[IC] Depths of the Vallis (dead)

[DarthContusion]

On 2021-01-20 at 8:23 AM, WolfmanX9 said:

"I suppose a small detour wont hurt, otherwise this mystery may haunt our mind for a while and so on" he bluntly whispered, probably making the whole curiosity of this mystery "warframe" worse. Although to be fair, he wanted to find out as well.

[Post 2/2]
Suno mumbled something inaudible, double-checking her Komorex.

“Fine, but I don’t have to like it,” she said, more loudly. She cast shards on herself and started the trek down into the caves. The eerie whooshing of air blasted through the caves again, making Suno jump. “Dammit! What the hell is that?”

Then the warframe jumped on her. Even though she was keeping her eyes on the ceiling, the warframe seemed to have gotten above and behind her somehow. Suno was slippery though, and as soon as she felt the weight press down on her back, she ducked and pivoted, serving a fist full of glass directly into her attacker’s face. It didn’t even flinch, even as the shadow of its head tilted at an angle approaching 90 degrees from the force of the punch.

“And what the hell are you?” Suno demanded, more than a little rattled in the darkness. She still couldn't clearly tell what model it was. A feminine type, most likely, but beyond that there were no defining features. "Identify yourself, for Void's sake!"

The frame declined to answer. Instead it reached up to its face and, with a loud crack, snapped its head back into a more natural position. It seemed to be done running, for now.

[WolfmanX9]

21 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

[Post 2/2]
Suno mumbled something inaudible, double-checking her Komorex.

“Fine, but I don’t have to like it,” she said, more loudly. She cast shards on herself and started the trek down into the caves. The eerie whooshing of air blasted through the caves again, making Suno jump. “Dammit! What the hell is that?”

Then the warframe jumped on her. Even though she was keeping her eyes on the ceiling, the warframe seemed to have gotten above and behind her somehow. Suno was slippery though, and as soon as she felt the weight press down on her back, she ducked and pivoted, serving a fist full of glass directly into her attacker’s face. It didn’t even flinch, even as the shadow of its head tilted at an angle approaching 90 degrees from the force of the punch.

“And what the hell are you?” Suno demanded, more than a little rattled in the darkness. She still couldn't clearly tell what model it was. A feminine type, most likely, but beyond that there were no defining features. "Identify yourself, for Void's sake!"

The frame declined to answer. Instead it reached up to its face and, with a loud crack, snapped its head back into a more natural position. It seemed to be done running, for now.

Dante saw the whole thing unfold and tried to see what this being was, but like Suno, he couldn’t see what it was. Either his flashlight was turned off or out of energy or this thing has some kind of void magic that causes light sources to hide its true identity.

”Either you start to speak or we will do this the hard way, your choice, whatever you are”

He would then aim his stradavar toward said being, switching said weapon to semi automatic mode so he didn’t accidentally spray bullets at Suno.

[UnremarkableUsername]

Behind Suno, the two Grineer eximus were concentrating very hard, with no apparent result.  Kelekh looked over at Anak.

"Hey, you're cancelling me out."
"What?"
"I'm trying to freeze it in place, you're trying to burn it."
"Yeah.  Can you stop?"
"No, why're you burning it?  We want a look at this thing before it dies."
"Mm, true."

Ice began to form on the creature's joints.

[EpicdudeX]

On 2021-01-24 at 1:14 AM, DarthContusion said:

[Post 1/2, will post again tomorrow for the cave squad]

Perhaps the bird was sharper than Vlad and Kacillus were giving it credit for. It did notice Kacillus vanish, although it had no idea what to make of it other than “DANGER!” It was otherwise unimpressed with Kacillus’ increase of velocity. Thick, armor-like feathers caught the arrows in their bulk, though clearly the bird was not a fan of carrying the arrows with it.

It flapped its wings downward, propelling itself higher into the sky in another attempt to destabilize the Tenno in flight and scatter the smaller, lighter combat drones. From its heightened position, it folded its wings back and dove straight down at Vlad, hoping to bash him with its armor-clad face.

Vlad disengaged from his Itzal, dropping below the dive. He then Teleported onto the bird, stabbing it in the back with his wrist blades before unsheathing his Nikana and slashing at the left wing. Kacilius struggled against the wind blast as he tried repositioning to a safer spot. He also disengaged from his Itzal and tried casting Rest on the bird before hopping onto a Locust Drone to jump higher...

...and slipping and crashing to the ground. Well that was stupid. Kacilius then proceeded screaming in pain before blacking out five seconds later. Vlad jumped down, Teleporting next to Kacilius and taking him to a nearby cave while carefully watching the bird.

[DarthContusion]

The burning of fire and glistening of ice finally illuminated the warframe. It was a Garuda type, standard colors, outer shell badly damaged and warped but still recognizable. Suno was glad to have not been immediately impaled on its talons, but couldn’t help but wonder why a Tenno as fearsome as this would even bother getting up close to their targets.

It struggled frantically, twisting and turning its joints in unnatural directions against the ice and making all manner of odd sounds, before ultimately going limp in the grasp of ice.

Suno wondered briefly if this could be considered a victory.

Then the ground opened up and swallowed the Warframe whole. Wind rushed up from the depths, creating the sound the Tenno had heard earlier. Just as suddenly, it stopped, and the Garuda was gone.

Suno was extremely unnerved by this, but she figured it was time to check in on the sketchy Tenno. “Kacillus, Vlad, we ran into some trouble down here but it didn’t manage to kill anyone. What’s your status?”

[EpicdudeX]

1 hour ago, DarthContusion said:

The burning of fire and glistening of ice finally illuminated the warframe. It was a Garuda type, standard colors, outer shell badly damaged and warped but still recognizable. Suno was glad to have not been immediately impaled on its talons, but couldn’t help but wonder why a Tenno as fearsome as this would even bother getting up close to their targets.

It struggled frantically, twisting and turning its joints in unnatural directions against the ice and making all manner of odd sounds, before ultimately going limp in the grasp of ice.

Suno wondered briefly if this could be considered a victory.

Then the ground opened up and swallowed the Warframe whole. Wind rushed up from the depths, creating the sound the Tenno had heard earlier. Just as suddenly, it stopped, and the Garuda was gone.

Suno was extremely unnerved by this, but she figured it was time to check in on the sketchy Tenno. “Kacillus, Vlad, we ran into some trouble down here but it didn’t manage to kill anyone. What’s your status?”

"This is Vlad, Kacilius is knocked out, but by his own idiocy." There was a small chuckle. "We're currently hiding in a cave nearby, what about your status? I can't tell from here if the bird's gone or not."

[WolfmanX9]

Dante wasn’t sure what to say after what he saw. So many questions running through his head and all he could think of was the phrase: “What in vay heks non-existing bottom happened?” He said this thought out without realizing it. He was so confused.

[UnremarkableUsername]

The two grineer stood and stared at where the Garuda had disappeared into the ground.  Anak checked behind her, and took a step back.  Kelekh cupped her hands and held them together in front of her, scowling.  She broght her hands apart, revealing a ball of ice in her hand.  She moved to throw it, but her sister grabbed her shoulder.
"What're you doing?"
"Throwing an ice ball to see how the ground reacts, whaddisit look like?"
"But it couls open up again!  You don't know what that's gonna do!"
"Yeah, i'm tryin'a find out.  Chill."
"That's not funny."
"It totally is."
Kelekh tossed the ice ball at the mysterious area of ground.

[DarthContusion]

The bird, satisfied in its victory, but rather unsatisfied with how much energy it had expended to achieve it, flew off in search of more edible targets instead of painfully armed sardines.

The ice ball bounced on the ground where the Garuda had disappeared uneventfully. Apparently the ground was not interested in visitors. It didn’t even bounce hollowly, it just sort of made a dull “thud.” There was no reverberation; the ground had closed up entirely.

“Is Kacillus going to be okay, or do you need to escort him to extraction?” Suno asked. “We need to get a move on before the Garuda that attacked us comes back. It didn’t seem overwhelmingly powerful, but it could attack from anywhere. If Kacillus can walk or if you can carry him you can probably catch up pretty quickly. Either way, you need to get a move on or you might be stuck fighting that Warframe alone, possibly with baggage.”

[EpicdudeX]

20 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

The bird, satisfied in its victory, but rather unsatisfied with how much energy it had expended to achieve it, flew off in search of more edible targets instead of painfully armed sardines.

The ice ball bounced on the ground where the Garuda had disappeared uneventfully. Apparently the ground was not interested in visitors. It didn’t even bounce hollowly, it just sort of made a dull “thud.” There was no reverberation; the ground had closed up entirely.

“Is Kacillus going to be okay, or do you need to escort him to extraction?” Suno asked. “We need to get a move on before the Garuda that attacked us comes back. It didn’t seem overwhelmingly powerful, but it could attack from anywhere. If Kacillus can walk or if you can carry him you can probably catch up pretty quickly. Either way, you need to get a move on or you might be stuck fighting that Warframe alone, possibly with baggage.”

"Kacilius should be fine." There was a loud twack, and some muffled yelling and tumbling. "-n't have to hit me!" "Kacilius is now-" There was another smacking sound. "Ehem. Vlad decided to be smart and smack me awake. I should be fine now though." "The bird flew off now, so we should be safe from it. But there was a Garuda, you say?" "Vlad, are you still pissed about that one Garuda? That's probably not the same one anyway, and besides, focus on the mission. Suno, send us your coordinates. We'll head there shortly."

[UnremarkableUsername]

On 2021-02-10 at 2:21 PM, DarthContusion said:

The ice ball bounced on the ground where the Garuda had disappeared uneventfully. Apparently the ground was not interested in visitors. It didn’t even bounce hollowly, it just sort of made a dull “thud.” There was no reverberation; the ground had closed up entirely.

Kelekh stepped forward, and gingerly prodded the offending area of ground with her toe. "Hmh.  Anak, could you send a fire blast down the tunnel?"

Anak frowned.  "That would make everything slippery.  I'd rather not."
"mm.  From the surfaces melting and refreezing?"
"Yeah."
"Sh*t.  'Cause it would also expose anything hiding along the way."
"Yeah, I know, hold on a moment."

Anak threw a fireball down the tunnel, briefly illuminating it.

[WolfmanX9]

Meanwhile, Dante was simply sitting on the ground, checking for any signals nearby and maybe intercept a radio to spy on, even though his corpus was quite limited. In other word, he was chilling (pun not intended). He wasn't sure what to do next, so he might as well gain intel...if possible.

[DarthContusion]

First things first, Suno threw down a waypoint and forwarded their coordinates to Vlad and Kacillus.

Over Corpus communications, Dante would hear a mysterious sound. It was almost musical, but it didn’t seem to obey any of the general principles behind musical creation. It held no consistent tempo, and it had no consistent rhythm, but small chunks of it felt consistent. 

Anak’s fireball illuminated the next good chunk of the cave. As the fireball travelled down the tunnel, the musical sound Dante was listening in on reached a dissonant crescendo. At this bizarre climax, Suno felt like something was reaching into her mind, indeed, trying to reach into all of their minds. It was weak, like a dying old man’s hand, but its presence was undeniable.

As she looked in the illuminated direction, clutching her forehead, music reaching its peak all at once, the damnable blasts of air also returned, not one at a time but dozens at once. The walls came alive and poured out dozens of things that looked like Raknoids. These things were living, rather than mechanical, however, with green pulsating abdomens and clusters of crimson eyes that pierced the inky darkness.

What are they? Suno wondered. They were not infested, they were clearly not any wildlife she had seen before on any planet. Another relic from beyond time? From beyond… what? She threw up a glass barrier as far out as she could, hoping to buy time, but they simply crawled over it, using their own bodies as ladders like army ants.

“Vlad, Kacillus, If you’re there, we could really use some backup!” Suno called frantically. “We have... something? We're having something problems! What the hell are these things? Should we run?”

[EpicdudeX]

8 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

First things first, Suno threw down a waypoint and forwarded their coordinates to Vlad and Kacillus.

Over Corpus communications, Dante would hear a mysterious sound. It was almost musical, but it didn’t seem to obey any of the general principles behind musical creation. It held no consistent tempo, and it had no consistent rhythm, but small chunks of it felt consistent. 

Anak’s fireball illuminated the next good chunk of the cave. As the fireball travelled down the tunnel, the musical sound Dante was listening in on reached a dissonant crescendo. At this bizarre climax, Suno felt like something was reaching into her mind, indeed, trying to reach into all of their minds. It was weak, like a dying old man’s hand, but its presence was undeniable.

As she looked in the illuminated direction, clutching her forehead, music reaching its peak all at once, the damnable blasts of air also returned, not one at a time but dozens at once. The walls came alive and poured out dozens of things that looked like Raknoids. These things were living, rather than mechanical, however, with green pulsating abdomens and clusters of crimson eyes that pierced the inky darkness.

What are they? Suno wondered. They were not infested, they were clearly not any wildlife she had seen before on any planet. Another relic from beyond time? From beyond… what? She threw up a glass barrier as far out as she could, hoping to buy time, but they simply crawled over it, using their own bodies as ladders like army ants.

“Vlad, Kacillus, If you’re there, we could really use some backup!” Suno called frantically. “We have... something? We're having something problems! What the hell are these things? Should we run?”

Kacilius slightly jumped when Suno started yelling. "Suno? What happened? Suno?" Vlad looked at the cave entrance. "Kacilius, do you hear... music?" "Yep, and they're nearby. Let's get there quick." Kacilius ran out the cave, trying to follow the sound. "Over there! Come on!" Vlad followed quickly while readying his Dread. As Kacilius entered the cave, he also started feeling something, like a phantom presence. "Ugh... Vlad, be careful. Something weird is her- BY THE VOID, WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!?" Vlad Smoke Screened as he Wall Latched onto the cavern wall. "Shoot first, talk later!" Vlad loosened his arrows at the creatures as he looked over at the others. "Suno, Anak, Kelekh, Dante, are the four of you alright?" Although... why does something feel so familiar? Vlad looked back at Kacilius, who was frantically dodging the creatures. "Kacilius! Start shooting!"

[WolfmanX9]

4 hours ago, DarthContusion said:

First things first, Suno threw down a waypoint and forwarded their coordinates to Vlad and Kacillus.

Over Corpus communications, Dante would hear a mysterious sound. It was almost musical, but it didn’t seem to obey any of the general principles behind musical creation. It held no consistent tempo, and it had no consistent rhythm, but small chunks of it felt consistent. 

Anak’s fireball illuminated the next good chunk of the cave. As the fireball travelled down the tunnel, the musical sound Dante was listening in on reached a dissonant crescendo. At this bizarre climax, Suno felt like something was reaching into her mind, indeed, trying to reach into all of their minds. It was weak, like a dying old man’s hand, but its presence was undeniable.

As she looked in the illuminated direction, clutching her forehead, music reaching its peak all at once, the damnable blasts of air also returned, not one at a time but dozens at once. The walls came alive and poured out dozens of things that looked like Raknoids. These things were living, rather than mechanical, however, with green pulsating abdomens and clusters of crimson eyes that pierced the inky darkness.

What are they? Suno wondered. They were not infested, they were clearly not any wildlife she had seen before on any planet. Another relic from beyond time? From beyond… what? She threw up a glass barrier as far out as she could, hoping to buy time, but they simply crawled over it, using their own bodies as ladders like army ants.

“Vlad, Kacillus, If you’re there, we could really use some backup!” Suno called frantically. “We have... something? We're having something problems! What the hell are these things? Should we run?”

Dante stopped to listen to the mysterious sound as he took out his Stradavar, shooting at the strange, living, raknoid like spiders. Whatever they were, they most likely wanted to eat or slay them*

[UnremarkableUsername]

On 2021-02-18 at 5:23 PM, DarthContusion said:

Anak’s fireball illuminated the next good chunk of the cave. As the fireball travelled down the tunnel, the musical sound Dante was listening in on reached a dissonant crescendo. At this bizarre climax, Suno felt like something was reaching into her mind, indeed, trying to reach into all of their minds. It was weak, like a dying old man’s hand, but its presence was undeniable.

As she looked in the illuminated direction, clutching her forehead, music reaching its peak all at once, the damnable blasts of air also returned, not one at a time but dozens at once. The walls came alive and poured out dozens of things that looked like Raknoids. These things were living, rather than mechanical, however, with green pulsating abdomens and clusters of crimson eyes that pierced the inky darkness.

What are they? Suno wondered. They were not infested, they were clearly not any wildlife she had seen before on any planet. Another relic from beyond time? From beyond… what? She threw up a glass barrier as far out as she could, hoping to buy time, but they simply crawled over it, using their own bodies as ladders like army ants.

Lots of enemies everywhere?  Need to get them away quickly?  This was exactly what an Arson Eximus was good at.  Anak spread her feet into a stable, rooted stance, and inhaled, remebering what the Quill had taught her.  Power comes from the breath... The breath becomes energy in the body...

Kelekh saw what she was doing.  "Everybody get down!"

The energy extends through the limbs, and becomes fire...

Anak thrust her palms out to the sides.  The air around her heated, glowing slightly for just a moment before expanding outward in a hot blast.

[DarthContusion]

Suno ducked behind Anak as the fiery blast punished the bug-things. They didn’t seem to be particularly fond of the fire, and the survivors fled the battle. Suno wondered if there was some type advantage nonsense going on. She wondered about her own element. Void/Earth? What was Void/Earth weak to? What was it strong against?

As she ruminated on video game analogies, a particularly large specimen tore through the ceiling and plopped unceremoniously inside the perimeter of the barrier, making a horrible squelch as it landed. Instead of pulsating green, its abdomen was glowing a fierce white, and its cluster of crimson eyes stood in front of a grossly undulating cranium. It brandished sharp pincers on its front legs and stood at around 2.5 meters tall.

There was only one thing for Suno to do: cast Spectrorage and start shooting. The combination of bursting Komorex shots and the supernatural hall of mirrors gave the thing pause, but the opening would be brief!

[UnremarkableUsername]

On 2021-03-07 at 2:53 PM, DarthContusion said:

As she ruminated on video game analogies, a particularly large specimen tore through the ceiling and plopped unceremoniously inside the perimeter of the barrier, making a horrible squelch as it landed. Instead of pulsating green, its abdomen was glowing a fierce white, and its cluster of crimson eyes stood in front of a grossly undulating cranium. It brandished sharp pincers on its front legs and stood at around 2.5 meters tall.

Kelekh knelt, pulling the vulkar from her back.  One of the creature's eyes filled her view for but a moment, as she focused through rifle-scope that had replaced her eye.

Anak stepped back, winded after summoning the fire blast, and halfway turned, ready to run, but hesitated, looking back at her sister and the three Tenno staring down the beast.

Kelekh pulled the trigger.

[WolfmanX9]

On 2021-03-07 at 8:53 PM, DarthContusion said:

Suno ducked behind Anak as the fiery blast punished the bug-things. They didn’t seem to be particularly fond of the fire, and the survivors fled the battle. Suno wondered if there was some type advantage nonsense going on. She wondered about her own element. Void/Earth? What was Void/Earth weak to? What was it strong against?

As she ruminated on video game analogies, a particularly large specimen tore through the ceiling and plopped unceremoniously inside the perimeter of the barrier, making a horrible squelch as it landed. Instead of pulsating green, its abdomen was glowing a fierce white, and its cluster of crimson eyes stood in front of a grossly undulating cranium. It brandished sharp pincers on its front legs and stood at around 2.5 meters tall.

There was only one thing for Suno to do: cast Spectrorage and start shooting. The combination of bursting Komorex shots and the supernatural hall of mirrors gave the thing pause, but the opening would be brief!

Dante thought for a split second on what he could do to make the battle a bit easier for them or damage it. He then got an idea. 

He brought out his glaive, charged his throw and when the moment was right, he threw it toward the pincers and hoped that it would either cut them off completely or bounce between them and deal a lot of damage, cause he had a strong feeling that the beast or bug or whatever it was, would be quite badly injured if those pincers were damaged or cut off.

[EpicdudeX]

On 2021-03-07 at 2:53 PM, DarthContusion said:

Suno ducked behind Anak as the fiery blast punished the bug-things. They didn’t seem to be particularly fond of the fire, and the survivors fled the battle. Suno wondered if there was some type advantage nonsense going on. She wondered about her own element. Void/Earth? What was Void/Earth weak to? What was it strong against?

As she ruminated on video game analogies, a particularly large specimen tore through the ceiling and plopped unceremoniously inside the perimeter of the barrier, making a horrible squelch as it landed. Instead of pulsating green, its abdomen was glowing a fierce white, and its cluster of crimson eyes stood in front of a grossly undulating cranium. It brandished sharp pincers on its front legs and stood at around 2.5 meters tall.

There was only one thing for Suno to do: cast Spectrorage and start shooting. The combination of bursting Komorex shots and the supernatural hall of mirrors gave the thing pause, but the opening would be brief!

Vlad quickly Teleported to and flung a very surprised Kacilius at the giant creature. "Vlad! What the %^$# are you doing!" "Kill that thing, you idiot!" He then threw a Smoke Screened and Teleported over to the others before throwing several Shurikens at the creature. "Are you guys ok?"

Meanwhile, Kacilius' face was gifted with the wonderous sight of the creature's face. "Vlad, if I survive this, you're going to get punched in the face." He then jammed both his Glaive and Ceti Lacera into the underbelly of the beast before sliding behind it...

…and accidentally sliding off the cavern cliff. Quickly, Kacilius dug his fingers into the ice while Vlad rushed over and flung his Parazon over the edge, but the ice gave away, causing Kacilius to fall down into the gaping abyss.

[DarthContusion]

Suno followed Kacilius under the creature and fired a couple shots into its belly, forgetting that the Komorex was an explosive weapon and blasting herself into the ground. Now she was stuck underneath the thing, which was great, and fun, and a good time all around.

The creature was reeling from damaged pincers and a wounded eye, and let out a shriek that shook the cave walls and caused stalactites to rain down on the Tenno. Distracted by Kacilius’ and Suno’s respective gambits, it took the time to drop the considerable weight of its wounded belly on top of the hapless Suno and slashed wildly at the surrounding area in hopes of warding off its attackers.

[WolfmanX9]

4 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

Suno followed Kacilius under the creature and fired a couple shots into its belly, forgetting that the Komorex was an explosive weapon and blasting herself into the ground. Now she was stuck underneath the thing, which was great, and fun, and a good time all around.

The creature was reeling from damaged pincers and a wounded eye, and let out a shriek that shook the cave walls and caused stalactites to rain down on the Tenno. Distracted by Kacilius’ and Suno’s respective gambits, it took the time to drop the considerable weight of its wounded belly on top of the hapless Suno and slashed wildly at the surrounding area in hopes of warding off its attackers.

Dante was glad that he didn't use any heavy-ish weapons before the shriek, as the falling stalactites was surely an issue he couldn't ignore. The next thing he did was avoiding the falling rocks along with keeping a distant from the beast to avoids its attacks, unless it would start to shoot projectiles, then maybe he would be in trouble.

[UnremarkableUsername]

Dante found himself next to Anak.
"Ey, do you think we could find a way to push it off the edge?"

Meanwhile, Kelekh took a step back, and took another shot, this time at the base of one of the creature's legs.

[WolfmanX9]

1 minute ago, UnremarkableUsername said:

Dante found himself next to Anak.
"Ey, do you think we could find a way to push it off the edge?"

Meanwhile, Kelekh took a step back, and took another shot, this time at the base of one of the creature's legs.

"Good thinking, see if we can somehow either lure it over the edge or maybe make the ground crack below it. I could create shadow clones of myself to distract it long enough, but they won't be as durable as shadow clones of enemies I would normally use" he informed Anak as he used one of his Kohmak's to destroy a rock that was about to hit him. In fact, he brought out his second Kohmak just in case of more falling rocks trying to hit him.

[EpicdudeX]

25 minutes ago, DarthContusion said:

Suno followed Kacilius under the creature and fired a couple shots into its belly, forgetting that the Komorex was an explosive weapon and blasting herself into the ground. Now she was stuck underneath the thing, which was great, and fun, and a good time all around.

The creature was reeling from damaged pincers and a wounded eye, and let out a shriek that shook the cave walls and caused stalactites to rain down on the Tenno. Distracted by Kacilius’ and Suno’s respective gambits, it took the time to drop the considerable weight of its wounded belly on top of the hapless Suno and slashed wildly at the surrounding area in hopes of warding off its attackers.

8 minutes ago, WolfmanX9 said:

"Good thinking, see if we can somehow either lure it over the edge or maybe make the ground crack below it. I could create shadow clones of myself to distract it long enough, but they won't be as durable as shadow clones of enemies I would normally use" he informed Anak as he used one of his Kohmak's to destroy a rock that was about to hit him. In fact, he brought out his second Kohmak just in case of more falling rocks trying to hit him.

Vlad looked around for a way to knock the spidery creature off the cliff. "I can make Shadow Clones to distract and take out its legs. After that, I'm dropping down to check out Kacilius." Vlad weaved through the falling stalactites, slashing at the creature's legs while creating several Shadow Clones to push the creature towards the edge.

Meanwhile, in the chasm, Kacilius was cursing out Vlad. "Vlad, you %$#$." He continued to grumble when something nearby cracked. Kacilius stopped and readied his Velox. "What was that?" He slowly got up and aimed in the direction of the sound. Suddenly, cracks started erupting around Kacilius. Harsh screeches began to fill the air. "That's not good."

A large, deformed creature emerged from the shadows. Three heads sprouted from an enormous blob of flesh held up by three legs. An Infested stench emitted from the creature, and turned all three heads to look at Kacilius. "That's Lephantis." Another creature walked out behind Kacilius. "That's another Lephantis. Wait, another?" Two more creatures appeared from the sides. "Don't tell me this is a Lephantis nest." The sound of bursting flesh told Kacilius that yes, it was a Lephantis nest.