The ritual room was playing host to a chorus of pain and suffering as the tormented trolls swirled through the air. But the screaming would come to an abrupt end as the unholy runes etched into their bodies began to glow with a stronger blue hue as ghostly tendrils began to stream up from them. The tendrils formed amorpheous clouds and faint figures above and around the trolls, as the trolls themselves made some last gasps for air before their bodies suddenly became completely limp in the air. "Enough. The reaping is finished." Sevarian spoke in his eerily calm voice, and the surrounding cultists lowered their arms and cancelled their spells. As they did, the floating bodies of the trolls immediately fell towards the floor, slumping lifelessly onto the hard rock surface where they simply lay. Up in the air above them beneath the oval roof, the blue mist continued to swirl around above them, with faint arms, figures and even hollowed faces barely being visible among the ghostly mass. A deadly silence had now fallen over the room, in stark contrast to the tormented hell it had been earlier, to the point one would have easily been able to hear it if someone had dropped as much as a needle to the floor! Sevarian's steps echoed as the man walked forward in his armor, his gaze fixed on the only remaining standing troll in the room; the main sacrifice who was standing in the center of the ritual circle. It was unknown whether the troll was truly alive or dead, his eyes and mouth emanating the same ghostly glow as that of the ghostly mass above him. His body was limp, only standing as if it was being animated by invisible threads from above holding him upright. Suddenly, his body just collapsed. Within the blink of an eye, the surrounding ghostly mist that had filled the room came to life; swooping down towards his body! As they did, it was consumed by a dark mist that concealed it from sight! Moments passed as the lift merely swirled around before them, before some distant shrieks could be heard as a shadowy figure suddenly rose up into the air beneath the roof; a twisted apparation that seemed to almost chase the remaining ghostly swarm around. The ghosts that now filled the room above them seemed quite oblivious to the cultists, Kathlin and Sevarian who were standing in the room with them, some of the ghostly shapes passing mere inches away from Kathlin as they floated around in circles. "Now is your time, girl. Are you ready?" Sevarian asked as he raised his hand, before dispelling the invisible hands that had kept Kathlin chained to the wall. Letting the girl fall down, one of the cultists came over to grab her in her arms as he began to walk her towards the middle of the circle, surrounded by the corpses of the trolls. But as he did, a sudden tremor shook the very reef; causing the room to shake! "What was that?" "Earthquake?" Sounded some confused voices of the cultists as they looked around them. Sevarian, who had been looking towards the doors, quickly turned to look back at Kathlin. "I had not expected your friends to come so soon." He commented with a slightly annoyed look, before his bleak features turned into a smile. "I never realized that they were willing to sacrifice so many of themselves for just someone as... meaningless, as you." Sevarian said, studying Kathlin's reaction before turning to look at the peculiar chevalier who had been standing quietly by the wall; watching them. "I need you to stop the intruders until the ritual is complete. Wait for them on this level, and destroy them in the corridors." Sevarian instructed, as the peculiar chevalier made a quiet gesture, before walking towards the door. "Before you go!" The chevalier paused, turning to look back at Sevarian through the darkened visors of his mask. "Take this. We are far from the prying eyes of the Church and their servants." Sevarian said as he reached for a sheathed sword that had been lying among the ritual tools and relics positioned near the wall. The peculiar chevalier grabbed it mid air as Sevarian tossed it to him, before pulling the sword a couple of inches out of its sheath. As the upper part of the sword escaped its sheath, a faint set of runes became visible at the middle of the mithril blade, glowing in a faint, red color. The sword seemed to emanate a violent aura, possessing a furious hunger as it remained outside of the sheath. Studying the blade, the peculiar chevalier sheathed it back; breaking the aura as he turned to walk towards the door. "Do not hold back this time." ------------------------------------------------------------ "Yes, I did. The alternative to stairs would be jumping." Sharon replied to Serphia, although soon realized that his reply did not fall in well with the Night Elven Captain. " ... we need to hurry! Go go! I got slow-fall spells if you slip!" He urged as another set of voices could be heard behind them back in the barrack, as more White Hand mercenaries had appeared in the barrack. Whether they were new or they were simply the men they had earlier barred in their rooms was unknown, but one thing was certain; they were heading towards their position and it sounded like there was no less than a dozen! "Blast it, ye weenies! I'll go first!" Smokey suddenly said as the dwarf ran past the legs of the Night Elves, and almost sprinted down the stairs. It almost looked as if the dwarf would fall at any moment and continue to roll, or fall down or off the stairs, but he somehow remained upright as he raced down! "I'm the one with the shortest legs, yet I'm also the fastest of the group! What does it say about the rest of ye?!" Smokey called out as he was almost at the bottom of the stairs. Although his argument might have held more merit if it hadn't been for the fact that the width of the dwarf and his backpack basically made bypassing him on the narrow set of stairs impossible without literally jumping over his head! However, as he was just about to step down on the bottom floor, a cloaked figure just touched down in front of him! It was Alissah, who had used a long hook-shot to quickly descend to the bottom in what had almost been a freefall! "That's cheating!" Smokey exclaimed, a little annoyed at having been beaten to the bottom. "We have more important things to do that decide who is the fastest, dwarf. And it is not a competition I would recommend for you." Alissah replied plainly, before suddenly unsheathing her one armed crossbow and pistol as the sound of rattling armor could be heard around the corner of the corridor leading out of the stair shaft that they were in! "They're here!" "Send in the heavies!" Sounded the distant voices of some chevaliers as the first one rounded the corner, carrying a simple steel buckler shield and rapier. However, what came behind him were two heavily armored jaggernauts of some knights! They wore the heavy steel armor from top to toe, with a heavy steel reinforced tower shield in their left arms and a crushing one armed hammer on the right. Their heavy steel helmet protruded forward, with only a small line representing their visors through which they could see. "Blast 'em!" Smokey yelled out as the dwarf pulled out his blunderbuss and fired off a volley of pellets towards the White Hand knights! Alissah immediately discharged her pistol, before firing off a bolt from her crossbow! The pellets from Smokey's blunderbuss seemed to only glance off the knights's armor and heavy shields that they had positioned out in front of them. The bullet from Alissah's pistol plonked off the steel frame of one of their shields, leaving only a tiny dent; while her bolt broke against one of their shoulderpads. "Uhm... " Smokey paused, as three more white hand mercenaries appeared behind the knights, alongside another battle mage. Stepping backwards into the stair room, the dwarf turned to look up at Serphia and her elves. "I'm just the demolitions man. These guys are your problem!" ----------------------------------- "It's leading to the catacombs, the morgue and the wine cellar." The battle mage called Juliet answered through her steel mask. "We have a wine cellar, and next to the morgue?" The auburn haired storage girl called Aurora asked with a surprised tone as she gazed into the corridor ahead that was significantly more dark than the previous storage hall! "Does it matter? We need to get them!" Juliet exclaimed behind Aurora. "Shouldn't we call for help?" Aurora suddenly asked, throwing a concerned look back at Juliet behind her. "Help? Didn't you see them? They're just some inches high! Are you afraid they'll shrink you too? If they cause you any trouble, use your fat butt for something good and just sit on them, idiot! ... move!" Juliet exclaimed as Aurora had been continuing to block the entrance to the corridor as she was standing in it, Aurora's frame being notably larger than that of the smaller Juliet. Lifting up one of her greaves, Juliet would kick Aurora in the rump and into the corridor before stepping in behind her. "These were probably the ones who sabotaged the elevator - get them, and you're bound to get a raise!" Juliet said as the Battle Mage raised a hand around the shaft of her staff, channeling on a small spell that caused the gem on the tip of her staff to glow with a powerful white ray that illuminated the darkened corridor ahead of them. "Let's go!" " ... uh, okay!"