Into the Cave

"Cassus, I thought I told you to leave the heavy weapons--"

Robless' voice was drowned out by the roar of melting insectoid organisms. Military-grade promethium singed the air and lit up the environment as Cassus flicked the valve on his promethium flamethrower yet another time. The commander could see the excitement in the trained solder's eyes. Nobody could ever get a hold of it when they had a hold of the flamethrower's handle.

It only held them off for so long as Robless dueled with one of the Dal'Maroth, flurries of strikes exchanged between them before two rounds to its abdomen and head dropped the creature to the sandy floor.

-~-

Cassus took aim and incinerated a small group of Dal'Maroth that had tried to flank him and separate him from Commander Robless. He was a quick learner and noticed that their tactics had depended on separation; one lone target was easy prey for the fast-moving hunters.

Cassus also noticed that the fight had taken them far from the flare, only being able to see targets due to the flickering flames and his low-light visor. They would have to get closer or...There was one more way.

The soldier grabbed another illumination from his compression storage and attempted to prime it with one hand, the other wielding the flamethrower and violently spewing promethium at the approaching Dal'Maroth. One of them tried to grab him but was cleaved in half by Robless' sword.

"3...2...1..." Cassus pressed the launch button. It shot forward, melting a hole straight through one of the Dal'Maroth's gut before launching upwards, stabilizing in the air about 15 yards above them.

-~-

"Archelaus! We've got to find the others! Archelaus!" Robless shouted above the carnage of battle, hoping the Alteriian High Druid would hear his pleas. The new illumination flare burned brightly, and the battle-hardened leader could only look on in horror as each member of the team drifted further away from each other. Three of the expedition members were nowhere to be seen. "Archelaus!"

"What ARE these things?" Zyria can't see, but she notices when darts start flying at the group. She quickly changes her suit to an inky black, so she melds even more into the darkness, and pulls out her shield. A dart whirls past Zyria's head, catching a few strands of her hair, causing her to cry out from the sharp pain. The shield begins expanding, and Zyria holds the growing shield in front of her; just in time, as a few darts (aimed at her neck) bounce off of her protection. Eventually, there are too many darts, coming from too many directions, and Zyria gives up on trying to advance, and pulls the shield into a semicircle shape, completely covering her.

Slowly, the amount of darts glancing off of the shield decreases. Zyria still feels the presence of danger, but she also feels as though she can't stay here. She slowly pulls the shield up, and peers into the darkness.

The flash of a flare reveals one of the monsters, barely a foot away, bringing down a claw. Zyria manages to roll away, but she leaves her shield behind.

It doesn't deal with the close combat very well.

The edge of the shield tears off, and there's a metallic screeching sound, as though the shield is crying out in pain. Boggs' invention is ripped apart in seconds. Zyria takes the opportunity, though, to sneak around the monster, and quickly shove her sword through the back of its head. It slowly turns around, a final act of instinct, before it falls to the ground.

With the next flare, Zyria can see that the others are separating the animals and slowly taking them down. A slow, painful tactic, but an efficient one. Zyria turns, her sword prepared, as she hears another one make its way to her. 'I guess it's going to be a long fight. And I don't even know which way I'm supposed to go.'

Archelaus finally found his chance to extend to his full battle form. While being 17 feet tall had its disadvantages, the speed and strength he gained, as well as the power, far outweighed the slight loss of agility. The effect was similar to a baboon transforming into a gorilla, except with highly developed mind powers.

"KRIOS!" The druid yelled, nearly separating a Dal'Maroth's head from its shoulders, before crouching and then using his other hand to send the bug crashing into the spikes in the ceiling, which impaled the creature on the zircon stalagmites above his head, writhing in agony before its body forced defeat upon the creatures mind. As the dead bug's greenish blood dripped from the ceiling, yet another of the things lashed a volley of darts at Archelaus, expecting his huge stature to be an easy target.
Archelaus was not an easy target.

His thin barrier that he kept up at all times easily knocked away the darts. Alteriians are trained from adolescence to hold simple barriers while fighting without thinking or exerting themselves.
Finally, that barrier was useful.

Stalagmites.

Another Dal'Maroth's twin fore-arm blades lashed onto Archelaus' armor, getting stuck in the dense Alteriian Armor. Fortunately for Archelaus, the mandibles were too far separated from the creature's blades for it to get a good grip on his neck which would have been the end of Archelaus.
So instead of death, Archelaus was knocked head over feet even deeper into the fog. Archelaus immediately attempted to stand up and prepare himself for the next attack, but somehow the creature still had both blades stuck into the armor on his back. The creature in a desperate but futile attempt to release itself from The Druid's armor had only succedded in trapping its blades deeper and deeper still into the back plates.

While Archelaus was safe from that Dal'Maroth for the moment, the others that had been searching him for a weak-point were barreling toward him at top speed to take advantage of his encumbrance.
Archelaus' mind may not have been consciously thinking, but it was on overdrive trying to find a way out of this mess, and he had about two seconds to think of one...

Luckily, Archelaus hasn't been the High Druid of the Alteriian Empire for the last several hundred years for nothing, and he is quite able to think on his feet. Or on his stomach.

Archelaus quickly jerked to one side then the other, forcing the creature on his back off balance, then formed a barrier with his mind in front of his feet to push off of. Straining his leg muscles, Archelaus launched himself back first into the nearest charging Dal'Maroth, using the enemies blades to de-attach the squirming and surprised one off his back, and causing the rest of his enemies expecting easy prey to launch into the darkness.

The result was a semi-laboriously breathing Alteriian standing, Ratranka in one hand, several dozen yards closer to the rest of his allies, two dead Dal'Maroth, and several careening off into the distanct darkness.
"Stalagmites.... we could use those..." Archelaus mumbled softly, to himself.

Then Arch's hearing, despite his rage, heard Cassus' call.
Turning quickly, Archelaus raced back to the partially illuminated fog where he saw the heavy gunshots of Robless, and the flames of Cassus.
Arch replied immediately, the words catching in his throat, "The Stalagmites, Cass---"

Then the Alteriian saw that in his haste to return to the illumination, that he had been cornered while considering the stalagmites. It was foolish to pause and think admist the waves of battle... Four, or possibly five Dal'Maroth had him separated from all of his allies, and had him completely surrounded. It would appear that the Dal'Maroth had learned from their previous encounter with the stalwart Alteriian.

Thankfully Archelaus' thoughts proved useful.

Covering his head with his semi-curved Retranka, he used the Signot Stone embedded in the middle as a conduit for the Rolxan. Extending his mind to the stalagmites above his head, he brought down several hundred years worth of sharpening Zircon stalagmites from the ceiling crashing down towards the Dal'Maroth. Unable to change direction and escape in time, the Dal'Maroth were crushed underneath the weight of the Zircon. Of the five monsters surrounding him, four were crushed and slashed to death by the stalagmites, and only one was still alive once the dust had cleared... but Arch was nowhere to be seen.
Archelaus does not wait for dust to dissipate.

Sprinting toward Cassus and the new illumination once more, and finally freed from most of the dogging Dal'Maroth, Archelaus finally reached the area in which Cassus, Robless, and several other struggling members of the expedition were struggling to fend off the wily insects.
Cassus, ever the soldier, did not even turn at Arch's arrival, but shot another cartridge of flames at the beasts.

"We need to re-group Archelaus, and some of our team is missing," Cassus shouted harshly,
Barely taking the time to speak the words, Archelaus boomed deeply, his voice echoing through the cavernous expanse, "I understand. I will attempt to re-group our forces here... We will have to wait until we achieve victory to rescue the others...!"
Archelaus shot a bolt of the Rolxan toward a wounded Dal'Maroth sneaking up behind Robless, tearing its head off of the arachnid's shoulders.
"However, once they understand my purpose, they will focus their attacks on me. I will need as much help as you can give me."

Archelaus' impossibly huge voice filled up the space of the cavern, "TO ME, brethern, TO ME...!"

And with that brief statement, Archelaus bounded to the nearest group of the expedition struggling in dark, nearly routed, and re-boldened their hearts to the battle, much as the sight of the General would do for the troops in the ancient times. Moral was an ancient concept, and the weapon works both ways.
Arch was especially well designed for this task, as he was able to maneuver quickly from group to group, the sight of a great blue and glowing Alteriian alone was imposing, and the damage that Archelaus was able to dish out to unsuspecting insectoids was almost as astonishing.

After all, the Dal'Maroth always expected to have the upper hand. They weren't as prepared when someone was playing their own game.

(OFC)

All my posts are so long.
(sigh)

Haha... I'll try to keep them shorter in the future, unless absolutely necessary.

(No, I absolutely love reading your posts! Don't stop! xD )

((Okay so... maybe someone should figure out that Caz and Ma'at are gone? Maybe? Also sorry about my little deviation on pg. 5. I was really bored and wanted to do something interesting with the fight. I feel like they need to start moving, they can't just sit still and fight forever. They need to get deeper into the cave, like, soon. So...))

((Arch, I think I'll let you finish this part of the cave off and move us to the next when you get back on here, you seem to be good at that stuff. We'll continue fighting until you find a way to move us.))

Cassus' gloves had partially melted from using the promethium flamethrower, but he continued his pyrotechnics nontheless. The white-hot inferno consumed another small group of Dal'Maroth, only to be filled in by twice as many in a matter of seconds. Robless covered his flanks with his sweeping blade and heavy pistol, killing in a perfectly choreographed death dance. Perfect was not enough; the Dal'Maroth would not relent.

He shuddered at the thought of Eris-Tam suffering all throughout their delay, and begged that they could proceed on. Archelaus was the only one that knew the cave well enough to teleport them through to the next area, but the group was too far spread apart. Robless and Cassus attempted to fight their way through the chaos, but movement came to a standstill with the hordes of Dal'Maroth attempting to kill them.

"How...how can we...we're struggling to fight these on our own! As leaders of the dimensions! I only fear that our next foes will be far more ancient!" Robless managed to say this between dodges, strikes, and breaths; mostly for his own sake.

"You..." A disabling blow to its knee. "...shall not..." A clean cut through its hardened carapace. "...stop me!" A bullet to the head of the beast.

Dragijh had finally made it into the cave, when he discovered none of his normal technology would work. Blasted cave, he thought to himself. He refused to remove his helmet and other electrical devices, even though they would weigh him down. They wouldn't be destroyed, so why take the risk of having someone steal them? But one thing bothered him, where was Raulch? By now he was already in the cave, but.... where did he go? Why hadn't he bothered to even let Dragijh catch up with him? Ah well, boys will be boys. Dragijh's uncertainty was put off by his satisfaction that he could still bring his sniper rifles with him. After all, it doesn't take electrical power to fire a bullet.

Upon entering the cave, he lost almost all orientation, the blackness could not be more thicker and obstructive had it been solid. Luckily, after having hunted down so many people, and dark dank caves being a popular hiding place, he knew how to keep at least some of his bearings and awareness. Until the yelling. And the clanging and the falling. There was a fight, or so he thought. A sniper rifle would be useless in here with its night vision disabled an no light at all. Then a flare went up, and he saw the groups that were engaged in conflict.

Yes, he took notice of the assailants, giant buggish things with sword like mantis arms. Actually, it looked as if someone dunked a group of mantises in a vat of radioactive waste and then pumped them with steroids. But he gave them minimal attention, at last, he saw the man who had taken his life away....

He raised one of the two sniper rifles he was holding, and aimed for Valderis Robless's head.

Weaving in and out of the Dal'Maroth's attack, Robless thought nothing of the fact that the creature directly behind him had just about exploded. After all, Cassus did have a knack for tactically exploding his foes despite being a master assassin. Wiping the strange brown-green blood from his visor, he parried a bladed mantis arm several times before finishing it off with a double-tap from his sidearm.

Some of the creatures seemed to have diverted their attention. Perhaps it was Archelaus creating a diversion. Robless could only observe for about half a second before having to block, parry, and blast his way through another Dal'Maroth that nearly tore out his throat. He was starting to feel some fatigue, but continued to fight as the experienced soldier he had become.

[Sorry, Tam, it's hard, while fighting so many things, to notice anyone gone, especially in the dark (since the flares are only flashing on occasion.). Plus, I don't really have a good idea on the setting, other than the 'duh' traits. Once everyone's out, I'll have Zyria note Caz being gone. Should she also notice Ma'at being gone? Or someone else? Since, well, Zyria doesn't know him at all, not even his name...]

Dragijh wanted revenge. He realized that if these.... things.... killed Robless first his entire journey would be in vain. He implored his entire will to assist in this task, slowing down time around the Dal'Maroth. To outside observers, it looked as if the ones attacking Robless we're beginning to move through tar. Though they were slower, the force of their blows were not diminished, and ample care still had to be taken with them, if only giving Cassus and Robless some more reaction time. Dragijh took advantage of the result of his efforts and began firing both his snipers at the Dal'Maroth attacking the once feared NegaLord.

((It's fine, I just want us to get moving. Killing wave after wave of Dal'Maroth gets a little repetitive after awhile. They can notice Caz and Ma'at's absence when they try to teleport away, because they wouldn't be able to travel on with the group. Also guys, I have an idea for the last thing they meet trying to get ahold of a Lyikos. A creature called the Protector, or the Chetaan. Archelaus could mention it... it's not evil, it actually is just as it sounds: trying to protect the Lyiki. Archelaus needs to know that it shouldn't cause them any trouble. (It will, of course, but the point of it is that there is a reason for that.) Lol okay sorry, trying to get out ideas.))

Alerted by a rustling noise to his left, Ma'at scrambled towards the limp form on the cave floor- Caz. "Are you okay? Caz- speak to me!" he patted down the Kazequi, checking for darts. Caz moaned and pulled away, one legging leaving a trail of dark blood on the hard stone floor of the chasm. "Oh no..." he breathed, "You're hurt. Let me see t-"

He was interrupted by a loud thud. Someone- or something- else had fallen through the crack. Ma'at peered through the murk, trying to make out the slightest hint of movement, but saw nothing. "Alright," he whispered to Caz's unresponsive form, "Whatever fell, I think they're d-"

And then something hit him in the back. Something large. Something slimy. Something that was definitely a Dal' Maroth.

Caz was in pain, that much was true. He acted like he was coming more to clarity as Ma'at spoke, noting that something had fallen into the trench. It took Caz completely by surprise, though, when the creature struck Ma'at from behind. By instinct, Caz struggled for the pistol in its holster, knowing that for his ruse to work he couldn't simply form one. He yanked it free, hazily aiming at the Dal'Maroth where it rose like some large, behemoth beast in the darkness. It had attempted to slice through Ma'at's armor and though it had not entirely succeeded it had thrown Ma'at aside slightly, taken by surprise as he was. It bore down on the Alteriian, not giving him any recovery time. As it lunged for him, Caz fired off three bullets. The first was a miss, the second hit its leg, and the third hit its upper body. But the two hits were definitely not enough to take it down.

Now that it acknowledged Caz as a threat, it turned towards him, angry, walking to Caz slowly, one step at a time, and Caz pulled the trigger again, aiming for its head.

It clicked, but did not fire. His clip had run out.

The beast advanced, fangs dripping with saliva, it's face curled into what looked like a smirk. It was toying with Caz, like a cat with a mouse. It swiped at him, ripping his suit cleanly. It loomed above the Kazequi, preparing for the final strike.

All the while, Ma'at had been inching his way across the floor. The muscles in his shoulder throbbed and warm, black blood flowed down his arm and back. But, drawing on the wavering strength of his bond with Caz, he managed to pull himself to the mantis-creature. He wrapped his arms around one of its legs and pulled.

The behemoth crashed down on top of Ma'at, surprised by the sudden attack. He wrestled with it, trying to keep its razor sharp teeth away from his throat. "GO! Get out of here!" Ma'at briefly wondered if there was a way out- Don't think about that now. "I'll hold him off!" He struggled desperately, but his strength was fading. "GET OUT!"

Caz struggled across the ground, trying to get to his feet, having tossed the pistol aside and now using his arms to push himself up. He was bleeding from the large gash across his chest where the Dal'Maroth had ripped open his armor and where its sickle-like mantis claws had continued through to the skin. As he managed to his knees, the creature thrashed, slamming Ma'at into the chasm wall, but still the man held on. He looked like he was starting to grow weak, though, and Caz remembered that he had been hit by one of the darts. It was so tempting to just go, just leave Ma'at with the beast- Ma'at had even told him to go. It would be easier than killing the Alteriian himself, that much was for certain.

But then Caz thought something. No, not thought something, felt something. This man was willing to give up his own life just so Caz could maybe escape. He was willing to give up everything...

It was just a tiny inkling, just a tiny doubt... but it was enough.

Caz stood fully, and just as the Dal'Maroth got its teeth into Ma'at's throat, Caz launched himself, carrying the creature off of the Alteriian and tumbling to the ground, his hands around its neck, keeping it from getting him. He pulled one arm away, shaped his reptile hand into a point as it was designed to do, and plunged it into the beast's chest and ripping out its heart.

Green-gray blood spattered Caz as he cast aside the organ, and then the beast collapsed on top of him. His leg was bent painfully backwards at the break and the dead Dal'Maroth's weight pressed his broken ribs into his lungs, threatening to puncture; if he had been willing to drop his ruse and fix it he would have been fine. But since he would not do that, the reality was that he had overexerted himself and now the pain intense and almost unbearable. He had not the strength to even push the corpse off of himself.


~*~


Fels cleared the last few Dal'Maroth in his close proximity with some well-placed bullets and some lucky dodges, and was at this point still relatively unharmed. ((I'm not one for extensive fight scenes, especially since his only weapons are guns. BOOOOORRRRRRINGGGGGGGGGG.)) He jogged to his commander and in between deep breaths of exertion asked, "Sir! I believe we forgot someone...? The Martian leader, Emerik the Blade, sir. He fell from the neurotoxin, and I don't think anyone had the chance to get him, sir..." Before Robless could answer, Fels had already volunteered. "I'll get him, sir. I won't fail you." And he was off, tromping back towards the first area, looking at the dim shapes in search of the leader's body. He was a dedicated soldier, that was for sure. He returned minutes later, half-dragging Emerik, spattered in bug blood, somehow having avoided being killed in the now-darkness of the first cave sector. Only... not perfectly fine, at least to someone who didn't know what had happened to him. The five toxin darts were still lodged in his skin between the armor plates.

Ma'at crashed to his knees, his last vestiges of strength fading and the dizzy feeling returning. His temples pounded like a Ceniean ((Centipede race)) drummer was striking his brain over and over again. He just wanted to... he just had to... Sleep...

~*~

Ma'at woke with a start. He couldn't tell if he'd slept minutes, hours, or perhaps days. The black viscous blood- his blood- surrounding him was still sticky, so he took that as a good sign.

He pushed himself up off his stomach. The Dal' Maroth's body lay just a few feet away and under it... was that an arm? He scrambled over, pushing the corpse off of Caz and checked the Kazequi's vitals. His pulse was slow, but relatively steady.

"Caz?" Ma'at's voice was quiet as a whisper, a prayer. "Please wake up."

Caz coughed a little and sputtered, blood escaping his lips from where the broken ribs had caused internal bleeding. His eyes opened slowly, and he found himself looking up at Ma'at. He tried to sit up, and only wound up coughing more. As he shifted positions the pain in his leg sent fire searing up his nerves. He gasped, knowing that the compound fracture could get serious if he didn't do anything. It certainly wasn't the worst he'd felt in even a week, but it was still intensely painful and would make it hard to function.

"I'm... alive..." he croaked, collapsing back against the cave floor, ceasing his attempts to sit up. "You?"

((Ohkay, you good.))

Ma'at smiled gingerly. "I'm alive. I feel like crap, but I'm alive." He tried standing, and managed- much to his surprise. He offered Caz a hand. "Can you stand? That think hurt you pretty bad, and the fall didn't seem like it helped either. I might have a first aid kit in my pack..."

He was rambling, but it didn't matter. Ma'at's heart was singing out with joy, and the warm tingling sensation had returned to his stomach. He's okay! Caz is okay...

Caz shrugged a little, shaking his head. "I doubt there's-" he coughed violently, a bit more blood coming up, "-much you can do to help. Maybe you could do something... about my leg."

((Sorry, short post. xP))

Dreston stood still. Nothing attacked him, but that was not surprising. A creature would not attack a gun or a radio, so there was no reason that the Dal'Maroth would attack Dreston, either. He had no real weaponry anyways, and had little armor or structural support so would not have been able to take much damage anyways. But because he wasn't fighting, he was watching. He couldn't communicate with the team, since their electronic equipment didn't work, but observation was a skill that Dreston had long perfected. He could gather information, make inferences based on it, calculate weaknesses and strengths, and in general was a perfect beauty in terms of a reasoning machine. First he observed the team, the individuals. He watched as Drel-Caz and Ma'at D'kole fell, and would try to explain once the fight came to a still. He watched one of Robless' soldiers fall, watched the five darts hit him before he did. He should've been dead, but somehow he lived. And somehow he got up, like the toxins had been wiped from his system. What...? What had happened there?

And he watched the creatures. The Dal'Maroth. He observed how they fought, collecting data about their "separate and take down" strategy, he gathered information about their anatomy, their physical capabilities.

And he realized something. The creatures... had eyes, but did not see. They were blind. They did not move like seeing creatures--they seemed to dart this way and that like they sensed the movement rather than saw it, like they felt what was around them, and based their motions on that and on sound. So they had to have some kind of receptor that was more built for sensing motion in the slight flows of air and the like. Their thick exoskeleton-like skin would not permit for many nerves, so their had to be a special nerve cluster, like an extra sensory organ, that allowed it.

Dreston spotted it as one passed him. A small dark patch on the side of the Dal'Maroth's head, near its temple.

Dreston, from his statue-like stance, suddenly burst into a full sprint. He dashed to Zyria's side, drawing the attention of a couple Dal'Maroth with his motion, and tapped her back to get her attention. Hefting a medium-sized stone from the floor of the cave, he pitched it directly at the feel-spot of one of the nearest creatures, hitting his target. The beast collapsed, dazed and stunned.

Yes, Dreston's assumption had been right. If you overloaded the sensory feedback to their brains, it was almost the same as flash blinding a seeing creature. It worked the same way. This weak spot revealed, he trusted Zyria to share the new information and returned to utter stillness to hide himself.

Ma'at nodded, fumbling with the pack at his waist. It contained a flask filled with something that appeared to be water, several smushed packets of dehydrated food, and a small medi-kit. Ma'at pulled out this last, taking out a roll of bandages and wrapping Caz's leg. "I don't have anything to make a splint out of..." he noted apologetically.

Meanwhile, his shoulder throbbed. It was still bleeding and if he didn't stop it soon, he might pass out again. "Uh, Caz? Can you bandage my shoulder?" Ma'at asked.

As Zyria had just began a sprint to the next monster, Dreston appeared at her side, tapping her. He picks up a stone and hurls it at one of the creatures, hitting a dark spot on it, causing it to fall to the cave floor, dazed. A weak spot! Of course! Zyria looks to Dreston with appreciation. "Of course! Thank you, Dreston, a wonderful observation!" As he fades back to the darkness, Zyria runs to the collapsed monster, and runs her sword through its head. She inspects the spot, and recognizes the slightly mutated nervous system traits from her many dissections. Zyria quickly makes her way through the group of comrades, defending herself when necessary, yelling to them, "The dark spots on their heads! Aim for that! It's a crippling area on the creatures! Then take them down!" She rushes around, repeating her message to everyone, as the monsters crash to the ground behind her.

((Cassus' thinking: They all burn the same.))