I hope Choco is alright. Well, no sense in worrying now.
>CR: We need to go deeper.
You find yourself worrying about your sprite again. You shake it off for now, realizing you have no way to contact him, and that, even if you did, this is hardly the time.
You descend farther into the volcano. There a few passages, peppering the inside of the volcano, that seem to have been left over when the lava stopped flowing. They all result in dead ends, but after some investigation, you realize something about the layout of this volcano seems familiar.
Of course! The temple you accessed through your first gate! The pictographs on the wall with the marked dead ends! It was talking about this place!
>Mikheal: The fuck? Explain to me why it would be in my interest to give a bunch of creepy demonic Elder Gods power over an entire world?
"We had power over the world you came from. Would continuing in that vein truly be so bad? Besides, you must take into consideration what we have to offer. With our help, you can finally claim the ultimate reward. Otherwise, you will be doomed. Your comrades will die, and your cause will be lost. In your darkest hour, you will turn against each other. Those who survive will not be able to halt the reckoning. Yours is a quest of futility, without our guidance. And, in any case, should you succeed without our help... We gain dominion over the new world in any case. For us, any way you succeed, is a way that we succeed."
A different voice speaks, oilier and altogether more unpleasant than the first. "Or... Perhaps the boy would prefer power over guidance?"
The first voice speaks again. "It is an option. But we require a task, before we bestow such a boon upon the Knight. A gesture, if you will, to prove that he can follow instructions. One of your number is unfit for your quest. He will either collapse in despair, or lash out in anger at you and your comrades. You must neutralize your Mage."
> Claire: Start beating on imp 2.
[7,10 + 8] = 25
[6,1 + 8] = 15
Your first swing hits the imp dead center, dealing seven damage, but you miss with your second hit, lodging your sword into the floor. You spend the rest of your turn dislodging it from the floor.
Imp 1 attacks you, but misses, and Imp has similar luck.
You cannot use Scorpion's strike this turn, because you missed with it last turn. No one actually moved, so the battlemap remains unchanged.
RL: Swear angrily at BT for wrecking shit, then heal up while you can't move.
You give BT a piece of your mind via colorful language, and catch your breath, so long as your legs are refusing to follow orders.
Snakesprite gives up on attacking both enemies at once, and focuses on the fire basilisk, doing 6 damage, and taking 1 from the fire aura.
The training basilisk takes another run up at you, and bites at you. It deals 10 damage, but at least you can move again.
The fire basilisk gives snakesprite similar treatment. He takes an extra 10 damage.
The stricken Giclops gets up and lumbers back towards BT.
KRUMP DEM GITS UP
[7,9]+9=25
[6,8]+9=23
You smack both of the imps upside the head, prompting them to burst at the seams, scattering grist everywhere. Your eyes tell you that the battle has ended, but your ears and gut (always trust your gut!) tell you that it has not.
>One. Last. Attack.
4+9+11.
You grit your teeth, push past the pain, and make one more attack. You drive your rapier into the basilisk's mouth, and up through to his brain. The great beast shudders out one last breath before collapsing into a pile of grist.
You don't know how that window of opportunity opened just there, but it saved your life.
The same, unfortunately, can not be said for your mystery ally. The prospitian lies dead, partially crushed from being stepped on by the basilisk while you dueled it. He has something clutched in his hand.