Latest revision as of 10:06, 22 June 2014

Participants

Date

22/6/477

Log

The path near the entrance to the northern mountains was surprigingly clear this day, little to nothing standing in the way of those approaching aside from a cool breath of wind, and sunny skies. Nearing the base of the path, sits a older looking coyote, shirtless with only a pair of iron greaves over his legs and groin, and a large two handed axe strapped to his back. The Coyote seemed to be gazing back and forth in anticipation, as he awaited the new arrivals impatiently.

Selena arrives with a copy of the request as posted in hand, still reading over the item as she arrives. Standing in front of the Coyote, she takes a quick look over them before offering a hand. "Well, hello. I suppose you posted this?" She asks, offering out the request. "What else should I know, if anything?"

Johnny approaches the northern mountains, the coyote getting a strange look as he approaches. "Hey, what are you needing done?" he asks as he weilds a dagger, awaiting an answer.

"Hopefully it's nothing too major over there," Rixo says as she reaches up to adjust her helmet. "But it's been a while since I've taken up a contract like this. I'm looking forward to the fun." She gives a curt nod to Johnny and Selena. "Hello there, Selena. It has been a while! Again."

Pyra makes her way up the path, the clear day not doing much for incospiucity. A few wisps of dark smoke leaving her exposed scales as she walks. She shakes her head, looking at the rest of the people here. There was money to be made and things to kill... And maybe something to steal. Nefarious Purposes sounds very much promising.

A loud series of metallic clanks echoes in the distance. As time marches on, so too does the sound, only growing louder and louder. Eventually, a jogging lion makes his way into the growing group of those called to aid. Stabbing the base of his spear into the ground, Dio pants for a few moments and slams a fist over his plate covered chest for effect while catching his breath. "Hoo, that was quite a run an' a 'alf I tell ya. Good..." He pauses for a moment, muzzle pointing upwards to peer at the sun's location. "Evenin' just 'bout. Dio the Traveler at yer service."

"And on my honeymoon day too." Jera resounds from above as he nosedives towards the snow, pulling back just in time to land with snow cushioning his descent of talons on rock. "Saw the commotion from nearby. Thought I'd help make the place safer for her as well." He half mumbles to himself as he flaps his wings once to stretch them before tucking them in under him.

"Yeah... I can tell'ya what I saw." The Coyote looks over the group as they arrive, giving a gentle huff. "Me and my buddy Wrex were doing some explorin' in the area. Figured we'd be fighting off normal things. Well we get to this tower, and the thing just give you the shivers. I told him we should just be lettin someone else risk their neck to go on in, but Wrex was heavy clan and proud, so he pushed on in." The Coyote stands some as he rolls his shoulder. "Ain't natural what was in there, folks doin' all sorts of twisted things to beings an' animals. Wrex went down swingin, an' they overlooked me. I ain't askin' you to help me rescue a dead man, I wanna put every son of a bitch in that tower to death, an' I know I'll be needin' help." He points to himself and clears his throat. "I'm Vaka, don't figure it'll be important to know my name, but there it is." His hand moves to point to a slightly more beaten off trail as he nods. "Tower is up that way... Tell me when you're ready, an' we can go on up."

Selena gives a wave to the group of other beings as they arrive in turn, sighing a little for some reason. "Right. Well, that sounds like something I've heard of before. I got a report a long time ago about the Kindcraft doing some being experimentation in one of their hidey-holes, but that was a long time ago, and this sounds a little different. Either way, I guess I don't have to state the obvious." She notes, stretching out. "So I suppose that means it's going to be something major, Rixo. It has been a while. Dio, it's been even longer."

Johnny nods. "Alright, killin a few folk'n making some crown. How many?" he asks as he looks the group over once to see who would come with him. Smart one was there, so was.... that one, the armored one, and a shadowy snake? There seems to be a common theme between them, the arrow guy was here too. "Alright Vaka, whats the plan?"

Rixo looks over her shield, making sure that it's secure as her water elemental seems to form itself from the air moisture, taking on its usual serpentine visage. "Huh, major indeed, then. I can sympathize with a search for revenge, though. I'll offer my sword, then! Lead the way and they shall be dealt with. Can't have atrocious experiments like that go unpunished."

Pyra looks up at the word experiments. Furthuring knowledge is a good thing. Letting others find out about so called 'objectionable' knowledge is just sloppy. Right, looks like they'll have to die, and have their research stolen. Tis the way of things when you get sloppy. "Kindcraft? Can't say I've heard of them. But it sounds like its been a thorn in the side. Of course, it sounds like this lot is just being stupid."

Dio moves a bit closer to Selena with a curious gaze. His muzzle searches and analyzes up and down her figure, starting with her toes and leading up to her eyes. "Hmmm..." he mumbles under his breath, a single finger scratching gently at his chin. "'fraid I don't remember ya. Ya see, I went on this gran' journey an' ended up gettin a knock on my 'ead, causin' me to lose my memor- Pfft." The lion chuckles lightly, failing to hide it behind a golden hand. "Sorry. Suppose I ain't so good at lyin'. It has been awhile, 'asn't it? But I suppose that ain't too uncommon fer a traveler, eh?"

Turning towards the client, Dio listens carefully and nods his head. "I'd rather try an' get as many alive as possible fer appropriate applications o' justice. If they hurt more beings out there, I'm sure their familes would like to see 'em punished."

Jera listens to the client intently, though one of his ears are folded in Dio's direction. Listening to him. "Hmm." He offers, towards nobody in particular. Just processing information. "Do you want me to scout ahead as usual again? In case there is an ambush laid in the snows ahead."

"I don't care about some sort of thing for justice. Those bastard's are doin things to all sorts of folks, an' unless you're figuring you can lug them a mile through the snow and then all the way back to somewhere you can get justice, they either die, or they run. As for how many? A lot." The Coyote grumbling some as he stands and moves off to the base of the trail. "It's a simple plan... We get in, we fight, we burn everything that even looks flammable, an' we get out." He gives a short nod then before begining to walk up the trail.

Johnny nods. "Alright, les get to it. We'll go in, out, and finish as quickly as possible." he says before he waits for others to move off with him.

Selena rolls her eyes a little at the lion's silliness, moving forwards with the others. "There's something to be said for 'safely' as well." She notes. "Probably not the best time for small talk though, is it?"

Rixo rolls her shoulders and pulls her large sword from her back, nodding. "Yes, let's do this! Need to destroy the knowledge while we're at it, lest it fall into... Less scrupulous hands. I'm not so good at the burning, so I'll leave firestarting up to others!"

Pyra hmms. No, that knowledge will be in her hands. "I can do it, They don't call us Fire Skinks for nothing... nd I don't mean the scale pattern..." She walks up with the group with a sigh. She'll have what she needs soon.

"Don't worry," Dio claims as he shakes his head. "I ain't gonna be a stickler fer justice an' all that. We roll in an' take care o' 'em, but if we manage to secure a couple for the local system, then let it be. I ain't much one to execute someone while they're down an' out. Not anymore, anyways." Reaching back, the lion unstraps his large tower shield and brings it out in front, the spear following swiftly with a quick bang upon its surface. "Ready when ya are. If the lad wants to scout ahead, go fer it. Anythin' to help not get an arrow o' bullet in my back."

"It'll be safer." Jera's claws dig into the rock the best he can as he works up air magic, blowing up gusts with his large, broad wings before taking off, going for altitude first to steer clear of the ground, though still enough to look for anything in the outset in the direction that the group is heading.

The Coyote grumbles some as he begins to lead the party up the path, and for the most part it's quiet and calm. The snow increasing in it's amount the farther they go, until soon enough they're at the edge of a small hill, a dilapitated tower that rose roughly three stories tall ahead of them. No doubt one of the abandoned watch towers from when the shadows came, and judging from the way it looked about ready to fall apart that would be a correct assumption. The entrance appears for the most part to be unguarded, consisting of a thick wooden door with a heavy lock upon it. Whomever had taken up residence in here, was smart in making it appear just an oridinary abandoned building to keep eyes away.

Johnny shakes his head as they move. "It's hard to learn from others mistakes if you cover 'em up. Making us research somethin they already did 'emselves is stupid. You'll never learn to fight em that way. Learnin how someone works is the best way to shut em down." He'd probably grab a few books, hopefully the smart one would too, he knows he'll have a rough time of understanding it. And maybe he can call this one out and tell them how he really feels, bunch of arrogant kings up in the sky or something. He stops at the building and considers trying to just open the lock, but inspects for any other ways in.

Selena takes a few moments to consider the comments from Rixo. "That depends on what the knowledge is. I wonder, though... If it's something we can use then it'd be better not to outright destroy it." She notes, looking back over the others. "I have to side with Johnny."

The overall appearance of the tower they'd been lead to almost prompts a double-take - though all the better , proof of its own hiding. "So. Any suggestions for how we want to go about this?"

Rixo shakes her head slowly. "Pity." She says nothing else. She'll deal with it if it comes to it. For now, she stands by the door, sword and shield at the ready, having placed the larger weapon on her back in favour of the smaller one suited for indoor combat.

Pyra grumbles. Finally. Someone who can see sense. "If we're here to wipe them out, better to give ourselves the advantage." She peers at the rest of the tower, not much to say besides a crumbling ruin. Still despite the lack of guards who's to say the front door is the best option? There may be a second entrance.

"We can worry 'bout the books when we aren't in danger o' gettin' stabbed o' hit with some mathemagic," Dio claims. Walking along with the others, the lion looks about, expecting an ambush or something of the sorts. When it seemed the group was realtievely safe, he relaxes his guard for a moment to relax. "Best see if we can spot a good way in. Best be watchin' fer traps as well. If they're the tricky types, ya can probably expect somethin' to explode o' shoot off if ya ain't careful."

Jera circles the tower before he lands and then shifts back into his normal form. Glad that the group has already entered as he quickly rolls out his bundle of equipment and gets armed. Thankfully he brought his close quarters kit, as it was much easier to bring around and hang from his neck. A simple hand crossbow is loaded with bolts and a bo with a dagger hanging from it tucked into a sleeve of his leather glove. Ready, he enters the tower. "No one else around outside."

"There weren't many traps when we managed in... They put the lock back on though..." The Coyote gives a slight nod, before looking to the others. "Me an' Wrex went through the front." Just as well, Johnny would notice two windows a story up, with broken bars over them. The issue then being how to get the more armored individuals up... However, he'd notice a slight bit of drag marks leading off to the left somewhat, where a small shack was near the back. Most likely used for storage, but it could either have an entrance, or something worth investigating perhaps...

Johnny gives the windows a once over, unsure that a split group would be a good idea. He does linger on the shack, moving to glance at it as he gives a motion towards the drag marks. "Maybe they stowed your... heavy clan, friend, this way?" he says as he looks to the group and then approaches the shack carefully, for lack of politer words.

Selena takes one more look at the house before turning to Johnny. "Well, either way... We'll find out sooner or later." The wolfess looks back to the skink for a moment and shrugs - "Well, if it was a case of just killing people setting fire to the house would work. But I think I'd rather not. It's not as easy as it sounds, not is it a 'good idea' as far as anything else is concerned.

Rixo studies the door for a moment before shrugging. "Unless there's a way in from that shed, yes, then maybe we should just try going in through the front door? I'll leave it up to you, though. I do not care too much one way or the other, as long as we get in."

Pyra hmms, "I never suggested torching the place, I merely stated I could provide the spark. Regardless I don't care about the researchers themselves right now. Its clear they're not doing their job adequately, but whatever they might have found might be of use." She shakes her head watching Johnny slink away to the shack. She follows suit, no need to split the party after all.

Dio's ears twitch towards Johnny. "We might find somethin' interestin' over there. Worth investigatin' I'm sure. Doesn't look like we're on a timer o' anythin', so let's 'ave a good look 'bout the area 'fore we go chargin' in." Shield out in front of him, the lion follows behind Johnny to investigate the curious shack.

Jera stays near the back of the group, weapons at the ready. He would have a lot of explaining to do if he got hurt at his honeymoon week. "Yeah, you guys just go ahead first. I'll watch your back in case they pin us."

The shack is unlocked, allowing them to open it with ease to reveal a myriad of skeletal remains, and currently decomposing remains as well. All of them consisting of a mixture of beings, and local wildlife with a variety of missing limbs or extra incisions. The shack is almost filled with them, and near the back is a smaller latch of a door roughtly large enough for a regular sized being to crawl through on their hands and knees, even if in armor... The downside of course, is that a good bit of ichor is trailing along it, and the smell is ungodly.

"Don't worry about Wrex... He want down swingin, an' he went down proud... If you're thinkin' of crawlin' through that I uh... I suppose we could." The Coyote grimancing at the thought.

Johnny looks to the others. "Well... I'm surprised the maneback haven't sniffed this out. Would someone with armor and a helmet care to go first, or should I pick the lock?"

Selena crinkles her nose a little at the stench emanating from the shack, nodding back to Johnny. "It's a miracle that anyone could've missed it. The question is if they've set a trap on the door. Given what's inside, it wouldn't surprise me too much if there is." She notes, hanging a safe distance back. "Either way, I'm here. I don't intend to do nothing."

Rixo eyes the entrance before heaving a sigh. "If no one else wants to... I'd be willing to go first. If not this entrance, then the front door. I'm not the flying type to reach higher up." She approaches and wrinkles her nose. "Could send my elemental through, first, and see if any traps get triggered? Or if something is waiting on the other side in ambush."

Pyra ughs. "Have they not heard of a grave?" She shakes her head. "Well That is true, the Elemental should go first its the most expendable." She hmmms. What on Promise were they doing? Why did they need limbs, organs? "This coat's probably seen it's fair share of blood, I don't think the Ichor is going to be the biggest problem."

"Oh my," Dio whispers under his breath as he witnesses the ghastly scene before him. Holding one hand in front of his chest vertically, he utters a silent prayer within his mind for those unfortunatly departed and takes a moment to steel his mind and nerves. "I'd like to go down there first, but even though I'm one o' the Graceful folk, I'm 'bout as big as the average 'eavy folk an' I got all this armor to boot. Might be able to squeeze down there, but we'd be in an awful bit o' trouble if someone caught us."

"Which is why you should go first, after the elemental. We can push you in afterwards in case you get stuck. Rather than have to try to pull you out." Jera murmurs softly. Paying his respects as well, but they have to move on.

Dio's gaze flickers around, looking at Jera as he speaks and then back at the entrance and eventually his shield. "Might be a tight fit, but yer right. I should be able to slide along my shield an' poke with my spear if it comes to it. If I get in trouble, yank me out o' somethin'. O' bury me with my coat." Moving towards the entrance, the lion prepares to enter in as described and awaits Rixo's elemental before crawling inside.

Rixo gestures vaguely ahead, the serpent surging forward to go ahead through the passage, hopefully to take the brunt of any ambush. And to clean up some of that mess along the way, perhaps, given its nature! That done, she moves into position to follow after Dio.

Pyra takes a small knife out of her pocket, getting it ready to attack. She follows after Rixo, staying her sword for now, no need to set her companion's on fire.

Jera pulls his thick winter cloak tight around him to protect his more precious Broken Weave as he slowly crawls through after the skink. The slender fox not having any issue at all with his usual dexterity.

Johnny follows Pyras example, his engraved knife at ready he takes the least messy path to the goal, the crap in the way wasn't something he wanted in his hair. When on the other side, he takes a look around.

Selena looks back over at the abandoned house, waiting for a few moments before swallowing slightly and slipping into the house, sighing a little - aparrently a little uncomfortable leaving the house without eyes on it, but more interested in the contents of the shed proper. And with everyone inside it... Safer to follow the crowd.

The Coyote shakes his head gently as he follows behind the last of the group, all of them trudging dutifully through the remaining ichor and blood that hadn't been washed away by the elemental, before coming out the other side into a smaller storage room that barely fit them all. All along the walls were shelvings filled with bits of organs and the like, and a few jars of blood joining it all together.

"Right, I know this spot... We're just past the first hallway, this were the first thing we saw... Disgusting really." The Coyote's voice low as he motions forward, pushing his way to the front slightly to begin unlocking the door and pushing it open just a hair. Enough is shown though, that if an individual tried to look around most of the group, they'd see two armed beings in the hallway. Hoods and robes concealing their bodies, with a medium sized Ballista aimed at the front door, unaware of the party behind them.

Johnny grabs his bow and starts readying an arrow. "Anyone want to prepare something?" he asks, as he stares the guards down, trying to pick out how they might attack without the eballistas.

Selena shakes her head a little, holding a hand over her muzzle in a somewhat-irrelevant gesture to keep the stench out. "They could've at least kept things cleaner. You can't do research in a mess like this." She murmurs back to the group, then peering down the corner at the ballista. "I can break the ballista if you want. Shouldn't be too hard to burn the bowstring, but I don't see it being a threat unless we can't deal with them quickly."

Rixo turns her focus inward for a moment, the blade of her sword growing colder, a bit of frost slowly start to spread along it. The first thing unlucky enough to get hit by her is going to feel it extra hard, certainly. "I will leave it up to you," she murmurs quietly. "I shall follow through on your mark."

Pyra looks amid the organs and blood in a kind of morbid curiosity. She shakes her head when she hears of a Balsista. "Well, we have the element of surprise... Can we drop one before Melee?" she whispers. looking to the rest of the group.

"Element o' surprise indeed," Dio mumbles under his breath as he readies his shield. "'ow 'bout I cover ya with my tower shield 'ere as we advance forward. This lad 'ere can fire a good shot into one o' them over my 'ead an' anyone else can too. If any o' them remain, we rush 'em down."

Jera discards said cloak after all is said and done. Ich. The kit fox stares at the two guards and absorbs the scenario for a while. "Mmh. Pyra can burn the string and I'll take my best shot at one of the guards. I can't reload quick enough for both though, not without an amazing feat of stealth." He takes aim with his hand crossbow, pulling it back a couple of nocks to add extra power. Taking his shot.

The Coyote looks around at the group talking, before working to peer out as well. "... Only two. Why are we making a battle plan when we outnumber them three to one?" His words cut short as Jera's shot fires off and flies through the air, sinking into the back of one of the individuals whom ends up falling to the ground with a short gasp of pain! His friend turning on their foot to draw a sword and readies himself. "Come out! Show yourselves!"

Johnny sees his opening and fires his arrow, aiming for the being who had just drawn a sword as the other isn't as mobile.

Selena sighs a little as Jera fires his arrow, ducking back around a corner and waiting for them to draw closer. "Well, better to have a plan than not. I can't do as much indoors." She mutters, waiting for the two manning the ballista to react to their presence and scanning the surroundings for something not-too-collateral to use to the group's advantage.

Rixo is a bit lacking in her own options for a ranged assault at the moment, so while her companions work their magic and arrows, she brings up her shield and hunkers behind it, ready in case anything comes through that door to return the favour.

Pyra hrms. "Well if they have a balista what are we all still doing in here? If the've seen us, we really should be getting out of here no?" She tries to worm her way to the door, trying to get out of there.

"Plan as if every enemy ya face is some kind o' super army," Dio replies to the coyote with a nod. "That's part o' my secrets to survivin' in battle!" Watching the arrows and such fly, the lion bolsters himself down behind his tower shield and attempts to move out of the cramped closet. "Let's start advancin' 'fore any patrols come along an' find the bodies."

Jera spends most of his time reloading his bow. Content to stay in the closet for the moment though scrunching to the side to make way for others.

As Johnny's arrow slams into the second guard, he falls with a gasp and is soon laying still upon the floor. Both now taken out, the group is free to progress into the empty hallway. The walls are still stable thankfully, though moss and other signs of aging have begun to take over. As far as the hallway itself goes, there's a spiral stair case to their left, the entrance to their right, and to the right of the staircase another door.

"Right... The door over there leads to some cages with... -things- in them. Aside from that though, they didn't seem to go down here too much. The real trouble comes from up the stairs..." The Coyote pointing to the spiraling staircase with his axe, as a sudden animalistic shriek rings out for a moment before being crudely silenced.

Johnny says "See if we can re-orient the ballista to the stairs then, someone can cover us while we take a peak at the cages?" the rodent suggests before he stretches and looks to the bigger of the group. "Of course someone should stay to help 'em aim."

Selena shrugs - "I'm not sure that'd be the best idea, Johnny. Stickin a ballista in a small hall like this makes it hard to use without collateral damage if there's an ally on each side." She replies, shivering a little a the sound from upstairs. "I'm not sure what I'd want to be doing, but it's not run up there and hope for the best." That said, the woman moves over to the now-shot-'dead' beings and quickly frisks them just in case. "Still. I'm not sure what else to do with these two."

Rixo grimaces and looks towards the stairs, giving her sword a little flourish. "Your friend... You know, if you had to face him, would you be ready?" She slowly advances to the base of the stairs, glancing back towards the ballista. "I'm not so great with things like that, and I have a feeling I'd be better off bring up the front with Dio there. I doubt anything will be getting by us." She halts at the bottom and nods towards Selena. "I don't really want to go headfirst up there, either, but... I don't think waiting around down here would be much better."

Pyra looks down at the corpses, and after removing the bolts/arrows, she starts to remove the robes of both of them. leaving the corpses to be disposed of elsewhere, probably in their own mass grave in the shack all things considered. "Well, now that these two aren't needing these..." She hmms, looking them over. Thankfully the stripe seems to hide blood nicely. "Lets see what we can do before we run up like lambs to the slaughter hmm? Its an old trick, but these fools may yet fall for it. They forgot their little shack was a weakpoint..."

"Things ya say?" Dio looks towards the awful sound and rubs the back of his neck. "Are these things dangerous? Wouldn't want them releasin' them in a panic o' somethin'. Dealin' with a bunch o' "things" an' some more guards could turn out badly." Looking towards Pyra, the lion thinks for a few moments and shrugs his shoulders. "If any o' ya think ya can pull it off, go fer it. Although, ya run the risk o' gettin' caught up there. Either way, let's get goin' soon."

Jera growls as Pyra takes action. He takes out two black tipped arrows. "Explosive powder. When they strike steel they'll cause a useless, but very loud explosion. Line up the bodies near the entrance, hide and when the other guards come to investigate we blast them all with the ballista. If they don't fall for it or if too many come we still have an escape route."

What luck indeed! Selena's rummaging through the bodies turns up an entire ring of keys, that look to be for cages. Most likely for the large amount being held in the next room. Either way, they now hae a means of releasing anything in the room.

"Don't you go worrying about me. I ain't a little moral quandry type fellow." The Coyotes expression grim as he motions between the stairs and the door. "You lot pick though, and I'll follow."

Selena sighs a little, holding the keys up in the direction of the rest of the group and giving it a jingle. "Well, we have their keys." She notes. "It's not too surprising what people carry with themselves when you think about it. Rixo, Dio, would one of you two like to do the honors? I'm not the best suited to being the first to walk into things.

Rixo brings the tip of her frosted-over sword to tap at her helmet in a sort of salute. "Of course. I'd try to put the robe over my armour, but... I think the sword and shield would give me away! So as nice as the disguise idea is... I'm not sure if it'll work in our favour." She turns her helmet towards Dio and nods. "Shall we?"

Pyra hrms, looking to the only two canids among them. hmming

Pyra hrms, looking to the only two canids among them. hmming

"Right then!" Dio claims with a solid nod towards Rixo and Selena. "Let's get things done. Clear out the bottom floor 'fore goin' upstairs so we don't get caught in a pincer. The lass an' I will create a shield wall an' ya guys can fire from behind us o' go 'round. It's up to you. Anyways, get into position an' let's go." With his tower shield at the ready, the lion positions himself towards the remaining door near the staircase and prepares to open it when everyone's into position.

Jera keeps the arrows away. Loading his hand crossbow with the normal fletched ones and then readying his bo. Staying behind the tanks.

The Coyote nods, as he moves to the side of the door, gripping the handle tightly as he gives the group a moment to prepare before kicking it in and rolling to the other side safely! The inside of the room is dimly lit, though there are dozens of cages linning the walls with all manner of creatures... Though, most important of all perhaps, are the few beings being kept in their own cells along the back wall. Four of them, all with strange tentacles hanging out from their bodies at random intervals, each contained in a cage just too short to allow them to stand. All total, there is two male horses, a sheep female, and frog male in their cages, all unconcious and slumped into the back of their cages. Aside from the cages however, the room appears mostly empty...

Selena moves in after the Coyote, furrowing her eyebrows at the unusual scene. "... Yep, that's what you'd expect from the Kindcraft." She evaluates, shaking her head solemnly and freezing up a little when she notices the beings kept at the far end of the room. "... Those poor people..." She manages.

Rixo takes up position behind and just to the side of Dio, waiting. When the door opens and nothing comes rushing out, however, she starts to look around the room itself. "Disgusting. I'd know that kind of disfiguration anyway. Eugh. All the more reason we should shut this operation down." Glancing towards Selena, she starts to lower her shield. "Think we could help them?"

Pyra folds the robes over her arm for the time being. Never know when these would come in handy. "Look at them. Do you want tainted creatures like them roaming free? Of course not. They're too far gone, who knows if they even keep their minds?" She shakes her head, looking over the cages. "We'd be better off putting them out of their misery."

Dio rushes in and plants his shield down besides Rixo to create a nicely sized shield wall. However, it would seem there wasn't any immediate danger to be found. "Awful bit o' stuff that is. Those tentacles remind me o' those scary chakra some beings tout 'round." Relaxing his grip, the lion gets up from his shielding stance and rolls his shoulders. "I say we leave 'em fer now. Once we've taken care o' the people upstairs, we'll see what we can do to 'elp 'em out. If we find their research, maybe we can even reverse this somehow. Let's move on up." Picking up his shield, he makes his way towards the door and the stairs, waiting for the rest of the party to catch up before ascending.

"I've seen those. I hope to god that its the chakra, cause that is at least removable." The kit fox follows close behind.

The coyote grimaces as he looks over the trapped being. "Me an Wrex... We didn't go seeing any crystals on them... Lots of stitches though, cuts and bumps under the skin. The girl was howling out like she had lost her mind..." He shakes his head for a moment before turning to follow dio. "Come on... Just got one last part to clear, and we can burn this place to the ground.

The beings in their cage remain thankfully docile, though many of the mutilated animals begin thrashing and biting at the cage bars. From up the stairs however, sounds a loud voice for Dio to hear. "Well, are you all done gawking below like a bunch of drunken fools? I do have a busy schedual..."

Selena nods back to the coyote and shudders a little. "I have a bad feeling that if you looked under the skin you'd find the chakra. It's a lot like something that's happened before." She notes, shivering a little. "I don't know if I want to see any more of this, but..." The woman mutters to herself.

Rixo shakes her head. "A shame... Maybe we can help them later, but, as Dio said, we should finish clearing this place out." Then she hears the voice from the other room and turns pulling her shield up again. Sounds like they wouldn't be waiting any longer!

Pyra hms. "I doubt it, but there's no telling what we find. Next stop, the upper floor it seems." She keeps her dagger at the ready, folding one of the robes, storing it under her coat. She makes her way to the stairs, fully ready to kill whomever they find.

"I ain't drunk yet," Dio quickly shouts back, bolstering his shield against his body. "I don't care what explanation ya got fer this place an' what ya've been doin'. If yer next words ain't "I surrender," we'll be takin' this operation down by force. That's yer only warnin'," he continues to shout back.

"We got a whole army coming soon. Best to turn yourself in peacefully." Jera growls, swinging his dagger-bo.

The Coyote frowns at the voice before looking around some more. "... This ain't right, there were dozens of them when we came up..." His voice low as he grips his axe tightly and keeps closely behind Dio.

"Surrender? Pardon me, you are not drunk, merely a fool." The voice calls out before giving a deep laugh, a low moan filling the air before a bright light flashes across the stairs and it silences. "Terribly sorry, thought they were silenced... Enginuity can always surprise someone."

Selena looks back over in the direction of the voice. "You're more articulate than the last group of cultists I've heard speak." She comments, eyes narrowing a little. "I wonder what you were hoping to find here. Most of your 'comrades-in-arms' have been lying lower than you, aparrently."

Rixo takes it calm and steady for once. Anyone that talked like that was almost certainly to be a magic user. They liked to hear themselves talk. And she had to treat them with caution, yes... So she did, moving off to the side of the door, by the wall, keeping her weapons at the ready as her elemental coils at her side.

Pyra switches her dagger to her off hand, drawing her sword with her main hand, the Flamberge blade quickly wreathed in flame as it's drawn. "We're the fools? You not only got sloppy, leading us right to you, but you think you're little light show intimidating? If you think a few sparkles and some idiotic taunts are going to scare us off, you're not only a fool, but a coward."

Dio takes a deep breath and steels his nerves, not allowing himself to become frustrated or angered. Taking a few steps back, he readies his shield near the stairs' base and prepares for combat. "Yer a busy being, so go 'head an' come down 'ere so we can save everyone the trouble."

Jera releases the knot that keepa his string loose and then showcases his recently learnt weapons. Looking at Rixo and then deciding to split his approach as well, staying close to the other wall.

"Coward? Sloppy? Intimidating? My my, an impressive show of bravado, tell me, do you often chose your weapons over your wits? Have trouble with empathy, and understanding and seek the furthering of your own goals? Ah where are my manners, it is not my place to judge." The voice dwindling into low laughter as footsteps aid in it's moving across the floorboards, before a tall Jacob's Ram in black armor, with thick shadows swirling around him steps into view.

The Coyote wastes no time as the being presents himself, charging forward with his axe raise high to only end up falling back down the stairs after the ram smacks his head with the pommel of his sword. "A worrysome pest, he should make an interesting one... Now for all of you..." The Ram's hand lifting as a large gathering of shadowy flames join into a ball, before releasing down the stairs in a wave of dark fire at the group!

Selena rolls her eyes at the being's remarks. "And you're more arrogant than any of those three things." The wolfess deadpans, a layer of ablative armor formed from a quick bit of earth magic shielding her from the worst of the flames. "That depends on your goals. I think that these would count as torture before anything else." The wolfess chastises, willingness to fight notwithstanding. "And why would you throw fire about in a house like this when you're a floor above us? Do you even understand the implications or are you just stupid?" She asks, taking a few moments to send forth a simple cutting wind - perhaps for the best that she not start with her fire magic indoors.

The enemy in sight, this seems like a good as time as any to attack. Johnny whips out his pistol and takes the first shot he gets.

Rixo rolls her shoulders again and rounds the door into the room to face the opponent, elemental at her side. "Well then. Let's see what you've got, hmm?" She keeps her shield up and ready, grip tightening on her frosted sword. With the right opening, she'd get to use it, too.

Pyra deftly sidesteps the flames easily, letting the winds, and bullet sail past her as well. "Parlor tricks." She doesn't pay much more attention to those with the shields, lunging straight for melee range with a quick swipe of her dagger.

Dio crouches behind his tower shield as the flames roll past him. "Hoo wee," he shouts, shaking his hand a bit. "That was a close on'." Popping his gaze up over his shield, he notices everyone taking their pick at the enemy of the moment. Waiting for his moment, the lion primes his spear and attempts a quick stab towards the weak points of his armor before retracting.

Jera is still sneaking along the sidelines. Preparing his strike. He nocks a few plywood arrows into his hand crossbow and the lets the weak arrows fly, the string blasting splinters and fragments rather than actual arrows in an attempt at distraction. And then tumbling away, the end of his bo catching fire...

The Ram snarls as he's first buffeted by Selena's wind magic, causing him to step back once as Johnny's shot gets a nice shot into his side! Pyra's attempt is not as lucky, as the ram moves out the way in time, before Dio's spear find a nice spot near his hip. In all the combat, Jera's splintering attempt at a distraction fails, instead the ram's hand coats in shadowy flames once more as he lashes out again at the Pyra, missing and managing to coat the wall in the flames instead. Down below however, the flames that had passed by the group was begining to start normal fires it seems as it began to spread amongst the run down structure!

Johnny takes a look around him, the building is going to go soon without support, this needs to be fast but he doesn't feel it is a good time to go in for a kill. He whips out his bow again and lets an arrow fly.

Selena shakes her head a little as her spell connects, followed with the various other attacks, using her time to focus on the other issue - the fire. Mustering her energy and what water there was in the area, the wolfess starts to douse them - those below the group being prioritized.

Rixo tries to take advantage of the ram's failed attack on Pyra, stepping forward and thrusting forward with the frostfire weapon, hoping to catch him through the pit of his arm.

Pyra regains her footing, with yet another failed attack against her. Thankfully the insuing fire was quickly snuffed. She raises her sword, making another quick slash at the Dark Magic Ram. Yes, wear him down a little more...

Dio watches as his hit lands clean. Seeing the damage the ram has taken from the other group members, the lion tries to find a way to end things swiftly should the enemy decide to keep on standing. Attempting to find an opporunity, he prepares his shield and charges forward for a large tower shield based bash to knock 'em into the ground and hopefully unconscious or dead.

Jera has made it behind the ram! Using his bowstring and his dagger as makeshift claws, the gryphon dedicant springs an attack, the dagger catching aflame as he slashes wildly.

The Ram is finally downed by the groups efforts, Rixo's sword piercing through his armor, before he's struck by another arrow, clawed from behind with a dagger, and then finally smashed with a shield to fall broken on the stairs. A wet cough rising from him as his right eye is all that remains open to look at the group, before his lips twitch into a smile, and his body alights in flames as he dies, spreading the fire up to the stairs where it makes it's way to the second floor.

Selena's efforts aids the group well, as her efforts ensure there is still a path to escape out from. Unfortunatly though, the flames are still spreading along the walls, and even into the rooms slightly to signify their current situation, as the coyote begins to groggily awaken.

Rixo quickly sheaths her sword as the ram falls, leaning over to help the coyote to his feet. "Come on, we're done here and the place is going up in flames. We're getting out." Assuming he, nor anyone else, tries to stop her, she starts trying to help him back towards the main entrance.

Selena shudders a little at the last few moments of the ram's life, grumbling to herself. "Whatever was up there, they didn't want us getting. If not for the risk of the roof falling in on us given all the fire I'd try to look..." She notes, dousing the cadaver in water and - assuming that deals with the immediate threat of fire drags the corpse back to frisk before making her way out with the others.

Pyra speeds off... Up the stairs. The fire had one purpose up here, destroy notes. Not something she was going to let happen. She starts dashing around the room picking up papers and books of notes, salvaging anything that wasn't directly already on fire or burnt. Of course like the rest she's on a timer, a muuch stricter one. Uh, window! That should provide an escape!

"The keys, lass!" Dio shouts over to Selena. "Mind 'andin' me those keys ya got? I don't want those beings burnin' to death over there. We gotta save as many o' them as we can. I don't know if they're fine o' not, but that's somethin' that I'm willin' to risk."

"We didn't open the door. There won't be time to pick the lock. I'm gonna wreck it." Jera growls and then the glowing marks on his body intensifies as he calls upon his half of the agreement. He barges down the stairs at an incredible speed, shifting into gryphon form right as he is about to hit the door, trying to smash right through it.

As the Coyote comes to his senses, he nods and shuffles along with Rixo, moving for the exit as Jera comes barreling by! When Jera slams into the door, he manages to force it open, at the cost of a few broken bones, and a lot of pain. The walls of the tower shake slightly then, as the hinges had been ripped free and caused a bit more instability in the structure! As Dio works to free the tormented beings, he's unfortunatly lacking the time to save them all, and so is forced to either chose to and make it out safely, or risk it while trying for all four. Selena's searching through the body is unfortunatly pointless, as any papers or such he had on his person were now burnt, and only a misshapen talismen was left on his being.

Pyra's dash up the stairs, leads her into a room filled with surgical tables, and tools everywhere... And judging by the lack of most notes being arround, they had cleared out after being stumbled upon and left the ram to clean up what did remain! All the same, there are a few deceased beings for her to look over, otherwise she was best serve to vacate quickly!

Selena pulls the talisman off of the being, twisted or not - better to come out with something rather than nothing after all. "Just make it quick, Dio, we need to get out of here." She calls, silently cursing as Pyra virtually flies up past her and up the stairs, moving moving with a little more haste to the door and making sure Jera isn't too incapacitated.

Rixo leads the coyote along outside, grimacing under her helmet at Jera's... Actions. "Alright. We're out, please, excuse me." She makes sure the coyote won't go falling over, or at least sitting him down first, before moving towards Jera. "Are you alright there?"

Jera is face first in the snow. Probably steaming a little. He raises his hand to show that he's alright! If groaning a little loudly from discomfort and hurt.

Pyra takes what she can find. Maybe she can piece something together out of some of these notes. She takes a look over the bodies. If this is what they were working on it would be best to take down some things about those as well, but she doesn't have time to go into intricate detail, she just jots down a few things that she can before she makes a mad dash to the window. She most certainly can't use the stairs now, but if she's lucky, she might be able to land this safely... She leaps out the window, hoping the little Air magic she had could cushion her fall.

Dio takes the keys and rushes for the cage room. He quickly darts his eyes around and looks backwards as the mess behind him. Trying to save all four would risk killing all four plus himself. "I'm sorry I can't save ya all. I'm just one being. Please fergive me in the afterlife, but I won't blame ya if ya 'ate me." The lion takes a deep breath and looks at the caged beings. Deciding who to save, he tries to guess who might be the youngest of the group. With his size, he might be able to save two. Guessing on who might be the two youngest, he opens up their cages and attempts to drag them out where the rest of the group is.

The Coyote nods as he's left outside, coughing gently as the flames intensify within the tower. Pyra's daring escape is thankfully without harm, as she's left with mainly scratch notes of little importance that hadn't been taken before. Dio is the last one out, carrying the woman and the frog out of danger not a moment too soon, as the roof then begins to collapse behind him.

As the groups left to lay there in exhaustion, a small group of soldiers arrive on the scene, and observe the destruction, before tending to the wounded and getting the story of what had happened.

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 "Don't worry about Wrex... He want down swingin, an' he went down proud... If you're thinkin' of crawlin' through that I uh... I suppose we could." The Coyote grimancing at the thought.<br> <br>Johnny looks to the others. "Well... I'm surprised the maneback haven't sniffed this out. Would someone with armor and a helmet care to go first, or should I pick the lock?"<br> <br>Selena crinkles her nose a little at the stench emanating from the shack, nodding back to Johnny. "It's a miracle that anyone could've missed it. The question is if they've set a trap on the door. Given what's inside, it wouldn't surprise me too much if there is." She notes, hanging a safe distance back. "Either way, I'm here. I don't intend to do nothing."<br> <br>Rixo eyes the entrance before heaving a sigh. "If no one else wants to... I'd be willing to go first. If not this entrance, then the front door. I'm not the flying type to reach higher up." She approaches and wrinkles her nose. "Could send my elemental through, first, and see if any traps get triggered? Or if something is waiting on the other side in ambush."<br> <br>Pyra ughs. "Have they not heard of a grave?" She shakes her head. "Well That is true, the Elemental should go first its the most expendable." She hmmms. What on Promise were they doing? Why did they need limbs, organs? "This coat's probably seen it's fair share of blood, I don't think the Ichor is going to be the biggest problem."<br> <br>"Oh my," Dio whispers under his breath as he witnesses the ghastly scene before him. Holding one hand in front of his chest vertically, he utters a silent prayer within his mind for those unfortunatly departed and takes a moment to steel his mind and nerves. "I'd like to go down there first, but even though I'm one o' the Graceful folk, I'm 'bout as big as the average 'eavy folk an' I got all this armor to boot. Might be able to squeeze down there, but we'd be in an awful bit o' trouble if someone caught us."<br> <br>"Which is why you should go first, after the elemental. We can push you in afterwards in case you get stuck. Rather than have to try to pull you out." Jera murmurs softly. Paying his respects as well, but they have to move on.<br> <br>Dio's gaze flickers around, looking at Jera as he speaks and then back at the entrance and eventually his shield. "Might be a tight fit, but yer right. I should be able to slide along my shield an' poke with my spear if it comes to it. If I get in trouble, yank me out o' somethin'. O' bury me with my coat." Moving towards the entrance, the lion prepares to enter in as described and awaits Rixo's elemental before crawling inside.<br> <br>Rixo gestures vaguely ahead, the serpent surging forward to go ahead through the passage, hopefully to take the brunt of any ambush. And to clean up some of that mess along the way, perhaps, given its nature! That done, she moves into position to follow after Dio.<br> <br>Pyra takes a small knife out of her pocket, getting it ready to attack. She follows after Rixo, staying her sword for now, no need to set her companion's on fire.<br> <br>Jera pulls his thick winter cloak tight around him to protect his more precious Broken Weave as he slowly crawls through after the skink. The slender fox not having any issue at all with his usual dexterity.<br> <br>Johnny follows Pyras example, his engraved knife at ready he takes the least messy path to the goal, the crap in the way wasn't something he wanted in his hair. When on the other side, he takes a look around.<br> <br>Selena looks back over at the abandoned house, waiting for a few moments before swallowing slightly and slipping into the house, sighing a little - aparrently a little uncomfortable leaving the house without eyes on it, but more interested in the contents of the shed proper. And with everyone inside it... Safer to follow the crowd.<br> <br>The Coyote shakes his head gently as he follows behind the last of the group, all of them trudging dutifully through the remaining ichor and blood that hadn't been washed away by the elemental, before coming out the other side into a smaller storage room that barely fit them all. All along the walls were shelvings filled with bits of organs and the like, and a few jars of blood joining it all together.
-"Right, I know this spot... We're just past the first hallway, this were the first thing we saw... Disgusting really." The Coyote's voice low as he motions forward, pushing his way to the front slightly to begin unlocking the door and pushing it open just a hair. Enough is shown though, that if an individual tried to look around most of the group, they'd see two armed beings in the hallway. Hoods and robes concealing their bodies, with a medium sized Ballista aimed at the front door, unaware of the party behind them.<br> <br>Johnny grabs his bow and starts readying an arrow. "Anyone want to prepare something?" he asks, as he stares the guards down, trying to pick out how they might attack without the eballistas.<br> <br>Selena shakes her head a little, holding a hand over her muzzle in a somewhat-irrelevant gesture to keep the stench out. "They could've at least kept things cleaner. You can't do research in a mess like this." She murmurs back to the group, then peering down the corner at the ballista. "I can break the ballista if you want. Shouldn't be too hard to burn the bowstring, but I don't see it being a threat unless we can't deal with them quickly."<br> <br>Rixo turns her focus inward for a moment, the blade of her sword growing colder, a bit of frost slowly start to spread along it. The first thing unlucky enough to get hit by her is going to feel it extra hard, certainly. "I will leave it up to you," she murmurs quietly. "I shall follow through on your mark."<br> <br>Pyra looks amid the organs and blood in a kind of morbid curiosity. She shakes her head when she hears of a Balsista. "Well, we have the element of surprise... Can we drop one before Melee?" she whispers. looking to the rest of the group.<br> <br>"Element o' surprise indeed," Dio mumbles under his breath as he readies his shield. "'ow 'bout I cover ya with my tower shield 'ere as we advance forward. This lad 'ere can fire a good shot into one o' them over my 'ead an' anyone else can too. If any o' them remain, we rush 'em down."<br> <br>Jera discards said cloak after all is said and done. Ich. The kit fox stares at the two guards and absorbs the scenario for a while. "Mmh. Pyra can burn the string and I'll take my best shot at one of the guards. I can't reload quick enough for both though, not without an amazing feat of stealth." He takes aim with his hand crossbow, pulling it back a couple of nocks to add extra power. Taking his shot.<br> <br>The Coyote looks around at the group talking, before working to peer out as well. "... Only two. Why are we making a battle plan when we outnumber them three to one?" His words cut short as Jera's shot fires off and flies through the air, sinking into the back of one of the individuals whom ends up falling to the ground with a short gasp of pain! His friend turning on their foot to draw a sword and readies himself. "Come out! Show yourselves!"<br> <br>Johnny sees his opening and fires his arrow, aiming for the being who had just drawn a sword as the other isn't as mobile.<br> <br>Selena sighs a little as Jera fires his arrow, ducking back around a corner and waiting for them to draw closer. "Well, better to have a plan than not. I can't do as much indoors." She mutters, waiting for the two manning the ballista to react to their presence and scanning the surroundings for something not-too-collateral to use to the group's advantage.<br> <br>Rixo is a bit lacking in her own options for a ranged assault at the moment, so while her companions work their magic and arrows, she brings up her shield and hunkers behind it, ready in case anything comes through that door to return the favour.<br> <br>Pyra hrms. "Well if they have a balista what are we all still doing in here? If the've seen us, we really should be getting out of here no?" She tries to worm her way to the door, trying to get out of there.
+"Right, I know this spot... We're just past the first hallway, this were the first thing we saw... Disgusting really." The Coyote's voice low as he motions forward, pushing his way to the front slightly to begin unlocking the door and pushing it open just a hair. Enough is shown though, that if an individual tried to look around most of the group, they'd see two armed beings in the hallway. Hoods and robes concealing their bodies, with a medium sized Ballista aimed at the front door, unaware of the party behind them.<br> <br>Johnny grabs his bow and starts readying an arrow. "Anyone want to prepare something?" he asks, as he stares the guards down, trying to pick out how they might attack without the eballistas.<br> <br>Selena shakes her head a little, holding a hand over her muzzle in a somewhat-irrelevant gesture to keep the stench out. "They could've at least kept things cleaner. You can't do research in a mess like this." She murmurs back to the group, then peering down the corner at the ballista. "I can break the ballista if you want. Shouldn't be too hard to burn the bowstring, but I don't see it being a threat unless we can't deal with them quickly."<br> <br>Rixo turns her focus inward for a moment, the blade of her sword growing colder, a bit of frost slowly start to spread along it. The first thing unlucky enough to get hit by her is going to feel it extra hard, certainly. "I will leave it up to you," she murmurs quietly. "I shall follow through on your mark."<br> <br>Pyra looks amid the organs and blood in a kind of morbid curiosity. She shakes her head when she hears of a Balsista. "Well, we have the element of surprise... Can we drop one before Melee?" she whispers. looking to the rest of the group.<br> <br>"Element o' surprise indeed," Dio mumbles under his breath as he readies his shield. "'ow 'bout I cover ya with my tower shield 'ere as we advance forward. This lad 'ere can fire a good shot into one o' them over my 'ead an' anyone else can too. If any o' them remain, we rush 'em down."<br> <br>Jera discards said cloak after all is said and done. Ich. The kit fox stares at the two guards and absorbs the scenario for a while. "Mmh. Pyra can burn the string and I'll take my best shot at one of the guards. I can't reload quick enough for both though, not without an amazing feat of stealth." He takes aim with his hand crossbow, pulling it back a couple of nocks to add extra power. Taking his shot.<br> <br>The Coyote looks around at the group talking, before working to peer out as well. "... Only two. Why are we making a battle plan when we outnumber them three to one?" His words cut short as Jera's shot fires off and flies through the air, sinking into the back of one of the individuals whom ends up falling to the ground with a short gasp of pain! His friend turning on their foot to draw a sword and readies himself. "Come out! Show yourselves!"<br> <br>Johnny sees his opening and fires his arrow, aiming for the being who had just drawn a sword as the other isn't as mobile.<br> <br>Selena sighs a little as Jera fires his arrow, ducking back around a corner and waiting for them to draw closer. "Well, better to have a plan than not. I can't do as much indoors." She mutters, waiting for the two manning the ballista to react to their presence and scanning the surroundings for something not-too-collateral to use to the group's advantage.<br> <br>Rixo is a bit lacking in her own options for a ranged assault at the moment, so while her companions work their magic and arrows, she brings up her shield and hunkers behind it, ready in case anything comes through that door to return the favour.<br> <br>Pyra hrms. "Well if they have a balista what are we all still doing in here? If the've seen us, we really should be getting out of here no?" She tries to worm her way to the door, trying to get out of there.<br> <br>"Plan as if every enemy ya face is some kind o' super army," Dio replies to the coyote with a nod. "That's part o' my secrets to survivin' in battle!" Watching the arrows and such fly, the lion bolsters himself down behind his tower shield and attempts to move out of the cramped closet. "Let's start advancin' 'fore any patrols come along an' find the bodies."<br> <br>Jera spends most of his time reloading his bow. Content to stay in the closet for the moment though scrunching to the side to make way for others.<br> <br>As Johnny's arrow slams into the second guard, he falls with a gasp and is soon laying still upon the floor. Both now taken out, the group is free to progress into the empty hallway. The walls are still stable thankfully, though moss and other signs of aging have begun to take over. As far as the hallway itself goes, there's a spiral stair case to their left, the entrance to their right, and to the right of the staircase another door.
+"Right... The door over there leads to some cages with... -things- in them. Aside from that though, they didn't seem to go down here too much. The real trouble comes from up the stairs..." The Coyote pointing to the spiraling staircase with his axe, as a sudden animalistic shriek rings out for a moment before being crudely silenced.<br> <br>Johnny says "See if we can re-orient the ballista to the stairs then, someone can cover us while we take a peak at the cages?" the rodent suggests before he stretches and looks to the bigger of the group. "Of course someone should stay to help 'em aim."<br> <br>Selena shrugs - "I'm not sure that'd be the best idea, Johnny. Stickin a ballista in a small hall like this makes it hard to use without collateral damage if there's an ally on each side." She replies, shivering a little a the sound from upstairs. "I'm not sure what I'd want to be doing, but it's not run up there and hope for the best." That said, the woman moves over to the now-shot-'dead' beings and quickly frisks them just in case. "Still. I'm not sure what else to do with these two."<br> <br>Rixo grimaces and looks towards the stairs, giving her sword a little flourish. "Your friend... You know, if you had to face him, would you be ready?" She slowly advances to the base of the stairs, glancing back towards the ballista. "I'm not so great with things like that, and I have a feeling I'd be better off bring up the front with Dio there. I doubt anything will be getting by us." She halts at the bottom and nods towards Selena. "I don't really want to go headfirst up there, either, but... I don't think waiting around down here would be much better."<br> <br>Pyra looks down at the corpses, and after removing the bolts/arrows, she starts to remove the robes of both of them. leaving the corpses to be disposed of elsewhere, probably in their own mass grave in the shack all things considered. "Well,  now that these two aren't needing these..." She hmms, looking them over. Thankfully the stripe seems to hide blood nicely. "Lets see what we can do before we run up like lambs to the slaughter hmm? Its an old trick, but these fools may yet fall for it. They forgot their little shack was a weakpoint..."<br> <br>"Things ya say?" Dio looks towards the awful sound and rubs the back of his neck. "Are these things dangerous? Wouldn't want them releasin' them in a panic o' somethin'. Dealin' with a bunch o' "things" an' some more guards could turn out badly." Looking towards Pyra, the lion thinks for a few moments and shrugs his shoulders. "If any o' ya think ya can pull it off, go fer it. Although, ya run the risk o' gettin' caught up there. Either way, let's get goin' soon."<br> <br>Jera growls as Pyra takes action. He takes out two black tipped arrows. "Explosive powder. When they strike steel they'll cause a useless, but very loud explosion. Line up the bodies near the entrance, hide and when the other guards come to investigate we blast them all with the ballista. If they don't fall for it or if too many come we still have an escape route." <br> <br>What luck indeed! Selena's rummaging through the bodies turns up an entire ring of keys, that look to be for cages. Most likely for the large amount being held in the next room. Either way, they now hae a means of releasing anything in the room.
+"Don't you go worrying about me. I ain't a little moral quandry type fellow." The Coyotes expression grim as he motions between the stairs and the door. "You lot pick though, and I'll follow."<br> <br>Selena sighs a little, holding the keys up in the direction of the rest of the group and giving it a jingle. "Well, we have their keys." She notes. "It's not too surprising what people carry with themselves when you think about it. Rixo, Dio, would one of you two like to do the honors? I'm not the best suited to being the first to walk into things.<br> <br>Rixo brings the tip of her frosted-over sword to tap at her helmet in a sort of salute. "Of course. I'd try to put the robe over my armour, but... I think the sword and shield would give me away! So as nice as the disguise idea is... I'm not sure if it'll work in our favour." She turns her helmet towards Dio and nods. "Shall we?"<br> <br>Pyra hrms, looking to the only two canids among them. hmming<br> <br>Pyra hrms, looking to the only two canids among them. hmming<br> <br>"Right then!" Dio claims with a solid nod towards Rixo and Selena. "Let's get things done. Clear out the bottom floor 'fore goin' upstairs so we don't get caught in a pincer. The lass an' I will create a shield wall an' ya guys can fire from behind us o' go 'round. It's up to you. Anyways, get into position an' let's go." With his tower shield at the ready, the lion positions himself towards the remaining door near the staircase and prepares to open it when everyone's into position.<br> <br>Jera keeps the arrows away. Loading his hand crossbow with the normal fletched ones and then readying his bo. Staying behind the tanks.<br> <br>The Coyote nods, as he moves to the side of the door, gripping the handle tightly as he gives the group a moment to prepare before kicking it in and rolling to the other side safely! The inside of the room is dimly lit, though there are dozens of cages linning the walls with all manner of creatures... Though, most important of all perhaps, are the few beings being kept in their own cells along the back wall. Four of them, all with strange tentacles hanging out from their bodies at random intervals, each contained in a cage just too short to allow them to stand. All total, there is two male horses, a sheep female, and frog male in their cages, all unconcious and slumped into the back of their cages. Aside from the cages however, the room appears mostly empty...<br> <br>Selena moves in after the Coyote, furrowing her eyebrows at the unusual scene. "... Yep, that's what you'd expect from the Kindcraft." She evaluates, shaking her head solemnly and freezing up a little when she notices the beings kept at the far end of the room. "... Those poor people..." She manages.<br> <br>Rixo takes up position behind and just to the side of Dio, waiting. When the door opens and nothing comes rushing out, however, she starts to look around the room itself. "Disgusting. I'd know that kind of disfiguration anyway. Eugh. All the more reason we should shut this operation down." Glancing towards Selena, she starts to lower her shield. "Think we could help them?"<br> <br>Pyra folds the robes over her arm for the time being. Never know when these would come in handy. "Look at them. Do you want tainted creatures like them roaming free? Of course not. They're too far gone, who knows if they even keep their minds?" She shakes her head, looking over the cages. "We'd be better off putting them out of their misery."<br> <br>Dio rushes in and plants his shield down besides Rixo to create a nicely sized shield wall. However, it would seem there wasn't any immediate danger to be found. "Awful bit o' stuff that is. Those tentacles remind me o' those scary chakra some beings tout 'round." Relaxing his grip, the lion gets up from his shielding stance and rolls his shoulders. "I say we leave 'em fer now. Once we've taken care o' the people upstairs, we'll see what we can do to 'elp 'em out. If we find their research, maybe we can even reverse this somehow. Let's move on up." Picking up his shield, he makes his way towards the door and the stairs, waiting for the rest of the party to catch up before ascending.<br> <br>"I've seen those. I hope to god that its the chakra, cause that is at least removable." The kit fox follows close behind.<br> <br>The coyote grimaces as he looks over the trapped being. "Me an Wrex... We didn't go seeing any crystals on them... Lots of stitches though, cuts and bumps under the skin. The girl was howling out like she had lost her mind..." He shakes his head for a moment before turning to follow dio. "Come on... Just got one last part to clear, and we can burn this place to the ground.
+The beings in their cage remain thankfully docile, though many of the mutilated animals begin thrashing and biting at the cage bars. From up the stairs however, sounds a loud voice for Dio to hear. "Well, are you all done gawking below like a bunch of drunken fools? I do have a busy schedual..."<br> <br>Selena nods back to the coyote and shudders a little. "I have a bad feeling that if you looked under the skin you'd find the chakra. It's a lot like something that's happened before." She notes, shivering a little. "I don't know if I want to see any more of this, but..." The woman mutters to herself.<br> <br>Rixo shakes her head. "A shame... Maybe we can help them later, but, as Dio said, we should finish clearing this place out." Then she hears the voice from the other room and turns pulling her shield up again. Sounds like they wouldn't be waiting any longer!<br> <br>Pyra hms. "I doubt it, but there's no telling what we find. Next stop, the upper floor it seems." She keeps her dagger at the ready, folding one of the robes, storing it under her coat. She makes her way to the stairs, fully ready to kill whomever they find.<br> <br>"I ain't drunk yet," Dio quickly shouts back, bolstering his shield against his body. "I don't care what explanation ya got fer this place an' what ya've been doin'. If yer next words ain't "I surrender," we'll be takin' this operation down by force. That's yer only warnin'," he continues to shout back.<br> <br>"We got a whole army coming soon. Best to turn yourself in peacefully." Jera growls, swinging his dagger-bo.<br> <br>The Coyote frowns at the voice before looking around some more. "... This ain't right, there were dozens of them when we came up..." His voice low as he grips his axe tightly and keeps closely behind Dio.
+"Surrender? Pardon me, you are not drunk, merely a fool." The voice calls out before giving a deep laugh, a low moan filling the air before a bright light flashes across the stairs and it silences. "Terribly sorry, thought they were silenced... Enginuity can always surprise someone."<br> <br>Selena looks back over in the direction of the voice. "You're more articulate than the last group of cultists I've heard speak." She comments, eyes narrowing a little. "I wonder what you were hoping to find here. Most of your 'comrades-in-arms' have been lying lower than you, aparrently."<br> <br>Rixo takes it calm and steady for once. Anyone that talked like that was almost certainly to be a magic user. They liked to hear themselves talk. And she had to treat them with caution, yes... So she did, moving off to the side of the door, by the wall, keeping her weapons at the ready as her elemental coils at her side.<br> <br>Pyra switches her dagger to her off hand, drawing her sword with her main hand, the Flamberge blade quickly wreathed in flame as it's drawn. "We're the fools? You not only got sloppy, leading us right to you, but you think you're little light show intimidating? If you think a few sparkles and some idiotic taunts are going to scare us off, you're not only a fool, but a coward."<br> <br>Dio takes a deep breath and steels his nerves, not allowing himself to become frustrated or angered. Taking a few steps back, he readies his shield near the stairs' base and prepares for combat. "Yer a busy being, so go 'head an' come down 'ere so we can save everyone the trouble."<br> <br>Jera releases the knot that keepa his string loose and then showcases his recently learnt weapons. Looking at Rixo and then deciding to split his approach as well, staying close to the other wall.<br> <br>"Coward? Sloppy? Intimidating? My my, an impressive show of bravado, tell me, do you often chose your weapons over your wits? Have trouble with empathy, and understanding and seek the furthering of your own goals? Ah where are my manners, it is not my place to judge." The voice dwindling into low laughter as footsteps aid in it's moving across the floorboards, before a tall Jacob's Ram in black armor, with thick shadows swirling around him steps into view.
+The Coyote wastes no time as the being presents himself, charging forward with his axe raise high to only end up falling back down the stairs after the ram smacks his head with the pommel of his sword. "A worrysome pest, he should make an interesting one... Now for all of you..." The Ram's hand lifting as a large gathering of shadowy flames join into a ball, before releasing down the stairs in a wave of dark fire at the group!<br> <br>Selena rolls her eyes at the being's remarks. "And you're more arrogant than any of those three things." The wolfess deadpans, a layer of ablative armor formed from a quick bit of earth magic shielding her from the worst of the flames. "That depends on your goals. I think that these would count as torture before anything else." The wolfess chastises, willingness to fight notwithstanding. "And why would you throw fire about in a house like this when you're a floor above us? Do you even understand the implications or are you just stupid?" She asks, taking a few moments to send forth a simple cutting wind - perhaps for the best that she not start with her fire magic indoors.<br> <br>The enemy in sight, this seems like a good as time as any to attack. Johnny whips out his pistol and takes the first shot he gets.<br> <br>Rixo rolls her shoulders again and rounds the door into the room to face the opponent, elemental at her side. "Well then. Let's see what you've got, hmm?" She keeps her shield up and ready, grip tightening on her frosted sword. With the right opening, she'd get to use it, too.<br> <br>Pyra deftly sidesteps the flames easily, letting the winds, and bullet sail past her as well. "Parlor tricks." She doesn't  pay much more attention to those with the shields, lunging straight for melee range with a quick swipe of her dagger.<br> <br>Dio crouches behind his tower shield as the flames roll past him. "Hoo wee," he shouts, shaking his hand a bit. "That was a close on'." Popping his gaze up over his shield, he notices everyone taking their pick at the enemy of the moment. Waiting for his moment, the lion primes his spear and attempts a quick stab towards the weak points of his armor before retracting.<br> <br>Jera is still sneaking along the sidelines. Preparing his strike. He nocks a few plywood arrows into his hand crossbow and the lets the weak arrows fly, the string blasting splinters and fragments rather than actual arrows in an attempt at distraction. And then tumbling away, the end of his bo catching fire...<br> <br>The Ram snarls as he's first buffeted by Selena's wind magic, causing him to step back once as Johnny's shot gets a nice shot into his side! Pyra's attempt is not as lucky, as the ram moves out the way in time, before Dio's spear find a nice spot near his hip. In all the combat, Jera's splintering attempt at a distraction fails, instead the ram's hand coats in shadowy flames once more as he lashes out again at the Pyra, missing and managing to coat the wall in the flames instead. Down below however, the flames that had passed by the group was begining to start normal fires it seems as it began to spread amongst the run down structure!<br> <br>Johnny takes a look around him, the building is going to go soon without support, this needs to be fast but he doesn't feel it is a good time to go in for a kill. He whips out his bow again and lets an arrow fly.<br> <br>Selena shakes her head a little as her spell connects, followed with the various other attacks, using her time to focus on the other issue - the fire. Mustering her energy and what water there was in the area, the wolfess starts to douse them - those below the group being prioritized.<br> <br>Rixo tries to take advantage of the ram's failed attack on Pyra, stepping forward and thrusting forward with the frostfire weapon, hoping to catch him through the pit of his arm.<br> <br>Pyra regains her footing, with yet another failed attack against her. Thankfully the insuing fire was quickly snuffed. She  raises her sword, making another quick slash at the Dark Magic Ram. Yes, wear him down a little more...<br> <br>Dio watches as his hit lands clean. Seeing the damage the ram has taken from the other group members, the lion tries to find a way to end things swiftly should the enemy decide to keep on standing. Attempting to find an opporunity, he prepares his shield and charges forward for a large tower shield based bash to knock 'em into the ground and hopefully unconscious or dead.<br> <br>Jera has made it behind the ram! Using his bowstring and his dagger as makeshift claws, the gryphon dedicant springs an attack, the dagger catching aflame as he slashes wildly.<br> <br>The Ram is finally downed by the groups efforts, Rixo's sword piercing through his armor, before he's struck by another arrow, clawed from behind with a dagger, and then finally smashed with a shield to fall broken on the stairs. A wet cough rising from him as his right eye is all that remains open to look at the group, before his lips twitch into a smile, and his body alights in flames as he dies, spreading the fire up to the stairs where it makes it's way to the second floor.
+Selena's efforts aids the group well, as her efforts ensure there is still a path to escape out from. Unfortunatly though, the flames are still spreading along the walls, and even into the rooms slightly to signify their current situation, as the coyote begins to groggily awaken.<br> <br>Rixo quickly sheaths her sword as the ram falls, leaning over to help the coyote to his feet. "Come on, we're done here and the place is going up in flames. We're getting out." Assuming he, nor anyone else, tries to stop her, she starts trying to help him back towards the main entrance.<br> <br>Selena shudders a little at the last few moments of the ram's life, grumbling to herself. "Whatever was up there, they didn't want us getting. If not for the risk of the roof falling in on us given all the fire I'd try to look..." She notes, dousing the cadaver in water and - assuming that deals with the immediate threat of fire drags the corpse back to frisk before making her way out with the others.<br> <br>Pyra speeds off... Up the stairs. The fire had one purpose up here, destroy notes. Not something she was going to let happen. She starts dashing around the room picking up papers and books of notes, salvaging anything that wasn't directly already on fire or burnt. Of course like the rest she's on a timer, a muuch stricter one. Uh, window! That should provide an escape!<br> <br>"The keys, lass!" Dio shouts over to Selena. "Mind 'andin' me those keys ya got? I don't want those beings burnin' to death over there. We gotta save as many o' them as we can. I don't know if they're fine o' not, but that's somethin' that I'm willin' to risk."<br> <br>"We didn't open the door. There won't be time to pick the lock. I'm gonna wreck it." Jera growls and then the glowing marks on his body intensifies as he calls upon his half of the agreement. He barges down the stairs at an incredible speed, shifting into gryphon form right as he is about to hit the door, trying to smash right through it.<br> <br>As the Coyote comes to his senses, he nods and shuffles along with Rixo, moving for the exit as Jera comes barreling by! When Jera slams into the door, he manages to force it open, at the cost of a few broken bones, and a lot of pain. The walls of the tower shake slightly then, as the hinges had been ripped free and caused a bit more instability in the structure! As Dio works to free the tormented beings, he's unfortunatly lacking the time to save them all, and so is forced to either chose to and make it out safely, or risk it while trying for all four. Selena's searching through the body is unfortunatly pointless, as any papers or such he had on his person were now burnt, and only a misshapen talismen was left on his being.
+Pyra's dash up the stairs, leads her into a room filled with surgical tables, and tools everywhere... And judging by the lack of most notes being arround, they had cleared out after being stumbled upon and left the ram to clean up what did remain! All the same, there are a few deceased beings for her to look over, otherwise she was best serve to vacate quickly!<br> <br>Selena pulls the talisman off of the being, twisted or not - better to come out with something rather than nothing after all. "Just make it quick, Dio, we need to get out of here." She calls, silently cursing as Pyra virtually flies up past her and up the stairs, moving moving with a little more haste to the door and making sure Jera isn't too incapacitated.<br> <br>Rixo leads the coyote along outside, grimacing under her helmet at Jera's... Actions. "Alright. We're out, please, excuse me." She makes sure the coyote won't go falling over, or at least sitting him down first, before moving towards Jera. "Are you alright there?"<br> <br>Jera is face first in the snow. Probably steaming a little. He raises his hand to show that he's alright! If groaning a little loudly from discomfort and hurt. <br> <br>Pyra takes what she can find. Maybe she can piece something together out of some of these notes. She takes a look over the bodies. If this is what they were working on it would be best to take down some things about those as well, but she doesn't have time to go into intricate detail, she just jots down a few things that she can before she makes a mad dash to the window. She most certainly can't use the stairs now, but if she's lucky, she might be able to land this safely... She leaps out the window, hoping the little Air magic she had could cushion her fall.<br> <br>Dio takes the keys and rushes for the cage room. He quickly darts his eyes around and looks backwards as the mess behind him. Trying to save all four would risk killing all four plus himself. "I'm sorry I can't save ya all. I'm just one being. Please fergive me in the afterlife, but I won't blame ya if ya 'ate me." The lion takes a deep breath and looks at the caged beings. Deciding who to save, he tries to guess who might be the youngest of the group. With his size, he might be able to save two. Guessing on who might be the two youngest, he opens up their cages and attempts to drag them out where the rest of the group is.<br> <br>The Coyote nods as he's left outside, coughing gently as the flames intensify within the tower. Pyra's daring escape is thankfully without harm, as she's left with mainly scratch notes of little importance that hadn't been taken before. Dio is the last one out, carrying the woman and the frog out of danger not a moment too soon, as the roof then begins to collapse behind him.
+As the groups left to lay there in exhaustion, a small group of soldiers arrive on the scene, and observe the destruction, before tending to the wounded and getting the story of what had happened.[[Category:RPLogs]]

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