[attr="class","cromscroll"]

Tali felt very lucky that he wasn't walking in front, his weapon was a bit cumbersome to deal with a creature grappling him. Well that and he didn't much like the idea of having a giant spider that close to his face. Those thoughts were taken over very quickly however with instead locking in his aim in order to save Nik from the terrible fate that had befallen him. There were too many enemies here to just let him die and... Friends didn't come easy these days. There was a click and a shriek of a bullet firing out of Dantalion's scythe leaving a glowing trail of washed out light. The bullet slammed into the spider's midsection and blew it apart in a spray of dark green gore that splattered across the wall.
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He took a deep breath and loaded another round into the scythe before steadying it. He knew there were more but this thing wasn't the easiest to aim. "If you have anything area of effect, might be a good idea to remove at least a couple of these things." Tali growled though it was obvious his anger wasn't directed at Nik. At least for the moment the spiders weren't trying to immediately fight, getting spotted and having their prey fight back was the worst thing that could have happened for them. One was in front of Nik deeper in the tunnel starting to crawl slowly up the wall. The other three were between Dantalion and Nik.
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One of the group of three hissed and snapped at Tali causing him to hop back, the fangs clacking off the stone and causing the spider to scramble backwards and go back to making threat displays, though it had caused Dantalion to stumble slightly, jumping around in the dark was a poor idea, doubly so when in a tunnel. Another started to try and sneak up on Nik to give him a nasty bite but it wasn't being too stealthy now that it was illuminated

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nikolas

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

Complacency was the enemy of all warriors and it was far too easy to fall victim to it. Dantalion knew that all too well but he made sure to find a training center to ensure he kept his body and his skills at the highest state that he could manage. Luckily within this safe zone he had found, there was a training center to practice in and enshrouded in black fabric he simply walked in without really anyone even noticing him. This strange item granted to him seemed to make it difficult for anyone to see him, their eyes just passed over him but that was useful, it worked on monsters as well and if someone could see him... It told him valuable information.
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He made sure to turn as he entered and headed to an emptier part of the training grounds. There only seemed to be one other person here, a younger man that was likely around Tali's age that was using a knife on a tree. Dantalion narrowed his eyes slightly for a moment but gave a shrug and then moved away from him to a nearby training dummy. He thought about drawing forth a weapon straight away but decided against it. Instead he just shook himself out and started to perform stretches, easing himself into an age old routine that he'd been taught as a child and slowly built on as he grew up.
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Once he was suitably limber he went into a simple boxing stance and started swinging strikes at the training dummy, his wrapped knuckles cracking against the wood. It would break his stealth but at this point that didn't matter, there was only one person here to see him and if they had a problem well... He'd burn that bridge when he came to it. For now he just focused on his movements, warming himself up for some proper training later.

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Emir Nebu

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

Out of the frying pan and into the Hellfire. The Divine was certainly testing him today but perhaps that was the point, to prove he was worthy of the power that he had been given and the task that had been entrusted to him. He set his jaw and drew another arrow back from his bow, firing it forwards and into the Ogre's face who roared and stumbled back but only a single step, it was a tough creature and Dantalion could tell that immediately. Fleeing was the better option just now, the buff couldn't last forever so they just needed to outlast it and take it out when it was weaker. "Rory, Nyke, it's time to get the fuck out of here, follow me!" He shouted out to them.
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He could feel it on the edge of his senses, something waiting for him. Grasping the energy he drew it forth and from nothing a brilliant steed appeared. It had a shining white coat and its mane and tail were formed of brilliant azure fire that danced and flickered in the wind and gleaming eyes of the same colour. Tali hopped up onto the steed and pulled it in a circle, an instinctive connection forming between them. "Unless either of you can do anything to him, get away now, I can fire at range but we need to start running now!" He put as much authority into his voice as he could, hoping to shatter any fear that the other two were feeling. It was at this moment he decided to name this particular horse Warlord.
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With a whinny and a thunder of hooves he turned and pulled Warlord with him, getting the horse moving so that they could get out of this place, if one of the other two seemed particularly slow he'd make sure to ride alongside them and grab them up onto the back of the horse but he knew that he would only be able to carry one, hopefully the other was fast enough. Saving that he knew he'd have to ride interference and just pepper the Ogre with arrows whenever he could, maybe it would get bored and go for easier prey... That was the best that Tali could hope for.

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Try Hard Rory Perkins

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

The pods screeched as they were slain but at least it was done. Or it was after Tali had turned and launched two more arrows, hammering them into the other pods and causing them to spray sap across the ground and wither away. With a last shudder and a groan, the Ent died as well and Dantalion took a moment to look around before giving a nod. "Good work you two, looks like we killed this thing. I'll keep on guard if one of you two want to check the body to see if it was hiding anything? It might be holding one of the bushels." His voice was hopeful but he had no idea if the tutorial would be that kind to them.
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Either way he made sure to skirt the pods and find another tree to take cover against, remembering the teachings of his mother. He brought the bow to a ready state but knew he couldn't draw any more arrows at the moment. Would any of the other group run past? How had they got the bushel? There was no way they killed the boss, there would have been a pop up for that. That meant there was either another group out there or they had been in the middle of finding one and got interrupted but managed to chase the boss off. Rory was right though, they were halfway through this thing. Dantalion set his jaw and narrowed his eyes, making sure no movement got past him.
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Halfway... What was the trick going to be? They had already met a miniboss but there had to be something more, something that would trigger right at the end. The tension had been built enough now there needed to be some kind of downfall, that's how games always went; be it a new wave of monsters, a trap activating or a hidden objective spawning, it was never possible to get off lightly. And already this had proved itself a cruel game to play. However he was strong and he was backed up by a wealth of training, knowledge and bullheaded stubborness, this world of Demons would not defeat him, not now, not ever.

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Try Hard Rory Perkins

[attr="class","cromscroll"]

It was interesting how easily it felt falling into this new role, like he really had been born for this, trained for this. A monster, an obvious demon of some kind, stood in front of him and yet Dantalion was calm. Hearing Nyke panic next to him was actually quite annoying but then again he hadn't been trained from a young age on how to kill and use weapons. As Dantalion dove away from the fireball, luckily blocked by Rory, and came back up again he remembered the first time he had went hunting with his mother. She had taught him about death and the natural course that day and that though it would eventually come for him he was not to embrace it. Death was to be fought against until the bitter end.
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His eyes were hard as he brought his bow around again and fired off another pair of glowing arrows, aiming both of them at one of the Ent's limbs and blowing it off when both of them struck clean, causing the monster to screech once more. It swung its limb across the ground and realising it wasn't hitting enough seemed to decide on a different tactic. It brought its branches in close and a shudder ran up its trunk before it shook rapidly and send out about a half dozen large seed pods that slammed into the ground with a loud, hollow thunk akin to a coconut. Dantalion actually had to duck as one flew over his head, thanking the enhanced speed his bow seemed to give him. He turned to look at it and saw it beginning to open up, vines crawling out of it and sinking into the ground.
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It took only a second to figure out that these things were real bad news. "Kill the pods!" He snarled out at the other two and attempted to fire off another set of arrows at the one close to him but when he pulled the string back no more arrows came forth and a small timer appeared in his vision that told him he could only fire off a volley every so often. He swore loudly and attempted to see if just stomping on the pod would work, he needed to do something and standing around waiting for this thing to sprout was not going to it. He didn't trust his allies but they hadn't frozen and that meant they were useful, he just needed them to stay focused long enough to get out of here or at least get sacrificed to get Tali himself out of here, after that he didn't give a fuck. He had another trick up his sleeve waiting but he knew it'd probably be better to save that for the next trial that they'd be dealing with in this accursed place.

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Try Hard Rory Perkins

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Good fortune never lasts, luckily Dantalion already knew that well. As the notification popped up, he stopped and looked at it and then blinked a few times as more appeared. He dismissed them as they appeared and furrowed his eyebrows slightly. The buff was the real problem here, he honestly didn't care about the deaths of a few random sinners, if the Ogre hadn't gotten them he probably would have done it himself. He tapped his chin for a moment and dismissed the last of the notifications before moving away from the tree and giving a bit of a shrug.
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"I hate to be the person to say this but this is potentially good news... Or at least not terrible. If you're right Rory and we need to avoid this thing and complete the other objectives first then having it attack the other group gives us a bigger chance. We can find the objects while it hunts them and escape. Cruel? Perhaps but you need to ask yourself, are you going to survive this or are you going to sacrifice yourself for the sake of some people who cared more about your class than working with you? They are obviously mercenary, we at least seem to be talking and trying to be friendly." Dantalion did wonder over the exact use of the word 'defeat', they hadn't really been told to kill the thing just defeat it, maybe that simply meant escaping. If it did then they needed to pick up the pace.
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Then their friendly gambler noticed more berries and started climbing. Tali went to reach out and say something but stopped himself, was this place really kind enough to just give them three berries in one place? Of course not. "Rory get ba-!" He started to shout before the tree came to life, grappling the person who had just been climbing it and hoisting him into the air. Tali swore under his breath and threw his left hand out, tapping into his powers for the first time and calling upon Rampage. His right eye blazed with white light and a gleaming silver longbow with bladed limbs fell into his left hand with a string of blue light. He pulled it around and drew the string back, two arrows of glittering alabaster energy flaring into existence and he fired them out, the arrows lancing out to smash into and smash the branches that were holding Rory into the air, hopefully dropping him to the ground. "Everything else can wait, kill this thing quickly." He roared out, hoping it'd spur Nyke into action as well.

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Try Hard Rory Perkins