And so, with their sights set on the deepest cavern, the party set off into the eerie gloom of the Blasphemed Tunnels.

Though the cool air of the tunnels grew to something they all became accustomed to with time, neither Amulak nor Ames could totally shake off the strange goosebumps that crawled up the back of their necks. With the heightened supernatural sense that came with their particular classes, both could tell that there was [i]something[/i] intrinsically twisted, taboo about the place. Whether it be negative energies, the spirits of the dead, or some black curse upon these particular lands, a curious tension built up in their bodies as they traversed through the underground network. Perhaps in due time, this spiritual sense would be something they became accustomed to as well, but for now, it felt like being brushed by feathers, and the only distraction the necromancer and animist had came from their actual, physical surroundings.

Such alertness was what made Amulak and Ames the ones to notice first the blockade of boulders boxing them into the tunnels. The gaki, flesh-eating specters with gaping mouths and mummified flesh, were at it again, phasing through the walls the moment the party stopped. Unaccustomed to such an ambush and unbalanced still from his lack of an arm, Raime was grappled immediately, his body dragged away from the rest as a swarm of hungry specters descended upon him. Klein, confident in his ability to tank now that he had just about double the HP of the other melee fighters, rushed into the dense ball of spirits to rip the ranger free, but became stalled in the mire of ghosts as well. His pain sensitivity levels may have been spiked all the way down so he didn’t become absolutely crippled by a strike in the gonads, but that didn’t prevent other sensations from psychologically tormenting him. Such as the sensation of having a half dozen mouths suckering on every part of his still-unarmored body, like a leathery kiss from a greatgrandpa who you never really knew.

Bad times, really.

But Amulak and Ames were prepared, and Amulak especially was equipped to blow up the swarm of gakis trying to pull apart Raime. Raining down unholy AOE, the necromancer tore a hole into the spectral mass large enough for Ames to dive in and pull Raime out before any fatal damage could be taken. Party assembled and prepared, the four of them all readied for a war of attrition against the undead.

Then, Magpie, with a singular gaki chewing on her left arm, drew her pickaxe back, allowed her HP to drop to 20%, flexed her 200 points of strength, and destroyed the blockade of boulders in a single swing. In the aftermath of the display of brute force, the swarm of gaki, showing for first time some semblance of intelligence, decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and sank back into the walls again. With that, the party continued on.

As they got closer and closer to the path that ought to have led to the deepest cavern, the stone they walked upon became slick with water that seeped out from adjacent walls. Moss, slimy and wet, clung to the surfaces whilst shedding their bioluminescent glow, and travel began to slow as everyone had to pick their paths more carefully. Amulak’s map had offered a good layout of the entire Blasphemed Tunnels, but clearly, the tunnels themselves had changed since; there was no mention of water before. And when they got to the mouth of the path leading down, it became clear that such an omission of detail was a hell of a bad oversight.

Steam rose up from the mouth of the incredibly steep tunnel, even as water continued to flow downwards. Staring from the entrance, it was hard to make out anything more than five meters beneath you, and considering the way the water flowed, it was hard to imagine if a fall would land you on stone or into boiling water. But the party’s choice had been made, and surely a group of superhumanly tough immortals with regenerative capabilities that could top them up from near empty to full in less than half an hour could survive a plunge anyhow. So they sucked in the last breath of cool air they could get, and began to climb down, one at a time.

Step by step, hand by hand, the party half-climbed, half-slid down the path. Was it easier for lamias to slither up and down? Were cold-blooded creatures comfortable in such humidity? What about the kidnapped children? The steam got into every orifice of their body, every crease of flesh becoming damp and sticky with sweat and water. No one had opted to ever purchase food or water before; Cacophony Concord didn’t have hunger meters, after all, but now, an ice-cold soda would’ve done wonders to their parched throats. Was this just another status effect? Or was this just their own psychology working against them? The humid steam thickened as they descended further. It became like a sauna.

Klein’s foot slipped. He stumbled back, planting his hand against the wall to stabilize, but that hand slipped as well. He fell, crashing into Magpie. Magpie was strong. Exceptionally so. On a good day, she could snap Klein like a twig on the football field. This was not a good day, and this was not a football field. With a jerk, she threw the man off her, and in doing so, sent Klein falling down onto Amulak.

Amulak didn’t stand a chance. His thick robes already made it hell to navigate down in the tunnel, and his Type-Guardian Nuclei certainly didn’t offer any answers here. The two fell down the slope of the tunnel in a tangle of limbs, Ames and Raime only barely managing to make it out of the way without slipping themselves. Moments later, Magpie, who had been unable to restore her own balance after all, rolled down after them, the three striking hard, hot rock: Amulak on the bottom, Klein in the middle, and Magpie elbow-dropping them from above.

But on the plus side, they made it. There was no pool of water after all, and as Raime and Ames joined the other three goons to step away from the mouth of the tunnel they just descended from, they found themselves in a cavern with the dimensions of a single-story house. The air was hot and dry, and the space was lit up by the suffocatingly red light of magma from a deep, almost well-like pool off on the opposite end. Though the cavern looked largely empty, oval-shaped containers made of some white material, perhaps large enough to contain a child tucked in a fetal position, were interspersed around the edge of the cavern. Raime, more accustomed to the humdrum of looking at the ground than the others, could see grooves in the ground as well. Lugh wasn’t here, but experience told everyone that Immortals who died turned into pixels anyhow.

Were those the signs of a fight had and lost?

The heat continued to addle the mind as sweat turned to salt in mere seconds.
[sub][@Shovel][@Searat][@Psyker Landshark][@OwO][@Yankee][/sub][hr]
Cartwheeling through the air, the Maneater’s Sickle struck its mark, piercing point digging into the flesh as the gyuki tumbled in the opposite direction. Ari’s momentum was halved as she felt the yanking of the rope against her arm, but before she could be reeled into the spinning beast, her sickle was torn free, leaving a sizable gash in the gyuki’s side. A dark purple mist, sign of the monster’s more supernatural lineage, gushed out as its limbs and horns dug into the ground. It glared at Ari and Bortz, its nostrils and its body both inflating like a balloon.

It was obvious what was going to happen next, and with a hearty stomp, Bortz positioned himself in front of Ari, the head of his hammer pressed against the earth to anchor him down. Massive as he was, the man’s armored form completely covered the catgirl, just in time for the gyuki to shoot out a cone of white mist. Like the howl of winter, the strike of a blizzard, tendrils of cold blasted against Bortz, ice forming on the edges of his armor as he held firm. Amidst the roar of the ice breath, however, Ari could hear the sound of [i]another[/i] deep breath.

From her side, the second gyuki had also inflated, having managed to somehow gotten atop of the bearshifted Droko while Vator clung atop it and stabbed away.

Would it blast the bear beneath it? Or would it aim to catch Ari while she was stuck sheltering behind Bortz? She had moments to decide.
[sub][@GreenGoat][/sub]