Fable - Ask The Price of Cowardice [Dreadlords]

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Dorian

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Character Biography
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Hadn't had a runaway since the revolution.

Nobody knew how to handle it now. The old Proctors suggested the old way of doing things: send out capable Apprentices to kill the defector. The Guardsmen were adamantly against this and thought the runaway should be brought back by a whole search party. They settled somewhere in the middle.

"The forests around the Academy are dangerous, you know." Proctor Amoto warned Dorian as he'd set out, "It's unlikely a runaway would last long on their own."

Sure, yeah. Message received.

Seventeen hours had passed since the Apprentice had been reported missing. Dušan was the kid's name, and he was a few years younger than Dorian. It was rare that Apprentices from the different classes bumped into each other, so he'd never seen the kid but heard plenty about him. Well, just about everyone had heard about the way he tore Proctor Ovis' left arm into ribbons.

"C'mon," Dorian said over his shoulder to the Apprentices accompanying him, "You're slowing me down."

Though mocked as a fainéant and coward for his attitude, Dorian boasted consistently high marks on written exams (Meredith was the only person who regularly edged into first over him), and the boy never failed a mission. Not one.

He'd never had to kill one of his own, though.
 
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"What are you doing now?"

Perhaps Chasmine didn't have the mission quite right. Or perhaps she'd been distracted when the issue of killing the defector had come up. She was here and with her positive attitude to boot. Come bedtime or scary forests, she was going to find this poor lost student and help get them back to their nice warm bed.

"I'm looking for fae," Chas replied, standing off to the side of her present group of fellow Acolytes with a stone held up to her left eye. The stone in question was a smallish, flatish quartz, tumbled smooth, and featured a hole through it the size of a chickpea. She was peering about her with her left eye through the stone, standing on tiptoes.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the other student growled. His name was Jaxan and he was one of her usual bullies, but he had straight teeth and corn-colored hair. A real ladies-man.

"He may have stumbled into a mushroom circle," Chas replied as she bent to give the ground a closer inspection, "the fae are very mischievous like that."

"Give me that!" Jaxan snatched the stone away from her, catching a lock of her hair in the process and ripping it from her head. He tossed the stone with all his might further into the woods, "Stop fucking around, Grey. We're not looking for fairies, we're looking for that little shit Dusan!"

Chas rubbed at her head where her hair had been ripped out, shying away from him with a frown, "I was just trying to help..."
 
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The party followed Dorian up a steep hillside as the frail boy followed Dusan's trail. Pulling himself up onto a rock using a thick, drooping branch, he turned around to offer his hand to his peers behind him.

Jaxan was the first to reach for Dorian's hand, which he quickly pulled back, and the former slipped forward on the rock and fell onto his knees.

"Why, you little-"

"Shut up,"
Dorian hissed, "all of you, just be quiet for a bit, or I swear on Kress I will leave you all in these woods."

Then, he offered his hand again and pulled Jaxan up. He had broad shoulders and a large chest and arms from dedicated weight training. Brushing dry leaves off his trousers, the boy uttered profanities under his breath as he proceeded.

Dorian helped Chasmine up next.

"Stay by me, Chas," he whispered and flashed a knowing smile, "I could use your help, okay?"

Truthfully, he didn't need shit from her or Jaxan. He likely would have covered close to twice the ground already were he alone. No, he just wanted his friend closer to him than the muscle-addicted Apprentice.
 
Amoto had been clear enough, the academy demanded one deceased Dusan. While it was a bit of mystery why they'd sent Dorian, and especially Chas, to hunt this runt down there was no question as to why Jaxan was present. Make sure the freak and the speeder did their job. The Guard might've wanted Dusan back alive but maybe the runaway boy would resist.

Maybe Dusan doesn't make it back alive, too dangerous and they had to take him out for their own saftey. Hell, maybe Dorian or Chasmine died in the fighting too. Afterall, Dusan mangled Ovis' arm, not a shock that the kids couldn't handle it.

And after Chas' weird fae comments, and that stupid fucking stone he tossed halfway to Cerak, he wouldn't cry much over the death of either student. But, for now, they were workin' together despite Dorian's little tricks. If the boy wanted to look like a man in front of blondie fruitloops that was fine but Jaxan wasn't going to let him pull another stunt like that.

He brushed off the foliage from his shirt but let the dirt and soil stain his pants as he collected himself. Exhaling deeply in the warmth of the afternoon. "Go on then," he responded to Dorian's little barb, "you could probably scout ahead and find that little rat for us. Just yell out when you do and we'll come running to save you." He glanced over to the blonde haired girl and snorted, "Little Chasmine and I can go hunt for faeries." The crow's smile he gave Dorian was followed by a coy wink.
 
Chas carefully worked her way up the embankment with Dorian's help, looking briefly frazzled from the exchange with Jaxan. If this hadn't been an almost daily experience with the other acolyte it might have ruffled her more, but after years of his sneering and mistreatment she'd come to weather through his abuse just like all the rest. It didn't do her any good to dwell on the negativity he beget, anyway.

Dwelling only made things worse for her. Just her.

She didn't get a chance to reply to Dorian before Jax barked in with a new round of entitled thoughts. Chas shrank slightly to make room for the others traveling with them: another girl who was generally able, willing, and mostly pleasant named Erina and a boy who likened himself as a Jax lackey they called Brutte.

"We should split up anyway," Erina sniffed at Jax, clearly displeased she'd been voluntold to work with him, "there's too much ground to cover to stay together." Erina specialized in flying projectiles, namely small, honed and hollow metal arrows that she controlled with gestures of her hands.

Brutte toddled up behind Jax with a confused look on his face. He was not, as his name suggested, a student that excelled in radical or free thought, but instead in concussive momentum of his limbs. He laughed dumbly, "Fucking faeries."

Chas, making no effort to smooth her wild flyaways from her face, turned wide eyes to Dorian who somehow had become the defacto leader of this rag tag group. ...Maybe not according to Jax.

"Jaxan makes a good point," she said, unsmiling, "you are very fast, Dor." That seemed the most efficient means of covering ground even if it sacrificed Chas' ability to get through the night without abuse.
 
The metallic clanking of heavy, shifting, metal plates and heavy footfalls marked the approach of Sable Pembroke. He'd just returned from doing a little scouting of his own -- well, that was what he called it anyways. In truth he'd just done it to get away from Jaxan. It was no secret that Sable had a particular disdain for Jaxan and his little toady, Brutte. While there were many other students who had a bad attitude, Jax was one of the few who had no apparent redeeming qualities. He was an honorless ruffian and a coward, and that in its own right rubbed Sable the wrong way.

As Sable lumbered back into the party he came to loom over Jaxan, glaring down the bridge of his nose at the man he viewed as so utterly less than him.
"The dirt suits you." Sable uttered flatly before moving towards the front of the group. He'd never make the first move, but gods would he enjoy teaching Jax a lesson if he made the wrong one.

This was not a mission that Sable particularly fancied being on. The proctors had hand selected him not for his ability, but for his ideals. They were well aware of Sable's sense of honor; while he had no love for anyone cowardly enough to desert, neither did he feel that a summary execution was the proper punishment. Sable knew well that his educators were doing this to 'break him in.'

For now, Sable was along for the ride. He looked to Chas, then offered Dorian a sympathetic glance. There'd be no unsavory antics while Dorian did some proper scouting so long as Sable was around.
 
Dorian was still and quiet for a short while, his bad habit of erratic eye movement showing as his mind raced. He couldn't leave Chas alone. Erina was opportunistic. If it meant diverting Jaxan's attention entirely to Chasmine and off herself, there was no doubt she would join the bully and his lackey. Yet, finishing the mission as soon as possible and getting back to the Academy was paramount.

And where was Sable?

The barrel-chested boy crushed his way through some foliage nearby as if on queue. Dorian hadn't even heard him approach until then. After his remark, Sable met Dorian's gaze.

A quiet sigh of relief. He looked at Chasmine for a short while.

"Fine," he conceded, turning away from the girl. There were no proper trackers in the party, aside from Dorian. "Follow the markers." The marker was a simple thing drilled into all the apprentices early on meant to give direction. By marking surfaces with a diamond and striking through a side or corner, an apprentice could communicate a general direction to others. Simple but handy.

Before parting with the others, he approached Jaxan, stepped very close to the boy, and glared at him. He stuck a hand out, palm up.

"Your rations. All of them. If I'm going ahead, I need to keep my energy up."
 
"Course I make a good point blondie, I'm a damn genius," he said while roughly slapping a gruff hand against her back.

Jaxan's grin faded a smidge as the giant of a boy joined them and added his two cents. Normally Jaxan wouldn't let an insult lie but that's why anyone in a position of power had lackeys to deal with challengers that were beneath your station. He cut a look at Brutte who stepped forward and intelligently responded to Sable by grunting out, "no, dirt suits you."

Brutte was always loyal but he had to be dumber than a bag of rocks.

"Now, now, we don't gotta fight ladies, let's just focus on the task at hand." Jaxan looked down on the snowy-haired child before him. "My rations? Heh, scrawny guy like you better be careful. Don't wanna eat too much and make yourself sick." A wicked smile cut his features but Jaxan reached into his bag and pulled forth his assigned food for the expedition. "Here ya go, we are one big happy team after all."

If he got hungry later he'd just persuade Erina or Chasmine or Sable to share. They were one big happy team so he was confident they'd understand his dietary needs outweighed theirs.

His long dark hair flickered in the wind after the rations were handed over to Dorian and Jaxan added some parting words, "we'll follow your doodles, now go on we're wasting daylight. I'll take good care of the kids while you're away."
 
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Chas buckled under the enthusiastic slap to her back, stumbling forward into Sable and nearly face planting into his broad chest with an "Ohf!" She peeled herself off of him with his help and gave the much taller boy an apologetic look up. It was at that moment in time that her gaze did not return to the present conversation, but stared at Sable for several long moments before drifting up past him to the tree branch a foot above his head.

The waif smiled distractedly, "You are marvelously tall, Sable," she said to him quietly and without making even a second of eye contact, "I would like to climb that tree. Can you help me?"
 
Brutte's...witty retort earned only a pause and a confused glance from Sable. How in the names of the Seven Houses did he manage to survive this far into the Academy? That must've been why he sucked up to Jaxan, the latter did all of the thinking for the former.

Feeling no need to dignify Brutte with a response and wanting to keep his interactions with Jaxan to an absolute minimum, Sable was content to sit in silence and follow Dorian's lead. There was no way they could keep up with Dorian once he was underway, but Sable did trust they'd be able to spot his directions.

Then Chas bumped into his chest, practically shoved forward by Jaxan's 'assurance.' He gave the bullying bloodmage a cold glare as he helped Chas back to a stable standing position, but his gaze quickly returned to her when Sable realized that she was staring at him. And then though him. And then she asked for help climbing.

Sable sometimes also asked himself how Chasmine had lasted so long given her relative innocence and good nature, but he already knew the answer: a little bit of luck, and a lot of help. There was something about her that never failed to make Sable smile.
"Heh...of course, Chas. Here, hold tight." He replied with a soft chuckle, then scooped her up like she was a sack of dry leaves and hoisted her into the lowest branch he could find. Maybe she could spot something from up above.
 
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"Sure, whatever," Dorian grumbled as food was dropped into his upturned palm.

He walked past the dark-skinned boy and, with a howling gale at his back, darted through the trees. In moments, he left the group far behind.

*****​
The markers in Dorian's wake were spaced semi-evenly save for when the trail took sudden turns, and when followed, would take the group to a smoldering firepit by an overlook. Dorian waited there, idly poking the embers with a long stick. Below the lookout was an old fort's crumbling ruins, overgrown and long abandoned.

Perhaps, should she have looked long and hard enough, Chasmine would have seen the far-off keep's lonesome and decrepit tower peeking out of the forest's canopy from her perch up in the tree.

Dorian heard them approach and turned to face the group as they arrived.

"This place ain't on the map I was given," he said as Erina was the first to step to the overlook, followed by any others that cared to see. Brutte shouldered past the brunette and made a noise somewhere between a breathy chuckle and constipated grunt. "But that's where the trail went."

Dorian stood up and patted clean his ass before stepping up to the overlook himself.

"I went down there, and there're these shitty traps set all over the place."

The kid figured he'd have managed on his own and wrapped the whole thing up before the group even caught up, but he didn't like to walk into places blind, doubly when also laced with traps.
 
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Jaxan had referred to them as 'kids' simply as an insult. Watching Chasmine get hoisted into a tree by Pembroke made him wonder if perhaps the term was used appropriately. He gave these fools a year out of the academy before they got murdered by Falwood elves or the wandering bands of marauders out in the Aberresai Savannah.

Once Chas was up in her little perch Jaxan snapped his fingers and pointed after Dorian. Brutte and even Erina followed closely behind, likely favoring her odds with the two males than with the barrier student and the treeclimber.

They followed the markers with Erina occasionally slowing to try and ensure the other two students could keep up. After they'd arrived Dorian said his piece and Jax looked out into the camp of their runaway. "Traps?" He didn't much like the sound of that but there was a way for his magic to make use of a maimed limb or a bloodied gash.

"Anyone 'member if we were told what this kids magic is?" If it were up to Jaxan they'd simply announce themselves, kill the student, and then be home by dinner.
 
"I believe the Proctor said explosives," Chasmine intoned brightly from behind Jaxan, the expression on her face one of mild enthusiasm, "I once watched him duel with his classmates before during free period. It was quite abrupt and messy."

The girl swayed her shoulders side to side in the whistling winds up on the overlook, "I could phase and walk ahead to look for traps."
 
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Catching up with the others was a simple enough task for Chasmine and Sable. She'd apparently had her fill of scaling heights for now, and so they followed Dorian's markers just the same.

Sable listened and absorbed the information he had just been given by the others carefully. Ordinarily he'd be all for just charging in, but in this case, not so much. 'Traps' and 'explosive magic' were not two things you generally wanted to hear in conjunction with each other. Try as the proctors might've, Sable was here to prevent as much loss of life as possible.

"You sure, Chas? I wouldn't want to see you run out of energy and get stuck in the middle of a minefield." He answered thoughtfully, cracking his neck side to side. "If we're not planning on going in quiet, I can clear us a path."

A glorious path. One wrought with explosions. A chance to test the sheer strength of his barriers. For the first time since they'd come all this way, Sable was actually getting a little excited.
 
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"Yeah. Explosions. Anything he touches with his palm."

Dorian crouched down and drew in the dirt with the same stick he'd poked at the embers with. Thinking.

After a little while, he said: "Chasmine will be fine. She can do it. Best we do this quietly, anyways. Go on," a single nod to the stick figure girl, "we'll be right behind you."

When the group followed Chas, it was with Sable and Brutte at the front, and then Dorian, Jax, and Erina mingled behind them.

"Erina, as soon as you get an eye on the kid, kill him."

For once, Dorian shared Jaxan's sentiments. He'd like this to be done as soon as possible.
 
"Explosives sound, uh, explodey," Jaxan mused as Brutte snickered at what he presumed was a joke. But Jax didn't raise any objects towards the plan the group brought forth.

Let the little ghoul girl proceed first, maybe he'd detonate a few bombs that'd fly through her. Or maybe she'd accidentally phase back into reality. Either way it was better her than him. And it almost went without saying that Brutte would walk just behind her with the giant-of-a-boy Sable in lockstep. Kid had his fancy barriers and Brutte would do whatever Jaxan insisted.

A nod followed Dorian's suggestion to Erina. "If you can't kill him, at least crippled him and call him out. I can handle the rest." They'd snap bomb boy's neck quicker than you could've said, "Ninth Year Initiate."

A smug crossed over Jaxan's face as the group prowled onwards. It was wiped clean once the first explosion happened a few meters ahead of Chas, clearly intended as a warning. "Damn..."
 
Chas awaited the decision of the group on the plan, her eyes spanning off while they debated, drawn back only when Sable asked after her. She nodded, the picture of quiet expectation one might have on their face when exploring a new but very mundane space. At Dorian's encouragement her expression brightened and she turned to pick her way nimbly but not gracefully down the side of the slope to ground level below.

As she neared the cave she cast herself from the tangible realm and into her spectral form; glowing a faint pearly white, transluscent, and gingerly flaking tufts of gleaming ethereal essence as she moved. Chasmine stepped forward toward the ruin with an unhealthy amount of curiosity - places like this were often crawling with spirits and it would behoove her to remain aware of the presences she could feel lest one of dark and malignant nature catch her unaware. This competed with the very reason she was going first: to look for explosive traps.

Traps she could not be certain she, in her present state, would actually set off. Chas did not know if Dusan's marks were triggered by physical or magical proximity. So when one set off directly to her left on a half-crumbled stone wall, she gave a shriek of surprise - her geist momentarily disappearing within the flash and blast - and reappearing with her glowing arms shielding herself despite not having any need to.

Chas looked up wide-eyed, glanced at her ghostly limbs to find them completely unharmed, before absently pressing into the ruins further.

So much for going in quietly.

Three more traps set off as she explored ahead of them, and given her non-need to maintain the usual path that followed open halls, Chas lost sight of the group as she phased forward through a few walls. It went quiet for a while; no more booms or flashes, until she called out in her ethereal tone that sounded much farther away than it really was, "DORIAN!"

They'd find her standing, physically, just at the precipice of a gaping hole in the floor that feel down, down, down into an underground system of catacombs.

"He's down there," she pointed.
 
Dorian's decision was met with a furrowed brow and a nod from Sable. He wasn't happy about that choice, but he wouldn't argue. Still, he watched with concern as Chas entered her ghostly form. Sable had no doubt that her magic was effective. His concern lied in its consistency. More than once Sable had found her lodged in a wall and been responsible for her subsequent extraction. There'd be nothing to extract if her powers wavered in the midst of a minefield.

BOOM!!

Shit. Shit! A detonation! Dirt and detritus scattered everywhere!
"CHASMINE!" He shouted after her, fearing for her life, but...she was fine. Thank whatever gods might've been. Kristen's Aionius or whatever that odd deity's name was.

Every subsequent explosion only set Sable's nerves more alight. After a time, he wasn't sure if Chas was still okay or not; there was a long period of silence that somehow made him more concerned than the almost rhythmic booming that had come before. Thankfully, Chasmine's shouting broke both the tension and the silence.

"Alright," Sable cracked his knuckles and threw his hands out in front of him. A topaz bubble of magic energy formed around him, providing just enough space for the other initiates to be safe inside. "Shields are up. Stay close, and we'll follow her trail."

Without a hitch (and with only two more harmless detonations!) the group caught up with Chasmine.
 
Yeah. She can do it! Absolutely. Great call, you twat, he mused.

Dorian's lips pressed tighter with every distant combustion, each one echoing in the forest. There was, on the one hand, concern for Chasmine's safety, and another, anxiety whether their louder-than-desired approach had given Dusan the warning he needed to put several hundred feet between them.

The snow-hair boy found his mind occupied more on the latter at that moment.

Sable climbed over new and old rubble into the ruined keep, and the rest followed. Dorian broke away from the group as Chasmine came into sight, ruffled the girl's hair as he stepped to her, and leaned over the opening.

"Good job," Dorian said quickly, and just the same, turned his attention away from Chas to crouch by the hole. He glanced over his shoulder, making sure Jaxan and Brutte were far enough back. "You sure?"

At first glance, the hole didn't seem to result from Chasmine's stumbling around, which was a good enough sign that Dusan may have gone this way. While the others exchanged words among themselves, Dorian scanned his surroundings. Sighed. Without warning, he dropped into the chasm.

Shouts behind him became distant.

The drop, thankfully, wasn't entirely vertical, and Dorian slid for a while down a steep slope. Hitting the bottom, he stumbled and rolled with an accompanying grunt and subsequent grumble.

Dorian quickly rose and cupped both hands over his mouth, breathing heavily into his palms. A bright, eerie light slipped between his fingers, and removing his hands from over his mouth, released a couple dozen incorporeal butterflies into the chamber, each bug glowing with an odd luminescence.

As the others caught up, Dorian waited at the far side of the chamber, just before a low doorway, hands on his hips, facing the darkness beyond.

The butterflies gracefully fluttered all around.
 
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Things weren't going so bad, all things considering. Ghost-hair and the Pembroke bloke made sure that none of the explode-y bits got his clothes dirty. Much less caused Jax any bodily harm.

So far so good.

"Good showin' back there," Jaxan said as he neared the mouth of the cave with a thumb pointed over his shoulder towards the hellscape they'd just walked through, "easy enough now that he's cornered to-"

The shrimp-boy the others called Dorian just leapt into the hole. All of a sudden like the students were waltzin' around some fancy shmancy hotel and not hunting a runaway kid with bomb magic. Absolute lunatic that one.

Jax came near enough to the opening and glanced down from a distance before letting a sharp, prolonged, whistle escape his lips. "Could be a loooong way down, maybe even a smidge dangerous."

Without warning he pressed both of his palms out to push Erina and Chasmine forward in a sudden rush.

Erina slipped in feet first with a yalp, sliding down to the base of the cave floor in a thud before crying back up outta the hole with a, "you dick! I could've broken a," she went on about her ankle or thigh-bone or front teeth or some such thing. He'd already stopped paying attention.

A simple nod was followed by statement, "alright, we know it ain't so deep, innit." He gestured for Brutte to follow him in and held a middle finger up to Sable as he slid in behind the others. His boots touched down onto stone hard, nearly careening into Erina's figure before Jaxan stood clear of the opening.

"It's wicked dark down here," he said in a boisterous tone. Not really caring if Dusan heard him or not.
 
"Oh!" Chasmine tumbled forward into the pit, a hapless ragdoll flouncing through the air, caught the slope of loose rubble and stone towards the bottom and rolled into a heap. She'd bitten through her lip at some point and upon pushing herself up discovered a smarting pain in her wrist. Chas looked up with a wincing frown and gracelessly got to her feet, cradling her hand and dribbling blood from her lips.

Jaxan was given a wayward glance, her own pale gaze faintly glowing in the dark. She had no trouble seeing, and so raised her good hand toward him, "Jaxan, there's-" only to watch him trip into a rut in the ground, "-a hole."

One of Dorian's butterflies floated serenely overhead, casting its blue illumination over the rut and bobbing about over Chasmine's head. She looked up in quiet wonder, smiling, "Thank you friend, that's very helpful."
 
In an uncharacteristically bold move, Dorian had leapt first into the breach. Chasmine had seemed confident that Dusan was near, but to just recklessly jump in when the group already knew the boy was laying traps every which way...Sable was almost envious that he hadn't thought of just diving in first. Quite the heroic act, if he was to be honest! Just like back in the ruins of Vel Acan, Dorian was proving to be a capable partner.

And then Jaxan had to do something which completely robbed Sable of his smile. Sable lurched forward to try and catch either of the girls as Jaxan shoved them forward with a cry of "NO!"
Too late. Both of them were pushed in, only for Jaxan and his crony to slide down shortly after and offer Sable nothing but an obscene gesture in return.

For a moment, Sable stood in stunned silence. Then his fists balled up until his knuckles began to whiten. He ground his teeth against each other. He felt his heart begin to pound so hard he could hear it. His vision began to tunnel. He couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed, for Jaxan to, that absolute--
"BASTAAAARRRD!"

Sable was down with the rest of the group before he'd even realized he'd gone in after the rest of them. He vaguely registered the blood dripping from Chasmine's face and the way Erina was holding her leg. Quick, heavy, aggressive steps took him towards Jaxan. Without thinking, he formed a box-shaped barrier around himself and the bone and blood slinging initiate, then snatched Jaxan up by the throat and pinned him to the barrier with a single hand, grip tighter than he might've consciously wanted.
"Honorless cur! You pull something like that again and I'll snap you like a twig," Sable shouted at Jaxan, just inches from his face, nose wrinkled, pure hatred in his glare. His grip tightened further, uncomfortably so. "GOT IT?"
 
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Their voices echoed through the narrow corridor beyond Dorian, who didn't care to acknowledge their fussing. For the time being. Rather, he was lamenting their progression. A single good blast would be all it takes to trap them down there forever.

A wave of his hand and the swarm of butterflies floated across the chamber and began down the hallway. Would Brutte even be able to fit his big fucking head down there?

"Honorless cur! You pull something like that again and I'll snap you like a twig! GOT IT?"

The last pair of words echoed down the corridor past Dorian. Only then did he slowly turn back. Sable with Jaxan in his grasp, Brutte fruitlessly trying to break through the barrier. The side of his fist slammed against the translucent construct, then a fraction of a second later, a subsequent
BOOM against it where he had just struck.

"Hey, would-" There were a lot of things Dorian hated doing. Raising his voice over others was among the worst of them. "-would you people just stop for a second? Good grief!"

Erina had pulled Chas aside to relative safety. A glance towards the former, and the brunette nodded back. They were fine. Enough to continue, anyway.


"Hold off on killing each other 'til we get out of here. Can you manage that?" And for good measure, "Please?"
 
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"Oh, dammit!" It was sudden and violent, completely unpredictable! A small dip in the cave floor that old ghost-hair had tried to warn him about (the scrawny thing couldn't even give warnings properly).

With a flourish of his shoulders the dark-skinned brute recovered well 'nough, it was a bush league sorta hole in a cave, could hardly get the better of a competent Dreadlord like Jax. "Ain't nothin' to worry about, I kicked that hole's ass." Appearin' tough was always good, especially in front of folk like Erina or Chasmine whom he regularly bullied. Didn't need 'em getting any strange ideas that some rinky-dink hole could, wait, why was Pembroke yellin' like a mad hatter?

Yoip.

It happened quick. The big boy's grubby 'ands clenched right round Jaxan's throat, back pressed against one of his weird shimmering wall-shield-things. Didn't take a scholar to parse that Mister Shieldboy was hoppin' mad.

Brutte started banging on the energy wall like a kid trying to make music out of pots and pans.

"Honorless cur! You pull something like that again and I'll snap you like a twig, GOT IT?" Sable shouted right in Jax's damn ear.

Brutte was pounding on the shield wall so hard Jax thought he was fixing to burst a blood vessel.

A smirk came over him. Above all else pushing people's buttons was his favorite. "Oi, big boy, we were horsin' around. Bad for your blood pressure gettin' all worked up like that." It was about that time that Dorian chimed in, wantin' them all to sing kumbaya and pop that Dusan kid's head like a melon.

Brutte punctuated Dorian's words with another firm smack against the energy field.

"Ya heard your boytoy over there, Jax wants to get this show on the road too." Sooner they got done sooner they could be back.

Brutte continued banging on the energy wall like the buffoon he was.
 
Having not been paying any attention to the serious outbreak of testosterone in the cave, Chasmine smiled pleasantly up at the butterfly and had begun to wander over toward a shadow of something on the ground in Dorian's direction. It wasn't until Erina's hands on her arm pulled her aside from falling stone that she even realized something was going on.

"Why is everyone yelling?" Chasmine blinked, a dribble of blood from her lower lip slowly starting to dry. She gave Erina a confused look and received an odd stare from Erina in return who rolled her eyes and released her.

"Useless."

"There's something over there," Chas pointed to the shadow on the ground and watched as Erina moved to inspect.

"It's Dusan's pack," she bent to pick it up.

"Erina wai-"

BOOM.

Erina disappeared in the flash of a Dusan trap, her body flying backwards and smashing into the stone wall of the catacomb. When Chasmine opened her eyes she found herself on the ground again, an arm up shielding her eyes, but otherwise unharmed.

Erina ... was unconscious and covered in magic burns.