[center][h1][color=red][u]G R A V E S[/u][/color][/h1][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]  • Tʜᴇ Dᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ • [/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

The crimson source of all life flowed off Graves's body like a river. His broad shoulders hefted violently with each uneven breath as he stood atop the corpse of a monster twice his size. The damned ogre had come out of nowhere. It came up [i]through the floor[/i] of all places. Graves and his allies were caught off guard by the swift and brutal ambush. Two burrowed giants, one from either side, and a murder of goblin marksmen coming at them from above. A classic killbox if Graves had ever seen one; problem was, Graves had never seen monsters employ this kinda strategy in Pariah. He was lucky his party wasn't full of complete hacks, or they'd probably be reviving half the back line instead of reveling in their victory.

[color=red]"Everbody alright?"[/color] The Blood Knight's gravely rose rose just enough to echo to the back of the party.

With panted breaths, Graves placed both hands upon the hilt of his pike. He hefted up, his vein-covered forearms straining to rip the ax blade free from the dead ogre's shattered skull. Flicking the brain matter off the edge of his pole arm, their half giant of a tank turned around to address Rael. Graves was still coming off the high of combat, and needed to take a moment to calm himself before responding to her concerns. As always, the off tank had worn a wicked grin all throughout the encounter, his berserker screams only ever broken up by the need to shout commands at his incompetent backliners when something went awry.

[color=ed1c24]"Yeah, you were right."[/color] Graves agreed, running a hand over his chest in a mostly vain attempt to wipe the blood from his bare abdomen. Most of it belonged to the ogre he'd slaughtered, but the Knight had suffered a fair few blows during the exchange. Arrows still stuck in his back, and blows from the ogre's huge club had fucked his ribs up royally. [color=ed1c24]"Since when did these stupid bastards get brains?"[/color]

It was actually fascinating to the tank how lucky they were nobody went down. A horde of archers from above and two gigantic damage soakers to either side, in a relatively cramped hallway, would've spelled a wipe- or at the very least, causalities- in any other party. Maybe Graves was underestimating the rest of his team too much; though the Blood Knight doubted it was more than blind luck on the part of...[i]some[/i] of them.

Graves gave a quick whistle, glancing over his shoulder at Elian. [color=red]"Yo, elfy. If you'd be so kind as to do your job so we can get a move on, I would be [i]very[/i] grateful."[/color] The tank's words were dripping with sarcasm; he was loathe to admit the woman had likely contributed a fair bit to the party's survival. She might be an alright healer, he supposed, but even that half assed of a compliment would go straight to the dancer's head. [color=red]"Everybody else, take a breather. Shit only gets worse from here."[/color] He moved away from the front of the party and to the back, hoping his partner tank had things covered for the time being. Graves didn't think the monsters would attack again so soon, but...in this dungeon, one couldn't be too careful.

Once he was beside the much smaller, less intimidating dodge tank, Graves lowered his voice so only she could hear him. [color=red]"You think there was a ghost patch? Developer tossed in new tactics for all monsters?"[/color] The Knight asked Rael, unsure what he thought of the whole thing. [color=Graves]"Could be just for this dungeon, too,...which is almost fuckin' worse."[/color]