[color=a36209][h3]Osana[/h3][/color] [sup]Location: Abandoned Tower - Underground Path[/sup][hr]

	Dust clouded around every step Osana took. Above her head hung roots and moss, grasping through every nook and crack in the stonework of the ceiling. At a distance, she could hear water rushing, but it was muffled in a way that mad her believe it were deep underground. Silence hung like curtains within this hall, disturbed only by the soft sliding of feet against the stone. Her steps halted at a corner. As she pressed herself against the wall, Osana leaned as far as she felt was safe, just to peek into the room. The area opened into a circular chamber with a pillar solely in the middle. Ancient figures were carved into the stone pillar, familiar yet too worn to distinguish. The pillar was so large that it obscured a large portion of the wall opposite from Osana. Then she caught sight of movement. While Osana expected to encounter more beasts, she didn't expect there would be another this soon.

	It's head hung low, mouth agape, as it wearily dragged it's paws along the stone. She could see what seemed to be a path in the dirty floor from where the beast tread. It was patrolling, following some ancient path that it had been trained to do long ago, from the looks of it. Her eyes narrowed as the beast's shadow fluttered about slightly-- there must have been firelight nearby. Why couldn't she smell the smoke? Osana found it strange that this fact would stand out to her the most about the situation-- as if there were no more unsettling things than the lack of smoke. Still, it was important as a detail, she knew it must have been. Taking a soft breath in, Osana slowly began to creep from around the corner.

	Were she to stick to the shadows, keep low, and keep her dagger ready, perhaps she could escape a fight. Then again, sometimes Osana swore the creatures of this world held a higher sense for finding others. She had been detected from behind a solid wall of stone once, after all, and the results of this had caused a rather grisly injury-- Osana had ever seen her own bone until that day and didn't ever want to again. So with careful moment and soft steps, Osana made her way around the corner and into the same room as the beast. While it was dangerous, her position very uncovered, Osana felt that perhaps the dog or wolf would keep it's head turned away from her, so she followed along behind it. 

	Slowly the two walked along. The light of the flame became brighter as she made her way along the wall. When it finally came into sight, Osana's footsteps halted and a chill crept up her spine. The flame was inside of a lantern that was held by a shambling sight of a person. Their skin was taunt, as if they had been dried up, and they were clothed in rusted chain mail. A spiked mace rested at their side. As Osana stared at the guard, the dog making it's way further ahead of her, another detail began to creep up on her-- behind the guard was a doorway. Halting her breathing for a moment, Osana could hear the sound of rushing water again, the soft steps of the dog, and the ragged breathing of the guard. Was the water louder here?

	Shaking her head slightly, Osana pushed the thought to the back of her mind, then focused on her situation. Soon, the dog would make it's way around the pillar and up behind her, and she was sure the guard wasn't exactly going to be friendly either. Again she shook her head then charged for the guard, quickly, quietly. Osana made it within arm's reach before she caught the guard's attention-- it rasped something-- then flame erupted from seemingly everywhere at once. 

	Osana yelped then hit the ground, rolled forward, and found her dagger in the side of the guard's knee. Barking called out. The ground beneth her was slick and pain shot through her arm. Again flame swirled through Osana's vision and inky-blackness coated the ground. Osana leapt back-- her back hit the wall-- she spun away as a heavy object cracked the stone next to her. Barking-- the barking-- it was obnoxious. Tendrils wrapped themselves around her throat as she spit blackness at the dog, then watched it writhe and leap, buck and bark, fur and flesh began falling to the stones-- Osana ducked as air whistled above her head. Flames once more erupted and she saw herself cast this time-- the whip of her arm conjuring the black shield of water-- flames hissing and the water bubbling sickly. With a furious growl, Osana whipped her leg low, swept the feet of the guard, then pounced upon them.

	Squishy coldness clenched in her right hand and cold steel in her left. Before she knew it, Osana found the guard's head grasped in her hand, held at shoulder level. Osana stared into the face of the corpse, her fingers deeply within their eye sockets, gripped through flesh, her thumb in their mouth, before she shook the skull free in surprise. Numb all over, Osana felt around her neck, found it free of... of... of what? She stood in a daze, stared at the open doorway before her, then staggered into it. A long corridor, dark and dusty, greeted her in the dying firelight. Her steps halted. 

	Trembling, Osana turned then scooped up the guard's lantern, and noticed the blood all over the ground. Her eyes followed it's drops toward the desiccated corpse of the dog, toward the guard's headless body, then over to her own leg. She could have sworn there was more skin on her leg than that previously. Pain began to creep up on her. Osana looked up and away from it, turned, then began to limp down the corridor once more.