Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Alright, time to get to that mountain."
Bardock leaves the arena and heads towards the town's gate.

 

Stephanie looks into each trapdoor.


I head into the fort, curious.


Artemis slides around the thorns, firing arrows toward Ihra? before she puts a hand to her mouth, whistling seemingly silently.

 

You knock her off balance, but she blinks away a bit to lessen her vulnerability.

All three drop down quite far. It looks like they all have water below, but if they all went the same way, why would there be three?


It's clearly abandoned, but torn-up clothes and long-dulled weapons litter what's left of the fort.


Ihra releases a bolt of ice magic at Stephanie, testing the waters as she blocks the arrows with another barrier.
"Let me know when we can begin."

The receptionist waves at him as he leaves.

...

The guards seem to have had a shift change.
"On your way out? Thanks for visiting, sir!"

 

"Yes, thank you."
Bardock exits the town and rushes towards the mountain.

 

Upon reaching the mountains (not that far), it seems that Ragnyon hadn't made it back yet.

 

Stephanie chooses the third trapdoor, jumping down.


I pick up one of the weapons to sharpen, instinctively reaching behind my back before realising I don't have Shadow Katana, dropping the weapon.

I head into one of the rooms in the fort.


A pair of wooden Artemis' block the shot, taking it instead.

There's a howling in the distance as a pack of wolves charge toward Ihra?, while Artemis changes back to her death guardian form, taking a heavy breath inward and breathing out a heavy mist of spores, though they look rather harmless.

 

"Hye, that's strange."
Bardock looks around to see if he sees any sign of Ragnyon.

 

Be it luck or the fact that they're just there to confuse her, she falls into another tank of water.


It seems to have been a mess hall - except now it's more of a messy hall, considering there are tentacles and other bizzare things growing out of the corpses strewn about.


Rineth lets out a jet of shadowfire, though Ihra? blocks it and continues letting bolts loose at Stephanie.

The wolves are impaled one by one via corrupted thorns.

No sign of Ragnyon, but there are eight caves visible in the mountains from his position.

 

Stephanie swims up and searches for another flap.


I investigate one of the tentacles, curious.


Some of the spores seem to erupt from the wolves before they seemingly disintegrate into green orbs that fly away, getting into Ihra's? mouth. Ihra? begins to start to feel strange...

The wooden Artemis' continue to protect Stephanie, darker yet weaker versions growing out to replace the ones that are destroyed. Strangely, one of the green orbs that flies from a dead wolf seems to become corrupted, an odd, black humanoid creature about half the size of Artemis with antennae, sharp claws and yellow eyes emerging from it, leaping toward the first thing it sees: Ihra?

 

There isn't one, but she can see the other drops. Probably not too hard to go swim to them.


It's still, but once you draw close, it slowly reaches out towards you.


With a tap, Ihra? cures herself of her ailment, also removing a fair amount of the spores.
She keeps the bolts going towards Stephanie, the summoned creeps intercepting the humanoid as Ihra? lets loose a fireball in Artemis' direction.

Rineth tries to keep the creeps down, but a few escape his breathweapon.

 

Stephanie swims toward the drops.


I back away from the tentacle, exploring elsewhere.


The humanoid creature fights off a few of the creeps, before it dies, disintegrating.

A strange mushroom seems to have sprouted on Ihra's? wrist, somehow able to evade the cure. It could probably just be pulled out easily, though.

The fireball comes close to hitting Artemis before it strangely turns around and flies back toward Ihra?, Artemis looking quite confused.

 

Each is the same size, and the second one does indeed have a flap.


The old command center is what you stumble across next. It seems to have just been left, a few maps and notes left behind.


Ihra? severs and regrows the limb, blinking behind and uppercutting Artemis with her axe, darkness burning in her eyes.

 

Stephanie swims through the second.


I decide read some of the notes.


Artemis is quick to react, rolling out of the way, only getting a slash on her leg. Ihra? is met with a rapid flurry of extremely sharp slashes from behind, however.

 

This time, the top of the tank is partially flooded. The water just makes the walk even more of a slog.


Most of them are illegible, but one stands out to you;
"We were hit from another side; inside. There is a phase where we never set up, where the wall was all we had. They opened the flood gates from there; I suggest anyone who finds this run. There is no secret safe way out of this place; this is where we're all finally doomed to die."


A brutal burst of omnielemental magic goes off as a reaction to the cuts against her wingguards as she immediately dives after Artemis, bolts of light flying towards Stephanie all the while.

 

Stephanie takes a moment to catch her breath, resting.


I take the advice and leave.


Artemis seems to be a bit of a distance away, having run. As Ihra? dives toward Artemis, she's knocked back by a wall of fire, the wall turning into a large ring, the ground cracking open as jets of heat erupt from it.

"I was looking for someone to test these out on. Cheers." A voice says from behind Ihra?

 

@Nepeta Leijon
While the two are dueling, I try evacuating Aj and Stephanie.

 

Stephanie and I are quite light, albeit motionless.

 

She suddenly loses her balance, but nothing seems to have happened.


You suddenly lose your balance, in the middle of the doorway.


She turns, smiling.
"I love your screams the most, anyways."

A split clone continues after Artemis, rising out of the ground with axe in hand.

 

Stephanie looks around, confused.


Once I regain my balance, I raise my fists, looking around.


"I've had my personal dislikes of Ihra, I guess now I can enjoy the satisfaction of killing her." Abigail says, smirking.

Instead of her usual claws, Abigail seems to wield a pair of large chakrams, spinning them back and forth idly; though her gauntlets appear to be much smaller.

Abigail suddenly throws her chakrams toward Ihra?, the chakrams creating explosions of flame that reach up high. After hitting Ihra?, the chakrams return to Abigail, and she throws one sideways at Ihra?, the chakram spinning a lot faster this time.


Artemis sprints off quickly, quite agile.

 

Nothing's around. Just water.


Nobody else is near. Not even a paper was thrown off a table.


The chakram's energy is absorbed by a shield, Ihra? conjuring water directly in Abigail's lungs as she waits for Abigail's next move.


As fast as Artemis can run, blinking is faster.
A few frost daggers fly at her,
Rineth's able to block most of them, but Ihra? is faster than he is.