Something inside of Levandi... snapped. All this way, and NOW they were giving up?! Suddenly, her wounds didn't matter anymore. The slumbering demon and whatever passive magic crap they were radiating didn't matter anymore. She was NOT going home empty handed. She was a Glutton, damnit! And she was not done until she could find SOMETHING she could gorge herself on. Riches, ancient weapons, art, or just some demon's crappy collection of skin mags. She didn't care what was in there anymore but she WAS going to find it! A determined scowl on her face, she grabbed Zariah by the arm, marched over to the door and slid the two of them through the just big enough opening, all but shoulder-checking Yegan deeper inside before moving to slam the door closed behind them. "Only way out is in now," she snarled as she pulled with all her might.
Rodeaux, said nothing as he gave a grin, his eyes roving over the pride demon, from head to toe. Getting close to her, his hands slid to the front of her dress, just every so slightly above her chest as he pulled on the fabric, the dress letting out an audible rip, exposing a glimpse of her chest outward, the feeling of the desert sun on her exposed skin. Reaching downward his hands went to her legs, pushing the dress back as his fingers slid between her thighs, taking a little longer than he probably should have before making another tear, ripping open part of the hem and revealing her inner thighs. Seeming to try to push his luck, his fingers came back to her legs again, slipping through the ripped hole, now touching her bare skin as his fingertips traced along the outside of her underwear, before she could feel it start to bunch as he gripped it, getting ready to pull. “They’d never let a slave have that expensive of underwear.”
As the door shut tight, Yegen and Zariah’s posture seemed to jump a bit, a little more alert, but Yegen just sighed. “What a pain.” Forcing them along the path, the more distance they made, the greed demons started to walk straighter. It was hard to say how far these halls were to guess the exact range, but the noticeable weakening of the effect occurred the further they were away. It must have been a solid ten minutes or so of more walking before any source of light was visible, but as they made their way out, there was a noticeable bizarre change to the architecture and stonework the further they went before finally coming into the heart of the tomb. “Hahaha-this is even better than I expected!” Yegen didn’t even try for silence at this point as his maniacal laughter and excitement overtook him at the sight of possibly more gold that any demon knew how to spend. “But we won’t be able to load this all out on our own.” Zariah sounded disappointed, but she was already lining her pockets until they overflowed. “Yes, but-“ Yegen walked down the archway, ignoring the glitter of gold for now to focus on the coffin at the very end. “There’s something much better for our trouble.” Hesitating for a moment, to look at the lid and box, he was checking for any last resort traps before, he finally went to slide and push the lid open, exposing the insides and it’s treasures. The first thing to spot inside was the ancient and old decayed look of bones, shaped in ways no normal body could ever be. The skull still held massive ram like horns, but itself looked closer to a snake’s skull rather than a bull, and the torso of the skeleton was interjoined at the spine with three pairs of skeletonized wings, six in total. There was no lower half to the body, that could be seen. Yet, Levandi felt a dark chill just from standing close to it. Whoever this was, they were undoubtedly strong. But inside the coffin also rested other things. Right on top of the body, cradled in it’s arms was a scroll that Yegen slowly began to pry. “The scroll of prophecy. It’s not like he’s using it now. Let’s take a peek.” The thief king gripped the scroll, holding it straight and unable to mask his excitement as he pulled down the scroll. All Levandi could make out at her angle was glowing orange pentagrams that looked to be moving across the page, and then they started to glow brighter. So bright, they blinded everything with an orange flash, before quickly dying down and Yegen laughing madly as he still held the scroll as a hole began to emerge in the middle, as it started to burn up, leaving him holding nothing and the scroll in ash, fluttering to the ground. “We went through all of this bullshit so you could read a glorified newspaper?” Zariah wasn’t impressed as she approached the coffin, but Yegen stared at the two, looking more maniacally insane then ever. “You didn’t see what I’ve seen. I read the future. In the future, I kill the demon king. First the eyes, gouged out, then off goes his tongue, before he dies impaled with his own sword, in misery and in pain. He can do nothing to fight back while I steal his strength for my own and use it against him. All of his efforts, mean nothing. I’m the winner in the end.” Confident in his vision, Zariah stared at the other artifacts in the coffin, curiously. “A Zenagri box. Been a while since, I’ve saw one of these. If someone tries taking too much from the coffin, it’s designed to have objects turn their energy into themselves, disintegrating everything in it and all the things taken out of it, to ward off thieves. Usually, you can reliably nab around three or four things before that happens. But…you already took that one use scroll…” “Small price to pay. These are just an added bonus. Tell you what. I’m happy with how today turned out, so why don’t you take first pick?” Yegen made his offer to Levandi. She could see a variety of objects still near the body. All of them were clearly very old and resonating magic. Weighing her options, she could see a number of things. A silver handheld mirror with a rippling pool like way it delivered reflection. A golden chalice with engravings that looked like a tree and a snake, next to a man. A stone carving in the shape of a heart, that had no pulse of magic like the others. A multicoloured crystal ball that continually shifted in color as a magical mist like substance swirled within. An amulet around the skeleton’s neck, circled with various gems, before reaching the middle which had an inner pattern of being a golden spider like web. A golden harp…that looked…nothing like what a demon would own. It’s magic was more…bright. It resonated with energy more like the celestials than demons. The final thing she could see…kind of stood out. While there was no apparent legs to this demon, she could see simple brown leather boots residing in the coffin. But without touching them, she could feel some kind of power to them even if they were much more worn and out of place with everything.
Levandi had not picked anything up yet, instead repeatedly running her hands through the different piles of coin and bars happily, occasionally outright hugging some of it. If it were physically possible, she wanted to outright SWIM in it all but she satiated herself for the moment trying on some of the jewels and even an old crown she had found. "Congratulations, oh future majesty," Levandi called out, too giddy to put any real sarcasm behind the words as she joined the others, now wearing the small crown at a jaunty angle while swinging a golden scepter with a blue jeweled top like a baton. She was concerned with the growing madness in Yegen's voice but still could not really bring herself to be too concern considering what they had already faced to get here and also the treasure that was now in her hands. The harp, and surprisingly the boots were the two things that caught her attention the most. After a few seconds to mull things over, she began darting her eyes between them as she muttered under her breath, "Eenie meanie miney moe..." Once she reached the end of her chant she snatched up the object her gaze had landed on at the end... which turned out to be the boots. More avarice-inclined demons might have thought that strange but quality to Levandi was less important than just indulging in what her instincts wanted. And they WANTED those boots for whatever reason so she was taking them. She held the old things up to her face, examining them to see if she could see some kind of outward sign of the magics she could feel radiating off of them. (Thus speaks the god of coin flip.)
Raven bites her lip at Rodeaux's touch, conflicted. After all, it's beneath her to be touched by someone so lowly, but at the same time, the fact that he's so enraptured by her form satisfies her pride, and causes other feelings to stir, as her body is more and more exposed. Finally, she shoves him away, removing her panties herself. "Fine. See to it they're looked after." She tosses the panties dismissively to him. "So," she turns to face Charon. "Anything left to do, before I go?"
'See? No harm done,' Capris tried to assure the guardian. Heading past Cera, Capris made sure that Jia was taken care of, before he took some time to rest. Perhaps he would head out to the tomb again later, at least to see if the others had survived.
Zariah looking over the contents last seemed to weigh on which looked ideal, before slowly reaching for the mirror. "If this is what I think it is...." She didn't elaborate as she carried it. The magic leylines of the box began to flash in response to her removing another treasure, but began to die down. "From the looks of it, it's not going to react well. At best, someone could sneak out one more thing." The thief king grinned, having already been reaching. Instead of any of the obviously shiny golden objects, he took hold of the stone carving, but looked confident as always in everything he did. As soon as he began to lift it out, the leylines began to flash again, glowing brightly with Levandi able to feel the intense heat they were giving off, as it held that brightness, not receding or weakening. Zariah let her hand hover over the markings for a moment to feel the heat on her hand before pulling it away and shaking it. "I take it that means we better not push it." "They hoarded a lot of nice treasures. They'll be moving whatever's left to the castle, to keep away from us. A heist should be fun....but for now...." Yegen's eyes began to wander to the walls. "The architects who built these tombs weren't dodging traps and jumping pitfalls everytime they made this place. To get in and out, they had to have..." While he began to examine the stone workings on the wall, Zariah peeled away to the river of gold, waist deep in it as she felt around. "If I were a switch..." With the two searching for some kind of escape mechanism, Levandi was left holding her finding. The magic she could feel in them had to have been old. Very old. It had the kind of demonic taint to a degree...but also much more alien. As she held them, she could feel a tingle in her hand as they started to vibrate intensely. A light flash of blue emerged and before she could react, a sudden zap had struck out at her fingertips, followed by the sound of a spark, crackling electricity. Not painfully, but not exactly pleasant either.
“I have something I need to work on.....try to give us a a range of about three hours minimum. Shouldn't take more than five. You should be able to find a way to waste their time for that long.. If you can get weapons to the prisoners...that could be useful as an internal diversion, but also it runs the risk of getting the people we were supposed to be rescued killed....however, some of the witch's cultists must be held here. They could make for some excellent fodder. They'll help. They don't have a choice."
Getting to the lab to do work was where things could take a turn. Every herb, book and magic circle exactly how he left it. With access to full a set of tools, there was much more he could here and while the process was going to be slow, it could be done. For other healers, this probably would have been a lost cause, just from looking. And while not exactly easy, she would be fine for now as he placed her in a spring he built for critical injuries. Not that this on it's own would make the recovery process, but at least keep things from getting worse while he prepared his work to regrow a body....which was already tricky, let alone to grow someone's body back to it's peak condition prior while working with the rest of it. Not a simple task, but as he had made a few elixirs, grabbed some tools only he would really know the use of, the process had began. At the very least, Jia was good at keeping still during it and while it couldn't be expected to change overnight, after he finally concluded his work for the day, he knew it would be well on it's way to healing. As he got some sleep for the night, his own brain was able to wake up refreshed. Checking on the growth rate of things, it was....as to be expected. No limbs returning overnight....but...he could see a slight bit of bone jutting as the body started to restructure itself. Just only about an inch, but notable. A very small amount of success, but one that other healers would have already dismissed as pretty much impossible. In his head, he realized there were a few ways to do this with varying speed and chances of success. Regrowing the body was...hypothetically easy. At least, comparatively if only time consuming. To restore it to the most basic condition would be relatively the fastest, at the price of much of her muscles atroping and deteriorating to just about nothing. That would rush things to maybe a projected growth rate of a week and a half. It would be the easiest way to free up the emergency area for other people, but it might end up even longer before she could fight again if she needs to take the time to train herself back up to her original level. Trying to ensure the muscle and body remained in peak condition would probably be at least a month, and that was assuming everything worked perfectly. There was always the option to try making improvements to her biological makeup....but that...came with certain risks.
It felt almost like a static shock, which would have been weird because the boots weren't fuzzy at all. But magical things could sometimes break the rules like that so that part of it all did not bother her. Still, it had the same effect of giving that annoying, tingling sensation and she found her hands gripping the boots more tightly in response to its shaking, stubbornly refusing to let them go. "Oh no you don't," she growled under her breath, "After all this if you think I'm gonna drop you THAT easily, you got another thing coming you... pair of boots."
The shocking isn't too dangerous, but the shaking doesn't fade, though Levandi manages to hold onto them, seeing small electrical sparks loosely emit as a reaction, but almost a light tickle at worst rather than any explosive waves of energy or the like. Click The sounds of gears grinding and stones moving was enough to get her to see part of the wall opening up, sunlight from the surface peering in as a staircase became visible in the newly found passage. Beside it, Yegen stood pressing his hand to some brick in the wall. "Thief's intuition strikes again." Zariah who approached the exit way did so, slowly, cradling a pile of gold pieces in her arms, trying not to drop any as she made her way to the new passage, only stopping to take a longing look at all the gold still left and no way to carry it before sighing. "It's a good haul, but depressing with how much more loot we're missing out on. But I'll take what I can get, I guess." Bemonaing the fate of the left behind gold, she began to slowly proceed up the stairway to make her way out, Yegen, seeming to get the same idea and lingering behind to start collecting what he could get. As he reached to pick apart some gems, he was quick to select the most immediately valuable and rare things rather than large amounts of gold on their own before being satisfied to a degree, but holding a bredgrudging look as he stared at the pile and began to make his way out, taking one last look at Levandi. "I'm calling it a success for now anyway. You know how to get back to the hideout on your own." Proceeding to make his way up the stairs, that left Levandi to decide if she wanted to join them or still felt the need to take more while she had the chance.
"I thought you would be able to figure something out. You're smarter than I am, after all." Charon's tone sounded...not too sincere to say the least. "Though....usually for situations like this, Dimtri and I tend to go with the tactic of being interrogated and deliberately rambling about trivial details to make it look as if you're cooperating by talking without giving up anything useful. Enyo is really good at pretending to be too sick and passed out. Mother, does a pretty impressive act that she doesn't speak any demon language. There's a number of ways. I'm sure you'll figure something out."
[Not sure I envisioned him as the mad scientist type. I kind of figured somebody else in the base camp would take care of that part.] Capris chose to pursue the safest but slowest route for healing Jia.
"I'll be right behind you," Levandi called out as she fought down the urge to squirm from the irritation of the shocks, harmless as they might have been. She then got a small smirk on her lips as she leaned down and started scooping up extra handfuls of gold and jewels that she began stuffing into the boots. Even if they turned out to be duds that could do no more than vibrate and shock, these things were going to help her carry out more loot than she would have been able to in the first place.
The scathing look Raven gives her brother speaks volumes in how much she appreciates his sarcasm, and how well she'll reward him for it... "Fine. I'll make it up as I go along. Just be ready to do your job." Unless one of the others has something else to do, the demon rushes out to the prison. Shifting her demeanor, Raven tries to look helpless and distraught, crying out for help, as she clumsily rushes through the sands, tripping a few times for effect. "P-Please, help! I bring a message from my master! They need help!"
With a proper plan in place though tome consuming, there wasn’t much left to do but give it time. Jia had been mostly unconscious, but her condition steadily improving as well as could be expected. There was still a fair amount of work to be done, preparing medical supplies and the like for troops, but that was all fairly easy in comparison, if not tedious. The day progressed smoothly overall, until he heard a small rap on the door. Barely any force to it. “Master Capris. I heard you just came back the other day.” A male’s voice spoke quietly and calmly, but still clearly enough to be heard as Capris could hear the sound of the apocahtery lock being opened. There was only a handful of people who had the key and he was already aware of who it was before the boy had even opened the door to face him properly. A young man with dark hair and a expression that didn’t look anymore happier than usual. “She heard you’re back too. Blink twice, if you want her poisoned.” He spoke in such a darkly casual manner, that even a lot of demons had difficulty believing this attitude could be from an actual human. Elric had proven to be a good apprentice, all things considered. About to open his mouth to speak, he was cut off fast by another voice echoing down the hall. “Caaaappprriiis- Don’t you hide from me~” That voice…. Before he could blink, with lightning speed, she was already directly in front of him, an exaggerated pouting expression on her face, as she kept her arms outstretched. “There you are, my love. Come into my bosom. Snuggle time~“ Safiya. “…I was just kidding, though.” Elric’s facial expression doesn’t change, but it doesn’t hide his annoyance to her presence. “Oh, what we’re you talking about. Keeping secrets? How dirty. Capris, darling, you can share anything with me~” Her teasing tone made Elric fidget, uncomfortable by just being in the same room. “…so, you were going to tell him that you failed succubus gradution, again? What is that? Seven times, already?” “S-shut up! I only failed because my instructor is a stupid old geezer who doesn’t know anything!” Flashing a scowl for a moment, she paused to take a deep breath, before forcing a smile. “So-uhhh….Capris, sweetie. Know how I said, I’d be out on my own after I passed training? Looks like I’ll need to wait another year before I can test again. You don’t mind, right?” “Freeloader.” “Hey! I don’t need to take that from you! Have you ever helped with the cleaning once in your life? You’re just a brat mooching off of honey-bun. You’re the deadweight of the family, darling.” Placing a hand under her chin for emphasis, she coaxed her head and giggled, knowing it would get the intended reaction out of Elric. “Bitch-
As she kept up her looting, it went well. Plenty of gold to go around and soon, she was starting to feel the weight of it starting to pile on. Nothing she couldn’t handle that much, but it was starting to make a reminder of why demon’s were pushing to adopt proper paper currency like the human world did. But all in all, a successful day and now she jusf- “Mngghh…” That sound….when did… The green haired demon right behind Levandi. The two of them alone here and only one way out. Now- “Hey…Levi-tan. Sup?” Groaning, Enyo rubbed one of her eyes trying to shake off the sleep, though from the look on her face, she was still at least half asleep. But something about that informal and unconcerned tone was…. “Mngh….I think you got here too late though. They already high tailed it.” Turning to face the open coffin, still glowing with magic, Enyo looked at the stairway, seeming annoyed, but not paying attention to Levandi too hard. Did she not…? “Aw. I can’t chase them all through the desert. I have these little legs.” Clearly, uninterested in going out of her way to do anything, she began to sit down to look over Levandi, letting out a yawn and rubbing her eye again, at the same time. “Nice dress. Dimmy would like it. But you haven’t talked to each other in a while now. Did you two have a quarrel?”
The demoness can spot a couple people along the walls, cloaks over their armour, readying their bows, take a moment to glance at each other, before one walks off. The other stays with keeping an arrow ready and watching from above without saying anything. The response to the apparent struggling slave girl was that she could see was when another faceless soldier approached the gate from behind the bars, not yet opening it. “Your name. Master’s name. Business?” Very few words spoken to the point.
Levandi froze in her tracks, a chill running down her spine as she slowly turned her head to observe Enyo standing behind her. Then, like someone confronting a spookable wild animal (or showing the appropriate cautious deference to a demon WAY more powerful than themselves) she started to turn around to face her. "Oh, not much," she managed to say in as calm a voice as possible, 'Working on a couple of projects. You know, the usual." Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink her brain screamed as she tried to figure a way out of this... and then a light bulb went off in her head. A truth that she could use to maybe get out of this. "Yeah, looks like they got away for now," Levandi agreed, "but I found these weird boots that looked WAY out of place with all the fancy stuff. Maybe some thief thought you could do that thing where you swap one item for another without tripping a trap? They've got SOME kinda spell on it so I was gonna take them to an appraiser to see what's up. Probably could track down where it came from pretty casually after that." It was all true. Her compatriots HAD escaped, there was no telling if these boots were actual treasure or some earlier tomb raider's attempt at magical trickery with unclear results, and if the appraiser was able to identify the enchantment tracking down its source would be quite possible. At Enyo's second question she sighed and lightly kicked a couple of gold coins on the ground. "Nah, not really a fight," she said, "We've just gotten really busy with our own things lately so we haven't been able to make time." A thoughtful look crossed her face as she added, "Though I guess I'm free now."
