"They wouldn't have dug this tunnel for no reason, yes. I believe we should go down and check."
Teruko pauses at the doorway, frowning. "This wasn't here before, and there's nothing worth mining in these caves." A slight hesitation. "At least, insofar as Father remembers. So for the monsters to have dug this deep...perhaps they're hiding something down there. We should be careful."
Instead of switching the light spell back to Yuto's sword, she leaves it on the rock. (She'd gotten so used to enspelling Yuto's sword she'd practically forgotten the light at her own side until he mentioned it.) "I'd suggest continuing to throw that rock so we have advanced warning of what's ahead. It's not like we would be able to sneak up on anyone anyway. We might as well level the playing field."
The young bard meekly shrugs his shoulders in response to Teruko's questioning of the rationality of any who would take the mushroom spores to assist them in the bedroom. "I-I wouldn't know... I've never-"
Riftun is cut off by Yuto's discovery of the tunnel hidden cleverly from sight and he clasps his hands together excitedly. "Oh, very well done Yuto! Something they've taken the time and effort to hide away like this must be important! Perhaps this is where they're keeping Kelda?"
With their plan in mind, the heroes make their way down the winding tunnel, where they eventually find a dead end. A cursory search shows that there's a hidden door similar to the one they found above. When Yuto throws open the door, however, the heroes are nearly blinded by the sudden eruption of sunlight from both above and below. Water laps at the edge of the doorway, and just beyond it lies the shallows of the Bunyip Bay.
"Are we... at the other side of the castle, away from the village? Interesting. So there was a secret way in from the back. smuggling or escape route, perhaps," Andochtuir muses, hand covering his eyes from the sun after the sudden dramatic shift in lighting. "Teruko Kaijitsu, does your father know anything about this passage? Should we further search the shoreline surrounding the castle here, if you haven't done so already?"
Riftun visibly deflates after the secret passage just leads them out of the keep. He had really been hoping to find his friend and the knowledge that every moment they delayed was possibly more suffering for her weighed heavily on the bard's heart.
He frowns and glances about trying to see if he can at least figure out the purpose of this exit before they head back inside.
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The fact that there was never any tales of survivors despite this sort of security measure says something about how swiftly the castle actually fell.
"Teruko Kaijitsu, does your father know anything about this passage? Should we further search the shoreline surrounding the castle here, if you haven't done so already?"
"If he does, he didn't mention it earlier. He seemed to think the monsters had created this path." Teruko looks around at the empty beach. "It doesn't look like there's anything nearby of any significance. No one to question about Ameiko's condition or Kelda's location, and no sign of this 'third vault' my grandfather wrote of. I'd leave searching here for a last resort." Nevertheless she does quickly scan the immediate surroundings with Detect Magic, just in case there's something invisible to the naked eye.
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Torra is similarly disappointed about this secret tunnel that only leads outside. No hidden dungeons, forgotten archives or lost treasuries. However, the fresh air carrying the scent of the sea is welcome after the dank passage, and especially after the stench of the laundry room. The dwarf takes a few deep breaths, letting the sun warm her.
While the others scan for magic and search around, Yuto kneels next to the water touching the surface and breathing deeply the fresh air with Torra. The young man smiles "I-it almost feels like a weekend stroll next to the la-lake"
"This can only be a good sign. We are to fi-find what we came here for" Yuto throws the stone alight making it jump over the surface until it finally loses energy and sinks "Let's go back to the basement and keep searching"
"Hmm..." Riftun puzzles, a hand on his lips as he considers the tunnel.
"It seems to me... that this would have been some kind of secret escape tunnel for those who held the keep... strange that your father doesn't recognize it Teruko. B-But, more worryingly, it speaks to the intensity and suddenness of the attack on this fortification and none were known to have made it out of here even with such preparations in place." The bard shudders thinking about the fate of the origional occupants of the keep.
"A-Anyways, let's get back inside I doubt there is much waiting for us out here and we still have much to do."
The heroes retrace their steps through the caverns and back into the dungeons beneath the castle. Continuing their pattern from before, they circle around the kitchen to the next door, a sturdy wooden construction. This time, however, when Yuto tugs on the latch, it does not budge even slightly - the door is quite firmly locked, and looks rather more sturdy than the swollen doors that led to the laundry room.
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"Oh, p-please allow me Yuto." Riftun suddenly chimes in from the back of the party.
The boy steps forward whilst digging around in his bag for a moment of two longer than normal, finding it difficult to find all his things with the new equipment taking up space in the magical sack. Soon enough he's withdrawn his special set of thieves tools and begins patiently getting to work on the lock.
The bard's tongue sticks out as he concentrates.
Feeling the tumblers click.
Just like that time.
The young man tries not to think about it as he works diligently at the lock of the sturdy door.
Despite his best efforts, the lock foils Riftun's efforts - it's surprisingly difficult!
Riftun recoils, shocked with the difficulty of this lock. He looks back to the others apologetically. "I-I think I can get it open... but it's gonna take a few minutes a-are you all okay with waiting or would you prefer to come back here later?
Yuto looks impressed at Riftun's display of tools, but waits patiently observing his advances "You sure that piece goes there? I-I've heard if you apply some butter that can soften..."
Looking to be done with the lock, the Tian produces some bread crusts and a slice of cheese and takes a bite, offering to the others while waiting.
"That's probably not a bad idea, the mechanism may be rusted," offers Torra as she pulls out her own rations to have a snack while waiting for Riftun to deal with the lock.
It takes Riftun several minutes, but ultimately he manages to jigger open the lock. Within is a narrow, rocky pathway - one that is natural rather than crafted. The light that the heroes carry reveals a door in the distant corner, before the tunnel turns away and out of sight.
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"Good job!" Yuto congrats Riftun and pushes open the door getting inside. The Tian looks back and opens and closes the door again checking for a pebble or something "Did you hear that scratching?"
Unsure of what is going on, he slowly moves forward stealthily, although the light is revealing.
He stops in front of the first door and attempts to determine if the noises are coming from there or walking further through the tunnel.
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Andochtuir grins over Riftun's increasingly intense feud with the lock. "I would offer kicking it down, but it seems personal now."
Waiting for the light on pebble strategy to be emplyed again if necessary, he suddenly tenses and peers intently at the door, hands firmly gripping his fauchard. "I hear it too," he responds to Yuto. "Something is scraping across the floor beyond. The clawed foot of a large animal? We should be wary and be ready for anything."
Riftun smiles triumphantly when the lock finally clicks open. Yuto's butter trick had been surprisingly effective, the young bard would have to remember to bring some along with him now wherever he went just in case he ended up meeting another lock as stubborn as this.
His self-satisfaction is short lived, however, as both Yuto and Andochtuir mention hearing a disturbing scraping noise. Instinctively, the young man huddles up behind the tall half-elf and peers around cautiously. "S-Scrapping you say? Down here.... well... that could be all manner of horrible creatures." He shudders.
Though he attempts to replicate the noise, there's no sign of it when Yuto closes and reopens the door - perhaps it was a one-time event, and now the stones are settled... or perhaps there's something more malevolent present.
Yuto moves across the cavern with what even he can't claim is stealth, his boots scraping along the stone before he steps on a loose one that cracks against the floor as its balance shifts. He pauses, but there's no sign that anything has noticed his unfortunate mistake.
As he approaches the door, he sees that the curving tunnel leads back into an artificially carved section of the basements - a semicircular room with another door in the far wall.
Yuto tenses as he scraps the rocks with his armor, looking back apologetically.
As he reaches the door mid-tunnel the Tian looks again at the others "The-there is someone there! We should check here first!"
Assuming everyone is ok with it and giving time to get ready, he finally opens the door hoping to finally find what they look for.
Teruko frowns as both Yuto and Andochtuir hear something scraping nearby. "You said it sounded like clawed feet? Could it be one of the lizardmen we fought earlier?" She double-checks that her crossbow is loaded just in case. "It does seem strange that this is apparently their living area yet we haven't seen any. Unless they all ran away after Kikonu died." She doesn't bother keeping her voice down. Between the light spells and Yuto's armor, any enemies already know they're coming.
Her paranoia grows when Yuto apparently hears someone else on the other side of the next doorway. While he opens the door, she keeps her eyes on the other pathway and listens for more scraping noises. This could be a distraction of some kind meant to trick them into turning their backs on an enemy.
Yuto opens the door, revealing a broad chamber with three iron-barred cells. One sits in the northern part of the room, while two more stand in the south. In the center of the room stands a hideous giant holding a young tree like a club. He rumbles something in what is presumably his native tongue before attacking.
Most often, one finds ogres in large family units, and where there is one, there is often more.
The giant lashes out with his tree trunk, smashing at Yuto. The heavy "weapon" crashes down on him, shattering bones and nearly breaking his neck. Pain burns through him like wildfire, searing his limbs and knocking the breath out of him. The giant giggles an oddly deep giggle, pulling his bloodied club back.
"Oh Desna, no! Yuto!" Riftun cries out as he witnesses his friend be utterly brutalized by the creature's club-like tree. He rushes forward and cries out everything he knows about the creature in an effort to better prepare Yuto in case there is a follow up attack.
"I-It's an ogre! These are awful creatures that do the worst things imaginable to people. Worse than death. We need to be careful as they're obviously crazy strong and... well there's almost certainly more than one!"
Riftun shouts his advice to the others as he enters into the tunnel, desperate to help his friends against this new threat. Torra hustles forwards as quickly as her legs will carry her, squeezing past both Riftun and Teruko to get into position to fire at the ogre.
The giant rumbles a laugh, striking at Yuto once more. This time, he feels his arm snap beneath the heavy blow, and even one leg gives way from the sheer weight of the blow. Nevertheless, his will burns fiercer, and he refuses to fall.
Teruko gasps as the ogre smashes Yuto with its club. Instinctively she casts a healing spell on him, but there's so much damage. So much blood. It's more than she can heal alone.
"Riftun! My wand, take it!" She steps backward to hand him the wand. He's like Ameiko, he can cast healing spells, she knows he can. Between the two of them they can keep Yuto alive.
Please gods let us keep him alive.
"Yuto! What's going on up there!? Everyone, make some room for me! Or better, fall back behind me if you're hurt!" Andy shouts from the rear, rushing forward and quickly drinking a shield elixir as he goes!
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Yuto is shocked by the size of the tree the ogre in front is wielding, so much that he fails completely to rise his shield which ends with his skull open with a hole that let's see the bloody interior.
Then he follows up rising his shield. It is for nothing, as the next swing dents the board and breaks on his belly breaking a couple ribs and opening a wide gash. Oh, no, my liver. Is that my liver?
The shock of pain makes everything white and his muscles not responding, but with unstoppable resolve he somehow manages to remain on fit time enough to feel Teruko's healing.
The door. Close the door. Don't fight that beast Andochtuir. He thinks he is talking but he cannot articulate a single word. In fact he withdraws from combat. Stumbling with friends and wall on his desperate retreat.
Restricted Withdraw: If you are limited to taking only a standard action each round you can withdraw as a standard action. In this case, you may move up to your speed.
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If the ogre seemed big to Yuto, from Torra's vantage point he looks absolutely gigantic. The smart move would have been to run, but the dwarf is so incensed by what the ogre has done to Yuto that she rips whole chunks of stone out of the walls and hurls them at the horrible creature.
"NO!"
"NO!"
Riftun barely has time to take in Torra's impressive display of magical might as his focus is quickly absorbed by Yuto before him. The bard's eyes begin to water over at the sight of how wounded his friend is. He lifts his hands shaking at the man when suddenly Teruko's voice snaps him out of it.
His eyes are wide but he manages to nod and blink back the tears as he takes the wand and gently summons forth its magic to seal Yuto's many wounds. "Don't worry Yuto, you're gonna be okay. We wont let him hurt you anymore okay? J-Just stay with us."
As Yuto's bones begin to snap back into place Riftun looks sadly at the Tien man. "Please stay back... fight from a distance if you must just stay back with us. Andochtuir can hold him off I'm sure just needs to keep the ogre off his balance, they're pretty slow after all." He advises.
Andochtuir moves forwards, drinking one of his extracts and summoning a shield of pure force before him. Teruko, meanwhile, casts a spell to heal the worst of her protector's wounds, though he remains in a critical state. She passes a wand to Riftun, giving him the opportunity to heal Yuto as well.
Realizing that, Yuto retreats as quickly as his badly battered body allows him - which, admittedly, isn't very fast. Nevertheless, he manages to avoid the ogre's tree-club for the moment, getting away from the prison.
Riftun uses Teruko's wand to heal the young samurai, enabling him to stand more or less under his own power again, even as Torra unleashes a blast of power at the ogre, cracking his shoulder. The giant wails in pain, before growling something.
A white claw lashes out from within the shadows in the semicircular room, slashing at Torra. "Remember me?" The harsh, raspy voice comes from behind her even as another claw streaks out, tearing into her back once more. The two tear open her back (again), and she feels blackness swell up to surround her once more. The kineticist topples to the ground. "This time, you die." The Phantom growls.
Meanwhile, in the prison, the ogre falls back into the darkness, beyond even what Andochtuir can see with the light of his companions' weapons.
Seeing Torra fall to the ghost from nowhere, again, Andochtuir's half-formed plan instantly falls apart. Improvising and knowing his Polearm was useless in these narrow quarters, he drops it and storms forward wielding the longsword instead!
"Leave her alone, you cowardly pest!" he cries, standing over the unconscious dwarf to defend her, and strikes!
"Yes let us see how well you do when your opponant can actually fight back!" he continues, as his first swing draws quite a lot of blood!
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Teruko can't quite keep up with what's happening. She can just barely see Torra's unconscious form around the bend in the tunnel. Then not even that as Andochtuir steps into the fray.
The Phantom. Again.
Yuto's still in terrible shape, and she can't reach Torra anyway. She calls energy to her hands and wills it to be enough. Then she steps back to where she'd been before, reaches forward, and closes the door.
Not there's anything to stop the ogre from opening it again, but at least he'll have to open it instead of charging forward and striking before they can react.
Riftun and Teruko's attentions quickly remove the shock feeling and things start to become visible as the pain disappears and the whiteness with it "Th-thanks. Bu-but take care of Torra San. Oh, my Desna be prised."
Letting his katana fall in order to quickly draw his most powerful potion, Yuto stumbles forward after Teruko, drinking its contents.
Teruko takes the initiative, healing Yuto and approaching the door to shut it. Unfortunately, as she does so, her morningstar lights up the ogre, charging forwards with his trunk-club raised. Andochtuir takes the chance, however, to strike back at the creature. Though he strikes home, his fauchard is unable to break through the ogre's hide, simply deflecting off of it.
The ogre swings its club at Teruko, but Andochtuir's attack and the doorway in between them keeps the heavy wooden bludgeon from striking home.
Andochtuir moves to protect Torra from the newly arrived Phantom. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he's unable to avoid the ogre taking advantage of the opportunity to strike at him. Blessedly, his magical shield takes the blow, though he does stumble forwards a touch before swinging at the ghost corby.
The dwarf-sized Phantom attempts to evade, but he catches her with his polearm, cutting deep into her side. However, her silvery mail shirt keeps the wound from its full potential as she draws back, hissing. She shouts something in the ogre's tongue.
Yuto, almost fully restored, finishes off his healing by taking a deep draught of a more powerful healing potion. His wounds vanish, and with them all the pain that the ogre had inflicted on him.
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No sooner is Yuto back up and running, and in fine condition at that, than Torra is taken down, again, by that wretched albino corby. Riftun's heart sinks as he presses himself up against the wall, squeezing in beside Yuto and observing the bloodied figure which is Torra lying unconscious on the ground. Despite every part of his body urging him forward the boy knows that the ogre would decimate him easily if he were to attempt to get anywhere close to his dwarven ally as it stands so he instead commits himself to strategy and figuring out the best way to ensure all his friends survived through the precise application of battlefield tactics.
"Andy! You can't let the Phantom get away! Follow up now while she's off balance and Yuto Teruko could use some protection against the ogre again. Think you could manage? Fight defensively or we may have to patch you back up again soon." He shouts from his pressed position.
Riftun moves forwards, continuing to offer insight into fighting their two foes.
Meanwhile, the ghost corby steps over Torra's prone body to launch a series of attacks at Andochtuir, getting easily inside his reach. Though he manages to deflect some of the claws, one manages to get through his guard and bypasses his magical shield, slashing his cheek.
The ogre roars again, thrashing wildly at Teruko with his heavy tree-club. The weighty log smashes through her defenses, shattering ribs and breaking one of her arms. Pain sears up her side, and she almost blacks out, but she fights through it, managing to keep her balance. The giant laughs uproariously, his pimply face split by a broad, rotten-toothed grin.
Yuto nods to Riftun, his face that one of doubt as the Ulfen sends him to fight the tree wielding ogre. When the ogre strikes Teruko to the ground, the expression changes to that one of fury "You dumb oversized hollow headed beast come and fight me!"
He challenges the ogre, making Teruko the target of his resolute defense.
Advancing with sudden resolve, he draws the heavy flail as he goes, using the walls cover to protect himself from opportune attacks.
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Teruko doesn't scream. She doesn't have enough air in her lungs to do so. Swaying on her feet, she fights the urge to pass out.
Torra's unconscious Andochtuir's fighting the Phantom Yuto's facing off against the ogre again you can't black out now you said you'd keep them all alive you have a duty YOU HAVE A DUTY
She dodges around the ogre's club without really thinking, all her focus on casting one more spell. As she reaches out with her unbroken arm to touch Yuto's shoulder, runes travel from her hands and surround him before melting into his skin. "Protection." It's all she can say past the blood in her mouth.
Before stepping backward to give the others more room, she unhooks the morningstar from her belt and tosses it to the ground. At the bend in the hallway it should provide enough light for everyone, no matter where they move.
Suddenly, the Ghost darts forward, not bothered at all by Torra's body being in the way, and he gets raked across the chin by the albino's already bloody talon.
He falls back a step and bumps into Yuto, who somehow, blessedly, was covered in blood but seemingly fine despite the mortal injury he'd just sustained.
"Back to back, with a lethal assassin in front and an equally deadly ogre behind. Truly, between a rock and a hard place, right, brother? Except Yuto and I are of steel, and both break on us!"
"Not a bad hit, ghost," he says. "Say, I hear you're good at catching swords. But what about polearms?"
The next second, he casually tosses the Fauchard to the ghost's feet.
Except he continues the same motion into drawing his longsword and immediately slices into the - hopefully - confused bird!
Andochtuir tosses his fauchard down to the ground before drawing his blade and striking at the ghost corby. The blade strikes home, cutting into her flank, and she growls, crimson eyes narrowing. Blood stains her pale feathers, and she snarls something in a language he doesn't recognize.
Teruko focuses everything she has on her spellcasting, managing to do so without giving the ogre a chance to strike her, and summons a spell to protect Yuto. With that out of the way, she backs off from the beast, giving her protector the chance to step in and smash the creature with his flail.
The ogre growls, pain furrowing his brow as he staggers, but he remains on his feet for now.
A yelp of shock and dismay escapes Riftun's mouth as the bard witnesses Teruko get absolutely pummeled by the ogre's savage attack. He reaches out instinctively and reaches to pull her back as he simultaneously taps her shoulder with her own healing wand.
"T-Teruko please get behind us! Y-You don't have to do it all let Yuto and Andy take care of this." He advises as her wounds mend before his eyes, sometimes he wished he had gotten into healing magic but even that seemed too self-centered to the young bard. "Yuto follow up that momentum before the ogre can recover. You have him on his last leg!"
Riftun continues offering his insight into the ogre's defensive measures, before healing Teruko.
The ghost corby launches a quick slash with its claws at Andochtuir, but his magical shield prevents any of its attacks from reaching his flesh. With that, it leaps back into the darkness around the corner of its chamber.
The ogre, meanwhile, lashes out with his enormous club at the samurai. The young man manages to deflect just enough of the blow to avoid actually getting more than bruises from the attack, evading any true damage.
Once again the bird is like water and curves around his swing in the most fluent and unnatural ways Andochtuir has ever seen. He curses as it then managed to break from their melee and starts running into the unlit surroundings!
"Teruko! Can you throw one of those lighted rocks here!? I can't track it through the darkness!" Andy shouts back, hoping any of his allies could light up the hall before the ghost managed to escape.
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Yuto swallows as the ogre swings over his head. Seeing the beast staggering due to the massive injuries he remembers himself "As Master Tokomo wrote once, best defense is to end the work while the tree is shaking!"
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Teruko exhales a sigh of relief as Riftun heals the worst of her injuries. ”Thank you. I-“ She cuts herself off as she hears Andochtuir call out for light. Apparently the Phantom had found another angle where she could hide in darkness.
For a second she stands, torn, as Yuto hacks away at the ogre. She wants to follow Riftun’s advice and retreat, but they can’t let the Phantom get away again.
You have a duty.
She steps back to the corner. Bending down, she picks up the morningstar and hurls it forward as far as she can. (Which isn’t far; she’s not strong at the best of times and right now is definitely not the best of times. But hopefully it’s far enough.) ”Andochtuir! Can you see her now?”