Quest The Longest Night

[Toruuk Stoneheart]

A hedge maze. Really? Of all the defenses whatever eccentric wizard that called this tower home could come up with, he went with thorny bushes. Toruuk had half a mind to just start barreling through them...until Sarek mentioned his pets getting slaughtered for attempting to "cheat."

"What is it with the evil mage types and their overly complicated traps? 'Ooo, gotta follow my stupid maze to get to me or you'll get some cuts and booboos.' Bah."
Toruuk snorted loudly and began to undo a strap around his torso. Reaching behind his back, he pulled his oversized crossbow from its bindings and set it aside. Then he began to dig around in a large quiver, sticking his tongue out and raising a brow as he tried to find a particular piece of ammunition.
"Ah! There you are!" He exclaimed at last.

The ammo in question looked to be a crudely modified javelin. It was weighted more heavily in the front, its head shaped more like a harpoon than anything else, and had a ring attached to the back. Toruuk then produced a long loop of chain from his belt and attached it to the ring on the javelin. Finally, he loaded the thing into his crossbow, grunting in exertion as he brought the lock to tension.
"To hell with the maze! Can't catch us cheatin' if we go over the top! BAHAHAHA!"

Without another word, Toruuk took aim at the tower and fired, a loud "CRACK" filling the air as the line snapped forth and hurled the monstrous quarrel through the air followed by the rhythmic clinking of chain behind it. A moment later the sound of metal breaching stone could be heard.
"BINGO!"
Moving quickly, Toruuk grabbed the loose end of the chain, pulled it taught, then smashed a piton through it and into the ground with his hoof. At last, he stepped back to admire his work: a sturdy grapple line the group could use to shimmy their way over the infernal maze.

"One express trip to spooky towerville, courtesy of Stoneheart express, ooohhh yyyeeaahh!"

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën briefly looked back at Toruuk, and the double took. His booming laughter filled the air as he loosed his weapon, and Erën's careful gaze watched it hurl through the air. He heard it make contact.

Even as Toruuk secured the chain tightly, he felt apprehensive.

Too easy...​

But, maybe the Minotaur had made their lives easier?

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

His smile shifted.
​

A bit of the energy grew loose, a bit of his pep drained away. His smile was less jovial and over-eager, and more soft-spoken and caution in his words as he waited for the loose fitting man to respond. It was... Awkward. Like a few minutes after a kiss and you hadn't brushed your teeth. Yes it felt like that magical awkwardness.

Though when he spoke it seemed to all burn away like a leaf to a fire pit. Quick, instant. And by and Large made Farzad loose a knot that was starting to spread through his chest. He let out the breath with mild worry, and not long after watched the skittering swarm approach. It was hard to make out with one's eyes, the off beat of lightning done little to remedy one's sight, and his own soft illumination did not expand far past him. In truth, it was more a mood spell that it was one of actual effect. But he smelt it, in rat's it was different.

It wasn't burnt flesh, but singed fur.
But you could smell the burns.

It wasn't fresh blood, but dirty crimson.
But you could smell the wound.

It wasn't human fear, but tiny terror.
But you could smell the Dread.​

The emotions, the smell it all inscribed something deep into Farzad. It also brought something out of him, his eyes shifted dark, his fingers interlocked a little tighter onto his staff. He watched as the rodents vanished in a puff of smoke. "Well than. Don't cheat the maze and we should come out fine and dandy." He stated clearly, quickly moving back over to Toruuk. There were simple rules Farzad followed in Dungeon Delving, and this was the prime one.

Rule*1; If you can cast magic, stand by someone that can cast fist.
​

Which, drew his attention the sound of chain and bolt cracking the air like a pick to stone. He turned to see Toruuk had lodged the tower with a javelin and chain. He looked at the murky sky that slunk and swum with darkness, the sun and stars absorbed beneath it's intoxicating wash of darkened grey. "Champ?" Farzad stated, walking over to the champ with a long drawn out line for a mouth. He gave a whistle, poking the length of chain with his staff. "While I love the enthusiasm, and trust me, I am one to expedite adventure where I can." He opened kindly, he tapped the butt end of his staff against the chain, than pointed back up to the shifting clouds. "What um... What does metal seem to do when lightning is abound?" He asked half-rhetorically, moving over to the towering thick of muted green and cruel thorns. "No, no I say we simply head into the maze. If we sit here all day trying to figure out ways around the problem, we haven't actually solved the problem. And the first problem I see." He tried to drag his staff through the bush, only a few inches through and it was caught in a spindly web of vines and thorns that held onto his staff tighter than a baby it's mother's breast, though a babe was only so strong. "Is that, we need to solve the maze. If something injured those rats, and we somehow, and I mean somehow, got to the Tower on the chain, than we take one step in and find whatever abounds there is too much for us to face well... I don't want a return trip on a length of chain that could smoke us all into cooked Salmon." He took a pause, looking over the gathering before him, trying to reassure them with a smile. "Nor do I want us to fly headlong, and in a panic through the maze that might very well kill us as we no doubt, break apart screaming and running and all wind up dead." He finalised, his rant a little longer than he hoped, but was certain it got the point.

​

He walked to the entrance of the maze, taking the plunging step into the maze and looking at his companions. Before turning around, seeming like a smiling fish in the Bear's mouth. "Now than. I am to lead or does someone else wish to take command?"

 

[Draedamyr]

"I'll take the chain," Draedamyr called out. It seemed safer to risk a bolt of lightning than the maze. He doubted the hedges would be the only defence.

He moved to the stake and sheathed Reverie. In a display of raw agility the nimble elf started to run up the chain. He was nearly half way across the maze when a dark shape leapt out of the hedges, leaving a billowing cloud of red mist in its wake.

Draedamyr and whatever had leapt out of the maze vanished into the darkness leaving the chain clanking as it swung slowly from side to side.

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën watched the elf move across the chain, studying him as he traversed across with little trouble. As he made his way, Erën thought it was surely sturdy enough for him too, so he moved to follow Draedamyr's lead.

He'd allowed the leader just a bit more time across before he too, in like fashion, leapt onto the chain and began to cross it hastily - a perfect mixture of speed and balance. Then the shadow came into view, and flashed across his vision - taking Draedamyr with it.

And he saw the mist...

And he remembered that night... deep in Falwood...

Beneath him the chain jarred, Erën struggled to keep his footing. He traversed just a short while further before leaping down to follow after Draedamyr.

 

[Emery Thatcher]

"Tch." Came from the boys mouth as he watched Draedamyr plummet into the maze via some scarlet phantom. That wasn't good. He was leading the pack and likely the one who was gonna hand him his coin sack later. The young thief scratched his head in thought and looked at the chain swaying back and forth. In the end, he gave a large shrug and a cocky smile. Though he was filled to the brim with fear. He'd dealt with demons not two months ago, what the hell was another one?

"Well, we can't have tha' now can we?" He stated in regards to his disappearance. He pushed himself forward and did an elegant front facing backflip landing both feet on the chain and his hands in his pockets. He moved his way up the crossbow bridge and to where Draedamyr had fallen, looking to see if he could see anything.

It seemed that they'd vanished out of view however, and he turned back to the rest of his party.

"Boss man's in big trouble, fellas."

 

[Toruuk Stoneheart]

Farzad's warning gave Toruuk pause. He hadn't really considered the lightning, in truth. His eyes wandered up the side of the tower and observed its top for a few moments.
KRAKOOWWW
A bolt struck the top of the tower, the near instant boom leaving a ringing in the bull's ears. He shrugged and looked to the colorfully dressed wizard.
"Welp, that's all the proof of concept I need. The champ's skippin' this maze."

The bull grinned as he watched Draedamyr and Xyrdithas begin their ascent up the chain. Elves, always so nimble. He began to walk forward to a point at which he could grab the chain and stat his own (much slower) climb. The moment he grabbed hold he felt the whole line shake violently, snapping his vision up in time to see the quest's leader being pulled downward into the maze with the armored elf dropping shortly behind. Toruuk was outraged.

"GODS. DAMNED. MAGES!"

"Boss man's in big trouble, fellas."

"I KNOW, I KNOW, I'M GOIN'! UUUUGGHH."
With that, Toruuk pushed past Emery and grabbed the chain from underneath and began to swing forward hand by hand, grumbling the whole way. Once he'd reached the point at which he'd seen the elves fall, Toruuk pursed his lips and dropped from the line. An earthshaking THUD sounded from within the maze, signalling his arrival.

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Slowly, the group gathered at the chain, Farzad stood at the cusp of the maze, still half-stood in it's maw. He ran a free hand at his unkempt beard, running and twisting it down into neat strands. "Well. I'm not one to go against democracy." He stated rather flippantly, seeing if anyone was willing to simply take the maze for what it was. It seemed, no one was. Between the Thief who jumped without care, the knight who straddled the chain and their fearless leader it was decided.

Cheat the maze.​

It seemed. Like an awful idea. And it proved it all too suddenly, he missed it not paying attention to Draedamyr and his climb as he turned on his foot, looking at the shifting walls of green. He swore he could almost see them shifting beyond just the leaves in the rustling wind. But he turned to see the party in a panic immediately. He took a few steps out, his movement a slow gait, even though he tried to move at pace. He saw it. Not the mist of red, that came and gone like the bolts of lightning that littered the tower like flowering weeds, no he simply saw the shake, the panic upturned into an uproar between the party. The Knight was the first to go, descending in a followed step behind Draedamyr, the Thief making the stark realisation that something was wrong, and Toruuk quickly in a blind panic to follow along the chain, it's massive heft swinging side to side.

"Well. Cheat the maze it is?"​

He stated calmly. He creased his brow with a furrow, fingers squeezing tight as long wrinkles formed. "I'm supposing, no one remembers the part of my speech where I said, 'headlong in a panic'?" He asked rhetorically, half-expecting a rhetorical answer to follow. He pressed the butt-end of his staff into the trudged mud, looking at the party, "I'm taking the ass-end of this party. I'm not exactly a fast chain-climber." He made clear, waiting for everyone else to fill in the spots between himself and a strike of lightning.

 

[Sarek Valaren]

Sarek stared curiously at the chain that stretched out before him. It was a smart idea by the horseperson, but several things niggled at him. The first being the lightning that seemed to continually arc around the tower, the second, his warning obviously, and his final reservation was the fact he was not a particularly strong climber.

Thankfully, however, he didn't need to be. He watched Draedamyr be stricken from the chain, those that followed in his wake jumping after him.

"The arse-end of this party indeed." He nodded towards one of the dwarf sellswords, whom he was certain had soiled himself and subsequently set about behind Farzad. "I don't mean to be one to say I told them so, but I was fairly certain I gave a warning about such a thing." He grumbled slowly towards the fellow. Sarek wasn't one to gloat, but he did not enjoy splitting a party. It was never a wise thing to do.

"Guess we have to go find them then." He wasted no time and headed into the maze, his staff glowing that impossible purpley-greeny colour and casting the area in an ominous light.

 

[Draedamyr]

The dwarven mercenaries and rangers headed directly into the maze through the opening, ignoring the chain. The dull crimson mists swirled around their feet as the snarling of beasts filled the air.

Draedamyr slowly pushed himself to his knees. He had dropped before the fiend caught him in its jaws, but its claws has raked his shoulder.

"Hello?" he called out. He heard the others dropping down near where he had landed but couldn't see anyone. He lifted his sword and waved away the mist. Where he was it was near waist high. "Where is everyone?"

He turned at the sound of movement behind him. Two of the beasts were stalking towards him.

"Demons," he declared.

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

He dropped into the maze with a light foot, the mist pluming up around him as he landed in near silence - betrayed by little more than the clicking of his armor as he stood upright. And there, he beheld it closely. The mist spiraled in front of his eyes before tumbling down to rest as waist height.

He smelled it.

He felt it.​

He had trouble seeing already, but there seemed a strange shadow lingered over them between these gnarled hedges. He did not see Draedamyr. Then the ground shook behind him, and a deep grunt and he knew Toruuk had dropped down just a short ways behind him.

"Hello?" he called out.

He sounded... farther away than he should. Erën had done well to dive down quite near to him - or so he thought.

"Where is everyone?"

"Here," he called out.

He felt a terrible presence... all too familiar. It had been seared into his mind - and yet much of it forgotten, patchy, obscured. Shrouded. Like his own mind had done all it could to forget.

But here. Now. He began to remember...

He lowered his hood, and shot a side eyed glance to Toruuk, "be wary my friend," and he looked forward.

He'd have warned the others too, were they near.

"Demons," he declared.

"There is more to this than some mere sorcerer."​

He bolted toward the sound of Draedamyr's cry, hands held tightly to loose his blades into battle.

 

[Emery Thatcher]

DEMONS, HUH?

The voice rang in Emery's head and it seemed it came from nowhere. Not one that he's heard before. Strange. Were those his own thoughts? He did get alarmed at the mention of demons. Yet that didn't represent how he sounded at all.

It was no matter, he needed to prove he was capable of SOMETHING or he just end up not getting paid.

"Oi! We got demons out her'!" Emery was a bit terrified of that prospect but if they were gonna prevent him from getting gold to hell with em'. He'd show everyone the biggest, best drop kick anyone had ever seen! He positioned himself on the chain, ready to pounce. He could hear Draedamyr's voice though he couldn't see him very well. He hoped once he jumped he'd be able to get a greater view and just land on the bastards' heads.

With one agile and crisp movement, he flung himself upward and extended his leg to bring full force on the demons below. As he fell, his prediction was correct. The three of them came into view.

"Aight' ya ugly louts! Know the wrath of Emery Tha-ahhhhhhhh!"

His foot would likely had connected had he just kept his damn mouth shut. Instead, one of the demons looked dead up to him and grabbed his leg clean out of the air. It proceeded to throw the thief straight through a nearby hedge and into a completely different section of the maze, as if he was naught but a nuisance. Many would agree on that statement, actually.

He tumbled and when he stood back up he was forced to spit out branches and leaves that had clogged his mouth.

"Fuckin'!" He exclaimed, now unsure of where he'd come from exactly. However, it turned out that he was far from alone in here. He heard a loud hissssss and turned around to see a ten foot skeleton bearing armor and a greataxe staring him down.

"...Fuck."

 

[Toruuk Stoneheart]

Massive weight was, unfortunately, not always an advantage. The bull had intended to land on his hooves, but gravity was not so kind.
"OOF!"
The minotaur slammed into the ground flat on his ass, sending dirt and leaves into the air around him. A less than graceful landing, but at the very least he didn't feel particularly injured. He pulled himself back to his hooves and patted the mess off of his rear and legs.
"Well that could'a gone better."

"be wary my friend,"

No sooner had the elven warrior spoken that the scent of danger and foul magic filled Toruuk's nostrils. Quick as he could he pulled Pomp and Circumstance from the loops on his belt and stood ready to fight. A storm of activity shortly followed.

There was much to take in Draedamyr was nowhere to be seen, but Toruuk heard the word distinctly: "Demons." That wasn't good. Then he saw the blur that was Emery getting dragged down into the maze just as their elf guide had been. Instinct took over.
"You help Draed!" Toruuk shouted to Xyrdithas, pointing in the direction he had seen the other elf fall. "You elves are good at hearin', right? Follow his voice. I'll go get the kid outta trouble."

Feeling much like he was stuck in some sort of ancient myth, the Minotaur began to move in Emery's direction rounding several corners and following the thief's scent. It took him perhaps 30 seconds to find the lad, trapped in a dead end clearing with an animate set of bones that rivaled Toruuk in height.
"Hope you've been drinking your milk, buddy!" The bull shouted, charging in behind the skeleton, axes at the ready.

Toruuk took a swipe at one of the bony foe's shoulders. The attack looked to have connected, but there was no weight to the blow. In fact, it felt like Toruuk had missed. He realized all too late that the monster had likely sensed his charge and at the moment of impact detached its arm and promptly reattached it to avoid the blow. Surprisingly intelligent move for a mindless pile of bones.

Toruuk quickly followed up with a second strike from the other axe, but the skeleton rotated its torso around 360 degrees and stopped the attack with the blade of its own greataxe. The thing leaned in to the champ's face and hissed, crossing blades and managing to hold the bull back for the moment.

"Damn it! Kid, now would be a good time to pull something underhanded on this guy!"

 

[Emery Thatcher]

In a flash, the minotaur had arrived to help Emery deal with this colossal opponent. While he believed in the bull's strength the foe was proving to be much more ridiculous than anticipated. And that's saying that for a ten foot skeleton. This was turning ugly quick.

"Yeah, yeah I hear ya! Keep him at bay, wouldya?" He winked and let a click out of his mouth while he ran to the other side of the skeleton. The thief flipped onto the the hulking bone monster and dug his knife into its shoulder. The bone was surprisingly accepting of this. However the mind of the creature wasn't, as it seemed to immediately understand what was happening. It began to spin its torso at a speed in which he couldn't even see Toruuk Stoneheart anymore. He was clinging for dear life by his dagger as the beast let out a shrill and loud screech, all while swinging its axe in a repetitive twisting motion.

"Ah, ya figured it out, didja? Bit late for that, freak!" With his sunken blade he made a full rotation around the shoulder, disconnecting its arm from its clavicle. The arm and the axe simultaneously stopped spinning and hit the ground, even while it still had another hand connected to it. He pounced off the creature back to the ground and gave a cocky laugh.

"Woooohooooo! How's that fer retribution ya piece'a shit! He's all yours, horns!"

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

Farzad watched as the lithe figured horror seemed to be the only one with functioning eardrums. He gave a scoff of amusement, "See? I do find the fun part to be the telling them I told you so though..." His free hand running the gambit of his scuffed up beard, looking up the chain as the bull and thief vanished from view. It seemed, few others were inclined to follow them to their death. "I must admit, it's not as fun when they can't hear it." He paused, his finger escaping the knot work of interlocked beard hairs and growth to follow up with a causal point to Sarek, "And often feels in poor taste when they wind up dead. Like I'm hoping they don't.. It would be a damn shame to not tell them we told them so hey?" He stated, watching as Sarek took up the actual Maze, his voice demanding the respect and call of the Mercenaries as they followed behind his laylight gaze of iridescent purple that mixed with the spoftspoken green.

​

He watched, waiting at the chain. He was half surprised the more nimble rangers hadn't driven themselves headlong up the chain, but instead followed Sarek Valaren, the Abhorrent mangle of flesh and bones. He gave a long toothy smile, his staff rolling up and over his shoulder and into his other hand, a fantastic display of nothingness as he watched the final of the rangers pass into the maw of the maze. "Fantastic." He paused for a moment, running his staff along the length of chain to make an odd melody, metal mating with metal before coming to the precipice of the call, a faint 'Djing' as he followed suit.

Ass end of the party indeed.​

 

[Sarek Valaren]

In the distance, Sarek could make out the faint sounds of a distant battle being waged further on in the maze. The hard part, however, was determining which route would lead to said part of the maze. He harrumphed to himself noisily, the maze was particularly spooky and his familiars hadn't been too detailed about the layout or route to take. Curiously, as they drove deeper into the confines of the trap, Sarek couldn't help but shake the sensation that he'd been here before. Thankfully, it wasn't his fault, one of the rangers had taken over and adamantly exclaimed that they could lead us through the garden feature without issue.

He was wrong as it turned out. Yet, obviously being an experience and arrogant hunter, he refused to admit it. Sarek found himself drifting closer towards Farzad, the multi-coloured mage seemed to bring an air of optimism and eccentricity to the party - something that the unnamed remaining members seemed to lack. He leant in close as he spoke... "I wouldn't want to alarm these esteemed and experienced hunters, but does it not seem that we're a touch lost?" He paused for a few moments, examining the thorny walls that erupted either side of them. "Maybe lost is the wrong word, but... does it not seem like the maze seems to be shifting?" The thought was scarier than being lost, but he had suspected as much for a while.

As the progression into the seemingly shifting, neverending maze progressed, the noise of fighting in the distance grew and it seemed as if they were making progress. Until, behind several turns at once, growls seemed to erupt, screams followed, and red mist began to flood in towards a small break in the maze they had wound up in.

"Perhaps... the chain may have been a better idea after all..." He sighed.

 

[Draedamyr]

The hound - for that was what these demons resembled most closely in his estimation - charged forward. Draedamyr was a swordsman, one of the finest duelists. Anywhere. He was not a monsters hunter. Spear and shield would have been far more appropriate than a single curved sword.

He stepped aside at the last moment and swung Reverie. The keen blade opened up the flank of the demon, black ichor spilling out.

"Where are you all!" he cried out. The red mists held the same scent as before, if the demons themselves were not enough to stir his memories of when Pandemonium itself had come to Arethil.

"Iron and steel! Do not try and use magic on a demon directly. These things twist magic."

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën moved as quickly as his legs would carry him. This maze...the mist... he could hardly believe. He had hoped that whatever hell it was that had touched these lands before had been sealed away again for good - but it would seem that this was not so. Under his feet he felt a familiar give, and then in his ears he heard a familiar sound.

Its resonance shook the very core of his heart. Draedamyr called out. Erën was nearly upon him. As he approached a light was about him and within, a gentle spark began to grow into a blaze as he harnessed his powers. He rounded a corner, and witnessed Draedamyr's gorging of the demon. Then, just as he was going to strike out to finish the beast...

"Iron and steel! Do not try and use magic on a demon directly. These things twist magic."

He remembered those demon hounds, how his Celestial Strike was hindered by the mists itself, and hardly more than an irritation to the hounds that bore down on him...

...useless.
​

But as with Draedamyr, his skills with a blade were exquisite. Together, he suspected, would be where these beasts would meet their betters.

So instead Erën propelled himself to fall upon the creature - loosing his sword and imbedding it through the foul thing's head. He tore it free, unsheathed the second and brandished them before taking a defensive posture, nodding to Draedamyr.

"More..." he uttered, preparing to strike the second.

(Edited due to me not being able to read apparently.)

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

It was quite, a soft spoken melody of blood soak and anguish off in the distance, a veritable tirade if Farzad was to put it into words. But he didn't, instead at the ass end of the world he twirled his staff along the length of his body, a soft spoken hum rolling from between his lips, admiring the deadly beauty that he ascribed to the thick thorn bush. He was unabashedly trying to keep himself positive in this mired muck of magic and misery.

I wouldn't want to alarm...​

A legendary sentence that, more often than not. Caused a strenuous amount of the stuff. But he didn't say that, no he kept his loose lips shut and drew them out into a long smile, "Oh it seems horribly so." He replied with the speed of a crocodile slapping shut its jaws, "But I wouldn't worry about it really. We don't know which way to go to begin with. Why, if we weren't lost I'd be worried." He replied with all the enthusiasm as one could muster from this dank abode, which surprisingly was a lot.

He shifted himself a little closer, a half step to be precise, "The maze has been shifting. I noticed it the minute I first set foot in here." He lost a little spark, his words becoming more direct and to the point, he probed his staff into the maze's side, the shifting tendrils of spiderweb like tentacles warping and wrapping around his staff before he pried it out. "The chain might've been yes. But also, maybe not." He replied, he twisted his staff in between his fingers, his eyes locked with fierceness as his free hand pulled free one of his scrolls, his free hand dragged the length of the scroll, it unfurled with snappy speed, encompassing and wrapping around his staff, arcane scribbles and words almost unknown radiated atop it with a metallic sheen. He aimed his staff into the rough direction of the noise.

"Bel Bicote Xar"​

The Arcane writing exploded with a horrid glow, the metallic runes almost coming to life as the length of the staff stretched out, the wood grain becoming repeated and long as the staff stretched and penetrated through the hedge maze a straight arrow of wood that busted into the side of one of the hounds, or at least, to the best of Farzad's knowledge it had.

 

[Sarek Valaren]

The red mist slowly eked out of the maze, settling on the floor of the clearing, it soon gave the appearance that one was standing in a pool of thick blood. Four hell-hounds darted from the corners and twists that lined the clearing, noticeably, one of these beasts had a thick wooden stake embedded in it and seemed to be dripping a thick, foul-smelling, black ichor.

The four rangers reacted swiftly, two of them lunged for the nearest beast and the remaining duo readied their arrows. "Only weapons can harm them, ready yourselves!" Sarek's heart skipped a beat. He was not a fighter and, aside from his walking stick, he held no additional armaments. "Fuck it, I don't suppose anyone can lend m-" His speech was interrupted as the dwarves trudged forward, handing him a thin dagger as they passed.

Stepping back from the fray for a few moments, Sarek did a small bit of tinkering and affixed his newly acquired blade onto the end of the stick. "A spear can't be that hard to use surely." He grumbled to no one in particular, then lurched forward into the fight. As he moved, Sarek ran his hand along the mist-covered floor and the familiar sound of screeching, gnawing and chattering returned. Suddenly, one of the beasts was covered in a swarm of gnawing, starving, rats who eagerly began to clamp down on its unholy flesh.

They dropped like flies, the demon flesh proving poisonous to even these most disgusting creatures. However, they served a great distraction, and Sarek began to prod his 'spear' with reckless abandon. Soon the creature was overcome by the combination of rats and iron. Disappearing back into the red mists it came from.

 

[Toruuk Stoneheart]

"Yeah, yeah I hear ya! Keep him at bay, wouldya?"

Toruuk huffed, a cocky grin stretching across his mug.
"No problem! Nobody can ignore the champ!"

The grizzled bull delivered a quick headbutt to the skeleton to knock it back. Before he knew it, Emery had climbed up onto the thing's back, took it for a ride, and dislodged one of its arms, axe following shortly after. Toruuk let out a hearty laugh.
"Wohoho! Nice work, kid! Now watch how a pro does it."

Stepping forward, the champion brought the blade of one of his axes across the left leg of the monster, severing the bone clean. He quickly spun about, stomped on the skeleton's remaining foot, then slammed all his weight into the thing's ribcage. With no way to balance or catch itself, the bony construct had little option but to topple backwards and smash into the ground, its own weight causing its form to scatter about messily.

"Where are you all!"

The bull gathered his senses and turned to find the way he had come into the clearing.
"No time to celebrate, kiddo. The boss is in some hot water, whaddya say we go bail him out?"
Without even waiting for confirmation, Toruuk stormed off towards the elven blademaster. All this talk of demons and red mists had him excited. The champion was nothing if not efficient.

 

[Emery Thatcher]

Emery let out an impressed whistle as the minotaur took the skeleton warrior down in one go. It shattered into bone and its movement completely halted.

"Now THAS' how ya do it. Good on ya ya oversized bastard!"

Before he could get that into Toruuk's ears, the champ had already bolted through the way they'd came and made headway towards the one that had been calling about demons and such. He scratched his head. He really, really didn't want to go fight something as vile as that but gave himself the same excuse as before. A golden rule.

Literally. Just think of the gold.

"Arrgggghh." He whined as he followed Toruuk's footsteps. Lucky for him he was able to close the gap between the two of them easily as Emery's speed allowed him to keep up with a cheetah if needed. As he was about to find his way trailing behind the minotaur, a wall of hedges shot out another unforeseen hedge.

The branched wall blocked his path completely from following the minotaur. Not only that but the paths behind him had changed as well. Meaning his only path that lay open was somewhere new and it didn't head anywhere close to the tower.

"Nope. Fuck dis'." He proclaimed to the shifting maze as he threw himself forward and vaulted clean over the hedge maze wall. Anyone looking at the tops of the maze would be able to see him. He landed cleanly behind Toruuk again, letting out a sigh of relief.

 

[Draedamyr]

Xyrdithas had found him so at least he was not alone. Even if they ran in circles at least they would be able to watch each other's backs. The route through the maze was narrow and they could hold off the hounds from each side.

He heard the din of battle. In the distance a dwarf screamed as it was dragged away to his death.

"Back to back!" Draedamyr called as more hounds stalked them. "Just keep heading towards the tower!" he shouted out, hopefully loud enough the others could hear.

Draedamyr stepped forwards to throw the hound off its charge, swinging Reverie across its path at head height. The tip of the blade just caught it, but the demon seemed determined.

 

[Farzad Oldsummer]

The staff cracked, the length came back like a reverse cannonball but with just as much 'oomph', the thorny bumble was peeled with it, his staff littered and insulted with nasty curling thorns. It didn't do much, they came barring fang and claw and in number, a veritable pack of cruel warped flesh turned the corner mounting their bodies in sprays of blood.

The arrogant ranger was first. It was invisible, silent to Farzad as he polished his staff, the fangs dug into his flesh like a knife through thick jam. The second and third were less 'chewy' he described it, less in it for the sole kill and there for the numbers. They drove their bodies forward, the second bounded above three head's of the Dwarves and dragged them with it as it broke into a circle of Dwarven rangers, Gray mouldy flesh now pocketed with streams of blood, it's tail whipping back and fourth like a lashing tongue.

The Third had followed a similar pattern, it's body pressed itself down than shot upwards, diagonally prepping against the hedge as one of it's fingers seemed to intermingle with the bush, dragging out a long barbed-gorged tendril as it jumped across two, it's tail curling around one of the duo's arms and ripping it asunder, blood spurned outwards with screams of pain and red that seemed to be of little effect to the muted colours of the maze. The thing wrapped the cruel vine along two of the taller Dwarves before landing in a circle, surrounding itself by them before rending the vine forward the barbs gorged into their throats and left them immobilised on the ground, fingers becoming bloody as they snatched and snared their fingers at the thistle branch.

Than finally emerged the fourth.
​

It was behind him. Not them. Him. Farzad never noticed it, it's large hand back slapped Farzad far into the brush of the hedge maze, his clothing and fabric interlocked like a lover with the maze, the beast grew closer, snarling, it's long tongue dragged along the side of Farzad's face, slipping along and drawing out a long line of red as it cut flesh with the precision of a scalpel.

Farzad, done little more than meet the many eyed hound with his own two eyes.​

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën moved around with his back to Draedamyr, eyes carefully trained on the path where he'd just came. He heard Toruuk's shouts over the nearing growls and footfalls of the demons. From the sounds of things, it was clear he was handling himself well. They, were yet to find out.

He felt Draedamyr move forward. He heard the stomping beast, galloping hard. He too moved, anticipating the attack. He mirrored Draedamyr's maneuver and attacked from the other side. His sword stuck poorly, and was deflected. He followed through with the second, sliding it firmly through the creature's eyesocket right down to the hilt.

He released the sword and leapt off his planted foot to evade the toppling beast, but was swiped and knocked to the side.

He dropped to one knee and slid to a halt as the creature crumbled in the elves' wake. He bolted over, and tore his weapon free before rejoining Draedamyr to carry on further through the maze.