I'm not sure which is worse. The shit my weapon dropped into or the shit standing besides it.” She tried picking it up and shaking off the worst parts in Dahak's direction.

She'd then make her way to Scylla to check up on the witch. “I'm already rather sick of this place. Let's figure out how to get the hell out of here.” We should hurry as well, as the screeching of this thing might've attracted more of its kind and I'm not eager to go for another round. Oddly enough, with the slime Scylla was covered in, this was a rare occasion where Kalina didn't even consider her a potential food-source. Instead... “I can't recall having felt this gross before and I'm not even the one that got swallowed.” She unsubtly and unintentionally rubbed it in.

She currently wasn't considering her reveal as a vampire to be a topic that needed addressing, as she was far more focused on getting the hell out of her. “Let's go up here. There might be an excited further above.” She said, looking towards what seemed to be a source of natural light. Leaving these flesh caverns behind would be her first priority. Then again, she wasn't sure what would wait them outside of these caves, so she wasn't exactly eager either.

 

[Garbage Pail Kid]

M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠d̶̡̲̗̼̮̤̤̳̲͖͓͍̓̎̽́̽̏̐͂̆͆͘͘͘ M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠ẃ̸̝̝̰͋͒

Skyhunter TheTimePiece The Last Curse​

---

Mad Maw could have gone on for quite awhile, but she could see that the charm of her performances were waning, and she couldn't understand that. What she didn't understand was why the two witches were still bumbling around ahead of them. This was not some busking job, and she doubted these slimes had any form of commence that made sense, or was it cents? Hope's attempt to get them out and close the gap between the group, accidentally got the queen upset, and while this wasn't the first time she got thrown off stage. It was the first time shit did it to her. Mad Maw slamming into the ground with a wet flop as he fur, and clothes were trashed. Her lonesome top hat rolling next to her. Well...shit. She never beat herself up over mistakes as they were as natural as breathing. It seemed not everyone shared her nature to 'move on'.

Useless!

Her ears perks as she razed her soaked face, feeling the eviscerating heat as Renee did her work so wholefully and abhorrently well. She had been jealous of the power she saw in Renee, but the more she spoke. That wagging incessant tongue drew more ire than envy since they arrived at the academy. Madeline planting her hands on either side of her body as she hoisted herself up from the filth. Hope hearing a grinding noise being so close to Mad Maw, realizing it was her teeth scraping against eachother. her hands squeezed so hard it caused her nails to dig into her palm. She didn't know if she ever felt anything quite like this. A real, genuine hatred.

"She said that to both of us, you know. Do you think you're useless? Cause I don't...and neither did Rogrim." She seethed

 

[RavenSong]

The more Scylla twirled her index finger the more flames channeled through the slimy slug monster. The heat intensified since the witch essentially created a furnace within the creature. As most of its stomach flesh was seared and then charred, it began to tear. The bile that was consuming her slowly like an irritating acid suddenly came gushing out of the roaring burning fiend.

She quickly jumped out, with an, “Oof!” As the slippery fleshy ground betrayed her balance and slipped landing on her butt.

The witch quickly reached back to pull her hat out of the monsters gaping hole. Putting the hat on her head with a most horrible sounding squishy sound she dashed towards Chandra,panting frantically as she held her gooey hat. Not daring to look back for even a glance. “Eeek! its coming after me, i know it, i know it! Kill it! Kill it! Hurry!” She’d slip occasionally, almost like ice skating from the viscous slime covering the soles of her pointed shoes. Yelping as she finally fell to her knees next to Chandra.

When Chandra fired up at the ceiling, the witch gasped, nearly crying out loud to ask why she’d purposefully missed, when she quickly realized her very observant action towards the mineral spikes dangling on the ceiling.

Covered in slime, and all matter of digestive fluids, she turned to look up at Chandra. Seemingly now having defeated this menacing abomination. Scyllas eye’s were full of silent terror as she struggled to make out any words. “I-i know what y-you’re thinking, 'M-me.. and my.. b-b-big.. mouth’! Right?” She’d put a hand over her franticly beating heart, panting, as she did her best to catch her breath.

The witch was shaken, but when Chandra made the insult about tweezers, she couldn’t help but begin giggling uncontrollably. She’d try to fight the giggle storm back, but maybe it was just that funny, or maybe the witch was just coping with the fact that she was nearly digested alive. So her mind was probably clinging to whatever bit of laughter it could find within this cursed place. "Pffft!! Whoahaha! Tweezers?! Really?!" The witch asked in astonished disbelief, leaning over on the ground holding her stomach.

After Chandra picked up her weapon and returned to her, her laughter had began to subside, the quest to find Renee, if she was in here would continue. “Yeah.." Wiping her laughing tears with her sleeve, "I’m over it too.” she said with a smile looking up at Chandra, before getting up and observing her slimy, gooey state. Then her gaze hastily turned to Chandra. “W-what?! I’m gross? You take that back!” She protested, as the witch pointed a slime covered finger at her companion, but then took a second take at her outfit, “Aww.. i JUST washed these robes..” She complained as the witched attempted to get rid of the bigger blobs of slime off her clothes. “..Awgh! i guess you’re right though, i am a little gross, but YOU try coming out of a slug monster smelling like roses! Hmph!” She looked away, indignant.

She dropped the act however when Chandra announced their departure.

“Now, hopefully we can explore the rest of this cave in peace..” Her voice quickly dropping in volume, having learned her lesson to not be too loud. “..after you, oh fearless Chandra, my most beloved rescuer!” She resisted the urge to laugh at herself, “..i am forever in your debt..” She said, exaggerating her voice to fit the narration of her words, following behind her 'savior' “..how could i ever repay you crossbow wielding pale knight? Guardian of my life, slayer of the most gruesome, no, in fact the most stinky cave slug ever known?"

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter Garbage Pail Kid TheTimePiece Elvario RavenSong ​

Continuing to usher Mad Maw backward, Hope was beginning to think she was doing a good job. She hadn't a doubt the slime leader wouldn't be too happy to have its encore ceased, but if she got Mad Maw back to Renee and Iberies, she thought she'd at least be doing something helpful. Hope's eyes twinkled; maybe she was a bit too squeamish, and perhaps her magic wasn't all too great compared to the others, but if she could get this done, that'd have to mean she was just a bit competent, right? "Definitely!" Hope assured herself, "You've got this, Hope! You've-"

Whatever words she had left were quickly swept away by the sudden wave of filth, and so was whatever confidence. But before she could even comprehend what had happened, Hope felt herself crash into a pillar behind her, a dull pain erupting from her back and a putrid, familiar stench filling her nose. Immediately, her mind knew exactly what she was swamped with, and that's when Hope knew she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Oh god, I'm gonna-" She'd already turned her head to the side, and with an unceremonious retch, she emptied the contents of her stomach unto the cave floor.

She felt awful. She smelled awful. And with Renee's comment spat in her direction, Hope was sure she was awful. All she wanted to do was bring everyone together, yet here she was, achieving the exact opposite. Sniffling, she brought her legs closer to her chest and drew her eyes back to the battlefront. Of course, Renee and Iberies had complete control, Hope watching as their magic ravaged what slimes remained. That's when it hit her; she'd failed to prevent a fight, too.

Utterly dejected, Hope was considering if it'd be better if she did nothing at all. Maybe if she kept quiet and stuck close, everything would go by smoothly. The thought seemed so irresistible until she heard Mad Maw's voice somewhere next to her. Hope craned her neck over to the gnoll, half-expecting her to be bounding with jokes and giggles, but only a red aura was blazing off of her. Her eyes widened with shock; it'd just dawned on her that she'd never seen Mad Maw angry. Even her question had no humor, no double-entendre or euphemism in sight. "N-no..." She replied timidly, slowly bringing herself to her feet, "I'm not..."

Where'd this part of Mad Maw come from? Hope was still stumped. But, by all means, Hope knew she was right. She wouldn't have escaped those ruins if she were useless, nor would she be if she'd made it this far. It was because there was always something she could do, always something she could try, at the very least. Even if the result wasn't always peaceful. So, as she gripped her catalyst and stomped within range of the two remaining slimes, Hope figured maybe she should try a different approach.

Coalescing the shadows around her into an undulating veil, Hope swung her arm forward, releasing two dark projectiles at the slimes ahead of her [A Touch Of Bedlam]. "Fine! We'll do it your way then! Take this!"

Spoiler: Abilities Used

• A Touch of Bedlam - Affinity (Chaos) F + Magic Range F + Magic Targets F + Empathy F + Affinity F (Shadow) + Magic E + Fighting Style [Organized Chaos] - Hope sends a dark wave of perplexing chaos towards a target, leaving them confused for one post upon impact. Can hit up to two targets at a maximum of 10ft. - 1 post Cooldown - Grade E

 

[Skyhunter]

Dark Cave


Renee Nyx

​

With Renee keeping the head slime back from using her potent magic, the witch was smiling an evil one as she realized the danger she was in at the moment. This was exhilarating, she felt like she was being transported up to space, her skin was tingling, heart was racing, she loved the thrill of death although despised the consequences of her possibly being reincarnated elsewhere. In her mind she could faintly hear a familiar voice, her eyes widen a bit and smile fell. " Don't think you have gotten rid of me, foolish girl. " A raspy voice spoke to Renee softly, Renee's eyes looked up at the ceiling with worry for a moment before they became glaring daggers, Renee looked back to the slime in front of her as she was trying her best to push Renee's magic back which Renee was in the same boat. Iberis moved forward to unleash her own attack of arcane energy at the slime, her last remaining slime ended up throwing itself into Iberis' attack which obliterated it into ash and dust, the debris disappearing into the air as the last remaining slime held saddened eyes, the revelation of being the last slime of her people alive. The slime felt a wave of confusion come over herself as she looked around trying to find everyone seeing they had disappeared and the world around them twist around, she released her magic which allowed Renee's [Magic Affinity B] to blast the slime backwards. Causing the slime to roll backwards, Renee took a deep breath as she watched the final slime pick herself up.

The witch looked up at Hope and Mad Maw, " Looks like I was wrong about useless. Just sometimes useless. " Renee spoke as her eyes looked down at the head slime mage. The female spoke random phrases, but it sounded like she had surrendered and was begging for mercy. " Wai-wait! I surrender! Don't kill me like my children! " The slime cried. Renee's eyes glared daggers, she knew someone from her past was here, the witch figured she should show how much stronger she had grown. Renee stepped forward with her old master's journal floating beside her, Renee then used the book to conjure electricity in her arms, the witch then pointed at the slime as a massive blast of hot electricity fired out like beams of blue streaks in the air, connecting into the slime as she roared a painful scream as her body slowly disintegrated into ash and nothingness. [Great Lightning Bolt - B] Renee allowed her power to die off as there was nothing left. The witch looked up at the ceiling and gave a haunting smile. " I have improved much since our last meeting. " Renee whispered under her breath before she turned around to face Iberis, having a smile on her face. " Great job, Iberis. You have saved us this day. " Renee turned her head to Hope and Mad Maw, " Hope, is it? Good job on the disarray, she didn't even know what hit her. " Renee gave a thumbs up, turning around to face where the screaming came Renee huffed, " Let us continue. More people have arrived which will attract more Death Entities. We need to give them the same treatment of protection and find Dahak. " Renee looked to the group. " Let's move. " The witch commanded before looking back at Mad Maw, " Unless you have something to say, Madeline. " Renee stared at the Gnoll.

• Great Lightning Bolt - B - Magic Affinity B, Electric Affinity C, Magic Range D: Conducting electricity through her body, Renee fires a powerful shot of lightning that strikes the target from 100 feet away. - 4 Post Cooldown. (0/4)
• Flaming Targets - D - Magic Affinity D, Energized D, Fire Affinity E, Magic Range E, Magic Targets E: Renee casts a fireball in the air that fires 5 balls of fire that fly at their target in a straight line up to 30 feet, burning them. - 1 Post Cooldown (1/1)

Flesh Caverns




Dahak
​

Dahak stared at the vampire as she ripped into him about his own mother and having a small prick, in which Dahak laughed at the attempts of her so-called jokes just as Scylla had ignited the slug monster. " Good thing I haven't met my mother, otherwise I wouldn't have found the dark magics. But maybe you should have had one, otherwise you wouldn't be stuck in a realm of perpetual doom with me as your guide. " Dahak kept his cold gaze on the vampire as Dahak spread his arms out then bowing. " My prick is as good as any, if not better. Necromancy and having no lungs to breath makes the pumping last for as long as a woman can take it. " Dahak moved a bit closer looking over her body, " If anything, your body I'd say is lacking in any sort of curvature proportions while looking rather flat. Also, that tongue of yours makes your voice absolutely dreadful to listen to. " Dahak shook his head, " I can hear now why your sister left. " Dahak clicked his tongue a few times looking at her, " Perhaps turning around too may make yourself more attractive as well, wouldn't want to see that petrifying face. " Dahak's tone was playful but had a hint of malice, he even leaned his body out to look behind Kalina, at her assets. The necromancer then shrugged, " You'd have to do till a better replacement is found. " Dahak let out a sigh of disappointment. " Wanna keep going love? " Dahak asked with massive sarcasm on his voice.

Dahak's head turned to Scylla who came up talking about tweezers and giggling at Kalina's joke. " My darling if you had any brain cells you would know what tweezers were. Your only redeeming factor is your pretty enough. Nothing more. The rest of my words would go right above your head. " Dahak was laughing at his own jokes, he was honestly rather enjoying this entire exchange. With the large monstrous slug now dead Dahak turned his head looking up at a pathway that led up a few flights of stones sticking out similar to stairs that led to an entrance above. " You may be able to get out of here there. " There was then squishing noises, Dahak turned his head and huffed, " I suggest you hurry before more unspeakable horrors show up. " Dahak stated looking at the two, " Right, Chandra? " The necromancer chuckled at the name, " What a terrible name. " Dahak would disappear then reappear above them at their way out, staring down at them with his hands behind his back. Behind the witch and vampire in disguise, past the burning and stabbed slug there would noises approaching them with sounds of groans that sounded similar to slop hitting the floor. Whatever it was it sounded numerous and close. " k k k k k k itttt. " It cried out to anyone that would hear it. If they wanted to find out what it was, they could stay otherwise they could climb up to where Dahak was. There were also strange tubes that came out of the fleshy substance beneath them that lead up to the entrance that could be easier to climb.

 

[Elvario]

Chandra Jarmil
​

Mentions: Scylla RavenSong | Dahak Skyhunter

Kalina couldn't help chuckle a little at Scylla freaking out with a gooey hat in hand. “Don't worry, it's already dead.” She was a bit surprised at Scylla blaming herself for having a big mouth. “Not exactly, I was just thinking of how happy I am that I'm not the one covered from top to bottom in slime goop. I wonder if that stuff will even wash out. Besides, the trick is not coming out of these things without smelling, the trick is to not get swallowed by them in the first place~” She felt a little sympathy for the witch's unfortunate fate, although part of it was oddly funny. How peculiar. She didn't expect the rage she felt towards Dahak and this situation to allow room for something like that.

That 'room' only grew larger when Scylla laughed at her snap-back at Dahak. It gave her a fair bit of confidence that she could play Dahak at his own game, without letting the rage consume her. That said, even covered in gross slime, Scylla's odd act of gratitude made her grin with a hint of... evil? She was pretty sure that Scylla was onto her already, she was a little clumsy, but she wasn't all that stupid, right? It's why Kalina figured she could play a joke at it, but perhaps also test her chances while at it. She gave Scylla a clearly fanged smile. “Didn't you hear what our buddy Dahak told you? I'm a scary vampire. I'm sure you can figure out how to properly rewards a vampire~” She then covered her fangs again. “Well, once you're no longer reeking of cave slime from top to bottom, at least~”

That left Dahak to deal with. The dude was going all out now. Well, two could play that game. It'd give Kalina something to do whilst heading out of this gross cave. “Oh, I'm sorry buddy, I didn't know you had such severe mommy issues. No wonder you ended up this fucked-up. At least for me, it's only the place I'm in that's fucked up, not what's on the inside.” She outright laughed when he started to talk about his prick. “Oh man, that's a good one. I've never heard a man with actually decent equipment brag about his dick before. You know what they say, right? The more the talk about how great they are, they more they're just compensating for their inability to deliver.”

Somehow, she managed not to flinch as the vermin started circling around her. “My body's exactly fine as it is. If vermin like you were attracted to it, I'd be more concerned. Besides, don't you know basic biology? It's not the tongue that decides ones voice tone, but the throat, chest and most specifically the vocal chords. You'd think after having spent so much time digging through corpses, you'd at least have learned a little anatomy.”

She ignored the part about Renee. After all, it was a lie. Renee hadn't left her, they'd just split up for a while. There was nothing weird or wrong about that. “Petrifying, you say? Why, thank you~ I'm absolutely flattered I've such an impression on you that your real body would be petrified by fear when I come around to casually tear that rotting corpse of yours apart sooner or later.”

She raised an eyebrow when he mentioned her fake name. “Insulting names now? You're not the brightest light, are you? If you already have to default to something like that.”

That said, there was one point he was pretty correct on. It seemed in their best interest to get out of her sooner, rather than later. As she heard the sounds of whatever else had been drawn to them. “Let's pick up the pace and hurry up out of here. We've made enough friends in this cave already. I'm not eager to meet more.” She said, gesturing Scylla to hurry along and pick up the pace.

 

[TheTimePiece]

Iberis
​

Iberis hadn't been expecting the slime to throw itself in front of it's leader just like that, it made her wonder for a moment just how sentient these beings were, but she didn't have time to think about it for very long. Part of her was a bit displeased that her magic attack hadn't been strong enough to pierce the slime to the leader of the group. After casting her spell she headed back to take a stand near Renee once more , backing up carefully still in the best combat stance she could muster. Of course Iberis was unaware of the ongoing dialogue in that was exclusive to Renee. But she did look back at the slime leader for now pleaded for its life. A part of Iberis almost felt bad for what she knew was to follow next but by the same notion, she felt hardened by the fact that the they had given the slimes music and the opportunity to allow them peaceful passage for payment by it, it seemed like they had greatly enjoyed it, if the leader had just let them through this could have all been avoided. If they weren't willing to show them mercy and still wanted to eat them after peace negotiations , why should they show them mercy? Was all Iberis could really think at that point.

She wasn't about to make her own value judgement known on the usefulness as she believed right along in what Hope and MadMaw could achieve, for now she remained quiet. She was happy to see that Renee backtracked some on the previous comment as it seemed more accurate to her anyway. Iberis did not turn away when Renee started to charge up the great magical power which she had before she fired forth the electrical attack. which lead to blue streaks in the air, once again feeling like she was following the right person around if it led to power like this, it only further excited her for the object they were going to retrieve that would empower the coven. She also did not look away from the slime as it was destroyed, instead she looked with great interest indeed, that's what happened to those who got in Renee's way. She looked towards the witch when she smiled, and praised her once more. It was this praise that drove her along and kept her going for the time being.
"Thanks, you were amazing like usual Renee.." She responded matter of fact.
"Uh Everyone's all right, right? yeah great job everyone, that was a really dicey situation, Your performance was great Madeline, I just wish they let us through.. and hope that was cool back there too not sure how you do it, but like Renee said we should probably get going to meet those new arrivals, that's why we came down here to begin with.." As she got ready to get a move on like Renee said hoping that things wouldn't escalate further in the group as she did get a sense of some sort of tension.

Elvario Skyhunter The Last Curse RavenSong Garbage Pail Kid

 

[Garbage Pail Kid]

M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠d̶̡̲̗̼̮̤̤̳̲͖͓͍̓̎̽́̽̏̐͂̆͆͘͘͘ M̶̧͚̪͉̯̜̰͎̘̀͋̇̀͗̍́͆̑̏͂̿̊̚ǎ̴̯̀͠ẃ̸̝̝̰͋͒

Skyhunter The Last Curse TheTimePiece​

---

Mad Maw felt that strange presence once again; a flicker of stars consuming her form, but unlike before. It was a conscience manifestation, something she willingly flipped. Hope hadn't seen it before, but it was the same trigger she's had when using her magic. What she thought was holding it back. She supposed she had never been angry enough to want to kill someone, at least, in this life. It surprised her that Renee had made her this angry, but nobody gets quite on her nerves like someone who is crazy in completely different ways. The execution of the final slime ending the conflict for the time being as Mad Maw weighed her options. She didn't like her chances against Renee, and knew objectively it would last twelve seconds if she were lucky, but the maniac she had become couldn't help but love those odds. It was what spooked big witchy after all; that...what if. It was enough to bring back a smile as Renee questioned her directly. What did she care? All she had to do in this world, was whatever she wanted.

Spoiler

She couldn't chance Hope getting caught in the crossfire, or worse, helping her.

"Other than you are a hot head? That was the best crowd this one has had in ages and you smite them. Tsk Tsk."

Mad Maw calmed down as her distorted form dissipated, looking over the scorch marks that once were her most adoring fans before bobbing her head in agreement to Iberis "Well thank you~ This one takes pride in her work. Violence will only get you so far. For a witch, she handles things like a brute huh?" Madeline questioned with a snicker, passing Renee with and stick of her tongue, belying the animosity that was now growing between them. Her posture less warbly and stilted as she still seemed upset. It was the best her mood was going to get.

"Maybe our new friends aren't dead yet! It's much more fun making them your friend when they are alive pfft-"

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter Garbage Pail Kid TheTimePiece Elvario RavenSong ​

Watching her magic hit its target, opening the remaining slime for Renee's counterattack, Hope's arms fell limply at her sides. She felt a wave of strange satisfaction flood her as the monster rolled away, easing the frustration building behind her eyes. None of this would've happened if it'd just let them leave, Hope thought. If only it'd shared just a shred of empathy, she wouldn't have been forced to defend herself! Now the slime didn't look so dignified anymore; it was alone - weak! And now, as she drew nearer, her hands balling up into tight fists, it was begging for its life.

Hope felt a knot twist in her stomach. Then she peered down at her clenched hands, gasping in shock and quickly unraveling them. What was she doing? What had gotten into her? This was all meant to go peacefully, so why'd she attack? Maybe she was just defending herself, but that couldn't have excused that shameful feeling! Or the fact she'd wanted more. She shrunk back as if trying to escape from herself, "Oh..Oh, God. What have I done?" Maybe she could fix this. If she let the slime go, perhaps she'd be redeemed. She knew Mad Maw would understand, and though Renee and Iberies would need a little bit of convincing, they'd come to an agreement too. After all, this had to be the right thing to do. Hope was sure of it.

But then again, Renee's magic did the talking before she could. Hope shielded her eyes as a bolt of lightning coursed through the monster, reducing it to dust. She was just this close, and yet again, she failed. Hope felt her eyes start quivering, even more so as Renee began to dish out her 'compliments.' She hadn't even apologized. She'd said she was sometimes useless. Would this have been one of those times, Hope wondered? Would she have been useless if she'd tried bargaining with the monster? Knowing the answer, Hope faced Renee, "Yeah, thanks! I'm glad this is the one time I can be helpful, Renee!" She seethed, "Maybe next time, I'll try not to screw everything up, okay?"

She felt even worse than she did before. Ashamed, Hope directed her gaze to the floor, closing her robe around her, "I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-" She took a few steps back, placing herself behind the team. Right where she belonged, she thought. "L-Lets... Let's just go..." She peered up at Mad Maw and Iberies and attempted to fit some humor in her voice, "Hey, after so long, those new guys are probably gonna want to eat us too, right?" She still couldn't even find it in herself to fake a chuckle. She knew she'd find a way to mess that up, too.

 

[RavenSong]

Dahak wasn’t exactly amused by Scylla’s giggling, in fact he almost seemed to take offense, going as far as to insinuate she was stupid. “Hey! That’s not very nice, I’m actually very smart, I just need to work on my courage a bit, thats all.” she said, before coming up to her feet, cleaning herself up as best she could before addressing the necromancers shade's distaste with an accusing finger. “..and of course I know what tweezers are! Furthermore, I know exactly what Chandra meant..” winking at Dahak with a smirk Scylla made a ‘tiny’ gesture with her fingers. “..this is what she meant. Mhm, an Itty bitty in your pants! Hmph! Take that! Mr. SINGLE cell organism.” She chuckled, deviously, amused with herself.

Turning around, she referred to Chandra.

“Y-yes.. right.. it’s dead. Of course. I knew that.” the witch nodded, assuring herself as she chuckled nervously. “..I.. I failed! But at least I didn’t die, that’s got to count for something, right?” She asked, searching Chandras face for something comforting. Shifting her weight to the side a bit as she attempted to regain some confidence. But just as she was coming to grips with the fact that she was almost eaten, or well, digested alive, Chandra rubbed her miserable state in further. "Ugh, you're laughing at me now lady, but you'll do something silly someday and, and.. I'll be there, you'll see.." She said as she shivered with discomfort as the slimy stuff began to crust. She'd take her hat off and shook it, making goop fly about everywhere. "..first thing I'll do when I get to the academy is washing these clothes and taking a big bubbly bath! This is so lame! Totally not how I planned my day to go." Placing her hat back atop her head. She slowly paced along with Chandra.


----

For all her apparent aloofness, Scylla had been trying to get her companion to mention something relating to who she was, she couldn't help but wonder about all of the mysteries she appeared to conceal. For the amount of time in the Marshes and now here it felt like she knew very little about her, other than perhaps the fact that she could change her appearance, and a few little details here and there.

It seemed she got more than she expected however, when Chandra sarcastically referred to herself as a 'scary vampire' and revealing her fangs for a moment only confirmed her words, and disproved the vampires sarcasm. Scylla gasped. "S-so it is true! You really are-" then her voice became a whisper, "A vampire." The sudden fear, lead to confusion which then made way for curiosity. Something about this revelation suddenly seemed rather, exciting, perhaps it was the thrill of the unknown, or the desire to experiment as it was deeply in her nature to do so. The witch's tone would suddenly change, a more determined and assertive demeanor would shine through, "I.. well, vampire.. I intend to keep my promise."

The exchange between Chandra and Dahak would ensue shortly after however, the witch would just turn to look at one of them before turning to look at the other, her mind getting scrambled with all the infighting and flinging of insults, she could only take so much. But before she could tell them to cut it out and concentrate on getting out of this horrible cave, she turned to look at Chandra once more, raising her hand as if she was in a classroom, "Question! Ahem.. If Mr. Perv here.." attempting a smile at Dahak, "..was right about you being a vampire is.. is he also right about your name too? W-whats your real name?" She was obviously a bit timid to ask so bluntly, but asked nonetheless, her curiosity was simply greater than her fear.

It was then that yet another much more pressing matter presented itself, she turned to look back beyond the fallen slug creature, "Uhhhh.. yeah, let's get out of here." She said, as she quickly followed after Dahak and Chandra towards the exit.

 

[Skyhunter]

Dark Cave


Renee Nyx
​

Renee was smiling, seeing the Gnoll become more hostile was enjoyable besides her being the annoying and stupid bard she tried to be with her nonsensical music, if that is what you want to call it. Even Hope expressing her anger brought the witch enjoyment, despite the slimes escaping their trance being her fault. Renee took a deep breath then exhaled, a grin across her face as she faced away from the two. When she turned her only smirked. " Is that anger I hear? " Renee asked, her eyes looking at the Gnoll, " Finally, you show a different a different part of your personality. I don't have to hear your stupid jokes and relentlessly add to nothing babbling for these few moments. " Renee stated before she sighed, " I gave them a chance to allow us through, yet they relented on killing us. You even had them trapped under a trance from your music. Perhaps if your companion, " Renee turned her eyes to Hope. " Did not touch you with her magic it would have not interfered with yours and freed them of their trance. " Renee stated as she placed a hand on Iberis' shoulder. " I not only saved Iberis here, but we saved you two as well. " Renee had a look of seriousness now, an intimidating stare at the two of them [Intimidation B]. " I suggest you not be useless next time and try to plead with an enemy who was hellbent on devouring our souls and allow your partner to continue to her work with your interference, perhaps be useful in coming with us to find the other two poor souls trapped farther in this Gods forsaken cavern. " Renee suggested.

The witch's eyes laid on Madeline next. " And I do not want to hear you try and defend your friend here. It is her fault these slimes have perished. She must know that. Ponder that. Learn from it. This is not your typical exciting or innocuous adventure in another realm. This is a life and death situation in a realm where the dead are after any sort of essence of the living. " Renee chastised Hope. She then took a deep breath and exhaled. " I wanted them to live just as much as you did. We gave them a chance and they did not take it. They attacked and we defended ourselves. " Renee said looking at the ash that had spread across the ground. " It was life and death. " The witch stated, " Do not apologize, Hope. Do better and learn from your mistakes. Now. Let us continue. " Renee smiled warmly at the two, showing that she had forgiven the two although within her mind, she did not like being talked to the two as such. To Iberis this was Renee's usual way of teaching, this was how she usually treated both Iberis and Scylla had the two made a mistake, it usually ended with Renee being very hard on them, digging into them about their mess ups, but then letting up and showing them that they could learn from their mistakes. She was a great teacher to the two but sometimes was pretty hard on them, but it has proved to work as the two had improved drastically. Renee turned and began to walk deeper into the cave, ahead she could hear Dahak's laughter and sighed. She hated the damn necromancer, but she needed him for a bit longer.

But the necromancer would appear before them, standing in front of Renee, " About time you showed up, your new companions ahead were almost devoured. I suggest hurrying up and giving them their own marks of protection, otherwise you'll have more entities riling up on your little group. " Dahak stated. Renee huffed, " We already dealt with a few of them. They are no more here. " Dahak nodded, " Maybe here, but deeper within is the flesh caverns are beasts hungry, and deeper within there are unspeakable horrors you are not ready to face. " Dahak stated, " And they will come if you do not hurry. The farther below they are, the worst they get. " Dahak turned around to look in the caves. " We do not need them to wake up to the scent of the living unless you are looking to start a war of realms. " Dahak looked at Renee who only looked at Dahak for a moment like she was thinking about his words before she then moved passed him and proceeded deeper.

Flesh Caverns


​

Dahak was laughing at the two trying to clown on him, " If you can keep your blubbering, Chandra, then you can move your damn arse. You should focus more on your survival then try to get the last word; don't you think? Or have you truly changed your own nature due to your vampiric curse. Maybe this is just who you really are actually. Hmm. Reminds me of someone actually. " The necromancer laughed at his own jokes and understandings. " If you so desire to come find me, Chandra, I am on top of a mountain with my own undead army and even a dragon. Figured I'd let you know to prepare. " He chuckled quietly but then heard Scylla speak, trying to roast him too. " Hey stupid, think for yourself for once and maybe you'd be funny instead of riding other's jokes, eh? Maybe you wouldn't be forgettable. " Dahak shook his head, " And with who is up ahead, I won't be saying much. Actually, a word of advice, try to not open your big mouth about your companion here truly is. I want to see how this all plays out and would not like a joke ruined because you can't keep a damn secret. Better hurry on before the large beasts of these caverns catch up and try to devour you. This time you won't be able to kill something capable unlike the last beast. " Dahak then disappeared like the wind as his laughter followed after him.

As the two females continued to climb up this massive and fleshy cave, they would hear footsteps approaching in their direction. A whole bunch of them actually, when the emerged from the depths, the first face they'd see would be Renee's looking at the two of them with Iberis, Hope and Mad Maw with her. " Scylla! Good to see you back, you look... Worst for wear actually. What happened? " She referred to her burnt and corroded clothing, " You look like you are trying to work in the red-light district in Ryken. " Renee joked, even giggling. " But I am glad you are safe, Scylla. " Renee held her kindness, then her eyes looked to Chandra for a few quiet moments, her eyes staring at her, looking over her constantly. Up and down and around. Her silver eyes glowed red for a moment before turning back to silver. " Hmm. You are different. Scylla's friend, I presume? " Renee looked to Scylla, " This a friend from the Marshes you went to? " She asked before she sighed, " Glad it isn't that Clarice, she is no good for you. " Renee shook her head before she looked at Iberis then back, " I am glad to have my two students back, you're very much like little sisters to me. " Renee placed a hand on Iberis' shoulder. Dahak then appeared between the two groups. Renee rolled her eyes and sighed, " Great, can't even have a moment of respite without you interfering. " Renee growled, before Dahak shook his head, " You cannot have a moment, not until you've secured them from calling upon more horrors. Or do we want another situation like what happened above? " Renee growled at the necromancer before she figured he was right.

The witch moved to the, placing her hands on each of them arms and pushing them gently away from one another before she pulled chalk out of her bag, drawing around of them runes and glyphs, once finished she stood up and stood in front of one then to the other, speaking words of a dead language and making hand motions that caused the chalk to glow and surround the person in the air before disappearing. This happened to both of them as Renee sighed, " There. You are protected for now; this'll cover your scents from the undead here. And we won't be waking up any untold horrors. " That part was said bitterly as she looked back at Dahak who was nodding like he was agreeing with her statement. " Now then, Scylla. " Renee took off her jacket and handed it to Scylla, " Cover yourself, we don't want you losing your dignity. " Renee smiled before she turned to Chandra. " My name is Renee Nyx, or rather Renee. I am Scylla's teacher and leader of our newfound witch coven. Don't worry, I don't bite. " She smiled at the newcomer while she put her hand out for her to shake if she so pleased. " I am interested in hearing how you met my student and friend here. " Renee said with curiosity. " But that can wait, in the meantime, we better get going. Dahak, is there a way for us to get to that castle in the distance? " Renee turned her head and asked the necromancer who nodded again. " Oh yes. There are gateways all over this realm. Head back up and you'll see what I mean. " Dahak disappeared like the wind. Renee sighed shaking her head. " We best get moving. " Renee stated as she began to walk back out the way they came.

 

[Elvario]

Chandra Jarmil
​

Mentions: Scylla RavenSong | Renee/Dahak Skyhunter | Mad Maw Garbage Pail Kid | Hope The Last Curse | Iberis TheTimePiece

“Perhaps your rotting brain forgot, but it's not too difficult to do two things at once. I can move and talk. Especially if it's on such an unintellectual level as engaging with any sounds you produce.” She snapped back at Dahak. On top of a mountain with an undead army and an undead dragon? How fun. “I'll make sure to take a mountaineering course.” She mumbled in reply, focussing a bit more on moving up for now.

“Of course, of course, well done on surviving~ I'm glad you're still with me!” Kalina comforted Scylla. Somewhat. She was a fair bit surprised when Scylla wasn't more shocked upon confirmation that Kalina was a vampire. Either she'd indeed known already or she was not really aware of all possible implications. Either way worked. “Keeping a promise to a vampire? You're certainly brave~” Kalina decided to tease the witch a bit. When it came to her name, however, she was a bit less open. “No offence, but the fewer people know about it, the better. Perhaps one day I'll tell you, if you earn it. Then again, if you want, you can go back to just calling me Kate.” She spoke the last name with a wink. Having a fake name for an alternate identity given to a body and name that still didn't even feel fully hers was quite the detour from reality, that much was sure.

She wasn't all that surprised when she saw Renee's face appear. The companions she'd gathered on the other hand, did surprise her a fair bit. “She got swallowed by a cave slug.” Kalina answered the question as to what happened to Scylla, before realising she still had her disguise up. She wanted to introduce herself properly, but Renee was immediately drawing her own conclusions. There was a pang of jealousy when Renee called Iberis and Scylla sisters. That changed when she realised the 'little' part. She could live with the idea of having two new little sisters. Her mood was soured again when Dahak appeared. She should really ask Renee what that filth was doing here.

She patiently awaited for the wards to be drawn, although she didn't like the fact it'd been Dahak's suggestion. When Renee introduced herself, Kalina figured it was high time to talk. “I'm Chandra, nice to meet you. Although, I'll give you a fair warning, I do tend to bite~” She said, with a deceptive smile to suggest she was just joking [Deception E]. Then she got a bit more serious. As Renee started moving again, apparently in a rush to get somewhere, she caught up to her quickly to be able to whisper some things to her. “So, sister, how do you like my new disguise?” That, in combination with the biting comment from before, was probably enough to make things click for Renee, if they hadn't already. Also the size. Kalina was tall regardless of what disguise she was taking on. “Those companions of yours, are they trustworthy?” She'd ask next. She wasn't sure how much she could reveal about herself in this group.

Regardless of whether they were trustworthy or not, there were some things they could talk about. First, however, she wanted to know what the hell was up. “So, do you know where we are? How we got here? What you're doing here and most of all, what someone like Dahak is doing here? I'm rather lost on all those fronts.”

She figured she'd quickly turn to the other three as well. “Nice to meet you all as well, by the way.” She was quite intrigued by this odd collection of people. She resisted the urge to head-pet the young looking witch Renee was with (Iberis), but she couldn't help comment on the other two. “Man, you're definitely the flashiest beast I've ever seen.” A lot more monochrome was the third companion. “You're... some type of Fae, are you not?” She wasn't quite sure if she was even dealing with a 'he' or a 'she' or maybe an in-between. That said, she was particularly intrigued how that one would taste. Fae blood, being of a species inherently magical, was some top tier stuff. So how would one so exotic looking taste? Perhaps she'd get a chance to find out at some point.

 

[TheTimePiece]

Iberis
​

Iberis decided to stay quiet as Renee gave the talk to Hope and Madeline the hand on her shoulder from Renee causing her to almost flinch before she realized who it was, as she immediately stayed put near her. She did feel somewhat bad for Madeline and Hope as she felt there was definitely a continued tension. Hopefully it would simmer down. She looked up and over at Renee and gave a nod of acknowledgement before looking back at the group from where they were standing. Even if she wasn't looking at Renee directly when she used intimidation she could probably hear the tone that was taken glad that it wasn't directed at her for the time being. Even if she knew that Renee could be that way with her or Scylla just the same if she was explaining herself. Regardless she was more than willing to put up with it, she had taken a liking to Renee and the attention that she gave her was still very appealing, she was always learning so much from her, she knew very well Renee was a superior and would be the one to bring her power, so she was content with how things were now , still unaware of how well Renee could manipulate the situation to her benefit and use her if she so desired so easily.

She diligently followed Renee as she started to move into the cave staying by her side, gripping her staff once again when the Nercomancer appeared before them still not used to people appearing in front of them suddenly. She was still coming down from combat mode which put her on high alert after all, being a realm like this certainly created do or die situations. She listened to what he had to say and it wasn't the best news. All she could hope was they wouldn't have to fight what lived within the fleshy areas that the necromancer described. Iberis's eyes did however light up when she saw Scylla before them. She wasn't sure who Chandra was. She lit up quite a bit when she heard Renee say that they were more akin to sisters, which made her feel all warm inside, she..really hadn't had much of a family growing up given her circumstances, some friendships yes..she looked back at Renee after she had put her hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile in that moment. She then let Renee due her protection circle business first naturally standing to the side But when she saw the area looked clear and Renee had covered her, she made her way right over to Scylla and brought her into a somewhat tight embrace if she'd allow it.

"Scylla!" She'd proclaim cheerily she had certainly gravitated towards her during the exams and now was no exception since then. As it was presumable they had continued to interact since then if Iberis had her way.

"Are you okay? and how did you get here?" She inquired, after breaking off from Scylla she eventually broke off turned back towards Chandra curiously, "It's uh, nice to meet you Chandra! My name's Iberis, any friend of Scylla is good in my book."
She said with a gentle somewhat meek smile towards Chandra with a semi tired gaze that didn't seem to leave her face with the slight darkness under her eyes. She gave her a follow up small bow of acknowledgment.

"I wonder what kind of magical happenstance could have brought you both to a place like this if you're unsure what happened.." She said spoke genuinely with an inquisitive edge. When she saw Renee start to move however it wasn't long before she started to follow as she said,
"With some thought, it sounds like it might be better if we talk about this stuff on the way, y'know the longer and deeper we're in this realm the more likely more hungry increasingly powerful things show up.." She reaffirmed.

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