Scene #5849: Downward Spiral-2

Owner	Pose
Hemlock	It's a warm morning, with the sun high over the sky. In the nation of Karrnath large hill stands over several rolling plains, which have been marred by an earlier airship crash and several holes in the ground, dug up and blown up by both a monster and the efforts of Elites. A small cavern mouth stands inside the hill, going downwards. About half an hour ago, the Elites managed to save a group of survivors from the airship, including one Captain Flint. They had to deal with a massive man-eating beast, as well as with an onslaught of horrific abominations from below, who were mostly slain, though it wasn't over there. Bram Harkonnen, Karrnathi diplomat who had organized the airship flight in the first place before it was taken over by terrorists and crashed, was abducted by the creatures and dragged down into the earth. Some time has been taken to get the survivors to safety, though Harkonnen hasn't been given up on yet, as several of the intelligent creatures referred to a 'captive' when they fled, despite it being quite some time. Additionally, the Karrnathi government has requested Harkonnen's safe return, or that of evidence of his demise for closure, and is willing to compensate those who require such, and otherwise work with any offers possible. They can't mobilize against the horrors immediately, and time is ticking, so outside help is necessary. The caverns are very, very deep. The way they've been dug out is practically tunnels, though they appear to have been dug outward and upward instead of inward and downward, as if something was trying to dig to the surface. It's a very long descent through various twisting and winding tunnels, but the group has enough ability to traverse among themselves that it only takes a few hours to reach the bottom of the artificial cave system. When the group gets through the caves, they arrive at a steep incline, and definitely the signs of heat, both on the skin and on sensors. They're pretty deep in the ground now, and it only feels warmer as the incline is traversed. It stops only to open out into a long and wide corridor, which itself opens into an even wider cave. The cave can be described as essentially being a wide subterranean volcanic valley with how it's laid out. Wide rivers of lava pour through channels in the cavern's far walls, with basalt bridges providing a way across, and the entire cavern is well-lit up from them. Amongst the walls and in little nooks amongst the valley are smoke-gray crystals, with 'writhing' dark-blue, almost black veins inside of them. The more important thing, however, is what appears to be a large fort of solid stone, beneath a steep mountain wall climb to what appearas to be an even more massive keep that'd probably take quite some time to scale to the top of. There's not much sign of activity from it, though, and more from the fort. Four horrible looking creatures with two mouths and four arms, their faces warped and their gray skin disfigured, hunched over shorer than a human, stand guard two to a side, maces in hand. The creatures look sort of like two goblins smashed into one, and would be recognized as the creatures with clubs from before. They stand in front of a great stone door, which seems to be the entrance to the lower fortress. They don't look friendly. The walls of the keep are steep, but there seems to be a single tower as an alternative entrance, with an open-face window, away from where the guards are looking. Additionally, closer to the keep, there's quite a bit of noise, as if there's people inside. Scanners would notice this as well. How do you want to engage?
Count Kord	Kord is a lot like the dragons of worlds like this, his arrogant attitude making it seem almost like he wouldn't bother going to save the diplomat. But here he is, because it's the pride of his allies and the Concord on the line, and if a diplomat is killed because he or his comrades couldn't reach him in time, it'll reflect poorly on the whole organization. Rather, that's his justification. He took up the fore of the group as he is wont to do, his bestial shape of a full-blown Yveltal crawling through the dark tunnel with little to no problem. He slips further and further down into the caverns to pursue the kidnapping creatures, until everyone reaches an expansive volcanic cavern deep within the earth. He breathes a soft sigh through his nose as the heat washes over him, and thanks his lucky stars he doesn't need to drink water anymore. He spreads his wings up and floats up, and covers his body in shadow so he's hard to see against the ceiling of the cave, taking the high road to approaching the fort those abominations are hanging out at. He slips silently through the air, using the coiling heat of the magma below to guide himself gracefully to the tower, where he lands and tries to get a peek inside of it... and then slip inside of the structure to begin searching for the captives.
Staren	Why did they take a captive? If it was for ransom or a bargaining chip, they would have said something. Otherwise... why? ...What could Staren be missing? Anyway, they'll have Harkonnen back soon. The monsters' lair can't be that big. They'll be through it in a jiffy! Or so he thought. Before the tunnels went down, down, down... And it's getting warmer. He jokes that maybe this world has a literal subterranian fire and brimstone hell, but moments after, the tunnel finally ends in a giant cavern with OPEN LAVA. And Kord rushes in to... sneak in. Oh. Okay. That's good. He's still not sure how best to approach. He doesn't want to mess up Kord's sneaking by alerting them to his presence, but he's not so stealthy. This gives him time to wonder, "Wait... why would you BUILD a keep here inside this cavern instead of just tunneling rooms out of the walls?"
Captain Flint	It's been a trying day for the captain of the Walrus. Having come here under the auspice of diplomacy, he's been without the aid of his crew for both the entire time he's been here. As such, he makes the long, sweltering descent by himself. Though he grimaces with effort as his callused hands grip the grapnel line which helps him down the frequent steep declines, he at least does so without a chorus of gruff complaints or murmured rumors. Small blessings, right? When his boots hit the ground, he wipes a layer of sweat from his brow with a weathered kerchief, pausing to consider his options with a steadily growing frown. As usual, it doesn't take long for the gears to start turning. Like Kord, his attention is on the tower. Winded as he is from the journey up to this point and the scarce supplies from the past few days, simply scaling the keep would take too long. But, he might be able to make things easier for someone else. With a swift kick and a bit of using his sword as leverage, he dislodges a small earthen spire jutting from the ground with a muted snap. The sound causes his vision to immediately shift to the guards in the distance, lying flat on the ground and covering himself with his black long coat to minimize his visible profile. Once it's clear that hasn't revealed him, he attempts to divert attention away from Kord, and towards the floor of the tower. He does this by standing up and hurling the rock at the base of the tower, such that it collides with the door and shatters. Hopefully whoever comes to investigate will think it was just a stalactite falling. The captain hurries over to the tower and presses his back against the wall, waiting near the entrance with a gun in hand and at the ready. If someone in the tower comes to investigate, he'll try and slip in juuust as they're leaving, motioning for others to do so, too, if they're interested in the tower.
Septette Arcubielle	Stealth may not be wholly out of the question for her allies, but it certainly is for Septette. Her clanking footsteps and glowing lights announce her presence far ahead of time. Perhaps that's why they haven't encountered any simple monsters until now, but it certainly limits her approaches to the bizarre lava-moated castle: sapient-ish goblins are considerably less likely to be cowed by loud noises and shining things. So, after giving Kord a surreptitious nod as he takes off, she simply walks towards the front gate, guards and all. "Probably have to assume some kind of human sacrifice. Their society's too big to rely on cannibalism, so magic sacrifice ritual is the only remaining classical reason for pale troglobites to kidnap surface-dwellers." She says it with a kind of practical certainty, like she's seen exactly this sort of situation a dozen times before. Staren gets a shrug of her shoulders. "Basic lava engineering. If you build a series of small chambers, then a slight tectonic shift drowns you in a lake of fire- or worse, seals you in. Building inside a larger chamber mitigates flood-risk. Whoever built this place isn't stupid." She gives Flint's plan an approving nod in passing, but doesn't acknowledge him before that. She just keeps walking straight towards the guards with a flat look on her face. If they challenge or menace her, it goes unanswered. Only when she comes to within twenty feet or so does she start talking. "Hiiii. I'm afraid I'm rather lost. You folks don't seem to have a visitor's center, do you?" By the end of the sentence, she's able to extend a long tan armblade and whirl it in a whickering arc at the nearest guard's necks, aiming for a double-decapitation! "If not, that's alright," she says in precisely the same gentle and smooth tone. "I'll just wander around a bit, take in the sights."
Priscilla	'A few hours ago', Priscilla was not here. She was minding . . . well, business, elsewhere, content to leave the issue to the capable Elites under her guidance until the situation had apparently escalated to the point of 'diplomat set to engage with the Concord is dragged screaming underground by subhuman monster-people'. As far as things that need immediate increase in priority goes, that certainly is one of them, and so there is a surprise arrival to the ground about the time they get to the lava chamber. One who still smoothly glosses over how she'd gotten there without invisibly following everyone for hours. "Is it particularly relevant, Sir Staren?" she says, suddenly behind him in that perfectly cliche manner. Rather than leering over him dramatically however, she has the huge, mis-proportioned bow of slim, bent obsidian in her hands, and rams the lower spike into the basalt beneath her to anchor it. "Such is hardly the time thou shouldst be musing over the local architecture, rather than engaging in more pressing action." With that, she pulls and strings an utterly massive 'arrow', effectively a solid steel lance as tall as Staren is, and flanged like the type of ammunition that they ban civilians from owning in modern day worlds. Sighting down it, she aims 'over Septette's shoulder', ready to drop one of the guards from obscene distance if she somehow misses one, but otherwise burning the front gates with the unmistakable fiery orange brand of the eye of calamity, spreading its baleful powers through the gate's material and rendering it ready to collapse at the first decent hit.
Ezekiel Gravez	Ezekiel took a moment to survey the area around him. He raised his right hand out of his robe and scratched his stubbly chin. There wasn't much shine on the cyberdeck, being underground. However, the uneasy light given off by the magma veins did get reflected around a bit. As the others moved toward the tower, some of the details of the surrounding area didn't sit right with him. Despite the savage nature of the world, being stuck in some sort of volcanic hell definitely registered as dangerous to him. Zeke wasn't quite prepared, and his steps represented it absently. As Septette and Staren approched the main guardians of the Tower, Zeke picked up the pace, but ONLY a little. He began to calculate and process numbers as the staff made delicate clinks on the black rocks that formed the crust of this great warren. "Well, if I am gunna play the role of a Wizard, might as well look.. well.. wizardy!" The expression wasn't of delight, but of serious chagrin. Talking a good game, but any wrong nanoprogram here could bring the entire area down around him. Blue hexagonal disks started to form again around the cyberdeck and fed down through his spirit-tech symbiants.. resulting in a massive powering up. The air around him began to hum with power. He mouthed a single word. "Fire..." A column of bright orange flame and smoke rolled in a tight circle erupting from the ground in front of the group, illuminating them in the most fiercest way. A wizard does require a legendary entrance, after all.
Hemlock	Flint and Kord both make stealthy approaches towards the tower. Kord goes overhead, while Flint slips for the door, throwing a rock to make a distraction. This leads to another of the weird goblin-things to come out the door and move over to investigate the sound, not considering an intruder trying to get him to do exactly that. The door's open enough for Flint to slip in, while Kord easily gets to the tower overhead, and the distraction prevents him from getting spotted by the creature. The tower seems to be a simple military lookout, and only has some basic weapons present, in pretty bad shape. There's also what looks like chains for a prisoner, and there's blood there. It's not much, not enough to be lethal, but it looks human, and it's fresh. The fact that there's no one chained here means there was likely a recent prisoner shift. The tower leads out to a thick hallway, which doesn't seem to have anyone in it - the sounds are coming from deeper in the keep, towards the center. There's no apparent doors that just lead there, though, instead leading to other rooms, such as a library, or a barracks room that is empty. The guard is relatively low, it'd seem, and probably a cakewalk... Until, moving through the hallway, there's a distinct 'click' in the stone below. Out of the walls, suddenly, a series of blades swing forward in unsynchronized patterns, moving to try and dice through Flint and Kord, if they're close enough! The floor, with analysis, seems to be full of these switches, some blending in very well with the stonework. They'll need to get past thet raps if they want to get from the hallway to the center!
Staren	Staren ahhhs and nods at Septette's answer to both questions given in an eerily knowing tone. When she decides to march on the gates, he follows, not being the one to authorize or command going loud, but ready to help with it if it happens, and just giving the impression of a lost puppy trailing after the yggdroid -- until she starts violencing. He aims his beam cannons at the next double-goblin they see... and hesitates, before drawing the phaser again, trying to stun or shock enemies as a first resort and blast them as a last resort. Trying to look for opportunities to use flash/stun grenades to take them out before Septette has to behead them. "You know... maybe we could try cornering one and interrogating them? Just to check. We don't know what their deal is. And they didn't kill our guy..."
Hemlock	Meanwhile, Septette does what she does best, and just waltzes up to the goblin-men. As she approaches, they snarl, and one of them speaks to the other, his voice guttural and kind of hard to understand, due to how his mouth works. "More for the Almighty Eye! Let's throw 'em in the pit!" "YEAH! GET 'EM!" is the response he gets from his allies, as they move to charge forward...and one of them is decapitated cleanly, not expecting such a show of force. At the same time, that lance of an arrow impales through another, as Priscilla's strike hits true, leaving him practically mauled in half. Another gets spared this gruesome fate, the phaser slamming into him, electrocuting him, and knocking him out cold. The last one actually starts to take a step back towards the gate at this point...and the fire rises. Ezekiel's flames manage to both scorch the last of the mutated goblin guards until he was screaming and crumpled, as well as assisting in burning away the gate, Priscilla's effect weakening it enough to be melted straight through, leaving nothing left but an open hall. What appears to be an entrance hall, to be exact. Three creatures stand inside. One is one of the goblin-like guys, who immediately dashes for a hallway, likely to sound an alarm, while the other two are the more intelligent type seen before. They're fleshy pink humanoids with pitch black holes where their eyes should be, their figures immaciated. They wear robes around their lower waists, and are otherwise covered in tentacles, miniature ones out of and along their chest, and one on either soldier, long enough to be functionally a limb. "Halt, intruders! We shall not let you pass, not while a sacrifice for the Almighty Eye takes place. You will regret coming here!" One of them says in remarkably intelligent diction, though his voice is scratchy and horrible. If anyone enters into the hall, the two immediately move to strike, lunging in with their fists and tendrils and moving to strike with flurries, hit after hit, trying to beat down their enemies. They don't seem the most confident about their chances, being a bit outnumbered, but their fists are pretty damn strong, and their technique is highly well-trained. These aren't just mutants, they're mutant martial artists. The noise towards the center of the keep can also be heard here, and from here, the closest way there seems to be a hallway to the left, which is likely similarly trapped to the other hallways.
Count Kord	Kord is, thankfully, small enough in his normal, bestial shape to fit into enclosed spaces, and seems to have no trouble navigating without causing a racket. Actually, he seems to use his ability to briefly phase to make sure he doesn't make too much noise, slipping through any objects he might've knocked over otherwise on his path. He pays the blood no mind, as it isn't proof of life or death, and there's no prisoner there to retrieve. He progresses deeper into the structure, leading into the hallway where he and Flint inevitably run into some traps. Kord sucks in a breath and weaves his body out of the way, claws scrabbling at stone and his wispy form billowing. The horned dragon-like Count hisses softly as blood dribbles from his form from a near-miss. Assuming the blades don't keep swinging more than once, Kord decides to take an unorthodox approach to this. He focuses on the hall ahead, and spreads a surface of solid darkness for both him and Flint to walk on and progress without setting off anymore traps, anchoring it to the walls as a sort of platform above the rest of the hazards. He moves carefully and slowly, like a prowling feline, his claw-adorned tail trailing out behind him with a weightless momentum. His platform doesn't account for tripwires or other activation methods, so he's taking it slow. "It didn't get you too badly, did it?" he wonders back at Flint, though his tone suggests this is not because he cares and more because he's an important asset here.
Captain Flint	The details of the tower are taken in, analyzed, and filed away. Flint's mind is hard at work, concentrating on putting together some sort of picture of the captives. Mutant beings hiding underground in a deteriorating fort, seeking captives from the outside world. Perhaps they've forgotten how to keep the place running, and it's a question of skilled labor. It doesn't explain the apparent torture... Click. The sound is decidedly mechanical, and it snaps Flint out of his theorizing, his face awash in sudden, primal shock. Instinctively, he takes a step back. The sword flies out of the wall just as he does so, mere inches from disemboweling him. His eyes bulge in disbelief as the sword slices open the sweat-stained shirt beneath his jacket, and his survival instinct forces another backstep just in time for a second sword to cut a nasty gash in his defensively raised hand. Flint grunts in equal parts pain and scepticism. When Kord arrives, Flint raises his wounded hand and shakes his head. The count can see that's largely a matter of luck if his eyes so much as drift to the captain's torso. "I wasn't aware anyone actually /did/ this," he says, tearing more of his shirt to staunch the wound. Pulling the makeshift bandage taut with a terse motion, he flexes his fingers, surveying the hallway with a critical eye. "I suppose art does imitate life." Gun held at his hip, the captain walks along Kord's platform with obvious gratitude. Noting Kord's own apprehension, the captain holsters his gun and unsheathes his sword, using it as a kind of rod to check for any other traps the platform might not cover. If they make it to the end, this includes poking it around the corner of the threshold.
Ezekiel Gravez	Ezekiel raises an eyebrow to the creature as it threatens the group. He actually waits for the one that spoke to be finished. Upon hearing the completed sentence, he nods once and then his left hand shifts under his wizardly robes. "Candycane..." Zeke is definitely NOT playing. Waves upon waves of red and white layers of energy hit the speaker, putting him in agony. With every lick of colour change, they appear to be irradiating from the inside out. Zeke takes the advance with almost little excitement. One false move. One bad program.. "LAVA FONT!" His cyberdeck lashes out with another wave that hits the ground, spraying bits of magma like a sprinkler at some of the oncoming horde. Holes the size of coins burn their flesh and cannot seem to be patted or washed off. Zeke tips his hat, and takes a few more bold but tempered steps forward.
Septette Arcubielle	Being a distraction is well and good, but a full alarm might be a bit more heat than they're prepared to handle right now! At the very least, they ought to thin out the resistance first. Septette breaks from her customary position at the front of the group and sprints right past the two pink-skinned monks, heedless of their attacks. By the first stride, she's moving as fast as any human sprinter. By the third, she's put a cheetah to shame. Her claws dig into the ground as she corners hard, leaving trails of orange sparks behind, before she resorts to leaping up onto the stone wall of the hallway to stop her sideways momentum. If the fleeing goblinoid doesn't possess any form of supernatural speed or mobility, she'll be able to wall-run right over its heads and kick off, landing right in front of it and blocking the hallway! "Please hold still to minimize suffering," she says in a calm and almost sweet voice, like someone telling an awful cat how much they'd like to drown it while petting it between the ears. Then she draws her arm back, extrudes a dreadfully keen spike from between her forearm-bones, and tries to drive it through the creature's brain.
Staren	An exchange of words with Septette seems to bring back a bit of Staren's confidence in killing. He actually considers shooting the stunned ones just to be sure... And when they start sounding like cultists talking about this Eye and possibly sacrificing to it, he feels a little more sure. But then they're conmfronted by tentacled monsters that directly talk about a sacrifice to their god and it seems pretty darn clear, actually. Staren doesn't enter into the hall, though, he just starts shooting them. If they don't go down to a beam shot or two, he starts throwing plasma grenades, trying to fill the hall with superheated fire (Septette will be fine)
Priscilla	With the gates smashed down, Priscilla at least has a clear line of sight into the main hall. With the two Concord Elites in the tower, she no longer has the ability to keep track of them. Accordingly, she shifts along the basalt rises vertically, evening out her orientation with the main door, though she'll approach as far as the fallen and molten hot gate if she has to, predictably rendering herself invisible as she does. With other Elites in combat, she'd rather not go firing Dragonslayer Greatarrows into the melee, with the travel time making it fairly likely someone might get hit in maneuverings. She closes to the point a surprise attack can be more immediate, and she relies on a weapon with a more immediate travel time. Specifically, her breath. When the goblinoid runs for it, a line of searing blue-white energy pierces the air and rakes across the exit(s) like a laser pointer being swept over the relevant area of a diagram, though instead of a little red dot, its trail is characterized by eruptions of jagged greyish crystal, both lethally sharp and also extremely cursed. They aren't exactly tough, and will crumble if hit with significant force, but she positions them to narrow in the arena as well as block off egress, splitting up the giant mutants as well. She pretty much has to hope that there isn't some grand wizard with detect magic switched on somewhere nearby to be instantly alerted by the dumping of magical energy.
Hemlock	Septette focuses on the goblinoid running away. With deft feet and running across the hallway walls, as well as real method of escape being blocked by the crystalline barriers Priscilla makes, she manages to leap to the mutant with her forearm-spike, startling him. He moves to start screaming, trying to escape, but he's not fast enough, and he goes down with a spike through the brain. There'll be no alarm, it seems, and no one comes down this way. The crystalline structure also cuts into one of the monks, who moves to try and counter attack...and gets horribly burned by the coin-size holes of magma, burning through his flesh and killing him in mixture with the other damage. The other one is also badly burnt, but avoids the crystals - instead, he gets blasted apart by Staren's beams, rending him. It seems they were too outnumbered, and ended up pretty easy pickings, and now the group can safely take the rest of the exit. There are indeed traps, but with the foreknowledge, they can easily make out where tripwires and pressure plates would be. The blades stop after the second swing, allowing safe passage, especially with Kord's shadow platform, which blocks the floor traps. There's some tripwires and similar, though Flint is able to detect them with his sword and is deft enough to not trigger them unless he wants to, preventing a second reoccurence. Once at the end of the hallway, the corner curves into what appears to be a large, open room, and is where there's quite a bit of noise. There's atleast a dozen of the things in there at minimum, based on the sounds of murmuring as they approach. Eventually, both groups will reach the same location - the wide-open area place. It seems to be the center of the keep, and there's no doors for it. Luckily, they won't be immediately noticed unless they're loud, as it seems the various goblinoids and weird tentacled-creatures are focused on something else. In the center of an otherwise pretty empty chamber is a massive pit, which is surrounded by the creatures. Directly above the pit is a large crystalline eyeball, which seems to actually be moving and tracking the pit, while the bottom of the pit is layered with spikes. And hanging above the pit, underneath the crystal, with chains tethered to different corners of the ceiling, is a cage. Inside is their man - Bram Harkonnen, a dark-haired man who seems to be in some sort of sacrifice ritual. The cage has a lock of weird mechanisms inside of it, such as combination locks, which also seem to be tied to the chains in the ceiling. Some sort of puzzle system? He's definitely trying to fidget with it, whatever it is. It's hard to get a good look with all the stuff going on, but luckily, what appears to be the leader of the tentacled creatures, dressed in robes, speaks up to address the cult. "Let the prisoner challenge the great game, and let him fail to escape! He will be his own downfall as he tries to break through the cage's puzzles! For the Almighty Eye! For Oscili Sclerata!" "Oscili Sclerata!" "Oscili Sclerata!" The cultists chant those words over and over - they sound like they're supposed to be a name. There's almost two dozen total creatures, the goblinoids outnumbering the tendrilled men. The group has the drop on them, but they have the numbers, and their man is up ahead. How will they handle this?
Count Kord	Kord is eager to let Flint suss out the rest of the traps, his eyes flicking to and fro to keep an eye out for any mechanisms suddenly whipping out, or any similar problems in their vicinity. It's a quick progress to the great chamber with the enormous eye. And Kord isn't about to let this turn out the way these cultists want it to. He immediately leaps to action after announcing his intent to the others over the tac radio -- "I will secure the hostage." -- and with a great flap of his wings and the blink of an eye, he lands on top of the cage. But not just that. As soon as he touches down, something happens to the chains. Shadows swirl around each chain, solidifying and securing the structure. Just in case there's a trap door in it, a solid mass of shadow flows over the bottom to jam that potential problem shut. And then the red and black beast grips the top of the cage, and tries to rip the entire top section of it off with his claws and throw the pieces to the side in a dramatic motion that could embed the metal in either side of the pit. The baleful blue eyes peer down into the captive and Kord would just tell him one command. "Climb on. We're leaving." A wing is outstretched to help this process.
Staren	Huh. Staren didn't expect whatever the 'eye' was to actually BE here. His first thought is to destroy it. It seems to be Septette's first thought too. He doesn't want to risk messing her up, so instead he looks over the crowd of goblins. He and Ezekiel both have AoE weaponry, so... "Concussion grenade out in three, two, one..." he reaches into his bag and hurls a cylinder into the crowd. His choice of weaponry is less about being nonlethal to the goblins and more about making sure not to accidentally catch the prisoner in the lethal area -- indeed, while the stunning shockwave spreads wide, the goblin-things closest to the detonation may well have their innards reduced to chunky salsa by the sudden force.
Septette Arcubielle	The ground under Septette's feet shatters in a spiderweb pattern as she kicks off with a flare of microthrusters. A half-flip in the air lets her land on the ceiling on her feet, where her talons dig in to secure her. From there, she sprints across the chamber's roof as easily as if gravity were reversed, only half-stumbling to gain extra purchase with her claws where the stone threatens to betray her weight. What happens next is wordless, perfunctory, but carries an air of gravitas even so. She extends the sickle-like blade on her right arm and wreathes it in arcane fire; it glows orange, then red, then white in the span of a single second. She draws it back over her head, arching her bare spine with the tension of ratcheted kinetic energy. For a brief and blessed moment, it isn't Oscili Sclerata she sees- it's the eye of the Abyssal God, crimson and malevolent, revealed by its blossoming chitinous jaw-face amidst a forest of eyes upon tendrils upon eyes. Its horrible, mind-warping visage is something she'll never forget. How it looked before she drove the blade home is too sweet a memory. Her spine snaps forwards as the blade plunges down, trying to embed itself as deeply in the crystalline eye's surface as its length will permit. A fraction of a second later, its fiery enchantment will explosively discharge in a bunker-buster-like internal detonation. It may well send her plummeting into the pit- but what's a few spikes next to an opportunity like this?
Captain Flint	Flint enters into the sacrificial chamber with Kord, sharing a concerned glance. "Here's hoping the cage isn't trapped, too," he says, nodding to the complex cage in which Harkonnen resides. If it's meant to be a game, he's expecting that to be one of the rules--though he's certainly hoping it's not. As the count makes for the cage and puts his shadows to use, Flint begins putting the rest of the details together, hoping to make something actionable from them. Staren and Zeke seem to have the crowd contained, but they're not the only threat. There is, of course, the Eye, as well as the being who's ostensibly the leader of this twisted congregation. Taking note of the torches that illuminate the chamber, he grabs as many as he can carry and throws them into the crowd of flammable robes standing before the priest. Hoping that will be enough to get them to scatter, he draws his pistol and takes aim. The weapon, a compact, modern pistol no doubt stolen from another world, barks into the air several times, sending bullets flying in his direction.
Ezekiel Gravez	he techno wizard continues his stride forward. Bits of ash and creatures rush him and get pressed against azure barriers and get blasted back with rushes of energy and fire. Eventually he and the rest of the group finally reach the intended destination. With a turn of his head in both directions, and then finally up - he mentally plots the path to take. Spurs jingle from hidden boots, as he begins to cross the threshold again at a casual pace. And the robe and the staff drop. "Howdy gang. We'll be takin yer prisoner now. Thank you for keepin' an eye on him. Wink. Wink." Layered nanoprogams begin to cover his form, protecting him from physical damage types. His right hand slaps leather and the Patriot is released from leather and circuitry. His eye symbiants reads transmission feed as numbers, distance, and vectors are calculated. Shots ring out with sonic waves, as he spins and positions between the robed figures and their tentacled bodyguards. CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM. It's loud enough to shatter glass. Each powered bullet rips through robes and mars flesh, until several corpses are strewn about like children's toys left alone in a playpen. One decidedly larger creature leaps forward, barely escaping the hail of energized nano-bullets, and lands in front of Zeke bringing a flaming greatsword down from full heft. It strikes the shield with a decidedly strong arc which sends Zeke to one knee. Not from the damage, but just from raw force alone. Two more begin to rush the Nanotechnician while he is engaged with the larger combatant, and Zeke reacts with two rounds both aimed at center mass at both attackers. Dark ichor splashes the main creature's face and body, which grins in a very sinister manner. "I'm going to keep your head on my mantle, human" It growls at the gunslinger before physically pushing him backward with sheer brute strength. Zeke starts to look worried as part of a meandering magma vein gets decidedly too close for comfort. "Shit..." The Patriot is smoking, empty of shells for the moment. In a moment of slight panic, he lashes out with the cyberdeck. "OVERWHELMING STORM!" He cried, as both hands erupt in a shower of sparks and electricity. The waves ripple through his body, and the creature begins to convulse as it drops its grip on the sword. Zeke stands again at full height, looking like a Sith Lord pulverizing this giant with blue arcs that penetrate everything. The marquee across his eye symbiant reads the creatures now debuffed patterning. It kicked and wailed wildly while energies cripple its ability to move. Wisps of vapour swirl as the creatures sweat begins to evaporate and mix with a foul smell of burning. "OVERWHELMING STORM!" He cries again... until the patterning for resistance turns to what would classify as zero. Zeke's eyes are wide with intensity, before the arcs begin to slow down and he cries out a third and final time, "IZGIMMERS LAST WORD!" The creature practically explodes as the visible energies recede before being overtaken by a dark miasma. Blood and gore hits practically everything, as the smoking remains scatter in every direction.
Priscilla	Priscilla's concerns that something disastrous might happen may have been unnecessary. The Concord team seems to have it well handled, Septette is pretty much psychotically reliable when it comes to these things, and the freakish tunnel-dwelling creatures had decided to engage in an elaborate dark ritual instead of quickly maiming, killing, or enslaving and shipping off the VIP. Favourable circumstances to be sure. As such, Priscilla doesn't need to do a lot with all the bases so thoroughly covered. She stops outside the room, again taking advantage of her lack of requirement to be the midst of it, and remains cloaked in a firing position, planting the Obsidian Greatbow again and drawing the second of the three arrows she'd carried along. She tracks Septette's progress across the ceiling, then aims and fires ahead of her, looking to shoot the eye just before she gets there, both to occlude its notice if it is capable of preemptively retaliating against her, and to pile on damage. This time, the massive lance bursts into a spiralling conflagration of stark black and gold flame, letting off as much in the way of shadows as it does light, and erupting in a destructive blaze without real heat. Blowing up into white hot shrapnel after impact is less by design and more due to the arrow's limited capacity to contain the occult flame for long before breaking apart.
Ezekiel Gravez	he techno wizard continues his stride forward. Bits of ash and anything that may rush him will get pressed against azure barriers and get blasted back with rushes of energy and fire. Eventually he and the rest of the group finally reach the intended destination. With a turn of his head in both directions, and then finally up - he mentally plots the path to take. Spurs jingle from hidden boots, as he begins to cross the threshold again at a casual pace. And the robe and the staff drop. "Howdy gang. We'll be takin yer prisoner now. Thank you for keepin' an eye on him. Wink. Wink." So very deadpan. Layered nanoprogams begin to cover his form, protecting him from physical damage types. His right hand slaps leather and the Patriot is released from leather and circuitry. His eye symbiants reads transmission feed as numbers, distance, and vectors are calculated. Shots ring out with sonic waves, as he spins and positions between the robed figures and their tentacled bodyguards. CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM. It's loud enough to shatter glass at close range. Each time he fires he moves in a zen-like dance, which seems to be almost geometric in nature, offering the best position to fire while still maintaining the least likely position to be attacked from. The Patriot eventually begins to smoke as the barrel becomes heated, until a red light flashes and the cylinder pops open, dropping spent Novictum casings onto the dark flooring.
Hemlock	Kord's sudden flying forward and landing on the cage definitely attracts attention. The cultists snarl at him, and draw their weapons as if they're about to attack - the leader in particular raises his hands and starts to chant. However, Kord's very fast, and manages to rip the cage right open. As soon as he does, the bottom suddenly opens as well, but he has enough time to scoop up Harkonnen right before he falls to his demise! The crowd doesn't get a chance to shoot at him due to the efforts of Staren, Ezekiel, and Flint. Staren blows through the goblinoids with his grenade, blasting a few more back into the pit by the shockwave, while Flint sets a few on fire with the throwing of a torch, forcing several to scatter back off of the leader. During the process, Ezekiel tears out several shots, ripping through the tenacled creatures with a hail of fury. They scream in terror as his incredibly focused firing tears apart their heads in a gory mess. The numbers are thinned to the point they're not remotely a problem, and the remaining creatures are pretty spooked, not moving to leap into the fray. In the chaos, Flint raises his gun and fires on the leader. The bullets slam into him, causing a shriek of pain, as he fires himself, a bolt of radiant energy arcing at the pirate. The leader stumbles back, however, and begins trying to heal his wounds, which are bringing him down raggedly. He's not able to intercept another attack, though. Septette moves for the giant crystalline eye. As soon as she approaches it in the stone, a voice comes out of it. It doesn't sound to belong to the eye itself, necessarily, but for the eye to serve more as a 'speaker', with the pupil inside moving to track Septette, sort of like a camera. "Get away from there, you heathen! I am the Almighty Eye! You will not stop me from watching my well-deserved sacrific-" An arrow suddenly pierces into the eye, causing it to ripple horribly. It continues to try and speak through the speaker mechanism of whatever magic it's using, but it sounds horrific, and very hard to make out. "Damnation to all of y-" And then, Septette's blade goes forth. The crystalline eye explodes, a definite feeling of magic as it blasts backwards and moves to send Septette falling into the pit. Whatever Oscili Sclerata is, that doesn't seem to be the last of it. The leader is wounded pretty badly, and there's a couple of the goblinoids left trying to defend him. He might be useful for answers, or the group could just clean up the rest of them... Though there's suddenly a sound of an explosion in the distance, up near the higher keep on the mountain. Something's happening.
Count Kord	With the diplomat gathered up, Kord doesn't stick around to find out what else is going to happen. He straps the diplomat down to his back with some solid darkness, and tells him, "Brace yourself, and don't look directly into the blast," because the backblast of dust from what he's about to do is pretty bad. He turns about and opens his mouth, and a point of light glows in his maw for several seconds as he aims for a spot that doesn't look like it will cave in the whole room in the attempt. Considering the structure is all stone with metal reinforcement, he isn't too worried. He fires a beam of black and red energy that will promptly atomize anything short of mithral or adamantine, blowing a linear tunnel out of the structure all in one go. And after he knows he has clearance, he leaps off the cage with a violent rattle of chains and metal, and darts forward to evacuate the hostage out of this place, making a beeline for the tunnels to get him out of this crazy place. The objective is secure, he'll let the others handle the violence today.
Septette Arcubielle	A small book could be written on the damage-control measures Septette takes in the split second after the Eye explodes. Microthrusters across her body strain to slow her fall; her claws scrabble across the falling rocks and chunks of crystal to cast them down and trade momentum with them; her talons grasp one of the chains from the cage which acts like a bungee cord for an instant before it snaps. None of it's sufficient to keep her from slamming into the spiked pit below. There's an unpleasant grinding, crunching crash, followed by several chunks of the Eye falling on top of her. It's five or ten whole seconds before she clambers up the edge of the pit again. She holds direct eye contact with the apparent leader of the pink-skinned monks while tearing a metal spike out of her shoulder, where it was tightly wedged between her internal workings and exoskeleton. She rolls her arm as if it were sore, and in the process crushes the remaining bits of shrapnel in her arm into fine bits that clatter to the floor. "I think," she says delicately, "you have quite a bit to answer for, sir. Ideally, you will answer for it over a very long period of time."
Captain Flint	The bolt of energy strikes Flint squarely in the chest, lifting him off of his feet with a startled shout. Being the no-armor type, there's not much in the way of mitigation. When he hits the ground and slowly slides to a halt, those around him can see the smoldering wound, a gristly, bloody quilt of a burn wound, plainly visible after the bolt simply burned right through his now ruined shirt. A fist slams into the ground, and Flint forces himself back onto his feet, spitting upon the ground in defiance of the priest. The explosion causes his foothold to falter slightly, but afterwards, he stands up straight. Flint looks to his left, then his right, surveying the destruction he and his fellow Elites have caused in just a few short moments. The Eye had threatened damnation shortly before Septette destroyed it. "Some damnation," he says, just loud enough for the priest and his remaining congregation to hear it. His seafoam eyes observe the priest, his pistol held steadily at his hip. Those eyes harden, and his aim drifts slightly--focusing now on his congregation, yet keeping eye contact with the priest. "You're wanted for questioning. You'll come quietly, I hope."
Staren	The elites' coordinated attack destroys the crystal and most of its followers! Septette falls into a pit of spikes, but she'll probably be fine. All that's left is the leader... who Septette thinks should be captured. He's not sure why she changed her mind from kill, but he'll trust her intuition. <"Deploying flashbang in 3, 2, 1..."> he warns his allies, before chucking another cylinder at the leader. Knowing when it will go off, he closes his eyes... and then manifests his wings, charging the (hopefully blinded) leader to tackle him to the ground and start shocking him with his armor, trying to subdue him for capture! He's sure the others will take care of the few remaining minions.
Ezekiel Gravez	The gunslinger was showered in particles, which clashed against his protective barriers before falling onto the ground around him. The hum in the air around him began to rise again, and the red blinking light on the Patriot fades. With trained hands and quick reflexes, he slips the cylinder back into the gun housing, and spins it defly before returning it to its holster with a flourish. A moment later the explosion is followed up by a massive flash bang, which the eye symbiants were already prepared for. The room darkened slightly, and then the spirit-tech cybernetics autodampened the flash. However, out of pure reflex Zeke blinked regardless. Finding his footing again, the cyberdeck needle extends from its gauntlet. "STAND DOWN!" he'll shout at any remaining opponents, moving forward again. The spurs jingle with every step. Any creatures that attempt to flee, catches hell for doing so.
Priscilla	The colossally explosive mess that happens in the hall is about what Priscilla had expected. Experience, her position, and her position because of experience, entitle her to standing back and watching the multiple action threads resolve as overwhelmingly as they possibly could have given the circumstances. She strides into the room after, with the white soul-wisps of the fallen rising from the dead and swirling towards her, faint as they probably are. Here and there, she'll cut down any creature that has the good sense not to stay out of reach, never mind try to run or fight. Briefly, she stops for flint, and pushes a thimble-sized glass vial covered in gold leaf, ostensibly full of water, though if he drinks it, it will have an immediate pain-killing effect and begin accelerated healing. "Most importantly, before we art to leaveth, I believeth it best to knoweth beforehand whom it is that thine 'god' claimeth to be, and where perhaps we may quite likely find him. Simply ending with this crude fortress is not enough. I taketh greater grievance with those who think it wise to assault diplomats under the Concord's name than simply this level of death."
Hemlock	As the group moves to take prisoners, the goblins hold up their weapons as if they're going to fight to the death, but the flashbang comes forward, and Staren moves charging at the leader. The leader throws his hands up to surrender once the electricity starts coursing through him, and goes down in a few shocks if it persists, since he's already injured. The goblinoids surrender at this point as well, especially with Ezekiel intimidating them into remembering their survival instinct. The diplomat climbs onto Kord and braces himself, not saying anything. He's shaking. Instead, he keeps his eyes closed. The hole is carved open enough, and the Count is able to fly them up to safety. He'll, therefore, be the first to see it. Out of the cliff up above, a massive hole has been carved cleanly, a circular shape. Lava pours out of it, as if having been blocked up, and is coming down at the keep, and will reach it at a rate of a few minutes - enough time to take their prisoners and leave if they rush. In the process of leaving, the creatures will explain what it is, if reluctantly, because Priscilla is menacing. Oscili Sclerata is a powerful beholder who rules this area of 'the Dragon Below', or Khyber. They came under his command, and one day, he decided he was a god, and forced them to worship him under fear. He had them dig the path to the surface to capture sacrifices to entertain him. He lives inside a massive castle up at the top of the cliff, where few ever enter. With the explosion, they're worried he's set off one of his many traps. With the eye destroyed, they don't have much fear of speaking their mind, though some of the goblinoids are a bit bummed the games are okay, because they genuinely enjoyed that. Either way, Oscili Sclerata's a problem for another time. For now, Bram Harkonnen is alive, and will be thinking very favorably about the Concord for their efforts in saving him.
Ezekiel Gravez	Zeke opens up his commlink. "Pete, we're gunna need immediate pick up and dust off. Lock in on my signal." A face appears on the hololink, of an automaton that tips his bowler, "On my way, Boss!"