Dungeon Beta Test: Team Speed Demons

Who would of guessed that within the confines of the Spooky Forest, home of one of the most evil guilds in the world, there would be a mysterious staircase that none had yet tried to explore. A man had discovered it on his travels and reported it to the magic council who had assigned Zack and a team of mage's in order to check out this dungeon. He waited at the top of the stairs for the others to arrive. The team that had been assembled was requested from all walks of life, good, evil, neutral and probably some inbetween. He had no idea who was coming nor what would be down these stairs, but his curiousity was peeked. He stood there waiting, tapping his foot, wondering what was down the staircase. Something fun he hoped.

"I wonder where everyone is." said a voice from his pocket. "Probably trying to arrive on time considering you're at least ten minutes early." Zack shrugged and sat down considering the staircase. He reached out with his sensory and his air sense and could detect people approaching. Were they his partners or people going through the forest for other reasons. He did not know, but he would wait and find out.

Rekka smiled as she had got a letter from someone she didn't know, it requested her help with exploring some sort of new place no one had been into before. She was not sure what her team would be but it happened to be close to her guild which was a nice and convenient fact. She gathered her supplies as it was said to be some sort of ruins they would be exploring. As she made her way to where the letter had mentioned she saw a man already there, she was unsure who he was but she smiled as he seemed rather impatient. The foot tapping indicated he was the type that liked quick action, still this seemed fun and interesting.

"I see someone beat me here and how are you... I do not recognize you at all but you might recognize me. My name doesn't mater is it seems you invited people you thought would help you knowing they were good or bad."

She moved around so he could see her before him would stand a pretty cute girl if it wasn't for the fact she was a serial killing cannibal she would likely have many wanting to date her. Her smile seemed innocent enough but below that smile was one of Fiore's most notorious mages, she gained a lot of infamy with her actions.

The Speed Demon of Blue Pegasus wants me to assist him in exploring some hidden passage in the Spooky Forest. Sounds a lot more fun than standing at an outpost giving out orders the Rune Knight thought while walking through the forest. I wonder what those mysterious steps will lead to. I hope it's some kind of riches, I would love to not have to worry about funding those side projects of mine he thought again, this time a smile formed on his face as he wondered about all the possibilities. I'm surprised no one has explored this already. You'd think people would notice stairs going down in the middle of a forest. Maybe some have and they just died down there. Hmm. That's always a plausible conclusion. All Shaku knew was that they wouldn't die down there. He himself was quite a strong mage, and the Speed Demon was no joke either. If memory served, this man along with Shaku's own brother took down the dragons that plagued the Royal Castle. A very impressive feat indeed.

Not only that, but if Shaku wasn't mistaken, there would be more than just the two of them searching the cave today. How many others? He had no idea. All he knew was that there would be a team of five or so. Upon arriving, he saw the Blue Pegasus as well as a girl whom he didn't quite recognize. "Hello you two. How many more need to arrive before we get this show on the road? Two? Oh, and I'm Shaku. Pleasure to meet you both" he asked, not sure if the team would actually be one less than he thought.

Kihia sat in the pilot’s seat of the Ikarones as it flew through the skies above the Spooky Forest, it was fast approaching the location detailed in the letter he had received from the Magic Council, “Kihia, we are fast approaching the designated Drop point, I have already taken liberty in setting ship to Auto pilot.” Kihia nodded towards the console, “Alright Icer, Prep my PDC for Immediate deployment, aim for about ten meters from the designated meeting point.” The Pilots console beeped in confirmation and then Kihia got up from his seat and walked over to his PDC that had lit up. Kihia stored his weapons in their compartment and stepped inside, as well as closed the hatch. “Launch me Icer…”

Kihia braced himself as he felt the sudden shift in gravity as he was sent through the bottom of the ship straight down towards the area of where the letter Detailed. The Ride was short and smooth as it normally was, that is, until he reached the tree line. The pod broke through the branches and slammed into the ground creating a small crater. Kihia was unphased however due to the cushioning of the pod, Kihia pressed one of the Lacrima Buttons and opened up the hatch, He stepped out and took a look around, he did in fact land ten meters way from a gathering of people. At least our Aim as improved… Kihia then tapped the top of the pod and took out his weapons, placing them in their respective sheaths. He then walked over to the group and quietly nodded in greeting, “Sorry if I am late… My name is Kihia, nice to meet you all…”

It seemed everyone had arrived. In truth he had no idea who was going to turn up and even if he had known he probably wouldn't of remembered them. He had a very lackluster memory, especially for people. "I'm Zack Rose. Its nice to meet you all. The magic council got reports of this staircase and asked me to look into it with a few others. I sent out the word to everyone and you are the ones who decided to come." he said explaining the situation. "What is down those stairs I haven't got a clue. Nor do I know why no-one has found them before, but lets go find out." With that and without warning he ran down the stairs. At the bottom he found a large doorway that was open. It was large enough for five people to walk through easily, maybe more. Through the door was a tunnel lit by torches. It wasn't clear what was down there, but he couldn't sense anything overly powerful. There was a faint glimmer in the distance, but it didn't feel like anything he couldn't handle especially with four others.

He waited patiently for the others. The five of them would walk through the door together. That seemed fair. It seemed pretty straight forward so far. Probably just some ruin whose entrance had caved in or something revealing it. Stranger things happened.

Rekka listened as everyone said their names she was not to sure who most of these people were but it seemed like the invite was sent to more than the people here. Honestly she could care less this seemed fun she would just have to be a bit cautious about her eating habits around those she did not know. She watched as Zack rushed inside it seemed that one was full of energy as she smiled she might as well play along as she began to rush down the stairs as well, this place was nice and dark and spooky just her kind of place.

"I think I may enjoy myself here it could be a world full of treasures and riches... or just a massive grave but we will see."

She smiled as she waited for the others to follow the two as she looked around getting a feel for the place, her magic would be quite interesting to use in small spaces. Plus it also hit allies in the area so she might accidentally hit one or two of them every once in a while.

"Good to meet you Hikari, Kihia" the Rune Knight said with a smile. Although he happy to meet some new mages, he was curious about the girl who hadn't given her name. The only reason she wouldn't give her name is because she has a reason not to give it. Eh, maybe it'll come out while we explore the depths of the unknown. To be completely honest, Shaku couldn't wait another minute to step down with his four teammates in an effort to explore the uncharted. There could be things down there that no one has written about, seen, or even imagined. But then again, there could also, and more likely, be nothing but rocks and useless piles of bones.

The excitement factor of which could be down there was enough to make any avid adventurer just itching to see what what down there already, and as Zack led with a first step, the rest followed. Hikari seems to be the weakest of the group. I hope she can hold her own down here if we encounter anything. A liability is the last thing we need he thought coldly while examining the torches on the walls. Normally he wasn't this cold, but he really didn't want the young looking girl to die because she jumped the gun. We have some strong mages though... she should be fine

Kihia nodded towards the man who called himself Shaku and then listened to what Zack had to say about what he knew about the staircase, or rather… what he did not know. Kihia quietly followed down behind the group, When they got to the bottom of the stair case there was an open door, big enough for a large group of people to easily traverse through, when he stepped through Kihia saw that there was a cave dimly lit by the torches on the wall leading somewhere, the place seemed to have its own light source of some kind however, at the distance Kihia was standing, he could not make it out.

Kihia then sighed and looked at his companions for this Venture, they seemed like a capable lot, although he had only worked with one of them once before, but he felt he can rely on them. What ever may lie within this hallowed ground… hopefully we will be successful in our venture… Kihia then looked down into the cave, “So… is everyone ready for this?”

As the fifth member of the little expeditionary team entered the cavern there was a rumble and then suddenly the faint breeze they had been feeling from the entrance was cut off. Zack stared for a second and then literally flew up the winding staircase and hit the door, but it didn't budge. He stopped and placed his hand upon it using every ounce of his senses and sensory to try to find a weakness. "Not even all my strength will break this, even with the other helping." he said but he didn't sound worried. No, instead he sounded impressed. There were few things he could not break. He walked back down the stairs and looked at the other members of the group. "Looks like we are stuck down here...let's hope there is another way out."

With that he began to walk down the winding tunnel. He didn't run because for now there was so many possible turnings that some might be dead ends. He stopped at each tunnel entrance and reached out with his air sense ability, but could not even detect a breeze down most. "Any of you got any spells for scouting or things like that? I reckon only one of these paths is real."

She watched as the last member entered and the doors slammed shut, it seemed Zack could not budge the doors and from what she could feel he had a ton of magical power. This was one of those kind of places once you enter you cannot leave until you are finished. As for his question about scouting she could have had a spell for that but that wasn't really her style, so at the moment she had none maybe she would make one later.

"Unfortunately I do not have a spell designed for that I could make one at a later time thanks for the idea Zack."

Rekka smiled as she could not wait for combat, this would be a wonderful time for her, if they got to kill things she would show them just how brutal she was, and hopefully keep control of her mind throughout the run. She was a little surprised no one asked her name yet but she did not care they threw all their names out so it was likely they were all legal mages she simply did not have any reason to name herself.

The door shut behind them almost as soon as they walked in, leading the Speed Demon to make an impressed remark about the door about not being able to break it. "Don't worry. If we can't find another way out, I can turn the door and the surrounding tunnel into candy and we can eat our way out. Haha! And they said that it would never come in handy" Shaku said, trying to assure his teammates that they had nothing to fear. "But as for scouting spells... no not really. I have a sort of vision where I can see very far, kind of like binoculars, but if the path isn't straight forward it's not use" he said again, this time with a little disappointment in his voice. "I'm sure all these paths will lead us to the right place, and if not, better to find a dead end and risk that it may have been treasure than find the one right path and skip out on anything left behind by anyone else who explored down here" Like maybe some monster carcasses the likes of which the forest has never even seen. How fun would it be to study those?

Kihia heard the loud slam of the doors they had walked through closing tightly. He stood there and watched as a few of the group members had gone back up the stair case to investigate, Kihia however turned back and focused on the path ahead trying to get an idea what is going on. When Zack came back down and had explained the situation Kihia simply sighed and watched as Zack walked forward deeper into the cave. Kihia quietly followed behind him, as they pasted cave branch after cave branch, it was becoming clear that it seemed they were heading deeper underground slowly.

When Zack stopped and had asked the group whether or not any of them had a spell specialized for recon based spell. When most of the group responded with an unfavorable answer Kihia sighed, “I have one spell that would suffice… however it is only one construct… so I can’t help cover more than one tunnel at a time…” Kihia fell silent again when a thought crossed his mind, Perhaps that old habit would be of some use… Kihia then walked forward a bit and unsheathed Icarus and held it perpendicular to the cave floor beneath him, at a intersection of three caves branches, Lets see how well this works… He then let his weapon slide through his hand and strike the ground making the Metal Bo ring from the impact. He waited for the ring to finish sounding off and then for the possible echo coming back to him. Kihia had closed his eyes honing his hearing trying to see which cave echoed the sound back to him first.

"Well, it will be a good back up if there isn't a way out up ahead." Zack said considering the word's that Shaku had said. "But...i doubt it will be too effective. Before the doors closed I could sense magic from the area, probably vulcans, but when they closed it was if everything outside was gone. I think it will resist any magic, including senses. Of course you're welcome to try if all else fails." Zack considered what he himself could do to open the doors. Perhaps if he used these tunnels to build up speed and then teleported keeping the momentum he might just be able to hit it hard enough to break it. Now that would be something fun to try.

"No worries in regards to the recon. I was hoping someone else had something as mine gives me a bit of a headache." With that he exhaled and his breath formed into four eagles who went winging off down various tunnels. He closed his actual eyes and focused the eagle's vision being transferred to him. "Each tunnel has more tunnels leading off of it. A few of which end in dead ends, but others which have more tunnels leading off of them." He sighed deeply continuing to scout with the eagles till they reached their max range before bringing them back and sending them down other tunnels. Scouting like this would take a while. "This place is a maze. I think there is probably only one right path. Quickest way would be splitting up, but that wouldn't be smart. Let's just stick together and see what we find" He didn't want to just wait here for the eagles to scout out every tunnel they could. Splitting up also put all his allies at risk. That was not wise. What could he do thought? He considered the magic power he had sensed earlier within the tunnels. "There are faint traces of magic power up ahead and one big one...not massive, but bigger than the others. I'll try to lead us in that direction" With that he opened his eyes and walked down the tunnel that seemed to lead in the direction of the magic power.

Magic:

This would be quite interesting as she watched Zack use some sort of birds maybe a wind magic she was not sure but she agreed they needed to stay together. While she was not to worried about her own well being she was worried someone would discover who she was and decide to try to kill her despite being on her team. She continued to follow Zack as he had peaked her interest he was strong she could feel the magical pressure he gave off, likely he was the strongest person in this group.

"So Zack you have a very strong magical pressure so I can assume you are a very powerful mage maybe the top one percent. As for the others I cant exactly tell but you however stand a great deal above the others."

She waited to see how the others would respond thankfully because of how her magic worked she could tell large magical powers because her magic fed off magical pressure in the area. He would likely have no problems in this easy area she was also very sure he would not allow anyone to attack Rekka as he seemed to be the leader type. So she simply had to make sure she was nice to him in order to protect her own hide.

Kihia stood there waiting for the echoes to come back to him, he had only one reconnaissance option and he knew he couldn’t afford to waste it. He watched as Zack created air eagles and sent them off, however he still waited for the returning echoes. A moment later he heard the first echo come back to him from the center path, a minute later from the right, That tells me the best option… Kihia then put both of his hands together and called out, “Ice Make Eagle!” Kihia watched as the Eagle quickly formed on his right hand, he then motioned towards the left cavern and watched it take off a fly into the darkness.

“All I need to do now is wait…” Kihia then fell silent, trying is best to properly collect the information being sent back to him from his ice construct, this spell should definitely aid us in finding the proper direction… just needs time…