Well, that wasn’t good. That was all Gerhart could think as he saw the tail sliding towards him. Seeing there was no clear path to avoid it, he decided to meet it. He started to run towards the tail as it barreled towards him. A moment before impact he would jump and use his momentum to Wall Dash up the bone of the snake hoping to get to the top of the tail. Gerhart would plunge his sword in between the gaps of the bones to give him something to hold on to. His other sword hand would be ready to stab into the snake skull if it tried to Ouroboros itself.

---

Wall Dash - This skill allows the user to run short distances across inclined surfaces, such as a wall. While moving at a running pace you can traverse up to 10 feet of a surface that one would normally not be able to run across, allowing you to run sideways or even up a flat surface. The surface must be solid and the runner must touch down on a normal flat surface before being able to use this again. This does not allow you to cling to the surface and you will fall if you stop moving while on the inclined surface.

Cyran wasn’t surprised his dagger- designed for destroying mortal enemies- couldn’t manage to make a dent on bone. Gerhart had managed to challenge it, meaning that Cyran was relatively safe enough in the air while the snake whirled around, aiming its tail right for Gerhart and Cirice that would strike them just before the mouth would. Gerhart was athletic, and powerful enough to attempt jumping onto the tail and running up the spine, but that only left Cirice, who had no way to dodge in time.

“Cirice, get back!” Cyran screamed, raising his arm to summon a wall of darkness between her and the tail barreling right towards her.^[1]

“We need to find some way to pierce it…” Cyran murmured to himself. His first dagger hadn’t worked, so he doubted the others would be able to cut through the snake, either. He didn’t have much offensive magic at his disposal, and he was hesitant to use a long-range spell while his vision was altered, so he maneuvered around until he was as close to the snake as possible, which was still focused on Gerhart, and fired off a blast of dark magic.^[2]

He could feel that his energy was getting lower so Cyran flew back, putting some distance between himself and the snake before landing on the ground. He tried to find a nearby shadow and stepped inside, concealing himself from sight while he tried to figure out what to do next.^[3,4]

---

1. Death Wall
2. Chaos Bolt
3. One with the Shadows
4. Pass Without a Trace

That went about as expected. Her claws raked uselessly off the bone and then the creature was coming after her. She tried to scramble backwards, but it was too fast. She blinks as the wall materializes between her and the snake, using that opportunity to try to get her bearings. If the wall works and stops its momentum as soon as its down she'll try to reach out and touch the snake and cast major healing on it. Maybe if its undead that'll hurt it?

The snake was quick, the fastest physical thing any of them would have faced in a long time. This did not deter the group however, as they all fought valiantly, using their individual skills to get them through this fight. Gerhart rushed forward, still having the attention of the skeleton locked onto him, he decided that instead of trying to block or dodge the snakes tail, he would rush it, attempting to scale and attack the creature from above. However he missed a very important detail, the head that was bearing down on him for the counter attack. As Gerhart leapt into the air, before he had time to land and scale the beast, its mouth snapped shut around him, like a bolt of lightning snatching him right out of the air. Two large bone fangs pierced into the mans chest, pain shooting throughout his entire body. Luckily for Gerhart the armor he was wearing was just strong enough to prevent any fatal wounds, however the steel was now dented and rendered useless.

While the serpent clutched Gerhart in its boney maw, the tail still continued to slide towards Cirice, aimed to slam into her and send her flying against the back wall. However as the bone tail skirted across the sand, it did not make contact with the Elf and instead slammed into a solid wall of darkness, a spell used by Cyran to protect Cirice. Quick thinking was effective as the wall managed to absorb the full force of the attack, however it was strong enough to destroy the wall, Cirice safe, but for how long?

With Cirice successfully protected, Cyran hovered away, found a dark area of the room and attempted to stealth themselves, realizing they could be more help from an unseen vantage point. The man was alone and so far the snake was unaware, despite their magic blast deflecting off of the monsters bone, having no effect at all. Cirice followed up with a spell of her own, using the distraction of the wall to cast a healing spell on the snake. It was a clever attack, but a useless one, for the spell did nothing, the serpent completely ignoring what was on the ground as it was preoccupied with Gerhart.

It had failed in killing this man, but had done enough to weaken him. With another quick jolt of its head, the snake whipped its head to the side and released the man clutched inside. The whip was so quick and had so much force behind it, Gerhart was unable to hold on, and instead was launched from the snakes mouth, being tossed like a rag doll. He soared across the sand, flying towards the southern wall, opposite of Cyran who was towards the north wall, concealed in the shadows.

---

Notes:
Cyran is successfully cloaked.
Gerhart is flying towards a wall and is about 10 feet in the air.
Gerhart has lost all hit preventions provided by his chest piece.

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds, Chest hit preventions used up

This was very, very far from what Gerhart had expected to happen. There a few thoughts in his head as he flew through the air...most of them began with OHSHITFUCKSHIT and ended with 'this is going to hurt.' Thank Ginma for all that armor, the large holes in the side where it bit and tore through weren't nice, but thankfully it was there to keep the teeth from sinking into him.



As he flies through the air Gerhart does notice the snake seems to not be all that interested in Cyran as he remained somewhat quiet and still. The young adventure manages to reorient himself in the air, bracing for impact against the wall. He slows his flight just enough to absorb the impact and spring off the wall.



Gerhart dives into the sand, submerging himself completely.^[1] He holds his breath and remains still, trying to keep an ear on what is happening. The challenging mark will fade though as he takes his hiding position.

---

<sup>1.Camouflaged Master:

Rangers have mastered the art of disappearing, blending themselves into the environment. A Ranger can completely vanish by simply sitting in a bush or hiding in a tree. If a ranger is obscured by nature, such as a bush, tree leaves or rocks, they can alter their image to look like that natural environment. They can do things like lay in tall grass, hide under sand or blend into a thicket of vines. As long as the ranger remains still they will become one with the environment, unable to be seen until they move. They can also hide their traps, blending the traps into the environment as well. This lets the ranger hide their traps, unable to be found by normal people.</sup>

Cirice sees Gerhart dive into the sand and hide and squeaks, glad he doesn't appear too injured. She then takes out her potion of shadows and downs it quickly before hiding in the shadows themselves¹. She starts running towards the exit hidden and silent, praying to Mother Moon that she and her friends can escape the bone monstrosity.

---

1 Cloak of Shadows

From the safety of his hiding place in the shadows, Cyran watched and waited while Gerhart and Cirice both attempted to hide. As he carefully observed the bone snake, trying to discern any possible weaknesses, an idea occurred to him. The snake had only jumped out from the sand as he’d flown overhead, using his echolocation. He’d also noticed that the snake responded to Gerhart’s shouting. He didn’t want to assume anything about the beast, but he wanted to test his theory while the other two hid.

In the shadows, Cyran summoned a loud sound in the opposite direction of the exit, one that sounded exactly like Gerhart’s voice, mimicking what Cyran had heard him shout to get the snake’s attention earlier.^[1]

“DOWN HERE YOU BONE SNAKE....DORK...STUPID FACE.”

He watched carefully, hoping to see if his theory was correct and the snake was following them by sound, and would go in the direction of the sound he created, giving the three of them a chance to silently sneak to the exit.

Behind him, as he waited to see what would happen, the spectral figure of an elven woman with long, flowing hair and a crescent moon tattoo on her forehead coalesced, silently waiting to step in and protect him from any harm from the bone snake.^[2]

---

1. Minor Trickery
2. Guardian Spirit (I am a dummy and forgot to summon her earlier)

Gerhart was clever, using his legs to brace himself as his body slammed into the stone wall, the snake having flung him at high speeds. If it was not for his leg armor, the man's legs would have definitely shattered into several pieces. However instead, his greaves buckled, denting under the pressure and sending the man flying into the sand. His entire lower half would be sore from the impact, but still functioning as he utilized another set of skills, burying himself under a light layer of sand, blending in with the terrain.

Cyran and Cirice had put their back up plan in motion, Cirice, using a combination of stealth abilities, she began to dash across the sand, hoping her skills were enough to keep the snake from noticing her. Cyran assisted by casting a spell on the opposite side of the room, a spell that would create noise and attempt to snag the snakes attention. Who knew a massive bone serpent would have been tricked by a simple spell, but it worked.

The skeleton took off towards the door they had entered the room through, assuming Gerhart was there, sliding its way across the sand as quick as ever. There were mere seconds between the snake throwing Gerhart and it winding its way towards the sound. Cirice however was completely ignored, her spell and potion being effective as she left the darkness and entered the light of the second red orb, now at the exit. From their location in the shadows, Cyran would notice the Snake stop right before leaving the sandy area, patrolling the edge of the sand dunes as if expecting Gerhart to be there.

Now safe and at the door, Cirice would see a stone door very similar to the one they had entered the dungeon through. There were no words or text, but a very familiar sun painted on its surface, as well as a small eye shaped hole carved into the rock. Cirice looked over their shoulder for a second to scan the scene, fully realizing what needed to be done to open the door.

---

Notes:
Cirice is safe at the door
Cyran and Gerhart are both hidden in the sand and shadows, for now

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds, Chest and leg hit preventions used up

"Oh no, oh no oh no oh no oh no..." Cirice frantically looks over the door, closing her eyes and giving it a quick scan just in case theres a trick of some sort. If she doesn't see anything hidden by an enchantment she'll summon her minion¹ Ur and hold him up to the hole to see if it will take his eye instead of hers to open. If that doesn't work and it still doesn't open she'll put her own eye up to it and sacrifice her own eye for them.

---

1 Summon Minor Minion

His trick with the voice somehow managed to work, luring the snake away from both Gerhart’s and Cirice’s positions. He couldn’t see where either of them were but he had to hope they were already making their way to the exit. Cyran also noticed the way that the snake stopped right before the sand gave away to stone, patrolling the area while looking for Gerhart, which solidified a few theories in his mind: first, the snake’s vision was bad enough that it was mostly relying on sound to move, and second, it could not leave the sandy area.

That meant all the three adventurers had to do was make it to the exit as quietly as possible. That was easy enough for Cyran and Cirice, who both used the darkness to their advantage, but Cyran worried about Gerhart. Stealth was not his specialty, and Cyran feared that even the smallest sound he made would get the snake’s attention. Cyran would just have to help him out a little.

Cyran tried the trick again in the same area, creating a loud shouting noise that would cover up their attempts to make it to the other side.^[1] If Gerhart was making a mad dash for the other side right now, hoping that his speed would be enough to get him through, then Cyran tried to make the sound loud enough to cover up his footsteps.

Cyran then began making his way through the shadows, sticking to the ones cast by piles of sand and the dim lights around them.^[2,3] In the shadows, he could not be seen or heard, and would hopefully guide him all the way to the stone floor at the exit, where Cirice was sticking her pet’s face up to the door. He was beyond relieved that she’d already gotten to safety- but if Gerhart had not yet made it, Cyran would watch the dunes for him, ready to intervene if he could not outrun the snake.

With the spirit’s hands resting on his shoulders, Cyran waited to create another wall from the ground, one that would have been bigger and darker than the one before, somehow. With any luck if Gerhart was noticed by the snake and his stealth failed, Cyran would be able to block it with the wall, ensuring that Gerhart made it to the other side safely.^[4]

---

1. Minor Trickery
2. Shadow Sight
3. Pass without a Trace
4. Death Wall, enhanced by Spirit Shroud

The snake sounded like it was moving away, Gerhart would give a sigh of relief but that would mean choking on sand. Not ideal. He slowly turned to see how far away the snake was. Feeling confident it was a good distance away he would get up and try to make his way to the door as quietly as possible. 

it was true he had no special abilities to keep him quiet, so he would just move as slowly as possible and let the others tricks hopefully work. IF and only if the snake seemed to catch in to what’s happening he would use his rushing charge to just cross the battlefield and get to the door.

Cyran and Gerhart attempted to make their way across the sand, headed towards Cirice while trying to stay low and in the shadows. Cyran's spell continued to give off sound, further distracting the large snake. The Elven woman summoned forth a minion of darkness attempting to use it as a sacrifice for the door. However as the minion took its place nothing happened, the door staying completely still and silent.

Cyran and Gerhart finally made it to the door, just in time to see Cirice's first idea fail. By now the Snake had realized that none of the sounds belonged to a real thing. It had spiraled around suddenly, speeding towards the trio just as Cirice began to place her eye near the opening of the hole. Much like the first door had done, faster than lighting, a tiny needle shot outwards and stabbed itself into her eye. Blood began to pour from the wound, no longer able to see through it. Despite the wound, just like with Cyran, there was no pain what so ever.

The boney serpent closed in, nearing the group as the stone door began to slide down into the ground. With seconds to go the three plunged through the new doorway, watching as the snake arrived, snapping and smashing at the stone wall. With their hearts beating fasting than ever before the party watched the stone door close, blocking the snake off from them and trapping them in this new room.

As they turn to investigate their surroundings the group finds themselves in a square stone room, with a open door way on each of the walls. The closed one behind them and three more open halls with no doors being the only exits in this room. Above each of the four doors was a small glass orb with a familiar red light gleaming from within. It was enough to decently illuminate this room, showing the vast amounts of artwork and illustrations written across the smooth stone.

---

Notes:
3 doorless hallways extend downwards, with one doorway on each of the three other walls.

-Cirice- 0 Wounds
-Cyran- 0 Wounds, one blind eye
-Gerhart- 0 Wounds, Chest and leg hit preventions used up

In all the panic and chaos of the snake escape, Gerhart didn’t notice at first but when he did he clearly looked devastated. No no no no no, this was hard to watch happen to a friend again before getting a chance to process the first one. He quietly apologizes to Cirice, offering to bandage her as well if allowed.

He sighs a moment, blinking back the tears at the corners of his eyes. “I’m sorry….I’m supposed to be protecting you two and I’m not doing a very good job.” Said the man with teeth scrapes and punctures in his armor. “This is my fault.”

In a rare moment, Gerhart is quiet and a little despondent. He looks around the room, but in his current mind he’s not in a place to help solve a puzzle.

Tears stream from Cirice's eyes, mixing with the blood as she hugs both her friends tight. "I-I thought you were going to die! I'm so sorry... I wish I could have helped more. Gerhart are you okay? I-I can heal you if you're hurt! Cyran please tell me you're okay. I didn't know what else to do, I was panicking and-and..." She trails off, distraught. She lets Gerhart bandage her face as she clings to his side, weeping. "I-it isn't your fault none of this is your fault. You w-were so brave! You're doing the best job and w-we would have all died if it wasn't for both of you." She reaches up and kisses Gerhart's cheek, giving him a small smile to try and encourage him. 

"We'll make it out of here and maybe one day Mother Moon will grant me the power to fix this. It doesn't hurt. I-I'm okay. I get to match Cyran now..." She hugs them both again, attempting a lame joke.

Cyran was so busy trying to get everyone through the door away from the bone snake that he hadn’t even noticed the contraption that took Cirice’s eye until they were safely on the other side, and any relief he felt at their escape was replaced with pure horror when he saw the blood pooling down her left cheek. In all honesty, he hadn’t yet had the time to process his own injury, but it was hard not to when seeing that loss reflected on another person.

“Oh, Cirice, no…” Cyran muttered, unable to bring himself to say anything else while he stared at the injury. “Let’s get you cleaned up, honey.”

He fretted over while she sobbed, hugging both him and Gerhart, profusely apologizing for being unable to help.

“Don’t worry about us.” Cyran said firmly, rubbing comforting circles on her shoulder. He was resisting the urge to cry himself, but given that Cirice and Gerhart were both losing their morale right now, he figured he would try to be strong for the both of them. “You both did amazing. Given that thing’s strength, I don’t think any of us could have taken it on. But your eye…” He had to bite back another wave of grief as Cirice pointed to her own makeshift bandage, making a joke that they were matching now. Nothing about this particular situation was funny, but if Cirice needed laughter, then he would try his best to put a smile on her face. “I bet Iryla could help us make some eyepatches then, huh?”

The joke did not seem as funny after he’d voiced it out loud.

He still kept his hand on his shoulder as he addressed Gerhart. “None of this is your fault, son. Your quick thinking saved our lives, okay?” Especially with what he did to provoke the snake. If he hadn’t managed to get its attention before it managed to reach Cyran, he wasn’t sure if he’d have made it through. “Everything in here was designed to ward people from getting to the end. Don’t lose heart.”

He’d never even cared about the treasure in the first place- Cyran had only come along to keep an eye on Cirice and Gerhart, and he was already failing at doing that. But given what lay behind them, he had a feeling that their only escape from this place would be if they continued ahead. That thought only hardened his resolve, and Cyran picked himself up, pushing away the building fatigue and worry. He had a job to do, and come hell or high water, he was going to do his best to get these two out before either of them had to give up anything else important.

Cyran stared up at the lights, wondering if putting them out might do anything. He glanced back at the two young adventurers still sitting on the ground, brows furrowed in thought. “I’m going to try something. Don’t be alarmed.” He called upon the shadows in the room, covering them all in a large ball of pure darkness that was made larger by the spirit hovering over his shoulder that he still hadn’t noticed.^[1] With any luck, putting the lights out would reveal the way forward.

---

1. Zone of Shadows, enhanced by Spirit Shroud