Missteps V.2

Chapter 48 – Third Floor

Jun was the first up the staircase, with Elaine right behind him. The others filed in after with Lia, Carric, Iados, Ander, and Kerri respectfully. Like the previous stairs, these were also slanted inward so it made the journey slow. As they climbed up each stair, there was a feeling that the walls were closing in. The temperature noticeably dropped, and the sconces that lit the way were only about half their normal light.

The air also began to smell different. So far the whole place had had a mild mildew smell, but now that smell got much stronger. Mixed in, were other smells that were hard to place. Nearly all of them could pick out the scents of lavender and jasmine, but only Jun, Lia, and Elaine could taste the foul smell of death as it traveled through their sinuses.

Everyone had their weapons out and ready. The hair on the back of their necks was raised, as they scanned the shadows for danger. Jun could feel the warhammer in his hands as it hummed. Behind him, Elaine whispered a single word, and the tip of her mace lit up into a makeshift torch.

"Thanks," Jun said over his shoulder.

"You're welcome, just keep your eyes peeled." Elaine tried to see around Jun to the floor they were coming up on, but it was near impossible. Unless she wanted to trip, the steps did a good job keeping her in the middle of the stairwell.

Jun reached the landing. Unlike the previous two floors, this one didn't open into a large space. The area was more of a glorified hallway that was barely ten foot wide and about thirty feet long. Numerous doors littered the surrounding walls. He took a few more steps in the hall.

The tingle grew more intense, and in reaction Jun brought up his weapon.

"What the hell?" Jun roared as he stared at the creature whose mouth was now wrapped around the handle of his weapon.

The creature had long gangly limbs, and skin that was nearly translucent. In the light from Elaine's mace, Jun could see the scraggly veins that traveled across its body. It was shirtless, but had a pair of raggedy cut off shorts on. The creature's rather bulbous features and bald head were nothing compared to the long serpentine tongue that snaked around the weapon's handle towards Jun.

With a heavy shove Jun forced the creature back several feet. With dexterity like he'd only seen Iados show, the creature rolled back onto its feet. Its dark sunken eyes fixated on Jun as drool dripped out of its open mouth.

Elaine emerged onto the landing, and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the creature. "What's a ghoul doing here?"

"Is that what it's called?" Jun readjusted his grip on his hammer. "It's not friendly."

Elaine shook her head. "Considering they like to eat humans, either dead or alive, I'm not surprised."

"Good to know." Jun took a step forward and attacked.

The ghoul sucked in its gut and narrowly avoided the swing.

The ghoul laughed. "You talk too much." Its voice was hoarse, but the pronunciation was clean. "That will change soon enough."

Elaine whistled and caught the ghoul's attention. Next to her, Jun smirked as he watched a spectral mace slam down onto the ghoul's head. Elaine didn't waste a second as she stepped up and whipped her foe across the face with her own physical mace. The ghoul's jaw dislocated from the attack.

The ghoul tried to form words, but what came out was a very loud unintelligible yell. It struck out with its claws at Elaine, and left scratch marks on her plate armor.

Behind him, Jun heard a loud wooden thud. Before he could turn to look, there was a shrill shriek as suddenly a weight latched onto his back. He saw pale translucent legs in the corner of his eye as they attempted to latch on to him, and he imagined they were with the arms that currently had him around the neck. He reached up and tried to grab onto the creature, but only came away with handfuls of white hair.

Lia was the next to hit the landing as she rushed up driven by the sound of combat. She saw Elaine with her foe, and then she saw a similar looking creature with white hair on Jun. A quick glance behind at the bottleneck of a staircase did not inspire hope.

"We have to spread out!" Lia yelled at everyone. Her eyes raked over the cramped space, and she knew she'd have a tough time moving around at her current size. She knelt down and transformed herself, but instead of her usual large dire wolf form, she became a small grey-furred cat. She quickly took off around Elaine and the ghoul's legs, and headed towards the southern end of the hall. As she approached, the door swung open, and two creatures stumbled out. These creatures had gray dull skin and sunken eyes. Pieces of torsos had been chewed off.

Lia's mind shifted back to the cemetery, and then to the tombs within the dwarven settlement. Out of all the places they'd been, she had not expected to come across zombies here.

Cat-Lia attempted to scurry around the zombie's legs into the room beyond. The zombie in front though had a different idea as he kicked out savagely and threw Cat-Lia hard into the wall. Stars blasted through Lia's mind as she was knocked breathless. It took everything she had to hold onto her form and not revert back.

Lia heard the thud of more doors opening, and watched as a third zombie shuffled out of a door into the room beyond.

Back in the hallway, Elaine directed the glowing mace to once again hit the ghoul. The cleric smirked as the undead creature was thrown like a rag doll back into the alcove it'd hidden in before. She waited half a beat to see if it would clamber back up, but it stayed curled in a heap. Carric made it up to the landing as Elaine swept the room. Behind Jun, a door had opened around a corner off their main hallway and numerous zombies stumbled through. The issue, Jun was a human door as he wrestled with the female ghoul on his back. Elaine's attention was drawn to the three zombies that shambled in from the south. With half their party still in the stairwell and space limited, Elaine didn't like their chances.

Then do something about it.

Elaine blinked. The voice from the caverns was back. "What?" The word had fallen out of her mouth faster than she could think it.

The masculine voice gave a soft laugh. You're a cleric of a God who utterly despises the undead, and here you are surrounded by them. Do something about them.

Elaine's gaze dropped down to her bracelet, and to the sun charm upon it that served as her holy symbol. She balled her hand into a fist, and thrust her arm into the air.

"Vowil, I pray for you to banish these undead from your sight!" Elaine yelled.

Not bad. Elaine could feel the smile though the Voice's words. In Vowil's name, may it be done.

Elaine had to avert her eyes from the charm as it began to shine with a bright, unnatural light. Carric and Jun also shut their eyes, as the warm light rushed over them. Around them, the air began to fill with guttural and terrified yells, whines, and screams from the zombies. The zombies immediately turned and ran away from the light.

The light died down as quickly as it had come, and Elaine lowered her arm. She wished she'd had that power before in the cemetery.

Power that like that comes with time. The voice sounded tired. Keep on your journey, and you'll discover what else lies in wait for you.

"Can't wait." Elaine whispered to herself, as she gave herself a moment to stare down in wonder at the still warm sun charm around her wrist.

Behind her, Carric blinked stars out of his eyes. A grunt drew his attention, and he looked over at Jun who still had the ghoul on his back.

"Why didn't she flee?" Carric asked as he watched Jun continue to try to grab the slippery creature.

"Not sur-AH!" Jun cried out as the ghoul's clawed hand finally found purchase in his shoulder and cut deep into his skin. The pain lasted only a moment, but was replaced by a numbness that radiated out from the injury to his entire body. In mere moments his limbs became stiff and immovable.

"What's going on?" Iados bounded up the last step and joined Carric in front of Jun. Behind him, the two could see a singular zombie that also hadn't been affected by the godly light as it stumbled out of a closet. The zombie attacked Jun from behind.

Jun didn't even groan.

The akudaem winced. "Ok, we need to move him."

Carric rolled his eyes. "You think?" He recoiled from the gangly hand that reached out to him from atop Jun. "Any ideas?"

Iados shrugged. "A couple." He took a few steps back, before he ran full force at the large berserker in a large tackle.

Elaine barely suppressed a giggle as Jun didn't move an inch.

Carric shoved Iados aside. "Let me try." Carric moved back and tackled Jun as well, to similar results. Iados didn't hide his satisfied smirk.

Jun, even though he could not show it, rolled his eyes.

"They're almost as amusing as you are annoying." A deep whispered voice said into Elaine's ear. Elaine turned to see what had spoken, just as a shadowy hand raked through her body. The cleric hissed, but not in pain.

At the top of the landing, Ander's mouth dropped at the shadow figure that lingered in the air in front of Elaine. There was an outline of a head, torso, and arms, but the rest of its body congealed into a shadowy mist. Its red eyes were focused on Elaine.

"Shit." Ander quickly did his incantation and sent four glowing bolts of pure magic into the shadow's torso. The shadow grunted and recoiled away from the cleric.

Elaine gritted her teeth and held up an open palm towards the Shadow's face. "May Vowil strike you blind." A flash of pure light radiated out of her palm. As the Shadow pulled its hands up to its face, the spectral mace whacked it from the side.

Carric clapped a hand on Iados's shoulder. "I leave Jun to you." With that, the ranger rushed the shadow and attempted to strike it with his blade, but it merely passed harmlessly through it. At the same time, Carric magically marked the Shadow as his prey.

The Shadow gave a guttural roar and shot straight up through the ceiling.

Back over at Jun, Iados winced as he watched the ghoul take a bite out of Jun, literally.

"Jun, I apologize, but you are in the way, literally." Iados backed up to the landing, and nearly knocked Kerri down the stairs when he threw his quarterstaff at her. With a running start, He jumped off the adjacent wall and threw himself over Jun's shoulder. On the way down, he grabbed the ghoul and forcibly pulled her off the berserker. The two of them landed with a hard thud on the ground behind, and Iados wasted no time in delivering several hard punches to the ghoul's midsection.

"Pass me the staff!" Iados called out as he narrowly dodged a blow from the zombie on the other side. Behind, he noticed that the closet door had closed shut, and scrawled onto the front was 'Zombie Time Out 1'.

Kerri hurried over and passed the staff over Jun's shoulder. As she did, Jun began to groan and move again.

"Good to see your back." Iados whacked the ghoul at his feet again, and it stopped moving. "I'll leave this one to you then." With a grin Iados disappeared through the double-doors the other zombies had disappeared through, but not without the zombie from the time out room giving him a parting punch.

As he left, Elaine scurried over to Jun and laid a hand on the bite mark near his neck. Her hand glowed, and when she pulled away the wound no longer bled. With a wave of her hand, Elaine sent the mace towards the zombie and it gave one final hit before it disappeared in a flash of light. She turned back to Jun. "How are you?"

With a grunt Jun moved his limbs as he finally felt the paralysis wear off completely. "Stiff, but I'll take care of that." Red entered his eyes as he entered a verta-kochen, and turned around towards the zombie.

Confident that he had it handled, Elaine turned to Kerri. "How are you?"

Kerri waved her off. "I'm good, just late to the party."

Elaine nodded, then headed towards the southern room after Ander.

Carric came up to Kerri and nudged her. "Let's check these rooms." He pointed to the two doors on the opposite wall that had stayed closed the entire time.

"What about the others?" Kerri asked. The two of them moved closer to the door Elaine and Ander had disappeared through. Through it, they saw Lia throw a couple of ice shards onto a balcony with Ander doing the same with a fire. They didn't see Elaine, but they could hear her towards the balcony. Carric and Kerri turned their attention through the other doorway. In there, Iados and Jun took out their frustrations on three zombies that seemed in a rush to escape to a very small balcony.

"I think they've got a handle on it." Carric grinned and moved back to the main hallway, followed by Kerri. "We should make sure there are no more surprises waiting in these rooms."

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Kerri nodded. "I guess I should pull my weight."

"That's the spirit." Carric reached and grasped his door handle. "Remember, keep the door open."

Kerri rolled her eyes. "No shit." She grasped her door handle as well, but hesitated. She looked over at Carric. "Why don't you go first? In case there's another zombie we can tag team it." Carric didn't answer as he twisted the handle and flung the door inward. A large white figure came towards him. The half-elf leapt back and swung out with his sword. When the sword hit, there was a hard thud, and the figure didn't move. Carric and Kerri moved in for a second look, and it was Kerri who noticed it first.

"It's a puppet." The bard reached and traced the near invisible strings that were attached to the figure. Carric pushed the puppet back into the closet, where it stood in a large crate. Now that they could get a good look at it, the pupped was dressed in a very flowy white dress, with dark makeup on its familiar face.

"It's the woman from the recording." Kerri moved the hair out of the puppet's face. "The one who asked for help getting the kids back."

Carric took in the puppet's menacing features. "She doesn't look like someone who should be around kids." Carric heard Iados curse, followed by the sound of something breaking. "We should hurry up and check the second room, then we can help the others."

The two of them moved to the second door, and Kerri opened the door. The room was lit by a single sconce, and from what she could tell there was nothing but crates inside of it. She took a step in.

The door slammed shut in Carric's face. The ranger's face paled as he sensed his mystical mark move to the other side of the door.

"Not funny!" Kerri yelled as she tried to open the door on her side. The sconce went out, and plunged the small room into total darkness.

"On the contrary, it's quite fun."

Kerri froze as the deep voice came from behind her. She turned around, but she couldn't see anything in the darkness. "Who are you?" She hissed.

"Oohgac, but more importantly, who are you?"

Kerri felt a force wrap itself around her middle, and she was slammed up against a stack of crates. Kerri felt whatever Oohgac is, press its weight against her as it held her place, her back to it. His touch was cold. She broke out in a cold sweat as she felt its finger up her spine. The finger reached her shoulder blade, and began to encircle the Mark.

My my, I haven't felt this kind of magic in centuries. No longer was the voice of Oohgac verbal. Now, it was like he spoke directly into her mind.

Kerri gulped. "Are you talking about the Mark?"

Oohgac chuckled. It is so much more than just a mark. Kerri shivered as suddenly she could feel Oohgac on her bare skin as he continued to examine her back. It does make one wonder, how will this Mark change you?

"What do you mean 'change'?" Kerri hated how much her voice quivered, but she couldn't stop her lip from trembling.

Oohgac chuckled again as he removed his hand from Kerri's back. Now, where's the fun in that? Kerri grunted as she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her head. I'm more interested to see how this turns out.

Oohgac let go of Kerri, who crumbled to her knees against the crate. She wrapped her arms around her torso as she begged herself to stop trembling.

Iados let a satisfied smirk cross his face as he landed another hit on the back of the zombie's head. The three zombies here had all run towards the very small balcony in the corner of the room after Elaine had flashed her light. The zombies seemed more interested in running away than fighting back.

He flicked his eyes over to Jun as the berserker, his eyes ringed in red, stomped in. "What happened to the zombie?"

"Back in the closet." Jun growled.

Iados nodded towards a second closet just a few feet from them. This one had 'Zombie Time Out 2' scrawled across it. "Want to fill that one?"

Jun didn't even answer as he swung out towards the nearest zombie, but missed.

Iados tsk'd. "Just take your time and get your swing right. These guys aren't interested in us."

Just to prove him wrong, the zombies turned around. The one Iados had been using for target practice swung out with a meaty fist and clocked him in the chin.

"You were saying?" Jun grinned at the akudaem before he turned his attention to the other two zombies that stumbled towards him.

In lieu of an answer, Iados attacked with his quarterstaff again, before he quickly followed it up with a kick to the torso. The zombie hit the ground with a loud thud and didn't move.

Iados reached up and smoothed his hair back. "Nothing to it."

The zombie on the ground twitched and stood back up.

Iados swore. "I'd forgotten that they do that." He hit the zombie back down, but once again it stood up.

Nearby, Jun wasn't having the best of time either. He'd hit one zombie, but then get hit by the second one. After a few rounds of this, Jun could feel himself begin to tire as his verta-kochen started to subside.

"Get behind me!" Jun yelled as he ran towards the room's doorway. He pulled out a potion full of a reddish-orange liquid. Iados didn't have to be told twice as he ducked under another meaty fist and skirted away. Jun pulled the stopper off the bottle with his teeth, and then chugged the contents of the bottle. The liquid burned as it coated Jun's throat. He felt it hit his stomach and immediately begin to churn. He felt it bubble up his throat, and he opened his mouth to burp.

Instead of a burp, a line of fire spewed out of his mouth. He hit one of zombies, who burst into flame and crumbled to the ground. Jun burped again, and hit a second zombie. This zombie managed to dodge most of the flame, but still got burned and went down. Jun let loose a third blast of flame, and it hit Iados's nemesis right in the chest, and this time the zombie stayed down.

Iados whistled. "Not bad, where'd you get that stuff."

Jun burped up smoke. "Leftover from the dwarven settlement." His throat still burned, but that wasn't his most immediate concern. Now that he didn't have to fight, he was able to take a look at the room. This seemed to be a storage room. Crates full of clothing were partly open all around the room. Stacked on a table in a back corner were jars with what seemed like different color paints. There was a window looking onto the back balcony that had been framed by a dark yellow curtain.

The curtain was now on fire. The first zombie had fallen next to one of the wooden crates while still fully immolated. He could smell the wood beginning to catch.

Jun locked eyes with Iados. Time to go.

In the south room, Ander hit the last zombie with a fiery bolt, and it sailed over the railing of the large balcony. Elaine had already left the room. She and Carric took turns throwing themselves against the door in an effort to get Kerri out. At one point the door shook on its own as a cavernous boom echoed through the house, but the door still stood.

"Come on, let's check on Jun and Iados." Lia suggested as she moved towards the doorway.

Ander went to follow, but hesitated when he heard a noise. He looked about the sparsely decorated room that mostly consisted of stacked tables and chairs. A section of open wall clicked and swung out.

From inside the hidden door, a very pale, gangly teenager with greasy blond hair that hung past his ears stepped out. He wore an immaculate pair of gray pants, and a simple brown tunic. He wore a gaudy golden amulet with a blue crystal around his neck, while a white albino snake was perched on his upper arm. The boy gasped when he saw Ander.

"Who are you?" The boy flicked his eyes around the room. His eyes stopped on the crumbled heap of one of the zombie's Elaine had beaten out on the balcony. "What did you do to Dorine?"

"We killed it." The tip of Ander's finger began to turn red as he narrowed his eyes.

The boy's eyes narrowed as well, his in anger. "That wasn't very nice. Dorine was my friend." The boy brought his hand up and did a few quick motions. "Now, you'll have to be my friend." Before Ander could react, his head began to ache. Ander brought a hand up and cradled his forehead as his head pounded in pain. It only lasted for a moment.

When Ander next looked up at the boy, he held no suspicion of him.

"What's the hold up?" Lia appeared back at the doorway. Ander turned his attention towards her. His eyes had a red glow as they focused solely on her. Ander took a dagger off his belt and threw it towards the druid. It bounced off the doorway. Lia watched the boy kneel next to Ander and whisper something into his ear. Ander nodded, and ran straight for her.

"Wake up!" Lia whacked the end of her staff across Ander's face. She yelled over her shoulder at Carric. "Need some help! Some kid put Ander under a spell."

Ander wiped the blood off his lip and picked up the dagger. He tried to stab Lia, but she dodged at the last moment, and he only succeeded in tearing a rip down her shirt. Ander tried to stab her again, but she used her staff to hold the halfling back.

Behind her, Carric finally managed to kick down the door. Elaine swooped into the room and gathered Kerri into her arms.

Carric felt his mystical mark move from its hiding place above, back down towards them. The shadow materialized just behind Carric. "Well, it certainly took you long enough to take down a pesky door." Carric swung around and attacked, but his blade passed through harmlessly. "Silly little creature, that blade will do nothing against me."

Elaine joined in the attack as well. Oohgac deftly avoided the attack. He slid around behind the cleric.

"It's time for the nice little cleric, to die already." Oohgac purred into her ear as he plunged his hand into her back. She gasped in pain, but she didn't feel the pain in her back. She felt it in her mind as it ripped through.

Kerri opened her mouth to magically mock the shadow, but her mind instead churned with all the questions she wanted to ask, and the spell died in her throat.

Iados burst into the room, soot on the side of his face. "It's time to go." He coughed. Behind him, smoke began to billow out of the room. Jun raced out of the room and slammed the double-doors shut. "This place is starting to go up in flames."

"We're a little busy." Carric gritted his teeth and attacked Oohgac again.

Iados looked towards Lia, and watched her smack Ander down again with her staff. Beyond her, he saw the boy as he watched the attack with rapt attention.

Jun bustled up next to Iados. "What part of move it, don't you understand?" His eyes landed on the Shadow as he danced away from Elaine's attack. Jun felt another verta-kochen build up within him. He strode forward and with a roar landed a solid hit on the Shadow as he smacked it into the ground. As the attack connected, a bright light flashed. The light tore through Oohgac and the shadow shrilled.

Oohgac twisted around and yelled towards the boy. "Zaire, back to the attic!" Jun hit the Shadow again, and once again the light tore new holes in the being.

Behind Ander, Zaire's face fell as it filled with worry. He headed back towards the hidden room. "Ander, I need you to protect me!"

"Anything for you my friend!" Ander cried as he attacked Lia again with his dagger. This time the halfling buried the dagger into Lia's thigh.

Before Ander could do anything else, Iados came up, pushed Lia aside, and kicked Ander a few feet back into the room. "Wake the hell up!"

Ander sat up groggily, the redness fading from his eyes.

Oohgac tried to run away from the berserker by disappearing into the floor. Jun roared and brought his warhammer straight down onto the floor. The floor splintered and buckled from the force of the blow, and then lit up as the attack connected with the last remnants of the shadowy being.

"Where is he?" Jun growled as his eyes swept the area around the hole.

"He's gone, you got him." Carric confirmed, as he felt his mystic link lose anything to tether to.

"Guys, how are we going to get out of here?" Kerri was hunkered down next to Lia. The bloody dagger was on the ground next to her as she wrapped a bandage around Lia's leg.

"I guess down the stairs." Carric took a piece of cloth out of his pack and wrapped it around his face. "Where's Iados and Ander?"

Lia pointed upstairs. "They followed the kid up the hidden stairs."

Jun ran a hand down his face. "Of course they did." Jun pointed at Lia and addressed Kerri. "Get her ready to move." He led the way up the stairs with Elaine on his heels.

The attic was a cramped space, and seemed to be roughly the same size as the previous floors. There were several rooms here, most of them with their doors swung open.

In one of the rooms that consisted of a bed, a chest, a desk, and a bookcase, Iados had the boy.

"That was quick." Elaine commented as she walked in. Iados had the boy on his stomach, as the akudaem sat on his legs and quickly tied his hands together. There was already a gag on his mouth.

"The little bastard tried to spell me." Iados growled as he moved on to the boy's legs.

Elaine looked around. "Where's Ander?"

"I told him that the place was going up in flames , and he went to check the other rooms for loot." Iados hauled the boy to his feet, and for the first time Elaine saw the amulet around his neck.

She reached out, wrenched it from his neck, and threw it on the ground. The boy cried out around his gag as Elaine stomped on it. The crystal shattered with a flash of blue light.

"Hey! We could have sold that!" Iados shouted.

"That's not the kind of thing you sell." Elaine took care to ground any solid piece of the crystal into dust. "You use this to control a demon."

Iados's eyes widened. He looked at the kid, then at ruined amulet, and then back at the kid. "This kid was controlling a demon?"

Elaine nodded. "Probably that shadow thing Jun killed."

Ander poked his head into the room. "Are you done yet? Remember, house on fire?"

"We're coming." Iados scooped up the tied up teenager and carried him over his shoulders. "You find anything?"

"You could say that." Ander led the way into the main hall where Jun stood there with a woman. The woman had a very haggard look to her, and her red hair hung limply around her gaunt face.

"Who are you?" Elaine asked as she assisted the woman down the stairs.

"Anyssa." The woman's voice as quiet. "I designed this place, and was Zaire's favorite toy."

Zaire grunted as Iados accidentally knocked his head into the wall.

When they arrived back into the room, the other three were ready to go. Elaine quickly introduced Anyssa.

"About time." Carric clapped his hands. "Ok, if we hurry, we can make it down the stairs before the fire reaches them. It's already escaped the room."

Anyssa shook her head. "If we go downstairs we'll be trapped. The main door won't open until the house's game has been completed, it's part of the enchantment."

"Can't you just remove the enchantment?" Kerri asked.

Anyssa shook her head. "The enchantments here are very interconnected, so it's not just undoing one enchantment, but many in a sequence. Besides, I'm in no condition to perform such magic."

"What if we go down to the first level and break open a window?" Iados suggested.

Anyssa coughed as she shook her head again. "I was able to complete the first and second floors, and part of that included protections against that very thing. I'd only just started in on the third floor when Zaire and the shadow arrived."

By now the smoke was thick and burned everyone's lungs. They all looked around, desperate to find a way out. Iados and Carric went out onto the balcony. Iados looked down over the side. Besides two still zombie bodies, the way down was clear.

He looked over at Carric's pack and saw the rope coiled and tied to it. "Carric, how much rope do you have?"

"About fifty feet, why?"

"I found our way down." Iados inclined his head over the side.

Carric visibly deflated. "You can't be serious."

Iados flung out his hands. "If you've got a better idea, let me hear it."

Carric looked over the side and gulped. "Unfortunately, I don't." Carric removed his pack and took the rope off. He handed it to Iados, who immediately went to the balustrade and started to wrap the rope around. Meanwhile, Carric gathered everyone out on to the balcony, and explained the plan.

"There has to be another way." Ander argued.

Iados finished tying off the rope, and flung the rest over the side. "Well, speak now or be ready to climb."

"Why don't we at least lower people down?" Lia suggested. The sound of creaking wood came from somewhere in the house.

Iados climbed over the side of the small wall, and hung onto the rope. "If you think we've got that amount of time, go for it." He quickly shimmied down the rope, and within a couple of minutes hit the ground. "Nothing to it!" He yelled back up.

Jun appeared over the side. "Catch!" Packs began to drop over the side, and Iados caught all of them.

After he'd dropped the last pack, Jun looked over at the group. "Alright, who's next?"

Elaine stepped forward. "I might as well, that way I can heal anyone who falls."

"Want us to lower you?" Jun asked.

Elaine shook her head. "We need to get this done fast and dirty." She dropped over the side. Elaine had only gone a few feet before she lost her grip on the rope. With a scream she fell the full almost thirty feet to the ground and landed with a thud.

She was unconscious when Iados rolled her over onto her back. "Anyone wanna heal the healer?" He yelled up at the audience.

Lia groaned and sent a simple healdown to the downed cleric. "Who's next?"

"I'll go." Jun stepped forward. "If anyone else falls I can try to catch them."

"Hold on, what do we do with him?" Carric pointed down to the teenager they had sitting at their feet. "He can't climb a rope like that. Do we untie him?"

"No." Ander said. "Jun, can you carry him on your shoulders like Iados did?"

"It'll be tricky climbing down, but I can try." Jun reached down and hauled the teen to his feet. The teen silently glared at everyone as he was hoisted over Jun's shoulders. Jun put his arms in between the boys bound arms and legs and wore him almost like a backpack. The berserker climbed over and slowly made his way down the rope.

When he was about halfway, Ander decided that he'd start down the rope as well. That decision didn't end well for any of them as both Jun and Ander lost their grips and began to fall. Jun managed to grab hold of the rope and slow his descent some, but still fell heavily onto the ground. Zaire groaned, but stayed conscious.

Ander hadn't been so lucky, and had actually bounced when his small body hit the ground. Elaine was on him immediately with a healing spell.

Kerri and Anyssa went next, but both of them fell and had to be healed by Elaine. Carric made it halfway down before he fell, but didn't require any healing. Lia was the last to go, and she hadn't even grabbed the rope before she lost her footing and fell over the side. She landed on a few of the packs, and they helped to cushion her fall. Even so, it took a few moments before she remembered how to breathe. Elaine offered up some healing, but Lia declined.

By now, thick black smoke poured out of the third floor as flames licked up the sides and towards the roof.

It was a tired and quiet caravan of people that headed back towards Yeabrook, with one prisoner and one rescued wizard.