All the work up to this point. Uncovering all the lost lore, discovering a location never supposed to be found, and all the preparation to deal with traps. And now finally able to witness what their efforts had brought upon them. Suicide mission. It was a suicide mission. "Don't move." Even if he didn't whisper it as he spoke through the pained grunts, it wasn't as if it was an option. Stuck behind pillars, corners or wherever was dark enough to hide, they didn't need to see anything in the room to feel themselves nearly tripping over the bodies, that smell of rust, that they all knew was the scent of blood. Even in the shadows, not able to fully see everyone, the graphic mess couldn't be ignored. It was impossible to tell what shadows and silhouettes were others hiding, or just more corpses. Then the footsteps became louder. Light, but against the ground in a room full of dead silence, they became unmistakable. How. The question was on a lot of the survivor's mind. The single footsteps were a constant reminder as they advanced. There was one of them. One. The footsteps came to a halt as the moved to about halfway across the room, but then stopping. The darkness didn't make it easy to catch the glimpses of it, but the sight of it was enough to make those peeking their heads out a bit, to slink back as they saw the dark tendril starting to snake it's way across the ruins and rubble, twisting itself, only stopping for a few seconds as it felt it's way around the room. @Daylan Levandi felt it brushing past her. It's unnatural cold sliminess, yet smooth at the same time. It defied all logic of how anything should be, but what was worse was as it slowly started to turn and she saw the tip of the tendril. The yellow orb and black slit of a reptilian like eye, tracing along her body, inching closer and closer as the yellow like light from it's eye radiated on her body as it made it's search. Staring intently, waiting for any kind of reaction, it seemed satisfied with whatever it was looking for and began to snake away, along the bodies of the fallen to do the same, apparently failing to pick up on the fact the gluttony demon was alive. Who knew the reason. Maybe her natural abilities over poison confused it's search, but she was lucky to see it moving on. @unisol_gr44 Capris could then feel that same black flowing tendril approach where he currently was. Though perhaps it was because of the demon's natural appearance that it wasn't able to determine if he was actually alive or not as it scanned across him, or the fact that the demon could use life on other things to distract and make it forget what it's doing, but it started to eventually move on, and from his angle he could see it make it's approach around the pillar where he knew one of the survivors was. For all of the surviving demon's urges of not moving, Capris could see the nervous twitching of his ally as the eye finally traced itself along and around the pillar coming to a stop to glare at Hayu. He had told him. He told Yegen that they shouldn't go. Hayu stayed put as best as possible, but the tendril just drew closer until finally it saw it happen. Hayu made a nervous twitch and swallow. The black eye's strange body began to bubble as the razor sharp teeth underneath it's eye became visible and it lashed out pulling Hayu away. His screams were loud, but only for a few seconds. The sound that came after was not one anyone wanted to hear. It was the sound of a girl's yawn. Bored, tired, and uninterested, and in no way serious. "Jeez. This is a lot of work today. But....I can't help but think, that maybe there's still a couple of guys left." This was just insane. One demon could not possibly be this powerful, even an Archdemon. What the hell was this thing? Her girlish and bored tones carried to the conversation she held with her weapon, the black like tendril retreating to cover her arm as a massive claw like appendage as the eye emerged along her shoulder. " "Nobody's here. Go back to sleep." That freakish claw like monstrosity had a surprisingly light voice as it spoke and the green haired demon yawned, with agreement. "Good job, El-El. Bro's going to be proud." The footsteps started to echo away from the area, as the conversation started to wrap up. "Don't sleep on top of me again though, Enyo." The conversation got fainter and fainter until it finally seemed like they had moved away, but deeper into the temple. After the commotion had died down, a hand emerged from the pile of bodies, grasping at the ground. The body pulling itself back up, still looking wild and crazed, covered in blood as the white haired man wiped his mouth from the blood leaking. "Tch. Dammit. This is insane. But I'm not leaving until we get what we came for. If we don't get it now, they'll take it back to the castle and we'll never get it. Causality report. Actually, any survivors?" He asked the question in a tone that sounded more pissed off than fearful, but given that there was no sound of Eyno coming back to search this room for now, it seemed like there was at least for the moment, an actual reprieve to regroup.
The deepest reaches of the level's of the Netherworld. The core so far removed, that it starts to lose the natural heat and become a frozen wasteland. Positioned directly on those two level's of hell, was the Kalarov ancestral home. Even the most stubborn of demons were forced to acknowledge their power. Crests change all the time, but it seems by sheer strength of bloodline they always have the strongest claims to it and even in generations where their position is at the weakest, somehow always at least one Kalarov remains to be a holder. It doesn't necessarily make them popular. It's not a small number of demons that believes they have been in power for far too long and to their detractors, not everyone is entirely convinced that's changing any time soon. Though, the race to keep it that way was now launched into full gear. @Tjf Gathering in the dining room, it had rarely been used for any such purpose in a while now, the tables sprawled over with maps and board pieces. At the head of it, Dimitri stood from his chair pouring over the maps, and periodically rubbing his face and where his scars were, ignoring the pain, as he looked over the situation to see what would he could come up with. More importantly, his gazed was transfixed to the woman sitting next to him as she laid out the cards on the table. The woman was old. For demons to actually show their age....her wizened bony old fingers grabbed the card and began to flip it. While a few looked on with suspense, nobody said a word knowing not to interrupt the oracle when she speaks. "The cards reveal little. Fortune that could be gained or lost, on such an impossibly delicate balance, it will either be the dawn of a new age, the star of the Kalarov line shining brighter then ever, but just as easily, I see in the paths it fading away, dwindling out like little more than the flame of a candle. However, this type of alignment isn't rare. In fact, the vision of someone both winning while losing is much more common than I'd like it to be." Dimtri stared at her for a moment, as she took the goblet close to him and began to pour some vaporous substance into it, giving the concoction, a rising mist of color and a foul smell as Dimitri took it, stains of blood dropping onto the table from where he had cut his wrist to fill it prior. The preparation had taken day as is, and everyone was hanging on edge if it would really work. "This is your final chance. Even I cannot tell if this will give you sight like mine or possibly paralyze you. If it does work, it's much easier to view your own path than others, and it's possible to foresee it more accurately. But little good it does you, if you don't live to use it." "I'm aware of the risks. Yet, it must be done." Dimitri gave a calm and cold response as he began drinking down the potion, swallowing, it lumped in his throat for a moment before he coughed. Then coughed again, sweat starting to pour as he became pale, falling forward on the table, instantly. "She's killed the king!" The reaction of the guard was immediate as they began to draw their weapons and advance, but she did not react or move as they closed in. "Keh..." A hard cough. Then a twitch. In the same quick burst as he fell, his eyes started to reopen, as he slowly fought to regain his strength. "M-my lord? Are you alright?" One of the guardsmen asked, still holding his blade to the oracle as Dimitri began to rise up to his seat. Something very rare happened as he right himself. Every so slightly, he smiled. "Better than alright. Release the woman. Our business is concluded. I know what I need." Dimitri always spoke with confidence, but now it felt to be an entirely different matter as the guards quietly obeyed, allowing the woman up, Dimitri handing her no small amount of coin as payment and her being escorted out, that left everyone else remaining, waiting anxiously for what he was going to say. "I've seen it. The battle between myself and the dark witch Aversa. Plunging deep into the heart, then my blade taking off her head as her corpse lies in a pool of it's own blood. Her dark power becomes meaningless once sealed. We will not lose." Delivering his verdict, there was some murmuring between the room, but the Archdemons gathered looked generally supportive. "Ooh, such confidence. Such a dashing young man, oh my, how you've grown." The red haired demon stepped up to place her hand on his cheek lovingly. There it was. The only thing that could get a real reaction out of him. Face reddening, Dimitri squirmed, but not willing to push her away. "M-Morena!" "Just teasing dear. And first name basis? Come now, you're not to old to still be calling me "Mom." I'm far scarier than any bullying you'll get from people hearing you say it." "Y-yes...Mother." Dimitri stiffened his lip, not willing to test it. "Bro, is so cool. Could I really be a strong ruler like that?" The blue haired woman held her sword, staying behind most of the group as she watched from a distance, though in combination with the blind spot of her eyepatch and so focused on the actions of other people, she failed to notice her tail accidentally strike part of the pillar behind her smashing it into pieces. The noise made her lump, as she looked at the damage caused completely on accident. "...whoops." She was slightly embarrassed about her own clumsiness not aided by the laughter she heard from two other demons. "Maybe, we need to get Brigid a bell. She'll end up destroying the whole castle on accident before any other demon lords do." The demonic beast laughed hard as it stood straight, outdwarfing most other demons by sheer size alone. However, he seemed quite comfortable with his massive size, not really having any difficulties adjusting and flexing himself to fit into the more narrow parts of the room as he made his way between chairs to help himself to another goblet of wine, downing it almost instantly before giving the order for servants scrambling to get more. "Careful, Balam. You might be immortal. Your liver is not." The other demon in the room was the one who didn't laugh as hard, more focused in the books he was reading, but not looking shy and quiet either. He looked as confident as his other siblings, though in an entirely different light. It was always that look in his eyes, like he knew something they didn't. That was probably true, and he approached Dimitri with that look in mind. "That being said, none of us are truly immortal either. Even offing the witch, still leaves a very troublesome thief on the loose. Perhaps, more dangerous with no way to check him." Dimitri gave a nod to his input. "Agreed. I know we'll succeed, but not the cost. Ideally, Aversa will kill him before we kill her." "But sis is already on it. He's already dead." Brigid interjected, though still in a calm voice as she spoke. Dimitri weighed what she said, but looked serious. "I want to hope Enyo has already beaten him....but....that dammed thief is a slippery bastard. I wouldn't be so sure. I have confidence she'll defend the crypt long enough for us to move the box, but I just can't picture that dam bandit going down that easily." "Then perhaps while they're focused on trying to recover it we should start making moves of our own? Lend me a few detachments and I can make a move to free some of the prisoners of war. He'll be diverting troops as fodder against Enyo to cover his retreat. By the time the prison can relay a message, they'll never make it back in time." "Then I leave it to you, Charon." Giving his permission, Charon smiled....it was hard to tell if that was really all he had in mind, but he began giving orders to the other demons to start to mobilize, the room starting to file out, leaving only the six Arch Demons to remain. Charon was still writing a few things do, before he left properly but it seemed like all of them had a lot to discuss of what to focus on, of how to best use troops. Finding out the location's of where the witch cult was hiding and their hideouts, how to route them out while not leaving them too undefended from any more pushes from the East....how to push back in the East while not leaving the inner cities open to rioting and chaos from the cults.....it was a tough puzzle.
Raven, in her female form, watches the conflagration quietly. She rolls her eyes as she sees Dmitri submit to their mother, wondering why he allows himself to be shamed in such a manner. She stands, knowing that the others aren't as capable as she, and begins to speak, voice confident and loud. "I will assist, where help is most dearly needed. After all, it's best that the most capable of us be the one to go to where the danger is greatest."
Levandi let out her held breath once the coast was clear. Normally, she would not be completely against a tentacle or two feeling her up but this one was a different story. Even by demon-kind standards it had felt... off. Wrong in a way that should not be. And the fact that it had been looking right at her and moved on anyway bothered her. Still given how so many other bodies were strewn about her, she knew to save pondering the specifics of how she had survived for later. Slowly approaching the angry one, she whispered, "Still alive." She kept her voice low both in deference and because if something WAS going to draw Eyno's attention back their way, it was certainly not going to be her.
Whether frozen out of fear or a sense of self-preservation, Capris kept still for another few moments after the overwhelmingly powerful demon had left and stayed gone. Clad in a cloak as black as the shadows, he emerged from one of the pillars. 'Your tenacity is admirable, but what chance do we have against those two?' Capris asked their leader, 'If we meet them again, we will share the fate of the others.' @Daylan The demon of lust looked to Levandi and gave her a nod, 'Good to see you made it.' Capris started to check the dead, seeing who they had lost and trying to determine if they were all beyond saving or anybody had survived.
Hearing the offer, Dimitri looked to be considering it, but Charon already knew what he was thinking. “I’d welcome the assistance.” No surprise. It wasn’t as if Charon was by any means weak, but he definitely was closer to a scholar than a warrior. “I should help then too.” Brigid stepped forward to offer, but Dimitri raised a hand dismissively. “I’d be more worried about the enemy’s safety than theirs. I need you by my side to keep guard.” Dimitri made a face as he spoke, scowling as he reminded himself about it. Putting his hands on the arms of his chair, he began to pull himself up, only for his legs and arms to start to shake before he gave out and fell back down, making a mild grunt of pain as his coat fell and it exposed the graphic sight of the stitches on his chest starting to come loose. Brigid approached to help right him. The only one not looking visibly bothered was Charon who held his smile. “Give yourself time to heal. The point of being king is to have other people fight for you, is it not?” “Giving orders while I’m still stuck like this…is this all I can do?” The last battle had obviously started to take it’s toll. More than just physically. “Raven and I will get the job done….that is, Raven will most likely be the reason it gets done.” Charon tried to give assurance to Dimitri who still remained sullen. “Oh, sweetie. War isn’t easy, but we’re doing just fine.” Morena offered her motherly smile as she let her fan unfurl. “Just sit tight and mommy will take extra special care of you soon. I have a plan for those horrid little witches picking on my Dimitri. Oh, it’s so deliciously naughty..” The red haired demon got lost in her thoughts, face starting to flush, as she hugged herself. “Their screams. I get excited thinking about it.” Was it a bluff? ….as far as it went with mother, who knew. It wasn’t common knowledge to people, but she did love to exaggerate as putting on a big show of being the holder of Lust….but she never remarried after father died. However…seeing her work before…she is definitely a demon. And from the face Brigid made hearing her mother talk, it was obvious she was thinking that even the cultists don’t deserve what they were going to get. “…then I’ll make sure if anyone lays a hand on brother, I’m going to keep that hand.” Brigid gave a serious tone.”Charon, don’t get in Raven’s way too much.” “Her wa-it was my idea!” That struck a nerve, but before it could escalate Dimitri raised a hand. “Let’s not waste time with petty arguments. Move quickly.”
"God dam..." A very annoyed sounding woman's voice joined the group, the source of the sound joined at a spot where it was if the stones of the pillar were starting to emerge and pop out, the sandstone melting into puddles reshaping itself before they started to recolor, before becoming human. The first thing she did is deliver a dagger stare to the alleged leader. "Oh, we'll just raid the royal crypt. They won't mind. Nobody's going to notice." They noticed, alright? I ain't getting myself killed." Her announcement of her intention to quit while she was ahead was only met by his maniacal laughter. "Think about this. If they are that desperate to send her to head us off, then that means they know this is the right place for sure. The casualties are a problem....I had expected more from Hayu, but there's always new holders." "Fuck off, Yegen. Do you not notice the bodies? This isn't just one or two guys. That bitch is literally a monster." Even with her telling off the Thief King to his face, he didn't seem overly bothered by it, and while she balked at his almost utter indifference to the casualties, he didn't look willing to give this up. "Isn't that helpful to you, Zariah? If I die, you can just take my place as the next Greed Archdemon. That's what we do have going for us, anyway. There's always going to be more future holders that will help if I push their claims. But since the Archdemons are only just seven guys in total, if they lose even one they won't be able to recover. Sucks to be Hayu, but there's always more people who have a shot for Envy. Hey, you could try killing me right now to take my place." He made the offer, gleefully. The smile on his face so crazed and unconcerned, it was difficult to tell if it was a bluff, a threat, or a completely serious thought. Not that it was uncommon. @unisol_gr44 As Capris surveyed for anyone still alive, he could hear parts of the conversation, and just in response, he almost felt a reactive hearbeat from one of the bodies. "I'd rip your balls out now, but.kerrigh..I kind of need a hand first...hahaha..." The corpse started to cough up spurts of blood as it tried to laugh. He had to properly look at what he was seeing. It took him a while to properly piece it together from whatever was left and soaked in blood, to pin what was supposed to be the face to the body. He had to visualize it for a moment to make the proper connection to who it was and the body that was nothing more than an arm, head, and half of a torso clinging for his life...but after a bit he could grasp the whole picture. Jia...she was alive! Kind of...the demoness groaned as she tried to move, but reduced to only half her body, it didn't come easily to crawl with a hand. Few demons could possibly be this stubborn. "That bitch...I'll get her for this and when I'm done with her, she won't have any fingers left to crawl out of the grave she's buried in." For all of Jia's claims, Zariah and Yegen both held the same look of being almost impressed and in disbelief that she was seriously planning on starting a second round. Yegen made a face as he thought, obviously not pleased about anything risking slowing down his attempt. "Capris probably can't heal this in one go, and you aren't good as a fighter like this either. If he has to take you to the camp, then we're short expedition members. Try to give her enough to keep her pulse up and we'll get her on the way out." "Fuck that! I'll rip the bitch's eyes out!" For all of Jia's claims even Zariah who had already given Yegen shit seemed to have the same look of knowing exactly how that wold end. "Capris. Take her back to camp. It's going to take a lot of time to heal all that." Zariah tried to give the order, which caused the thief king to stare at her. "But if you're so worried about the sloth demon, think about the fact she's still here. If she ends up getting alerted...we're going to need someone to heal that too." "You don't know how much deeper this place is supposed to be. We can't really just leave her like this and hope she won't bleed out." Jia hearing the argument, got fed up grabbing a rock with her remaining arm and tossing it straight at the thief king's head, only for him to evade it at the last possible second, but her efforts to grab attention were noticed. "I'm pretty tough. Even with one arm, I probably hit harder than of you. I betcha I could just break a path through this stupid maze like.. ..just you know, I'm kind of going to need someone to help carry me." The three continued their squabble in front of Levandi and Carpis. All presenting options, but none of them sound especially good.
For a moment, Raven looks at Morena, both disgusted at how Dmitri is letting himself be babied by their mother, and simultaneously a little jealous. "Come, Charon." Raven orders. "Let's get to the front."
Capris did not really want to get involved in the squabble between Yegen and Zariah and concentrate on Jia. She looked in a bad way, and he grimaced as he did his best to stop her from dying for the moment, 'Stay still and stop crawling around, would you? A miracle that you're alive, Jia, you're a tough one.' 'Leaving Jia here is not an option,' Capris shook his head, 'I can try to heal her here and come after you when we are ready to move.' Capris thought about looking for parts of the other dead demons to temporarily "fix" Jia's body, but he was unsure if that was even possible.
Oh good, Levandi sarcastically thought to herself, The married couple survived to keep squabling. That'll make our next move SO much easier to decide. After giving Capris a nod of acknowledgement, the Gluttony Demon began looking around. She was trying to see if she could find anything useful amongst the shredded and splattered corpses surrounding them, keeping an especially watchful eye out for if that... thing... had left anything behind of Hayu and what he had held or if it had swallowed him whole. If it was the latter, then that would be a whole new problem to worry about. If the former, there might be opportunities she could take advantage of. Especially since it seemed everyone else still alive was either currently focused on arguing, healing, or both, and paying her little mind. That gave her a chance to do what she liked to do best. Seize the moment.
"I was the one who-" He cut himself off realizing his protests would fall on death ears and followed her down the winding paths of the castle, to the courtyards and gates. As soon as Raven stepped out into the open, something shot by her head, giggling madly. Catching sight of it, it was blue in nature, pivoting in a U-turn before coming back around over her head to join the air, plagued with a swarm of tiny blue flames. Wisps. The tornado of tiny little mischievous spirits was something else. Getting them to actually listen and gather in one area was a task on it's own and in no small part due to what they were circling over. A ghostly apparition of a woman. At her feet, the same burning of blue only seeming much more intense, and unique in being the only one of their ilk with what looked to be something close to an actual body. Her expression was the same kind of dark mischief they got into. If the other wisps had mouths, they'd have the same smile. Gathered in more physical forms was a gang of...what where they? Nobody ever got a good look at their faces, but the tiny little bastards had trouble keeping their hands to themselves with other people valuables. It didn't make them entirely useless. It was a useful skill, but nobody would exactly call them the toughest and while they rarely communicated directly, it was generally assumed they clung to the kingdom and it's more powerful armies for protection from being torn apart by demon tribes fed up with their constant thievery. The one standing tall above the rest, still didn't look he was actually one of them, but the way they moved around him without sizing him up to try and steal from spoke to the respect the pale purple haired demon commanded. He was still among the few who really understand the language, so he had to be in charge of them to get any orders accomplished at all. "Willow! Rondeaux!" Charon made his order to the captains who floated and drifted over respectively, both looking eager to cause trouble. The purple haired demon offered a bow to the archdemons as he approached. "Lord Charon, the Ikeali are ready as requested." He gave his report before delivering another bow to Raven. "Lady Raven, I take it, you are joining this little excursion?" "That might be a problem." The ghostly woman spoke while still holding a dark grin like her male counterpart. "I was hoping to curse the enemy and kill them slowly over the next hundred years as they whittle away into nothing, but bone. Lady Raven will kill them way too quickly." "As far as our plans our concerned, I'd prefer killing the enemy quickly, or even not at all. Our focus isn't to engage every enemy squad we run across. We need to make a strike on the prison and free some of our men." Charon gave the general idea of his aim. It was obvious why he wanted to use the wisps and the Ikeali. They were far from the most militaristic powerful divisions they had at their disposal, but when it comes to getting into places their not supposed to go, this is where they shined. Charon looked towards Raven, a little wary of her opinion and as she knew him well enough, just a little bit desperate for his older sister's approval. "What do you think? If any fighting does happen because something goes wrong, we're going to have to rely on you."
Raven looks quietly among those gathered, before her gaze returns to Charon. "We'll use the wisps and ikeali, as you suggest." She nods, giving her brother the affirmation he needs. "I'll be ready in my war form to provide support, when you give the signal."
Capris examined the bodies and while the conditions of them varied, it wasn't as easy as just taking anything. However, he did spot a few mostly intact bodies of a few gorgons, imps, among other things. Enough that creating some kind of Frakenstein-esque abomination was possible, though it wouldn't look pretty. On the other hand, while hypothetically possible to regenerate the other half of her body with time, there never really had been a situation such as this where that could be tested. It could be done over the course of a few months, weeks if being optimistic, and with the right tools but it would require a lot of work. With what he had to work with...a lot of these bodies weren't even the same species so how biologically compatible they would be would be pretty much a forgone conclusion if it wasn't for some powerful life magic to manipulate that. It could be done, presumably. The patchwork job wouldn't hold for long, but would at least enable her to move for long enough and buy some time. Simply closing the wounds was an option to prevent her to bleed around. Presumably easier, but that would also still leave her pretty much immobile in this state. "Double back to the surface entrance. It's brightest there. If Enyo backtracks, she won't bother with anywhere that's going to hurt her eyes with how long she's been hanging out down here." Yegen voiced his thoughts, but he was already looking ahead ready to make his approach deeper in. "If she's taking a quick nap, that gives us roughly four hours to to finish up." His face went back to looking angry, remembering that was he reduced to having to calculate her sleep schedule. "It's embarrassing to have to avoid fighting her, but once I get what we came here for, that can start to change." Levandi getting impatient at the lack of pace had her mind wander over to the sight of where Hayu once was. She wasn't too sure what she was looking for but as she looked at the scene trying to recapture what she had saw, she looked at the sight. What remained of the body was...not in a good way to say the least. Much like Jia's current state, this one also had it's arm removed. Unlike Jia, this one wasn't in half, but it was still pretty badly damaged as Levandi spottted the puncture marks deep in the chest where his heart should be, and another series where his lungs were. Most notably, the head removed. Which was...somewhere. It was graphic and far from family friendly to view, but it did give some insight in how she and her weapon Eligor actually worked. Despite how brutal it looked, it actually showed something of a minimalist style to fighting. Enyo went straight for the vitals and dismemberment to kill her opponent as quickly as possible. From the condition of the other bodies it also seemed to confirm that was the case. While all of them weren't pretty too look at, it did reveal she didn't bother with superficial wounds or surface level strikes. When she made her attacks, she was either going to be going straight for the organs or severing the person's weapon arm. That did make her actual fighting style quite a bit easier to predict on paper....how much that helped was another question. As Levandi started to finish her observations, she did notice something sort of odd. The blood almost made it forgettable and easy to miss, but the slight discoloration of something got her attention on the ground before Hayu's remains. The shine was gone, but she could spot the Amber pendant he had been wearing. Some of the silver had teeth marks in it, and the appearance of drool made it obvious how that happened...but Levandi realized that meant that Eligor had to have spit it out. For whatever reason, it went out of it's way to spit this back up when it went for the head. If it didn't swallow this whole, that could be some kind of clue to avoid suffering the same fate, hypothetically.
'I better take her back to camp or the surface at least, we'd just slow you down,' Capris said, weighing his options, 'And there's not much I can do for her here.' He tired to quickly stem Jia's bleeding for now and then picked her up. 'Good luck with the search, don't get yourself killed,' Capris nodded to the three others, before he started to head back up to the surface with Jia in his arms. He sighed, ', 'Sorry for taking you out of the fight, but I think this is for the best.'
Levandi grimaced at the various sights of carnage. It was not that they sickened her so much as she had to oddly admire just how efficient all of Eligor's blows had been and admiring the work of someone who had been trying to kill her fairly recently just did not sit right with her. On top of that, most demons who were able to kill so many so quickly tended to be more of the berserk sort that swung wildly and were as metaphorically sloppy as the literally sloppy state of her surroundings. That this Eligor could manage both meant... well, she did not know for sure what it meant but it could be nothing good for the future. "What's this now?" she muttered to herself, if only to give herself more noise to focus on as the arguments seemed to be dying down. She grimaced again, though this time from having to touch the slimy pendant that had apparently disagreed with their foe. She hummed to herself some more as she lifted the Amber up to what light there was, looking it over for any obvious signs of what had made it unpalatable. And even if it was not clear, she decided it was still a good idea to hold onto it for now... and not just because it looked kind of pretty beneath the saliva covering it.
"Then we should do well. Though hopefully, we won't be put in a position where direct engagement is necessary. But being prepared for the worst case scenario is a key to war." Charon made a gesture for the rest to start to march, and by turn his order to move being relayed to the captains of their squadrons. In a rush, servants arrived to deliver two black horses from the stables, intended for Raven and Charon's use. As they made they ride, the advantages to Charon's favored troops became more apparent. The tiny thieves small size meant they had little trouble sharing horses with each other, three or four to one. One to ride, then at least two already knocking their bows in preparation. The desert area would be a lot of open space, so horse archers would be valuable and these guys didn't take up much space keeping them from crowding each other with too many horses with their riding. The wisps, simply could follow without any additional effort on their part. Barely any magic to them, but the little ghosts didn't need to spend any energy to float letting them simply fly over or through whatever is in the way. The lack of struggling that large formations usually suffered from when it came to mobilizing wasn't nearly much of an issue, cutting down on time by a ton. A while after their wideout, the change from the city, had turned to woods, and after a good amount of time since they left by nightfall, the sunrise had shone while they were still making their way. Raven had already seen the desert region before. Fought on it more than once two. From the look on Charon's face, he was clearly having a thought process as he took a peek at his map. "...it's bizarre. Not like it's anything special for claimants to sprout up, and not as if anyone can remember every last thief in the demon realm, but...where did he even come from. From what I gather and for all my findings tell me....he never really existed. Ever. No matching name. No matching appearances. Nobody having that same stupid laugh to account for. It seems like he didn't exist until the day he tried to ambush brother." Charon's voice had an obvious hint for annoyance. Raven had remembered that. Dimitri had to crush that stupid revolt a while back. It wasn't even a serious thing. Barely anyone even remembers the name of whichever count it was trying to make their attempt and it ending badly. Nobody even felt like they needed to bother helping with Dimitri's campaign against someone so small. The only one who had went with him was Charon for tactical advice. Of course, he annihilated them. That was a given. But...the story comes when he was returning back home and then he got jumped by highwaymen. At the time, nobody would have seriously believed a few bandits would be an actual problem. It would have been hilarious at how stupid someone actually would have to be to try robbing the King....it was a lost less funny when they came back. Knowing how Charon worked, a foe that he had almost no information on who the hell this guy was exactly, was something that was probably driving him crazy. Regardless, two blue flames began to fly by Raven and Charon's face before the conversation could delve in deeper, as they floated by the riders. "We're approaching!" From what Raven could tell, as she saw it on the horizon, the prison was in sight. Charon seeing it, starting to slow his horse. "Dismount here. There should be a sandstorm brewing here soon if the forecast is correct, we can use that to cover our approach in a bit. Set camp for now." He gave a glance at the wisp giving it a quick order to scout as he started to climb off his horse and quickly open some blank parchment as he began to scribble whatever he was already getting into work laying out.
"Do that..." Yegen didn't look overly concerned. In fact, his grin widened as he continued to stare ahead and walk forward down the hall, advancing deeper into the depths of the crypt. "Call it thief's intuition, but this is going to be worth it." Zariah stood in one place for a while debating if she should stay or go, before taking a last look at Capris and then following after Yegen, still seeming not willing to abandon the raid after already making it this far in. Carpi's magic as he worked on Jia's almost dead body, closing the wounds and obvious injuries with relative ease. It was much easier to patch up existing than wounds than create body parts, and the results showed. He could sense her heartbeat stabilizing, at the very least, though this was obviously far from an ideal condition. The oni made another annoyed face though he could still make out the audible sigh of relief from her at the pain being relieved. Not really having much of a choice to refuse as she was, she didn't really struggle with it. "Yeah...right. Be smart about this...first I'll recover, then I'll tear the horns from her head." Unsurprisingly , the wrath demon was still not willing to let this go. As she mused about her findings, Yegen who looked anxious to get a move on now, looked back and while at first looking ready to glare with annoyance, it shifted more to genuine interest as he made the same observations. "...that might be worth holding onto. It probably won't help for now, but seeing what properties it has that repels that stupid weapon would be nice. Later, we're going to need a way to deal with her, properly. For now, let's pick our battles. Standard thief rules. Keep to the darkness, stay slow, always remember the escape routes of everywhere you visit." The Thief King was adamant to proceed with or without anyone else. Zariah looked a little hesitant to prompt Levandi, but she was ultimately, still a greed demon. "Having you keep the place dark would help avoid being spotted. But if you want to quit while you're ahead, I'm not going to stop you."
Capris carried Jia to the surface, carefully listening for anyone who might cross their path, especially the sloth demon. If they made it back to the entrance undisturbed, he let Jia down and tried to see how he could help her further, they didn't exactly have any time to fully heal her body.
Levandi gave Zariah a smirk. "He's probably right," she replies, "You don't put something THAT powerful around these parts unless there's something REALLY exciting to find." She stood back up, flipped the amulet in the air like a coin before snatching it out of mid-air and then stuffing it into her cleavage for safe-keeping. "Besides, I'm a Glutton," she adds, calling on some of her darkness magic to dim their immediate surroundings a little, "so maybe I'm into a little... puishment."
Capris made his advancement to backtrack through the way they came. It was actually much easier than it was before, as the sight of the old rooms became increasingly less graphic, though still chaotic. Blades lodged in walls from traps that had already been sprung, gas valves tightened so they wouldn't release if anyone stepped on the plates, and the classic boulder trap already smashed, just as a few things. There was a lot of words people could describe that thief, but he definitely had some skills. It made the return trip, all that much easier without needing to worry about stepping on the wrong thing with all of them already done for them. Occasionally, he could hear what sounded like footsteps in the side hall passages, but they faded quickly if he kept quiet. The more he made his way out to the upper levels that were further out and brighter with natural light, the less common the sounds were until he was no longer hearing them at all, finally reaching the mouth of the entrance to the crypt, the sight of daylight peering through a little intensely. Jia, seemed to be doing much the same as she started to sleep somewhat. Definitely alive against the odds and thanks to Capris's intervention, but losing the battle to stay conscious for so long with the adrenaline now fading. Setting her down for a rest, would be something of a relief. Even for only having half of her body....she wasn't exactly an easy load. As he rested though, for a good amount of time, it seemed like Yegen's assumption had been proven right that this area was relatively safe. At least while there was still some daylight left to burn. Her eyes creaked open as she regained some consciousness to observe, looking around...then pausing to look over herself as if to confirm that actually happened before staring at Capris. "Uh...thanks for the lift."
