Karan bowed at the party once more as they all, at different speeds and with varying enthusiasm, departed for the markets. While Raime and Magpie griped over their poverty, for a career of gigs certainly hadn’t treated those two Immortal adventurers kindly, Ames, Amulak, and Klein were all able to pick up a fair amount of gear. The necromancer and the mountain man, through a quick visit to one of the local apothecaries, stocked up on the appropriate potions for the job, while the warrior played with fashion instead, filling out the rest of his equipment slots with things that matched his currently aesthetic of being a light, red warrior. His stats may not be leaning as hard in the direction that Raime or Magpie did, but Ames certainly [i]looked[/i] the part of a speedy, skillful warrior, and sometimes, that was all that mattered.

Hell, combined with his red cloak, there was no questioning the magnitude of his protagonist-aura now. Truly, a heroic silhouette amidst the motley designs of his comrades, primed for kicking scaley ass and saving kidnapped children!

Of course, Amulak was the one that lead the party through the misty realms of the Thunderstruck Grove. Somewhat better-equipped and definitely higher-levelled, the party had no particularly taxing encounters with the monsters present in the Grove as they hiked through. The offensive and defensive aces they had, Raime’s [i]God-Searing Light[/i] and Klein’s [i]Retaliation from the Brink[/i] meant that, so long as they didn’t have to deal with consecutive encounters and took the breaks necessary to passively regenerate lost resources, there wasn’t any normal encounter that could spook them. And they were lucky enough to have avoided any abnormal encounters as well.

As they reached the mouth of the Blasphemed Tunnels, Raime, with his background in traipsing through the woods in search of non-existent creatures, would note curious tracks extending into the underground system: two sets of parallel grooves, one overlapping the other to form a very acute ‘v’ shape. Ames, his senses improved as an Animist, would feel a cold chill spread over their body as they stared into the gaping abyss of the Blasphemed Tunnels as well, while Magpie would feel that same cold chill…but only because of the wind.

From Amulak’s memory of the Blasphemed Tunnels’ map, there were four significant caverns within, which could possibly serve as a hideout for criminal creatures twice the length of a normal human being. The largest cavern was a space beneath the roots of the Ancient Blackened Tree that he had gained his profane knowledge from, where tar and dark energies coagulated in an array of pools and evil spirits spawned from to populate the rest of the tunnels. Another cavern dipped deeper into the earth, until the air itself was warmed by the beating heart of the planet itself. It would be easy enough to get down into, but the way back up was, as expected of steep slopes, a pain to deal with. A cavern to the east was an option as well, fairly close to the surface, in which the ruins of an ancient settlement rested. Skeletons and goat-headed monsters populated that particular region, though if two monstrous races could co-exist, perhaps a third could find shelter there too? The final cavern required a swim through an underground lake, which was always a gamble considering the heavy equipment that adventurers often lugged around (could anyone in the party even swim to begin with?), but the empty nature of that particular cavern made it perfect for immoral/immortal trysts as well as, perhaps, human trafficking operations.

Well, for the time being at least, they’ve all had time to think and discuss, to prepare for the quest about to commence.
[sub][@Shovel][@Searat][@Psyker Landshark][@OwO][@Yankee][/sub][hr]
[b]“I don’t know!”[/b] Vator shouted in response, seeming to match Ari’s volume even if the two of them were comfortably within earshot. [b]“I was just walking on the road when they bamf’d into existence and like, wew-whee, I’m lucky I’m a fast boii!”[/b]

[b]“Well ain’t that helpful,”[/b] Droko spat, clapping her hands together. Arcane energy wrapped around her, twisting the shape of the tattoos around her body, and as if accompanying the transformation of her tattoos, the shaman herself transformed, leaping off the carriage into the form of a large grizzly bear. Without hesitation, she charged for the closest one, paws thrust out to catch the gyuki’s horns. The two beasts collided like professional sumo wrestlers, muscles and fat rippling from the impact. It transitioned swiftly then, into a wrestling match, the gyuki still having an edge on the bear as it pushed steadily ahead.

But a fight with a party was a fight with constant interference.

Vator, somersaulting over the stalled bull, delivered a swift sequence of strikes and thrusts. Cuts marred the phantasmal hide of the creature, but they were nothing if not tough; it would take more than that to slay one of those gargantuan monsters.

Ari’s kunais whistled through the air as well. Huge as the gyukis’ faces were, their comically-large eyes would’ve been easy to hit if they had stayed still, and would’ve only required a little luck to hit while they were moving. One struck a nostril, another struck the tearwell, and a third strike dead center into the right eye, but none of the blades dug in deep enough to detail significant damage. The gyuki twisted its head with an irritated bleat, eyes filled with a desire for savage retribution. Its hooves dug against the ground, its leg muscles bent like a catapult moments away from firing, and it kicked off, straight for her!

[b]“Power Attack!”[/b]

Leaping forward a distance far greater than should be possible with such heavy armor, Bortz’s Warhammer flashed with scintillating light as it slammed into the legs of the gyuki. The monster twisted to one side, then faceplanted into the ground, tumbling still in Ari’s direction, but with the menace of a rolling SUV, rather than an accelerating one.
[sub][@GreenGoat][/sub]