"Welllll.... the demon I summoned? She's going to have to be paid. In energy. So she's most likely going to want to have sex with someone..." At that Lani blushes a deep red, her face turning away for a moment before continuing in her hushed tone. "And I'd rather not do it this time if it can be helped... This detour is costing me enough time already. So I was wondering... can you knock out whoever our enemy is?"
"Depends. Can you keep her distracted enough for me to get close? I just have to sting her a few times and we'll be good. And if all else fails I can pay the price for you." Michael says, his tone not changing once as he speaks. "Just so long as she doesn't kill me afterwards."
"I should be able to distract the enemy, and we have my Sorceress as well," Lani replies, joy in her voice. "And if need be I can summon some goblins to keep whoever it is distracted."
At Michael's suggestion Lani frowns. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather not get my allies involved. My mother taught me to take my responsibilities seriously and if I don't, then... people could end up getting hurt." Lani then releases Michael's arm and falls silent at the thought of her mother. "A-anyway, if you could manage that I'd be ever so grateful." A childish grin then spreads across the young demons face as her voice returns to its normal level and she falls in line with the Sorceress.
Michael: HP = 46, PP = 36, EP = 34, Status = Fine
Lani: HP = 65/66, PP = 42, EP = 31/40, Status = Fine
Rolls
Perception: Michael fails, but Lani succeeds.
"Right... Well I suppose I know who I shouldn't be setting on fire, at least." The sorceress replies following their response to the voice. When asked if she wanted to go in first, the woman laughed, and replied; "No! Ha! If you wanted a meat shield you should have called for a goblin or something!" When the idea of Michael feeding her comes up, the demoness purses her lips, but says nothing.
The demoness is at least willing to go in ahead of Lani, and the three head down the narrow stone steps with Michael in the lead and Lani in the rear. Despite their obvious age, the stairs were well kept and showed no hints of starting to crumble with time. The voice remains absent throughout their conversation as they descend the steps, though none doubt that their host is still listening to their words.
The trio reached the bottom of the spiral stairs and entered a narrow corridor, the ceiling only about five feet high and the walls barely three feet apart. Proceeding down the corridor, as it was the only path set before them, Lani suddenly spots a crack in the floor, indicating that the section that Michael was about to step on was distinct from the rest of the floor. It could be a trap of some sort, and unless she did something, he was going to step right onto it.
The passageway opened up about thirty feet ahead, into a wider chamber that looked to have a large, round table sitting in the center of it, but they couldn't see anything else in the room from their cramped entryway, at least not until they got a little closer.
"W-wait, don't go any further!" Lani calls out to Michael as she notices crack, thinking that it could be a trap. Reaching out she grabs the back of his clothes just in case she isn't able to stop in time so she can pull him backwards. Once they were safe again Lani turns to the Sorceress. "Um... can you do anything to check whether that crack is dangerous or not?" The young demoness asks, her face going red slightly at having to ask such a dumb sounding request.
Michael fumbles, swinging his arms in backwards circles as he teeters on one leg, his wings trying to buzz to keep him from falling over flat on his face. When he had righted himself, he turns his head about to stare at Lani with those giant bug eyes of his. "Next time, don't just grab my coat." he says, then looks down at where he was about to step, noticing the crack. "Not enough room for me to fly here. Otherwise I'd fly over that part of the room and check for traps." he says, frowning. "I'm all for the demoness getting us through here."
Michael: HP = 46, PP = 36, EP = 34, Status = Fine
Lani: HP = 65/66, PP = 42, EP = 31/40, Status = Fine
"Me? What do you expect me to do? It's a trap. We should just step over it." The sorceress said, glancing down at the slightly raised section of the floor. "We're in the lair of some insane creature that can project its voice. I don't think stepping on it is really a very good decision. At all. If that's what you're asking. If you think I can magic us across, you've got another thing coming. It looks like it's only a few feet wide anyway. Why don't we just step over it?" She continued. The other side of the raised platform seemed to just be normal floor, and it looked like they could probably step over the trap now that they had seen it if they so desired.
"Oh, right... yeah, we could do that..." Lani replies quietly to the Sorceress, her face flushing from embarrassment. "I guess we'll be coming to whoever lives in this tower soon." The young demoness idly comments as the group make their way closer to the room up ahead.
"Good. Something to shoot." Michael says, as he advances down to corridor, bypassing the trap altogether with Lani and her sorceress friend. His tail was twitching now, and the stinger was slowly extending, ready for a fight. "You want her fully intact or with a few bruises?" he asks, turning his head back to face the sorceress.
"I guess whoever it is can be beaten up a bit, making sure their arms and legs can't be used for a while would probably be a good idea," Lani replies, a plan for her to distract their 'host' going through her mind. "Just hope this person doesn't give us too much trouble. I don't really want to expend more energy to summon more demons to restrain it."
Michael: HP = 46, PP = 36, EP = 34, Status = Fine
Lani: HP = 65/66, PP = 42, EP = 31/40, Status = Fine
Walking over the trap, the trio moved forward and into the chamber up ahead, the sorceress only snorting in amusement in response to the reception of her plan to so easily avoid the trap. The chamber they entered wasn't much different from how any of them imagined it, a large round table sitting in the center and surrounded by chairs. Two other narrow hallways branched off from it, one on the left wall and one on the right, each about the same size as the one that they had just left.
About half of the two dozen or so stone chairs were empty, including the massive throne that sat in the center directly across from them. The other half were filled with skeletons in various different garbs, and were likely this being's previous "guests." The same malicious laugh filled the hallway briefly, and a solid stone slab suddenly slammed down in the doorway just behind Lani, sealing them all inside. Torches flared to life along the walls, but no other movement made itself apparent. "Go ahead and take a seat! Make yourselves comfortable! I'll be along shortly to provide your entertainment..... And dinner." The voice replied, and then laughed again for a long while before eventually falling silent.
"Right. So, she's getting really annoying. What now?" The sorceress said, glancing between the two hallways. The one on the left was completely dark and went on beyond the range of the light they had, and the one on the right seemed to head into some sort of chamber. More tables, albeit smaller ones, littered that room, as well as a lot of chains and manacles hanging from the walls.
"Hmph, this is getting annoying now," Lani says in an agitated tone, a scowl forming on her face. Her eyes glowing once more Lani quickly calls upon her demonic energies to summon yet more helpers, this woman's game quickly stretching her patience thin.
"'What do we do now?'" Lani repeats as she finishes summoning two goblins. "We look for a way to get this over with as fast as possible. You two, head down a corridor each and once you've got to the end of them come back and tell me what's there. And be ready for a fight." For reasons unknown to Michael and the summoned demons Lani has now taken on a more serious tone, quite unlike her up until now child-like demeanor.
Michael breathes in and sighs heavily. "I just wanted to get to Badaria. Damn devils and their filthy towers." he grumbles to himself as he walks forward and sits as best he can on one of the chairs in the room. His tail was causing some difficulties, and his wings were spread quite a bit to prevent them from being squashed by the chair or the arms. "So, whatever the hell you are, you better have some Badarian delicacies. I've gone so long eating bread and trail rations I could eat a horse. Or perhaps the cute lady behind me would serve as a fitting appetizer." he says, laughing as his wings twitch slightly and his mandibles spread during the laugh. Even though he was quite relaxed to Lani, his senses were as sharp as possible, trying to predict any kind of surprise attack.
Two goblins, green skinned and holding axes over their shoulders, appeared in front of Lani as the young demoness called to them. The two beings grinned lewdly at her, and nodded silently to her orders clearly believing their task would be quite easy. They left the room, one heading into the chamber on their right and their other advancing cautiously down the corridor to their left.
The three, Lani, Michael and the Sorceress she had initially summoned, remained in the room, Michael taking a seat while the sorceress remained next to the close entrance and Lani remained in the center of the room, waiting for the return of her summoned goblins. "Oh, I'm sure that I can come up with something!" The voice sounded out once more in response to Michael's comment, and then began to laugh. It suddenly went silent, and Michael heard a strange creaking sound.
One of the skeletons turned its head toward him, an action that was most certainly not caused by any natural phenomenon, and opened its jaw. In a heartbeat, Michael drew one of his guns, pressed it right against the thing's skull, and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed space, and blew chunks of powdered, blackened bone out in a cloud behind the fleshless corpse.
The fact that its head had been reduced to powder didn't seem to bother the thing at all, however, as it and the other eleven dead bodies all stood as one, ancient clothing and armor sliding off, too rotted to offer any protection now. They all lifted ancient, rusted weapons, or advanced with bony fingers outstretched toward the three of them.
Michael remains calm as he blows one skeleton's head off. But when the others start standing up, he jumps out of his chair and onto the table, drawing his other revolver and cocking back the hammer. "Alright you bastards! Come get some of this!" he yells, holding his revolvers out to both sides, aimed at separate skeletons and waiting for the first two skeletons that approached him. "Lani, I'd recommend you do something about these things! I may be good but I can't hold off this many."
((Prepare sudden shot for both my pistols, stand there like a badass.))
"What the-???" Lani shouts out in surprise as the once lifeless skeletons of the doomed adventurers suddenly spring to life once more. "Nuts, should've seen this coming." Lani comments as she raises her pistols and retreats to the corridor, her face screwed up in concentration as the young demoness takes aim and lets loose a barrage of fire.
(Hopefully I've done this right)
Firing at individual skeletons until she's defeated it then moving onto the next one.
It should be noted that every shot takes the same (highest) penalty.
Attacks (Lani) : She still hits every time.
Damage: 3 + 6 + 4 + 24 - 4 - 5 = 28/2 = 14 damage per shot.
All in all, they kill a grand total of 5 of the 12 skeletons.
Attacks (skeletons) : 3 hits on Michael, 3 hits on Lani, 1 hit on the sorceress.
Damage: 7 + 8 + 13 = 28 damage. Michael and Lani both have 5 armor, Michael getting an extra 2 to make 7. Each of them has armor at 3/30 TP.
Unfortunately, both Michael and Lani are dropped to unconsciousness.
Lani, Michael and the sorceress blew skulls and arms and legs from the undead creatures, but they barely seemed to notice. Lani's handguns clicked empty well before even half of them had gone down, and Michael's shots didn't deter the things from swiping at him at all. Skeletal fingers raked across Michael's chest and arms, tearing past his thick leather coat and his thick skin beneath with equal ease, and he went down, blacking out from a dozen bloody wounds. Lani wasn't far behind, the skeletons quickly following her down the passage and cramming in to strike at her repeatedly. She fell just as Michael had, blackness and pain taking her consciousness from her as she heard the demoness she had summoned cursing as one of the undead attacked her as well.
The two awoke to find themselves chained to some of the chairs in, and as the two of them groaned their way to wakefullness, they heard a familair voice, now much closer than it had been before, say; "Ahhh, back among the land of the living I see!"
Lani's whole body aches as she stirs awake, eyesight blurry as she gradually opens her eyes. The memory of the skeletons turning their attention and surrounding the young demoness as Michael falls in battle floods her mind, of their silent assault and the sorceress' cries of pain as Lani quickly passed out, helpless against their brutal attack.
No, we should've easily won that battle... Lani thinks to herself as she slowly becomes more alert to the world around her, and the situation they are in. The sting of cold metal bound to her arms quickly snaps her fully awake, their hosts voice momentarily falling on deaf ears, more concerned about her new traveling partner and silently cursing herself for getting into this predicament. It was only after seeing that Michael is still alive and in the same position as her did Lani draw attention to the owner of the voice that had been taunting them since their arrival to the tower. "W...what do you want from us?" Lani asks, her voice still a little weak from the beating she had taken. Though she already guessed the answer of that question Lani feels that if she can get the woman talking maybe they'd have a better chance of getting out of here.
Michael's first instinct upon rousing was to check that his revolvers were at least on his person, but he couldn't do that being chained to the chair. As he looked around, he noticed Lani, then began fluttering his wings as best he could given the circumstance. "Dammit, how could I lose to a bunch of reanimated monstrosities? A MAGICIAN bests me, the best gunslinger in all of Badaria." he says aloud, struggling with his bindings.
When he heard the woman's voice, however, his rage began to boil over "Damn you! Show yourself! It's bad form to kill someone without looking them in the eye!" he shouts, his eyes darting back and forth across the room as he tries to find out where the voice was coming from.
Michael: HP = 46, PP = 36, EP = 34, Status = Bound
Lani: HP = 66, PP = 42, EP = 40, Status = Bound
Their host's insidious laughter, richer but also more scornful with its added proximity, drew both of their attention to their sides, Michael's right and Lani's left as they'd been placed opposite one another, to where they would find a woman seated in the throne at the head of the table. She was dressed in extremely revealing white robes that had been gilded in gold, the robe slit all the way to her belly button and barely covering her impressive bust. The woman's skin was bronzed, but held a strangely pale undertone, unlike anything that either of them had ever seen before. She had straight black hair that ran down to her shoulders, and wore a fine golden circlet with green gems encrusted into it on her head. Her long, shapely legs were crossed, and she leaned back into her throne resting her head on her knuckles and her elbow on the arm of the chair. "Oh, but I'm right here, my sweet.... Right here." She said quietly in response to Michael's demand that she show herself.
Their things had been set aside, and were well out of reach even if they could break from the chains binding them to their chairs. They noticed that the skeletons, sans the ones that they had destroyed, were back in their old positions, lying in their seats and looking like any old sets of ancient bones. The destroyed ones were gone, where to they couldn't say. There was no sign of Lani's goblins, or of the sorceress that she had summoned, and the demoness could feel no contact with any of them.
"Why, I want nothing more than to treat you as my guest, of course! Your summoned allies have already experienced my hospitality, and found it to their liking.... Why, they even offered to forget about what you owed them for their services! I so rarely have guests over for dinner you see, and so I have to pull out all the stops when I do." She explained, and a moment later several quiet, emaciated people walked out of the chamber that Lani had sent one of her goblins down into, bearing covered trays. "Why, my hospitality is so ravishing, that all of my guests have chosen to stay, and experience it forever, rather than return out into the harsh world above." She continued, and then laughed again while her servants placed the trays down, two each in front of Lani and Michael.
"So, now that you're here, what are your names? I would prefer to be properly introduced before dining, after all. My name is Amunta." She said, and the coverings of the platters were pulled aside, revealing surprisingly rich looking dishes, though all of unfamiliar desert fair.
