No sooner had the words of challenge come from Ivkhara than the shrouded darkness pulsed and expanded, malevolent tendrils writhing forth from it, questing, probing at the air. The corpses that had before shuffled around with aimless intent now stirred into restless action, and shuffled forth, beginning a glacial advance towards the duo. No great threat were they alone, for it would be but a moment to dodge out of their way, yet they came in numbers such that to avoid one would place one at risk of another, their grasping hands eager to grab and hold and rend.
Aedmorn studied the situation unveiled before him, judging how best to react. As one corpse came shambling in, he reversed his spear and used the butt of it to push it aside. The corpse stumbled and toppled and the bugs began to crawl across it, the sparks of life and death once more putting on their vivid, scintillating display.
With a springing leap that took all the strength that he possessed, he bounced over the fallen body and pressed forward, spear used as a staff to push aside and trip the stumbling corpses that lunged for him, clearing a path before and behind, pressing onwards towards the darkened heart of their predicament. Ivkarha followed in his path, dancing and dodging those blows that came her way, reluctant still to use her sword upon them. Yet even she was forced by necessity to use the flat of the blade to fend off some blows that can scant inches from clawing at her, and more still came close.
The darkness thickened about Aedmorn the nearer he drew, like cloying mud that sucked and held and each step was an effort to force his way through. Compared to he, the corpses were hindered not, and nor did it appear as if Ivkarha was likewise afflicted, her step light as she kept to his heels.
Neither darkness nor corpses could restrain them though and they drew near to the place that was the root of evil and corruption. An object hard to perceive in the gloom lay there, no larger that a fist, and it seemed to drink in the dank light of their lamps, to feast upon it and spew forth yet more darkened tendrils.
Before they could react to it, it shuddered and then erupted, a blast of darkness sweeping across the chamber, buffeting all that stood within. The corpses were flung and tumbled about, slammed into walls, to drop twitching to the ground. Aedmorn and Ivkarha tried to brace themselves against it, to resist the shrieking blast but they too were toppled, thrown to the ground, the breath from their lungs expelled by the impact.
A howling erupted, piercing their minds and they shut tight their eyes, wincing as hot needles of madness struck. All was chaos and sound and flashing light unending, all sense of self and direction lost. They tumbled into it, twisting through an insubstantial ether that had no sense of reference, neither up nor down nor side to side.
On it went, forever and an eternity, clawing, and grinding them, thoughts slipping, unable to form coherency from the assault upon them, even their very names slipping from them. A shadow loomed over them, and began to envelope them as sanity slipped and fled.
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And ten a sound came to them, of a wind that blew, hot and strong and howling the shadow fled from it. Coolness touched them, a gentle caress, and in that touch was a hint of moisture. All came flood back to them, of who they were, and where.
They found themselves upon the floor of the chamber, and draped over them was a mucous encrusted appendage, some foul tentacle that groped and searched. The light was dim about them, for one of the lamps ha gone out when it had been dropped.
Grasping for their weapons, the looked up and beheld an abomination before them, a diabolic creature from the abyssal realms given blasphemous form. Like a giant eyeless skull it appeared, with a leering fang filled mouth, clad in dripping flesh, and from the gaping mouth spilled writhing, pallid tentacles. They snaked through the air and it was some of these tentacles that had come to rest upon them.
With a sudden shout, rage filled, Ivkarha surged to her feet, thrusting aside the grotesque tentacle, her sword describing a glittering arc as it sliced through the air. A screeching cry arose as the sword sliced clean through the tentacle, sending it flying, to twist and dance upon the floor, white ichor streaming forth from the wound, to steam upon the ground.
A tentacle lashed out from the mouth of the abyssal creature, one tipped with barbs. Swift did Ivkarha dart aside so that the tentacle id but brush her arm, yet even so it tore open the cloth of her sleeve, and touched upon her skin so that it oozed blood. She bit at her lip at the touch of it.
Another one came lashing in, this one sweeping in low, to tangle her legs and bring her low. With a stab of his spear, Aedmorn surged for it, driving into the flesh of the lashing tentacle, drawing forth more of the white ichor. The tentacle savagely pulled back, almost wrenching the spear from his grasp.
Back and forward they danced, dodging away from the repeated attacks from tentacles both barbed and otherwise, while lashing out in return, to leave scored upon the attacking appendages. Yet little more could they do but to annoy it for the could not reach the body of the creature, hindered by its many flailing arms. And they too were scored, the barbed touch bringing forth blood as it grazed them, leaving behind a sensation that burned for a time.
A stalemate it was, but one that favoured the demonic beast, wearing them down, a stalemate that could not last. Aedmorn’s limbs were beginning to weigh heavily from the continued effort of ducking and dodging, parrying and thrusting, of unending concentration and combat. Ivkarha was a whirlwind at the heart of the fight, sword dancing and slashing, seemingly inexhaustible, refusing to submit. A grimace crossed his face as a fresh score burned from a barbed touch and a growl rose lo in his throat.
The darkness of before did not weigh as heavily upon the chamber any longer, and traces of life were out there, weak but persistent. Hefting up his spear, he hurled it as hard as he could, straight for the dread maw of the beast. It flashed through the air, to plunge into the writhing mass of tentacles. They recoiled back and a screech came from the beast, giving them a moment of pause, to pull back and recover, if but just for a time.
Breathing deeply, sucking in air, Ivkarha rested hunched over, yet eyes still were upon the beast as tentacles wrapped around the shaft of the spear, to wrench it free. “Stung it, you did, but I fear no more than that, and now you remain without a weapon.”
Aedmorn looked down at his hands and smile, his eyes gleaming bright. “That will not be an issue,” he promised.