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[color=FFC6C6][u]Level[/u]: [b]7[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 147/70[/color] [color=2e2c2c]------[/color] [color=BC8DBF][u]Level[/u]: [b]5[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 22/50[/color]
[color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold].[/color]●●[color=gray]●●●[/color] [color=2e2c2c]----------------------------[/color] [color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold].[/color]●●[color=gray]●●●[/color]
[color=lightgray]Word Count: 2991 (+3 exp)
[b]Location[/b]: The Under - the Chasm[/color]
[hider=Therion Level Up]New power: [b]Wildfire.[/b] A flame spell, and Therion's only natural magic. As an attack it deals heavy fire damage to a single foe. 
***[/hider][/center]
Primrose and Therion were glad to give away the bulk of the equipment, especially the heavier or more awkwardly shaped items. For themselves they kept only the essentials: rations, canteens, and the like. Some extra rope joined Therion's own in the thief's inventory, as well as the compass and a pickaxe - never knew when that would come in handy. They both took a lantern, for as useful as Therion found the headlamp he also found that it was too awkward to wear in combination with his feline ears. Considering most of this group of Seekers featured members with horns, animal ears, or straight up in-human skull shapes the helmet was summarily plopped onto Omori's head once the stragglers caught up with the rest of the team.

After traveling down a few levels, the next step was to take a lift to the bottom of the Chasm. Ms. Fortune had been kind (or crazy) enough to test the platform for them before the rest of the Seekers piled on. It seemed safe enough - after all it must have been used to bring miners and their equipment up and down plenty of times. However, if the tense expression and clenched jaw on Therion's face was anything to go by, he was skeptical and uncomfortable with the ride. He would have preferred to walk the entire way down had their been paths that went that deep. While Primrose was content to listen in on the scattered conversations and explanation of what had gone on with the thugs from the Barge (and for her part, Primrose didn't mention Confessor Jiji. Only once she confirmed that Jiji's power was the real deal would she let anyone know), Therion was unable to relax. He had his arms folded under his poncho, his head tipped up as he avoided looking down into the Chasm's depths, his ears and other senses on high alert. So when the malicious stranger appeared, his ears swiveled and his attention snapped to him. Seeing the armored person taking hold of the rope supporting the lift, Therion's heart clenched and his tail puffed out. 

[color=BC8DBF][i]"He's going to cut the rope!"[/i][/color]
 
Because what else would someone like that do, especially after the corny one-liner? 

Primrose jumped into action, preparing to fend the Consul off. She didn't know how long they had to go before reaching the bottom of the pit, but she didn't want to take the chance that a fall wouldn't be lethal. She raised an arm, intending to use a spell when she hesitated. Would she be risking damage to the rope herself if she used magic? Using pyromancy definitely would be, she wasn't sure about her dark magic - but she didn't get the chance to think on it anymore as the stranger summoned his light storm.

[color=D34C25]"Bastard,"[/color] she cursed, using the Devout Beads to counter as many shots as possible - though it helped keep some of the Seekers from harm, it did little to stop the Consul's actual plan. He succeeded in blasting through their lifeline, and the wooden platform under their feet fell away. 

A feeling of nausea rose through the dancer, the rush of air passing them by filling her ears and muting the screams of her allies - and her own scream, ripped from her throat once her mind caught up with her body. She tried to focus, knowing that someway they could get out of this. Couldn't they? She could, at least, save herself and another with the scarf if she timed it right. 

Therion had gone pale, finding that the glider he'd had during the trek up Split Mountain was ripped through with holes from the Consul's light barrage and rendered useless. 

[i]No. No way. I can't believe this is happening [b]again[/b]![/i] he thought to himself. Just how many times in his life was he going to plummet from high places? It really wasn't fair in his opinion. Therion's expression hardened, his brain making the difficult shift from fear to survival. No glider and no Raz to save him now, so he had to look for other options. Plenty of the group had flight options, from magic to psychic abilities - but he couldn't rely on them. 

Unfortunately, neither Primrose nor Therion succeeded in their plans. His grappling hook scrabbled along the stone walls, finding no purchase on the surprisingly smooth rock. The dancer took hold of his hand and activated her flotation, but as the others fell down they could see that there was a long, long way to go. Whatever spell was weaved into Primrose's scarf did not last forever, and so once the last sigil disappeared until the next recharge the duo resumed their fall.

[center]...[/center]

The Travelers woke up at the bottom of the Chasm, Primrose with a start and Therion with a gasping cough. The latter bolted upright, dragging his hands over his chest and legs. [i]No broken bones. No blood. Nothing impaled.[/i] He lifted a shaky hand to his face, pressing it against the scarred side. It was the same as ever, though it took him a moment to remember why his hair was a little shorter. [i]I'm alive,[/i] he thought.

[color=BC8DBF]"Holy hell,"[/color] he breathed, pushing himself up to his feet and fighting the urge to puke. At the same time Primrose also stood up, casting her gaze around at the ruins, the flowers, and the cavern's ceiling that featured the lengthy hole they'd fallen through.

[color=D34C25]"...some places seem to have a mind or a spirit of their own,"[/color] she said, looking over at Ms. Fortune and Rika. The question they posed didn't call for an answer really, but Primrose thought on it anyway, recalling how Split Mountain itself had given the Seekers the strength needed to complete the climb. [color=D34C25]"Perhaps the borehole here saved us itself, who's to say."[/color]

Sure it was an outlandish theory, but given the state of the world they were currently in? Maybe it wasn't so far-fetched. A late arrival in the form of Kamek put forth a new theory that the flower bed they'd all landed on was just very, very strong and cushiony though. While the Troop moved to tend to their elder, Primrose made to offer her healing flame - but soon found that the Seekers weren't alone down here.

Alerted to the monsters' presence, the group's attention moved to the darkness in front of them. Therion held out his hand and snapped his fingers, a reflex more than anything. When a spark of fire bloomed showing that his magic had returned to him it took the thief by surprise, but still he cast it in the direction he could hear lumbering footsteps. The flame illuminated grotesque horrors shambling towards them, making Primrose recoil at the sight. By the time the monsters got close enough for the meager amount of sunlight to reveal them, both of the Travelers had drawn their weapons.

[color=D34C25]"What a warm welcome."[/color] Primrose had shifted slightly to give herself room to dance, but unfortunately the battle began before she could perform more than a couple of steps. It started with a blast of blue-green fire headed for Sectonia, and continued with the rotund [url=https://www.bogleech.com/volfoss/volfoss-unicorn.png]junicorn[/url] taking aim at the closest targets.

There was a distinct whooshing noise as the red horn cleaved through the air. The projectile was hard to miss, so it crashed into the ground between Primrose and Therion as they separated to evade it. The horn sparked, not quite exploding but bursting into volatile pieces. Another horn shifted into place on the junicorn's body, and it positioned itself to take aim again. 

At that point the Travelers were on the move. Therion dashed in on the junicorn's flank, while Primrose intended to move in on it's other side. She sprinted toward it, vision tunneling in the darkened chamber, when suddenly she was knocked off of her feet. Caught in the mid-section by a powerful limb, she grunted as she landed on her back a few feet away. The pale, discomforting, cloven-hooved form of a [url=https://www.bogleech.com/volfoss/volfoss-dizy.png]dizy[/url] emerged, baring it's claws. It towered over her and some of the other monsters, it's whole body swaying as it stalked toward her. 

The sounds of the other Seekers engaged in battle echoed around them in the cavern. With one opponent a piece, the Primrose and Therion fought. The junicorn favored into horn in attacking, attempting to stab or whack the thief with it whenever he got close. Therion made sure that he was close enough to prevent the thing from shooting that horn at him whenever possible, for as much as he kept closing in on it the junicorn would hop backward and try to fire. More annoying than that was that when Therion did strike at it, aiming for the bright red limbs, the junicorn would pull them into it's armored shell like a tortoise. 

[color=BC8DBF]"Tch."[/color] Therion darted around the junicorn in a circle, blade catching against the steel shell. When he felt the sword connect with the monster's flesh, it was met with a retaliatory stab - that small knife the monster held so much less imposing than the creature itself sinking into the thief's shoulder. 

He backed off, clutching the wound.

[color=BC8DBF]"No good, I'm not making a dent,"[/color] Therion said, figuring that Primrose was nearby given that he'd caught glimpses of her and the monster she was fighting while he was working on his own.

[color=D34C25]"I'm having the same problem."[/color] Her fight against the dizy was not going well. Because of it's size, in the tight space the monster had no trouble keeping Primrose within it's reach. It's claws weren't the only problem, as the razor-like spines on it's arms and back caught her during hasty evades forming cuts that oozed on her arms and legs. The dizy also seemed completely unharmed, and showed no signs of slowing down. Even where there were no scales, it's skin was packed in layers, solid enough that it might as well have been dressed in iron like the junicorn. Primrose's attacks weren't getting through, whether she used her magic or her might. Her own stamina was drained, but she held her dagger up defiantly. Where and how could she strike at it to actually do damage?

[color=BC8DBF][i]"Primrose!"[/i][/color]

She turned in time to Therion's shout only to see the crimson horn of the junicorn meant for Therion headed straight toward her after the thief had rolled out of the way. In a spot of quick thinking she teleporting behind the dizy with Ravaging Confession, using the creature as a meat shield. The horn struck the monster's leg, boring a hole into it and combusting. Unable to cry out with no mouth the dizy flinched and shuddered in pain while Primrose struck it with her magic and dagger. Even with the few times she'd felt her power increase with her attacks, she was still just barely able to leave marks on the dizy's flesh. Where the junicorn had struck however, the wound sizzled and bled. 

It was the only thing that had done any real damage to dizy so far. So naturally, an idea came to mind. 

[color=D34C25]"Once more,"[/color] she said, [color=D34C25]"get it to shoot another, we'll point it toward this thing."[/color] She didn't dare look away from the dizy after it had recovered, but since she heard no argument from Therion's side of the ruins she counted on him following through. Staring down the knotted muscle of a monster in front of her, the dancer lashed out with a spell. The dark energy hit dizy dead on but had as little effect now as it had before, simply washing over it. It slammed it's claws down hard, shaking the area with it's impact but narrowly missing the dancer. She had jumped up, using the recharged scarf to hover above the monster. It shifted it's focus up and raised it's arms in an attempt to snatch her out of the air.

Then came the second horn. Therion had been endeavoring to line of the shot with an uncooperative creature by going against his instincts and leaving openings for the junicorn to shoot at. It swiveled it's body while trying to catch him, the moment of truth being when he'd jumped onto it's armored exoskeleton and kicked off of it, suspended in the air for just a few scant seconds the junicorn fired at him. Therion lurched, flinging his body weight to the side to avoid the horn - it scraped by him, carving a burn just below the stab would on the same arm, and sailed right toward the dizy.

The missile struck the abomination's center where it's muscles twisted and collapsed in on themselves. It sunk deep, and when it began to sizzle to signal it was about to burst the dizy dropped it's arms from pursuing Primrose in order to try and remove the offending object. The horn combusted before it could, blowing a bloody hole into the dizy's core. It flailed wildly and fell over backward, twitching and writhing until it went still.

Their battle wasn't over yet. Unconcerned with the fate of it's fellow monster the junicorn was already preparing to fire again, it's horn able to regrow with insane speed. It took aim at Primrose, but it's shot went wild as it was suddenly jerked down, the projectile colliding with the ceiling and sending a rain of dirt over the area. Therion was attached to it's back, his tail swishing back and forth as he scrabbled around on it's shell to try and avoid it's blind stabbing with it's knife, unfortunately being caught by a few.

[color=BC8DBF]"Now how do we deal with this thing?!"[/color] he asked. He doused the thing with an Armor Corrosive while he could, not a moment too soon as it had the bright idea then to pull all of it's limbs into it's body and roll itself backward in an attempt to crush the thief. He leapt off of it, landing in a low stance and ready to jump back in.

Primrose appeared at his side then, covered in cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Her eyes darted all over the junicorn's form, searching for some weakness. It's arms and legs reappeared and it started to wobble to its feet.

[color=D34C25]"It's limbs, the ones it can pull inside, are they made of steel too?"[/color]

[color=BC8DBF]"No."[/color]

[color=D34C25]"Alright,"[/color] she paused, took a breath. [color=D34C25]"And your fire has returned to you?"[/color]

[color=BC8DBF]"Yes,"[/color] he said, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out the plan she was putting together. [color=BC8DBF]"Burn it?"[/color]

[color=D34C25]"From the inside,"[/color] she said. A smirk made it's way onto Therion's face just before he nodded. Without further deliberation they moved in. This time with no dizy to get in the way when the Travelers split up to flank the junicorn they were successful. It turned first to Therion and then to Primrose, unsure of which to focus on. It felt the sting of Therion's sword against it's arm and turned again, pulling the limb in to safety. Soon after the same thing happened with Primrose's dagger, and then both of it's arms were inside it's iron shell.

The Travelers reached in after them, taking hold of the junicorn's limbs. Together, they cast their magics.

[color=D34C25]"Burn up!"[/color] [color=BC8DBF]"Wildfire!"[/color]

The junicorn reacted violently, shaking and kicking the two humans. They held firm, and though it seemed to be effective it wouldn't be enough to kill it. Primrose grit her teeth, knowing that her pyromancy had been weakened. She activated her Boost, her body glowing as the power of her spell increased. Across the junicorn's body she heard Therion snicker and join in, Boosting his flame until the monster was cooking alive inside of it's shell. The Travelers yanked their hands out when the heated metal got too hot for them to stand, watching the monster thrash around until it fell over, smoke billowing out of it's arm holes and it's body collapsing into ash.

The Orsterrans both let out a huge sigh, taking but a moment to collect themselves. Other battles were still going on around them, so they couldn't afford to sit back and relax until the rest of the Seekers were safe. Primrose opened her palm and summoned the flame of Warmth to deal with the worst of their wounds, though she didn't get far in the healing process before an unwelcome interruption. Next to her, Therion's ears flickered toward a shifting sound. 

[color=BC8DBF]"You're kidding me,"[/color] he said, incredulous, as they both looked over and realized the dizy's body had never disappeared. It was rising to it's feet despite the hole in it's chest... [i]did it's wound get smaller?[/i] Primrose realized, eyes widening in dread. Though the process was slow, the dizy's muscles were gradually knitting themselves together again. 

It flexed it's claws as if to make sure it still had it's full range of motion. Satisfied, the monster ran at the Travelers with it's arms swinging wildly. With razors concentrated on it's hands and running up it's arms, the sudden and vicious attack sliced ribbons into both Primrose and Therion. The former caught one of it's arms was it slashed away, using her temporary strength to throw it off balance. It staggered back, heaving and weakened - for the moment. It it healed the open wound it would be that much harder to damage it. 

Primrose summoned a fireball and threw it at the cavity in the dizy's center. It halted the reformation of the skin for as long as it burned, but once the spell was finished the process began again. The dancer was breathing hard and nearly out of mana. Therion held his blade up but was wary of getting too close to it and couldn't find a weak point save for the one they'd had to make.

[color=D34C25]"...we made need a hand with this one,"[/color] Primrose said, earning a half-amused noise from Therion. The dizy recovered and rose to it's full massive height, headed toward the Seekers once more.