[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/88KWNj5/OTbanner.png[/img]
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[color=FFC6C6][u]Level[/u]: [b]6[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 63/60[/color] [color=2e2c2c]------[/color] [color=BC8DBF][u]Level[/u]: [b]1[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 15/10[/color]
[color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color]●[color=gray]●●●[/color] [color=2e2c2c]----------------------------[/color] [color=2E2C2C]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=2E2C2C]●[/color][color=2E2C2C]●●●●[/color]
[color=lightgray]Word Count: 2612 (+3 exp)
[b]Location[/b]: Sandswept Sky - (Inner) Split Mountain
[sub](ft. [@Dark Cloud] as Laharl)[/sub][/color][/center]
The climb was miserable, the fabric only giving the barest of protection for Therion's hands. At least his skin wouldn't be freezing to the metal. Therion was silent and stony faced all the way up the length of the chain, save for the moment he noticed Midna following them up to the ship where he sighed before continuing on. A babysitter for the babysitter seemed redundant, but whatever. They made it up to the frozen ship's level with no issue, which was a pleasant surprise. Like Therion had said back on the ground, he didn't think Raz had it in him to climb so high up. The kid looked scrawny and top heavy. But he made it, and the thief had to admit he was impressed. He just didn't admit it out loud. And when Raz slipped and dangled from the icy wood he almost took his thought back, but thankfully the psychic was able to pull himself back up. 

Being impressed by his physical ability did not mean that Therion trusted whatever spell the kid was casting after he'd jumped over to the mast though. Therion took one look at it and raised an eyebrow. [color=BC8DBF]"I'm good,"[/color] he said, declining the help and swinging his way over to the mast on his own. He felt the ship lurch slightly as he landed on the mast, and for several seconds he waited for any other signs that the vessel might fall. When it didn't he inspected the chain where it was iced over and stuck.

How simple it would be just to melt the ice. Therion snapped his fingers a couple of times in front of the frozen mass, but nothing happened. Not even a spark, again. Therion rumpled his nose in frustration, the expression clearly showing on his face when he cut a glance to Midna as the Twilight Princess joined them. [color=BC8DBF]"Besides freezing half to death, just fine."[/color]

They got to work on the chain after that. [i]They[/i] being Raz and Midna. The former mentioned exploring the ship's inside while they worked on the ice, but Therion didn't really need an invitation. Plus because Midna had decided to come along too, there was an extra chaperone. With a little halfhearted wave Therion left them to it, dropping down and slipping into the ship's interior.

The cabin had all kinds of junk, ancient and iced over. Nothing too interesting yet. Therion noted that Midna's dog... thing had found it's way in as well and was sniffing at some bones. There did seem to be a [i]lot[/i] of bones. Some skulls too, that looked like they were glaring. [color=BC8DBF]"Nice,"[/color] the thief said to himself sarcastically. He'd long ago stopped feeling any remorse from stealing from the dead, so their glares, whether imagined or not, didn't do much to dissuade him from looking around the ship. Although when he noticed that some of the skulls had eyes of gold and gem stones, he took a much closer look at them. He repeated the word without the facetiousness as he pried a few jewels from the bones. [color=BC8DBF]"[i]Nice[/i]."[/color]

A deep chill swept through the cabin, the kind that raised the hairs on the back of Therion's neck and made it hard to attribute to just the inner mountain's temperature. He turned around just in time to side step a moving skeleton as it dove out a hole in the wall and down in the cavern. [i]What the hell?[/i] So it didn't like opportunistic visitors, but was it really trying to fling itself off and take Therion with it? The rattling of more bones drew Therion's attention away from the hole and towards a few more complete skeletons forming. They took a few staggering steps towards him, then crouched slightly in preparation to pounce. [i]Come on, give me a break.[/i]

He dodged the first assailant, putting him in the path of the second. It reached out with it's cold fingers, but in a flash Therion's sword was out and severing the skeleton's arm at it's elbow joint. That didn't stop the skeleton's advance, it pressed itself close to Therion and wrapped it's hand into his shawl. It was stronger than it looked, dragging the thief a couple steps toward the opening in the wall - but with only one arm it's grasp was easy to break out of, and Therion back stepped away quickly. He vaulted over a desk that would have already rotted away if it weren't frozen solid, putting a barrier between himself and the jump-happy bones. They could throw themselves off the ship as much as they liked, but they weren't taking Therion with them. Especially so after Raz appeared in the cabin, immediately drawing the skeletons' attention and raising a few more.

Therion's eye twitched. [i]Are you kidding me?[/i] Raz rushed out, the skeletons rushed out after him, and Therion rushed out after [i]them.[/i] His sword cracked at the legs of the straggler bones, sending them tumbling into the cavern. He'd just cleared the exit when he saw Raz jump back onto the mast, and the rest of the skeletons whiff and dive into oblivion. Therion sighed and dropped his head against the wood of the ship - which he immediately regretted because it was so cold it practically burned the skin of his forehead. He sheathed the sword, pushing the scabbard under his shawl again and went to regroup with the other two.

[color=BC8DBF]"Finished?"[/color] He thought that it must be considering the kid had come into the cabin, but that actually didn't seem to be the case. It was close though, somehow Midna got a fire going with some kind of accelerant given the stench, and as soon as the chain was unstuck it flew away from them while pulling the pincers up. Therion's eyes widened, seeing the collision that was about to happen, but it was coming up too fast to do anything about. The pincer smashed into the mast, destroying it and sending them into a free fall. 

There was a rush of air exiting Therion's lungs, because falling from this height was terrifying no matter what, but he forced his brain to work. They had gotten all of those gliders for just such a fall, and he had one. Hopefully it worked. Hopefully it could hold the weight of two people if needed, at least enough to slow them so Therion to throw his grappling hook. He felt someone grab onto his scarf and he looked over his shoulder at Raz. Good, now he just had to maneuver the kid so he was holding onto his front or side so he could deploy to glider. He felt Raz resist the attempts to shift, and then say he [i]got[/i] this, which set off all kinds of warning bells in Therion's mind. 

[color=BC8DBF]"What? No, let go!"[/color] Therion twisted, aggressively trying to reverse their positions as he couldn't even try the glider while Raz was clinging to his back. The ground was coming up fast, and panic gripped Therion's heart. He probably wasn't going to walk away from the fall this time. They were both about to die. Self preservation was telling Therion to just shove Raz off of him to try and save himself, then at least there would only be one casualty and not two, but the attempt was aborted about halfway through when their fall was suddenly halted - without them being splattered on the cavern's floor. The whiplash stunned Therion for a few seconds, but once he recovered he detached himself from Raz and landed. Immediately he rounded on the boy.

[color=BC8DBF]"What the hell! We both could have died if your little -"[/color] he waved a hand at the odd bubble floating next to Raz [color=BC8DBF]"- spell didn't work. Not to mention you could have broken my damn neck."[/color] Therion readjusted his clothes, and while he was at it he pulled the glider out and waved it around. Kind of a dick move but his nerves were frazzled, he didn't even care that the thick metal manacle and  chain link on his wrist was clanging. He tucked everything back away, beginning to calm down. His eyes flicked over Raz to make sure he was alright. He seemed fine, so Therion didn't feel bad about chewing him out. There wouldn't be a "thank you" this time. [color=BC8DBF]"Be. Careful."[/color]

Midna arrived shortly after, floating down beside them to ask if they were okay and to rub in the fall, apparently.

[color=BC8DBF]"Do not even start,"[/color] he growled, jabbing a finger towards the imp. Thankfully any further conversation was cut off because of the fire from two fronts. One where the ship was beginning to catch, and the other where flares of flame were helping to light a scuffle. Therion scrubbed a hand down his face. [color=BC8DBF]"What have I gotten myself into..."[/color] he grumbled to himself. Damn dancer, dragging him into this. He beat a hasty retreat from the area along with the other two before remnants of the burning ship fell on top of them.

[hr]
Seeing the Phantom Thieves in action so many times already, Primrose was glad to have them backing her up. Or the reverse really, as the dancer planned to back [i]them[/i] up, but regardless the teenagers were a formidable force. She smiled at Panther and nodded. Together they awaited any danger that might present itself. For a little while it was all quiet. Then, there was a great crashing noise - and following it, disturbed by the sound, came the monsters. The large golem with crystal-like spikes of ice and a skeletal face was obvious, but there was something else skulking around the cavern. Something fast, and there were multiples of this something according to Necronomicon. 

They dashed around, clinging to surfaces, leaping, and sticking to the shadows. Before anyone could try anything, suddenly the cavern was enveloped in darkness, the light of the flare dying out. The light of the fire in Primrose's hand didn't illuminate farther than a foot or two in front of her, but she could hear scuffling and the general sounds of battle. With Joker's call for fire, Primrose turned the small flame into the much larger Fire Orb, raising it over her head for whatever light it could bring for a few seconds before she hurled it, letting the bal of fire explode and spread whatever wasn't too frozen to burn. She caught sight of the creatures, brief glimpses of them jumping from wall to wall. They were much too fast to get a good read on, but Primrose tried anyway, tracking them to the best of her ability with her eyes until a beam of light shone out from Poppi. She glanced over at the Blade and noted that... she was missing an arm? 

Fast, and strong enough to cleave not only through bone but whatever metal Poppi was made of? That was not good. Spurred into action by the threat, Primrose started to dance. First, Sealticge's Seduction. If the creatures were this speedy it wouldn't do to dance for one party member at a time, no matter how fast she did it. With that finished, on to the next. Power, speed? Or maybe in this case defense would be best to bestow upon the others? Primrose made her choice and was in the middle of her first turn when she heard Panther cry out. She looked, eyes wide as she caught sight of a vicious face lunging at her. Knowing it was too late to even get out of the way at this point her face paled. She just hoped she survived.

A second later the monster slammed into her, a blunt force instead of the claws she expected thanks to Panther. She crumpled, hitting the ground hard on her side. She shoved at the wendigo, trying to get out from underneath of it. The monster let her, recovering enough to raise it's claws and attack, but it was warded off by the Phantom Thief's gunfire.

[color=D34C25]"Panther,"[/color] Primrose gasped once the creature was away from her. [color=D34C25]"I'm alright!"[/color]

The sound of her name drew her attention again and she braced herself, hoping there wasn't another wendigo on it's way, but instead she found Laharl jumping down to defend her.

Primrose blinked up at the little demon, surprised to see such blatant emotion in his eyes. Though her abdomen - exposed as it was - was hurting badly she offered Laharl a smile. [color=D34C25]"Thank you, I'm... I'll be okay,"[/color] she repeated, pushing herself up onto her knees with a pained sigh. Gingerly she placed her hand on the boy's shoulder and nodded towards where the wendigo had run. [color=D34C25]"Someone needs finish that thing off. You can do it, I can support you with a spell,"[/color] she said.

Laharl opened his mouth to protest that she in fact was not [i]'okay'[/i] as much as he was convinced otherwise, or that almost [i]anyone[/i] else could finish the last of the gaunt beasts off. 

However he begrudgingly agreed [color=A30000]"Fiiiine!"[/color] he groaned gently brushing the dancers hand off his shoulder and turned slightly hesitating for a moment to glare at Primrose one last time before rushing into the darkness, searching for any sign of the creature when suddenly he spotted movement in the corner of his eye. Now he was the one attacking from the cover of darkness, summoning both his draugr and scourge to join him in gleefully murdering the beast. 

As Laharl moved, Primrose's hand became engulfed in dark flames. She slammed her palm into the ground, casting the Black Serpent spell. The black fire rushed along the ground ahead of the demon, headed straight for the wendigo. The monster would surely see it coming - or maybe not due to it's dark color - but at least it would give Yoshitsune and his demonic ally a little room if the wendigo backed off. 

Laharl swung his axe furiously over his head, while the draugr hacked at the creatures limbs with it's own axe and the scourge slashed the wendigo across the back with it's steel sword.

Not content with just that spell, Primrose stood up in order to continue her dance. The Lion Dance, granting those in the area an increase to attack power thanks to her earlier set up.

At this point Therion arrived at the scene alongside Midna and Raz. Thanks to the burning ship and the debris the others had already set fire to, he could see a good chunk of the group was missing and the rest were in dire straits. His eyes immediately locked onto Primrose, doing her best to hide the pained expression on her face as she danced. Hurt, but standing - and if she was standing then she was okay. For now, anyway. He shared a brief look with the two he'd gone up to the ship with, and then it was into the fray. After the scare earlier he was really keen on not seeing anybody die today.

The thief set his sights on the golem. Moving swiftly over to it's back he grabbed hold of one of it's spines, pulling himself up just enough to get a decent position in which to dump the Armor Corrosive over the thing. He uncorked one of the vials, letting it splash over Kelvin and weaken it's defense before he hopped right back off. It certainly looked tough, so it wouldn't hurt to soften it up a bit - especially since he'd felt the familiar power up of Primrose's dance right after, granting the attack buff. 

[color=BC8DBF]"Let's see what you've got,"[/color] he said, drawing the short sword and twirling it in his hand. If this thing had a weakness hopefully he'd find it soon enough. Though Therion put emphasis on his speed, he was stronger than he looked - even so, it was sword versus ice and stone, or whatever this thing was really made of. The power up combined with the debuff helped, but alone he wouldn't be able to take it down. Even so he continued to cut into it.

Meanwhile, with Primrose's dance ended she made a move to Joker and Panther's side, intending to offer help where she could. While she did, she summoned a little more help.

[color=D34C25]"Makami."[/color] The wolf spirit poofed into existence, circling it's mistress until she pointed at the golem and commanded it. [color=D34C25]"Go, Tarunda!"[/color] Like before, it's abilities came to her mind as she summoned it, and the Makami gave a short bark of understanding. It's paper-like body snaked through the air towards Kelvin to use the attack debuffing skill on it.