Worthy Core

"Raarrrgggh!" Red Daylinta shouts out loud as her warhammer swings down, splattering the skull of a blue-scaled draconic across the defensive parapet. It was an easy target, given that the enemy soldier was being held down by arcane chains, but it's not frustration from the fight in front of her that makes the paladin yell. "Taliar take it all! Did - did you feel it?"

Glory Silverbloom and Tinter Gloomroot have a moment to share a look and nod, now that the immediate fighting around them has died down. It was a hard-fought battle, but all three of the draconics who attacked their position had eventually been felled one by one. Each of them had probably been a Master-tier soldier, making them dangerous foes when combined with the natural strengths of those descended from dragons. Against three Supremes however it still wasn't enough, with each of them able to fill in for the weaknesses of the others. The bonuses from the dungeon's achievements were something of a mixed bag, with each kill causing a disorienting and damaging effect to everyone around the deceased, but it had aided the Supremes more than the draconics in the end.

Unfortunately, their leader and fourth member had lacked that form of backup.

The elven Arcane Sorcerer taps an amulet around his neck, although he already knows what it will tell him. "The link to Nalina's life monitor has broken. I...I'm afraid I was fairly distracted there, trying to pin down several of those scaled bastards at once, but I think she was forced into the forest?"

The half-elf Gloomroot shakes his head in dismay. "Always had to be dramatic! Leaping around like that, I always said it was a ridiculous skillset for a spearwoman to focus on! Right into the thick of things! We should head out there, find her...make sure it's not just a problem with the amulet." Despite his words, there's little hope in the man's voice. The amulets which the four had collected from their family armories and linked together before they had even headed south were not cheap trinkets. It was virtually unheard for them to fail unless they were fully shattered, and any attack that could destroy an amulet worn around the neck would almost certainly be fatal to its wearer anyhow.

Red shakes her head before scanning the battlefield around them. "Nalina wasn't just our leader today, she was the commander of this battle. We need to consider the others before we go running off." Glancing at the two, she eventually turns to face Silverbloom. "By seniority, I suppose that makes you commander now, Glory."

"In terms of noble rank you may have me beat...but I suppose this is about me being two hundred years old, eh? Or perhaps my Challenger standing?" The silver-haired elf chuckles. "I suppose this is no time to quibble about the details. You are right - before we search for Nalina or any other fallen, we need to end this battle. Fortunately, it seems we're well on our way."

The trio all take a moment to examine the current state of affairs. Numerically the two sides had begun the battle with about equal numbers, when you consider the dungeon monsters backing up the Rainlanders. The floor guardians hadn't taken part, however - held in reserve in case the Domain managed to sneak a force around the defenses. That had given the Domain a bit of an advantage when it came to heavy hitters between their draconics and the 'Dungeon Legion'.

That advantage now appears to be all but gone. Four of those draconics now lie dead at their feat, with their commander lost in the woods along with Nalina. The enemy's dungeon monsters likewise mostly count among the dead, with a few hanging back with heavy injuries.

That leaves the battle of the common soldiers, and that...has gotten bloody while the nobles were busy. In several cases the Domain had managed to get troops up the side of the cliff, although nowhere had they done so without casualties. In several cases a trap they'd missed had claimed several lives, while Rainlanders and monsters fought them anywhere that they managed to make a foothold. Casualties for the dungeon's defenders are also mounting, though. In fact, Silverbloom would wager that more than a third of their initial defenders are now completely gone from the field - although that's not entirely a bad thing. Evacuation portals had been set up in several areas, allowing for wounded to be dragged back to Floor Five for healing. The number of bodies he can see however is disturbing.

"The enemy commander is dead, disabled, or fled. That is their weak point now - soldiers of the Domain do not function well without instructions to guide them. Shall we break their wills?"

Tinter grunts, only partially in disagreement. "I'd rather break their bones, but the sooner we end this fight, the better. You're thinking of the Nightmare Maneuver?"

"Exactly so." It's with a sigh that the elf turns towards their paladin. "Can you take on Nalina's role in this, Red?"

The human scoffs. "I don't have quite Nalina's...gravitas, but I think I can channel something. Let's do it."

What the trio begin isn't exactly a combined spell, as each of them manage their own parts separately. It is something they had discussed before however when theorizing ways to synergize their skills. The first spell to activate is Gloomroot's. As a Supreme-tier master of shadow magics, the man has many options for limiting the visibility of his foes, especially in a place like Floor Four where things are rarely much brighter than a moonlit night to begin with. In a battle of this scale though those options become more limited. A spell which could block sight over such a large area would also be certain to affect a large number of his allies, and if the Domain has more light mages like that draconic then it could be a rather counterproductive move.

Instead, what the man casts now is a spell of intimidation. Shadows more of the mind than of substance, stretching out every natural bit of darkness for several hundred feet around and twisting them into quite unnatural shapes. Shadows of tree limbs turn into limbs with claws and weapons, shadows of rocks turn into silhouettes of monsters. For the weaker-minded among the soldiers, it's possible that they may even begin to hear the shadows around them, as the crackling flames of the forest turn into half-understood words.

If it stopped there it would be little more than a minor distraction. With so much else going on, many of the soldiers might not even notice the spell's effects at all. That changes though when Silverbloom adds his contribution. Tendrils and blobs of arcane force begin to emerge from the crevices around the cliffside, each of them with barely more substance to them than mist. It's enough for the magically-enhanced shadows to cling on to however, and the blue glow of arcane energy combined with the unnatural darkness of Gloomroot's shadows creates a sickening green. The effect is only more pronounced given the poor lighting of the floor, and it becomes easy for an imaginative mind to believe that the floor is becoming alive with ghosts and terrors over a stretch of several hundred feet.

Some of the Domain begin to try and attack the darkness, to rather limited effect, while other squad commanders order their troops to ignore the spell - assuming it to be an illusion. To some extent, that's exactly what it is. It still has one more aspect to add in to the mix, however, and that's what Paladin Daylinta does next. Channeling power from her patron Taliar, the God of Honesty and Balanced Scales, the woman shouts out across the floor with a voice backed up by divine authority.

"LIVES HAVE BEEN TAKEN AND LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST. THIS IS NO BALANCE, HOWEVER. TRUE BALANCE COMES FROM ACCEPTING THE RIGHTS AND EQUAL LIVES OF ALL, EVEN YOUR FOES. SOLDIERS OF THE DOMAIN, YOU HAVE PLACED YOURSELVES ABOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOU HAVE DEMANDED SOVEREIGNTY OVER PEOPLE NOT YOUR OWN. THE SCALES HAVE TURNED AGAINST YOU, AND IF RESTORING BALANCE REQUIRES YOUR LIVES, SUCH SHALL BE SO. SURRENDER NOW AND FIND MERCY FOR YOUR LIVES."

As Red speaks more divine energy filters into her party's spell to cause a rather unusual effect. Every god or goddess in the pantheon has their own unique aspects, and had Red been a paladin of Ol, the God of Night, Gloomroot's shadows would have likely become overwhelmingly dark, casting the entire floor into an impenetrable midnight. The God of Balance however causes the arcane and shadow magics of the mages to merge and work together in a way even the Supreme-tier nobles would not be able to accomplish on their own, turning the shadows as solid as any spell of arcane bindings.

Once that is complete the Domain soldiers find themselves facing a very different kind of threat. Swords no longer pass through the shadowy tendrils like a foggy mist, but become trapped in them as if they were a solidifying amber. The larger masses of summoned magic block off several of the approaches to the upper level entirely, and magical attacks upon them find even more resistance than they would face against the stone walls.

In other circumstance the 'maneuver' would be a solid bit of spellwork, but not game-changing. It doesn't stop archers from sniping at the dungeon's defenders, and with a bit of calm and clear-headed thinking, the soldiers would be able to find other paths up the cliffs. That's not to mention that even three Supremes working together can only keep a spell going for so long at such a scale, and a retreat for a quarter hour would likely turn the entire effort into wasted energy.

That is not the circumstances in which the kobolds and demons of the Domain find themselves in, however. All of their commanders above the squad level have fallen - and a fair number of the squad leaders as well - leaving an organized response difficult to put together. Retreat is also...not exactly ideal, given that there's a raging forest fire going on twenty or thirty feet behind them. Unable to proceed, unable to retreat, and with no commander to give them orders, the dwindling invaders follow the only logic left to them.

Silverbloom releases a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he spots soldiers throwing down their weapons and raising their hands. Some of those soldiers find themselves receiving arrows for their trouble, but the elf quickly shouts orders to be passed down the line. "Hold your fire! If they surrender, let them live!"

As more soldiers throw in the towel without being immediately killed, their neighbors soon follow suit. The last few representatives of the Dungeon Legion don't seem to understand or care about the concept of surrender, but as efforts focus on those monsters their resistance becomes very short-lived. Few of the mortals appear to have that level of suicidal devotion to their cause, and after a tense two minutes or so, the fighting appears to be over.

The trio allow their spell to end and begin issuing orders to capture and restrain those foes wise and lucky enough to live this long. Before any of them can wander off however, a dark-skinned rabbit-eared woman hops onto their section of the wall. Red tenses for a moment at her arrival, but relaxes before doing anything rash. "Squire...Namasha, yes? One of Trush's minions?"

The archer nods. "Right, though I'm here to pass on messages from the dungeon master. First...she wanted to confirm that your commander has fallen. I'm sorry. She did some serious damage to the draconic leader though, enough that the water elementals were able to finish her off without much of a fight. So the battle seems to be won - casualties aside, she offers her congratulations."

The paladin has trouble feeling more than a minor bit of pride at that. "...I'm sure Nalina had no regrets about the way she went out, at least. Probably exactly what she always wanted, that crazy dwarf. We need to recover her remains soon, though - it sounds like there's more?"

Namasha nods again. "Second...we're, uh, not really set up for large-scale prisoners. We've got a few already, but the dungeon can't build anything too secure to keep them, so it requires a lot of mortal guards to make work."

That statement only worsens Daylinta's already-rough mood. "We're not going to just kill them! We offered them our mercy, and we are honor-bound to hold to our word!"

The rabbit squire quickly raises her hands in a placating gesture. "Worthy's fine with that! It's just going to take some time to figure something out. So you might want to give some orders to prepare for keeping an eye on all these people for at least a few hours."

Listening in, Silverbloom strokes his chin. "It's weaker over a long duration, but I can put together some magical manacles that should be able to hold most of these people - assuming they're truly not going to put up more of a fight. Just let me get a mana potion or two and I'll get right to that."

As the elf moves to find a way down the cliff, Namasha moves to intercept him. "Uh...there is one more thing."

Tinter, perhaps the most tired and cranky of the three after the battle, growls out a question. "What now, lass? Don't tell me there's another wave coming!"

"Oh, no, nothing like that!" The squire pauses, uncertain as to how to explain. "It's just...although Nalina might have had trouble speaking at the end there, apparently she still had some clear motivations in her mind, which is apparently enough, and..." Seeing the confused looks of the three nobles, she rushes to her conclusion. "...Lady Evervein just got herself signed up as a member of the dungeon."