Kosara can honestly say she sort of expected this to happen the moment she hit the Screaming dead with the sacred flame and it began screaming. There was just too much Wild Magic in the area for something funky to not happen.” WILD MAGIC UNDEAD! Down, DOWN! NO, BAD UNDEAD!” She exclaimed as the chaos erupted and moments later from the sides the other body whom she received the unexplained insight to call Booty Bones also began teleporting around because why not.” AHH! Another one!” She exclaimed, sparks and embers of radiant energy sparking across her arms and horns.

Everything was going down as fast as one might expect in a combat. Not unusual really. In just a brief moment of time both Berry and Daxos have taken hits, though admittedly her new dwarven friend looked rough with that injury! V the bardiest bard to ever bard quickly had hopped into the action with sparkly pretty Faerie Fire! Glorious! Kosara’s expression was a mix of glee and semi seriousness before a wide somewhat manic grin formed on her face.

One moment she was still the next moment she turned around with a spin taking a few steps south, her long braid spinning around her as she did. Her movements graceful and dance-like as her arms moved sensual through the air fingers already performing the required magical gestures as the magical energies gathered across her body, throwing golden glimmering lights in flickering golden colored embers. She finished her spin step with an almost theatrical flourish as both hands sideways, one at both enemies, fingers focused into points.” CELESTIAL BLAST!” With the verbal component the spells were unleashed as the golden energy that had collected at her horns snapped into twin beams of energy each rushing towards one opponent as if aimed by her hands.

The First beam streaked forwards, passing through the bars and impacting the Screaming Undead head on, tearing parts of it. The second beam streaked light lightning passing so narrowly by Daxos it threw glow on him as it impacted into the Booted Skeleton hitting with even greater force than the first blast that echoed through the room, but she wasn’t over. Her spin continued and resumed as the golden energies coalesced once more across her form and she pointed at Daxos.” Healing Light!” As the energy left her form and rocketed at the dwarf, the radiant energies starting to heal his injuries at visible pace.

@Arty Fox Berry time!

Little Lizbeth, now white as chalk but not because of her preternatural ability to cease biology in favor of less living form, continued stepping backward until a shoulder made connection with the wall behind her. Thoughts whirled in her head that she wanted to do something - needed to do something. Otherwise, all of this she was going through was a mistake. When the Ankheg attacked, it felt like a natural instinct took over and something just happened. This was different. What exactly that difference was, she could not say. But Lizbeth had the visage of a little girl who, despite being in custom green chitin armor and carrying weapons forged for battles long past, was terrified.

The girl's mouth opened in a wordless expression as her eyes locked somewhere in the middle distance. Trembling hands moved toward her curved, short sword, gripping the hint with some uncertainty. The one undead creature in the room who was considered an ally, Morty, stepped in front of Lizbeth. It was given an order, and it was obligated to follow. Bodyguard - Lizbeth. No soul, but eternal purpose, so long as its animation held out. Oddly, it gave the young lady a mote of comfort.

The howl continued unabated. Maddening, unnerving, ruining possible conversation and anything that resembled a subtle sound, the undead horror continued to swell in the confined room.

Up above, the Mosswaters (Barbal and Tarace) decided to busy themselves with setting up a quick and simple tea setting. Not the actual tea, mind you, as that honor usually went to the guests, but tiny pastries, cucumber sandwiches, and the like were being assembled as best they might, despite the horrifying sounds coming from downstairs, in the cellar.

"Do you think they might need help with..." Tarace started, unaware of any details on the event but willing to be neighborly, "...whatever that is down there?" He looked concerned.

Barbal scoffed at this idea, shaking his head vigorously to the negative. "No." It was gruff, flat, and final. When Tarace shot him a quizzically impatient look, Barbal relented and explained his view. "Look, they knew we were taking Tea together today. It's just bad manners to plan something else at Teatime. I'll hear their apologies later, but this is none of our business - and that's that. Pass be those blackberry preserves?"

@Arty Fox, it's your turn once more.

Blackberry barely had a second to feel smug at smartly stepping out of the howling corpses reach before it got its revenge. The wooden sandal, spiralling with glee, span around his guarding arm and cracked against his skull.

Shock and surprise both from the force and nature of the attack uprooted him in the second it took to take the stars from his eyes. A shoe! He'd been hit by a shoe!

Another threat appeared then in front of him shrouded in silvery solidifying into aged and dirty bone. BlackBerry swore in time with Kosaras scream. He hoped there wasn't a third hiding somewhere. Beyond it all he spotted Lizbeth screaming silently against the wall.

"Lizbeth!" He had to shout above the undead roar. "Out! Now!"

Turning his attention back to the fight he saw Kosara preparing her spell and he closed his eyes. Even behind closed eyelids the sheer power of Kosaras spellwork burned with brilliant light. BlackBerry surged towards the skeleton. One astral limb enveloped the skull, his flesh hand grabbed the wrist of which held the rust and blood drenched dagger. In one swift movement Blackberry took another step forward, slipping between Daxos and the assaulting skeleton, left foot hooking behind the skeletons right, twisting the skeletons dagger bound hand up to its chest. He shoved the creature.

The skeleton was briefly airborne and then clattered to the ground like a bag of sticks. Blackberry raised his astral limbs and brought them down upon the creature like a club.



@Sigil the spooky skeletons attack again!

The creature who was a person once had taken quite the unexpected series of hits, delivered by mystical, magical people of more than moderate annoyance. Except for that one hiding partly behind the crates - that display of scintillating, violet light might have been rather fetching in its own way, were it to have the upper capacity to enjoy things like this.

It didn't stop the screaming. The unholy klaxon from literally beyond death continued unabated, even if if took on a somewhat more gravelly tone now. Movement was harder. Not for the sake of effort, as those without proper life weren't burdened by the limitations of fatigue. Movement was harder because physical damage makes for suboptimal locomotion, and this particular corpse had indeed been damaged. This didn't stop it from fulfilling its purpose, with the unerring surety of a mindless automaton of bone and desiccated flesh.

Swiftly, the Screaming Corpse vaulted from its corner in the cell, landing at an angle to attack whomever was closest to its perception. It took up a stance that, while it had puppet-like, jerky motions, was highly reminiscent of a stylized unarmed combatant. It sprung lightly into the air, whipping its body around in a graceless but highly effective spin. One of the blocky, wooden sandals flew from its foot and arced slightly, passing between the bars of its enclosure at an almost leisurely spiral, before making connection with Kosara with an audible BONK. This attack cracked with an amount of force which felt quite critical in nature.

A second assault, this one in the form of a wide circle kick, sent another sandal flying between the bars. Almost impossibly, the sandal sailed at just the right angle to miss the bars, miss the crates, and occupy the same space as Victoria's head for the brief instant it needed to knock it sideways, disrupting her music and quite possibly the Faerie Fire spell she was maintaining.

The sandals, kicked off of the Corpse's feet, blinked back beneath them soundlessly. In contrast, quite soundfully, the creature yet howled. It retreated back to its corner among the straw.

Kosara has taken 13 points of magical bludgeoning damage.
Victoria has taken 5 points of magical bludgeoning damage.

@Sigil Victoria is up next.

Victoria saw a flash of wood and metal just prior to her sight going fully white. It was a struggle to hold concentration to her Faerie Fire spell. This was not a thing which the Bard was especially good at, as she had mainly trained her dexterity, her mind, and her unparalleled talent, as opposed to her ability to take a hit. As good as the was at many things, this was not counted among them. It surprised her that, when her vision cleared, she mentally held a tendril of the spell intact. This was enough to maintain the effect upon the surroundings and the beastie in the cell.

But enough was too gods damned much. Fresh blood ran down the side of her head and onto her collar. While this wasn't specifically her favorite fitted coat, the garb she wore was nevertheless a lovely piece of bespoke clothing, covered over with her new, highly prized acquisition of a black-and-gold pashmina shawl. The fact that it was taken from an animated corpse notwithstanding, it was absolutely lovely and highly expensive. And she just sullied it with her own blood. Cold anger flushed her cheeks, which bore the black, tear-like markings of her Bardic magics manifesting within her.

It wasn't just the shawl, though. Nor was it her fancy purple top which now bore stains of arterial crimson. There was a certain indignance about being whacked in the head with a shoe, yes, but really, it was the screaming. The constant, melody-less wail of a thing which would not shut up was annoying far beyond her head wound. Fire beats fire, or so some sages have suggested. Maybe sound beats sound. Victoria let her violin bow drop from her strings and swept her arms out to her sides, gathering up a lungful of air and releasing it in one of the most bracing, hauntingly gorgeous vocalizations one might hear in their lifetimes. Her crystal-blue eyes flashed with brilliant, arcane understanding as harmonizing sounds began to manifest inside the cell with the backing of the Weave and the strength of Victoria's personality, fracturing that which resided therein. The creature ceased movement and fell apart in a series of loud beaks, like splintering ice in a stone room.

At least the screaming stopped.


@Shoe Thief Huzzah! Kathryn is up next!

Kathryn didn't have to see it to know that there was a battle taking place. The sounds of magic being cast, blunt force instruments, and that god awful wailing noise that was piercing through the halls. Kathryn had no way of knowing if the wailing was someone she knew, some hostile, or some other third party person. Hopefully no one innocent... But she wouldn't know until she went down there. So heavy thud after heavy thud she stomped down. Worried that each step her weight and speed would snap the wooden stairs beneath her. Despite her speed though, she flew and jumped into action the moment she forced herself through the no longer hidden doorway,

First thing she noticed was that the wailing had finally stopped. Thank fuck for that she thought. Worried she would lose her mind to that before any real harm could be done. The second thing, the second dead dude Kathryn had just been able to see BB toss into the runic circle within the room. Seeing Lizbeth off to her side, Kathryn knew she had to get between this undead monstrosity and her squire. "AAAAHHHHHHH" With a Violent and Angry roar Kathryn's rune's began to glow. Sparks coming off each and every one. One of the metal buckles that held her cloak in place began to glow, heat up, and an audible ping as the buckle gave from the stress as the spiraling and sparkling runic magic began to grow too much for the metal buckle.

Kathryn was still a novice in her magic. A novice who decided to skip a few steps to learn more advanced steps. Something that registered for Kathryn the moment she engaged her magic? She was in a basement, with no where near enough room to do what she was about to do. Either because her subconscious guided the magic, or because it came with idiot proof safety features, she simply only grew a few inches. That didn't slow her from rushing past Victoria, charging up to the soon to be poor bastard flat on the floor in the middle of the room.

Letting the hammer elegantly slide to her side, it swung down quickly, forcefully, and violently as a blow landed with enough force to send bits of bone and cloth scattered across the floor. As the hammer hit with such force, the brick work caused the magical hammer to ever so slightly, bounce. Using that momentum Kathryn swung back again and landed the hammer down with enough force to send ribs chunks of shirt, and the skull flying across the room. This time the hammer hitting the brickwork through the bones with enough force that it seemed to bounce significantly less than the first hit.

Dragging the hammer out of the remains of her latest victim Kathryn looked around the room her confused expression hidden by her helmet. "Ten seconds. I leave for ten fucking seconds and you all unleash a localized apocalypse?" Kathryn said trying to sound serious, but only ended up chuckling. Adrenalin running high from the excitement of the fight.

@Sigil

The destruction of the well-booted set of bones is cause for celebration, as the last obvious enemy has fallen. Truly, its final death was momentous. The day was saved, right?

Shattered bones upon the floor skitter and slide almost instantaneously to the far wall, to be met by a piling rush of other clinking, clattering masses of osseous matter, many of them curved in a manner that vaguely resembled dozens of disarticulated ribs. Horrifyingly, it took less than a second. Again, in about the span of time of a fearful heartbeat, the thing became. A giantesque constrictor snake in skeletal form, with the enlarged, fanged, humanoid skull at its fore. Maddening with the intensity with which it assembled itself, it is an appropriate descriptor to say that it did so with the speed of a striking snake.

The thing of bones and terror rose and swiftly regarded the room around it, and instead of immediately attacking those within its area of notice, it began to sway. Back and forth, to and fro, oddly blurring and shifting around the edges. Despite its fear-inducing nature, this odd dance of animated bone feels...



@Archangel89 Daxos is up next! Best of luck.

The monster that formed in place of the one that Kathryn had pulverized was something out of nightmares. Surprisingly, not the worst thing she had fought. Not even this year. The were rat monstrosities still held that title. But Kathryn felt she still had a trick or two she could pull off to help save the day. Though she was still a novice by many definitions she still knew a few abilities that her runes gave her. Should she pull it off. Swinging the hammer upside down, and adopting a pose much like a statue before bringing the head strait down into the brick, she let out a sharp sound as if she only were to give off a single syllable of a chant. "Cha!" And the runes on her buckles flashed! Then died. It should have worked?! No effect?! "Mother Fucking Asshat! Eat my ass mother fucker!" Kathryn spit out bringing her hammer back to a more combative pose.

@Sigil@Archangel89

The conversation between Kosara and BlackBerry, while innocuous on the surface, set something off in Daxos all the same. A familiar unease crept in, the kind born of too many half-heard conversations in stone tunnels where secrets traveled faster than sound. His hand slid instinctively to the hilt of one of his swords, fingers tightening around the grip.

"Too much confusion. Nothin’ ever good comes o’ this much noise."

Before he could voice anything more, light crashed down in the cellar.

“By the stones—look at the brightness o’ that!”

Kosara’s Sacred Flame struck true, radiant fire slamming into the hunched figure within the cage. Flesh burned away from bone in a grotesque display of practiced efficiency, holy light carving the thing apart with merciless precision.

And still, it did not fall.

A howl tore free—endless, breathless, and wrong. It echoed through the space, clawing into the marrow rather than the ears. The thing rose, eyeless sockets lifting as more flesh sloughed from its frame, wooden sandals scraping as it stepped once toward the bars.

"Naw… I kent necromancy was foul, but this—this is somethin’ else."

The scream never ceased. It rattled him down to the bone, scattering his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to pull them together. He watched the others move, fight, react, a growing weight of shame settling in his chest.

"Should’ve acted sooner. I felt it.

The creature suddenly pulled itself together—and then vanished in a silvery mist.

Pain exploded beneath his ribs.

“Gah—damn it!”

He dropped to his knees, breath tearing from his lungs as panic surged. His hands fumbled at the wound, mind racing, vision tunneling.

"That’s bad. That’s real bad. Too deep—too sharp—"

He twisted, trying to find where the thing had gone, fear rising fast and hot—

Then warmth washed over him.

Light spilled across his senses, steady and reassuring, easing the pain just enough to keep him grounded. He looked up to see Kosara there and gave a short, grateful nod.

“Aye… thank ye. Ye’ve got my thanks.”

Slowly, with effort, he forced himself back toward his feet.

Nearby, bones clattered against stone, then scraped and clicked as they began to reassemble.

"What fresh hell is this now…"

As he stared at the reforming figure, something shifted. The noise of the room dulled. Motion blurred at the edges. His thoughts grew heavy, sluggish, as if wading through thick water.

"Why can I no’ look away…?"

The chaos around him faded into a distant hum, leaving only the thing before him, his mind slowing, sinking, the world narrowing until it felt like nothing else mattered.

@rivaan Your Up!

The battle was quick, brutal and turning mostly alright for the most part? Berry was pushing things around, V was throwing magic and silencing the screaming one! Glorious! Yes, probably for the best, the insistent screaming was starting to ring in her ears so the silence from that one was a very good thing indeed and of course Kathryn also lumbered into the room like a half giant force of reckoning and walked right into the glowing circle… that could possibly be bad.” HEY, BLAME THEM!” She replied to the half giant in an loud pouting manner at being blamed for causing this with the others. At least the duo was dealt with?

Kosara blinked in surprise just as she was bout to sing the victory jingle and do the victory dance when a pile of bones formed and rose.” AHH! A BONE DANGER ROPE!” She exclaimed, readying for battle when something halted her. She felt like she was looking at a very wavy bone snake… her movement halted her eyes focused… or unfocused maybe as her body very lightly swayed left and right, but otherwise unmoving as she stared at the monstrous snake entity that was pulling a reverse snake charmer on them! Well… given the state of Kosara, it was damn effective!

Sway left… sway right, mind followed as the scenery seemed to change into something more familiar to the pale tiefling… as she was in a hypnotic trance and seeing something very dear to her heart, her home! In her hypnotized state she was seeing things as she was puled into the trance. She was back at the oasis stop. Surrounded by the noise of people, her sisters dancing to entertain the guests and she was swaying with them. It was nice…

‘Wasn’t there something I have to do…?’ She thought briefly, but then dismissed it when she focused into the gentle sway and enjoying the taste of home.

@Sigil Sig update time... probably!

"Oh, but are you sure?" inquired Tarace, a hint of pleading in his voice.

"Yes, I am dead certain," replied Barbal, angrily applying jam to toast with the back of a spoon. "They knew we were going to be here, and they're still doing, er, whatever it is they're about down there. Loudly, I might add." His face took on a smug air as he motioned to the basket full of goodies, "Ungrateful, I say. Especially after we prepared those Ankheg sausages all nice - and with that herb blend you know I like, too."

Tarace didn't look like he fully believed Barbal's explanation of the probable events downstairs. In fact, he looked concerned, casting a glance in the direction of the open cellar door behind the bar. Then he noticed something quite appealing upon the polished wood of said bar. "Well, look at that, Barbal, dear: A cask of fine brandy!" He motioned to the tapped barrel upon the bar that Victoria and Kathryn had been sipping from, since the Hidden Distillery incident. "I'll tell you what: How about we relax and have a dram of this ...the branding says this is Rose River, and from a long time ago... yes, let us have a dram for our trouble, nice and slow. If they're not back up here for your lovely tea spread by then, I'll go down and see what all the fuss is. Deal?"

Barbal was willing to listen to the possibility of skimming a bit of alcohol, fine alcohol, for his efforts, especially if it was set out for service like that. "Hmm." He considered for a half second. Almost. "Deal."


Too fast. Too impossibly fast, the creature of bone and horror uncoiled and sped in an indirect path, winding about the stunned or otherwise occupied group of bipeds in the room with it. It shot off like an thing possessed, winding to the right of the glowing circle upon the ground, and crossing back in front of it, skirting past Morty and shooting past Lizbeth, thought its empty sockets seemed to give the girl fleeting notice as it passed by. The creature was moving out of the door, and into the cellar proper. From there, it was a scant handful of meters before it got up to the taproom, and to the guests therein.

Lizbeth was locked in a primal terror that she had not known in her lifetime. She had no idea why the others were standing there blankly - most of the others, anyway (even Morty, which was surprising) - but this meant next to triviality when the human-skulled snake sped right up to her, with the briefest of pauses. She could have sworn it was smiling at her. Smiling, as impossible as that might have been without skin to demonstrate any sort of derision, but the impression flashed into her psyche. The fear was interrupted for a fragment of a second, replaced in that startlingly temporary instant with embarrassment and outrage, tears immediately finding purchase on the girl's face even after the terror flashed back into dominance. Lizbeth was so unbelievably scared, but the curved chopping blade she had acquired from her grandfather's study found its way into her hand as something opened inside of her core.

She reacted with instinct. Anger, shame, fear, and a dose of something growing within her mixed with Kathryn's weapon and footwork drills. A tearful scream erupted from Lizbeth, now quite by herself in a crowded room, as her foreign blade lashed out at the creature when it passed by her. Swirling, thunderous energy passed from the sword as it struck the mobile collection of horror-bones, passing it along where it struck. The damage from the sword itself was textbook, so far as these things go, but after the creature traveled a few feet, the energy from the strike reasserted itself with a contained thunderclap, shaking its snake-like body into the nearby door frame and breaking small pieces of bone away. Lizbeth looked just as surprised as anyone, then immediately scrambled to the other side of Morty.

The creature gave the briefest of pauses, whether to right itself or express its own disbelief, and continued on a path that would eventually take it upstairs.



Back up above, there was another series of knocks from the front door. Heavy, solid thunks of a rough fist against solid wood. Not that anyone could hear it downstairs with all the commotion (that nobody invited the Mosswaters to - rudely), but someone up top might have. It looked like there might be quite the get-together assembling in the Coach House's Taproom for Tea.

It would be a shame if anything happened to spoil it.

@Arty Fox, Baronfjord's time to shine.

As if things couldn't get any worse! The grim delight seeing one of the villains felled quickly turned to horror at the monstrosity it became.

BlackBerry found himself swaying to the grotesque skeletal snakes movements. Left then right, then left, then right. The ribs and bones that made up the horrible creature looked almost fuzzy from behind BlackBerry's astral limbs and for a moment he thought about lowering them, until his eyes met the empty sockets of its skull.

Where the hell had the other skull gone?

The thing fled. The spell broke. BlackBerry swore, almost as colourfully as Lady Kathryn, as he lunged to strike the creature only to miss. If they didn't act soon the localised apocalypse could quickly become regional!

"After it!"

BlackBerry tore after the creature past the others and through the tunnel out into the basement proper. There he saw it had reached the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by crates and boxes it was knocking over, and turning its great mass towards the room above.

It had to be stopped! They couldn't let it get away!

His eyes snapped towards the door they had removed and left against the wall. No, it wouldn't do much, if anything, to slow down the creature.

He settled for the old faithfull approach instead; hitting it until it stops moving. He continued on towards the creature and crashed an Astral fist into its bony body. Cracks formed under the blow with a satisfying crunch. The second fist struck the same place more square on than the first but could do quite as much damage.

"Stand and fight, villain!" BlackBerry snarled up at the empty eye sockets.

He withdrew his sword from the scabbard. The Viscious blade shone brightly in the madened flickers of torchlight.

A slightly late post is better than no post...@Sigil roll for the save!!

Victoria was doing something, right? Of course she was in the middle of doing something. Victoria knew that she held her violin in one hand, so it stood to reason that her bow was in the other. She tried to focus. No, this was a dangerous situation - she had been playing her music to channel magic, and she knew exactly why. People were in trouble around her. She could see the trouble mid-happening, and she knew exactly what she needed to do. But something put a damper over her capacity to reason or act. Victoria was upright, but that hardly meant a thing. She was adrift in a sea of translucent mental fog, robbing her of opportunity. Maybe, if she was incapable of doing something herself, the tiny piece of herself which animated her undead companion likely might be able to do something for her.

Blank. Nothing. Nevermind then, either she was unable to have her Morty act through her condition, or the creature was likewise affected by this condition as well. Even if it could, Morty was acting as bodyguard to Lizbeth right now. Protecting the child was more important.

Okay, her Familiar, then. Maybe she could, at the very least, get her Raven in there to assist. Victoria couldn't move, couldn't speak enough to sing or spellcast, and had only the coordination to remain on her feet. But the Raven was capable of acting for itself, and telepathic communication was still possible. Or at least she thought. The Bard could tell that her Familiar was still in the Taproom, and issued the mental command, "...Help... ...distract. Cellar."

From above, within the main room of the Coach House, the quite still, unassuming form of a mostly unnoticed Raven perched upon an unused light fixture gave a sudden, barking, "CAW, CAW!" before it took to wing, moving past the Mosswaters (who were apparently unaware of the presence of the avian companion) and in the direction of the open cellar door.

@Shoe Thief Kathryn is up.

The deceptively vile and tricky creature had taken the chance to escape Kathryn's attempt at murder while she had tried, and failed at casting magic. BB was fast in pursuit though ready to unload into the fucker. Kathryn got ready to follow in chase when she noticed, no one else moved. They were all frozen. No.. Stunned?! A part of her wanted to stay and help them, but as the creature moved up stairs, Kathryn knew they were not the ones in danger. The Mosswaters who she had left upstairs were. As the creature made a beeline for the stairs, if it went upstairs it would have a clean shot at the halflings, or it would book it outside. Both options only boaed for more problems and bodies. It had to be dealt with first.

Kathryn watched as BB unloaded a load of hurt on the undead monstrosity. Kathryn was slower though, and would follow up as soon as BB unloaded his own load of personal hell on the creature. "Stay put mother fucker, I'm not done with you yet!" She called out as she swung the hammer forcefully into the front of the creature, causing it to stagger for just the slightest of moments. Enough for Kathryn to mutter a single word. "Stay." The word echoed for a brief moment as the runes that glowed and appeared to be heating the metal they were branded too. The split second the echoed word was spoken, Fiery chains erupted from the brickwork from every direction, enveloping the undead monstrosity from all sides, restraining it, and keeping it just still enough for Kathryn to unload pain into it.

The next blow came against its back, fiery sparks flying off the metal and bones as they collided. Pressing the advantage she had she sped up, hitting the undead creature on the back swing in the chest. Again the hammer glowed with fire and sparks, and the soft moonlit glow it normally held illuminating the debris that flew off the impacts even more. On one more final swing, Kathryn arced the warhammer overhead, and brought it down on the face of the bone snake, shattering its face into splinters. Glowing fragments launched in every direction, incinerated bits burning to ash, and indirect damage caused to each individual bone down the spine of the creature in a series of secondary shock waves as the chains heated up, and the blunt force from the magical hammer caused bones to separate and shatter down to the end of the tail.

With a sharp whistle, the fire chains glowed into an almost whitish fire, before a flash of light. Only to disappear as the bones shattered over the stairs and room. Kathryn breathed heavy. She was using a lot of magic she was not familiar with, she had forced her body through an extreme amount of physical exertion. And though she could handle the physical part normally, she really pushed herself this time. She reminded herself as well that magic was its own kind of exertion as she felt her body and mind trying to catch up to the stress. "BB... What in the ever loving hell was that all about?" Kathryn turned so her visor locked eyes with the dragon born. Breath weak as she took a moment to breath. She could keep fighting if need be, but not to that extent.

A crash in the other room - the sounds of swearing - and what amounted (she hoped) to victory. Her head was still swimming with what she hoped were the effects of a temporary condition, brought about by that interestingly arrangement of bones of unknown origin. Luckily enough for the Bard, her mind was clearing faster than she imagined it might, and the fuller use of her limbs returned in tandem. Victoria took some relief in the fact that she was able to contact her Familiar - her great, black Raven for which she still had to find a suitable name - even within her stupor. However, contact with her Thrall, Morty, was interrupted. There was some academic curiosity as to why that was. Perhaps the nature of a Familiar connection was closer, more personal, than that of an appropriated Thrall. Or maybe, the mindless boar was also somehow rendered inert by the power of the the snakey bone-creature.

Personal assessment over, she gave a quick glance around the rooms to see how the rest of her people were doing. Admittedly, some were rougher than others. Victoria's own head wound was relatively minor in comparison to other, more serious injuries sustained elsewhere. A drop in the bucket, which she might wrap up for herself in quick order. A little blood wasn't going to scare anyone here, and she could use a mote of magic to clean up any of her clothing it may have spilled upon. There were more qualified healers in the party then herself who could handle things and if help was needed, hopefully they knew to ask.

The thought did strike that, while she was in the middle of training in medicine and anatomy, Kosara's natural abilities to knit wounds far surpassed Victoria's own mundane ones. Or her magical ones. So her attention turned to the creatures who had attacked them. Victoria literally Shattered one of them, and the other two were pulverized by fist and hammer. Giving a glance in the direction of the fallen bone serpent, Victoria called to Kathryn, "Lady Knight, in all of your destructive glory," Victoria spoke playfully, even though her head was causing notable discomfort and another rivulet of life's crimson to color her face, "If you would be as kind, please leave the skulls of future conquests more or less intact." She gave the idea a moment of consideration before amending with a sly smile, "The interesting ones, I mean to say. I've an idea about furthering my education." If she could find the skull of this "Prince Farid", what a prize that would make for her. Despite the condition of the party, or even her own condition, the semi-scrupulous Half-Elf nearly grinned with anticipation of her latest personal goal.

"If none of you mind, I am perfectly content with continuing our plan from before this afternoon's ...diversions. I will attempt to identify the items we have found here, and translate anything that needs it while you tend to the aftermath. I believe Lizbeth still has - "

Victoria's eyes swept back to the girl, their hostess in this place, to see her condition. Yes, the items in question were still on or around her person, but she looked positively traumatized. The girl was shivering, with tears spilling from her eyes silently. One hand still held her short, yasmin bladed sword. Victoria tucked away her instrument with practiced ease and held her arms open to Lizbeth. Taking a tentative step forward, she half-whispered, "Oh, my dear, sweet girl - Come to me, I've got you. You're safe now." The eyes of the Bard were still rimmed in black, her face still bore the cosmetic marks of channeling necrotic energy, but her expression bore the the honest features of someone with genuine concern. "I've been where you are now, or very close to it. It will be okay, I promise. You were very brave."

Sobbing now, just a little at first but turning into a torrent which blissfully began to clear out the worst of her apprehension, Lizbeth absently crossed the distance to Victoria and latched onto her.

Coming out of a hallucination induced by a hostile magical abomination was a trippy experience. Kosara was enjoying the remembrance of home one moment, seeing all her favorite people, seeing the crowds, her sisters dancing, grandpa manning the bar… practically smelling and tasting the spices from the meals and of course hearing the music from her homeland. Then the next moment she blinked and it was all gone, replaced by the dark basement where everything came back in a flood of realization, rendering her still. If there was one thing she could linken it to, it would be that one time when she drank one of her sisters’ cups of milder hallucinogenic cactus water that she was going to be enjoying with a customer. Not her brightest idea in hindsight, but she was like 11 or so and she learned from then… to a degree.

Everything else was followed by the realization the danger rope wasn’t in the room with them and she could hear the noise from the room over as she blinked a few times and slowly turned around to look, just in case another undead jumps out of the bloody woodwork. Kosara’s right eyebrow developed a very clear twitch as she was about to do a Tiefling explosion of pure rage and chaos, storming over to the other room where the remains were and get very angry and violent about it, but hearing V and seeing Lizbeth’s condition made her halt.

The tiefling woman took a very deep breath, noting her injuries, but knowing she was in an alright enough shape all things considered. She looked around once more and calmed herself as best as she could, her eyebrow still twitching though less so.” I think we better secure the place and regroup back at the main floor...” The tiefling suggested, noting that Lizbet was seemingly better. Not surprising, Kosara was feeling the urge to come over and give V hugs and depend on her soothing pleasant presence and listen to that voice all day long too. Apparently the bard was extremely good at soothing distraught damsels in distress. Good to know!

“Alright, let’s leave this place to somewhere better lit up, grab a cup of tea, wine, brady or a mix of any of those and let me get some healing done for any of the injuries. My magical energies recover very quickly so I will be back in top shape in no time to heal more if the need arises.” Unsaid went the fact she REALLY wanted to stomp on the bone abomination.

Weather: While still quite cold, we're in what is likely the warmest part of the day. The temperature hovers above freezing, if barely, though only the spots with direct sunlight get the benefit of appreciable melt. The wind is, per usual, unpleasant, and there is the bite of continued dampness upon it. This might be on account of the slight melt, or this could be the promise of more snow in the near future.

Time: It is Time for Tea. Teatime, one might say. This puts us squarely in the middle-end of the afternoon, approaching early evening.

Ambience: The cellar retains its cool, preservative feel, despite the minor battle just fought within, as does the study. Of course, calling it a "study" at this point is relatively pointless, as the nature of personal edification in that room quite possibly bent toward the nefarious. Though that might be subject to some scrutiny. The center of this study floor bore the slightly glowing, red marks of what appeared to be a magic circle (despite the oddity of someone intentionally standing in it a minute or so ago), and still, it isn't quite enough light to see anything by except for itself. Light sources in here are limited to that which was brought in from outside.

The door to the study, proper, remains off of its hinges, and the secret door behind the shelving stands open. And as long as we're talking about doors, the one to the Taproom is wide open, admitting the ambient light of the floor above to barely penetrate past the stairs.

The study remains furnished as it was earlier, if a little more jumbled by the application of a quick and dirty battle - desk, table, cells, crates, bookshelf, and the funny looking circle on the floor. Now, there are the minor additions to the rooms in the form of corpses. One is a mostly desiccated dead fellow in the bottom cell, another is in the middle of the room (this one skeletal, squat, and thick boned), and another bony entity near the stairs to the next floor, though this one is much larger, more reptilian, and scarier overall. Luckily, they all appear to be inert.




Upatairs, in the Taproom, the Mosswaters show occasional bits of concern as to the odd noises of whatever event they weren't invited to, though this is mixed with a tiny bit of obstinance while they continue to set up a table for tea, suspecting that it will be for many people. As such, the traditional items for a proper Tea of the region are present; bread and jam, naturally, but tiny pickle sandwiches and chopped fish canapes, spiced cookies, seed cake, and cold roast chicken make prominent appearances. Already, Barbal has decided to help himself to a dram or two of the brandy from the hidden distillery, and Tarace has moved to open the door to whomever is raining heavy blows upon it. "Half a moment, I can't quite get the door..." he said, noting that the door latch was giving him a little grief. It was designed for people a bit taller than himself, Halfling that he was, but that's nothing that a good, sharp motion or the application of a stool wouldn't fix straightaway.

Barbal, cup now full of the dark liquor from the cask on the bar, suggested, "Find out if whoever that is'll be staying for Tea. We have enough, even if the tall folk downstairs ever get up here." He shook his head. The proclivities of outsiders, especially outsider adventuring folk, would probably always elude him.

Downstairs, Lizbeth seemed to feel some better about herself. Apparently, Victoria's words were exactly what she needed to hear in that moment. Tears were still forming from the girl's eyes, but it was much less hysterical and much more controlled. Lizbeth was now venting emotions, not being swallowed by them. After a few tense moments of what was hopefully mental self-healing, she pulled away with a renewed determination. "Okay, Mademoiselle Belmont. I'll get these things up to a table. Did you want me to get any of your books?" She hesitated for just a second and then asked a follow-up, "You said that you would teach me more about Arcana, so I can understand stuff that's happening to me, right? Do you have any idea what I did to the snake thing when I hit it? That felt strange." Without waiting for an answer, really, Lizbeth gathered up the items from the cache in the wall and stepped past the bones upon the floor with increasing levels of anxiety. She did find herself back in the door to the Taproom and just beyond, almost delighted to see the Mosswaters. Quick pleasantries aside, the young lady placed her items on a table near to a corner, and stood near to them while looking over the setup that her Halfling neighbors brought with them. A touch of a smile, or at least a tiny lessening of her distraught feelings peeked through. Kosara, she reasoned, had a good idea about the tea.

"Well you see, Lady Kathryn." BlackBerry stared down at the smouldering fragments of bone strewn about e room. He looked up at her and stated, "I simply have not the vaguest idea. One moment there we were investigating and making admittedly not as much progress on such investigation as one would have liked, the next some skeletal villains were attempting to cause some trouble for us."

He kept his sword out for a moment as Victoria, Lizbeth, and Kosara each made their presence known and voice their own ideas on the matter. He noted with some relief and appreciation for Victoria when he saw her quickly swooping in to comfort Lizbeth. BlackBerry meanwhile chewed his cheek to stop himself from scolding the silly girl for not getting herself out the fight as soon as it had started; there would be time for that later once the dust had settled.

Blackberry simply clicked his tongue while sheathing his sword, and the fiery limbs at his shoulders flickered out of the world. Not for the first time today he seemed to visibly wither from exhaustion with an appropriately pathetic sniffle.

"Tell a lie. There was something before actually; Victoria had been trying to ah..communicate with one of the cell occupants, that was when it was discovered it was ...well... not entirely dead."

Yet another piece of the puzzle. And yet still there was no obvious answer. Blackberry frowned heavily at the thought but brightened at Kosaras suggestion of a cup of tea.

"Oh and a good slice of honey on bread or something to go with it would be marvellous." Blackberry smacked his lips despite shattered bone at his feet. "I say is everyone quite well? Daxos, good sir I must say you took a nasty attack in there. Do you need a hand up the stairs at all? If anyone could please grab the books and wands on the table please before we head upstairs, I should still like to read them for anything that may help us."

The child was okay. This had, oddly, become important to Victoria as of late. They had similarities, she and Lizbeth, but whereas Victoria's foray into the postmortem arts had been voluntary (academic, even), Lizbeth's was thrust upon her with every breath she took from the day of her birth. All the same, the Bard recalled trying times in her own history, coming to grips with how her art was changing her. "You either press forward or let it consume you," she thought, hoping that their juvenile hostess would choose the former. Again, to her own surprise, Victoria wanted to make sure that it worked out that way for the girl.

"Funny," she whispered within the confines of her mind, "A couple of months ago, all I wanted to do was get to the coast and charter a ship to the north." Circumstances certainly had a way of changing one's mind.

She looked to the girl to whom she had just given comfort, smiled, and said, "Thank you. Yes, please get that to a table upstairs, and don't worry about my books, I will handle that part myself. If you want to observe Ritual Magic, you are quite welcome to. If you truly are what I believe you to be, you shouldn't be innately able to use Ritual Magic as I do. Nevertheless, this will be edifying. Knowledge of general magic can only help you understand your own."

Victoria gave a long look at her potential pupil and, despite the slow seep of her head wound, gave a strikingly positive expression and swept herself confidently toward the stairs leading back up to the taproom. There were light, dexterous steps as the fiery haired Half-Elf danced around pieces of shattered bone on her way out. Lizbeth was tight on her heels, followed by Morty (who was admittedly a little less spry of foot). Her hands were occupied with a scroll case, the crystal shard pendant, a small box wrapped in oilcloth, and the wands from the table. As Victoria passed by the destroyed bone-snake, she mused aloud, "I daresay the cleaning lady may never recover." It was delivered with light-hearted sarcasm, as a person attempting to lighten the mood.

Upon returning to the Taproom, Victoria extended her arms in an open, welcoming gesture when she realized that they had company. "Oh my, it is so amazing to see the both of you! Monsieurs Mosswater, it had completely slipped my mind that we had a Tea appointment today. My apologies, sincerely. We had a ...tiny incident in the cellar... that seemed to throw off our schedule for the day. Again, very sorry. And what a lovely arrangement you brought for us! Thank you; everything looks lovely. Just exquisite." She crossed the room to get to her small errand cart, pushed up along the wall in an out-of-the-way spot, and secured for herself her Ritual book, along with two more texts. "Regretfully, I may have to keep my time with you shorter than the others. I will try very hard to keep my work quiet, as not to disturb you all."

Victoria took the books over to the corner table which Lizbeth had set the items upon, and made sure she had room for her books and ritual materials. Casting bones, the marked black cloth, her carved femur flute, and her ever-present violin were made available, as were a couple of candles and a pearl set within a clasp. Not that it would be absolutely necessary, but her silver raven skull pendant and coin from the Jasidan temple were pinned upon her breast and tucked into her hatband, respectively. One last glance to the setting for Tea and she remarked, "Are those canapes? I might be persuaded to postpone for minute or two." Despite the still present line of arterial red on the side of her visage, Victoria delivered the line with a sense of disarming joviality. She then smiled in a businesslike, almost predatory manner before cracking her knuckles and stating, "Let's get to work, then."

Morty, the ever-silent, burlap wrapped, porcine personal attendant took its attention away from Lizbeth, now that the emergency was handled. It trotted over next to where its mistress was seated and took up its usual stance, per mental instruction. The pair was soon joined by the fluttering of swift, black-feathered wings and studious eyes as Victoria's Raven lit upon the back of a nearby chair, cawed once, and was still.

Kathryn took a deep breath as the battle ended. Turning to BB her breath condensing under her helmet she audibly sighed. "I.... I don't even know what to say to that dude... Please stop getting into so much trouble every time I leave ya yeah?" Kathryn said to BB in a rather joking matter. More worried about how things unfolded. Though she was sure the party could have handled things, she worried what sort of punishment they would have taken had she not been able to get down as fast as she did. What if someone had gotten really hurt? What if someone had died? Things were too close... way too close. "Not actually dead? Again? Fucking hell... This place is getting weird..." Kathryn said, air deflating from her lungs.

Kathryn took a moment to notice Lizbeth struggling with the events that took place. Victoria thankfully happened to be close by to help which gave Kathryn some comfort. Some. Kathryn wished she was in a better position to help her student. The girl who was much like a younger sister to her now. But she also didn't want to overwhelm the poor girl. As Victoria left to go return to her studies Kathryn replied to her comments. "I'll keep my destructive efforts more controlled next time. Hopefully making the cleanup a little easier too." She did pity whoever would get stuck with cleaning. Kathryn was a poor cleaner herself... But she hated putting off work to others. It was a terrible conundrum. "Hey Lizbeth, when you're done studying with Victoria, you should relax some. Join us for treats and tea." Kathryn offered to the small bean so she had a moment to distract from the chaos of... all of this.

Making her way upstairs back to the mosswaters, Kathryn removed her helm. Which other than the moisture buildup, hadn't even seen a scratch. Other than some old ones from bumping her head against the door frames.... "Apoligies gentlemen for the holdup. We should be okay now." Kathryn spoke in her most innocent noblewoman voice. Still covered in bone bits and dust.