The spirit-blood does not cringe at the sight of the bony construct, but instead charges, his passage marked by his growing hum. The blade is drawn across the air, but it is not where the monster is.
The mass of bones clatters to a halt as Sen-Jyu swipes at it, then reaches out with a bony arm, dragging the hapless samurai into the midst of the tangle. Ivory spurs - ribs, fingerbones - thrust forward, digging into his flesh and holding him securely.
Harvester sees Sen-Jyu charge forward and get slammed by the bones, and follows after with a wicked swipe of his scythe. The low crosscut is handily deflected by its hard skeleton.
Ahoke watches the creature pull in Sen-Jyu, and scowls. "No walking jumble of korhorrag bones eats /my/ friend!" she states emphatically, and rushes at it, raising her great club over her head. The sound of swishing through air, and then the crunch of connection, as the club strikes on bone. Several of the creature's bones crumble, falling to the ground. Not that it seems all that inconvenienced, alas.
Sen-Jyu struggles against the clutches of the abomination, but merely thrashes about in its tight grasp.
More gashes open on Sen-Jyu's flesh as the flexing of the bones tears into him. One of the flailing bone arms strikes Ahoke across the chest, carving parallel furrows in her flesh. Blood stains the bones of her armor and the creature alike.
One of the Harvester's hands releases its hold on the scythe and begins to wave in a series of gestures. Words are spoken in a tone that calls out above the din of the battle. "I call upon the divine favor of He Who Is To Come to bear the fruit of Life unto my companion... Let his wounds be healed!" The thin hand reaches out to touch Sen-Jyu on the shoulder.
Ahoke growls low in her throat, appearing to fight off the rising rage. "You..." she says, voice more animal than dwarven. "...dare." She slams her club into the creature's body, such as it is, once more, and huge chunks of bones go flying.
Released in a moment of distraction, Sen-Jyu recoils, but only slightly, his shallow breath eased by the touch of the unborn divinity that the Harvester has awakened, if briefly. Ichido-sama is raised on a pedestal of rage, and brought tumbling down like a thunderbolt, severing bone as it cries for vengeance.
The bone creature, shedding ossified pieces of itself, breaks away from the combat, clattering towards the other side of the hall.
Harvester growls softly to himself as the boneyard releases Sen-Jyu and skitters away. The scythe is released to clatter to the floor as he moves, heavy mace being brought up from his belt, and into an overhand smash. The priest ducks below the flailing arms that seek him, and delivers a massive, spine crushing blow that sends the bones into a crumpled pile.
Ahoke's head whips so that she can look into the darkness, and then she starts laughing, a throaty chuckle. "Upset that we're superior to your pile of bones?" She bares her teeth in what /might/ be a smile, but is probably more a display of dominance than anything.
Harvester, chest rising heavily, turns to reapproach Sen-Jyu, "let me aid you once more, Sen... you're still badly injured, as if you didn't know..." Hands move as he speaks the words of curative power once more, and reaches out to touch Sen-Jyu on the shoulder.
Taking advantage of the creature's retreat, Sen-Jyu shakily sheathes Ichido-sama, then turns at the priest's words and bows his head humbly, wincing at the cold touch of the priest of the void beyond all things. Still, this void can bring light and life, and Sen-Jyu is astonished to see his previously unhealthy gashes and scrapes mend and vanish. "My... thanks, holy one, for healing this unworthy one."
Despite Ahoke's taunts, the darkness on the other side of the hall remains impenetrable...and silent but for your ragged, adrenalin-fueled breathing. Even the eerie flames in the bowl make no noise.
Harvester bends down to lift the scythe once more. A grin. "Don't thank me, Sen, but rather He who Is to Come... were you 'unworthy', he would not have allowed your healing..."
Ahoke says, without taking her eyes off of the darkness, "We're going to have to go kill whatever lurks within, if we want to be able to move on without it taking potshots at us from behind. Are you ready?"
Sen-Jyu tugs his bow free of its place on his shoulder, and an arrow with it. "Need we enter the darkness, or can we allow outrageous fortune to come to it?"
Ahoke shrugs. "If you can attack it from here, I'm happy with that. Maybe it will come out if we continue to taunt it? Or else we can go gouge the dragon's eyes out. Maybe that will goad it into doing what we want."
Harvester waves a hand, "let us first conduct a thorough examination of this room...." True to his word, he begins to move about the area, first going to examine the pile of bones.
Sen-Jyu glances first at the Harvester, then to Ahoke. "I see we are of two minds here -- kill the thing, or search the rest of the room?"
Ahoke shrugs. "Dead foes are the best kind to have, but I guess we can search. Maybe /that/ will draw the little bastard out." She walks towards the dragon statue, looking distrustfully into the darkness frequently.
Harvester examines the bones for a time, using his scythe to pick through them. He next begins to walk the periphery of the room, to conclude at the rear of the statue.
Returning the arrow and bow to their places, Sen-Jyu extracts his katana once more, letting it sway by his side as he searches the statue near where Harvester stands.
Sen-Jyu examines the statue, "It's not copper after all."
Harvester grunts to himself as his hand traces several wall carvings. "Rather poorly done... boring, really..."
Ahoke walks up, looking up at the dragon's eyes. "Those are big ass stones," she comments idly. She peers around the base of the statue, and then shrugs, with a snort. "I don't think I can climb this thing, not easily," she says.
Sen-Jyu holds his hand close to the bowl, perhaps trying to use the heat to reinvigorate the flow of blood through his extremities.
Harvester speaks softly, 'The dragon, in Thrommel's diary, was said to come from behind the statue... would this be that statue, I wonder?"
Ahoke yawns. "Can we go kill that thing now?" She glances towards the darkness, shuffling her feet nervously.
Sen-Jyu frowns as he sheathes his sword, then attempts to climb up to the bowl.
Ahoke mutters, "I guess not," when she notices that Sen is climbing the bowl.
Sen-Jyu reaches the top of the pedestal, then leaps up to catch the edge of the bowl. With silent exertion, he pulls himself up to the edge of the bowl, perching there, as flames lick him. He appears a bit mystified, holding his hand out to the flame. He hasn't started to smoke or scream in writhing agony yet, either.
Harvester gives a start and begins to move forward, hand reaching out, "Sen...!" He pauses as the man does not apear to burn.
Ahoke scowls, and then turns back to watch the darkness. "Walking bones, heatless fire. Screaming skulls. I want out of this place. Come out, you little freak of nature!" She yells this into the darkness, pumping her fist into the air. "If you dare!"
"Hmmm," murmurs Sen-Jyu from the bowl. "There's a lot of... detritus in here. Crude weapons, rocks, bones... and a few other things..." Doing what he can to remain perfectly balanced, he removes his wakizashi from its sheath and stabs into the bowl gently.
Harvester steps back now, to watch Sen-Jyu, bowl of flames and dragon statue, all at once.
"The Harvester, could you come to the pedestal for a moment?" echoes a voice from the bowl as Sen-Jyu slips down in.
Harvester frowns slightly, then proceeds forward, "You want me to climb up like you did, Sen?"
"Er, no, just... I want you to look at something."
Ahoke lets out a loud exhalation of disgust when she sees people climbing into bowls and completely ignoring the threat in the darkness. "I'll go scout it out," she informs anyone who might be listening, and then moves in that direction, keeping her great club poised and ready to smash.
Harvester nods, an action unseen by the other. "Alright.... I'm looking.... I see a bowl, and a statue, and a.... or is there something in particular yo want me to look at?"
A hand juts over the edge of the bowl, holding a necklace of pretty stones out. "Take this, and..."
Harvester glances back to see the headstrong dwarf stalking away. He stretches up to take hold of the necklace, and anything else the warrior hands out to him.
A moment later, a sword is carefully held out over the edge. Sen-Jyu's head peeks out over. "Looks new. Maybe later, you'll want to come up here, see if there's anything else interesting."
Harvester gingerly takes the sword in hand and lowers it, and laughs softly. "Sure... if I don't break my neck trying to get up there. I ain't exactly used to monkeyshines..."
There is the sound of loud and repetitive splintering, sounding suspiciously like bones, coupled with the sound of heavy wood strikign stone, off in the direction that Ahoke disappeared into.
Harvester says, "Maybe just toss everything out, all at once?"
Sen-Jyu shakes his head, his eyes flattening to indicate how not good of an idea that is. "It really is... a lot."
Harvester looks around, "Uh... I think Ahoke might've found something..."
Sen-Jyu points upward, toward the head of the dragon. "Me too. Do we have any climbing gear, maybe?"
Harvester shrugs, as she hasn't screamed yet. Probably just working off that wonky barbarian frustration. "Got rope."
Ahoke laughs aloud. "How about, your vengeance doesn't please me, you little sh*t-eater?" The smashing sound continues.
Harvester's head whips around. "Eh? Damn.... hearing voices again... Tokket, either shaddap or speak up...." he mutters.
"Hand me the rope, please?" Sen-Jyu asks, one arm bending over the lip of the bowl. "I'm going to try and climb it."
*SMASH* *CRUNCH* "And your people are...?" Ahoke asks.
Harvester extracts the rope from his pack after a moment, then stretches up to hand the coil to Sen-Jyu. After, his pinky goes into his left ear, brushing the earring held there. The finger jiggles a bit.
Ahoke laughs aloud, the sound nearly drowned out by splintering bone. When the noise dies down, she can be heard growling, "Or you'll do what? Call the dragon up to eat us?"
A few minutes are spent in knotting the rope in increments, and Sen-Jyu is happily humming all the while, despite the background noise. Once that's done, he swings the rope up over the snout of the dragon-statue, tugging on it a couple times to make sure it's secure.
Harvester calls up to Sen-Jyu, "Want me to climb up into the bowl and look now, or later?"
Ahoke's voice breaks that silence, quieter than usual, and wary. "Where are the goblins?"
"Later. I need you to catch these if I can pry them loose," Sen-Jyu replies.
Harvester calls out to Ahoke, "Don'tcha mean 'Thanork'??" He mangles the word yet again.
There is silence again, and then Ahoke says, ignoring Harvester, "The god's lair? You mean Copper Death? And how are they desecrating his corpse..?"
Sen-Jyu grunts, then holds out two more swords with sheaths over the edge: his daisho. "I can think of nothing more humiliating than falling and breaking my swords upon landing. Please, hold them for me," he asks of Harvester.
Harvester laughs softly, and nods. 'Yeah... I'd guess it'd be a tad bit upsetting..." He accepts these weapons as well, and sets them aside.
Ahoke's voice lowers into a whisper, though the acoustics of the large room make the words echo. "...how... help?"
Once Sen-Jyu has divested himself of bow, quiver and backpack (all of which he leaves in the bowl, off to one side), he gathers a couple of the more suitable prying devices from the bowl, and starts the climb.
Ahoke says, in a more normal voice. "I see no problem with killing your enemies for you, since they are also enemies of mine. Though be warned, if it is you that has the human children, I /will/ find you. And I will kill you."
Making it successfully to the top of the rope, Sen-Jyu loops his arm into the rope twice, finding a place to grab hold with that arm while the other seeks a way to pry one of the sapphires free.
Ahoke turns around. "What?" She squints to see across the room, and shouts, "Sen, stop!"
Sen-Jyu holds the freed sapphire in one hand. "Uh...?" he asks of the darkness.
"...sh*t," mutters Ahoke.
Ahoke stalks out of the darkness, staring at Sen-Jyu in absolute horror.
Sen-Jyu stares right back at Ahoke, not so much horrified as mystified.
Harvester looks between Sen-Jyu and Ahoke in confusion, "What's the problem, Kay?"
With a hideous grinding noise, rock showers from the walls as the statue begins to move. It snaps its head to one side like a whip, flinging Sen-Jyu from the rope and sending him flying into the wall. The idol takes a step forward.
