The Castle (IC) [M] {04}

[Angel]

Everything was going just fine until Ketefe's demon spoke up again. The cat didn't even realize that "she" had spoken until she saw the confused looks of the others. She went completely pale, embarrassed and more than a little afraid. Stygian seemed most curious about just what was going on, and Ketefe swore she could feel something pulling towards her from his gaze. Chills ran down her spine; why hadn't she just told him when they met up again...

The awkward moment was broken by yet another attack, this time by ash-producing, insectoid monsters. A sulfuric smell filled the room, but Ketefe closed her mouth and covered her muzzle the second Stygian yelled not to breathe straight air. Yanking her mask off without even bothering to untie it, she held it folded over her mouth as she slashed away at any bugs that came near her. The creatures weren't as bad as the demons, but they were fearsome, with teeth like rusted daggers and claws that burned with each scratch.

She caught Stygian's voice above the noise, and followed it as quickly as she could. A few of the creatures scratched her, but none of them got close enough to hurt her that badly; almost all the bugs ended up either cut in half or escaping to try and get the others. Hopefully, everyone's capable enough to get rid of these things. She started glancing back every few moments to make sure the others were all right as she continued to head towards the bat's voice.

[Aisha deCabre]

The demonic beasts fell upon them like rain, and with them, Aisha could easily smell the foul stench of cinders long before they filled the room with their bodies.  These Carrion, as Stygian had called them, swarmed into the room faster than the plagues they must have carried.  The panthress was quick to cover her nose with a part of her cape, while she leaped in and around her comrades and slashed some of the insect-like flying jaws out of the air, charring their bodies with holy flame.  At one point she halted her breath to reach for her boomerang.  Letting it lose, the sawblade saw to the deaths of any beast in its path and filled her hand with entrails upon its return.

And yet, they kept coming.  She heard the raven's calls as it had refused to heed her command to fly off before, staying on her shoulder and burying its beak within a wing while its claws dug into her shoulder as she moved and swerved about...apparently, no bird was used to an insect that was about its own size.  She hoped the others heard his command as well...especially Ketefe, who seemed to be in a worse condition than she thought.

But there seemed to be no end to them...through the gunshots and the slashing, their numbers were only beginning to fill at their feet.  "You heard him!" she called in a muffled voice through the fabric of her cape, and tried to follow in retreat...only hoping that indeed, Mel could get a message to the others; or vice-versa.

*     *     *

Rynkura nodded in Cogidubnus's direction, glancing down the hall to regard the darkness across.  The night itself created its natural shadows...but in this hellish environment, with spirits trying to bleed the group's ears dry with their unnatural cries, the hall before them seemed not like a corridor, but a maw; eager to draw the unwary and the frightened into its depths, crawling with nightmarish tendencies.

"It seems like a perfect direction to start then, Sir Mithlome," the tigress agreed and tapped her staff hard on the floor, allowing it to glow even brighter with its unending source of light energy from within.  The Healer's hand rested upon its orbed surface, before it took on that same glow.  Then, she took the gathered light and hurled it down the hallway, an illumination trailing from it and sticking to the walls, striking any smaller creatures that awaited them.

"That along with the barriers I cast for you should be able to deter some of the beasts," Rynkura reassured and started down the hall, hoping to remember the often confusing pathway.  As she walked, her ear was kept on Sal speaking about the newcomers with a manner that she judged somewhat honest, if not still hard-pressed on being with them.  It wasn't too much of a surprise that it was Stygian they were after...

But then, she paused in mid-step at the other point.  "...Panther woman?" Rynkura echoed, her voice almost silenced.  She prided herself about being calm in any situation...but this development suddenly hit something within her.  They couldn't have meant her student...could they?  A shudder passed her heart just once.  It couldn't...!  But something told her that it was surely her.  No other panther was with them.

Rynkura started walking again, but turned her head to regard Sal, slowly, her eyes suddenly narrowed in that dangerous way again, this time holding an emotion behind it that echoed of concern...worry...and her hard tone of voice matched it.

"What do they want with Aisha?" she demanded.

[Boog]

Jeremiah considered his options as Stygian explained how to handle whatever the hell (hurr hurr) they were up against. Light magic... Lots of visual illusions involve the manipulation of light...
   'We are all lost, kelev! You will all die!'
The frog turned slowly in the direction of the shout, shocked and horrified. Oh no... He thought...
Not you too... the teacher mouthed. And then monsters dropped from the ceiling. Hearing Styg's advice, he pulled the edge of his shirt up over his mouth. Time to see if his theory about illusion magic and these things was correct. With a yell that a quick spell morphed into a barbaric bellow (hoping against hope that these things could be intimidated), he quickly sketched an illusion of a large scorpion, made of light. His hands constantly moved like a cross between a painter and a puppeteer as he manuvered his creation like a shell around himself, its tail and claws lashing out at the flying things.
Please let this work.

[Stygian]

The illusion did seem to work well enough, keeping the pests a good distance away from Jeremiah. However, the way they slashed and tore even at the illusory carapace was enough to make one deduce that whatever intelligence these creatures possessed was not afraid of such a thing.
   Ducking in through the door, Stygian leaned on his shoulder to look at the swarming insect-like attackers. He stopped firing though, holstering his guns and freeing his hands, his fingertips already lengthening into black, knife-like claws. The bullets were much too valuable to waste on the lowly Carrion. He didn't want to devour or engulf the things in any way. They were filthy even by the standards of Hell. But he could still shred them to pieces.
   Aisha ducked in through the doorway after him, then Ketefe, slicing a head that was much too mammalian in appearance off the body of something clinging to her arm with her sword. When the other two were still trapped in the swarm, Stygian quickly darted out into the room again, grabbing Ian and tugging him along, and stretching his hand into the arachnid illusion to drag Jeremiah away as well. Throwing all three of them in through the door, he quickly turned and with a growl swept his wings forward, lifting from the floor. In a moment, the black appendages dissolved into a haze of sliver-like shadows and swirled out around his arms. He thrust his hands forward, and the darkness tore forth like a hurricane, a stream of ripping dark maws and corrosive blackness that shredded the incoming pests. A few pieces of sizzling, disintegrating carapace flew in on the sides of the black stream, but when Stygian finally let up and drew back his hands, putting his feet back on the floor as the darkness withdrew around him to form his wings again, not a single Carrion was left in sight, and only a few receding buzzes could be heard from the tower.
   'That should be enough,' Stygian said, a bit tensely but with no apparent exhaustion, standing back from the doorway. 'We still need to find the others though.'

- -

Sal gave the tigress another glance. The spider didn't seem too irritated, but all things considered, was probably pretty stressed. And it was hard to know what was in her interest. The simple resignation she showed at her task of killing them, and the readiness with which she had accepted not killing them for the time being were both... strange. Strange and telling. But whether she wanted to hurt them or not, she was still the enemy. And yet...
   'Aisha? Yes, that was her name, wasn't it,' Sal said, almost pensively. 'They were interested in her. Or at least Asal was. I think he wants to kill her.' As everything else she had said to the tigress, she explained this in a most detached, uncaring way.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel turned at Ketefe's shout, confused at the strange voice coming out of the young girl. What sort of mischief had occurred while they had been separated? But before she could inquire the stinking horde descended upon them. Grabbing a handkerchief from her pocket to cover her face she lashed out at some of the flying monsters with light. Mindful of Stygian's weakness against light they were tight little arrows and not blasts. With the little bit of her attention still free she sent out a tendril of thought to search out Keaton. She should be able to identify the cubi easily enough, she had walked through Keaton's mind trying to find the mythos.  "Keaton. Can you hear me? Where are you?"

[Prof B Hunnydew]

The Fae sweep her hands above her head and firing light darts against the eight winged shadows.  Each creature explode into a puff of black smoke.   With a beating of her wings, she tryings sending the sulfur away from the party.  It works only so long as she had a supply of fresh air to her back,  but the creatures were beginning to encircle them.  Gina ends up give her a piece of her dress to breath through.  Both girls keep close to Mel, as they follow the bat's path down the hall.

PBH

[Sunblink]

Although Keaton was making quite a visible effort to ignore Sal, her selective hearing informed her about the mentioning of Aisha, especially when Rynkura appropriately reacted to knowing her beloved student was endangered. Ears swiveled upright as Keaton spun around to face them, eyebrows arched and a whole tirade of curses ready to burst forth at any given provocation. Fortunately such an event did not occur, but she was nevertheless horrified. Stygian wasn't the only person who these intruders were "interested" in? This was complete news to her... and it wasn't pleasant in the least bit.

Before she could voice her concerns or interrogate Sal, however, a strangely familiar voice piped up in the back of her head, echoing eerily as it swiftly spread to the rest of her mind. "Keaton? Can you hear me? Wh" - a burst of hissing static - "ere are you?" As weary and bruised as Keaton was from her outburst and rampage, it was nigh impossible not to notice that sudden voice as it materialized behind a shrieking cloud of static.

She had never communicated telepathically before. Nobody had really attempted to, as that required infiltration past her nearly impenetrable mind-shields. But Mel, who had familiarized herself with the navigation past those barriers, was capable of doing so. After all, she had entered her mind before. Forgetting her shock, Keaton decided to be nevertheless grateful the dragon was safe... well, relatively. Safety was never guaranteed when you were under attack by demons from every angle.

'Mel?' Keaton thought, clumsily attempting to project a message back to her. 'Can... can you hear me? Holy shit. Mel, you're alright. Me, Ryn, Cog, and... the spider are behind the wall. We were separated from Stygian when it appeared...'

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Aisha deCabre]

"...Asal...?"

Rynkura did not know at that point whether or not to believe what the spider had been saying.  The name was a dagger that struck into her subconscious, and pulled out some very specific...and very horrid...memories.  From the way one could observe of her demeanor now, the tigress was frozen, nearly dumbfounded, a glazed look in her deep green gaze.  She now seemed to look the age that she appeared.

It was hard to believe the spider, in the tone of voice she had, so uncaring, yet still the possibility stung at her fiercely.  But...I thought we were rid of them!  I thought they believed they had killed the last of the Cabres!  I thought I could keep her...I thought she could be safe!

Still as a statue, those thoughts and more flooded her mind.  She only moved with a slight shudder after a moment, gripping her staff and trying not to break down.  "Asal.  Of the Be'Laan demon clan."  The tigress assented, perhaps to the surprise of the spider, eyes narrowing dangerously while her head inclined.  "How did he know where to find...?"

That was when she glanced up at Keaton after a moment, noticing her staunch and concentrative appearance, and stood up again, watching questioningly...she quite recognized when a telepathic message was received, though she could not hear it.  Hopefully, it was no bad news.  As long as Aisha was still alive, that was what she wished for.

Then, perhaps, if all of this was true, the panthress could have a portion of her long-sought revenge back...

*     *     *

As Aisha ducked into the corridor, she covered her head against any of those sulfurous beasts who dove at the group, an instinctive motion while she replaced the boomerang back at her belt.  The others followed easily soon after, either by their volition or by the bat's.  And then, he began his own assault against them.  Impressive, dangerous, and effective.

"Oh man," the panthress sighed and leaned against the wall, almost wanting to sit down while she caught her breath.  "Yeah, we do..."  She glanced back at the dragon, who seemed to be in deep concentration.  "I hope the message got someone."

[Stygian]

The spider kept her eyes on the hallway, answering after a brief pause. 'Yes. How? He's Asodan's son-in-law now. It's been quite some time since they were joined. Not that the old man likes it.' She snorted, and a grim smile hinted in her face for a second. 'He'd rather never have seen his face in his life, really. But they had to rely on the Be'Laan strength. Don'Chel isn't a strong house anymore. All thanks to Stygian...'
   A slight clicking sound caused the spider to stop and drew her eyes. It had been almost inaudible, even to Rynkura, and it was hard to put a direction to. But somehow the spider had sensed it even before the tigress, and had even located its source. Backing a step, she flexed her fingers.
   'Three of them,' Sal whispered, very quietly. 'Big.'

- -

Stygian gave Mel a long hard glance, wondering just how well it would go to establish contact with the others. The living darkness that permeated the castle was going to make certain spells and abilities much harder. He and Keaton would be the only ones whose abilities benefited from it all, and even then it was a two-edged sword. His senses much less blurry now that he had been given some time to recuperate from the flash before, he could sense the place's energy in the aether clearly again. And this brought other things to mind.
   Turning his head, the bat regarded Ketefe for a moment, his dark eyes and studying her profoundly. Then he walked over and bent forward a bit, eyes narrowing as he furrowed his brow and put a hand on her cheek, making her look at him. That close, she could see the thin scar over the right side of his lips, and the fiery glow of his pupils. It was unsettling to say the least.
   'That's not good,' he said, after a couple of very uncomfortable seconds. He cast a glance toward the bracer on her wrist. 'Sorry I didn't notice before. This is bad though.' Just as suddenly as he had turned to the feline, he looked back over his shoulder at Mel. 'Are we getting through?' he asked.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Bambi has been studying the wall between them and the others..."I can't tell if it was just stones or is there any wooden beams in the wall anywhere. Can you tell how thick is it, Sebastian?" Asks the Fae.  She looks around at some of the broke benchs and pieces of beams that littered the hall.

PBH

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel nodded her head in response to Stygian's inquiry but didn't give him an immediate answer. She had to concentrate to pick up the thread from Keaton. There was an energy storm inside the castle even wilder than the storm raging outside and it was just as difficult to hold a normal conversation through. "It is hard to pick up the thoughts, but I think that Cog, Rynkura, and Keaton are together and still near the wall. There was something about a spider that I could not make out. I believe they are okay for the moment. Where do you want to try to meet up?"

[Boog]

Jeremiah was yanked out of his illusion, mildly discomforted but in good spirits otherwise. Even if it hadn't exactly been unstoppable, visual illusions were able to influence these things. He brushed off his shirt and let the scorpion behind him crumble. Now, to worry about the other things...
"So, Ketefe," Jeremiah said quietly as Mel worked on contacting Keaton, "You feel any different? The stuff around here that gets into you..." the frog bit his lip, trying to figure out how to put this without horrifying the girl, "It messes you up pretty bad. Like that thing I got turned into before. Any symptoms you've felt since Aisha loaned you her bracer?"

[Angel]

Beheading one last creature, Ketefe lunged into the doorway, then watched as Stygian saved Jeremiah and Ian before taking care of the rest of the Carrion in his typical fashion. By now watching it had become a bit less scary. She was more impressed at the bat's power now - or at least, that was the dominating emotion. Her hand holding the mask dropped from her face as she crossed her arms and waited.

After he came back into the hall, Stygian turned his attention to Ketefe again. She shivered involuntarily when he walked towards her, analyzing her with his eyes. She suddenly really wanted to put her mask on again. When he stopped and looked down at her, she wanted to turn her head away, but he put his hand on the side of her face so she had no choice but to look into his eyes. She noticed a scar on his lip she'd never seen before, and his eyes seemed to glow from within.

Once he figured out what was wrong with her, he turned to Mel, allowing Ketefe to draw in a shuddering breath. I wonder how he figured it out just by looking at me, she mused. She hadn't seen her own glowing eyes yet.

When Jeremiah asked his question, the ex-vigilante turned and responded. "Nothing really. I mean, I'm still in a little pain, but it isn't as bad as it was." She tried her hardest not to remember that. "And I can feel it back there ... whatever it is. It's still there, but with the bracer on, it can't do much, I guess."

[Stygian]

The question was very pertinent, but Stygian had no immediate answer. Looking down, he racked his mind for memories of the castle and its rooms, for a memory of the best place available. It had to be defensible, with few exits, but not too cramped, and somewhere in between the two groups. There was really only one choice.
   'Tell them to go to the upper social hall,' Stygian said, looking at Mel. 'It should be just off the main stairway, right to the northwest. There are only two doors, and they'll be closest to the service entry.' His eyes went distant for a second as he thought things through. '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. I think it should be the second or third door.' That was about as accurate as he could give them. Usually, his memory was very accurate, but time wore down everything.
   More whispering half-voices emanated behind them from the end of the hall, and there was an unpleasant, crackling sound coming from nearby. The air that blew down the hall was hot and dry.
   Stygian sighed and turned his gaze toward Bam for a second. 'It's stone and armoring right through. There's no wood nearby, not that I can see.' Again, he looked toward the dark end of the corridor. 'I'll go first. When you think you can, get ready to move. Fast.'

When Ketefe uttered those last words, she could feel, almost as if she were thinking them herself but not quite, words welling up within her mind, malicious and spiteful. Not yet, little girl. But soon... You will be mine...

- -

A ragged, almost inaudible breath rippled through the near-complete silence of the hallway, reaching the ears of them all before fading away into emptiness again, and Sal stood tense as a violin string. 'We... we might have to run,' she said, voice trembling but only half with fright.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog cracked his neck, staring at the three blue shapes walking towards them in the darkness, and simply took in a deep breath. The sword in his hand glowed a bit brighter, and he began to slowly walk forward, keeping himself within the distance of Rynkura's light.

"I don't think we have anywhere to run, Sal." Cog said, dripping blood. He spared a glace to the hallway to the right. "Maybe there. But then, I don't think we could move fast enough to outrun anything here."
He smiled a half-smile. "Besides. It's only three, after all."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

*sign*   Bam placed two glowing hands on the dividing wall, screams and cries for the some demon or another in the wall could be heard on both sides of the wall, as they felt Bambi's light magic. Yet, the Fae could not find any embedded wood in the wall for her to effect.  The wall look normal for a moment and then return to its possessed state once the cat girl removed her hands.

"I had hope to force open a doorway in this wall to the others, if I could have found enough wood.  Lead on Stygain, Do you think, the enemies will seek us?" asks the Fae cat

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched from her sitting spot, happy for everyone to regain their breath as Mel attempted the message and Stygian inspected Ketefe.  "Took on a spirit.  I'm almost afraid to take the bracer off, she may start screaming again," the panthress commented with a concerned sigh.  It was going to be quite the transition into morning.  If this ended with nobody dead, she was going to sleep until the afternoon, regardless of Rynkura's habit to awaken herself and everyone else early.

Thinking of her mentor, Aisha was relieved to hear from Mel that she along with Keaton and Cogidubnus were safe.  Her eyes narrowed when a spider was mentioned as well...Rynkura knew the story, so she believed that the tiger wouldn't let anyone else get controlled, much less herself.  That only meant that the puppet master was there.  Good, she thought, darkly.  She's got some things to face.

Watching Ketefe, as well as Bam and Gina wander around their vicinity, Aisha stood up again while Mel prepared to relay the bat's message to the other group.  "I'm sure we're all ready to run," the huntress muttered.

*     *     *

Rynkura's concentration faltered slightly.  As she watched Keaton's frozen and concentrative state, her ear couldn't help but swivel back to hear Sal give a short speech on what the Don'Chels were doing together with the Be'Laans.  But the tigress only snorted slightly in reply.

"I care nothing for the history...I'd have liked to know how he knew Aisha was here."  She turned to look at Sal, an accusing look on her features.  "Of course the answer could be in front of me.  At any rate, she won't allow herself to be killed, nor will I allow it either..."

She stopped speaking, however, noticing that Sal's attention was focused on the hallway.  Rynkura looked up, perking her ears to listen through the vaguely light-strewn corridor before them, though she strangely hadn't heard anything until the harsh, ragged breath reached them.

With a nod to Cogidubnus, she kept the light ahead of him while preparing a spell of her own.  "Indeed it might be quite hard to run, and however large, they only fall harder."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Hoping that Keaton would be able to make out enough of the instructions to get the other party to the upper social hall Mel resumed contact. "Everyone else is here, including Stygian. Meet us in the upper social hall. Go to the main stairway, then right towards the 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." She repeated the information twice more, hoping that enough would be understandable. "I have told them where we are heading. Hopefully they understood." With a big breath and a drawing up of power she prepared herself to run.

[Angel]

Ketefe gasped as quietly as she could, her eyes widening when she heard the parasite speak to her. She mentally snarled at it to shut up before tensing to run herself. "It just talked to me," she mentioned to Jeremiah. Can't be too careful.

[Boog]

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. That probably meant nothing good. The closest that the Lunacy had done to talking was this curious buzzing noise he'd kept hearing since being scratched. However, that could probably be put down to intelligence; the Lunacy wasn't really all that bright.
"Protect that bracer," he replied quietly, not sure of what else to say.

[Sunblink]

Keaton remained where she was, eyes narrowed, attempting to decipher the words which were garbled and distorted behind the seething fog of static that clouded each, mentally-uttered syllable projected in her mind. A headache was starting to brew from the frustration that came with trying to understand such incoherent speech, but fortunately, she was able to analyze the majority of what was said: Go tO tHE maIn sTAIRwaY, thEN a RiGHT, thEn a LEft iNto tHe BiGgeST rOOm dOwN tHe hALLway...

She received this message just as Sal murmured something--Keaton normally would've ignored this, but the tension in her voice attracted her attention at first to her, then to Rynkura and Cogidubnus, both of which were staring at the warbling figures approaching them. Despite being capable of penetrating the darkness with her renewed vision, Keaton was unable to identify the silhouettes for some reason...

Keaton hissed urgently to Cogidubnus, her hand twisting around the pommel of Catastrophe. "Mel says that we should go to the main stairway, then a right, then a left into the biggest room down the hallway," she said, reciting everything the dragon had sent her. "If we decide to run, we should go that way, if it's accessible..."

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

Stygian's look was something in between worried and annoyed, but he nodded to Aisha and then set off forward at a quick but silent walk, watching the dark. The feeling of closeness and heat was gradually growing stronger, the humidity seeming to drain from the air and the dark stealing the breath from their lungs. As they advanced, a slight tinge of orange, a flickering glow, began to reflect through the corridors.
   'Well, at least it's not humid...' Stygian growled silently. 'Though my smell is going...' The air was drifting with something ashy and fumy, and picking up scents was getting harder and harder.
   It was when they made the final turn toward the main stairway that Stygian suddenly stopped, his ears perking up and his head swiveling slowly. As the mild sound of their steps ceased, a very, very faint rasp could be heard, dry and slow.

- -

Backing up a bit toward the others, Sal whispered hissing to them. 'If we dash past, I can string some web.' She flicked her fingers, and then put her hands together. The ripped sleeve of the one Cog had taken off stood out, gaping open but not bleeding any longer at all, it seemed. 'Hit them when they are held.'
   'Liiiiiiiiiiiife...' The sudden, direction-less rasp, more of a snarl than a voice, overcame their hearing and sent shivers up their spines. Sal twitched.

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog nodded in response to Keaton. "If you can, tell Ms. Icewing we'll be there shortly, then."
Cog's ears quirked at the sudden noise from the approaching demons. Words that were almost human, and yet...he shook his head, and took another step forward, his pace increasing. As he got closer to the demons he could almost feel the floor underneath him vibrating as he got closer.

He called back to Sal. "Now is better than later." he said shortly. Mistress Rynkura's light kept pace with him, and it wasn't long before all three of the demons were bathed in light.
Abominations, all three. Some sort of hellspawed amalgamation of boar and man, with something else dark and hulking thrown in, just for the sake of evil. Blind, eyeless faces, emaciated like skulls and framed by two huge tusks set in a snapping, horribly fanged maw stared out at them. Cog coughed, taking a single step backwards and bringing up his sword in a low guard.
"Now is most certainly better than later!" he said, his eyes roving over the twisted demons. Cog began to chant in a low voice, the storm outside darkening as he called to it...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As they moved forward Mel felt her heartrate nervously speed up. The increasing heat was preying on her nerves, although thanks to the heat resistance spells on her clothing she wasn't suffering too much yet. When the flickering orange glow became evident every instinct told her to run in the other direction, but she squashed the urge, knowing that staying together held their only chance. When Stygian stopped and everything became silent she caught what he had heard. Scales against stone. A dragon could recognize the sound of scales.

[Aisha deCabre]

Picking up the pace and making sure the others walked along, Aisha gathered herself and followed behind the bat, wrinkling her nose.  She was quite eager to get away from the dead smell of the creatures that littered the base of the tower and whose ashen remains covered the walls...and also more than eager to get moving again.  Always the huntress kept the sword at her side, her grip keeping tightly to the handle so that the crossguard was going to leave an indent on the side of her thumb.

But as they moved, the atmosphere of the castle turned more to the actual feeling of Hell...of encompassing heat (though with her amulet she got used to that too fast for her to notice), with a dwindling moisture and a rising dryness...ashen in composition, sulfurous in feel.  The dark before them was still empowered, a barrier of intangibility to grip their minds and to still make an attempt to make them writhe in fear.

A shudder still crept up Aisha's spine...and she wondered how they were going to be able to find the others.  Something gave her the distinct impression that for each moment wasted it will be all the more difficult.

But when Stygian stopped and looked around, she froze as well, her muscles tensing up.  Around them, a rasping sound seethed against them.  Aisha expressed her incredulity at the new event, but not surprise, as she looked around for the source, ready to spring if necessary.  The raven, still like a guardian clinging to her shoulder and his piercing red gaze sweeping their surroundings, also seemed to tense.  "Now what...?" her voice murmured against the stale backdrop, looking at the faces of the others for their reactions.

*     *     *

Rynkura had only nodded once in reply to Keaton's directions, her eyes intense and focused squarely on the new occurrence that made their way towards them.  The monsters were ghastly things, huge and fanged, made of all strength and sinew and ravenous hunger.  The tigress backed up a few steps, holding the intense and luminous staff in front of her before hearing Sal's suggestion.

She nodded in agreement with Cogidubnus.  "If you can, then do.  They will be slowed down if not held completely at least."  As the storm outside darkened in what seemed to be the wolf's command, she seemed to gain the same idea.  White bands of electricity crackled over Rynkura's palm and across her arm, and her emerald gaze took on a sort of lighter glow amidst the light that she created around the group.  The edge of the light spell cast on the hall now framed the faces of the eyeless abominations.  "Slowed enough."

[Stygian]

A few, shuddering instants. Then Sal's feet tapped the floor and long strings of web flew out, whipping and twining even as they attached to the walls around and in front of the beasts. Before he had time to argue, Cog felt a hand jerk him forward and two arms grabbing around his back, tugging him along, and then the ground was pulled swiftly away underneath him. He did a slow flip that threatened to turn his stomach the wrong way, and then hit the floor, not quite gracefully but not too clumsily. Sal let the wolf go, almost throwing him around as she twisted to sling more silk.
   'Go over!' the spider shouted, even as the things roared out in fury and dug their heavy, meaty, handlike paws into the floor, massive flanks and shoulders rippling with muscle. Stretching the webs, one snapped its horrible jaws just inches from her face, and she started back with a yelp that devolved into a hiss. 'I can't hold them like this!'
   'We will snap your tasty limbs!' the horridity nearest Sal roared. 'Meat and bone!' The words were just intelligible. Silk snapped with a sound like violin strings breaking.

- -

'You'll want to move left...' Stygian said, holding up a hand. 'Now!' He gave Aisha a moderate shove in the said direction, just before a black something whipped out and shot like a dart through the place her neck had been. The thing lashed back, sputtering cinders and ash, and with a flash of ebon claws, Stygian cut it. Fire erupted, and something burning and liquid spilled across the floor, sizzling loudly. A roar shook the hallway, and next a torrent of flame and hot gases burst out at them. Stygian swept up his right wing, forming a shield of darkness that while rippling and flaring at the edges held most of the storm back for the short while it lasted.
   'A firewyrm!' the bat growled, his face a snarl and his teeth gritted. 'Shit! We need ice! I can't smother this!'

[Sunblink]

The first thing Keaton was aware of was the wretched visages of the triad of creatures, their jaws slack as they stretched wide to expose their dripping canines, gangrenous breath pealing in malodorous clouds from the depths of their throats. Keaton unconsciously withdrew, overcome by their ravenous viciousness, her face twisted into something akin to both a grimace and a snarl as the hand clenching the elongated staff of Catastrophe's pommel wringing. Upon the moment Sal dashed and wove together a thick web of gooey ichor, she followed, Catastrophe whipping around in sweeping circles for protection as she plowed right through.

Like hell she cared for Sal's safety. But if she was going to help them, that was just fine. Better not to refuse that assistance, though why she was acquiescing to their survival was beyond Keaton's comprehension. Running past those bloodthirsty beasts was a tense and horrible moment, mercifully short but nevertheless awful. Ungracefully she scrambled, eventually catching up to Cog after that hellish moment.

"G-God," she snarled, whirling around to face the trapped beasts. One of them shrieked something she couldn't make out, but it likely wasn't very pleasant.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Edit  { Okay I will be back here until I have time to see what is  what}     

[Cogidubnus]

 Stumbling for only just a moment, Cog whirled around to face the monsters, his coat flying back for just a moment as he brought his sword up. Ludicrous as it seemed to keep the sword between himself and foes of that sort, old habits died hard. Cutting them down seemed impossible - he would practically have to almost climb on one of them to get any sort of attack in.
His sword wasn't his only fang, however.

He continued to chant as Sal attempted to tie the demons up, the beasts prodigious strength proving too much for even those steel-like cords. They broke painfully, with a sound almost like the twanging of a snapping violin. Cog stepped aside as Keaton slid next to him, raising his eyebrow at the Jackal as he intoned yet further, his rolling chant beginning to speed up. He wondered at the wisdom of rushing through a throng of demons such as that, but then, he supposed Keats knew what she was doing. The storm outside intensified again, darkening almost to the extent it had when he and Sebastian had been fighting.

"Let clouds of the mourning, gray-dark day, with glistening blades, strip away." Cog finished, his hands gesturing towards the demons with a flourish. Thunder pealed from the outside, lightning suddenly stabbing the ground multiple times - blue, crawling energy sprouted from the points of impact, magical energy taking and moving the sky's anger from the ground to Cog's feet, the thunderous power flowing out from the floor beneath him and into the wolf. His sword suddenly crackled with electricity, snaking blue wisps of lightning crawling along the blade. Cog flourished his hand again, and the wisps suddenly died, Cog's hand glowing a bright, dazzling blue, before erupting with the stored power of a dozen lightning bolts. A bolt as thick as his arm lanced into the demons, the thunderous peal deafeningly loud in the hallway. The entire hall lit up for a few long moments, the thunder jumping between the demons before dying out.

Cog stumbled, suddenly, and leant on the wall beside him. His head felt dangerously light, and he fumbled in his jacket for the little cross as he struggled to keep his vision from fuzzing. Despite his efforts thus far, he really needed rest from Sebastian's...meal.
He found the little thing, and let the cooling energies wash into him even as he began backing away. If that didn't finish them, someone else was going to have to take a shot before he could get in the fight again...

[Boog]

If the artist hadn't been too busy yelling in fright he would have sighed. Well, at least I was able to do something for a little while. While he had light in abundant quantities, as one needed very little power to manipulate it, ice was another matter entirely. Jeremiah fell back, using the time that Stygian had his wings up to take cover behind the turn in the corridor.