Galus and his motley crew cobbled together with Elmer's glue and prayer rode into the large canyon, scaffolding and ruins dotted the walls, unfortunately that was slightly ruined by the fact the giant poisonous tumors that continuously blasted poisonous gas at them. fortunately they managed to get away from them before the gas could spread too widely. When Galus looked over his shoulder his new glass eye nearly popped out of his head, much like WW1 the wind was blowing the gas, in their direction, this valley was a deathtrap because they could only go in one direction, and that one direction was a dead end.

Nepheli looked back where Galus was looking and raised one of her war axes, a tornado descended upon the ground sucking nearly everything into the vortex, unfortunately it nearly got them as well, the pull was strong enough that the landsquirts got torn from their roots and were whipped around often colliding with the stone walls and splattering in orange sap and thick skin.when their horses started to get lifted from the ground Nepheli dismissed the tornado, it took a second but it created a powerful blast on it's dismissal, and with a Crack a bolt of lightning struck the last one that was trying to get up onto it's roots.

They got to the end of the valley and Galus saw more than a few bodies in rigor mortis trying to claw their way up the wall, their running away from danger had killed them all.

Galus looked over at the ladder, he scratched his head, how the hell would they get up there with their horses, Lattena can't move on her own, and they had a time limit and they couldn't afford to get stopped in their tracks. He got down from Tempests back and scratched her maine.

Edgar looked up there as well and shook his head. "We might need to use the grandlift, but I don't know where the medallion halves are..."

Galus shook his head. "I do... But they're miles apart, back in the direction we came. The first is in fort height. The second is in Caelid, and I don't know about you but I don't feel like walking through a lake of rot while being chased by a Chihuahuasaurus rex."

Lattena looked at him. "A what?"

Galus waved the question off. "It's a type of small dog we had in my land, used for catching vermin on farms, they look similar in the same way that a cat looks like a lion."

Galus shook his head, that made him want a taco, most of the food here tasted weird. Hell, Rowa fruit tasted like somekind of mix between raspberries and pears.

Nepheli looked up at the rock wall from the saddle. "I can use the wind to get us up there, the horses won't be happy with though."

Edgar looked like he was going to be sick

Galus nodded. "Only alternative I see is us turning around and wading our way through a desert of scarlet rot."

Galus got back onto the horse and motioned for her to do her thing. The horses minus Lobo, screamed and whinnied their heads off and we're flailing and bucking but they managed to get them up and onto the ledge. The horses were pissed off and Gale attempted to throw Edgar and Irina.

Luckily Edgar was holding on with the strength of an iron ox and Irina was clinging to him with the stubbornness of a tick. "That was horrible..." Edgar said, before dry heaving.

Galus saw Selen smirking toward Edgar from Lobo's back. Galus got off the horses back. "We're going to be going inside a cave, Glintstone mine as a matter of fact. Watch your step, maybe don't get in the way of the miners, and we might get through there without a fight."

Galus got down from the horse and Nepheli grabbed tempests reins and lead them into the cave. Galus saw a couple of the... He was going to guess people, possibly golems, slamming their pickaxes into some of the Glintstone outcroppings, the other thing he saw gave him pause, there were a pair of extremely small figures with angled helmets, ragged armor, and they were wielding makeshift armor.

Galus looked over at the tiny men and for the first time wondered, how old Malikeths soldiers actually are, they looked like kids in soldier costumes. He raised a hand in greeting, and one of them out a hand up a clear sign for them to stop. "What's your business here?" One of them said in the voice of a young boy.

Galus stopped as ordered. "We're on pilgrimage, we'd like get past."

One of them saw Lattena and immediately turned hostile. "And why are you traveling with one of those... Things?!"

Galus closed his eyes, remembering that he was talking to someone who works directly for black blade Maliketh. "My business is none of yours nor is the company I keep."

The little one leapt at him, though a smack to the side and it landed into a minecart where a chunk of Glintstone was thrown inside by one of the busy miners and promptly knocked them unconscious.

The other one wielded a kusarigama, and tried to throw it at him sickle first, though an arrow of Lattena's knocked it aside and Galus grabbed the handle and ripped it out of their tiny hands. He spun it around and threw it into a chunk of Glintstone hanging from the cieling. he turned back to the kid and narrowly dodged a throwing knife. He summoned the discus' and used them as war fans, blocking and sheering through more knives, it was funny what you could learn in martial arts training.

The militia soldier aimed smacked a miner and took his pickaxe and charged, Galus sidestepped and slashed his discs through the shaft of the pickaxe, they backed up and into a rock wall and galus almost instinctually brought his disc straight for the boys throat, he swayed his strike as soon as he saw it's trajectory and it sawed through the stone behind him.

The military man desperately looked around and Galus brought his knee into their jae, which smacked their head into the wall and fell unconscious.

Galus shook his head. "This could be bad, everyone watch your steps, these fucks tend to leave poisonous gas traps."

Lattena looked around and pointed at a cluster of what looked to be grenades clumped clumped together in piles.

They continued onwards and turned a corner, a few more of the little mall ninjas charged at them, one released a smoke cloud and they could barely see anything. Nepheli with a gust of wind dispersed the fog then hoisted a damn lightning bolt, and threw it at the little militia soldiers. Galus slid beneath the the bolt and summoned his spear, and swept their legs from under them with the shaft of the glowing spear. The bolt narrowly missing their head. "Can we please try to be nonlethal with these kids?"

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Edgar shook his head. "These are elites black ops, if you hold back you'll die, I had an entire squad posted in my keep once, they'll kill you without hesitation."

Galus deflected a strike with his spear. He could kill without problem these days but this will be crossing a line that nobody should ever have to cross. "No way Ed, we're not killing children!" He said smacking the militia soldier on the ears to discombobulate him, they fell to the ground and he planted his knee into their ribs.

Galus ducked a knife and threw one of his own, the glowing gold blade streaked toward them and cut through their saws handle. he got up, his platemail clinking as he approached them. They leapt backwards and threw a smoke bomb down into the ground obscuring his retreat. He continued forward, before an knife whizzed through the air and struck the ground in front of him causing green spores to explode around him. He backed up coughing trying to clear his system of the poison. He backed up and took off his helmet and threw up a dark green.

Edgar knelt down next to him, his halberds pommel clanking on the stone ground, and he patted Galus on the back. "These vile militia soldiers excel in guerilla warfare, they might look like children but they are cold blooded cunning and deadly, you keep holding back you will die horribly."

Galus stood up with a stumble, the poison leaving his system. "You may well be right, but this is a line we mustn't cross."

They continued on Nepheli dispelling the smoke and spores with a blast of air. One of the kids dropped down from the cave cieling and swung by a kusarigama and swung a kukri right at Lattena's head. She raised a spear and they swung into it's point, it pierced their side, and dropped from the chain. They were still alive and Galus was pleased atleast Lattena didn't have a murder boner for them.

Unsheathed his hound fang sword and summoned a discus of light, he wanted to test something out, he attempted to increase it's size. He moved it to the back of his hand, it could be used as a shield. Galus raised it in front of him and it was evidently weightless. A pair of knives struck his shield, and approached. He charged forward and spun striking with the side of his sword and then pinned the other against the wall with the shield, to his amazement it didn't turn them into a pile of ash like a fly buzzing into a lightsaber. Like he expected, it was evidently the edges alone that cut through things.

Galus released them and then kicked them in the chest.

Galus ducked a scythe and an arrow pierced into their leg, causing them to scream and fall to the ground.

Nepheli used a gust of wind to clear a swath of them out of the tunnel and into a wall.

Edgar rushed down the tunnel and with a gust of wind at his feet he brings down the halberd and spears it into the ground and a swirl of stormwind spins around him. scattering is he ambush that was around the bend. They turned the corner and was faced with an elevator. They gathered on it in pairs, the first pair was Edgar and Lattena with the horses and Lobo, the next was Galus, Selen, Irina and Nepheli. They came up and were on the next ledge, Galus looked at the view. Galus also saw in front of Edgar and Lattena, was a large man in grey armor with large stone ram horns protruding from his chest plate, he seemed to be arguing with a man in black with a hideous iron mask that belonged to prisoners.

The prisoner shouted at the man. "We both saw what was waitin' in there, you'd be bloody crazy to attempt to kill that thing alone!"

Tragoth shook his helmeted head. "Look behind you, maybe they'll help with it, worst comes to worst we'll run away and recuperate and try again."

Blaggard nodded his head. "Aye, that thing couldn't get through that small narrow tunnel, but we nearly got our asses burned off trying to get away, fuck mate, what would..." He counted us by head. "Five more people do? Damn it all, one of them is blind and the other's an albinauric!"

Galus cleared his throat. "Hello, I'm Galus, it's uh, good to meet you? Maybe? If you keep insulting my friends I'll punch you so hard you'll be shitting your own teeth. But otherwise nice to meet you."

Nepheli stepped forward and slammed her axe to the ground causing a shockwave that caused a few rocks to fall and collide with the water below. "That makes two of us."

The prisoner looked her over a little more slowly than was probably safe for him. "Ain't you a fi-" he didn't get to finish that sentence likely for the better, as he was kicked in the gonads with the force of a torpedo, Galus was sure every male creature from dragon to mouse within a mile of the incident felt that, he sure did.

Tragoth got up and it turned out the brick he was sitting on wasn't a brick at all but his fucking stone hammer, a hammer that made Mjolnir look tiny by comparison. he hoisted it with a grunt and gestured for them to follow.

Galus shrugged and picked up the blaggard and put him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the poor jackass was either unconscious or dead.

They moved through some of the ruins and Galus saw many giant bats that had been turned into paste, it reminded him of when he'd swat a fly, only this one was huge and the mess wasn't gonna be cleaned with a damn napkin. Galus nodded to the mess of strawberry jam. "Take it that's your doing?"

Tragoth nodded. "Names Tragoth, how are you doin'?"

Galus shrugged. "Doing fine, still feeling a bit sick from the poison trap they set for me downstairs."

Tragoth rifled through his satchel and came up with some balls of moss. "Take one of these, it'll soak up the poison and then you can puke them out."

Galus nodded, taking one and swallowing it, it felt like swallowing a sponge and was about as flavorful as one. And soon enough the sickness had faded from all but his stomach which he vomited all over the ground from the pain in his stomach. Mind you this took about five minutes so by the time they'd gotten up onto the scaffolding and onto the next level he'd vomited over the railing and down onto some unlucky corpse jelly. He spat out the bile and clumps of moss coming out of his mouth. He got up, meowing his mouth and put his helmet back he felt a brush on his face as he put it on, he might need to shave... Nah, beards are cool, and he's going to the mountains, he'd need as much warmth and insulation as he could get.

Galus continued onward he'd left down there with the horses, Irina, and the blaggards unconscious body, seriously remind me never to make Nepheli angry, down there, Lattena guarded them, they'd have Nepheli use wind to get them up there again but Galus said they should wait until they aren't fighting a giant lava spitting lizard before grabbing the horses, Lattena was not happy to be sidelined, but Galus wasn't about to be robbed by a man in rags, sure, he could just yeet him off the cliff but that felt cold blooded even for him.

Edgar turns the corner closely followed by Tragoth and Nepheli, leaving Galus and Selen at the back of the group.

They walked into the cave, and into a huge cavern. Maybe they could have used the horses, before Galus could ponder that any further he saw the magma wyrm over by a huge pillar, it appeared to be sleeping, Tragoth and Nepheli quietly snuck forward, Nepheli readying her axe and Tragoth his hammer.

Tragoth was right next to their head, and Nepheli was next to their neck, they raised their weapons at the same time and Tragoth's hammer smashed into it's skull and Nepheli's axe cleaved through the side of it's neck. It woke and rose up with a roar, it's neck and nose spitting blood like a fountain, it got back down onto it's all fours and Selen started shooting it with her Glintstone shards. And Galus threw his discus of light at it's largest size, which was about the size of a pennyfarthing wheel it spun toward it, and it blocked it with it's scaled sword. It spat a giant glob of magma at them though some of it also came out of it's wound. Galus back stepped and summoned a crossbow firing it at the magma wyrm, as the magma pooled where he was standing a moment ago.

Edgar rushed forward skewering it in the side, Galus watched as he took it out and leapt with a gust of stormwind and skewered it in the back, and proceeded to do the most badass rodeo Galus had seen. He watched as Edgar unsheathed his dismounter greatsword and stabbed that into it's back as well.

Tragoth attacked again, and it ended in the wyrm swiping it's sword to the side and knocking Tragoth through a few old ruins. He stood, and shot a large crossbow that hit it in the eye.

Nepheli called lighting down onto her axe and started carving into this thing like a turkey, Galus was just gobsmacked at how they were brutally ripping this thing to shreds that he nearly forgot to bring his discus down onto it's back. Well, it turned out that this was... Probably... A mistake because it rushed forward spewing lava and leaving a trail of the shit around like a giant lava slug, atleast that was until Tragoth smacked it in the head with his damn hammer and causing the massive creature recoil from the attack, which in Galus' book made Tragoth one of the strongest tarnished he knew, right behind Nepheli who was right behind Hora Loux.

Edgar was thrown backwards by the force of the blow and then forwards again when hits tail came up and smacked him.

Galus unsheathed his sword and recalled the discus resizing it to be about the size of a viking king shield he looked at Selen who was gathering Glintstone energy in her staff and then unleashed it into a giant Kamehameha death beam of doom straight into the magma wyrms chest. "Sweet hell!" Galus shouted as he backed up.

Edgar was nearly hit in the face by the exterminautus.

The creature shrieked getting away from currant of energy and it's side was bleeding like the skin and flesh was stripped away, allowing only a river of blood to pour forth, Galus rushed in, but it got onto it's hind legs and rammed it's massive 'sword' into the into the ground, the large lump of shedded skin burning and dripping with magma, when it blasted into the ground a blast of fire knocked everyone down with scorch marks on them. It walked forward spitting globs of magma at them, Galus managed to roll away Tragoth was a bit slow in doing so and his arm got stuck as the magma cooled into charred black stone. Nepheli tried to go in but it smacked her with its tail, only she managed to catch the tail, and with a heave of her battle axe she severed the poor lizards tail, only this time leaving a tail wouldn't save it from this particular predator.

Edgar got up seeing Nepheli swing the creatures tail at it like a fucking tree truck causing it to get knocked backwards into it's back and it seemed exceptionally weakened from the excessive blood loss. She walked over to it as it was trying to get back up like a turtle, she brought her axe down on it's throat severing it's head, and given her massive strength reserves coupled with the great runes help made it a clean severance except for about a solid foot of muscle and skin that clung on amount of her axes reach.

Galus had a bad feeling all of a sudden, seeing the redened waters and then he saw her, Eleonora rising from the pool of blood, followed by two others, a man in a cloak of raven feathers and bones clanked from inside his cloak, the other was a samurai in a mask. Galus closed his eyes and sighed. This was not his day.