The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Sunblink]

Keaton was only vaguely aware of Cog shouting from across the room, but even that minor concern vanished beneath the thundering oscillation of Keaton's thrumming pulse, its beating racing across her nerves until electricity filled her head and muted her to the sounds of Cogidubnus running toward her and Sal yelling. The webs she fired immediately snagged onto Keaton's mace, yet even as she pulled Keaton could only feel the muffled, straining tension of her muscles as her grip automatically resisted, yanking with all her might in return. Anything to get Sal off that damn wall, or rip a limb off, or--or--

As her mind deteriorated into a writhing swarm of vicious, bloodthirsty thoughts and strategies, Keaton's concentration slipped almost simultaneous to the moment another demon catapulted itself onto Sal's back and sent them all toppling to the ground, entangled in the ichorous webbing. Even with the presence of the squirming demon sandwiched between them Keaton was relentless, abandoning her mace and transferring all attention and effort into simply clawing Sal's eyes out. Altogether they rolled and tumbled along the ground as she kicked, bit, punched, clawed, and tore, attempting to grab onto or pummel whatever had the misfortune to come into her line of vision. All the writhing and frantic movement Keaton did only agitated the webbing entrapping them even more, laboring her gestures and slowing her considerably as it further glued onto her clothing and fur. The demon managed to sink its teeth into her arm at one point, its claw seizing Keaton's hair, but a swift punch to the face dislodged its fangs, although at the expense of a small chunk of flesh. In spite of the pain she didn't care; all that mattered was killing Sal and making her pay for everything she had done.

Then the demon stopped moving, for some reason. Keaton no longer viewed him as a threat; just a deadweight obstacle. Using her elbow, she shoved his corpse to the side and threw herself at Sal, ignoring the bleeding of her upper arm. The flesh which had been taken out had removed the scar tissue of one of her Jyraneth Raider "military stripes," something which would likely have to be re-carved later once she recovered.

"BITCH!" Keaton roared at Sal, preparing herself for another, powerful punch to the face. Fingers began to crackle with unbridled wreaths of silver-violet electricity--Keaton was capable of conducting dark magic without Catastrophe, but it was difficult, very difficult. "You'll PAY! You'll fucking PAY! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

But before she could follow through with her threat, an alarming thunderclap echoed loudly through the chamber, resonating endlessly throughout the room with such an earsplitting volume that it was impossible for Keaton to ignore, even with her anger-clouded senses. The palpitating pulse faded down to a numb thrumming before it disappeared altogether, gold light flashed briefly in Keaton's eye before she glared up at Cog, distracted from her goal of killing Sal, but only for her ire to attach to him, instead.

"FUCK OFF!" she screamed, clearly delirious at this point. "Just FUCK OFF! Leave me ALONE! I'll make her fucking pay!"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[lucas marcone]

Ian Lobbed a flashbang grenade he had been saveing. "LOOK AWAY! he directed at the rageing adventurer sliceing up the dog. The beast stupid as it was looked down at it after it bounced off it's muzzle. As it thrashed aout blindly Ian noticed quite a few huminoid demons gathering around the frog. He retreated to Jerimaiah's side. Ian was amazeing as he pounded them with elbows and knees and low kicks from especially powerful legs. Even with this the things were too much for him. "Jerimahia! I'm going to use another one! When I tell you look up then RUN!"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel heard Sebastian yell as she was starting to run. Startled, she slowed a bit, looking back over her shoulder in time to see the walls start moving. But it was the horrid sounds and smells in front of her that brought her back to attention. Her head snapped around to see a hideous thing before her. Luckily she wasn't running fast enough for the momentum to carry her straight into it's jaws. Unluckily the beast itself was charging. Throwing herself sideways despite her terror of the fire limned walls she just managed to fire ice blades directly into the monster's side as it passed her.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

The distance sounds of the others cries and clashes with monsters could heard by Bam and Gina.  The old bat looks down the hall. as Bambi conjures up a big red ball and throws it at the bat.  The Bull size demon dog pounces after the ball and toward the old bat.

Bam grabs Gina and they flying over the dog and bat and down the hall away from the chapel.  She sees that the ceiling was getting lower and then the whole passage way was quickly becoming block.   She spots another Dog like creature attacking Mel far down the hallway.   

PBH

[Cogidubnus]

Cog hadn't expected the Jackal to be happy or cheerful, perhaps, but the sudden stream of curses and rage suddenly directed at him took the wolf aback. Keaton was coarse, he knew but...
This wasn't normal.

Cog looked at Keaton warily, his head tilted just a bit to the side. This sort of rage wasn't reasonable. He narrowed one eye. Something wasn't quite right. There was something he was missing here, that was making Keaton act the way she was. She stared at him, her eyes feral, and Cog sighed.
  This wasn't making things any easier.

Demons were crawling around, and he was certain that Rynkura, wherever she was, couldn't hold them off by herself until fighting was convenient for them. And although his trust for the spider was proportionate to the distance between himself and her fangs, he knew that they rather needed all the help they could get. He couldn't just let Keaton kill her.
He wasn't sure if he could stop her without rendering her unconscious, either, which would be almost as bad. Still...

There was one option.

"Fuck me?" the wolf snarled, leaning in close to the Jackal. "No, my dear. Fuck you!" Cog did his best to make his voice drip venom. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"
The wolf wasn't really sure what to say to keep Keaton's attention - he wasn't quite sure what Keaton was so angry about either – well, no. He knew what had set Keaton off, but he wasn't quite sure why it had set her off so badly. But if she just kept her attention on him...
Hopefully the damn spider would have half a brain and realize what he was doing. Surely Sal could escape from her own webs.
If not, well, they'd still have Keaton, at least.

[Sunblink]

Even more taken aback was Keaton when Cogidubnus snapped back a retort to her unreasonable rambling, not only out of surprise and outrage that he had dared to intercept her ire, but because she hadn't expected such a provoked response from philosophical, velvet-smooth Cogidubnus. Come to think of it this whole experience in the Castle was bringing out the worst in everyone, but such a revelation didn't come easily to Keaton, who was still half-delirious with rage. Rage which was only exacerbated once the shock in her face died down and she felt the fire billow back to its formerly raging state, blinding her with crimson. At first she wasn't quite sure if it was the remnants of blood still in her eye or her fury, but at this point, it just didn't matter.

"Fuck ME?! FUCK ME?!" Keaton howled indignantly in his face, thrashing about in the quagmire of webbing which still kept her glued to Sal. Pressing her hands on either side of Sal's head, she pushed her body back, still attempting to angrily extricate herself from the net clinging to her. "Asshole! I'm not doing shit! I'm giving her what she deserves! THIS IS ALL HER FAULT!"

Rearing back the best she could, she pointed accusingly at Sal, her finger dangerously sparking and flaring with blackened lightning and shadows. "It's her fault these bastards 'opened the gate to Hell,' it's her fault we got possessed before, it's her fault we got cursed, it's her fault that I'M SO FUCKING USELESS AND THAT I HAVE BEEN EVER SINCE I GOT HERE!"

Releasing an inhuman shriek, Keaton slammed her hand back to the ground, her attention no longer focused on Sal. By this point she probably wasn't making any sense whatsoever, her mind spiraling away as she gave in to her unrestrained rage. "It's her FAULT! HER fault her fault HER FAULT! ALL OF IT IS HER FUCKING FAULT!"

She needed to rip into something. She needed to tear something to pieces. She needed to smash something's skull open and let the blood stain the ground. But right now, all she was focused on was caterwauling away, no longer caring about the pretense of maturity or how insane she must appear, no longer caring about the injuries she had sustained to her arm and forehead, no longer caring about Sal.

All she cared about was how angry she was, how miserable she was, and how useless she was.

'I guess they were right after all.'

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Stygian threw a last punch into the wall, shaking it but not managing to do much more than make his knuckles start to ache. Leaning against it, his forehead touching the cold stone, he took a long deep breath, and then turned quickly on the spot. His steps quick and snapping on the floor as he walked toward where Mel stood, he holstered one gun and reloading the other, slapping a full magazine into place and pulling the mantle with a hard movement. The darkened 'wings' on his back seethed and flowed as if made of black fire.
   'Come. We will go around and find them,' he said when he walked past the dragon. His eyes didn't even veer toward her. More games just to torture me, old man, he thought grimly. I really hope you are getting something out of it, because I am going to rip you apart when I get to you.

- -

Four sets of eyes darting, Sal pressed her clawed, three-fingered hands back against the webbing still connecting her and the jackal. The lupine was making it so much harder with her thrashing, but thanks to her excessive amount of limbs the spider managed to finally untangle herself reasonably well. She spat into one of her palms and smeared the thick strands between her and Keaton with the fluid, and then pulled. The web came loose with an audible rip. She worked more of it with frantic hands, shriveling pieces of silk falling to the floor.
   Keaton's screaming had stunned her into silence at first, but Cog's reaction and Keaton's explosion thereafter finally made Sal lose it. 'WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!' she screamed, eyes landing on Keaton. Or, at least the two big ones, whose red irises were clearly discernible. 'Both of you!' she shouted, a bit lower when she had their attention, and looked back and forth between the wolf and the jackal, anger and fear mixing in her face. 'There are things trying to kill us and you're not making any fucking sense!' She backed up, eyes still like those of a caged animal. 'What the fuck does it matter?!'

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog's heart broke as he listened to Keaton, the jackal crying out in rage and frustration. He saw Sal working at the threads from out of the corner of his eye, and his mind began thinking on a grim double path. One the one hand, the spider –did- have half a brain, and was extricating herself quickly.
On the other hand, perhaps Cog had chosen his words too well at that. His face fell as he regarded Keaton, the jackal suddenly seeming very small as she lay on the marble floor.

The spider removed herself, scuttling backwards quickly, and Cog dropped down by the jackal, grabbing her arm as if to help her up.
"C'mon, Keats... no one thinks you're useless. I'm sorry, but we have to go..." he said softly, suddenly stopping as Sal interrupted him. Cog turned and narrowed his eyes at the spider, and standing he walked two quick steps over to her, trailing little bloodstained footprints.

"Grow a brain-!" he said softly, trying to keep Keaton from hearing. "Maybe next time I'll just let her kill you, mm?"
He narrowed his eyes meaningfully. "She's stronger than she looks. And I'm all for you dying, so don't get me wrong. But if she's cursing at me she isn't trying to strangle you. So..."
He showed some teeth. "Keep your mouth shut!"
Cog motioned absently with one hand to the rest of the hallway. "Hell saved your ass, not I." he muttered, turning and walking back to the jackal.

"C'mon, Keats." He said, almost apologetic in tone. "There will be time later." Cog paused for a moment, reflecting for a moment before turning back to the hallway.
"We need you." he said, sword dripping blood.

[Sunblink]

Admittedly, Keaton had expected for Cogidubnus to agree with her about her being useless in his ostensibly returned anger, her judgment obviously obscured by her irrational rage. So when he told her otherwise, she was clearly surprised, her ears pricking upright and her mad eyes flickering in his direction as bloodstained hands wrapped around her forearm. Inky blood had streamed down the length of her arm from the divot carved in her abused upper arm, staining the fur of her limb with slick crimson. Allowing Cog to help her to her feet, Keaton let out an indistinct choking sound which was impossible to identify, then used the back of her clean forearm to wipe away the blood marring her face. Other than smearing it slightly and matting the fur on her forearm with blood, she accomplished little in terms of cleaning herself.

"I--wh--" was all Keaton managed to get out before Sal started again, screaming at her.

Fire-licked eyes narrowed dangerously, Keaton's upper lip hiking up to expose her glistening ivory fangs. It was nearly enough to ignite her fury again and launch her into another attack, either physical or verbal, but intrigue over what Cog had said curbed any impulsive actions. Cog seemed to be mouthing something to Sal, but she couldn't hear him over the sound of her own strangled breathing, which had become more labored as the aftermath of her nonstop assault and all that screaming started to press down on her. Limitations had become increasingly apparent to her, which nearly started to make her break down again, but instead once Cog finished and turned to her, voice sentimental, she remained silent.

Keaton stared at the ground for a while, deliberately evading Sal. She knew merely looking at her or reflecting on her previous transgressions would only serve to fuel her rage and send her into chaos all over again. Already she was still angry, still hurt, but mostly confused and upset. Fury was subsiding, gradually, but still flickering at the surface.

Sighing, Keaton wiped away at her eye, clearing her blood-soaked eye just enough to allow her more visibility. "F-Fucking... sh-shit..." she choked out, somehow feeling slightly sick. Cog was right. There was another time, if they all didn't end up dying. She could rant and rampage later. Silently, broodingly, Keaton walked past Cog, moving to retrieve Catastrophe, which lay unattended on the ground.

She picked it up, allowing it to hang limply from her grip. Fingers tightened around the pommel, squeezing to the point Keaton could no longer feel in that hand and she felt the blood retreat from her veins. Whipping her head to the side, she threw a loud, threatening snarl in Sal's direction, then walked back to Cog.

"...shit..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Angel]

I just can't get a break today...

Right when Ketefe had started to relax a little, Jeremiah forgiving her and Aisha helping her stand up, the castle had decided that it didn't want her to be calm for more than five seconds at a time. So it sent a hellhound to attack them. She was still dazed with partial relief from the pain, so she didn't panic at the fearsome sight of the wolf-beast. Aisha took care of it quickly, to everyone's content.

The blue cat glanced down the hallway, wondering if everyone else was all right. They must've felt the shockwave, if they weren't already being attacked... Hope no-one's worse off than I am.

[Boog]

A weary, terrified, quiet frog exhaled and rubbed his eyes, "Alright Ian, unconventional. I'll give you that. Where the hell did you g- y'know what? Gift horses." He looked around, shaking on his feet. "Aisha, I'm guessing you want to... take point. Ketefe, if you're not hurt, you're probably our next best fighter."
Like that will keep things away from you.
Bal was loving this situation. He always liked it when Jeremiah was in trouble, regardless of what could happen to him as well. It was like having your worst enemy share your head, constantly muttering in your ear and applauding your woes. Of course, Jeremiah wouldn't put it in nearly so many words, and none of the words he would use would be permitted in a forum like this one.
A man whose greatest responsibility in his day to day life was to teach about art to high school students who didn't know why they were learning it reached down and picked up an edged piece of rock that the hellhound had knocked out of the walls and held it like a cross between a knife and an old fashioned shaving razor. Bal's commentary degraded into full blown, manic laughter that made the Lunacy sound like a merely jolly fellow.
"Aisha, which way do we go?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha braked on the floor, regaining her shape from a motion-ridden blur to jaguaress as her blade finally found the sinew that had separated the dog's head from the rest of his body.  The flesh ignited in a satisfyingly bright bonfire of hideous, pungent ashes before her eyes...only made brighter by the rat's quick flash bomb.

For a moment her face had quite the fanged grin, the feeling of exhilaration flowing through her veins at successfully slaying something that shouldn't have been released in the first place.  Her breathing was harsh, taken several times through her mouth.  This fight was the power she needed to repair all of the tiredness her body had from lack of sleep.  Aisha hadn't noticed that her shirt was ripped nearly in half and that one leg of her trousers dripped with blood from a shallow cut from the beast's jaws, tingling with unholy energy...not until the panther finally exhaled calmly.  Then she hissed, feeling it in her nerves.

The blade was still ablaze with the holy fire, some of it coursing up her arms.  Almost as if unconsciously, she took one of her hands and placed it down on her injured leg, where the flames seemed to quell the pain...healing the girl of her own volition and banishing the malicious sting.  The damage did leave quite the scar however, something that couldn't be banished as the fire left her body and crept back to the blade.

"What a rush..." she sighed and stood up, looking down at her shirt, two ends of it connected at the bottom and the separated portions hanging from her shoulders.  At least the wrappings that bound her chest under the fabric still protected her from any worries about modesty.  And at any rate, there were other things to worry about.

After a second, Aisha glanced back to Jeremiah as he inquired where to go.  Her eyes narrowed, seemingly having a glow as dangerous and determined as her sword...they reflected two sides; illusory Hellfire, and very real holy fire.  "We go down this corridor, as intended," she stated.  "Where Mel ran to.  Everyone stay close, and watch each other.  Ketefe, don't lose us.  Nobody's getting lost again, hear me?  Vamos!  Go!"

The panthress started in a trot down into the darkness, past the torched corpse of the hell hound.  Fast enough to be in a confident hurry past the screaming apparitions, but slow enough for the other three to keep up with her.  A ragged, accented voice echoed down the corridor.

"Mel!"

*     *     *

Rynkura hadn't received any reply from Cogidubnus as he rushed to find the source of the empowered cursing...the tigress instead had decided to stay in that portion of the corridor and protect their backs from the demonic spirits rushing upon them.

She could very well hold her own barrier, a shimmering and almost invisible dome of light that served to divert most of the creatures.  But still there were some who could claw through the magic, those which were either taken care of by blinding light, stinging darts, or a simple slam in the body with her staff.  She wouldn't let them pass.  She simply listened to the exchange of voices, loud enough to be a hammer blow to the spirit and the heart...until finally, she sent a flurry of arrow-length darts against another horde of demons and turned around to look for them.

Rynkura stopped when she found the wolf and the jackal, along with the spider...their bodies covered in webbing and dripping blood, faces as solemn as all could get.

"I trust no one is hurt," the tiger inquired calmly...and then as a second thought, held her hand up.  "Physically, hurt."

[lucas marcone]

Ian was jogging down the hall easily keeping pace with Aisha.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Flying inside the hallway was getting harder for Bambi.  The walls and ceiling jet out stone and brick in her way that she had to bob and weave around.  She was also flying double, carrying Gina.  She was getting tried fast.  

"Gina Gina, you need to start flying, I'm losing my hold on you,  EEEEK!" screams Bam as she loses Gina as dives to avoids a flaming skull ghost in her face.

Bam's scream, which is heard by Stygain and Mel, shakes Gina out of her frozen state.  Gina shoots her wings out to break her fall and quick runs towards Mel.   Bambi also flys toward the others too.  She fires light spell blast at ghost and demons covering Gina's escape.  The girls breathlessly arrive where Mel and Stygain are.

PBH  

[Stygian]

For a moment as Cog addressed her, Sal only stood looking with incredulous shock. But as Cog turned his back on her, her expression slowly changed into dark indignity, and she mumbled, looking at him and Keaton balefully. 'Yeah, it's my fault that the old bastard and his in-law showed up. So, screw me over then. You won't be the first,' she said, voice bitter and cold. 'Not like I have a choice anyway.'
   Snorting, Sal turned her back on the both of them and walked over to Rynkura, moving up beside her and casting the darkness a grim look, idly flexing her many fingers.

- -

The corridor that lay before them was open and completely still, the turn that would probably bring them within sight of Mel not two dozen meters ahead. The jog almost seemed unnecessary, considering the sudden stillness of the place and the way the noise of their footsteps and breathing must have been quite audible to whatever might have been out there to pursue them. Still, even through the sudden cold stillness of the hallway, there seemed to remain that all too familiar feeling of eyes, maliciously watching from out of the darkness.
   They heard a screech, and before she had time to react, something that had almost blended into the wall of an alcove struck Aisha and sent her back into Ketefe. The humanoid shape wasted no time, its hide seeming to shift and ripple to a darker shade and more organic structure as it removed itself from the stony wall and rushed for the group. It leaped, maw open and leaking poisonous fumes.
   Suddenly, a shudder passed through the demon's tense body and it let out a howling shriek, caught mid-air. For a moment it hung there, some sort of black, blade-like protrusion jutting out of its chest. Then the sharp thing flexed and threw the monster away, discarding its already disintegrating, twitching body.
   Walking quickly against the adventurers, Stygian didn't even spare the horrid thing a glance as he passed it, the blade-like extension of his right wing morphing back into shape. 'There will be more of those,' he said, deceptively calmly. 'Soon. And worse.'

[Angel]

Ketefe walked as quickly as she could after the others. What she really wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but from what she'd seen tonight, that would probably get her killed. She heeded Aisha's advice and kept her eyes on the others as she moved forward.

Suddenly, a humanoid demon that had been hiding in the wall (just how much could these things do, anyway?!) lashed out at Aisha and knocked her into Ketefe. They both fell to the ground and skidded along the floor as the demon leapt out of the wall and rushed for the group. Ketefe started to push Aisha off her so she could get up and help.

But before it could do any damage, it screamed in pain, and hung on a blade for a moment before getting tossed away. Its killer was Stygian. Ketefe stared as the bat explained that things would be much worse than the current situation very soon. She got out from under the panthress and stood, her eyes becoming more alert. "Can we stop them?" she asked Stygian. I don't want ANYONE else getting possessed. I wouldn't even wish this on Gareth, or Khimara.

[Boog]

Jeremiah's eyes followed the humanoid demon as it was quickly excriviated, paralyzed on the spot. Later, he'd probably be berating himself for just standing there rather than, presumably on the basis that he had the odds of a snowball and was aparantly already in hell, doing something.
"Sebastion," the frog simply said, laughing in relief that nobody just got eaten, "You've got to be the most convenient scary person I've ever met."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel quietly followed Sebastian back down the hall. He didn't seem to require any answers and the faint sound of Aisha calling out told that the rest of the group were probably close. If they could join up quickly they could try finding the others. She was finding the lack of attacks was straining on her nerves and was looking nervously around so she almost missed Sebastian killing a monster that had confronted their small company. She was relieved to see they were all there. Bambi and Gina were coming up the hall from behind. Mel had actually forgotten about them, having not seen either since coming back from town. Nodding at Ketefe and her intelligent question the dragon asked the bat, "Do you know of them? Do they have any weaknesses we might exploit?"

[lucas marcone]

"I....." Ian started. "Want to hug you." He laughed at styg. "It's good to have more of the group here. I feel safer even if I am a bit naked at the moment." He gripped the area at the small of his back where he normally kept his guns holstered.

[Aisha deCabre]

With only a few pauses to make sure the others were indeed behind her, Aisha kept her pace through the darkened corridor, shrugging off the feeling of having many sets of eyes upon her back.  Demons and apparitions screeched past, attempting to grab at them, only to meet her ferocious blade.

But then, before she could see it...WHAM!  The air had been taken out of the panther, causing her to lose balance and topple straight into Ketefe before she could see what was going on.  She had quickly tumbled off of the masked felid with a quick apology, almost ready to face the monstrous thing...then at the right moment, it was struck through the chest.  The sudden flare of her tail ring gave her the possibility of who it was, before relief came at his appearance.  And of the one next to him.

"Sebastian," Aisha released a sigh of relief, finally dispelling the flames on her blade.  "And Mel, you're alright too, thank goodness.  And I've managed to keep these three alive."  She glanced back at them, first looking at Ketefe, who may have to keep the bracer on unless the spirit had left already.  And then her eyes wandered over Jeremiah and Ian with a slightly darker look.  "You're welcome, by the way," she muttered, shaking her head, turning back to the bat with a slight bow.  "And for that last maneuver, gracias."

However, the panthress was tense.  "Worse to come..."  Her eyes wandered down to the sword she gripped.  "Perfect.  How worse?"

*     *     *

Meanwhile, Rynkura awaited the wolf and jackal to start catching up.  As Sal wandered up to her, the tigress kept a weary, but neutral eye on her.  The healer really only would hurt her if there was a reason to do so, and it looked like she was willing to cooperate.

But she quirked a curious eyebrow at what she had said, regarding two other newcomers to the castle...her intonation had suggested that really, the arachnid "mother" wasn't the worst threat within the walls.  "Hm.  I wonder what would come of meeting these fellows, then."

Rynkura chuckled lowly, though she kept her ears pinned in a position of seriousness while starting in a direction that would hopefully get them around the other side of the wall.

[lucas marcone]

"What?" Ian said incredulously. "What did I do to get your panties in a bunch!?" It wasn't that big of a deal but now seemed as good a time as any to break the tension in the air.

[Stygian]

Stygian's look shifted a bit between them all. 'It's not a problem. Just be careful next time,' he said. 'And, to answer your question, I don't really know. Just worse, that's rather certain.' He walked past them on the left side, heading back toward the room at the base of the tower. It seemed they would have to take the long way around to get to the others.
   'They are demons,' he said, his tone detached and explanatory, almost as if he were giving a lecture. 'The negative planar kind. Not like what you usually call demons, but connected in a way, I guess.' There were a whole lot of theories and no certain explanations he could offer there, not that it really mattered right then. 'And they don't have any apparent weaknesses other than one; they hate light and holy energy. Other than that, they are a bit disorganized and they don't take cold as well as heat. That's about it.' He walked for a bit, his large wings folded and moving just slightly with his steps. Then he looked over his shoulder. 'Oh, and it's Sebastian, by the way. Though I'd rather you call me Stygian like everyone else.'

- -

Casting Rynkura a sidelong glance, the spider folded her arms under her breasts, something that resulted in a rather complicated braided structure. She looked down, then started walking and caught up with the tiger.
   'Only bad things, I think. They will turn this place inside out to kill us. Or you, at least. I will be lucky to get off so easily,' Sal said coldly, looking around.

[Angel]

Ketefe was relieved to see Mel was all right too, and she noted that Bam and Gina were close by and a little out of breath; she guessed they'd meet up with the rest of the group soon. At Aisha's quick glance to her bracer on Ketefe's wrist, then to Jeremiah and Ian, the feline suddenly remembered what she should've said earlier.

"Whoops, forgot. Thanks for saving my life, and then all our lives, in less than fifteen minutes." She smiled at the panthress before turning her attention to Stygian as she followed the others down the hall. She gave Ian a look and mouthed "bad timing" when he made his comment to Aisha.

When the bat began speaking of weaknesses in the demons, Ketefe realized that she may be more capable than she thought at stopping them. She glanced down at the lightning bracelet she'd gotten from Mel. It was right next to the bracer, which might not be very convenient if it was really powerful. I'll tie it around my other wrist if we stop at some point. But it's lightning magic, so if I figure out how to use it...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel followed quickly behind Stygian as he traveled back to the room at the tower base. She couldn't manage holy energy but light and cold were amongst her strongest spells. Not that it made her any less fearful, just less mindlessly fearful. As she passed Aisha she noticed the state of the panther's shirt and stopped by her long enough to offer the brooch from her jacket lapel as a temporary fix. "You might want to button up. If cold slows the beasts it might be getting chilly soon."

[lucas marcone]

Ian stifeled a snicker. Any of my other friends would go the other direction with that he thought.

[Stygian]

'That would be convenient. Though if you want to really hurt them, I suggest you bring some light magic to bear,' Stygian said, slowing his pace so that the others could catch up. 'Just make sure you alert me before you do anything. I don't like light any more than they do.'
   The tower room was still as empty, though there was a clinking and whining sound coming from the top of it, the source invisible in the shadows. Alternating his gaze between the ceiling and the door to their left, Stygian walked in, squeezing the grips of his guns in his hands. 'We need to get in touch with the others. Could you see to that, Mel?' he asked. 'We'll have to find them quickly before they're lost completely.'
   'We are all lost, kelev! You will all die!'
   Stygian's eyebrows rose and he peered surprisedly back over his shoulders. It was only when he stopped and his gaze landed on her that Ketefe realized that everyone else was looking at her too. She had suddenly felt so distant, and the voice had been so unlike her own, that she had not realized that it was she who had spoken.
   'Is there something I should know here?' Stygian said, warily. His eyes examined her very closely, and the feline almost felt as if something was drawing nearer from his direction, a presence that made her shiver. Before he could get an answer though, hisses echoed through the room and his eyes darted upward. 'Heads up!' he shouted, raising his guns.

[Sunblink]

Deliberately ignoring Sal, Keaton walked over to Rynkura, looking very shamefaced and more than slightly crestfallen, a clear betrayal of the swiftness in her stride. Grateful that Rynkura was apparently unaware of the calamity that had occurred, she again reached up and attempted to smear away the blood in her face, this time succeeding in getting the thicker gouts away from the outlines of her eyes. Unconsciously, she sniffed, though that could've been easily attributed to the red which had trickled down the bridge of her muzzle and into her nose.

"Everything's fine, Ryn," she said, running her hand through her hair. "Just got beat up a bit."

Keaton cared nothing for what Sal said--if the spider was expecting for her to be compassionate and understanding after everything, she was horribly wrong. She didn't care if her family had died and had driven her to madness or that she was adopted by monsters or that she wasn't doing anything of her free will (something very hypocritical, since Keaton had been possessed), she was still going to be angry at her. Folding her arms, she stared around, then sighed.

"I tried to break down the wall on my end. Didn't work... only got a scratch," she attempted to contribute, if only to bolster her deteriorating self-esteem. "Do you think there's another way around?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Aisha deCabre]

"Demons...right," Aisha said with an understanding nod as she followed along with the others, a slight grin on her face.  Negative planar or not, the creatures were a race that she took pleasure in never holding back from a fight.  She was quite willing to go in for the sake of protecting...to rend more flesh and spill more acrid blood.  "Good then, I've got some holy firepower and the my are mostly of light influence," the panther assured, though she was relieved to have much more than what firepower they had on their side now that the bat and Mel had returned.

As the dragon addressed her, Aisha smiled gratefully and took the brooch, pinning the two halves of her shirt together with it.  "Many thanks," she assented, and turned to keep walking.  However, an ear quirked to hear Ian's snickering.  She had ignored his statement before, in favor of Ketefe showing her gratefulness for the group's safety.  So the panther kept ignoring the rat...after walking past him with an indignant narrowing of the eyes, and landing a slap to the back of his head.  "Manners."

But then when they reached the tower base, she heard Ketefe's voice and also turned to regard her with a surprised look at her outburst.  The cat still had partial control over herself it seemed, from the feared look on her face.  That's when Aisha tapped her forehead.  "Oh yes, right...she's been--"

Then, Stygian interrupted with a quick warning, her sentence unfinished.  Looking up and listening to the hisses from above, she swiftly held the blade over her head.  "What now?" she growled.

*     *     *

Rynkura kept a curious ear on Sal as she spoke, walking along and hoping that where they were going wasn't going to lead them to a dead end.  At her remark about being killed, the old tigress kept a slight grin on her face.  "In my age, there are very few things about that could still kill me.  As for the rest of us, there is no cause for killing a bunch of curious adventurers but for unneeded blood on one's hands."

However, she kept quite thoughtful even as Keaton came near her as well.  She gave the ragged-looking succubus a smile and a light nod, satisfied with her answer that things were fine for the time being. Her emerald gaze turned to the ceiling for a moment.  "Well...if we hear no message from the others, I may try to send one of my own."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog turned to Rynkura, nodding his head, and turned his eyes to the hallway, his gaze passing over the darkness. "A message may be a good idea, Ms. Msh'taan." Cog said, looking at the wavering blue outlines circling them from the darkness. "But then..."
Cog stood and dripped blood for a moment longer. "I don't think now may be the best time..."

He sighed. "There's a way to get there from the library." he said, indicating with his head a side hall to the right. "Which is that way. Of course, we have to get there." He shifted from one foot to another, and took a deep breath.

He spared a sidelong glance at Keaton, nodding just a bit to himself. She seemed a little better, now, although she wasn't even acknowledging Sal in any way. Better than trying to kill her, he supposed.
There would be time later. He'd have to remember to talk to her or...something. He felt bad for acting as he had. Especially to someone who had been so understanding before.

He took a deep breath, turning to the tigress. "If you would be so kind?" Cog said to Rynkura, indicating the darkness ahead of them. They were going to have to fight through at some point. Rather in the light than in the darkness.

[Stygian]

From above the adventurers a stream of seething, flapping and humming things descended, each one large as the raven on Aisha's shoulder and trailing a cloud of ash and cinders. Malicious eyes above half-insectoid mouthparts filled with yellowish teeth flew at them, and the room filled with a sulphurous, diseased stench.
   'Carrion!' Stygian snarled, his guns already blazing and his wings turning into scything blades as he moved back from the group to get more room to maneuver. 'Close your mouths! Breathe through cloth if you can!' The things tore into and at the adventurers, flailing and screeching, the horrid creatures' voices slimy and rasping as if whatever lungs or passages were employed to make the sounds were wounded or decaying. 'And don't let them grab you!' Stygian warned as he tore a pair of the things into singeing pieces, firing a hole through a third, which ruptured and burst into several dirty pieces as it hit the floor. The creatures' claws and teeth, dirty and sharp, burned as hot iron brands as they tore fur, skin and flesh.
   Still firing and striking wildly, Stygian looked around and backed toward the exit from the tower room. If they could bottleneck the things, they would be easily dealt with. And he did not have a bit as much control and space as he wanted to use his powers to their full extent. None of the Carrion came even close to him, but the others were not so lucky. They had to move quickly.
   'Follow me!' he shouted, hoping the others could hear him above the calamity. 'And contact the others, Mel!'

- -

A rattling, breath-like sound echoed through the hallway, making heads turn and letting Cog and the others know that there were still more horrors about. It did not seem as if this Hell was intent on giving them much pause.
   'You do know that I was just a distraction, right?' Sal said absently, turning around and slowly gazing up into the darkness. 'Throwaway. It's Stygian they want. And that panther woman. You can still make it if you just find somewhere safe enough and stand your ground.' She didn't really sound as if she were trying to dupe them. Oddly enough, she seemed perfectly honest, though perhaps a bit too tense for one to try and judge from her tone and manner right then.