Beneath the Surface (Adventure, slight Gore)

All of a sudden, all three of his mages wink out of life. In another two seconds, a battle begins to rage above the hole.

He shrugs and continues to enter the hive. Meanwhile, the undead fought furiously, wounds that wound have killed most not even slowing them as they fought back.

A singeing, burning fire washes across the entire company. A telekinetic push sends the rest of them flying out of the hole and to their doom below.

The bridge stretches from end to end, but ultimately no doors come into sight. However, what seems to be a huge crawling cross-section of a catacomb is sprawled out across the space a hundred metres away.

The two changelings from earlier stand at the edge of the structure, atop a platform of sorts with a small ring fixed to the ground with a massive stand. One sticks his horn through the ring, and his horn begins to glow.

A large, earth shattering kaboom follows as a bolt of green lances out from the horn and at the "bridge", annihilating it thoroughly beneath Arcane's hooves.

Arcane giggles, next to the changeling. "Hello. I've been waiting to kill you lot." He drove a knife into his skull, turning to the other one.

The sole changeling begins blasting away at Arcane with magic, a myriad of shots flying towards him.

The flapping of wings, however, begins to echo through the enormous cavern as the others realise that they have an intruder.

Arcane snaps the changeling's neck, before setting about the others as he began to meticulously eradicate them with flashing silver blades.

The thumping of four hooves sounds out before him.

"You're a new one." The changeling commander says, fully armoured in dark blue. She gives Arcane a discerning look. "I suppose Ician hired you or something. Why don't you just leave now? You're vastly outnumbered."

Arcane continued to kill the changelings, dying in their dozens as his knives flashed. Finally he smiled at her. "I really don't care for you. Where is Chrysalis?"

"She is not here." Her horn flashes, and a powerful magic shield manifests itself around the platform. A host of other shield changelings move in and reinforce her barrier. She steps forward, horn still glowing. "If you want to fight, fight me."

"Hmmm... See, but Paladin had a message specifically for her. I can't give it to her plaything, that would be embarrassing for both parties." He sighed and killed a few more changelings. "Could you tell me where she is?"

"Pity. I have a message for your Paladin too." The changeling commander aims her horn at him, unleashing a deadly stream of lightning. "Why don't you go and deliver it to him now? Alternatively, you could meet him in Tartarus and tell him there."

Arcane sidestepped the lightning, bemused as he stepped next to her. "A message? How about we exchange them then?"

"Sure, why not." A cone of fire spanning the length of the shield erupts from her horn, raging with an intense heat. "You go first."

He nimbly avoided the flame, it parting when it reached him. "Certainly. I reckomend an entree of screaming and pleasing with your dark gods, followed by a main of begging for your worthless and insignificant life and finished with a desert of me ripping your throat out." He placed his fangs at her neck. "Yours."

[BRB, gotta do something real quicklike]

"Pleasing mental image." Her horn flashes again, and she teleports behind him, driving a hoof into his back and sending a trail of lightning through it and into him. "Mine was much simpler. I was just going to ask you to tell him to say hello to Cerberus for me." She bares her teeth. "But I think that'll be unnecessary. You'll do fine."

((Sure, see you soon.))

((Just stopped by to ask you to not continue too far without me. Seeing 50+ notifications just from this RP this morning was slightly frightening. ))

((Nah, don't worry. Nothing's really happening... okay, so maybe some stuff is happening. Nothing you need to worry about yet. We aren't moving too far. Just a little duel that nopony else needs to involved in yet.))

Her hoof met empty air, a dozen knives slicing through the air. "And who's going to send me there hatchling? You? I think not." He scoffed.

"We will see." The changeling snaps around, her horn crackling, and with a powerful strike of magic encompasses the entire volume of the shield in non-lethal but paralysing lightning.

Arcane stood completely stood, before chuckling. "I'm sorry, but really? I mean, really? Is that the best you have?"

"No." The changeling whistles. "Read-AY! Set!" Her horn charges again, and she unleashes another volley of shield-encompassing paralysing lightning.

He raises an eyebrow, tapping his hoof as if waiting for something.

The changeling raises an eyebrow. "What? Not going to do anything?" She gestures at him. "You're... just going to stand there at let me do what I'm going to do..." She bares her teeth. "... Arcane Catastrophe?"

"Awwwww cute. You know my name Theria. How sweet. We should go out. Regardless, you should do something... You know, soonish."

"I suppose." She shrugs. "Cerberus isn't going to wait forever." She whistles again. "Set! SERVE!"

An bolt of magic artillery lances out from somewhere further into the catacomb and strikes the ceiling above the translucent magic shield. A huge chunk of rock falls and bounces off the shield, followed quickly by a trio of heavy, leafy trees.

Sunlight shines down onto the platform and both of them. The changeling smiles. "That's my cue." And, on command, she summons a final inferno of flames from her horn.