The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel could barely make out Keaton's reply. Mel? ... run into trouble...  ere were three monste... took care... quickly... the directions you g... we're in this galler ... don't think we're close... " She looked to Stygian, "They were attacked. They are not near us." Returning her thoughts to Keaton she repeated the instructions again, "Third floor. From the main stairway, go northwest to the end of the corridor, straight through the music hall and then a right, then a left into the biggest room down the hallway."

With nothing more she could do for their missing comrades Mel stepped over to where Ian was curled up on the sofa. She put one cold hand on his shoulder and used her healing magic.

[lucas marcone]

"....Tingely....thanks Mel." Ian replied as he was watching the door. "What's the din all about? I can't see from here?"

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog nodded at Keaton and continued down the line of glass cases, murmuring in assent. "They're probably just late, or..." Cog trailed off, looking at a particularly interesting little golden cross, framed by two bayonets crossing each other. Cog quirked an eyebrow - under the lenses of his glasses, the items were...different, somehow. They glowed an unsteady, wavering blue, almost as though invisible flames coated them. Cog grew silent and watched the eldritch fires burn, the blue fire reflecting off of his eyes.

He looked up suddenly, broken out of his reverie, and giving the items one last, longing look, and returned to Jackal, stumbling just a second as he walked closer. He shrugged, feeling a slight itch where his hair met his neck, and turned to Keaton.
"Keats? Do you think..."
He stopped, noticing the Jackal's eyes glazed over. Frowning, he took a step back and grabbed the hilt of his blade. Hopefully, she was just speaking to Mel. If not...
Cog sighed, and waited.

[Stygian]

'Come! They are here!' the voice called out, and Ketefe felt like shouting out. But somehow she just could not force herself to. It was as if something were holding the air back, keeping it from passing past her lips.
   Stygian slowly stopped, his hand hovering above the doorknob, and turned. Ketefe almost felt relieved for a second when his gaze swept back toward him, but when she saw the look of realization on his face, as if he had just discovered some horrible truth, that relief was immediately swept away. She heard the voice in her head cackle, and his black eyes landed straight on her.
   His face frozen, Stygian said one thing. 'Fuck.'
   He shook the doorknob. The door didn't move. Cursing loudly, he made a step back and then spun, whipping his foot out in a blurry-fast kick. The door flew off its hinges and hit something. The next second, a huge black shape rushed the bat, tearing open the too small frame and bringing pieces of wall along with it. Stygian and the thing tumbled back over the floor, growls and slashes all about them.
   'Oh, how fun! Playthings!' a voice called out from the door. Two more black shapes sprang in before its source came into sight, a vixen with a somehow demonic appearance, graceful and darkly beautiful even in spite of the dark wings sprouting from her back, and certainly dressed to impress if anything, with knee-high boots and a spike-collared outfit that managed to only barely maintain her decency. Strolling in as if on a fashion show catwalk, she grinned at them and assayed them with fiery eyes. 'What say we dance a bit?'

- -

From somewhere not too far off, a crash sounded, and both drew Cog's attention and snapped Keaton out of her meditative state. It hadn't shaken the floor like the incidental tremors before, and it had a clear direction to it. Thus, it wasn't hard to deduce what it must have been.

- -

The two doglike shapes that paced out of the dark of the corridor, black as night, were eerily silent save for the faint clatter of their claws and their slow, ragged, deep breathing, a sound like two large bellows blowing on a furnace. Yet there was something strange about them. For all the glow-eyed stares they gave Aisha and Gareeku, they paced slowly and purposefully, not as if they were stalking the wolf and panther, but rather as if they were simply moving up behind them because they wished. The way the both of them stopped and stood, still and silent as statues, only increased the impression. They seemed like... dogs, somehow. Trained guard dogs, each the size of a large racehorse.
   'Disappointing.' The voice from out of the shadows was smooth and eloquent, and unnervingly brutal and superior. 'Here I thought you would be hard to catch.' For an instant, Aisha thought she could see two flaring points of green in the dark, before the figure stepped out into the light emanating from the main stairwell.
   He was tall, large, handsome and rough-edged, a powerful man in appearance and manner, and surely otherwise as well, and clearly knew it. Dressed in a luxurious green coat and somber but fancy clothes, he looked like he were about to pay an honorary visit to some society party, or hold a speech, and yet gave off the impression that he were perfectly used to looking that way, always. Perhaps most remarkable though was the fact that he was a panther, like Aisha, with the same jet black fur and quite similar lines, though far harder.
   'Well, it's not as if you didn't elude me for more than a decade. Still, this is a bit anticlimactic,' he continued, walking past the monstrous hounds and stopping just so that he could look down upon her. His grin was like acid. 'You take after your father, I see.'

[Aisha deCabre]

While she awaited Gareeku's reply, she looked him over a bit.  Except for his very blood-ridden appearance, the wolf looked as well as she had expected him to be.  There wasn't even a spider on the back of his neck, as far as she could see, which granted another sigh of relief.  But before any more could be said, her ears caught a sudden loud slam from behind.

"Crap, let's get..." she started, whirling around on her feet, only to suddenly freeze in her expression at the sight before them.  Darkness.  The door didn't seem to be there any more, or it was closed, she could hardly tell.  But there were sounds, drifting...what happened?  Where was the room?  Their comrades?

And then the new ones came.  Perhaps the largest feral dogs she had ever seen came pacing through the darkness, eyes glowing, their steps purposeful and slow.  Her tail ring was sending off a powerful glow in their presence, steadily becoming a little more prominent as they came for the two adventurers without pausing nor watching.  She had the sword drawn, the flames beginning to lick at the surface again, expecting another attack.  But they just...circled.  Like carnivores, like scavengers, like nightmares, they just stood and watched.  Waiting.  As if they were...trained?

Aisha's eyebrows quirked, and flames started to lick her sword's surface...the two warriors stood ready and expecting an attack that hadn't come yet.  But then came the voice, behind the dogs, emerging out of the shadows and his appearance nearly as black as any of them.  The panthress stood facing him suddenly, listening to the stranger whose countenance told her something of nobility, not like the others that had come out of Hell.  But no doubt, he wasn't unlike them, either...

As his venom-green eyes fell on them...on her...some part of Aisha's blood seemed to suddenly freeze.  His voice was calm and eloquent, with a tinge of spite.  And with his words, she was struck silent.  Just holding her ground, as if a part of her was forced to listen as he spoke...suggested of some familiarity to herself alone.  "Wha...?" she started to mutter, but stopped herself.

Eluded him?  For a decade...was this stranger--his voice recognized as one of those she heard back downstairs--after her?

The words spurned sudden memories in her head then; those memories that she had tried so hard to suppress.  Flames.  Screaming.  A dark figure.  Her father telling her to run...

Father...

And then, as if he pulled the word from her head at that instant, he said it.  "You take after your father."  There was a pause.  And...and then, that was what made Aisha snap straight out of her self-induced torpor, eyes blazing as she looked at the other panther--melanistic as herself.  The sword she held up before her, and her fangs were bared in a snarling grimace.  He knew her?!

"Alright.  Who the hell are you, and how could you know me, or my father?" she spat in a voice so dark, level, and ferocious, that it would have come even as a surprise to Gareeku.

But it was understandable.  Her heart was burning after remembering that night.  And more than ready to fight for the answer as to who this stranger was who confronted her with such purpose.

*     *     *

Rynkura hummed while watching Keaton, frozen in concentration while trying to re-contact the second group the next time.  At least it looked that she had succeeded, which only warranted just a bit of time left to regain their breath and look around.  She started to do so, just letting anything of interest catch her eye.

And then, just like Cogidubnus and Keaton had heard, the tigress caught a noise, like something crashing and slamming...perhaps they had heard it more clearly, but suddenly, they had brought themselves on alert.  The healer walked back to the others.  "That would probably be our direction," she deduced and started off that way, watching for the other three to come.

But her demeanor wasn't at all very calm any more.

[Boog]

Jeremiah had collapsed into one of the armchairs. It was like how soldiers described war, he decided, only in reverse. Brief stints of relaxation followed by long, drawn out periods of bowel-knotting terror. Was their worst worry a bunch of tiny little spiders just yesterday afternoon.
He'd let his hat fall over his eyes. Crashing sounds in the distance reminded him that was unwise. He lifted the brim of his fishing hat and took in the scene.
Mel and Ian, on the sofa.
Aisha, where?
And Stygian, looking at Ketefe for just that one instant, that one thing that you notice because nobody ever notices it.
There was a crash. Plic howled in fear mentally, her panic finally reaching a boiling point, Nothing to steal! All these ugly things with nothing in them to steal! No beauty, only a few senses I know, no thoughts, the barest memories! Nothing! Nothing to steal!
Nothing to command!
Nothing that can be held at bay!
Breakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreak-!?
Oh man, this is rich! I love it! Such power! Such ARTISTRY! More! More!
BzzzZZZzzzzzZzZZZ-
Well, Jeremiah thought, scrambling around to put the chair between him and the vixen, Back to Terror.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Two blazing stars of pure light magic hit the vixen in her chest and stomach area. She goes to her knees in pain, but she seem recover quickly as she turn to the Fae. 

With two more glowing star in her hands, Bam remakes "I like To Tango... But Deary if you are going to wear that why wear anything?"

PBH

[lucas marcone]

Ian directed his attention to the succubus. "Ma always said never fall for the lookers." He began to rush her.

[Gareeku]

Noticing Aisha approach as he resheathed his sword after wiping it clean with his cloak, Gareeku smiled.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just a couple of cuts and bruises, that's all." the wolf replied. It was then, however, that he noticed the rashes starting to appear on the skin under his fur. Funnily enough, they were appearing the same places that the beasts' blood had landed on him. Raising his eyebrow somewhat at this, Gareeku turned to Aisha once more, about to ask what exactly was going on. He had not long got back from the town, having decided to explore the surrounding landscape somewhat, as was his nature. However, as soon as he re-entered the mansion, something had felt VERY wrong. Having decided to try and find the others, it was then that he was set upon by those hellish beasts.

It was then, however, that a very loud slamming noise rang out behind him and Aisha. Whirling round to see what it was, Gareeku grimaced as the door seemed to be enveloped in darkness, before disappearing altogether.
"Shit..." the wolf muttered in a low snarl, gripping the hilt of his katana tightly, ready for anything that would try to attack. The grip would then relax a bit, though it wasn't out of relief or calmness. It was of disbelief.

"What the hell..." was the only thing that Gareeku could mutter as he observed what approach. With slightly widened eyes, the wolf watched as they came; quite possibly the largest feral canines he had ever seen. Imposing was an understatement, as they slowly and purposefully stepped forward, their eyes glowing like burning coals inside their monstrous heads. It was then, however, that they suddenly stopped and stood still, almost as if they were something like...trained guard dogs...

Then that voice spoke out. That smooth and calm, yet sinister voice. Unsheathing his katana, Gareeku slowly shifte himself into position as the stranger approach, the wolf's eyes switching between where the voice was coming from and those huge dogs. As the stranger made his appearence, Gareeku stared at him with narrowed eyes. Like Aisha, he was a black panther; something which threw Gareeku off guard for a second. Sharply dressed and powerful-looking, the stranger slowly came closer to them, staring in particular at Aisha. From what he was saying, it seemed that this stranger knew Aisha, though it was not a friendly intent that he had.

It was then, however, that the panther spoke of Aisha's father.
Her father...? the wolf thought to himself in surprise. It seemed that, unsurprisingly, Aisha was just as shocked, if not more so, than he was at this mentioning. Aisha was now, it seemed, livid, and rightfully so. Gareeku too could feel the anger within him beginning to rise. Something about this had struck a chord with the wolf. He knew of Aisha's tragedy, as he had been told of it herself a long time ago. He too, had lost his own father through murder. As Aisha demanded to know who the stranger was, Gareeku continued to glare at the panther, his fangs showing slightly in an angry grimace.
Took the words right out of my mouth... the wolf thought to himself, his anger continuing to slowly rise as he eyes stayed locked onto the panther, awaiting the stranger's answer...

[Cogidubnus]

The sudden tremor rolling up from the marble rattled the glass cases surrounding the four of them, and Cog's eyes broke away from Keaton, sliding over to the open doorway to peer into the hall. He looked back to the Jackal, Keaton now snapped out of her reverie.

There was little time for asking questions, however. Rynkura had turned and walked back out into the hall. Looking around the room one last time Cogidubnus paced across the stone floor and back into the hall proper.

He called back to the Jackal as he walked out. "Was that Mel, Keats?" Cog said, looking over his shoulder as he passed through the doorway

[Stygian]

Smashing into a wall, Stygian seemed pinned by the horrid dog-thing on top of him. Yet, for all the thing's size, the bat seemed to give it more than a run for its money. The beast's huge paw-like hands, endowed with claws that seemed like nothing a natural creature would possess, struck the wall repeatedly as its heavy blows missed the agile bat. From having been hid behind its frame, Stygian then made his re-entry with a pair of deep stabs with his claws to his chest, and then a jump, bracing his hands against the wall and kicking the thing square in the throat. His wings morphed as he clung to the wall and then dove on the creature, ripping fangs and claws overcoming it.
   Or so they would have, had not one of its companions rushed over by its side and given Stygian a broad-armed sweep that sent him flying back, the shadows spilling out and disintegrating. The bat absorbed the shock with his arms and made a slow somersault, landing crouched and re-shaping wings up behind his back, wiping black blood from his mouth.
   'Get these things off me!' the bat snarled, his gaze suddenly turned toward the demonic woman. To the others, this spoke clearly, as if he wanted to say; and get away from her! She's the real danger! He was rushed again the next moment, and leaped into action, dancing between hamfisted blows and snapping jaws while slashing out with his darkness.
   The demoness, in turn, only giggled. 'Don't you even think of ignoring me, sweeties!' With a delicate, subtly flourishing move she raised her hand, and wispy flames twined around it. Flames very reminiscent of the ones that had ripped through the corridors before. She spread her palm toward them, and it was as if an intangible wind passed through the place, setting candles flickering and the chandelier over the central table rocking with a chiming sound. Distant screams were heard, and the voice in Ketefe's head laughed wildly.

- -

The panther sniffed at Aisha's query, his face slowly taking on hints of both bemusement and irritation. If there was anything that he seemed to exude strongly other than power, it was scorn. Or disgust. Probably both.
   'You don't have the benefit of questions, Cabre bitch,' he said after a short pause. 'If you don't know as little as that I certainly won't humor you with answers.' Another pause, during which the amused quality to his grin grew stronger, hard as it was to tell in the dark. 'Unless, of course, you give yourself over. Then I think you shall have far more answers than you will find pleasant.' He took another step toward her, the green points of his eyes glowing almost exactly the same shade of green as the intensifying light of her tailring.

[lucas marcone]

Ian hadn't caught the signal. He threw an elbow to her chest. It lander knocking her back just a bit. She tried to rake his face off with her calw like finger nails. He paried it but neglected to see her wing tentacles swinging at him. She sent him fling halfway across the room. He slowly got back up. "Styg! I'll bet you can handle her." So Ian proceded to free up his best chance at survival.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

With two of the brutish monsters focusing on Stygian Mel chose to aim an ice bolt at the third. The glittering white ray hit, she saw it hit, but the monster's hide merely rippled at the effort, like a horse shooing a fly. Then it turned its awful head in her direction. She muttered a curse in her native language. Then her brain kicked in and reminded her that Stygian had told them to focus on light spells. As the beast began its charge she aimed a second spell at its chest, still ice, but wrapped in a casing of prismatic light.

[lucas marcone]

Ian threw a few punches at the creature stygian was focusing on at the moment. "Come on ugly, you don't want him lookit me!"

[Sunblink]

Waiting for Mel's reply, as short as it was, seemed like absolute hell to Keaton's anxious and incensed mind. For the most part, Keaton kept her agitation channeled through staring at the reflective, gold-black hoop reminiscent of her own coloration. Staring at it was oddly soothing, but Keaton kept her guard up--for all she knew it could be an enchanted weapon used to mind-control people (God forbid!) or kill puppies or something equally vile. Deliberately ignoring Cog out of the worry that any direct eye contact would expose her escalating nervousness, and thus reveal any inner vulnerability that she was desperately attempting to smother. Never show your weaknesses. Never be vulnerable. Never.

Soon as that resolution reached her, Keaton overheard the transmitted instructions projected into her mind, once more in Mel's voice, but garbled and every syllable hissing with bursting static. Ears lay flat as Keaton struggled to decipher the directions, visibly straining to understand everything verbatim so that way there would be no misunderstandings, no blame, no nothing. Nothing that she could feel guilty for. When Mel finished and disconnected their mental link, she turned to everyone and nodded affirmatively, ruminating on every word spoken until she had pieced together what she assumed was the answer.

"Alright guys," she said, "They're on the third floor. We're supposed to go from the main stairway, then go northwest to the end of the corridor, straight through the music hall and then a right...." Keaton struggled to recall the next words, they had been difficult to understand. She came to a conclusion, "... then a left into the biggest room down the hallway. Let--."

WHAM.

Keaton's ears shuddered, then perked upright, the jackal gazing back and forth in shock. Stunned by this noise, she turned to Rynkura. The tiger, fortunately, was indicating the direction Mel had given them. "Fuck!" Keaton muttered, assuming the worst. The origin of that sound could not have been pleasant. Not at all. They had to hurry. Keaton broke into a run. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here."

Behind her, the hoop briefly caught her reflection like a mirror, her wavering outline captured in its surface steadily vanishing as she walked further and further away, until it was gone.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

Whatever it was, the thing that looked like a vixen, waved her hand and sent a chill and otherworldly wind down the hallway. She was powerful, she acted manic, she was beautiful in a way so horrible it chilled Jeremiah more than any other beast encountered in these halls had. The narrative's waxing Lovecraftian aside, however, it had already done something to embolden Jeremiah.
It had said 'me'.
Me. I. A sense of self. Not some rampaging brute, but a coherent and intelligent creature. Intelligent creatures can be fooled.
Cowering behind the chair the terror in Jeremiah's gut quieted infindecimely. It wasn't much, barely anything, but it was enough to let him think.
The others were weak to light...
Trembling, blocking out the jeers and panicked advice thrown at him by his Inexplicable Condition, the frog reached around the chair to aim one open, trembling palm at the powerful creature.
Light...
He muttered a quick incantation and, hoping that he hadn't just doomed himself by attracting the vixen's attention, cast a spell he'd learned from a friend of his who got invited to better parties. A blast of colored glimmers, a laser show. A burst of simple, colored light aimed at whatever the hell it was.
Whatever from hell...
BzzzZzzzZZZZZzzZZZzZ!

[Stygian]

Sal's suspicious look at Rynkura became a somewhat stressed one when she started out and Cogidubnus followed shortly. When finally Keaton set off as well, she jogged up next to her. 'Bloody confusing, all this,' she growled under her breath, and looked quickly at the jackal. 'Just don't mistake me for one of the monsters.'

- -

Punching the thing was like punching water. Or maybe not. It was really hard to explain, but it felt a lot worse than that to Ian. The creature's side was hard as rock, and yet somehow fluid as water or gas. Black as it was, it seemed not at all unlike the shadows with which Stygian was lashing out even as he attacked the thing.
   For a couple of seconds it seemed that the monster had not even noticed him. Then the vile thing's face, wolf-like and huge, swung down. It roared, inches from Ian's snout, and spattered the rat with some black liquid. As its jaws neared him, the rat was certain he was going to die.
   The next second the thing's head tore off, and flew high in the air. Leaping over the stumbling body, Stygian landed behind Ian and trailing darkness. He had just the time to get to his feet, before the one still with a head swept out and sent them both tumbling. They hit the floor next to a table. Up at his feet quickly enough, Stygian watched half-crouched as the staggering monstrum re-grew its head and went down on all fours, moving against them.
   Realization hit the bat again. 'Of course. That's why it was so weird. Fuck!' His arm darted, and he grabbed the table, throwing it up and in front of them like a shield. 'Flashbang! You had them, didn't you? Use them!'

Unfettered by the rat's attempts at harming her, the succubus flung the rodent across the room and proceeded against the others. Her eyes glittered wickedly as she took sight on Ketefe and Jeremiah. 'Interesting...' She smiled acerbically and looked at the frog. 'You seem very curious,' she said. 'So many. Would you like me to pull them out for you? Painfully?' She laughed maliciously, only a few steps from him. It felt as if she could already reach out and grab him.
   The frog's sudden resistance made the vixen squint and throw up her hands to shield her face, contorting with rage. She hissed and took a step back. And then she looked at Ketefe. The glow of her eyes intensified. 'Give him to me!' she snarled.
   It took a moment, and then it was as if something jumped inside her, fighting its way out with renewed strength. Before Ketefe knew what she was doing, that pain and those emotions of rage and sadistic pleasure flooded her again, and the bracer around her wrist stung as she felt herself manipulated like a glove puppet, unwillingly moving for Jeremiah and grabbing hold of him hard, bending his arm shakily yet with a strength she herself could not have mustered.

Mel's success was noticeable but brief. The thing advancing on her shook as her blast hit it, stopping and shuddering as it grit its teeth and growled. The light burned a deep hole into its form, and when the spell let up it limped insecurely to the side, icy vapor and crystals falling from it. But its weakness did not seem to last. It stopped and steadied itself, the wound she had opened revealing no real flesh or bone but beginning to heal itself with a speed that made Stygian's regeneration before pale in comparison. Lowering its head, it growled loudly, fumes drifting through its teeth, and then leaped for her.

[Angel]

Ketefe didn't smile at Ian, but the potential was there. She was slipping into a condition she ordinarily wouldn't have allowed in these circumstances - relaxation. Mel was trying to contact the others, and Stygian was trying to get something out of his wounds, she wasn't sure what. But she had forgotten how tired she was...

Then Stygian noticed aloud that Aisha wasn't there. Ketefe sat up, scanning the room quickly. He was right. Hadn't she followed them in?

A splintering, crashing noise got everyone's attention. Stygian went over to examine it, looking none too happy about any of this.

And then a voice in Ketefe's head laughed. "Come! They are here!" Her occupant's role in all this suddenly became clear to her. She had to warn the others, but something was preventing her from speaking a word. Stygian stopped, and looked back at her, but his expression killed any hope she'd had. Her demon laughed delightedly, its purpose fulfilled.

They were going to die.

She looked on in fear, and then shock, as Stygian kicked the door off its hinges, only to be attacked by a monstrous black creature. Ketefe sprang off the couch, yanking her mask on and ripping her sword out of its sheath, but before she could go help the bat, a mocking voice called from the door. She watched as a beautiful, clearly demonic vixen strode into the room as if she were about to get waited on by several handsome men in white jackets. Her outfit was showstopping, even though she was almost more minimally clad than Ketefe.

She snarled at the fox, but her instinct and common sense blended in a rare moment of true clarity: She's trying to get your focus off your friend so he'll die. She whipped around to check on Stygian, and saw that although he had subdued one of the creatures that attacked them, its brother prevented the bat from killing it. His glance at the vixen was all the affirmation Ketefe needed.

But before she could do anything, the demoness giggled and raised one palm. Flames bloomed on the woman's hand. and a strange wind went through the room, far-off screams suddenly audible. Her demon was cackling wildly, and her breath caught in her throat as another realization struck her. She barely noticed the fights going on around her now, dizzy with comprehension.

The vixen averted an attempted strike from Ian, then focused on Ketefe and Jeremiah. She purred a few threats, but Jeremiah was quicker with a blast of light. For a moment, it worked - the masked feline was pleased to see her canine features distort with pain. But the moment was short-lived once the demoness looked at her.

The command resounded in Ketefe's ears and mind. Give him to me!

After one second, the pain flooded into Ketefe again, along with terrible emotions, rage and twisted pleasure. She felt herself go to Jeremiah and watched in horror as she bent his arm backwards, the bracer stinging on her own arm as her demon fought against its power. She tried with every fiber in her body to release her friend, screaming at her body's current master:

No, NO, NO, stop this! I'm not your damned puppet! LET HIM GO!

Without fully realizing it, she spoke her next thought aloud. "Why-are-you-doing-this?!" she hissed through clenched teeth as she fought her own body for control.

[Aisha deCabre]

For a moment it seemed that Rynkura's pace could hardly be matched as she walked swiftly in the direction that had indeed been right, confirmed by Keaton.  There was a fight going on, they were on the same floor as the other group...it was only a matter of putting two and two together.  The tigress couldn't prevent things from getting out of hand.  But preventing death, yes.  It was her creed and the association she had for this group of adventurers that drove the Healer to hurry so.  On the way the noises were getting louder.  It was only the due course of following...

That's when at one point she paused.  Down a passageway the smell of blood and dead, ashen flesh came to her nostrils.  Followed by faint voices.  One dark and too familiar.  Her eyes widened.  Oh by gods, no...

"All of you should keep following the directions.  Don't stop, even if I do." she said with finality as she turned back to Cogidubnus, Keaton, and Sal, her voice commanding and hands gripping the glowing staff with a sudden surge of ferocity that betrayed her usually calm nature, emerald eyes taking on a glow.

And then she faced forward and broke out into a run.

*     *     *

Demon...  Aisha snarled in her mind's eye, and the hatred was plainly shown on her face; unable to ignore her tail ring's insistent flash as it sensed the darkness in the beast before her.  Even without the trinket she could tell of the malicious intent flowing from his gaze, eyes an unnatural hue of poisonous green drilling into her mind.  And again more memories came, all from this other jaguar who looked so much a part of the shadows as she certainly must have looked herself, but bathed in light from the flames of the blade she held.

The panthress snapped upright upon hearing his words, a gasp reaching through a quivering throat.  Her last name was uttered on his tongue in curse towards her.  So he did know...her family, at least.  The gesture of hatred towards the name was easily present on his tongue.  And that was already a warrant of death on his head.  Her crimson eyes locked onto his gaze with defiance, and she took a step back.  Still the memories rushed, wondering on this familiarity.  It can't be one of them...so soon...

"I'm not giving myself over to anyone.  Especially not a demon, and especially not one who would dare spit out the Cabre name like that."  She assumed a stance again, sword raised threateningly.  "Now you will answer me, maldito, or I swear..."

"Be'Laan!"  A hard voice growled suddenly from a ways behind the demonic panther.  He, the dogs he commanded, Gareeku, and Aisha would all see the shape of Rynkura standing in the way, her pearlescent white fur easily contrasting the shadows around them.  She simply stood with a staunch gait and narrowed eyes, framing only a slightly snarling face.  "You really shouldn't have tried to find her."

Her eyes caught Aisha's, which where now suddenly very wide.  The panthress saw a slow nod given, the tiger's eyes closing.  A look of confirmation.

Things outside stopped.  Things inside rushed.  The name.  The flames.  The screaming.  The dark figure that she watched slay her father.  A rush of memories, all coalescing into one point in her mind.

Her heart was frozen.  And when it beat again, it wanted to break out of her ribs.  That small gesture from Rynkura was all the answer she needed.  More than needed.  She almost dropped the sword, afraid of what it meant that she was facing this.

She turned back to the panther, harboring a look of shock.  Slowly, shock turned to anger.  Boiling hatred.  Unrelenting vengeance.  So soon, it was happening...she was facing one of them.  They had found her.  And they would suffer.  As per her vow, they would suffer.

The sword flared, and the flames encompassed her hand as her body shook with rage, adrenaline taking over her veins and her mind.  "You."  She stepped forward again.  "Will pay in blood for what you and your kind did to my home, my family, and our name."

[Boog]

His brief brilliant burst seemed to slow the Vixenthing temporarily, and he inwardly crowed with success. And then she called upon Ketefe. The one just young enough to be one of his students. The cat stepped forward, the slight shudder to her movements the only visible signs of the girl's resistance.
"Ketefe, wha-?!" And Jeremiah saw her eyes. He wondered if that was what he looked like, when his Condition worked up the power to compel him to do things. Whatever was in there, looking out from stolen eyes, it wasn't a person. Not truly. Maybe it had been, but whatever controlled Ketefe was no rational furrae with an intellect to be fooled.
Jeremiah thought he was going to die.
"K-Ketefe...? Are you in there? Listen to me, Ketefe! Fight it! Don't let it u-use y-y-you..." He didn't know anything about fighting, but he knew what hurt if you aimed for them. The solar plexus, the kidneys, the neck, the eyes...
She was young enough to be one of his students. You don't strike students. No matter the occasion, you don't strike them.
"Ketefe..." the frog looked up, and said what he always wished he could say to himself for certain, "It's not you! Whatever this thing uses you for, it's not your fault! Just remember, alright?! IT'S NOT YOUR FAU-!"
The vixenthing took one more step forward and backhanded the panicking, distracted frog. She must have had quite the arm, because it knocked him out.
"No words, lovely. They just get in the way of fun things."
Unconcious of his surroundings, gears turned in Jeremiah's head.
That hurt, oh pretty one, Bal set to work at something, pushing the corner of the artist's fevered brain that he'd staked out for himself to its limit, At least let me dance with you, just once...
Ehehehehehehehehehehhhhh...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel felt a moment of jubilation as she saw the size of the hole she tore in the side of the beast, but it only lasted a moment. She could see it didn't really have internal organs for the ice to damage and it's injury closed up as if she had merely drawn a spoon through pudding. As it sprung at her she delayed her leap away long enough to throw a spell in it's way. Light, but not a narrow ray, a geyser. When it touched the cool marble floor it burst upward, a column of light blasted straight upwards, too bright for the dragon to look straight at even with her third eyelid up. As it touched the ceiling it scattered in trailing sparks, like a fireworks display.

[Stygian]

The demon turned, and looked straight at the tigress, eyes narrowing. 'Rynkura,' he said, his voice a low growl. Then, just behind her, Cogidubnus came into view, shortly followed by Keaton... and then Sal.
   Asal grinned. 'Sal! Take them!' he barked, then spun against Aisha. Claws extending, he snarled something at the hound demons, which leapt growling into action right at Gareeku. The wolf was thrown back, and Aisha was left standing, facing the other panther directly. He sprang against her, a terrible grin on his face as he drew something from within his coat. Keaton and Cog could only watch as their enemy turned from them and raced toward his target.
   Then Keaton noticed how Sal stiffened.
   Rynkura was not about to let her protegé face someone like Asal alone. Already preparing one of her strongest spells to counter his dark magic, she mustered all the speed she could and dashed for the huge feline. But before she had taken two steps, something grabbed her and pulled her back. She flew off her feet and was dragged backward, something strong and elastic attached to her robes and entwining her arms. Cog was quick enough to cut the first two strings headed for him, but the silk was still sticky and trapped his sword, and then his face and arms were both tied down and he was jerked forward, trapped against the floor.
   Keaton had barely the time to do something before Sal's furiously strong hand punched her right in the stomach, and a next one threw her against the wall. Catastrophe was still in her hand, but the spider was throwing silk like a maniac, and she had far too many hands to weave it around. One arm stuck to the wall, Keaton couldn't move out of the way before the spider pinned her, pressing her wings to the hard surface and locking her limbs in her own, many-appendaged grip. Keaton struggled furiously, the spider's fangs only inches from her face.
   Then Keaton looked up. Sal's expression was sad, pained even. She was looking straight at her. 'I'm so sorry,' she said. She really sounded like she meant it.
   And then a little eight-legged thing crawled up over her shoulder, and Keaton's sudden pity was blown away in an instant.

- -

The vicious thing inside her snarled and laughed at the same time. When her hands gripped Jeremiah, Ketefe could almost feel it gritting its teeth somewhere deep within.
   'When this is over I will have you!' it hissed at her, half distracted with the frog. 'I will become you! And then, I will be free!' Even as she heard the words, the true meaning of them flew through her thoughts, shared by the link this thing had with her. It had been trapped and pained in Hell for so long it could barely remember anything else. And it had been set loose to take her and lead the demons to them, in exchange for the promise of her. If they succeeded - when they succeeded - it would swallow her whole. It would take her body and soul, her dreams and her memories, and trap her within itself, and then an entirely new Ketefe would leave the castle. A Ketefe free to pursue whatever devilish pleasures 'she' wanted.
   The horrid revelation completely numbed the feline's senses. Ketefe barely noticed as the vixen knocked Jeremiah out cold and her fingers let up, the frog slumping to the ground. She could only stare at her trembling hands, even the pain of the bracer not reaching her distant mind.

- -

The strike almost took Aisha off-guard, and sent her stumbling backward. He was so strong! She had just time enough to raise her blade before his next one hit, making her stagger back out toward the stairwell, dangerously fast.
   'Your family is nothing!' the panther growled, drawing up his weapon. A curved blade, slim and wavelike, it looked like some middle-thing between a shamshir and a falchion, and its near-black blade gleamed with a poisonous luster. He lunged at her again, pressing her toward the edge, and it was all she could do to keep her balance. Speed-wise they were almost equal, but the demon had a physical power that she simply could not match.
   A slip, an opening she thought she saw in his side. After all, he didn't have a shield, and so he could not protect himself except with that blade. She struck out, and almost felt joy for a second as her blade seemed to hit home, however glancing a blow it was.
   The next second, she flew, a painful numbness in her chest the only sign that he had kicked her. His flaw had been a feint. Aisha felt weightless for a second, watching the rail of the stairs pass by just under her. Then she fell. The dark ceiling sped away from her, as she headed for the stone floor below.
   Something grabbed her, and she had just a second to see that it was the demon, still smiling wickedly. Her ascent slowed, but it was still with considerable force that he slammed her into the cracked marble.
   Taking a breath, the demon stepped off her, a most painful action, and turned his back toward Aisha, the huge green-black wings that had sprouted from his back furling together and shapeshifting back together to form his dark green coat.
   'Not just yet,' he said. 'I want you to suffer.'

[lucas marcone]

Ian was at a loss what to say to him. Still searching his pants and jacket pockets he said "I...I don't think i have any--FOUND ONE!" In a nervous motion he pulled the pin but dropped it. He threw himself on the ground to fling it away in time. He managed to pop it through Stygian's legs, but it didn't go too far past the table. When it went off Ian knew his shins would be in pain and he would not be happy. "Man, I'm sorry!"

[Sunblink]

Wolf, tiger, spider, and jackal rushed through the castle, religiously following the instructions Mel had sent to them, and this time reaching their target within minimal time. Rynkura had, enraged by the sound of her student's voice, dashed ahead of the group, leaving the others tailing behind. Keaton had Catastrophe drawn and leveled at the ready by the time the party had approached the room where Aisha and Asal were tenuously separated from one another, tension teeming from their bodies like wreathing waves of electricity. Snapping Catastrophe to the ground as she skidded to a halt behind the others, Keaton was totally unaware of Sal's presence behind her, as she was too concerned with watching the exchange between the monochromatic felines.

Next second, before she knew it, Asal was running towards Aisha with claws brandished and he had snarled something towards the demonic hellhounds accompanying him, apparently commanding them. Either way, his orders had been obeyed, as they were leaping at Gareeku--Keaton identified the distinctive white wolf with disbelief, having been concerned of his whereabouts--within the blink of an eye. Just barely, Keaton caught Sal's muscles stiffen as her gaze reflexively swept towards the anthromorphic arachnid, body petrifying instinctually.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Sal would turn on them.

But it did.

Mucilaginous webbing ensnared the corners of Rynkura's robes before she could interfere in the clash between panther and panther with a formidable spell, another net of gooey ichor caging Cogidubnus to the floor. Her reaction to seeing her allies and companions immobilized was painfully delayed--perhaps attributed to outright shock--until Sal was coming at her, and her fist sunk deep into the taut muscles of her stomach. Keaton let out a pained gasp as the punch connected, having the breath ejected straight from her body, leaving her panting and heaving unceremoniously--

--then she was sent flying with another blow administered by those deceptively Herculean fists, her body slamming back-first into the wall. Keaton groaned and scrambled upright, hoping to roll off to the side with a spell prepared. One great mound of webbing snagged onto her arm, splattering over the muscle and effortlessly entrapping her limb to the wall. Vainly, Keaton strained against the webs, lifting Catastrophe to defend herself from any further onslaughts, but before she could even blink Sal had lunged. Keaton released a shrill cry without even realizing it upon feeling her shoulder-blades piston uncomfortably close together, arachnid limbs and canine claws entangled. Heaving, the jackal stared at Sal, pure, unbridled hate burning and blistering in the flaming core of her eye-stone.

It defused when she saw how genuinely sorry Sal looked. How bizarrely apologetic. For a moment Keaton thought she meant it.

That thought vanished as quickly as it came when she heard wretched, scabrous legs scrape fabric and fur, heralding the appearance of a tiny spider perched upon Sal's shoulder. One look at it and Keaton's ears fell flat, jaw dropping only to tense up again and clench, gritting teeth and fury building up in the back of her throat. She would not be possessed again. She would not be violated like that again.

"You--you--" Keaton sputtered, but regained her composure just enough to screech at Sal, "YOU FUCKING BRAINLESS SHIT! You WHORE! You fucking WHORE!"

Curses were being fired off like bullets as Keaton writhed and squirmed, trying to wrench her arm free or kick Sal, or quite possibly muster the energy to summon her injured tentacles from her midsection. Only the barest of ripples were managed across Keaton's skin, but there was no other response. There still needed to be time to recover.

Keaton did not have that time.

And no matter how much she cursed, how much she screamed, how much she insulted, she wasn't going to get free.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Snarling an unintelligible curse in some grim language, which only he himself and the demoness knew was Aramaic, Stygian lifted the table and kicked the live grenade under the crack. He ducked behind it and closed his eyes a fraction of a second before the thing went off.
   The phosphorous flare was blinding, and the shadow-creature right before them sizzled as it was burned beyond coherence, practically melting, being reduced to a puddle of blackness. Then Mel's spell added to the damage, flaring bright as a miniature star, and the beast advancing on her was burned to a crisp in a quite similar fashion. The succubus reeled back, covering her eyes and thrashing with her wings, making a half-seething and half-hissing sound.
   When the fireworks were over, the succubus was still thrashing, and the final dark hound had half its form melted beyond recognition, rippling and twitching as it struggled to retain its form. It stumbled forward, driven by some blind power or unfeeling command. Two blazing eyes, featureless and horrid, glared at the adventurers with cold hate.
   Stygian stood up, the table flying away as if tossed by a giant hand and cracking against a wall. Something like a rush of wind passed through the place, as shapeless darkness swirled around the bat. In the shadows of the room that seemed much deeper after the bursts of light, he was the one bright point, his fur glowing pallidly somehow, like moonlight. He charged the black hound, trailing darkness, and in a last bid to fight, it struck out against him. The bat's touch sent a shudder through the thing, and for a heartbeat it staggered back again. Then it threw its head back and howled in pain. The darkness it was made of slipped and rippled, and Stygian's own darkness tore into it. They really were made of the same thing.
   The dog-thing was ripped apart into swirling tendrils and rushing shapes of tangible black, the light of its eyes flaring out and dying. Drawing together, it drew into the bat's fist like black smoke being sucked out through a vent. It shrunk, diminished and then, with a last burst of blackness, disappeared between his clenched fingers. Breathing deeply and growling, Stygian sunk to one knee, steadying himself on the floor.
   Then he looked up. The succubus, still squinting and keeping her wings high, was looking right at him. He whipped his hand out, and from his wing formed a whipping black tentacle, thick as two men's arms. Its pointed tip impaled her.
   The demoness gasped for breath, shock and terror on her face. Then she let out a horrid scream, one that was echoed by the spirit inside Ketefe's head as it lost all control. The succubus' flesh caught fire, and as Stygian's tentacle slipped from her, she fell to the floor, cracking and burning to ash.
   Stygian stood up, a bit unsteadily, eyes wandering. 'Aisha,' he said. Then he started toward the door.

- -

Keaton's struggling was met with nothing but failure. She could try and swing Catastrophe with her wrist, at risk of dropping it. But that was just about it. Even her tendrils and wings were blocked by the nearly viscous web.
   'I'm sorry,' Sal repeated, bending slightly forward and turning her face away. For a second, Keaton thought she could see something faintly glowing within the collar of her peculiar outfit. Then the thing on her shoulder scrabbled over to Keaton. The touch of its spindly legs on her neck made her tremble. For a second, it seemed to have trouble finding its way in behind her for all the webbing. Then, Keaton felt a very slight sting, and something traveling like a shiver up her neck.
   Sudden pleasure flooded the jackal's mind, and confusion and hesitance. She was very much aware that she was under control now. The distant, off feeling was clear sign of that. But even though some of the anger lingered, anger and resentment both at herself and Sal for the thing happening and her having to betray her friends, she could not completely explain all the contentment in her mind. Was it really so bad? Or was it simply some form of confusion or strange pleasure of her own? The distracting thoughts all made more and more wonderings rush through her captured mentality.
   But it didn't matter. She had to help Sal now.
   'Please, Katheryn...' the spider said, already loosening Keaton's bonds with impossibly clever fingers. 'I have to. I can't disobey.'

[lucas marcone]

Ian was panting heavily with relif. He placed a hand on Stygian's shoulder. "Close one. Lucky too that was my last shiney." As he affectionately dubbed his flashbangs. "If we're going to have anymore touble I'll have to rely on ole' Charley."  He said produceing a frag grenade.

[Aisha deCabre]

The look that the tiger had seen on Asal's face confirmed it.  Recognition and hatred from demon, to angel, to adventurer.  There was going to be a fight...and someone would be dead whence it would finish.  An orb of light already encompassing one palm, Rynkura was dashing on her feet.  She would not let her student fight this creature on her own, however much the panthress wanted to.  She hadn't heard the demon call out to Sal to take care of them.  The thought didn't occur to her that the spider would actually obey as the adventurers outnumbered them.

But like the others, she thought wrong.  In an instant, Rynkura was dragged back by her robe and her limbs...not even able to wrench her staff from the onslaught of webbing.  "No!" she roared with frustration.  She couldn't move...she could only watch as the bastard panther set his dogs upon Gareeku and himself charge the headstrong adventurer, throwing them both off the stairwell to plummet to the floor below.

Her hands flared, crackling with electricity.  But now matter how strongly it emanated from her fingers, it only served to show the anger in her system.  Before her eyes...her student, the supposed last of the Cabres and the one she swore to protect...now out of her sight.

"No!  Aisha!  Aisha!"  She shouted, her last attempt taking the last bit of air out of her lungs before her glowing green eyes turned on the spider.  They seemed almost tear-ridden.  But...she couldn't hold her hatred to Sal, not now.  Keaton was doing a better job of that for the time being, and would after the spider that now threatened to control her again could be removed.  They had their own battle to fight.  It was up to the panthress to continue with hers, if she yet survived this first blow.

"Buenas suerte, my student," she murmured after a moment of calming down, with all of the hope she had left put into the prayer.  And then, Rynkura started trying to think of a way to get out of the mess they were caught in, already forming the dart spell in one hand...

*     *     *

Aisha's resolve burned fiercely from that moment on.  She heard the dogs charge Gareeku, and Asal's command for Sal to dispatch of her comrades on the other side of the hall.  But she knew that they could handle themselves well enough.  The only thing on her mind right now was this creature, having quickly jumped into the battle that was issued.

The rush was like something out of a nightmare and a dream all at once.  Aisha envisioned always how she would gain her retribution.  This was no different a scenario.  Blood would be spilled.  She might come out of it alive...she might not...long ago she learned to never let fear for her own life drag her back.  Fire was all that there'd be in her eyes.

She was however somewhat surprised when the force of his attack, as he drew the black scimitar-like blade, tossed her off the stairwell when she tried to block and take advantage of his weakness.  The voices of Aisha's friends, the hideous growls and snarls of the large dogs, it all vanished from her hearing then.  Is this how it ends? she wondered as the ceiling ascended too swiftly in her vision.

But then Asal, his wings outstretched, grabbed her to slow their fall down somewhat significantly.  The anger was still boiling her blood as she tried to kick him off.  "Filthy...!" she spat, moments before she was slammed into the floor, pain from the impact shooting through her nerves.  The sword clattered out of her hand, just nearby.

She grunted as the demon pushed off of her.  The panthress was alive still, and so was he.  Getting up slowly, watching as his demonic wings fused back into his body, Aisha listened to his words with such disdain that she could just taste the battle that was coming...and smell the blood that would be spilled.

He had his back turned.  The pain of the impact was forgotten now, pushed into her mind and ignored by her resilient nature.  She had her hand right on her belt just after he spoke, gripping the boomerang handle.  "Suffer," she spat in laughter.  "I've suffered more than enough.  There's nothing more you can do to me."

In a lightning instant, there was a silver flash in the corner of his eye as the bladed sawblade sped straight for his head through the air.  While that caught his eye, the adventurer flipped herself from hands to feet and grabbed the holy blade, flames encompassing its glittering surface once more; as well as the outline of her entire body.  She encircled her adversary with quick and fleet steps.  Her mentor's instructions on swordfighting already played itself in her mind several times over like an unbroken habit.

"Para la familia Cabre," Aisha snarled.  And then, she swiped the blade through the air, the whiplash of fire creating an x-shape towards the demon...the flames hid her form for a moment.  And then she was suddenly at his flank, aiming an upward slash against his side...

[Cogidubnus]

 Underneath a cocoon of sticky, thread-like silk, a low growl escaped the throat of Cogidubnus Mithlome. The wolf's sword lay to his side, out of reach, and his mouth was stuck shut and mute from the spider's treachery. Neither steel nor spell would aid him now - as it was, he could barely even breathe, let alone form a word. His nose just barely peeked out of the white wrapping.
Cog's eyes glowed like coals inside his prison.

He had told Sebastian to kill the spider - he should have -let- Keaton kill her. Instead, he had given Sal a chance - and the spider had bitten them when it might hurt the most. Aisha needed them - Sebastian needed them. Hell and all of its demons thirsted for their blood!
How could he have been so stupid?

Cog took a deep breath, letting the rage flow out with his exhalation, letting calm serenity overtake him, and slowly closing his eyes the wolf concentrated, his mind gaining the crystal focus of many years of practice. Almost out of the range of hearing, the wolf's body seemed to hum dimly. Cog took another deep breath, and exhaling slowly, clenched his fist suddenly.
The webbing fairly exploded off of him, destroyed by an orb of force, the energy cracking the marble around Cog in mockery of the spiderweb that had held him fast. Cog's eyes opened, and with remarkable quickness the wolf found his feet and his sword, the latter glittering in the low light.
Not a shred of web lay upon him - but before he jumped at the spider woman, he stopped, his face falling.
A little spider scrabbled over Keaton's shoulder, and just out of sight planted itself on the Jackal's neck. Cog could practically see the succubus's eyes glaze over.

How could he have been so stupid...

[Sunblink]

Hate, furious, furious hate, burned and flared within the writhing, flaming core of Keaton's eye-stone like a wreathing whirlwind of fire, curling and coiling like a sinuous serpent. Internally, it glared brighter and brighter as Keaton's gaze magnified, her glower so intense that it was amazing Sal and her little spider minion didn't disintegrate in a pile of smoldering ashes on the floor. Increasing her efforts to escape as Sal's on her, Keaton began to thrash and kick erratically, body bucking and flailing beneath the spider. None of it worked--nothing she screamed or screeched, hissed or howled, had any effect. Before she knew it the spider was latched onto her shoulder and climbing up the length of her neck, leaving Keaton to savor the last few moments of independent thought she would have left.

Fury was short-lived and collapsed into despair, but the hate still throbbed, still squirmed inside of that golden core, polluting it with bloody red. Dying with Keaton's increasing agony and self-hatred, but still there but giving way into something stronger. N-No, Keaton thought, horrified, I can--I can't let her do that again! I can't--I can't--

She couldn't, no.

She couldn't. Couldn't let someone hurt her like that again.

She could fight and she could scream. She could cry and she could beg.

But in the end, as the spider sunk its teeth into her neck and Keaton felt that shiver creep up her spine, she realized she was too weak. Just too weak. She had always been against mind-control, and always would be.

There was nothing she could do.

---

But was it so bad, really?

---

As that artificial, elated pleasure soared in Keaton's chest, she wondered if it was really so bad. Maybe she had misjudged being under someone's control. Maybe these people she had companioned herself with were worth nothing. No, they were worth nothing. Nothing in comparison to this wonderful spider-woman.

"Please, Katherine," Sal said, removing the webbing trapping her arm, "I have to. I can't disobey."

She didn't need to apologize. All of her feelings, inhibitions, loves, joys, and discomforts were worth nothing.

All that mattered was she needed to help Sal.

A cold, lifeless sheen had suffused her organic iris, turning the insides of the chocolate brown a petrified, icy gray, a dead juxtaposition to the amplified glow of her eye-stone. Keaton lurched where she stood, tossing Sal a wooden smile that she never would have given her on her own accord. Catastrophe was hefted, leveled, and flooded with bolts of dark energy, sparks of red and purple dancing along the pommel's length. A strangely serene look on her face, Keaton chose a target.

Her gaze landed on the despairing tiger woman on the ground.

And with that course chosen Keaton let out a loud shriek, features twisting into a horrible hellmask of its former self, emphasized by the blood that still caked the entirety of her face and the congealing red on her injured lip, and lunged, swinging Catastrophe back.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The monster immediately in front of her dealt with Mel watched the death throes of the succubus and Stygian rushing out the door. Looking around she saw Jeremiah on the floor and Ketefe looking a bit odd. Picking her way across yet another smashed up room she made her way to the downed frog. She leaned over and touched his neck to see if he was alive, "Jeremiah?"