"Most certainly! Those are the details I embellish!" Marcelin promptly answered Kain as he began plucking an unseen string, thinking how much a lira would add to his performance, and continued his verses.

"A snack the shapeshifting creatures wanted,
Thinking that, in hunger, it was warranted.
Yet golden prey became their fall,
For magic answered fang and call.
Those alluring scales of radiant gold,
Left them ruined, claimed by mold!"

Actions
1 - The Tale of Victory (FLUX) on the whole party - Magic F (E) + Magic Range F + Targets F + Bolster [STR] F + Bolster [INT] F + Energized F + Focus F - Marcelin inspire tales of grandeur of his comrades, affecting their outcome in battle - Grade F 0 Post Cooldown

"“Let us see what awaits us behind that door, and my brave companions shall promptly deal with it in the most decisive and narratively satisfying manner!"

"I'd leave the 'nearly getting eaten' but in." Samuel replied as Kain lifted the bracing and freed the door. "Makes the reversal and triumph all the more heroic." His deadpan delivery made it difficult to distinguish whether it was sarcasm or sincere. "Let's leave it up to Marcelin. He's the storyteller after all..."
The Gambler took his position at the rear of the party and readied his response, should the door contain any dangers.

Actions:
1) Prepare response:
ready to use 'Hedge Your Bets' to shield anyone that might need it.

2) Observe:
Try to see past the door to what lies beyond.

Clarisse stayed toward the back of the group still. She was best back there for the time being anyway with the magic that she could use at a range. Though she couldn’t help but sigh a tad when Kain moved through the hall like nothing could go wrong.

The first thing was obvious, stepping on the floorboards quickly made a strange sound under them like metal rubbing against metal almost in a pattern that was reminiscent of a bird’s call, plus the creaking boards.

“I do hope that doesn’t mean anything important..” She continued, but since nothing immediately happened it seemed safe enough. It did seem Kain was able to shift the block out of it’s place on the door, and without anything immediately bad happening, Clarisse followed behind the group as they moved.

Everyone felt a bit stronger, and more clear in mind when Marcelin used his bolstering abilities once again, it likely made moving the large door block even easier for Kain.

When the large doors opened, it was a good thing that Samuel had readied “hedge your bets" cards flying around everyone to help protect them.

As soon as Kain took his step into the doorway, the sound of five muskets being fired rang out throughout the space, and Tanegashima musket balls went flying at the group, two toward Kain one at everyone else.

There were more skeletons wearing light worn gunner armor from Kuridan, this time with conical flat topped jingasa hats , five in a front row behind what looked like a barricade made of miscellaneous wood debris, that was just the right height for them to fire over, in the hallway from the group. They were about 30 ft away from the door. The space the same width as the hallway the group just came from.

Immediately the skeletons began to reload after their first shots like clockwork, granted albeit slower than their living counterparts.

The hallway behind the door also began a gradual incline up, and it became apparent that there was another row of five skeletons behind another barricade, about 30 ft away from the first line, who looked like they were at the ready to fire but did not yet.

The light looked dimmer down the hall but it was clear that there was another door further down.

Besides that in the space, there were some primitive looking old wooden crates next to the door which they had just opened on the left , and what looked like a few barrels with beastial labels on them just off to the right of the door. Some of the labels looked bolder and like they were some sort of hazard warning.

Combat start summary:

There be two rows of five skeletons behind make shift wooden barricades, the first row is 30 ft away from the door and they opened fire immediately when it opened with sightlines. Kain has x2 musket attacks coming his way due to being in the front.

Everyone else has X1 musket attack. coming their way.

The hallway behind the door gradually inclines upward, providing the second row of skeletons the ability to fire over the first line and avoid friendly fire, but they are not firing yet, the reason not disclosed.

There are some old wooden boxes off to the left of the door the group just opened. As well as three barrels to the right that are just out of the line of fire where the skeletons are shooting. The barrels have labels written in Beastial but even a non reader could likely tell some of the text is warnings.

The barricades are just tall enough for the skeletons to stand up and fire, then crouch behind when they’re reloading.

"Good heavens, what a welcome!" Marcelin exclaimed in surprise as soon as the shorts were fired towards the group. Without wasting time, he acted to counter the salvo of bullets. "Let me rewrite your poor prose, Mana Bolt!" And, scribing with his catalyst quill on the air in front of him, he fired a magical salvo of his own thrice against them.

Actions:
1 - Mana Bolt (Flux) - Magic F (E) + Magic Range F + Magic Targets E (F) + Energized F - 30ft of range, up to 10 targets - Grade F 0 Post Cooldown - 6 Base Effectiveness
2 - Mana Bolt (Flux) - Magic F (E) + Magic Range F + Magic Targets E (F) + Energized F - 30ft of range, up to 10 targets - Grade F 0 Post Cooldown - +1 combo
3 - Mana Bolt (Flux) - Magic F (E) + Magic Range F + Magic Targets E (F) + Energized F - 30ft of range, up to 10 targets - Grade F 0 Post Cooldown - +1 combo

Caution proved the correct response even though gamblers seldom 'played it safe'. "At least it wasn't a Crossfire..." Samuel quipped over the crack of the undead riflemen's fusillade. "Let's double down and call. See if I can throw a wildcard into the mix to break their rhythm..."
Samuel called on his magic to reinforce the protection his Hedge Your Bets extended to the party and followed up with a little something for his skeletal opponents.

Actions#
1) Recast Hedge, adding Magic Duration F, onto the Party.

**Hedge Your Bets**
Barrier E + Magic E + Magic Range F + Magic Targets F + Magic Duration F + Skill Loan F [Resist: Full Physical F]

One of the Huckster's core abilities, *Hedge Your Bets* functions as damage mitigation for their party members.
Samuel may choose up to 5 individual targets, including himself, in a 30 foot range to be the recipient of Barrier & Resist: Full Physical that may soak a limited amount of damage. The Barrier appears as a number of swirling cards surrounding their target; the number of cards decreases as the Barrier soaks damage, extending its protective magic.
*Effect: 7 HP*
*Grade: E Cool down: 1* (Duration F: 1 hour)

2) Hit the visible row of skeletons with Reshuffle to throw off the timing of their rifle fire.
**Reshuffle**
Magic F + Magic Range F + Enervation F + Magic Targets F

Targets of *Reshuffle* suffer a jarring inability to access certain actions, skills and abilities while under the effects of this Spell.

Grade: F, Actions: 1 Cooldown: 0

3) Defend with Block Action (if necessary).

At the gun fire the party countered it with two strategic moves. First was Marcelin’s fluxed mana bolts which struck the shots themselves with a midair clash, and it looked like the projectiles themselves had been made less small, burned off by the magic, so when they actually hit their targets they hit the hedge your bets protection barrier which Samuel had put up barely even seeming to damage them.

Where Marcelin got further use was the next volley of bolts hit the skeletons who while they were reloading and getting ready to fire suddenly looked like they were trying to fire their weapons but it was as if their hands would not complete the action, thanks to Samuel’s follow up disruption spell. This allowed Marcelin’s bolts to strike some of the skeletons in the first row visibly damaging their old armor, with magical sear marks the material weakening further.

Kain stayed toward the front with the additional protection on him, his barrier looking abit less sturdy thanks to the two shots that hit

With the cover he called down divine surge, hitting the closest skeleton to him with lightning, which was Tanegashima Skeleton #3, it’s bones became charred after the attack.

Afterward Clarisse decided that she’d help lay on the damage. She moved through the doorway near the crates and cast her spell.

“[Lum Adiuvare Froz!]” She’d call out in terran with her fan held out as she cast, and suddenly five modest sized icicles that were pale and covered in a radiant light went flying at all five skeletons in the front row, they appeared to impale them on impact and cause am immediate smoking caused from the radiance damage. Between the coordinated attacks, the first row of skeletons fell, after their inferior old armor being damaged and them taking multiple direct hits.

“Let’s move up and keep on the pressure!” Clarisse announced to the group after the fact. The second row of skeletons looked like they were starting to aim but were not firing.

Clarisse actions:

1. Move to front of crates

2. Cast
Lum Adiuvare Froz! - Magic E + Light Affinity F + Magic Targets F + Magic Range F + Magic Affinity Penetration F+ Selective E + Energized E
Clarisse creates up to five radiant icicles to strike up to 30 ft away to better illuminate a space or strike targets dealing radiance damage. Ignores one grade of target’s defensively used item.

Kain actions:
Cast Divine Surge(Flux): [Elemental] Affinity [Lightning] F, Magic F, Magic Augmentor F [Range]. (Grade F, Cooldown 0.) (Lighting strikes a single target within 30 feet of Kain for immediate damage.) On Tangashima Skeleton #3

"Marvelous! Let's give them no quarter, huzzah!" Marcelin shouted, already advancing just like Clarisse had suggested. Light on his step, the storyteller would quickly move forward 20ft [action 1]. And, as he took the very last step, he lifted his quill and began waving it around like a maestro's conductor rod.

"Storming into the defense of their foes,
Leaving the poor fellows in woes,
Brittle skeletons with pale skulls,
They don't know any better! They are quite dull!"

His sing-song prose empowered him and his allies [action 2], moments before he fired another salvo of mana bolts towards second rolls of skeletons [action 3].

Actions:
1 - Move 20ft towards the second row of skeletons
2 - The Tale of Victory (FLUX) - Magic F (E) + Magic Range F + Magic Targets F + Bolster [STR] F + Bolster [INT] F + Focus F + Energized F - Marcelin inspire tell tales of grandeur of his comrades, affecting their outcome in battle - Grade F 0 Post Cooldown
3 - Mana Bolt - Magic E + Magic Range F + Magic Targets F + Energized E + Focus E - 30ft of range, up to 5 targets - Grade E 0 Post Cooldown - 7 Base Effectiveness

Having thrown off the skeleton fusiliers' regimented fire, Samuel took the opportunity to move forward and avail himself of the cover offered by the opposite side of the riflemen's first barricade.
He figured he might as well use the time to move up and put more of his opponent in range of his magic. Being a self-taught mage he hadn't mastered the ability to move and cast like more formally trained magic users like Clarisse.
During his mad dash to cover, he took the opportunity to scope out the riflemen more closely.

Actions:
1) Move
-run towards the lee side of the riflemen's barricade and take cover. He'll take another Move if it takes that much to cover the distance.

2) **Spotting A Tell**
Appraisal F + Insight F

Hucksters are adept at sussing out clues as to their opponent's weaknesses, flaws and hidden strengths.

*Grade: F Cooldown: 1*

Marcelin used his magical sing song prose which bolstered his allies, Kain, Clarisse and Samuel all felt a bit stronger and like their mind was sharper suddenly once more.

He then fired more bolts of magical energy, which struck and singed the 2nd line of skeleton’s armor. Thankfully for him, Kain moved in assertively and bought the group some time as three out of five of the 2nd row of skeletons opened fire on him and struck the card barrier, which while looking heavily damaged on Kain now, was exactly what the group needed him to do so that they could try to take the skeletons out.

One of the remaining two skeletons fired on Clarisse and the other one fired on Marcelin but the hit didn’t do much against Samuel’s card barrier support, and was weakened by his second volley of magic bolts which broke the skeletons’ remaining old armor.

Samuel’s appraisal told him that they had [Skeleton] [Monster] and [Tangashima Kaichi] titles on them, but a higher grade of appraisal would likely be needed to reveal a lot more than that. But it was clear to Samuel from his insight that they seemed to be reacting more instinctually not unlike constructs, rather then having much thoughtful looking strategy. Even as the skeletons tried to take cover while they reloaded it wasn’t fast enough.

Clarisse made her way forward 20 ft as well before she cast “[Lux Terra Percutius!]” five sizable runic fists glowing with radiance energy runes went flying and struck all five skeletons after their armor had been weakened by Marcelin’s magical barrage. Bones cracking and breaking at the heavy hit, getting burned a bit again at the radiance damage, the skeletons likely weak to it.

There wasn’t any more immediate movement in the room afterwards as bones clattered to the ground some broken behind the small barricade lines that had been made, however an audible creaking sound could be heard and it sort of sounded like it was coming from near the door, not inherently behind it but it was a bit odd to say the least, like it was localized in that general area.

Clarisse actions:
1. Move 20 ft toward second line
2. Use Lux Terra Percutius! - Magic E, Light Affinity F, Earth Affinity E, Magic Targets F, Accurate Affinity F Magic Range F, Focus E Energized E,
Clarisse causes up to five fists conjured from earth and light to bash up to five foes for light and earth affinity damage, up to 30 ft away. -E grade ability ( cooldown 0, Energized)

"Another victory! The only acceptable result for honorable adventurers." Marcelin said in absolute self-satisfaction, rummaging inside his satchel to produce the piece of parchment he had been scribbling on. For a few moments, his attention was fully dedicated to the task; rapid and dexterous scratches could be heard as the tip of the quill slid against the textured surface.

After a bit, however, the task came to a sharp stop. The storyteller's gaze changed, becoming more critical, and his eyes moved left and right, reviewing what he had just written. "Mmmm... not quite, not quite. It will certainly flow better after the first edits." He said so to himself before walking over the barricades and peeking behind them for anything amiss or interesting.

"Once more, we encountered the undead! I would not be surprised if an ancient lich were expecting us." This time he directed himself at both Samuel and Clarisse. "Do any of you, per chance, know holy magic or miracles?" He looked at them, tilting his head sideways slightly.

"Where I'm from there's a saying: 'Dont count your winnings til the dealing's done'..." Samuel cautioned. "There's likely to be more an' worse around here before we hit the final floors." He turned to Clarisse as he looked for the odd sounds scratching around, "The parchment said to clear the first four floors, was it? How far down are we now, you reckon?"
As if to answer Marcelin's question, Samuel nodded his head negatively about possessing holy magic. "No Holy Magic for me and the only Miracles I have access to are the one I make myself."

When the dust had settled and nothing else was moving in the room, Clarisse’s eyes narrowed a bit while she stopped and listened. Before after waiting a while she stopped.

“Oh, it’s not that involved, we’re merely meant to clear the first floor boss, which in this case the area considered the ‘first floor’ are these areas that we’ve been clearing. We do not need to clear another three levels that would be quite a tall ask for people who are..brand new. Not to say you couldn’t come back and try it for another job.” She stated in a bit of a less judgmental phrased way.

“We should be getting pretty close to the boss if that number of enemies was to go by..which I’ll say usually if you run into a lot of monsters on early floors..usually means you’re getting close.”

She then gave Marcelin a smug look, “What do you think the light infused in my elemental magic has been for? It’s not just to look pretty, magic that causes harm through radiance tends to harm undead more then other kinds, it’s why the skeletons were sizzling earlier, of course ‘holy magic’ could potentially be even more potent.”

“Naturally, my magic coverage is pretty extensive, but that’s because, let’s face it I’m…much more talented than my peers back at the academy Ohohohoho.” She fanned herself a bit as she gave a haughty laugh.

While Macelin looked through the barricades, he’d find that there were some more small looking monster cores near the skeletons that were no longer moving. He could pretty easily collect some of them if he so decided too. There was also what looked sort of like a modest sized really old dark bottle of some sort of alcohol based on the smell, it was labeled in beastial.

“If we’re ready lets get a move on.”

Kain nodded in agreement and moved over confidently before he opened the door like before using his enhanced strength.

Upon opening the door, yet another hallway was revealed, one which had similar mat flooring, and had a few stone statues depicting soldiers lined on either side periodically.

It was similarly sized but flat and at the end was an even larger ornate wooden door, with bestial talisman written like warnings plastered all over it, it looked like the wooden bar had already been removed from it, thrown off to the side.

But the scene was quickly intense, there was a young adult man with wolf ears and a tail who looked like he was wearing simple dark lacquered scale armor, with leg guards, a sash, and a plain sack on his back that looked like a backpack. his hair was Shaggy and medium length, dark his eyes an amber, looking more human than beast. It looked like he had dropped a katana on the ground, and he was writhing in pain, the creaking was from his feet hitting the floor boards, which were very bloodied.

The immediate issue was apparent, one of the stone ashigaru statues had impaled him with it’s stone spear, blood trickled out of his mouth, as he looked over to the group. He gasped and winced in pain, not even looking like he could speak, the breathing heavy and ragged.

Not wanting to waste a moment and wagering that he wouldn't be walking into immediate danger, Samuel rushed to the injured wolf-warrior. "Not sure I can do much, but lay still and I'll do what I can..." The Gambler had it admit things looked bad with the stone spear piercing the warrior's armor but luck had a way of making things look worse than they really were...and that's where Samuel's magic shined. "What happened to you?" he thought keeping the warrior's mind occupied on the here & now might help keep him conscious. At least that's how it always worked on TV back home on Earth.

Actions:
1) Move : to the warrior's side.
2) Draw Two : use Healing | F | on the warrior.

Marcelin seemed surprised with Clarisse's explanation of her magic, letting out an exasperated 'Oooooh'. "As expected of someone of your caliber, Lady Clarisse. I'm certain you put even the most experienced of mages from the Grand Duchy to shame!" The storyteller said, removing his feathered hat and giving her a deep bow.

As for Samuel, he nodded thoughtfully. "Sometimes, self-made miracles are all we can hope for, isn't it?" Marcelin smiled.

Next, as he investigated the barrier, the monsters' cores caught his attention. "Mmmm..." Slowly, his gaze slid towards the old bottle of alcohol instead. "... maybe this can be useful." Picking it up and carrying with him.

In the next chamber, he approached the wounded warrior after Samuel, shaking the bottle of alcohol. "Something to drink to ease the pain?" Marcelin was ready to help the warrior drink it, depending on his reaction. Truly, the storyteller didn't quite know if the alcohol was still good or not.

Kain made his way over to the statue quickly and used his enhanced strength to break the stone spear, to liberate the injured beastman.

“I hope this helps mortal!” Kain announced matter of fact. They quickly bled more after wincing, but Samuel helped to change the fate, as the wound didn’t look as deep as it had been.

Clarisse made her way over as well and announced, “[Lume Satem M!]” a healing light ball coming from her fan and washing over the injured man, combining with Samuel’s heal for a team up.

The wolf warrior looked to Marcelin during the healing and, reached his hand out to grip the bottle, and if Marelin let him have it, the wolf took a big swig of the alcohol.

“Thanks..” He spoke back in common, before offering what was left of the bottle back to him. Even after the healing he spit up some blood, his armor still broken but the flesh where he had been pierced at least looked like it was closing up if albeit slowly given it was healing F that had been used in both instances.

“We were..trying to get to the floor boss.. I heard you all fighting in the other room.But we got around it completely..there was a hidden passage that lets you move through some of the walls..” He gestured to a panel in the room that wasn’t that far away.

“The floor boss is behind that door..” He’d point to the big one where the wood had already been removed.

“Unfortunately I made the mistake of unknowingly signing up with two criminals to come here, they presented as more experienced adventurers said they could come here..help me get to a lower floor so that I could rank up faster in the guild..but the knew that this statue trap would stab me and likely kill me..they took all my beast yen…and my mythril tanto..my ring..left me here for dead..said they were gonna report back to the guild that I was killed in action..while they maintained their disguise and now they’re probably in their killing the boss..you better watch out, they’re pretty strong..if you’re a bunch of new guild members..you might be better getting on out of here actually..how could I have been so foolish..”

Kain and Clarisse listened carefully to what was said.

Clarisse actions:
1. Move near injured warrior
2. Team up Heal them using Lume Satem M! - Magic F (flux), Light Affinity F, Earth Affinity E, Magic Targets F, Accurate Affinity F Magic Range F, Energized F,
Clarisse casts a minor light of healing to help heal, up to five allies up to 30 ft away. -F grade ability ( cooldown 0, Energized)

Marcelin let the wounded beastkin have the bottle of alcohol while he listened to what had happened to him. "Criminals posing as guild adventurers?! Tch, the rapscallions get bolder by each passing day!" The storyteller seemed none too pleased with that development. "To possibly sully an otherwise almost perfect tale, the scandal!"

Crossing his arms over his chest, he began thinking about something. "I suppose there are two ways we can go about this: either rush the room and pincer these criminals, leaving them to contend with both us and the boss at the same time. Or..." A small smile appeared on his lips. "... we could wait just behind that very door. As soon as they have defeated the boss, we rush inside and attack them by surprise.

His emerald eyes slowly slide towards the ornate wooden door. "I feel the first could cause a bit more panic between them. Regardless of what we choose, however, I will still need to decide on what will go in this tale." Marcelin turned to both Samuel and Clarisse. "Excellent work on the healing magic by the way."

"Well, it's a gamble either way." Samuel nodded in agreement as Marcelin laid out the possibilities ahead of them. "It's always a good idea to know the players across the table before 'dealing in'." The Gambler checked on the beast warrior as the healing magics took hold, trying to assess his recovery. "What can you tell us about the ones than ambushed you? Thieves, Casters, warriors? If we're going to even the odds against us, we need to know what and who we're dealing with...”
Not that they'd been exactly strategizing or using solid party tactics up to this point, but facing dual enemy forces calls for a modicum of teamwork a notch above.

While Marcelin and Samuel reacted to what the beastman warrior had to say, Clarisse stayed still other than occasionally fanning herself. Her expression looking more serious than before when she heard the crime that had been committed. She couldn’t tell off the bat what rank this warrior was in the guild, presumably newer, either a newb or perhaps the next rank up from that, granted she could

ld only presume he was from an adventurer guild in Kurdian, even if that was presumptuous. She did however continue to make use of healing F, since the wound was more serious then what F typically covered alone even with a team up, as it eventually closed with the prolonged healing period.

But it wasn’t much longer that she was in thought that suddenly the wolf warrior’s eyes dilated and he began to tense his muscles which looked more defined in his arms, as it looked like he rippled with some almost purplish aura.

“I..feel strong! Really strong! Either your magic is potent or that sake is really good! Thank you!” He grinned more confidently now after practically nearing death’s door earlier.

“Tch it wouldn’t surprise me if my magic made you feel so good.” Clarisse boasted some with a bit of a smug look, of course knowing full well that healing F wasn’t exactly impressive from her and fundamentals in healing was all she had learned so far. Looking to Marcelin with a pleased look at his praise, like a ‘it’s only natural’ look.

It looked like Clarisse was in thought again but then there was a large crashing sound behind the boss door, as well as what sounded like could have been some explosions that were muffled behind the door.

The wolfman then looked to Samuel after his question and spoke,

“Yes it was a melee fighter whose very agile. They used twin daggers, their slashes had energy behind them which could travel and they were able to hit multiple targets.
There was also a magic caster with from what I could tell fairly strong combat magic, to me they didn’t look like a Republic native, no I think they were from the West Empire with the style of casting they used..strong fire magic and arcane energy.”

Clarisse listened carefully, before nodding.

“Well while I suppose I'm open to hear other's thoughts my opinion is that I think we wait it out and let the commoners sort it out for us..then we can take care of them once they’re weakened from the fight with an ambush, with powers like that I imagine that they’ll finishing up soon anyway.” Clarisse simply stated.

“You’ll still get your inspiration for songs..once we put the criminals in the ground. I’d recommend we spare their lives if possible so we can bring them to the proper authorities.” She’d also add, sounding quite confident.

Marcelin listened attentively to the description of the culprits, letting out a low hum. "So a melee fighter and a fire mage from the West Empire." He seemed to ponder things for a moment. "Seems like quite the pair to fight against. As for waiting for them to finish dealing with whatever is waiting behind that door, I don't object. Hopefully we won't be surprised with a... 'rare drop', I think they call it." His emerald eyes locked towards the door again, focused on the muffled sounds he could hear behind it.