As the knights in Marianne's group(and the assassin) proceeded downward, they would come across shattered stone, and scorched walls. There had obviously been a battle here... and that fact became even more obvious when the site of a dead man came into view. His neck was snapped at an odd angle, his corpse laying near the center of the room. He was, likely, one of the conspirators. Tili eyed his corpse dispassionately. Another one of the conspirators who had taken her sister hostage lay dead, now. But it wouldn't be enough until her sister was safe and all the rest had suffered the same fate.

However, there wasn't much time to focus on the corpse, when there was a thunderclap from below.

[hr]

Tyaethe reached the bottom chamber in short order. Within, there was a man, clad in a porcelain mask with no features save for the eyeholes, one marked with a black tear and some stylized designs, and clad in a body-concealing cloak. He tilted his head to the side as he watched the girl's approach. Around him stood several animated skeletons, some of which were clad in old, but still functional, armor. Behind him there lay a small, pale figure, identical to Tili, with her mouth gagged, her legs bound together, and her arms bound behind her back. Her red eyes widened as she saw someone enter.

"Zalo, take care of her," said the masked necromancer, with a wave of one armored hand.

Something landed behind Tyaethe almost immediately. It was a young man with white hair and wild, almost orange eyes, a grin on his face. He wore a jacket and gauntlets... and lightning crackled around his right hand, a blue magic circle forming in his open palm.

"Hey," he said, grinning, as a bolt of lightning tore from his hand.