The Castle [02] (Remba, but don't let it stop you)

[Gareeku]

For a moment, a smirk of satisfaction appeared on Gareeku's face as his blade seemed to hit it's intended target. However, the smirk would soon disappear as the wolf found that his blade seemed to hit nothing but air. He was then met with a grin from the angel, his eyes widening slightly upone seeing the look on her face, before her attack hit home.

"UGH!!" Gareeku cried out as he was struck hard in his midriff, feeling himself flying back before slamming into one of the nearby columns, another cry of pain from the wolf being heard as he did so. Landing hard on his feet, Gareeku fell to his knees as he coughed slightly, winded from the blow the angel had dealt to him. Forcing himself to get back onto his feet, the wolf grimaced as he glanced back at the angel, who was now on the attack against Aisha.
Damn it..my sword didn't affect her at all... Gareeku thought to himself in frustration as he wiped away the blood that had run a little from the corner of his mouth.

Composing himself once more as he picked up his sword, Gareeku advanced again as he sheathed his weapon, flames of soul energy appearing in his hands as he did so. They seemed to be totally outclassed by the angel...but there had to be a weakness somewhere...

Breaking out into a run, Gareeku dashed forwards towards the angel in a new assault, throwing forward a bolt of soul energy as he did so. Once he had done so, the wolf dashed in close, before leaping up as he brought his fist upwards into a hard uppercut, his fist burning brightly with white flame. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Gareeku then slammed his hands onto the ground, creating a powerful cyclone of soul energy swirling up.

[Boog]

As Jeremiah sunk into that decidedly nonlucid state that went with his curse, In woke up fully. In was an interesting persona in that he literally was at the back of the line on the day they were handing out brains. When the other personae were staking out parts of Jeremiah's intellect they could use, he showed up last. However, his being active essentially freed up more of Jeremiah's mind for his use. Thus, he thought better while hitting things.
Jeremiah staggered to his feet. Next to him, red flames formed a demonic bull with an extra pair of horns. From the way its mouth was open in a soundless bellow, the way its left hoof scratched at the ground twice before it charged at the angel, the cold glare of its coullike eyes, you would never have guessed that he was mostly thinking about politics and was only sparing a little attention to the task of hitting the angel like a runaway train.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel saw that the battle wasn't going well but didn't know if there was anything she could do to help. With the fight in melee she couldn't use most of her attacks without hurting everyone else more than the angel. She did the most useful thing she could see needed doing. She grabbed Gina and got them both behind a pillar and away from the flying energy of the fight.

[Stygian]

Gareeku's onslauht was met with a bitter face from the angel, but mostly just that. The blows that were not deflected seemed to pass through thin air, not having much effect at all. Whatever weakness he had sought for chose not to reveal itself, as he was met with another wave of force as soon as his vortex died down, this time simply throwing him over the floor and against the central well.
   It was then that In decided to charge the angel. The towering beast hit her with all the power of a tank and all the efficiency of cutting water. Its fiery shape thundered through the angel as if she had been made of mist and smoke, after which she became solid again as if nothing had happened. She looked at the bull-like apparition, her eyes narrowing a moment, and then turned disregardfully, facing the bat as she made another attack and appeared to try and take a stranglehold on the aetherial feline, whatever that might have served...
   "Despicable creatures! Can't you see that this must end?!" the angel snarled, struggling with the bat gripping her somehow, clenching her fingers tightly around Stygian's shoulder and throat. She tore her from her grip, and threw her violently against a column just next to her, a hard hit that jarred the bat's spine and made her slump down with almost a whimper.

   When Mel tugged at her and pulled her along behind one of the supportive pillairs, the ferret shouted and babbled in protest, tears still running down her cheeks. She squirmed out of Mel's grip, and dashed around it, shouting something in many voices as she went, grabbing at the sword on the ground.
   "SNOW!" a few of the voices echoed out.

[Gareeku]

Gareeku's attack would again bear no result, as his attacks seemed to not affect the angel in the slightest. Crying out in pain as he was struck once more, the wolf bounced slightly when he fell to the floor.
"Nnnuughh..." he groaned groggily, moving from his lying position, before coughing up a slight amount of cough, specks of crimson liquid dotting on the floor as he looked back up at the angel.

"There has to be a way..." he growled to himself, before shakily rising to his feet once more. More trails on blood had now appeared from his mouth, and various cuts and bruises on his body were also present. It was then, however, that the wolf glanced to the side, seeing the ferret girl grab for the sword as she spoke in what seemed to be a few voices at once...

[Aisha deCabre]

As her swipe with the sword was stopped, all too easily to have not escaped her frustration, Aisha only met the angel's gaze with a harsh look in her blood-colored eyes.  Having seen what had been done in response to the attacks of the others, she wasn't at all surprised when she was flying through the air again, the holy blade knocked from her grip.

She landed several feet away, though she tried to do so on her feet it was a hard landing and the panthress ended up on her side instead.  She growled and tried to stand up on still-exhausted muscles, yet had to regain her wind as she watched Stygian and Sathariel try to strangle each other, and Gareeku's powerful attack was reduced to nothing before the wolf was thrown back again...she winced.  There seemed to be no way...and the sword was too far out of her reach, but if she could just run...

But there was a pause as the ferret suddenly dashed from behind a column, rushing to the spot where it fell.  Aisha's eyes widened, but she could do nothing for the moment but watch, gripping a somewhat sprained leg.  The hell...?

[Cogidubnus]

With seeming feeling of hesitation, Cog readied his sword at his side and struck at the angel with a large, broad and powerful stroke. He did not hesitate to strike, but rather his movement was so smooth it seemed he moved slower than he was. The sword glowed a fiery white, and in the breath of a moment a dozen white lines crisscrossed about the angel, the strikes to fast to see. His final strike broke one of the rules of swordsmanship, making him twirl and put his back to his enemy for a moment, but Cog had good reason. His other hand was balled into a fist and using the momentum he had built he launched another wave of force and thunder at  the creature, almost point-blank.
His face, frozen into a vicious snarl, belied his frantic mind. The angel was unaffected by their blows...except for Aisha. That sword...

[Prof B Hunnydew]

PBH is half-conscious when she see Mel hiding and then reaching after the ferret as Gina races to take up the sword.  Hurting PBH crawls and limbs to Mel's side by the pillar.

"Well, what can we do, now, lady Mel?  The Angel has to be gaining power from somewhere.   Also She has some threads around our batty friend.  There are some weak strands into our other adventurers friends  Can the strands be cut?" 

***
PBH can see the thin strands of magic touching everyone poisoned by the spiders, and with many of the strongest threads leading into Stygian.
***

PBH

[Stygian]

The ferret hefted the sword and moved up before the angel and the bat, looking at them both with an unreasonable mixture of anguish, sorrow, loathing, panic, determination, chill, spite and relief in her face, one that was so strange it was almost impossible to discern. Her form seemed blurred somehow, other dim shapes hinting and slipping between her own movements, blurred lines and contoures that were not hers. She held the sword in front of her in a good position, but shakily, tears faling down her face underneath the blur which was really quivering in desperate sorrow.
  "Why?! Why do you do this?!" she exclaimed, her voice still shifting. "This was not supposed to be! You are both a disgrace!" That was the voice of the strong grandmother from before, coupled with a bit of bitter decisiveness to her face, which quickly melted into tears again. Her voice became that of the young man once more, as she looked desperately at Stygian.
  "Tell me why! I loved you, Snow!" she said, angrily and heartbrokenly.
  The bat slowly got to her feet, her eyes wide with sudden realization.
  "Kill in the family spirit..." she murmured. Then, her eyes faced the ferret's, narrowing as they did. "I loved you too, Azel. But I hate you. And I don't regret what I did. Not one thing." Her eyes stared coldly at the ferret, oozing loathing.
  The ferret's eyes widened, and with a cry of rage and mad grief, she dove for the bat, pulling back the sword and aiming the tip for her heart.
  With all the speed she could muster, Stygian pulled on the angel hard, and threw them both in front of the gleaming tip of the sword. It sank through both their hearts, first the bat's, then the feline's.

[Gareeku]

Standing there as he panted softly, Gareeku looked on as the ferret confronted Sebastian. It was that, with widened eyes, he saw the girl attack the bat with the sword she had retrieved, before Sebastian pulled the angel over and ensured she would be stabbed along with her. Throughout this observation, the wolf stayed silent. He didn't know what to say. Everything had happened so fast, and he couldn't anything but watch.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched the goings-on with bated breath, closely as the ferret approached both the bat and angel.  There was suspense, the adventurers having hung back despite the feeling of wanting to sink their blades into the flesh of the ethereal and beastly creature before them.  The ferret and the souls she harbored carried something fierce and empowered when they held the blade with them, and it seemed, nobody dared get in their way.

Her eyes widened though as soon as the female Sebastian retorted back, and then the panthress clasped a hand to her own mouth when the blade pierced the hearts of both creatures, one after the other.  She wondered if the bat would recover as easily from that as when she had before pulled a shard from her throat.  But even if she would, that sight wasn't one to be erased from memory.

[Cogidubnus]

Cog had expected many things to happen in through the duration of this battle, but this had not been one of them. As he stared at the impaled bat and feline, the snarl died on his face, and he grew very quiet. So far both had proved indestructible, but still...the only thing that had seemed to hurt the angel had been that sword.
He stood silently, staring intently at the both of them. He kept his face carefully blank, his eyes only betraying his feeling of sorrow, but those were hidden under shaded lenses. His glowing sword thrummed in his hand, and he waited.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As the ferret tore violently out of Mel's grasp she stumbled against the column.  By the time she had righted herself and gone around the column after Gina the girl had the sword in hand and was shouting at Sebastian in multiple voices. Then she lunged forward. It took Mel two or three blinks before she could realize the sword actually seemed to pierce, rather than passing through like all the other times. Mel took a half-step out from behind the column, not certain that even a heart-piercing could do anything to the archangel.

[Stygian]

The world seemed to freeze for a moment. There were the faces and stares of the adventurers. There was the darkness around them which has seemed to go as hard and amorphous as glass. There was the shrill silence, broken only by a short gasp from the ferret. There was the panic on the angel's face. There was the gleaming blade through the both bodies. There was pain. And stillness.
   Then, with a wordless scream of hundreds of voices, the three shapes erupted in a torrent of white and blue fire, and flaring, fuming blackness. Their shapes were blurred as the cascade spread outward, the light playing tricks with the rank darkness of the surroundings. Pure power, one that had been pent up, layered and entangled for more than a century and a half, flooded out and washed over them. And amid it all swirled the lost souls of all the dead who had been taken by the house, shrieking and screaming as they passed upward toward Heaven and downward toward Hell in a swirling vortex of light and shadows.
   The flare of power lasted for a few, eternal moments, the three shapes coming into view almost like one again, before it flashed away, with one of them blurring down and falling to the ground, another one flaring out and dissappearing like a flame without its fuel, and the third standing shakily for a moment, before falling to her knees and then the ground.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As the brilliant light faded enough to see, Mel saw a body hit the floor. She had spent the fight staring like an idiot, maybe now there was something she could do to redeem herself. She rushed forward, then skidded to a momentary halt as she realized the figure was female. As the dust settled she realized it was a bat and remembered that Sebastian was a female now. She ran the rest of the way forward, kneeling and turning Sebastian onto his/her back to check for life signs.

[Stygian]

The bat had neither breathing nor a pulse. There was no blood pouring from her body, just a black ooze that sizzled on the stone where it dripped, and she had a big hole right through the left centre of her chest. Her eyes were already glazing over. But then, Mel felt a throb. Though it didn't come from  her body. She was clenching something in her hand that...
   A fiery glow sparked to life in the bat's right fist, and something throbbed with an audible pulse, making a thump that seemed to reverberate through the darkness. It developed into a steady rhythm, and slowly the bat's body lifted, as dark swirls and crackling cinders began to snake around her. A soft, chiming hymn could almost be heard.
   The sound of it, first a seething, scraping sound like sand against sand or ash crumbling grew to a storm, as darkness tore itself inward, into the bat's shape and against her heart. And from her hand, the fire and cinders swept out, mixing with the shadows. It all ripped into the bat's chest cavity, and as it did, she began to scream. She opened her eyes, irises blazing with fire turning from orange to blue amid blackness.
   The roaring and the fire died down, at last, the blaze slowly settling down and darkness taking hold again. The bat fell to the ground on all fours, panting and shaking violently.

[Boog]

In had vanished soon after the brilliant flash of the sword connecting with the angel. This was not something he wanted to stick around for. Thus, Jeremiah was lucid enough to know to stay the hell away from Sebastionette while she was waking up, as you can never guess whether or not a fallen angel wakes up gracefully or angrily. However, he was not bright enough to avoid checking the other body, which was probably Gina. He made his way across the rubble littering the floor and carefully checked the possessed ferret's pulse. Very carefully.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Blinded by the flash for a moment, PBH also ran to help with Mel but was a step or two behind her.  PBH met the Frog by Gina, and frown as he checked for her purse, then for her heart beat. 

Gina seem to alive but unconsious.  Bambi, hoping the girl had her sanity back, lays her out more comfortable.  And checks for any other visible wounds as Mel see to the bat.

PBH   

[Rloa]

Kerag stares down at the piece of  paper for a few seconds then looks up at the house then looks down at the paper again. "This isn't the club! They trick me." Kerag declared in an angry voice then slowly walks up to the door of the house "Well might just ask who ever lives here if they know were the scorch bar is." when he reach the door he banged on it a few times to see if anyone would answer.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha stared, frozen, as the bodies skewered by the sword and the one gripping the handle seemed to hang straight in midair, balancing the line between silence and an overwhelming sense of pain.  Even if none of the adventurers had felt the blade, it seemed that they could imagine vividly how it must have felt to the bat and the angel.

Then came the brilliant explosion of light and sound, of pure emotion from the looks on their faces.  Aisha, gripping her leg with one hand, held the other up to her face and shrank back against the onslaught of darkness, so brilliant and powerful that the emerald glow of her tail ring was lost to the flash which seemed to last only a few moments.  She blinked with fascinated eyes as many trapped souls went their separate ways.  And then it all died down in a flash, and she could remove the hand shielding her face.  Sebastianette, falling as if dead to the ground...the ferret off to the side...Sathariel nowhere to be seen.

Aisha released a sigh that had been held during the whole endeavor, watching and resting in her position on the floor as Mel came forward to inspect the bat.  The panthress was mildly surprised when she came back to life, disproving the odds otherwise.  Looking around the group of adventurers, many of them regaining some injuries yet nonetheless alive, she fell to the ground and released a shaky laugh.  "Mierda...that was not fun."  She looked up and around again.  "Everyone okay?"

[Stygian]

The bat made a rasping sound that could have meant anything and coughed, and tried to get to her feet. Her first attempts failed, as she proved too shaky to go anywhere at all, and had to have at least three limbs in the floor so as not to tip over. The rasping and hacking continued though, some of it forming parts of words while she waved her hand at them. She seemed to want to shout, to tell them something. After a fe seconds they got it.
   "R-rhun... ack...! Hou ihhiohsss... hrrr... he ahve do rrhun...!" she managed to get out, wobbling to her feet and trying to get through.
   From above some dust and rocks fell. And then a tremor shook the ground, and the whole hall with it, creating a rumbling, throbbing sound below the audible in their ears. A crack split the shaking floor with a loud snap. The bat looked back at it with fear and tension, and broke into an unsteady but hurried sprint.
   "Run!"

[Gareeku]

Looking on, Gareeku's eyes widened as the events unfolded, his mouth slightly open in awe as the souls went their separate ways in spectacular fashion. The roaring was incredibly loud, and the fires burning with awesome intensity as the souls were transported off to either heaven or hell.

Once the commotion had died down, Gareeku managed to snap himself out of it just in time to hear Sebastian's order to run. Not needing to be told twice, Gareeku forced himself to move, fighting through the pain he felt each time he moved a muscle. If anybody needed help, he would be there to offer assistance to those who needed help getting out. If nobody needed assistance, then the wolf would be breakign swiftly into a sprint after the bat.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had been watching the bat and the others for a reply, slowly getting to her feet and testing her leg before finding it sore, but still good enough to walk on for the time being.  She had started to look the others over, the ferret in probably the worse shape, but Bam seemed to have it under control.  The panthress bent briefly to pick up the holy blade which lay nearby, thoughtfully looking at it before she was interrupted by the female Sebastian's rasping voice.

Then the ceiling above them shook, followed by the hall around them.  The fear of being buried came back into Aisha's eyes again, before hearing the bat's order for everyone to run, and as soon they did.  The panther didn't wait to be told twice.  She hobbled a bit at first, and then took off after the others on a full sprint, going faster when the floor had started to crack open.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

When the ground started to shake and Stygian yells to everyone to "Run",  PBH quickly sweeps up Gina into her arms and runs to the stairs... She doesn't look back as she dodges falling rocks...

PBH

[Sunblink]

As Keaton watched the attacks fly back and forth in a blitzkrieg of fire, blades, and energy, she adamantly cursed her circumstances. Damn it all. Just... goddamn it. Unarmed and incapable of harnessing the powers of the shadows around her, the Cubi-turned-Angel didn't stand a chance against the infuriated archangel. If only she at least had her mace—if only...

A loud seething noise drew Keaton's attention to the encroaching puddle of umbrage that had leaked around her feet, corroding in wicked, gnarled vines until it became a twisted knot of writhing tendrils. A vaguely familiar shape was emerging from the abysmal center of the pit, at first starting out gelatinously, connected to the shadow by tenuous strands of inky ichor. Smoke orbited the base of the gradually-hardening shape, enveloping it, then breaking apart as a single form--an archaic, rigidly-carved symbol, burning through the layers of black with piercing white light—shone brightly on it, beneath the thorned head of the object.

It was a Morningstar mace, completely black, save for that one, moonwashed symbol, and covered in snaking patterns of intricate carvings.

Keaton's jaw nearly dropped.

Reaching out, she attempted to scoop up the weapon, but a burning pain burst from the palms of her hands as she cradled it, lasting for only a split second before she nearly dropped the club. Thankfully, she managed to hold onto it long enough, sighing in relief when the pain subsided.

Catastrophe had come back to her. She had no idea how, no idea why, but she wasn't in the mood nor the circumstance to ponder this turn of events. Behind her, the battle raged, the archangel screeching and exchanging blow for blow, until an equally unexpected event occurred.

"SNOW!"

The ferret was screaming out her epithet for Stygian, her voice distorted and permeated with something only equivalent to heartbreak. Her form was shifting constantly, blurred and flanked by transforming, illusory apparitions. It became clear to Keaton how cursed this ferret was, how deeply she was tainted. Before Keaton knew it, she was leaping at Stygian, sword in hand, and was plunging it for his heart—

--when in a swift movement, Stygian seized the archangel and thrust her in front of him, the sword's blade skewering right through both her and the bat behind her with one shove.

Keaton's azure eyes widened behind her askew glasses, her ivory fangs sunk into her lip with almost bruising force, stifling an expletive of shock, and she nearly dropped her mace once more. "Oh my Go--" the jackal exclaimed, ears flattening and her feet propelling her backward, slamming her against a pillar. Oh my God what the FUCK just happened did that ferret just—I think she just—

She did.

There was silence, broken by the gasping of the ferret, and the shrieking of the countless voices that erupted out of nowhere.

White and blue fire and squirming blades of darkness mingled together about the impaled shapes, burning with blinding intensity. The shapes within the cataclysmic explosion of flame were nearly consumed, save for the faintest outlines of their silhouettes, but the only thing that Keaton allowed her eyes to see was that cursed sword, pushed through both angel and bat. Energizing ower, swooping specters, falling heaven and rising hell, it all rushed in by in a whirlwinding barrage of flashing energy...

And it was over in a paroxysm of exploding flame.

Keaton thought she was going to faint, as the very breath had been ripped out from her lungs. What had just happened? What the hell had just happened? What had happened to the—why was—what the FUCK was that—

Without realizing it, Keaton seemed to be unconsciously mouthing these questions under her breath, threatening to screech them out once the fire finally faded, revealing the staggering form of Stygian, clenching his vibrating fist. The archangel was gone, save for a few, almost unnoticable ashes, dappling the ground like flakes of dust. Darkness was beginning to swarm  back into place, restoring some form of reality to the surroundings. For some reason, Keaton had just felt like she had experienced an unspeakable horror, something that could only be defined as worlds colliding and every soul in hell being unleashed for that one, final moment.

Suddenly, the chamber broke into an unstable, uncontrollable series of shudders and wracking quakes, sending shards of stone and mortar raining down from the collapsing ceiling. Looking up in terror and barely jumping out of the way of a plummeting, rather hefty chunk of rock, Keaton skidded to the side, looking back and forth as everyone started to gather themselves up and prepare to escape. It was no surprise to Keaton that the mortally injured Stygian had barked out a garbled order to run—but frankly, only a complete moron would've remained in the sanctum while it was on the verge of breakdown.

Honestly, Keaton had no idea why they even bothered to bring along the disturbed little ferret, especially after her botched assassination attempt—but then again, if it weren't for that, the archangel wouldn't have met her demise. The protest that Keaton was about to spout disappeared in a heartbeat, especially once the ground started to crack and split in two with a thunderous bellow.

At this point, Keaton had no other option but to run.

So she did, cursing in a rapid-fire stream of profanities all the way.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

Cog's previous feelings of compassion vanished like mist in the sunlight. His face seemed to simply droop and he gave a  loud sigh.
"Of course. The ceiling. How foolish of us." he said, sheathing his sword in a quick motion and turning on his heels. He began to sprint for the exit.

[Stygian]

Strength was rapidly returning to Styian's limbs, and after her initial stumble her steps were becoming more and more secure. She nearly stopped, looking at her hand. She put some effort into it, and it turned, the tips of her fingers blackening and becoming sharper and longer, the skin turning to ash and cinders and cracking up, blackness writhing under the moving skin...
   She turned back against them, her irises practically burning between pitch black pupils and corneas, shifting colour like a flame just between fiery orange and intense blue. Eyeing the crumbling surroundings, one could see how the black cracks that split the floor faster and faster spread outward, ripping the surroundings apart rather than having them crumbling down on them, as if the darkness was tearing them into pieces.
   The bat's shape spilled out darkness, and an envelope of blackness tore itself out, forming tentacles that smashed away a few crumbling rocks just before they were about to fall on them. Stygian felt the hit, but it wasn't as heavy as expected. Or rather, it was as heavy as expected, but lighter than it had been.
   His powers were back in full. They really were. And he smiled, with that changed face, as the skin on it turned to ash as well around his eyes.
   "Go! I'm covering you!" the bat shouted, darkness cascading and snaking out from her, grabbing at the portal to the stairway and surrounding them as they dashed through.

   The stairway was already crumbling and cracking, the steps partly immersed in flames as fissures and cracks opened in the floor and the walls, the steps lurching under their feet. Panicked shapes, the souls of the damned, screamed and thrashed and ran around them. Fire licked their clothes and rocks toppled down around them, the satairway beginning to fall apart underneath them...

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Bambi continues to run up the stairs with the ferret,  she jumps cracks fissure and dodges falling rocks and bricks.  But she finds herself slowing some by the final stair with wall of flames. When a fissure opens up below them, PBH pulls Gina to the inner wall  and they become trapped on the edge three feet wide with 10 feet of open air around them..   

PBH

[Aisha deCabre]

There was nothing more to accurately describe the scene around the fleeing adventurers than pure chaos.  The world seemed to be crumbling around them, though they couldn't afford to pause and take their eyes away from the path ahead.  Aisha was sprinting, swishing through the portal with a sort of jump, past Sebastian with a passing concerned look.  There was a ringing in the panther's ears before the others were alongside.

Rushing ahead, the panthress worked her leg muscles to the point of exhaustion, and yet the adrenaline and stress of fear kept her running.  Around them, it was a scene that could have played out in so many dark stories, adventurers escaping the paths and fires of Hell licking at their heels...she wondered if it would even burn them.  As the stairs crumbled, Aisha gritted her teeth and, in her sprint, only started jumping the steps...two, three, four at a time.

All the while, as she soon was working to keep up with everyone, Aisha's mind just kept chanting along with harried whispers beneath a shaky breath, unheard by anyone but the raw silence of her own ears, covered by the shaking debris of the ceiling and floor.  Dioses, nos salvan... (Gods, save us.)

[Boog]

"Of course..." Jeremiah panted as he ran like hell (it seemed like the thing to do), "The brave heroes are triumphant, they kill the horrible beastie, and naturally the reward is for the castle to collapse around their ankles. How could it go otherwise? God forbid they build these bloody things to last. Everyone keeping up!? Have we lost any- woop!" He was still shakey on his feet from the fight (albeit his meager role in it) and just about every other type of beating he'd taken today, leaving him staggering or slipping every so often as he bounded up the crumbling stairs, dodging flames and crumbling mortar.
"I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE this bloody goddamn castle!"