<strong>Location:</strong>Outside the Antechamber<br/><strong>Tags:</strong>All Present<br/><br/>The demon nods brusquely at Chorgath's command and steps forward.  "This will be swift and unsubtle," she states, pointing her left-hand sword at the tables barring the way.  "Be ready."<br/><br/>Sondok concentrates, then twists the blade a quarter turn in the air, and the stone flows sideways and up and down and swirl into a new pattern-- double doors with an open, unoccupied latch shut, filling the archway, halfway ajar.  Sensing a function for them, Ruby and Cerulean throw themselves at the doors, forcing them open and exposing the fray to everyone.<br/><br/>There are four forces in here.  One, the white-robed attendants of Anjushri (as Void would note, numbering significantly fewer than before.  Second is a swarming, howling pack of monsters at least twenty strong-- too rough and unlike one another to be demons of any single breed.  Third is a tightly-coordinated pack of black-skinned white-headed faceless bipeds some ten strong, humanoid but definitely not human, all carrying arms and armor of some sort.<br/><br/>Lastly is the source of the suffocating violet-threaded darkness, perched fifteen feet up on the wall without handhold or foothold, its mouth buried in the neck of one of Anjushri's unmoving attendants.  The anima light masks this person's identity and physical details, making it impossible to be sure about anything save two things: the soulsteel knife it is prying out of the attendant's back, and the bleeding empty circle of an Abyssal Day caste mark on her forehead.<br/><br/>When the doors swing open, the figure on the wall glances up and hisses to see the intrusion, the sound grating like iron nails on stone.  The body in its hands falls to the floor with a wet thud, and then two knives are in its hands once again.<br/><br/>That's the point at which things start to get messier.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">This calls for a Join Battle for all folks in front of the Antechamber.  The fight is in progress, so each success you get on this roll will mean you get to act on an earlier tick, effectively counting down from acting on Tick 6 to the minimum of Starting Tick 0.  Each of the three larger packs will be acting as one part Mass Combat unit one part 40K Horde so they can be effectively factored into normal time; since the PCs are likely to be acting as a solo unit, this won't mean much and I'll let you know if I need something otherwise.<br/><br/>The antechamber is 10 yards from entryway to the stairs upstairs, and 16 yards across from the door Our Heroes are entering.  Assessing the scene further will require a normal Miscellaneous action.<br/><br/>If your number comes up before that of a hostile NPC, feel free to put your actions out.<br/><br/>TICK ORDER<br/>0 - Samaro<br/>2 - Suicides, Ferril, Day Caste<br/>3 - Varazslany, White-Faces, Monsters<br/>5 - Ruby, Cerulean<br/>6 - Sondok (Has already declared a Defend Other on Chorgath from her location at the door)</div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Chorgath, at a glance, can see...</div><div class="spoiler_body">The monsters are deathly creatures of some sort, tightly-whorled matrices of death Essence.  The white-head things are mortal, but again, clearly not human-- and, if his memory is correct, are examples of the Greater Minions of the Eyeless Face.</div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Shorthand Statblock: Attendants</div><div class="spoiler_body">Magnitude 1, 7/9 HLs, DV 5</div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Shorthand Statblock: Monsters!</div><div class="spoiler_body">Magnitude 2, 9/9 HLs, DV 3</div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Shorthand Statblock: Whiteheads!</div><div class="spoiler_body">Magnitude 1, 5/7 HLs, DV 7</div></div><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Shorthand Statblock: The Day Caste</div><div class="spoiler_body">Unwounded, armed with a pair of long, wicked-looking knives<br/>PDV 12<br/>Currently perched fifteen feet up on the opposite wall </div></div><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>Within the Temple<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Sanger<br/><br/>Howls does listen to Sanger's assertion, head canting to the side as he processes all of these words that are being said at him.  "You can have her," he decides with a nod, transferring the handle of the moonsilver flail to his teeth and transferring the unconscious fire elemental over to the Outrider with surprising gentleness.  "Ah ssck'd th' foissin ouh, foh fee's gonna live, even if fee regreff ih lahah," the big guy adds.  "Nao fah I'mm onna hun..."<br/><br/>He pauses, spits out the handle into one hand, and tightens his grip on it.  "Maybe you're right," Howls says casually.  "But it ain't no Fun if I don't find 'em myself, so I'm gonna finish up.  If this place is gonna explode, you'd better get her outta here 'cuz she won't be able to take it."