"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;" - William Shakespeare
The uneven count of footfall gently echoed about the carved, dug out walls of the catacombs. However, what was especially clear about this particular dugout of catacombs was its vastness. Shelves of the dead were present on both sides. Some of them were hardly dead-looking at all and could've appeared to be almost fresh off the battlefield were it not for the mild deterioration of their bodies. Stiff corpses lined the walls. The two groups neared what seemed to be a general central point of the catacombs, evident by its layout; and how even more corridors seemed to branch from it. From Audric Kraus' group, Tsetsiliya made an off-handed joke about the dead, but received no correction given it was Kathar bodies that surrounded them. What stole the attention of the groups was the soft, sudden chill of air that swept down from one of the rightmost corridors. Yet as this presumably mundane, cavernous breeze carried on as gentle as a feather's graze, a sound trickled from the farthest corners of the tunnels. A hum originating from a soft voice that seemed to follow an erratic pattern, like the uneven breakage from wrenching sobs.
Both excursion groups made their advance down the tunnel from which the sound came from. Soon stone shifted to bone. Before the groups could quite gather their bearings, there they stood in a room far larger than the initial catacomb Relveth discovered yet dark as the rest had been. The room itself was practically made out of bone itself. Bone walls hugged the dugout walls themselves and shot upward to form some sort of building. In this proximity, the sound could be heard clearer: the sound of a baby's cries. Io'ella and Tsetsiliya found some nearby torches and lit them. Benjamin was intent on finding and ridding the source of the sound and Cellica Varoris was eager to help. Benjamin took off to a mild split in the room to an additional niche. Voidscript etched on the walls with plenty of structure and organization to it. An idol of a mortifying-looking figure sneering down to the floor. Bone and blood and carcasses remained. Whoever was here hadn't been gone long--the items could not have been older than a month--and this bone structure they had entered in was in fact some form of temple the Kathar had been using for worship.
A chorus of screams broke the tense silence the bone temple had to offer. Henrik's remaining group and Audric's group all stiffened in place and scurried to better stances. They all reached for whatever weaponry they could find but from the opposing corners of the temple were sudden stampedes of footfall. Wrenching war cries and otherworldly roars filled the temple as its ground floor was swarmed. Relveth Vinthracia ran forward in front of Tsetsiliya and Io'ella. Hazy white eyes came into torchview; dozens by dozens. It all occurred too fast to entirely process. Pale figures with pitch-black hair frenzied in aggressive, almost non tactical fashion, yet it was so careless that it was clear to Henrik what exactly this was. The catacombs were a home to an army of Undead Kathar soldiers. Valiun, in his greatest efforts to push some of the Undead away, was mercilessly slashed across the front by a Kathar bonesword, followed by a grasp onto Valuin's head. The Undead took hold of Valuin and slammed the front of his head against the stone and bone flooring. His nose broke within an instant and his teeth clattered and knocked against each other; and when the Undead released him, it added a stab to the back for added damage. Io'ella hurried to capture Valuin under the arms and scurry away with him, but even they were struck just as mercilessly. Two Undead Kathar cut at Io'ella's shoulders and sent them falling down. Zelgius Pavise lunged to either of their defenses. He took both Undead by surprise and swiped through one of the heads in a clean blow, then jumped into combat with the other. He cleaved through the other opponent then another two as they came charging for him. With their heads destroyed, there would be no further life to them. Valuin and Io'ella ushered behind some portion of bone walling, out of sight and out of the combat. With Valuin's hefty cut across the front of his chest, he could do little but try and lessen the bleeding as much as possible. In his current condition without any light magic or healers to see to him, he would be tending to the deep wound for at least two weeks and any major movement would earn considerable pain.
Shane Marth worked on the leftmost outer portion of Undead. Though he earned some cuts from grazing bonesword slices, he made good work of the Undead enemies that tried to flank him. Isak Skogangripe initially faced one particular Undead and struggled against its exceeding combat ability. It appeared to fall to a one-on-one stalemate until another Undead leaped from the side and went for a finishing blow. He earned lacerations to his right side and his thigh. Tsetsiliya jumped in to ward off some of the Undead, but she was both outnumbered and outskilled against two Undead soldiers. They lifted their weapons against her and jabbed at her body. Isak tried to act as a support once he was back on his feet, but he was not quick enough. Tsetsiliya was stabbed in the shoulder and the side. Henrik downed the other and stomped upon its head to kill it, then felt the hand of the halved Undead grabbing onto his ankle, the entire upper half of the just fell Undead. He grunted in surprise and quickly shifted to crush its head as well with his boot. Audric struggled nearby. He grew flustered and panicked as the larger, giant Undead he faced redirected the swings of his weapons and managed to kick out his support from under him. The Undead facing him thrust its sword tip into his leg as soon as his back hit the ground and Audric's scream of pain rattled the ears of all. The rest of the Undead yelled out a chorus of delight at his agony. Zelgius and Henrik came together and drove forward as a single unit. They bludgeoned through several Undead, carving out a path through them to get to Audric and the pathway Benjamin and Cellica had ventured down. Bodies of the former dead fell, dead once more, and soon they punctured the body of the giant Undead. Zelgius' sword went through its gut while Henrik went and sliced down into its skull in a single blow. The remaining Undead from the total that had emerged, which now counted at about sixteen, began a retreat back into the dark depths of the bone temple, though not out of fear or panic. The hazy, milky white eyes of the Undead men trained fast on the excursion group members.
As they sped past the walls and entered the room, they were met with a horrendous sight. A towering creature with a snaking neck coiled and turned until a hellish face full of teeth, matted black hair and stark white eyes locked onto those that entered its domain. The glow of a torch just underneath the door across the way was noticeable. Something was on the other side, something kept out of reach of the Temple Orphan. The Temple Orphan released a horde of vile, undulating shrieks that echoed on the walls; and it came running. Shane Marth leaped to the side over to Cellica. Benjamin was nowhere in plain sight, so helping her would have to come first. She was in horrible condition. The Temple Orphan had cut and sliced into her all over her front. Cuts along her face, arms, hands, chest, torso and legs; deep and unforgiving. He lifted her as carefully yet quickly as he could and pulled her over to one of the walls. Relveth took the opportunity to act as a decoy: as the Temple Orphan ran for Zelgius, he went and stopped behind it, jumping up and down and yelling at it. The Temple Orphan craned its neck until it looked behind itself right upon Relveth. Its eyes squinted and its jagged teeth bore into a snarl as it shrieked at him. Zelgius made quick work of what he could and sliced at the Temple Orphan's hand, cutting off a pinky finger whole. The creature wailed but fought hard. Henrik lunged in and drove his weapon into the side, cleaving a long, jagged mark into its skin-and-bones body. It swiped its hands at all of them, but the trio had managed to lead it away from the hallway. Isak and Tsetsiliya helped take Cellica from Shane and began leading her down away from the room. When Shane headed back in--begrudgingly--to locate Benjamin, he caught sight of him behind the corner of the conjoined hall. After a glimpse past his shoulder to make sure the Temple Orphan was busy, he sprinted further in and put an arm over the man. He too was cut up, but it seemed he had taken more of a hit than Cellica, mostly unconscious with a heavy bruise to the head and cuts at his back. His right arm had been carved into by a set of three talon marks, each deep and invasive, the flesh torn and shredded. His face was cut, his lip was split. Shane began his carry of Benjamin to the others while Relveth, Zelgius and Henrik continued to work in unison to keep the Orphan distracted.
When Relveth made a jump too late, the Temple Orphan cut him across the shoulder and sent him stumbling back. "We need to get out of here!" Shane said. And they most certainly had to. Relveth tossed another longing look to the door across the way; he knew whatever was on the other side was important. There had been no other structure like it in the entirety of their venture thus far, especially not underground. He made mental note to bring it up later to the Commanders--if they could get out first and foremost. But Henrik had quick-thinking. He ordered Zelgius to take the front while he searched about. While Zelgius engaged in a dangerous battle of weapon against Temple Orphan claws, he snatched up a sizeable rock and took aim. As the Temple Orphan extended its neck out so it could be face to face with Zelgius in the midst of a stalemate--its hands wrapped around the blade of his sword with little regard to the wound it dealt to itself--and screeched in Zelgius face, Henrik launched the rather large rock and smacked the Temple Orphan right in the skull. The giant creature fell to the side, dazed by the sudden assault to its head. "Move!" Henrik ordered. The group bustled into a hastened sprint or series of limping-sprints. They had no choice but to abandon the mysterious side room with the strong, sturdy, ornate door that led to something and instead make for the exit. The Temple Orphan could be heard beginning its combination of baby-like cries and screams of anguish. On the way out, while Shane and Isak helped with the other wounded, Henrik Norrvakt, Relveth Vinthracia and Zelgius Pavise passed along a longtable within the bone temple they had missed prior. A relatively small untouched box clasped shut, a pouch full of loose Altalar jewelry, and a finely crafted dagger lay on the table. Henrik glanced about before abruptly deciding to confiscate the large box in a flurry. Zelgius claimed the dagger and Relveth stole the pouch. Together they swept their rewards along with them. The cry of the Temple Orphan urged them to move fast. They made it to the exit of the catacombs before long. Valuin and Benjamin were by far in the most critical of conditions, so they were escorted to medical tents as soon as possible. The rest took their liberties in getting back, some more wounded than others. Henrik and Zelgius had acquired very unique treasures from the bone temple. In Henrik's larger box was a series of scrolls that appeared to be very strictly sealed and formally rolled; and though the descriptions were written in Voidscript, they were very reminiscent of letters between some Kathar parties as one handwriting did not match the other. Zelgius had picked a dagger with several adornments arguably stolen from either the Altalar or the Regalians, and Relveth's pouch contained Altalar jewelry that he could keep or sell away.
@Walrusaur_ @Wumpatron
