[ Metis takes a moment longer to look Anise over, make sure she's stable enough to keep moving and standing. A gentle squeeze of her hand before he lets go to approach Mizuki next. ]
Lady Anise is stable for now, and hopefully we can avoid any more dangerous encounters like that so it doesn't worsen.. but for now, let me try my hand at healing you as well.
[ Here here. Careful to hold her head steady as he brings his other hand to try and heal her eye. It does just barely enough to stabilize the injury but only a little bit, his healing magic cutting off. ]
...Afraid that is as much I can do. I apologize. My energy seems lesser than I thought it to be. [ His voice sounds with guilt. He looks over to Blade, because his earlier words ring true. ] We'll need to get you all proper healing back on the Eudora, for now Sir Blade is right that we should keep moving. Find any hostages and quickly make our way back to the ship.
[ Outside the opening that the hulking figure broke in earlier, the only other way is up the stairs leading further up. ]
[ Well, the gash on her face goes from bleeding freely to a little less so, but it does nothing for either the cracks or light in her eye. Mizuki exhales, a guilty air about her, before giving a nod lacking in much vigor. ]
You're right—let's go. [ With that said, Mizuki begins the trek forward once again, heading for the stairs. ] If you need any help walking, Anise, just let me know.
[ Hm...that's unfortunate, but they really got to move on.
So, right away when the healing is finished, Blade decides to not make waste on whatever time they might have. A hostage situation can change in a moment's notice, after all.
Though, he is beginning to figure how someone might have gotten into one here. Of a sort, anyway. He doesn't make any lasting conclusions without seeing more, after all.
The stairs being the obvious way forward, that is where Blade goes next, taking lead, and eyes focused on any threats ahead. ]
[ Anise watches Mizuki as the healing takes effect, but doesn't comment on the result. At her offer, she smiles in return. ] Thanks! I can manage for now.
[ She takes a few steps forward and pauses to consider the pain that each step brings... but then she continues, taking care not to cause any unnecessary strain on her wound as she follows the others up the stairs. ]
[ There's an air of concern from Metis, but there is not much more that can be done. They can only move forward. Mizuki strides forward, Blade moving the moment the healing is done, and so Metis waits until Anise herself starts to move and matches his pacing with her.
The small staircase takes them higher up, and as the group moves, they'll hear quiet whispers and murmurs from the walls as they do. Voices that are both familiar and unfamiliar. The feeling tugging at their minds, sharp and insistent, a sensation of being watched but... nothing comes up. No threats show up so far.
When they come to another clearing, they find themselves facing a split road. To the left is a coiling structure that leads them towards another set of stairs that seems to go downward to a different thinner spire. To the right has a coil that winds up upwards in a curling path but stops halfway of reaching that higher platform which from the distance looks like connects to a bridge. ]
Seems we have only one way still to go. [ To the left, the thinner spire. ] Mayhap we can find a way to activate the other path. ..Everyone faring well so far?
[ The air is oppressive the higher they go, unsettling. ]
[ Well, Blade is not going to falter due to the oddities still assaulting their senses, though if anything it sharpens his guard. He doesn't want to be surprised by anything else emerging from walls and the like.
He takes examination of both roads carefully before him, hardly halting either when going left. ]
I am fine. No need to worry.
[ Blade has not faltered any and he sees no reason to do so now—even with the oppressive feeling clinging to them. ]
[ To the left they go, the inside of the tower continuing to be eerie quiet. Not a single sound. Not even the occasional groan of the inner spires or structures. As they make across, they reach the set of stairs and soon begin to hear... whispers. Quiet murmurs. When they begin to descend their steps downwards, the walls around them closing the further they spiral downwards on these steps do the voices get a little louder. ]
Keep your guard...
[ A quiet reminder from behind the group, as Metis watches their rear area, the area dimming in light until it comes to an opening that takes them into a large "room" of sorts.
The area in here is large as the platform clearings before, however, the whole area from bottom to top is covered in the small dark ridges with that sickly purple membrane that stretches over it. Looking to the walls will show, despite the apparent dead end this room seems to be, they are not the only ones here. Held up in the walls, mostly submerged besides their head and hands show there are a few familiar faces just there.
For now, they do not seem to notice you but they do seem to be still alive as they occasionally mumble now and then, otherwise there's still a bit of the room to explore. A monitoring device off in the back right. ]
[ Blade hears the murmurs, strange as they are, and then of course Metis' caution that follows right after the sounds seem to increase in volume.
With Metis watching the rear, Blade sees fit not to look back, focusing on what's in front of him, and taking in their current environment.
He spots the familiar faces, the sight of one of them in particular causes him to take pause. ]
...Someone who is trying to distract us.
[ Blade simply says, though he can't help keep his eyes on the general direction of those 'familiar faces', even if he is also heading the same way Mizuki so happens to be. ]
I do not think it wise to ignore it entirely, Mizuki. Though, I do agree there is something that is toying with our minds.
[ There is sympathy in his voice, and clear concern, and while he mostly follows Mizuki and Blade both, he seems to maneuver closer to those held up. Looking over the flesh restraints that keep them enclosed and held up.
The device itself looks like a computer of sorts, but like the people, it has that sickly membrane almost fused into it and pulses as if breathing. The screen flickers on when it reads nearby life and the words on it ask for a password.
The one Anise looks to seems to stir a bit awake, and when their gaze meets her does she see an expression of fear. A frantic mumbling and they try to pull at the flesh that holds them up, the movement stirring Rodya nearby who groans out, calling out to the group, "Heeeyyy, if you're gonna try and do anything about... all of this.. you're gonna need to get to the Core." ]
...A Core? Within this tower?
[ An echoing rumble sounds throughout the spire, sending another mini-earthquake through the area and their unfortunate held up "friends" seem to receive the worse of it, twisting in their restraints with pained cries and frantic murmuring. "Need to.. go up, go up." While this happens, there's a sharper pull at all of their senses, cutting in the back of everyone's minds. Losing the feeling of themselves for just a moment. ]
[ There's a lot Mizuki could say and acknowledge in the next few moments—Metis' following comment, the device before them, what's said on how to proceed—but it's all cut short when suddenly, her mind goes blank.
It's as though an unseen force yanks at her very being, rendering her unable to think. ]
Ugh...
[ Absentmindedly, Mizuki drops her broken helmet, gripping at her head; there's no headache coming on, but it feels a lot like one might. ]
I'm going to snap every neck of the assholes who thought putting obvious imposters through this was a fun idea.
[ Blade hears the sound of Rodya's voice and whips his head back in that direction immediately.
The Core...he remembers those others mumbling something about that before. Not unlike a prayer, some kind of crazed mantra. His eyes fall to examine where one might slice those restraints through without cutting off a limb or two, then Rodya.
Not that it seems to matter much, with the sudden rumble crashing in through the area. It's jarring, hearing their voices like that, and then seemingly focused on a repeated set of words angled towards a certain direction. Not that much matters, because temporarily there is that disorientation, a sudden disassociation that is upon him, however brief. ]
[ Anise keeps staring, and doesn't seem to pay much attention to anything else... but then something pulls at her mind and her whole body shudders. The shock of it seems to be enough to make her pull away and turn to face Mizuki, Blade, and Metis.
Blade asks the important question, so she glances around and hopes somebody has an answer. ]
[ Metis is not one without those pains, holding onto his own helmet before he slowly shakes it off, exhaling a breath. The rumbles seem to quiet down, the echo dying out in the background and while that insist painful tugging lessens.. it's still there, hovering in the back of their mind, with an image they cannot quite name. Something is there but they cannot tell what no matter how much they think about it.
It's a feeling of unease, but also a kind of eerie comfort. You're not alone, what is here will help you, aid you, offer a guiding hand. Better in numbers, you won't be alone here.
The fleshy restraints look thick and heavy, like a large puffy blanket covering over all of them, and there is clear discomfort as they hang their heads when the pain lessens. Rodya shakes her head, laughing a little, "Come on, babes. How else but up? Riiight at the very tippy top. ..Woulda dealt with it myself but. A little too tied up right now, haha." The other two green figures are quieter, except one perks up with a whine, "If you're going, please please pleaaaaase be careful! Something is really wrong about this place, it's hard for us to even think most of the time..."
Metis grows quieter, looking over at them. ] What seems to be affecting them may no sooner begin to affect us as well... if so, then that means we are on a clear timer here.
[ He thinks it over, hand beneath his chin. ]
We can try to go for the Core together if that's what we want to do. But we could potentially try to see about our hostages as well.
[ After, despite the painful throb, he is able to listen to Metis' words closely, as well as Rodya and Dahut's. Decisive to the end, Blade makes his choice; even in the face of Mizuki's outburst, he doesn't mull over the surprising aspect, if it is true. And even if not, he feels he owes it to try, in case this does effect a certain someone in some way. He thinks, that he also does owe her a debt. ]
We've little time...
We'll take care of both. That computer might be a device that will allow us to go 'up' if we input a password. Unless there is some other way we have yet to have glimpsed.
Whatever the case, one of you attempt to put something in, or assist me. [ Then to the folks trapped: ] Unless...do any of you know the password?
[ Blade brings up his sword...and swings as hard as he can to try to cut through the walls first they're trapped to. One above, then along the outer edge to weaken its foundations. He is going to see if he can cut them out that way. ]
[ She watches Blade start hacking at the wall... then glances over at the computer terminal. ]
So... this might open up that other path?
[ She goes to the terminal, even as she can't fully pull her attention away from those in the wall. Can she make anything out about the device, what kind of input it's seeking? ]
[ Dahut shakes his head quickly though, "No no, there's more of us! I don't know if they escaped or, there was Monsieur Charles, and and.. we found other people, stuck in the walls, did you see them-?" ]
We may as well try our hand. But my thoughts are that terminal there may activate the pathway that we were unable to get to.
[ In agreement with Anise, who already starts to look it over, the request for a password shining back at her. It's asking for a seven letter password, the keyboard settled beneath the terminal's monitor.
Rodya pipes up helpfully, voice cheery despite her exhausted tone, "Guess you really didn't look around, huh? Don't worry, that's what I'm here for! Annie, input O-T-U-S-L-A-Y." Metis stands by Blade as he starts to make work of the restraints, in which the only one familiar to Anise starts to panic, "No, don't do that!"
The flesh gives away easy like paper, some of it seeming inserted into the back of Rodya as she's cut down and falls freely onto her hands and knees. She curses a bit, ow ow that hurt? But when she tries to stand, she no sooner collapses, growing pale and grasping at her throat. The flesh still tethered to her back pulses, rapidly, and she begins to crumble as if weaken, voice faint and as she tries to speak hurriedly, "This place is using people-- feeding off them, like a battery, you need-! You need.. to go up and--" The rest of her words die out as she fully collapses over, Metis checking her over quickly, but doing his best to avoid direct contact as flesh weakly clings from where it connects to her body. ]
..It was.. keeping her alive? [ Dahut and the other aren't able to get any more words out, the flesh around them constricting and slowly begins to eat more of them. The sickly membrane around them within this room starting to leak and melt, pulsing more rapidly. ]
Whenever he has tried to save someone, it has always failed. Though, his past life can no longer be grasped in his hands, he knows this keenly. The gravity and weight of his sins.
The price he will continue to keep paying.
Blade never expected it to affect him this much, for a moment just staring at the wall and remains. A reminder of the only thing he has ever been good for.
So, for once, as Metis checks over what remains before it all crumbles to nothing, Blade simply just stands there. With Anise closer still than either one of them, Mizuki's words make sense. ]
Metis eventually takes a step back from the body, the flesh beneath starting to take the remains of it as the two still held in the walls start to get absorbed further in. Their voices fading out, muffled as the flesh swallows them up. The walls around them pulse further, the room shrinking in - or rather, the flesh seems to expand, growing.
He at least moves, rather than waiting, coming over to check on Anise briefly. ]
Lady Anise, are you alright? Here, let us just--
[ Insert the phrase real quick. It shows a map, some coils that can be accessed and triggered to lead upwards to the top, being quick to hit the command. It highlights, and there's a lot of information listed on the side of the terminal screen but the area trembles again with another mini-earthquake. The air in the room becoming more oppressive, heavy, a gas starting to leak out with an audible hiss. To those exposed to the gas, a wave of dizziness, an itchy sensation dragging itself beneath your skin. ]
I think that is all we have time for now in here, let us keep moving!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Lady Anise is stable for now, and hopefully we can avoid any more dangerous encounters like that so it doesn't worsen.. but for now, let me try my hand at healing you as well.
[ Here here. Careful to hold her head steady as he brings his other hand to try and heal her eye. It does just barely enough to stabilize the injury but only a little bit, his healing magic cutting off. ]
...Afraid that is as much I can do. I apologize. My energy seems lesser than I thought it to be. [ His voice sounds with guilt. He looks over to Blade, because his earlier words ring true. ] We'll need to get you all proper healing back on the Eudora, for now Sir Blade is right that we should keep moving. Find any hostages and quickly make our way back to the ship.
[ Outside the opening that the hulking figure broke in earlier, the only other way is up the stairs leading further up. ]
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[ Well, the gash on her face goes from bleeding freely to a little less so, but it does nothing for either the cracks or light in her eye. Mizuki exhales, a guilty air about her, before giving a nod lacking in much vigor. ]
You're right—let's go. [ With that said, Mizuki begins the trek forward once again, heading for the stairs. ] If you need any help walking, Anise, just let me know.
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So, right away when the healing is finished, Blade decides to not make waste on whatever time they might have. A hostage situation can change in a moment's notice, after all.
Though, he is beginning to figure how someone might have gotten into one here. Of a sort, anyway. He doesn't make any lasting conclusions without seeing more, after all.
The stairs being the obvious way forward, that is where Blade goes next, taking lead, and eyes focused on any threats ahead. ]
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[ She takes a few steps forward and pauses to consider the pain that each step brings... but then she continues, taking care not to cause any unnecessary strain on her wound as she follows the others up the stairs. ]
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The small staircase takes them higher up, and as the group moves, they'll hear quiet whispers and murmurs from the walls as they do. Voices that are both familiar and unfamiliar. The feeling tugging at their minds, sharp and insistent, a sensation of being watched but... nothing comes up. No threats show up so far.
When they come to another clearing, they find themselves facing a split road. To the left is a coiling structure that leads them towards another set of stairs that seems to go downward to a different thinner spire. To the right has a coil that winds up upwards in a curling path but stops halfway of reaching that higher platform which from the distance looks like connects to a bridge. ]
Seems we have only one way still to go. [ To the left, the thinner spire. ] Mayhap we can find a way to activate the other path. ..Everyone faring well so far?
[ The air is oppressive the higher they go, unsettling. ]
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I don't suppose anyone knows how to fly? ... No? .... Yeah, didn't think so.
[ Mizuki exhales, already heading leftbound. ]
I'm fine. I'll keep going.
[ It feels horrid in here, but they're here to fetch those who are worse off. Even if it's a little more quiet than she would like now. ]
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He takes examination of both roads carefully before him, hardly halting either when going left. ]
I am fine. No need to worry.
[ Blade has not faltered any and he sees no reason to do so now—even with the oppressive feeling clinging to them. ]
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[ peering at the path, and trying to ignore the voices, the weird feeling... ]
I'm good! Let's try to get this done as quick as we can.
[ so they can get the hell out of here. ]
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Keep your guard...
[ A quiet reminder from behind the group, as Metis watches their rear area, the area dimming in light until it comes to an opening that takes them into a large "room" of sorts.
The area in here is large as the platform clearings before, however, the whole area from bottom to top is covered in the small dark ridges with that sickly purple membrane that stretches over it. Looking to the walls will show, despite the apparent dead end this room seems to be, they are not the only ones here. Held up in the walls, mostly submerged besides their head and hands show there are a few familiar faces just there.
For now, they do not seem to notice you but they do seem to be still alive as they occasionally mumble now and then, otherwise there's still a bit of the room to explore. A monitoring device off in the back right. ]
What is all of this-?
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What I want to know is who's trying to screw with us this badly.
[ Like before, there's no way these people could be the real thing. ]
Just... ignore them.
[ There's something else back there, anyway, and so Mizuki goes toward the device. ]
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With Metis watching the rear, Blade sees fit not to look back, focusing on what's in front of him, and taking in their current environment.
He spots the familiar faces, the sight of one of them in particular causes him to take pause. ]
...Someone who is trying to distract us.
[ Blade simply says, though he can't help keep his eyes on the general direction of those 'familiar faces', even if he is also heading the same way Mizuki so happens to be. ]
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Rather than passing by the faces, she stops to stare at them. Well, one of them.
There's no way they could be real... and yet. ]
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[ There is sympathy in his voice, and clear concern, and while he mostly follows Mizuki and Blade both, he seems to maneuver closer to those held up. Looking over the flesh restraints that keep them enclosed and held up.
The device itself looks like a computer of sorts, but like the people, it has that sickly membrane almost fused into it and pulses as if breathing. The screen flickers on when it reads nearby life and the words on it ask for a password.
The one Anise looks to seems to stir a bit awake, and when their gaze meets her does she see an expression of fear. A frantic mumbling and they try to pull at the flesh that holds them up, the movement stirring Rodya nearby who groans out, calling out to the group, "Heeeyyy, if you're gonna try and do anything about... all of this.. you're gonna need to get to the Core." ]
...A Core? Within this tower?
[ An echoing rumble sounds throughout the spire, sending another mini-earthquake through the area and their unfortunate held up "friends" seem to receive the worse of it, twisting in their restraints with pained cries and frantic murmuring. "Need to.. go up, go up." While this happens, there's a sharper pull at all of their senses, cutting in the back of everyone's minds. Losing the feeling of themselves for just a moment. ]
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It's as though an unseen force yanks at her very being, rendering her unable to think. ]
Ugh...
[ Absentmindedly, Mizuki drops her broken helmet, gripping at her head; there's no headache coming on, but it feels a lot like one might. ]
I'm going to snap every neck of the assholes who thought putting obvious imposters through this was a fun idea.
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The Core...he remembers those others mumbling something about that before. Not unlike a prayer, some kind of crazed mantra. His eyes fall to examine where one might slice those restraints through without cutting off a limb or two, then Rodya.
Not that it seems to matter much, with the sudden rumble crashing in through the area. It's jarring, hearing their voices like that, and then seemingly focused on a repeated set of words angled towards a certain direction. Not that much matters, because temporarily there is that disorientation, a sudden disassociation that is upon him, however brief. ]
...How do we get to the core?
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Blade asks the important question, so she glances around and hopes somebody has an answer. ]
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It's a feeling of unease, but also a kind of eerie comfort. You're not alone, what is here will help you, aid you, offer a guiding hand. Better in numbers, you won't be alone here.
The fleshy restraints look thick and heavy, like a large puffy blanket covering over all of them, and there is clear discomfort as they hang their heads when the pain lessens. Rodya shakes her head, laughing a little, "Come on, babes. How else but up? Riiight at the very tippy top. ..Woulda dealt with it myself but. A little too tied up right now, haha." The other two green figures are quieter, except one perks up with a whine, "If you're going, please please pleaaaaase be careful! Something is really wrong about this place, it's hard for us to even think most of the time..."
Metis grows quieter, looking over at them. ] What seems to be affecting them may no sooner begin to affect us as well... if so, then that means we are on a clear timer here.
[ He thinks it over, hand beneath his chin. ]
We can try to go for the Core together if that's what we want to do. But we could potentially try to see about our hostages as well.
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[ There's clear disbelief in her voice as she speaks. ]
They're supposed to be the hostages we're here for?!
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We've little time...
We'll take care of both. That computer might be a device that will allow us to go 'up' if we input a password. Unless there is some other way we have yet to have glimpsed.
Whatever the case, one of you attempt to put something in, or assist me. [ Then to the folks trapped: ] Unless...do any of you know the password?
[ Blade brings up his sword...and swings as hard as he can to try to cut through the walls first they're trapped to. One above, then along the outer edge to weaken its foundations. He is going to see if he can cut them out that way. ]
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[ She watches Blade start hacking at the wall... then glances over at the computer terminal. ]
So... this might open up that other path?
[ She goes to the terminal, even as she can't fully pull her attention away from those in the wall. Can she make anything out about the device, what kind of input it's seeking? ]
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[ Dahut shakes his head quickly though, "No no, there's more of us! I don't know if they escaped or, there was Monsieur Charles, and and.. we found other people, stuck in the walls, did you see them-?" ]
We may as well try our hand. But my thoughts are that terminal there may activate the pathway that we were unable to get to.
[ In agreement with Anise, who already starts to look it over, the request for a password shining back at her. It's asking for a seven letter password, the keyboard settled beneath the terminal's monitor.
Rodya pipes up helpfully, voice cheery despite her exhausted tone, "Guess you really didn't look around, huh? Don't worry, that's what I'm here for! Annie, input O-T-U-S-L-A-Y." Metis stands by Blade as he starts to make work of the restraints, in which the only one familiar to Anise starts to panic, "No, don't do that!"
The flesh gives away easy like paper, some of it seeming inserted into the back of Rodya as she's cut down and falls freely onto her hands and knees. She curses a bit, ow ow that hurt? But when she tries to stand, she no sooner collapses, growing pale and grasping at her throat. The flesh still tethered to her back pulses, rapidly, and she begins to crumble as if weaken, voice faint and as she tries to speak hurriedly, "This place is using people-- feeding off them, like a battery, you need-! You need.. to go up and--" The rest of her words die out as she fully collapses over, Metis checking her over quickly, but doing his best to avoid direct contact as flesh weakly clings from where it connects to her body. ]
..It was.. keeping her alive? [ Dahut and the other aren't able to get any more words out, the flesh around them constricting and slowly begins to eat more of them. The sickly membrane around them within this room starting to leak and melt, pulsing more rapidly. ]
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mom holy fuck ]
What... the hell—
[ Well, that's horrifying. Mizuki stares in horror before she manages to pull her sight away. ]
—Anise, put it in the terminal!
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Whenever he has tried to save someone, it has always failed. Though, his past life can no longer be grasped in his hands, he knows this keenly. The gravity and weight of his sins.
The price he will continue to keep paying.
Blade never expected it to affect him this much, for a moment just staring at the wall and remains. A reminder of the only thing he has ever been good for.
So, for once, as Metis checks over what remains before it all crumbles to nothing, Blade simply just stands there. With Anise closer still than either one of them, Mizuki's words make sense. ]
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[ she moves to enter it, but she hears that familiar voice tell her to stop.
and she freezes. sorry, gang. ]
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Metis eventually takes a step back from the body, the flesh beneath starting to take the remains of it as the two still held in the walls start to get absorbed further in. Their voices fading out, muffled as the flesh swallows them up. The walls around them pulse further, the room shrinking in - or rather, the flesh seems to expand, growing.
He at least moves, rather than waiting, coming over to check on Anise briefly. ]
Lady Anise, are you alright? Here, let us just--
[ Insert the phrase real quick. It shows a map, some coils that can be accessed and triggered to lead upwards to the top, being quick to hit the command. It highlights, and there's a lot of information listed on the side of the terminal screen but the area trembles again with another mini-earthquake. The air in the room becoming more oppressive, heavy, a gas starting to leak out with an audible hiss. To those exposed to the gas, a wave of dizziness, an itchy sensation dragging itself beneath your skin. ]
I think that is all we have time for now in here, let us keep moving!
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