[center][h2]Cage Match[/h2]
Location: Mercy Dreams Fifth Layer
Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey] | Ganondorf’s [@Double] | Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 4032 (+5 Exp)[/center]
As he struggled to navigate his way back to rejoin the Koopa Troop, Ganondorf instead happened across another curiosity. It appeared to be a cage at first, but closer inspection revealed it to be an elevator lift - albeit a somewhat oppressive looking one. Ganondorf reached up and activated his link pearl, [color=797979]”I think I found a way further down.”[/color] he announced to the other Seekers, [color=797979]”Some kind of elevator lift, shaped like a cage. I’m going to check it out.”[/color]

With this he cautiously stepped into the cage-like lift. When he did, the cage locked itself shut and began to make a descent. In fact it descended past the fourth layer and all the way down to the bottom layer of the prison, something the Gerudo King wasn’t expecting. At the bottom, the cage unlocked and allowed Ganondorf to exit from it. Whatever this [url=https://i.imgur.com/qzTSOue.jpg]layer[/url] was, to Ganondorf it looked an awful lot like a sewer, except with the usual archways caged off and the areas beyond them appearing to serve as prison cells. The floor appeared to be covered with a sickening green liquid that could very well have been sewage or something even worse, if it didn’t hiss and sputter like boiling oil. The thin stone walkway resembled a dock or footbridge of sorts.

[color=797979]”Lovely…”[/color] Ganondorf mused to himself, suddenly regretting having come down here.

“And so we meet again.” Jesse said, floating from up above, having hopped over the railing and floated on down after leaving the goblins to their fate. Her plan seemed to be working so she didn’t wanna risk fucking it up by doing anything more.

Jesse stood on the middle walkway, getting a look at the place. Including the mysterious bodies hooked up in chains. “Ah. Corpses suspended mid-air. Nostalgic.” Jesse joked darkly.

“Well, if there’s anything in this place, at this point it’s gotta be down here.” She began to jog forward. 

The speech and movement drew attention Jesse and Ganondorf's way, though thankfully not from the hulking jailers that lurked about on this level. The vague feeling of being watched lasted only a moment before two allies revealed themselves.

[color=D34C25]"That's what we were thinking too,"[/color] Primrose said. She'd since recovered from her run in with an illuminator on the layer above, so while her clothes had some small tears in them and her countenance was more severe than usual, she seemed fine in general. The same could be said for Therion, though his cat ears were low on his head and his tail was partly curled around his leg, expressing his discomfort with the prison.

[color=D34C25]"We haven't had a chance to search this level yet, seems like we got here only a little before you two."[/color]

In truth though, there wasn’t much to search. On this whole layer there seemed to be nothing other than this solitary bridge, stretching from one end of the huge acid pool all the way to the other. At either end stood a heavy metal door, much larger than any seen in Mercy Dreams so far, and judging by the suitably huge locks they were by far the most secure as well. Four hallways branched off from the open area, two at each end to form the Ɪ shape found on all of the prison’s layers, but there was way to reach them. Then again, each archway also featured a hefty contraption of chains and winches, either for raising and lowering hanging prisoners to dunk them in a deadly acid bath, or for raising more stone bridges from beneath the bog’s surface.

This layout meant there was nowhere for the newcomers to hide from the two [url=https://i.imgur.com/5GMHIiM.png]abhorrent jailers[/url], and already the malformed behemoths were on their way. Each one seemed to be a hideous conglomerate of corpse flesh, outfitted with a gaping mouth, crudely wrapped in the dressings of a berserker, and bloated into a pustule-ridden mass on one side. In addition to the cages fused with their rancid meat, which rattled with every step, they held in their functional arms additional cages to wield as weapons. One simply carried a giant cage, while the other bore three smaller ones on chains for use as a triple flail. Approaching from the cells they guarded at either end of the bridge, they closed in on the newcomers in a pincer maneuver, the bridge shaking beneath every plodding footfall.

Judging that she had time enough for one dance before the monstrosities got within range, Primrose went right into a performance with the macabre hall as her stage. Her steps were quick and fierce, and ending with one hand lifted up into the air and the other splayed out in front of her, palm pointed to her companions. [color=D34C25]"The Lion Dance,"[/color] she said, bestowing increased attack power upon the four of them.

Though fully planning to run support against the zombies, Therion appreciated the buff nonetheless. He stuffed his hands under his poncho, and when he withdrew them one held magic-based crystal darts between his fingers while the other held regular throwing knives. He glanced between both jailers on either side of the narrow floor. It was exactly an advantageous battleground for them.

[color=797979]”The keepers of this section, I presume.”[/color] mused the Gerudo King, showing no fear nor any signs of intimidation in the face of these hulking abominations. Instead he stretched forth a hand and calmly summoned his Phantom self to serve as backup. Similar to Jesse, Phantom Ganon could float freely around the corridor and thus would not obstruct the path for Ganondorf nor any of the other Seekers present, [color=797979]”Let’s give these… things an acid bath of their own.”[/color] he calmly said, now snapping his fingers in order to summon one of his Strikers - Blast Hornet. Just like Phantom Ganon, the Reploid could fly and thus stay clear of the walkway.

Phantom Ganon went to work, using his trident to hurl crackling orbs of dark energy at the jailer carrying the single large cage. Simultaneously, Blast Hornet used his Search Attack and locked onto the other jailer with a brief holographic crosshair before unleashing a trio of bee drones that would zone in on the target. Only then did the Gerudo King finally draw his twin greatswords. But he held off before attacking, deciding to wait and see which of his two summons were struggling the most to inform his decision on which jailer to attack.

Jesse settled her shoes on the stones below, eyeing the two jailors. While she could always get away, not everyone was so lucky. “If you wanna get over it for free,” Jesse said, summoning forth Uncle Sven to throw down an Elastic Ooze a short distance behind her. “Use the ooze and you can jump real high.” She explained to the Octopath Travelers.

[color=BC8DBF]"I'll take you up on that,"[/color] Therion said. He didn't do so immediately, waiting for a better opening to make sure he could clear the jump. That meant the jailer nearest to the ooze, the one wielding a single huge cage like a bludgeon, had to get a little closer. It was lurching itself forward at a brisk pace for its body size, so it wouldn’t be much longer now.

Then Jesse began blasting, staying where she was with Primrose and Therion for now. At first she struck its head, but the creature didn’t seem to react at all, the psychic bullets thunking into it like clay. Compressing her lips, and not unfamiliar with such enemies, she aimed for the glowing pustules that might be a little more receptive to damage. “Come on, you big ugly bastard. Pop for me.” Jesse taunted, advancing towards the triple caged Jailor. 

The travelers joined in on the offensive. For Primrose's part she had a few ways of getting behind the monsters, but she followed the FBC director's lead; literally accompanying her as she made to meet the jailer part way down the single stone path. Primrose conjured Black Fire Orbs and flung them where they exploded against the abomination's bulky frame, adding magical pressure to go with Jesse and Blast Hornet's attacks.

At the same time, Therion was pinpointing the boils on the other jailer while the phantom Ganon blasted it with dark magic. It was apparent that the jailer’s skin was difficult to damage, but by comparison the pustules were more delicate. One had already popped under the phantom’s dark orbs, oozing some disgusting liquid. When the second was burst open by Therion’s thrown daggers, the zombie flinched for a moment. Then, it charged the rest of the distance.

 A lull in the phantom's barrage saw Therion take the chance to jump, springing off of the ooze and over the thing just before it hefted its cage up to retaliate. With one hand it tried and failed to catch the thief springing in its direction. With the other, it brought its weapon to bear. The monster let out a garbled roar, swinging its massive cage in the flying horseman’s direction. Its attack speed was faster than its movement; a collision with the spectral clone of the king of evil imminent. 

The collision was a hard hit, but mainly resulted in the rider abandoning the horse to float around on his own. Then the Phantom got off two more shots with its dark orbs before his time ran out and he vanished from the battlefield. Not that Therion needed to worry about being alone, as now the genuine article had made his choice on who to focus on and had chosen to aid the Orsterran. And Ganondorf was keen to take advantage of any opportunity he spotted. He did so by bringing both his greatswords down onto the arms of the jailer whilst it was swinging its cage at the phantom. Under normal circumstances this would have resulted in outright dismemberment. That didn’t seem to be the case this time, perhaps because this thing was made to be tougher than a normal opponent.

Therion made a three point landing behind the jailer, assuming it would keep its attention on the phantom and the majority of enemies in front of it. Staring at its back he was surprised to see that the glowing growths were only on its chest. Its musculature was tightly woven, and there were no obvious weak points to speak of on this side... but he was already back here, so Therion summoned a spark of magic to his own hand. He cast Wildfire, setting the flame to engulf the monstrous jailer.

Rather than ravage the zombie’s flesh, the blaze was more like a hot, irritating tickle. With both of its mitts on the cage this time the jailer twisted its body as much as it was able, winding up for a swing. When it released the strength of its arms and the weight of the cage carried the bludgeon forward in a wide, 360 degree spin that threatened everything ahead and behind it. 

Ganondorf had only moments to react, bringing up both his blades in a shielding motion to try and absorb the blow he was too big to dodge on his own. Thanks to that and his enormous strength from the Triforce, Ganondorf kept himself from taking major damage. He was, however, pushed back a few paces by the sheer force of the swing. Nothing he couldn’t make up for.

If that cage had been a solid object without gaps to let the air through, the pressure alone might be able to knock lighter people off of the walkway and into the acid. Therion could feel that as he hurried to get out of the way. The maneuver caught him off guard, slowing his reaction time just enough that the metal clipped him when he jumped backwards out of range. Even that glancing blow nearly took his arm off and toppled the thief into the bubbling liquid. Therion nursed the limb as the jailer completed his arc and came to a stop with his back to the Orsterran once more. [i]Not as safe back here as I thought.[/i]

The corpse golem stood in front of the Gerudo king, taking only a few precious seconds after recovering from its own spin to lift the cage up over its head and slam it down toward Ganondorf, one bright yellow pus-filled protrusion still pulsing on its shoulder. 

Once again Ganondorf had to think fast. He quickly thrust his blades forward while the cage was lifted over the monster’s head, sinking them into its torso. Again, under normal circumstances, a hit like this would have been devastating. But not so for this abominable jailer. The cage came crashing down, but rather than collide into the Gerudo King’s head, it was stopped. Ganondorf had released his grip on his weapons, leaving them impaled into the jailer so he could use his now-freed hands to catch the cage and stop its swing with his own monstrous strength.

And then Ganondorf tried to use his strength to rip the cage from the jailer’s grip to disarm it of its weapon, [color=797979]”Ha ha ha!”[/color] laughed the King of Evil, [color=797979]”Let’s just see how strong you actually are!”[/color]

He found the jailer's strength on par with him. The thing grunted, first trying to pull the cage out of Ganondorf's grasp and then pressing it instead with the intent to crush the king. During the struggle while neither of them ceded ground, Therion got back into action. He scaled the back of the massive jailer, wincing at the squelch under his feet as he perched on its shoulder. From there, he got a good glimpse at the state of battle - and the remaining presumed weak spot that he immediately went for.

The jailer wasn't pleased. Keeping a firm hold on its weapon it thrashed its upper body, forcing Therion to hold and jostling Ganondorf in their tug of war. Then it roared, and from its very body smaller, human sized zombies began to emerge. Some wielded weapons and armor, and all of them were angry, shrieking, and eager to rip into the Seekers. A couple climbed to reach the thief while the others exploded out from the jailer towards the enemy holding their host down.

Ganondorf had no choice. He released his grip on the cage and lunged back a couple of paces in the face of the zombies now suddenly assailing him. Thankfully they weren’t much to write home about, and the Gerudo King could use his superior size and strength to punch and kick them aside, incidentally knocking them into the acid in the process.

When he had a moment, Ganondorf went ahead and summoned five Moblin archers who appeared on the stone walkway behind him. Two of them leveled their bows and shot fire arrows at the zombies going after Therion in order to lend him a hand - managing to bullseye one of them resulting in them falling from the jailer’s body in a flaming heap. Ganondorf then lunged forward while powering up a Warlock Punch. The jailer seemed to notice this and swung his cage to meet with the Gerudo King’s fist.

Ganondorf’s fist smashed through the front bars of the cage. But the hollow nature of the cage threw off what was left of the punch’s momentum and prevented the attack from breaking the back end bars. But this did give Ganondorf a way to gain a stronger hold on the cage than he had the first time around, and he went ahead and took advantage of that. Now he’d be able to keep the jailer from swinging it’s cage and in a way that would strengthen his footing against the creature’s strength.

At the same time Therion's efforts had bore fruit. With the Moblins keeping the new zombies off his back for the most part, he drove a dagger into the last pustule and felt it finally give. Immediately the jailer halted its retaliation against Ganondorf, dropping to its knees with a heavy thud like its energy had just given out. When it hit the ground, the smaller cage embedded into its chest popped open. Inside, another zombie, notably different from the others. The thief hadn't missed it during all this, but he assumed it was some unfortunate soul stuck to its captor's body. Now, he wasn't so sure. Maybe it was just the nature of the undead, but it didn’t look happy about being “freed.” It was grafted to the cage, sure, but it actually looked upset. That its defense had been breached? 

Therion always relied on his hunches, and he did the same now. If he was wrong, then oh well, he wasn’t about to cry over hurting some random zombie. The stinging dagger sunk a lot more easily into this thing’s body. It flinched, and the massive jailer flinched too. They were connected in more ways than one!

[color=BC8DBF]"It's this thing!"[/color] the thief shouted, drawing Ganondorf's attention towards it.

Ganondorf didn’t need to be told twice. He released his hold on the cage he had broken and made a lunge for the zombie. The triforce glowed on the back of his right hand as the Gerudo King gripped the undead’s neck while his other hand gripped its side. He pulled with all his might, even propping his foot onto the body of the jailer in order to put as much oomph into it as he could. The more strength he channeled, the brighter the Triforce shone on his hand. When at last the zombie’s body tore from the flesh of the jailer, Ganondorf lifted it straight up by the throat, only to bring it right back down into an explosive Flame Choke that dunked the zombie directly into the acid below the bridge. After some violent thrashing about, the zombie finally succumbed to the acid bath and appeared to be dead at last.

The macabre amalgamation that it had been attached to sunk to the ground while its body disintegrated. Therion hopped off of it, landing next to Ganondorf where they watched the actual body sink under.

[color=BC8DBF]"Damn,"[/color] was all Therion said, pleasantly surprised the king took care of that monster so sufficiently.

On the other side the three clubbed Jailor lunged forward, going to slam its makeshift flail on Primrose and Jesse as recompense. Since Primrose was at her side, Jesse assumed she had some spell in mind in case this happened. So Jesse took a hopping step to the left and Evaded out of the way in a blur, the clubs smashing into the stone where she just stood. Jesse Levitated behind the creature and landed back on the walkway. 

Ahead of her, the jailer was pulling back its arm to prepare for another blow. Primrose had relied only on the protection of her Baldur Shell while casting the Black Fire Orb - and it held for the one attack before shattering. Primrose blinked in surprise, clearly underestimating either the strength of the giant's swing or the time it took for the shell to repair itself. She would take care not to put absolute faith in it going forward, and for now she finished her spell and hurled another condensed ball of dark flames. It burst against its body at the same time that she took hold of her polearm in both hands. Jesse’s more precise shooting weakened the boils on its body enough that the stray attacks from Primrose or Blast Hornet could rupture them, and now the dancer stabbed open the final pustule with her lance. The zombie roared as its knees began to buckle. Primrose drew her own arm back and stabbed again viciously, sending the jailer falling over backward. 

The flail’s cages fell ahead of it, forcing Primrose to back off lest she be hit, while its body slammed into the walkway just in front of the red headed parautilitarian. The knotted corpse flesh reeked. On its front, a little cage’s door flew open, where inside was a much smaller, angry looking undead.

Jesse blinked down at the furious zombie as it tried to pull itself back into the cage. It was like tumorous little growth. “Um.” Jesse said, before shredding into the little zombie with her rapid fire Spin pistol. Despite its diminutive stature, it was made of the same tough stuff as the Jailer. Though because of its small size, the bullet hit a lot more of it, so it sprayed its rotten blood everywhere as it scrambled back inside the cage. As soon as it shut the door behind it the Jailer came back to ‘life’ and Jesse evaded backwards. 

“It’s like a mecha!” Jesse shouted, though Primrose probably didn’t understand the reference. “The little guy is controlling it?” She clarified. As the Jailer began to get back to its feet, Jesse ripped one of the bodies from its hooks and Launched it, chains and all, into the Jailer to smack it off balance.  The pustules had turned red. “It’s pissed!” Jesse Evaded backwards as it swung its maces multiple times towards her, swiping back and forth.

Her clarification helped. Understanding shone in Primrose’s dark eyes. [color=D34C25]"I see,"[/color] she said, but he couldn’t make use of the knowledge just yet. The jailer raged, swinging its ridiculous flail around it with reckless abandon. The cages smashed against the walkway ahead and behind it, against their hanging counterparts, and into the acid itself sending up dangerous splashes of liquid, all to try and lash the intruders facing it. 

After his second striker disappeared, the remaining three Moblins that Ganondorf summoned did an about-face and fired their volleys at the three-club Jailer in order to provide some extra cover fire for Jesse and Primrose while the jailer stood back up. Unfortunately any attempt to get a jumpstart on breaking its pustules again was thwarted by the skin around them turning an irate red as the flesh hardened up. Primrose was quick to abandon those Moblins, especially when the debris of the flail’s impacts started flying. Pelted by chunks of stone and flecks of stinging acid, she blocked what she could with her lance and stepped back while one sweep of the cages saw all three of them sent flying off the narrow stretch of ground. If she moved back anymore she risked stepping into the battle directly behind her, so now she had to move up.

The dancer blinked forward, her Ravaging Confession bringing her behind the corpse golem on the same side as Jesse. She slashed at it with her polearm, black and icy flames mixing together where the weapon struck, but as expected it didn’t have much effect. Jesse was right, the little one must be its true body. 

The jailer whipped its flails around as it turned, the heavy metal cages threatening to crush their bones at best, and sweep them into flesh melting acid at worst. 

This time Primrose took to the air herself; she jumped and let her scarf carry her higher over the attack. At this point the boils on the jailer’s body were still red, though discoloration was beginning - possibly fading back to yellow. It didn’t matter much to the dancer’s new strategy. Her Vengeful Spirit passed right through the cage bars protecting the smaller undead, the painful burn it inflicted making the little zombie rattle around. With plenty of mana left, there was more where that came from.

Jesse followed Primrose into the air as the attack swept beneath their feet. Switching to her Pierce function, while Primrose blasted fire Jesse lined up a shot on the cage and the creature within. With a kick of the gun she unleashed her high caliber round to join  the Vengeful Spirit spell. The already weakened zombie controller was soon nothing but ash under the weight of the combined attack, and the rest of the jailer's hulking form soon followed. 

“Woo! Big jumps.” Jesse exclaimed to her fellow high jumping ally as she floated back to the stone floor. 

Primrose smiled at her, amused. [color=D34C25]"Mhm. Nice work."[/color]

Very nearby, the boys had already cleaned up. Without the undead jailers lumbering around, the main floor of the fifth level of the prison was clear.