Standing near the entrance to McNeil, Caius the Witchunter leaned against a rock, half asleep, and staring at an empty drinking gourd. He looked into the dark woods, and dusk was setting in. He stood up, and looked around with crossed arms, trying not to stay balanced, keeping an eye peeled for any volunteers.

Jogging at high speed, one arm keeping her satchel on close with the other holding her robes shut, Juniper pants on her travels, extending her hand out from her satchel. "W-Wait don't go in there yet! I'm here!" she shouts, almost tripping as she stumbles forward, catching herself with a quiet sigh, dusting off her surprisingly pristine robes with sweat going down her cheeks, "I-I'm not late, am I? Oh my, ahh..."

Garoth yawns as he hangs about "I still haven't heard what she's done wrong..." he stretches his back against the tree he's been leaning against. The pumpkinhead seems to be taking it all in stride, the inside of his gourd flickering with fire.

A clanking noise announces the presence of someone else in the woods. After a few moments, the source is revealed, a heavily armored knight. Gustav examines the area for a few moments, before speaking. "Es gibt viele Menschen hier. Sind sie alle gut, Caius?"

Zendra approached the meeting spot with her lips tightly pressed together. She did not feel the need to speak or announce her presence as simply her appearance in this location should say enough. She was here to volunteer. She did turn her gaze for a moment towards the gathering group, looking them over and trying to judge what kind of people she found herself among.

As the last rays of sunlight shone against his back Balbadorf was heading towards the infamous forest with a stern look about his face; as he neared closer to the entrance of the forest he noticed a group of people standing about speaking amongst themselves, 'This must be the group going in to sort out the witches.' he thought to himself. He stood among those present, not sure who to speak to as no one stood out to him as leader of the group.

A vanship flies overhead out from over the forest, then circles above the group. After a few circles, it lands a short ways down the path, followed by Dio hopping out and strolling towards the group. "I'm not late am I? I read the flyer wrong and flew around the wrong town for a while before finally realizing it was here."

Caius nodded towards the group. "Alright. Seems that people listen to me for once!" Caius let out a cough after that. His voice was somewhat raspy, but other than that he seemed fine. He looked at Garoth and shook his head. "People have been going missing. Witches, cultists, a lot of things have been to blame. However, there's a few repeated cases of a specific type of witch." He raised a brow. "Do any of you have any experience with shapechangers?"

Gustav looks at the collection of people wildly. This was... a bit much for the knight. That man was flying. "Caius Ich denke, dass der Mensch eine Hexe. Schau ihn dir an, fliegt er. Und dass man den Kopf..." Gustav takes a step back from the group.

Dio raises his hand. "I think I saw something from the air once, but I was making a rush delivery so I couldn't be sure." He shrugs. "Probably the time of day and speed playing tricks on me."

Zendra couldn't admit to having any experience with shapechangers so she remained silent, staring at Caius as though she was expecting him to provide some sort of explanation or instruction for those who had not delt with them before.

"Um... Don't you think if you're dealing with a shapechanger it's a bad idea to advertise publicly to strangers..?" Juniper asks, beginning to reach into her pack. She pulls out a fist-sized four-sided pyramid of gold, touching a single side, which extends out a long golden rod with a leather grip, turning it into a walking staff, the pyramid now glowing a light blue hue.

Balbadorf thought to himself a moment if anything about shapechanging had ever reached his ears in his lifetime. Without anything substantial coming up he simply remained silent, somewhat interest in the topic.

Garoth coughs a bit, which is a bit odd since he doesn't actually have much of a throat to clear "I think I saw a ditto once..."

Caius shook his head at Gustav. "Nein hexe," he said, in what little rough German he knew. He turned his attention to the others. "Some forms of darker magic corrupt people the more they use them. Eventually, they take a full transformations into Hags, more powerful versions of themselves. Some of them have the ability to assume a the form of their perfect self, so the myth goes. Usually a beautiful young woman. These have been a problem recently. Hence all the missing men."

Gustav relaxes slightly, before pounding an armored gauntlet against his chest and announcing. "Ich bin Sir Gustav von Langsdorfer."

Garoth peers about a bit before looking into the woods "Soooo.... we just assume every beautiful woman we come across is a witch, or do we have a better option?"

"Uh huh... So, we're going after those, then?" Dio smirks. "Sounds like fun. I've never hunted those, before. How do we find them?"

"And what of the situation and the plan?" Zendra asked suddenly, her expression unchanging. She wasn't going to question anything else. She just wanted direction.

"Is there some way to see past at their true form?" Balbadorf inquires, seeing if the group had some way around the element of surprise.

"I'm glad you all asked!" Caius was happy to see that these people were going to show some caution. "It's not a garunteed way to prove it, but all Shapechanging hags have multicolored eyes. Some non-magical people have those too, so it's not perfect, but, if there's a lovely woman strolling through a goblin infested wood at night, that raises suspicion even without their eyes."
Caius raises his left hand. "The rune on my hand can disrrupt most magic. It was able to revert a few of the shapechanging hags, so that's the only garuntee I have. I won't be able to use it if we come across a coven, though, which is what I'm thinking is going to happen here." He makes eye contact with Zendra and Juniper, just to make sure. Then he continued.
"The dissappearences have happened pretty heavily in mabe, and it's McNeil is the best place to hide a large group nearby. Also, a nearby cave..." He reaches into a pocket and tosses it onto the ground between everyone. "Has a sulfur mine. Fire and Brimstone. Any questions before we head towards it in hope of finding people?"

Gustav looks around after his introduction, and sighs, stepping back again. "Dies wird im Elend zu beenden."

"Mmm... Nope. That all sounds reasonable enough for me. Wait..." Dio snaps his fingers and runs back to his vanship to get the emergency pistol, then runs back.

"Honestly, just one question.... they're not fireproof are they?" Garoth looks a bit sheepish about asking "Because that would be a pretty horrible thing." he looks over to Gustav a moment "You realize, of course, that I have no idea what you're saying...?"

Juniper scratches her head, before giving a slow nod. "Magic nullifying, that explains some," she says, before looking around at the others, "Well, I guess if we're going to be traveling together we should probably exchange names, right? My name is Juniper Ludus."

Zendra had no questions or comments, even as the man's eyes met hers. If what he was saying was correct, it made sense that he would check to see if the women among the group were safe, and although Zendra's eyes were quite brighty colored, they did not have the multiple colors that he sought.

Balbadorf was interested in the answer to the pumpkin's question, "Wait, they aren't are they?"

Caius nodded as everyone seemed to be ready. "These one's shouldn't be. Makes burning them at the stake harder, y'know?" He turned around before anyone could figure out if he was serious or not and began walking into the woods. While nighttime might seem more dangerous, he knew that at least the Goblins were all sleeping.

Garoth smiles, which isn't unusual as he has been for a long time "Well, I'm Garoth, and it's gonna probably be an interesting time." he turns to follow Caius.

Gustav moves along with Caius, the heavy armor he wears making easily followed tracks behind him. His demeanor as he travels is open, as if he knows nothing of the reputations of the denziens of these woods. Or even why they're here.

Dio twirls the pistol around his finger. "I'm Dio Eraclea. A pleasure." He follows after Garoth, whistling a cheery tune.

Juniper just follows along, keeping a light grip on her staff as she walks. Nothing much to say, but she does nod to those who introduced themselves.

Balbadorf followed the man at the front of it all. He looked at all of those around him, worrying for the safety of a few. He peered over his shoulder at the village of Mabe, hoping the cozy place would stay safe while the group was out.

Zendra followed Caius into the woods, making a brief check of her equipment as she did to make sure she was prepared for what they were about to face.

The group could see a clearing with a mountain on the other side. It was odd. It seemed as so some of the trees must have been burned down, and that the cave has been recently occupied. The smell of smoke and sulfur was very strong, overpowering the scene of the trees. Within the trees, however, there was a rustling, and the sound of a group of women giggling.

Caius took a quick drink from one of his gourds and drew his sword, seemingly fumbling with it. He nodded to the rest of the group. "I hope that you all don't have a soft spot for women and children," he said coldly. He walked at an uneaven pace towards the source of the sounds. "You all come out now!"

"Oooooh, who's there?" "I wanna play! Knock knock!" "Handsome stud." "Handsome stud who?" "Dinner." With that, three young women walked timidly out of the woods. One seemed as young as 15. All of them had a mixture of blues, reds, greens, and purples in their eyes.

"They don't look very threatening." Dio tilts his head as he peers at the women. "Hags must be good at shapeshifting, I guess."

Gustav takes note from Caius, stepping forwards and drawing his arms. One arm pulls the heavy slab of steel which makes up the knight's towershield, the other draws a ruined bastard sword, cracked off at the tip. "Alle von euch, aufgeben."

Stepping back a bit Juniper points the end of her staff at the witches, gulping. "Stay... Stay back, and don't try using any magic," she says, holding a hand out, "Or I'll hit you with a fireball!"

Balbadorf looks at Dio whispering to him, "Lad, I believe thats the point of shapechanging." He looked at the supposed witches with no hint of emotion in his eyes, he steeled himself for a fight that was almost inevitable at the girl's threat.

Garoth blinks at Juniper... or would if he had eyelids... or proper eyes "You too?" he turns his attention back to the three women "Seriously though, you all look like wonderous psychopaths with all the mental stability of Deneb."

Zendra drew a thick heavy looking blade from its sheath as the woman stepped forward. None of them looked particularly dangerous at the moment but that could change rather quickly. She looked to the eyes, and just as Caius had described they were multiple colors. She didn't think waiting too long would be wise, but she still glanced to Caius as if looking for some sort of signal from him to attack.

The youngest one looked at Juniper. "That sounds fun!" She says. A orb of fire appears in her hand and immediately gets launched at the Hylian Priestess. The other two begin cackling as they assume their true forms, much larger than their actual selves by at least two feet. The largest of the three charged straight at Gustav, for a physical attack, and the one left seemed to have Caius in staredown.

Caius wobbled slightly as he shouted, "If you had any doubts about murder, I assure you that nobody cares!" Caius took a few steps forward, but stumbled and fell straight onto his face, letting the rest handle it.

Zendra didn't need any more reason to hold off on attacking after that display of agression, nor did she wait for any sort of signal. She shot forward, legs carrying herself quickly towards the nearest witch, Blade sweeping through the air as she went for the witch's throat. Her other hand withdrawing a smaller blade as the motion was carried out.

"So it would seem." Dio takes aim and fires at one of the hags, missing by a good foot. "Hmm... I think the sights on this thing are messed up..." He begins fiddling with the pistol.

Gustav watches the largest witch charging him, and reacts be slamming his shield into the ground as she strikes. The force pushing the knight back and ripping up the ground where he once was. "Eine schwache Streik. Jetzt bin ich dran." whipping his sword about, Gustav makes a cut at the hag's leg, hoping to hamstring her.

Gasping and almost stumbling back Juniper's hand glows with a bright light. "Come on, come on," she says, before her hand wobbles and blasts back, firing a huge ball of ice into the fireball, fizzling both spells together, "Counterspell! A-ah! It worked!"

Garoth breathes in, or seems to, his flames growing brighter in his pumpkin, before he blows out fireball at the witch who hung back to cast at Juniper.

Balbadorf stepped next to the now on the ground Caius, looking straight ahead at the one who refused to break eye contact with the back of the drunkard's head. Flexing the muscles in his shoulder he extends the blade on his left arm, dropping into a combat stance.

Gustav's attack seemed to work. She fell down to the ground and howled in pain. She looked up at the knight, and let out a long breath of poisonous gas around him, in attempt to choke him out. If she couldn't kill him directly, at least he'd die a painful death.

Garoth's fireball connected perfectly, but the witch there frowned a bit, her hair singed, and her eyes glowing. "They won't be pleased with you. You would have been fun." Her burnt skin seems to peel back and fall off, and she grows an entire foot in height, taking the form of a hideous green hag. She snarls, "Play with me!" A arc of lighting curved its way towards Garoth.

The final witch turned its head towards Balbadorf. She bared her teeth, but felt a cut on her throat. The wound closed itself up, but the hag wasn't happing. A flaming fist made contact with Zendra's stomach as the witch turned her attention to the warrior woman. Caius got back up, and nodded to Balbadorf. "Keep her distracted. This one can heal, it seems. I need to shut that off."

"Ah that's better." Dio sights down the pistol again. "Yeah, that should work." He takes aim at the witch that just shot lightning and fires twice.

Gustav stares at the witch as it breathes poisonous gas at him, before blankly raising his sword, and bringing it crashing down onto the hag's head, seeking to cleave it in half with that simple motion. "Ein schlechter plan."

"Ohdearthat'snotfire!" Garoth shouts as he dives for cover, his duster crackling a bit as he twitches, head rolling a little ways before he grabs it to pull it back on "Ow..."

Balbadorf retraced the blade on his arm a bit to extend just past his hand, no point going for killshots if she can just heal through it he thought. He strafed forward until he was within range of the hag. When he thought he was close enough he dropped his right arm to go for a body shot keeping his left arm up for defense, igniting his hand as he swung.

"Oomph!" The burning first made contact with Zendra's stomach making her stumble back a few steps. She grimaced, nostrils filling with the scent of burned leather. She sucked in a pained breath then charges forward again, making to swing her blade at the woman again only to twist her body at the last moment and kick at her opponent in an attempt to knock her to the ground.

Stepping forward with a swing of her hand again, Juniper attempts to send another blast of ice into the witch- Unfortunately her spell causes a small explosion at the source of her hand, sending her flying backward as a barrage of smaller ice chunks fly toward the witch. "Oof!" she exclaims, knocked onto her ass from her own spell.

The witch Dio shot did not appreciate that. She looked down at Dio. "My you're a cute one," she said. She reverted back to her younger human form and walked up to him, since Juniper seemed to be more focused on figuring out another spell. She had her hands behind her as she slowly walked up. "I'm not like my sisters. They're mean. I just want to play!" She turned her head towards Garoth. "Are you ready to continue our game mister?"

Gustav's witch screamed as she was killed, a look of panick in her multicolored eyes as she died. The witch that Zendra and Balbadorf were fighting though, was taking quite the beating. She had burn marks that were healing quickly, and she was cackling, despite being knocked onto her back. Caius snuck up and grabbed her by the shoulder. She kicked him away. "OOF. Yeah. Well, you two have fun!"

"Wouldnt you rather play with me? I'm actually standing up" Dio cocks the pistol again. "Although getting into close range with a pistol wasn't very smart of you." He fires again.

"Uh, games, right..." Garoth is quickly on his back again, scrambling away from the witch "Maybe you know of another game?" his mind rushes as he tries to think of an illusion to use, a large black widow the size of the witch's head soon crawling down a thick strand to come to rest on her shoulder.

Gustav turns his attention to the other hags. Marching up to the one before Garoth, Gustav raises his shield and sword once more. "Sie sind in die falsche Richtung, Hexe."

The enemy down, Zendra followed using her knee to pin the witch down at her chest. She turned the larger blade in her hand so that it was angled downward, and with both hands on the hilt she used all her strength to plunge it down at the witch's heart.

Caius smiled as he noticed Zendra finish off the witch. He turned with a concerned eye towards the others, keeping his sword ready. The little witch in human form looked concerned at Garoth. "I don't have a lot of time for that," she said. Before she could respond to the illusion however, she fell down, dead, a bullet hole through her head from behind, where Dio was standing.

Caius began walking towards the cave. "Good to know you guys don't fall for tricks. If you guys are interested in NOT gawking at corpses, I'm going to keep moving. I wanna be outta the woods before daybreak and the goblins wake up.

Dio points the pistol at the ground with a sigh. "Aww, and here I was thinking she was going to be fun to play with." He shrugs and turns to follow after Caius, reloading the pistol as he goes.

Balbadorf walked just behind and to the right of Caius, keeping his hand alit for the purpose of acting as torchlight.

Gustav scowls at the dead body. That man didn't even let his combatant turn around before using his... weird magic to kill her. Re-slinging his shield, and wiping his blade off on a cloth produced from inside of his armor, Gustav sheathes his sword and begins following Caius.

Garoth watches the witch fall over dead before letting out a sigh of relief, looking up at Dio "Well, thanks for that." he gets up, dusting off his clothes, giving a small noise of discomfort as he brushes against a button holding a residual charge "Well, onward and outward I suppose. At least there weren't more of them." he heads on after Caius.

Juniper shuffles herself up from the ground, using her staff to hike her up, readjusting her cloak in places it began to fall apart. "I um... Ow," she says, looking at her injured hand, which she touches with her other hand, giving a soft glow as she tries to heal it- Although this in turn causes a small blast, although it's only enough to send her down again, "Oof... Er... Okay..." She stands herself back up and brushes off her sore rump, looking back toward the group.

the Cave seemed to be mostly silent, but as they walked, they saw a few men in cages. Some were tied to the cieling instead, swinging by their feet, but most of them were alive, just... very uncomfortable. Caius shook his head. "Leave them. It's fine. We'll get them after they're safe." As he walked, however, one was louder than the others.

He, however, was dressed in nothing but a blanket, and was uncaged. "Come into my cave, they did. Out of the rain, into the cave. Out of the rain into the cave." He looked up at them, his eyes filled with confusion, not fear. "Into the cave, see the witch! See the witch, meet her mother. Meet her mother, die. Can't kill me. Can't kill me I'm dead!" He leaned against a wall. "I'm already dead."

Caius shook his head. "Witches do some strange things. We should keep moving."

Gustav presses the cool metal of his gauntlet against the babbling man's head. "Beruhigen Sie sich. Wir werden Sie in Kurze zu helfen." With that, Gustav moves after Caius, checking the shadows of the cave as they move.

"Yeah. He seems a bit... touched." Dio follows after Caius.

Zendra continued to say nothing, nor did she even acknowlege the men in the cages that they passed. She kept her guard up though, expecting to encounter more witches just around the next corner.

Balbadorf shook his head at the young man but continued on deeper into the cave.

Juniper follows along, channeling a small flow of magic into the staff, using the glowing blue pyramid at the top to examine anything Garoth's light is too dim to see. "Can't we free them now? Wouldn't freeing them later make them like... Possibly used as an army?" she asks, gulping, before she fumbles with her staff, touching on it again- The long rod slides in, as a smaller rod with a guarded handle slides out, the pyramid growing as it glows a soft red, becoming a mace.

The man nodded towards Gustav. "Aye Sir, I shall wait here for your return." He stood up and saluted, a complete switch of character, then slumped back down, resuming his previous persona. "But don't meet the mother. Meet the mother and die. Stop dying, Tom." He looked at himself in a puddle. "You should stop dying."

Caius raised a brow at Juniper and Garoth. "Regardless of what he thinks, there's too much to worry about." A strange look of hidden recognition was in Caius's eye as he shrugged at the crazy man. He kept walking and responded to Juniper. "I'm not going to leave them here, but if we cut them down now, some hags might have wards looking after their 'livestock.' I'd rather not alert them more than we already have."

As they continued, the could smell more smoke and sulfur, and a fire could be seen in the distance. Caius leaned down, and squinted his eyes. "Alright. I don't know how to approach this stealthily, and witches don't take too kindly to diplomacy. If any of you want to turn back now, I don't blame you."

Gustav scowls at the fire in the background. He didn't understand a lick of what Caius had said, but given that, he draws his shield and sword again, taking note from Caius' unease. This also means that the heavy steel makes a 'clunk' noise as it contacts the stone floor of the cave.

Dio shrugged. "Well, we may as well just waltz in the front door and surprise them with our audacity. We can take out a few of them while they're reeling at how stupid we must be."

Garoth shakes his pumpkin "Unless it's their leader, then she'll likely just blast magic at us when we walk in." he gives a shrug "Actually, she'll probably do that either way. Sure, lets go for it."

Gustav looks amongst everyone just... standing around talking, before stepping forwards, speaking aloud. "Ubergeben Sie jetzt!" Gustav glares about the firey room, attempting to find the witch.

Caius shruggs. "I can get behind that plan." He stumbles forwards after Gustav. However, in front of him, Gustav seems to combust into flames. "They're here!" he can hear a yell of a witch, "They cannot interrupt the summoning! Eternal beauty is too close!" There were several witches around a heart shaped circle, with verious runic designs inside it. Caius calls back, "Interrupt the ritual, and... try not to get lit on fire!"

The room itself was large, five braziers of fire were around a circular room. None of the witches seemed to be in charge, but there were at least five standing in place between the group and the heart in the center. All of whom were in large, hideous hag forms.

"Welp. That plan's out, then." Dio sighs. "I guess it's kind of similar to mine." He steps up beside Caius and takes aim at one of the witches. "At least we have the tin can being a distraction." He fires at the witch.

Gustav is on fire. He examines the fire, not really certian about how to deal this new turn of events. Things click slowly in the head of the knight, before he just... starts walking forwards, sword and shield up. "Das ist das Urteil der Gerechten!"

Having no time to properly plan, Juniper begins to charge forward, holding her mace with both hands. "I guess the plan is to uh, um... A-Ah, I don't know what to do," she says, waving her mace about, not even close enough to hit anything, "I'm going to knock your stuff over, Witches!"

"Of all the..." Balbadorf drops his body as he rushes forward past Gustov moving in to clothesline a witch with his left arm blade fully extended.

Garoth runs out to try drawing the fire off Gustav... and blinks as the metal-clad man just strides forward "Oh... okay, you go ahead and just... fire-sword, or something." he moves to the side to begin building a flame between his hands, the flames in his pumpkin glowing brighter.

Zendra entered the room and clentched her teeth and kicked the brazier nearest to her over. There was too much fire today and although she was pushing herself past the fatigue it was causing now, she would likely pay for forcing herself to ignore it later. She turned to one of the witches, charging forward blades slicing for the woman's stomach and neck.

the witch in front of Zendra didn't see it coming. The woman was pushing herself so much, that the sudden charge was able to catch the Hag off gaurd and she fell back, dead, in a pool of her own blood. Caius was similarly unpredictable as he weaved in and out of a few of a hag's claws and slams, finally impaling her. He chuckled and took a swig from a gourd. "Punk."

Two witches charged at Gustav, seeing him as the biggest threat, knowing that the tank of a man would be hard to knock down. The remaining witch, however, eyed Dio hungrily. She made a beckoning motion, and Dio could feel the air being pulled out of his lungs forcefully. "Come here, child. You'll look quite fetching in chains."

As the party was distracted, however, the ground around the heart shape began to bubble, and turn red like blood. the witches around the ritual were chanting even faster, a look of excitement in their eyes. Everyone would have to take down the remaining coven quick.

"Oh look, another plaything. Hopefully this one is more interesting than the last one." Dio shoots at the witch pulling at him as he steps closer to her to breathe better."

Gustav being on fire, found it hard to even see the hags charging him. In addition to that, his armor was beginning to heat, turning dull red. With a pained cry, Gustav swings wildly at one, before being bodily slammed by the other, landing heavily on the ground.

Balbadorf's blade swipes cleanly at the witches side; noticing the bubbling in the center he attempted to pick up as much speed as he could to do the same to more of the witches as he went around the circle in a counter clockwise motion.

Juniper charges forward and holds the front of her mace forward as it glows a bright red! She charges it with magic, before shouting... "Magic missile!" A small fleet of exploding magic rockets fly out and around the room, colliding with some of the fires and a few witches- Although not strong enough to kill any individual they would hopefully prove distracting to some!

Garoth lets the fire glow inbetween his hands a moment long before it begins to try to engulf his fingers "Why is it always something in the middle of a ritual? You never see something coming out at the edge of a ritual." he takes a few more steps forward and hucks the ball of flames for the bubbling mass in the middle of the heart.

Enemy down, Zendra seeks the next, targeting the next one her gaze fell upon. She lunged at the woman with her weapon arcing downwards. She didn't even notice the chanting or the bubbling at the floor she was standing upon.

It seemed most of them were doing very well. Gustav was about to be mauled by two witches, however. Or, he would have, if Zendra didn't dispatch of one of them rather quickly, cleaving it in half with a downward motion. Dio's witch was saddened by the fatal bullet in her chest. "We... only wanted... you to know us how we're meant to be," she said, falling on the ground.

Several of the witches around the ritual, however, were having a very rough time keeping their concentration. As Balbadorf cut a few of them down, they fell into the pool of bubbling blood and dissappeared. Others were distracted by the magic missile. One, however, glared at Blabadorf, held her arms up to expose her weakpoints, and as she was cut down, her last words before falling into the heart were "You're too late..."

Two forms seem to rise out of the blood though. Both beautiful women, one with short, blood red hair, and two feathered wings to match the crimson color. The other had long black hair, and feathered wings to match. "It seems as though we've been summoned, Regan," The black haired one said. "Indeed, Sister Goneril" the one named Regan replied. They flew down to the edges of the heart.

Balbadorf felt paralized as Regan approached, her finger placed lovingly under his chin. "Oh, poor old man shouldn't be here. Why do you fight? Why do you need guards? My followers were going to look after you." Goneral moved towards the witch above Gustav, who reverted to her form of beauty. "You won't need that nasty hag form anymore dear." She raised her brow to the adventurers. "Would you all please introduce yourselves?"

As Zendra cuts a hag in twain, blood and viscera pours from the monster's form, producing a hissing sizzle as it contacts Gustav's hot armor, putting out the fire. As the witch above above him is joined by another before reverting to her beautious form, Gustav's blade lashes out towards the she-devil's throat.

"Ah, um, hi, my name is Juniper," Juniper says, looking at the two witches, stepping back with a tight grip on her mace, "Kidnapping men isn't very nice. You know, you should probably just go over there, have some tea, while we let all the men go home. Okay?"

Zendra disappears into the void.
"I'm Dio Eraclea, and your witches make very bad playthings. I'd like to formally lodge a complaint with my writing utensil, here." He points his gun at Goneril.

"Garoth, pumpkinhead, once temporary distraction of Queen Deneb," Garoth holds his hands apart and lights a flame up between them as the fires in his eyes grow brighter "fire mage." he preps both his projectiles for a good hucking at a witch apiece.

"Kiddo, your father must be real proud of you." Balbadorf said to the creature in front him. He bites down on his lip enough to draw a small amount of blood and spits at the woman. "Balbadorf. Its a pleasure."

The completion of the ritul caused Zendra some pause, did that mean they failed? She stared at the two feathered women that emerged from the heart of the floor design trying to guage these new opponents who seemed more distracted with talking to the others than they were in her. And that was fine because it meant they were probably too busy to notice her aiming and throwing the smaller of the two blades she was carrying towards one of their chests.

"Oooh! You're feisty, aren't you?" Regan wiped some of the spit off of her with her finger and licked it, staring at Balbadorf very intently with a grin. "Daddy doesn't like me. His friends all think I'm mean!" She walked away, and placed her hand melodramatically on her head, pretending like she was about to faint. "Oh Balbydorfy, it's so hard to be thrown out of your own home like that!" Baladorf could feel the ability to move return.

Goneril wasn't doing as well, emotionally. She had been shot, had a fireball thrown at her, and seen the last surviving witch cut in two by the knight and the crazy woman. She sighed as she shrugged off the wounds. "That's no way to treat a LADY," she said. She turned towards Caius, and it was his turn to feel paralised. "Care to tell us what you're doing here, baby?"

Caius glared. "Trying to stop you from coming here. Fallen archangels, right? Never thought that's what they were doing, but, seeing you two, it makes sense. Go to hell." Goneril shook her head, and a spear formed in her hand. She smiled at everyone, as if beckoning them to try at hit her.

Balbadorf took a cigarette box out of his back pocket taking a single one out of the pack, putting it between his lips before holding the box out to the woman in his left hand, "Want one?" he said before fishing a lighter out of his front right pocket.

Juniper gulps and steps back a bit, letting out a soft sigh. "Well I guess there's no way we're going to talk this out, huh," she says, sighing softly, "I'm... I'm not so sure I can fight an archangel, I think I'm just going to go free all those men, okay?" Juniper begins to slowly inch her way back toward the cave entrance. "I'll just... Be going this way... Don't mind me..."

Dio peers at his gun quizically. "I didn't know pencils shot bullets. You ok, lady? That looked like it hurt." He rubs his eyes. "Oh, that's my suicide pistol. No wonder it shot."

Gustav stands roughly, growling at the woman before him. Considering no one had given him any sign of warning that these were, in fact, archangles, or that they weren't trying to kill them anymore, Gustav's ruined bastardsword lashes out once more, attempting to bury his weapon in the woman's spine.

Zendra stared at the two feathered women that emerged from the heart of the floor design trying to guage these new opponents who seemed more distracted with talking to everyone. As Goneril summoned forth her spear Zendra lifted the smaller of her two blades between her fingers, took aim, and flung it towards the woman's chest.

Garoth sighs and puts down his firearms/fireyarms "Look, we came here because a bunch of witches were stealing and devouring men, they summoned you so I assumed you'd be doing much the same. If I'm wrong, then I apologize for the fireball I threw at you."

Regan took the cigarette, and lit it with a snap of her fingers. Unfortunately for her, the mage's elemental blood ignited as the cigarette reached her lips. But, as the fire burned away, she looked at him lovingly, seemingly unscathed, and blew some smoke in his face as a tease.

The blade bounced off of Goneril as Zendra threw it. She turned around, picked up Gustav by his neck, and threw him across the room, with much more strength than she looked like she had. "Pitiful men! Here I thought that you'd all be smarter. Mortals never cease to dissapoint, though."

As Juniper walks back towards the men, she is caught by the crazy man who referred to himself as Tom. "Meet the mother, die. Die by the blood. Passion is blood, sin is passion, the mothers are sin!" He runs towards one of the cages and points to one of the men. "The blood is the mothers' sin. Remove the blood, remove the passion. Remove the passion, remove the sin!"

"So then help me free them!" Juniper says, looking around, trying to find keys, "Come on man, keys, keys! We need keys!"

Gustav crumples as he very loudly makes contact with the cave wall, before falling to the ground, sword and shield falling from his grip. Standing once more, the knight retrives his blade, and begins moving towards the women. "Verdammt noch mal, werde ich dich toten, Frau."

"I guess that's a yes, then." Dio looks around. "Well, Not that it seemed to bother you very much in the first place." He rubs his chin. "Maybe we need more powerful guns... If only I had my vanship in here." He sighs despondently.

Balbadorf looked at the woman with a small hint of surprise, "And I can assume that a sword in the gut will do the exact same. Nothing." Balbadorf pocketed the lighter and began walking away back down the hallway, throwing the pack behind him, telling her to keep it. 'Guess I'll just make myself useful freeing the people.'

"Tch!" Seeing the blade simply bounce harmlessly off her target gave Zendra enough information to gage that they were probably dealing with something that would be beyond her capabilities to fight. Seeing her pickup the knight and throw him across the room only enforced that information. She glared at the two of them, trying to figure out what to do next.

Tom points to the ropes. "If you cannot break the cage, and free the bird, cut the rabbit from the ropes! Watch them fly! Watch them run!" Tom himself jumps ontop of one of the cages, and and begins knawing at one of the ropes. Soon a man fell down. "Cut. Untie. Watch the birds fly, and the rabits run!"

Goneril turned her attention to Zendra. "Poor poor girl, with all of those mean, nasty men, being violent and not trying to solve any of their problems! You must be all tuckered out." She flew behind her with extreme speed, and grabbed her by her shoulders. "My followers want to be beautiful. You can be too. I think that you'd look much nicer as a brunette."

Goneril snapped her fingers, and rather than being in her normal armor, Zendra was in a long, purple dress, and a corset. Her newly brown hair was made up into a noble bun, and her face seemed more youthful and like it had seen less stress. "Wouldn't you rather be like this?"

"Oh... Oh!" Juniper says, making a soft sigh, turning her mace back into the small pyramid before she sets it in her bag, pulling out a knife from her satchel. She begins to try and climb her way up, rather slowly, before she begins to cut at the ropes, panting softly. "Maybe magic would make this easier... Ah... Or I could just use my bow..." Juniper says, mumbling before she jumps back from the cage after giving it the last good slice with her knife, "Even a pole arm would be better than this!"

Balbadorf had arrived just in time to hear Tom, for alack of a better word ranting. He payed Tom no noticable attention as he got to melting locks off of cages, "Look kid, just do what you can to help these guys."

Zendra's back straightens as she feels the presence of one of the woman behind her, but rather than feeling a blade slicing through her skin her opponent did something she didn't quite expect. Something that upon examining herself over stirred up an intense hatred and anger. How dare she put her in such clothes that show off her flaws?! How DARE she spoil the hair of the god's chosen children?! She spun, thrusting her sword at the woman's stomach in an attempt to run her through. "I'd rather you be dead by my blade!"

"Hey, how come the rest of us don't we get nice outfits?" Garoth attempts to look off-put, but continues to smile his carven smile.

"Ooh, you guys should go into the fashion business. You'd make a fortune." Dio snickers.

Several men had already been freed. It was a slow, but steady pace, but most of them only nodded, said thanks, and began running out of the cave as fast as possible. They were maybe a quarter through them all. They had a ways to go.

Goneril was taken aback by Zendras reaction. She, however, let out a yelp as the blade ran her through. She glared down at it, reverted Zendra back to her normal form, and pushed her and her blade away. Her wound healed rather quickly, but... she was wounded. She picked up her spear and prepared to defend herself again. "Stay away from me, Rodents!"

Regan turned her head and blew a ring of smoke at the man who was standing next to her. "" she said in an angelic tongue. ""

"Y-You pansies! Come on, help the other men out!" Juniper says to the fleeing men with a pout as she continues her slow pace, sighing, "Hey, uh... I don't recall your name, but why don't you, you know, burn the ropes instead? These cages seem flimsy, knocking them down should be enough to free the men. I...think..."

"Die Ritter des Cirrah geben nie auf." With that said, Gustav's blade lashes out, seeking to overpower the smoking hag with his somewhat obvious weight difference.

The spear would have further reach than a sword but this didn't stop Zendra from continuing her attack, carried more by rage from the insult this woman had bestowed upon her earlier. She swung, slashed and swiped at the woman and her weapon with furiocity acting on instinct rather than thought. She wanted her blood, and she didnt care how many times she had to slice through this self healing woman to get it.

Balbadorf looked at the girl, "good thinking kid." He placed his hands on top of the cage adding a good amount of heat, bending the top enough for the person inside be able to slip out.

Garoth shrugs "When in Rome, do as the Romans." miniature fireballs alight at his fingertips "But as this is not rome, I'm just gonna light you on fire, okay?" he charges the smoking woman from behind, shoving his fingers at her wings.

Many of the cages were knocked over all of a sudden. A howling wind could be heard outside, blowing inside the cave and pushing against the frail cages. It seemed as though nature itself wanted these people to succeed.

Regan did not appreciate what was going on. Not one bit. She flapped her wings wildly and blew out the fire, her wound from the sword wasn't closing as fast as it should be, and much of her skin was charred. She glared at the pumpkinhead and the knight. She A sword appeared in her hands, and she began swinging wildly at the two, screaming curses

Goneril was dealing with a similar situation. She had a gunshot wound in her shoulder, and was barely able to keep up with Zendra. The highly skilled raging warrior going against a fallen archangel. It was certainly a match to see. As soon as Zendra got in a good hit, however, Goneril sliced at the woman's sword arm with her spear. "DENY MY GIFTS! I'LL DENY YOUR LIFE!"

Juniper just keeps slicing ropes with her knife, not sure what else to do. These men need freedom! Freedom!!!

Dio took aim and fired his last two bullets at Regan. "Well, I guess that's that, then."

Gustav throws his blade against Regan's, slapping the attacks away from himself and the pumpkin-headed man next to him. "Schutzen Sie sich! Sie ist in einer Wut!" Even saying this though, he acts to protect Garoth more than himself.

Balbadorf noticed the wind knocking over the cages, thinking nothing much of it, "They just don't make them like they used to." He noticed the sounds of combat down the hall, "I'm going to go back and see if I can help them some." He tossed Juniper his lighter, heading back down the hall.

Garoth backs off as the sword comes out, a duster not being much armor against anything but mud and the occasional rainstorm, preparing a fireball all the same, his inner flames flickering down to a more reddish orange as he takes aim at the angel again.

Zendra felt the sting of the spearhead sink into the skin of her arm and her sword dropped from her hand. With a scream she continued, the blood from the wound spraying as she quickly spun into her enemy, her other hand taking hold of the woman's spear and pulling it. For a breath of a moment, she mirrored the fallen archangel's stance before placing her other hand on the weapon, in the same smooth motion she turned to face her opponent twisting it from of her grasp.

Goneril was defenceless, and wounded. A bullet whizzed by her head, another bullet landed in her chest. She screamed, and turned to Regan. "Sister!" She calls, "There's only so much blood of men left in this place! And I won't die!" Goneril abandons the warrior in front of her and charges towards Regan, who was still caught in her rage. She grabbed Regan and thrusted her forward onto Gustav's sword. Regan let out a gurgle, and the red angel died.

Goneril's wounds seemed to heal, no longer needing to share the blood with her sister. She shouted. "I will see you all again! The Lord's children do not die so simply!" With that, Goneril began to fly through the cave, zooming past Juniper and the others with a gust of wind. Regan melted into a pool of blood.

Caius got up from his paralysis. "I really. Really. REALLY hate it when the summoning works," he said, trying to figure out how his muscles worked. He looked at everyone. "Good job. Though, now I have that bitch to worry about. That'll be an issue." He turns his head to the blood pool. "I hope nobody really cared about redheads too much."

Gustav pants a few times, before cleaning his blade of the fallen angel's blood. "Keine Ehre unter ihnen. Ist jeder in Ordnung?"

Dio shrugs. "Hair isn't a huge deal for me. But now I guess we have to track down that archangel lady." He stretches. "My vanship can help with that."

Balbadorf sighed as he arrived in the chamber, "Blood. It just fucking complicates things." he threw his now spent cigarette onto the ground.

Juniper falls to the ground from the gust of wind created by a giant angel flying right past her, but she stands herself up afterword, looking around. She slowly makes her way toward the inner cave again, looking around with her head tilted. "Did we... Win? Or lose?" she asks, scratching her head, "I'm confused..."

Zendra started to give chase but stopped halfway across the room, staring towards the entrence and breathing heavily. Goneril was gone. She wiped the sweat from her eyes and looked down at the spear she held in her hand, examining it for the first time and feeling its weight. It had been a long time since she held a spear.

Caius shakes his head at Gustav. "I have no clue what you just said. But good job anyways." He continued, "If I was here alone, I might have handled the witches but... I... wasn't expecting those two." He began walking, his sword sheathed, and ready to finish untying the men in the next room.

Tom had already finished the job though. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He said, his legs crossed as he wasn sitting on top of one of the empty cages. "But, dead men tell no tales. Poor Tom is dead. Yes? No. Poor Tom is alive. The White Knights are heroes. And Poor Tom is cold." Tom pulled his blanket closer around him. He was bothered by the wind.

Caius turned to everyone. "You all are free to go. And you were volunteers too, so, I'm not paying you anything." He crossed his arms to stare down the hermit. "I'm going to... be a bit longer."

Juniper follows after, putting a hand on Caius' shoulder. "I'll take him with me back to one of our order's temples," she says, smiling down to the hermit, "We have food and water and... Well... It'd be better than just leaving him here, right?"

As her breath started to even out she was becoming even more aware of the stinging pain at her shoulder. Fresh blood was trailing down her arm, dripping to the floor causing her to finally pay attention to the wound as well as how drained she felt. Zendra reclaimed her sword and cleaned it of blood before returning it to its sheath. With a deep breath she started to head back out of the cave, "There is a stream near here." She said to herself.

Balbadorf put his hand on caius' shoulder, "You can't win them all friend. Keep in touch though, I'd like to help in the future." He went to leave through the hallway, sparing a glance at poor Tom as he left, "We're hardly knights kid, more like soldiers. There are few heroes in the world anymore."

Gustav sighs. The hags were dead, and everyone was alright. That was the important part. Sheathing his sword, and retrieving his shield, Gustav follows after Caius with his characteristic heavy clanking.

Tom jumps down and stands behind Juniper, ready to leave with her. "Food. Water. Warm beds? Poor Tom will be rich!" Caisu shrugs, and nods to Juniper. He leaves, hoping to be out of McNeil by daybreak. That last words he heard were "Tom has stayed hidden far too long. Poor Tom wants to meet an old friend."