[18:47] {NARRATION} Ever since the last attack against Huangzhou, the Ghoul King's legion had seen weaker activity throughout Agartha. They had fallen back to their Skeleton Tower, a terrible construction of earth and bone that had risen high above the island they built it upon.

With many of the undead called back to Dawn due to Arthur Rowan's awakening, the Ghoul King's forces were waning even more than they were before the losses they had suffered. But still, the necromancer persisted.

Dark clouds had accumulated around the tower and in the sky while the undead lord was biding his time. Now would be the best time to strike. A team of heroes from each affected settlement banded together and journeyed off toward the tower to end everything once and for all.

Upon their arrival, the group found many of the encampments around the structure empty and abandoned. Tents and wooded barracks that had held the many undead soldiers were left behind while the Ghoul King brought his forces together in within the Skeleton Tower itself.

Some straggling undead could be seen shambling in the smoke and smog, and in the dead of this terrible, final night, the force of Agartha's finest chose to strike.
[18:50] {NARRATION} Among these accursed fields behind a boulder, the seven found themselves about a mile from the tower itself with several options of how to advance forward through the mist.
[18:58] A long road brought the lot of them to this very place, one that had been discovered out of luck, truly. If it weren't for the dragon returning there, they never would have known where the Ghoul King's army hailed from. Ethan still believed it to be a miracle that he was alive. His lips parted as he gave a few thoughts out on the way there.

"You guys are sure you wanna do this, yeah?" He asked, mainly asking himself that very question in the process. His wandered from one destroyed building to a half-torn tent. Had their plan to attack been caught? Were they expected? A few gestures brought forth flames to the straggling undead, hopefully catching them out before they entered the mist, coming to a stop not too far.

"We shouldn't split up. I've got a feeling this mist is gonna try to make us feel lost even if we're right next to eachother."
(Ethan Hawke)
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[18:59] Mikhaila never imagined herself walking upon such a source of corruption with a demon of all people, for starters.

But she was here now, facing down what could potentially be death itself. The prospect was frightening -- the fear in her slipped through the cracks of the stoic mask she was making for herself, but at least she was not alone... no, she was far from alone. She looked to the other members of their little task force before looking to the mists that obscured their vision to some extent.

"Positive." she murmurs, only to raise her voice a little for clarity. "Positive, hm- I could do something about this mist if it'll ruin our approach. I wouldn't want to run into a wandering skeleton."
(Mikhaila Elisheva)
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[18:59] Equipped and prepared, the Elder Drakan is loaded for bear against whatever nightmares they might face ahead.

Armor? Check. A freshly sharpened Nyeshk sword? Check. Potions, bottles, and other instruments of war and/or healing? Check. She even pats herself down and goes over the list in her head, one by one. They've got the time to afford sequestered behind the distant boulder, after all.

Other than her physical gear, she adds the looming, floating presence of the ethereal Quetzal to her checklist. It twists through the air in lazy circles around her with its eyes wide and alert on the lookout for danger.

From this distance the forces of the tower look underwhelming at best, but overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. She knows better.

"Of course. If we didn't, we wouldn't be here. Do we have a plan of attack?"

Naturally, her focus shifts to the sea-serpent.
(Ohtli Tezcacoatl)
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[18:59] The air carried the stench of decay. And the Elisheva carried the same smile on his face that he had before they fought against the army in Huangzhou. Or the army in the Dreadwoods. Or that giant dragon that had given his older sister an actual disease a few years back.

But the trip wasn't about revenge. They needed to topple this tower and the undead inside, no matter what it took. The tyranny of the Ghoul King had to end here.

That's what Noel had come for.

With a sword crafted from his own ice magic on his back and that prismatic glow clinging to his being, the demi angel prepares for what was likely their greatest trial yet.

"I'm sure. Splitting up is a terrible idea, too. Ashera and I can be guiding lights, if you all are okay with that." Before they could give a reply, the man's frame is lit ablaze - colors of the rainbow now all around him in addition to a few small faes. He nods to his sibling and stares ahead, looking for the possible paths.
(Noel Elisheva)
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[18:59] Emiri had followed along with the rest of their group - at his back rest Kagayaki, and nothing else. No potions, no first aid kits, or anything.

He was confident. Nothing would strike him as long as he had his faith. His belief.

"So, this is where the Ghoul King rests." He stares, gazing up at the daunting Skeleton Tower and the black clouds that brood around its peak.

"..Then tonight, he falls." He adds.

.. then, Emiri waits for someone to follow!
(Emiri Taiyang)
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[18:59] Eiphraem's eyes are locked forwards.

The reports from the scouts weren't wrong- He had to wait for the pullback from Gehenna, to watch the supply lines, the necromantic trails of energy. See when they had to be pulled back, to have their tethers strengthen, to send out new troops from the victims of the war.

His patience had been rewarded. The serpent was happy to strike when the time was right.

"We use it."

His body remains low and to the ground as he leads the group forwards under the cover of the silver mist that surrounds him- Were they less powerful magi, they would doubtless be afflicted by the thrumming current of mercury that surrounds the demon of Crafthold at his battle readiness, a numbing toxin that he couldn't help but have pervade his magic when he was ready to fight.

It leaves a faint, diamond dust sparkle in the air.

Passing close to the encampment calls him to drag the shroud of the air close to himself, infecting it with his personal magic.

"... Close to me." He whispers out, drawing the tyrium blade- It links with him, rather than merely draining him dry, infecting that platinum gleam in the air. If you have any obfuscating magics- Use them. Noel, can you chill the air?"

(Using Fool's Cold, + mercury mist to try to obscure us from magi detection.)
(Eiphraem Kang)
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[19:00] "If you have any obfuscating magics- Use them. Noel, can you chill the air?"
(Eiphraem Kang)
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[19:03] Chilling the air?

Noel bobs his head along in response, hands raising up soon after. After a bit of focusing, the air around the group begins to drop in temperature!
(Noel Elisheva)
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[19:10] Ashera would take her trek towards the skeleton tower. She would slowly take a look at the construction of the tower. Slowly feeling the small weight of the people that have died to the monsters that resided from the ghoul kings army.

Ashera would raise her sword, as she would slowly attune herself towards harmony. And would slowly attempt to do it further. She would even meditate even further. She would attune herself with the arcane. She would feel the loss of spirits around her. And would harden her resolve.

The people have been attacked by the ghoul legions army, terrorized by their people, they ghoul king has manipulated the dead of all kinds people, and animals. The king would disturb the lifestream as it exists.. and would use his evils upon whoever he deems fit...

That will happen no longer.

As she keeps her sword and mind sharp ready to protect, and cleanse the evils of the ghoul king once and for all.

(Ashera Ixis)
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[19:11] {NARRATION} With Eiphraem's mist that hid the group's movement as well as Noel maintaining a chill that could fool any basic undead, the party moved forth. The clay across the ground was torn up and grey. The closer to the tower the group was, the greater the corruption that ebbed forth grew. Even with the faint lights that those of holy talent could provide, everything here was dark and dreary.

In the distance those echoed groans of the ghoul patrols came, but fortunately for the living, they met the entrance with no opposition. The cold metal of the doors was anything but welcoming. Thick layers of reinforced iron and steel, had the whole of Agartha sent armies marching toward them, the entrance would have still posed a challenge.

But here it was, unguarded and uncerimonously approached, the other side of the threshold awaiting.
[19:11] Ohtli grumbles and shivers, -none- too happy about the cold.
(Ohtli Tezcacoatl)
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[19:34] As they traveled through the landscapes surrounding themselves with mist Ethan took the time to memorize their position - the feel of the location and the way they'd have to escape if things went south. Even with Wayfinding in his back pocket it wasn't guaranteed he'd have the time to cast it fully. Green eyes trailed from one side to the other before a few muttered words escaped him, shared to the rest of the group.

"It almost looks like they're... Waiting for us. Expecting us. It could be bad."

Hopefully the mention alone was enough to give people some thought about it, have a plan of even how to open the door.
(Ethan Hawke)
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[19:37] There were hurdles, and then there was the door before them.

With its reinforced steel and large stature, it would be hard for the entrance to actually be accessed. Though.. The task might be a bit easier for a water magi.

Noel turns to Est and furrows his brow, almost too polite to ask if she would be willing.
(Noel Elisheva)
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