[GM Post]

The door was beaten and battered, axe blows carving deep grooves around the lock while constant slam further weakened its structural integrity until finally an explosion broke that particular section apart. With the lock and handle separated nothing stopped the remaining part of the door from swinging open, still in mostly one piece despite the abuse it's getting. Just about everyone filed out of the room in great haste, save for Veronica and Ragnar (and an unfortunately immobile Bartholomew), and not a moment too soon.

Hisses and sizzles echoed repeatedly from the room as the caustic cloud spread, filling every inch and spilling out of windows in a sickly wave of verdant green. The hall was blackened and corroded, from the furniture to decorations to scraps of food and even the surface of the stone walls of the building. None of the vines survived the contact, and grass likely wont grow for quite some time in the immediate area surrounding the windows where the fog had spread.

Amidst the thinning cloud was the northlander and the vampire, locked in deadly combat even as their surroundings went to hell. Veronica seemed to exist in an entirely different plane of existence, the fog washed straight past her figure without disturbing a single hair on her head. Meanwhile Ragnar was clad in a near-opaque layer of red, thick stench of blood radiating from every inch of his body. Without the combined attack slowing him down he's quite handily overpowering Veronica, who made a steady retreat toward the open door before finally disengaging and bolting away.

[color=ed1c24][b]"COME ON, WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?!"[/b][/color]

Ragnar didn't pursue far, testing the illusory wall before fetching the axe discarded by the door before yelling at the cracking barrier encased by blackened plant matter. He had a few spots of chemical burns where Veronica's strikes disrupted his aura, but otherwise wasn't doing too bad - beside the eye and the leg issue dragging his performance down.

[b][color=#778da9]"You can handle it, no? You sounds perfectly fine."[/color][/b] Asevor's muffled reply came from within the shell, soon enough another tesseract formed and merged into the northlander's burly figure. [b][color=#778da9]"There, Gaster's Mandate of Impetuous Strife. I need a moment until the fog fully dissipate, dont let them escape."[/color][/b]

Of course, it turned out he didn't [i]have [/i]a moment. Asevor saw the magic taking hold before it was physically apparent, clicking his tongue at the near-simultaneous trespassing attempt on his room. A finger brushed against a sapphire ring, minute cracks expanding against the inlaid gemstone as the dispel indiscriminately washed out. His own bulwark held, but the half the room was instantly cleansed of the fog while the gleaming arrows lost their connection to their creator. With great displeasure he found that it was not enough to entirely stop the reanimation, four zombies lunging at the nearest person with whatever weapon they could reach. At least the incorporeal ghosts were banished.

[b][color=#778da9]"Change of plan."[/color][/b] With a wave of his hand Asevor cancelled the barrier, the dispel already clearing the most immediate caustic hazard. Blackened remain of the vines fell on him like sooty rain, a disgusting sensation that the archmage would need to take care of soon, but it's of no issue. [b][color=#778da9]"Assist your men here, I have an intruder to deal with."[/color][/b]

Forming another spell construct, this one took shape akin to a four-leaf clover that had one leaf missing. Asevor vanished from mundane sight, a single step brought him into the antechamber where a section of the stairs laid in ruins. Without missing a beat he simply floated straight up, soon enough entering the hallway of the second floor.

Close by, the shades pushed on and was initially met with some resistance before they simply found a thinner section and punched through... much easier than expected. The room within was the height of opulence, feathered bed laid with fine silk big enough for six people taking the centerpiece. The bedside table had a platter of cheese and a half-filled bottle of wine, trace of the drink still visible at the bottom of the wineglass. At the foot of the bed was an enchanted chest, large and heavy and - most importantly - locked, the warding several degree beyond what's applied on the room itself.

On the far side was a travel dresser, unfolded and open to reveal rows of fancy clothing of various style - way too many than its outer size would suggest. On the other wall was a desk, tall mirror attached to one end while various bottles of self-care tonics were carefully arranged on top.

Unfortunately, the room seemed to be devoid of life with no apparent hiding spot.

*****

The party that fled out was greeted with a veritable warzone, on the walls by the northern gate men with blades and axes hacked away at invading overgrowth while mages sent down spells on something beyond the wall. The west and east side were abandoned because they're quite literally on fire, flickering red and orange visibly caressing the top of the rampart from the other side. The flame seemed to have started spreading to the wooden palisades, the loud hubub of panicking villagers audible even from this far up the hill. The keep's southern gate wa closed shut, and with the inner village's entrance further south blocked by an overgrowth the resident were trapped within even as flames threatened to consume them all.

The party somehow didn't even attract any attention, everyone's eyes pointed outward to the sheer chaos Augustus caused. Veronica joined late, but after that there didn't seems to be anyone else coming out for quite some time. Vague echoes of combat could be heard from within, though visibility wasn't great due to the lingering fog still lazily spewing out of the hall.