Aerei arrived at the entrance to the ruins. Staring into the dark depths of the cave, he could already feel the palpable evil deep inside. An odd odor filled his nostrils. It was only now he noticed the various corpses scattered around the area in various states of decay. He had heard that cadavers were dumped here as the creatures of the dark were more than happy to feed off of them, but he never suspected it was true! Muttering a quick prayer to the god of Light and Endurance, Aerei cast Consecrate Weapon on his rapier, holding it above his head as a source of light, and entered the depths of the cave. He did not get very far when he heard a wet, ripping sound to his right. As he turned, rapier extended, to face the creature, the noise suddenly stopped, and he saw only a devoured corpse. Perhaps I had misjudged where the sound came from. But still at the speed it stopped-Aerei was not given the luxury to finish his thought, as a monstrous ghoul leapt at him from behind!

A blade made from bone was hurled from the shadows and impaled the ghoul from behind. A rope attached to the sword's handle revealed the position of something in the shadows. As the grotesque monster writhed and flailed, the rope became taut and it was yanked backwards to be hacked by a flaming sword. An ungodly shriek pierced the blackness as it was reduced to a charred corpse and thrown into the pile of bodies the flesh-eater had been feasting on. "…That's number three. I hate ghouls–they always hang around the worst places. I swear one of these days, I'm going to mass produce holy water and flood all the morgues with it." A figure wearing a clay mask emerged from the shadows, and took out a bundle of dry kindling. Tossing it over the corpses, they took the flaming sword and lit the pile. They then coughed and waved the smoke away as the stench of burning human flesh and other horrid things burned.

Bounty hunting was something she hadn't done in a long time. Every now and then she'd look for ones that were the least troublesome, and that usually led to monster slaying requests. But really if she had her way she'd just make a new graveyard and enforce a law against irresponsible corpse disposal. "Well no wonder they have a ghoul infestation–what do you expect if you keep throwing dead bodies in a dark hole without covering them up? At least burn them or something! Ashes take up less space than a rotting cadaver." She looked at the other non-ghoul presence in the vicinity, then turned her attention back to the corpse bonfire. She probably should've bought a flask of oil or cheap wine to make them catch fire quicker. 

Aerei turned quickly, looking at the stranger who had saved his life. "T-thank you, ma'am."He chuckled nervously. "The gods must be looking out for me." Aerei looked at her in silence for a few moments. "So, you too are to deal with the foul creatures that dwell here. It is quite the relief I am not to be here alone, now is it?" Aerei stood in silence for another moment. "By the way, my name is Aerei. Stranger, what is it I should call you?"

Shiloh held her breath to suppress a laugh when the man mentioned something about gods. Oh the irony… She tactfully decided to omit out anything relating to her unusual 'station', and answered his question. "I'm a bounty hunter, I take jobs as I see fit according to my capability. Sometimes I have to take offers I don't like, but that comes with the territory. Normally you shouldn't go in alone into an underground cave, better with a group of four at least. The only reason why I'm by myself is because I know the exit's fairly close so I know when to make a break for it." Preparing to leave, the man again called out to her and asked for her name after introducing himself. Should she give her name to him? In that moment she recalled the first time she had met a member of the Conclave in person. Now that she was in the same situation but on the opposite end, she could understand the goddess' choice.

Not wanting to skirt around the truth too much, she shuffled and turned her head to look at the man called Aerei. "Not exactly a common name you have there, well who am I to talk? …You can just call me Salem. That's what the other odd-jobbers call me. So, are you planning to hang around here for a while? I'm going to call it a day and settle while I'm ahead. The smell down here's beyond terrible." Even with the mask, she couldn't block out the stink. For people with particularly sharp senses, strong smells became overpowering and unbearable for extended periods of time. She didn't sense any movement in the shadows yet, so now would be a good time for her to get out while she could. Maybe after that man left she'd block up the place to prevent people from adding more rotting corpses to the decomposing piles down here. There was no excuse for the city to not build another graveyard. 

A lady wore a black cloak in the dark ruins. She used one of her elements to create light which was fire. Her long black hair and sometimes glowing violet eyes were hidden with the cloak. She moved around checking the cave for not anything in particular. She had just wanted to explore the ruins. She was on a journey, so doing something dangerous was just fun. Her steps was soundless as the ground under her feet got soft under her feet. She didn't want to get unwanted attention from irritating creatures. She only wanted to explore and see if she could find anything interesting. She had been traveling for a long time and wanted something to happen.

She already made the air around her constantly blowing like a shield so she didn't have to smell the dead bodies, but the air didn't touch her so it seemed invisible. The flame she used as her source of light flickered slightly. She stopped and sat on one knee with her hand on the ground. She felt steps and vibrations. She stood up and walked faster, but just as soundless as before. She moved fast, but made sure to not make any sounds.

As she got closer to the other presences she took out the fire and slowed down. She hid behind something big and looked at the two. They seemed like humans. Just as she was going to leave one of her elemental powers, plants/tree/life. Leaked. A black orkidé grew up from the ground and made a crack noise as it grew from the stone.

Aerei nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, Salem. Now that I can see what dwells within this darkness, I can confirm it is not the wisest idea to go alone." Warily, he gazed blindly into the darkness, and the dark secrets of which it concealed. Aerei signaled for Salem to follow, carefully inching forwards in the hungry darkness, parting only as he walked and consuming his steps behind him. Aerei heard growling in the darkness, but this time was ready. Extending his arm at the direction of the noise and weaving a sigil in the air, a Sunburst flew from his hand and erupted into a blinding light, revealing the outlines of a large group of undead and beasts in the darkness. Unfortunately, they noticed as well. The groans and growls grew louder and more persistent as the horde of shuffling footsteps became louder and louder. "There must be at least ten of them!" Aerei cried out to his companion. A form lunged out of the shroud and at the duo. A ghoul grabbed onto Aerei with supernaturally strong grip and cold, dead flesh. Reflexively, Aerei drove his Consecrated rapier into it's mouth and pierced through it's skull, destroying the evil and false fascicle of life that occupied it. But this did nothing to slow the incoming mob, whose discordant orchestra of noises only grew louder and larger. Aerei held his weapon high, a radiant light in the dark, as he ran blindly deeper into the cave in hopes of escape, past the hiding place of a certain fairy…

"Hey! Hold on what are you–" As soon as she saw the flash of light, she grit her teeth and began muttering curses under her breath. Not only did that flash briefly reveal everything within their vicinity, it also painted giant target signs on their backs. When he exclaimed that there were several necrophages and accursed undead, she had to restrain herself from making any biting remarks. "Of course there are lots of them! That's because this is their feeding ground!" She hissed. Oh great, now thanks to that magical signal flare he set off in an enclosed area, every ghoul and its sire knew they were here.

Thankfully the illumination of his spell was over as quickly as it had come. Now royally aggravated, Shiloh had enough with this stinking cesspool of filthy corpses and filthy flesh-eating monsters. Everything about this place was offensive to her very being on a personal level and she wanted to wipe it out of existence. Fortunately, there was more than enough darkness for her to carry out her intentions. First she had to calm herself. A quick scan gave her several signatures within the entire area, and barring one she was familiar with that told her how many enemies were present. "That's it, I'm making this quick. I'm done playing around. If they want a ghoul extermination…I'll give them one." 

Sheathing her swords, a powerful burst of energy was released into the entire area which caused shadowy hands and chains to burst from every which way. Immediately they locked onto every thing that bore the same aura signature as the ghouls and undead, and they began pulverizing them into smithereens. The cacophony of monsters soon turned to a wave of screams straight from the Circles of Infernos as multiple unholy signatures were crushed and extinguished at a moment's notice. Shiloh was so preoccupied with laying waste to the entire area that she failed to notice anything else. A chilling silence followed as the deity's bloodbath was finished. A second scan of the area turned up negative for any traces of corpse-eaters or undead. Grinding her teeth, she pulled out her wyvern-bone sword and leaned on it as she adjusted her senses to the sudden lack of sensory feedback.

Even though she was in Canelux, her head was pounding. Magic wasn't her forte, and using this much in one burst was a downright pain. "Great…now where'd that hired blade go? Good lord, he'd better not have run in the opposite direction of the exit. I don't have any terms related to body retrieval on my bounty, and I hate adding extra charges to my services. I swear if he dies, I'm dumping him in the morgue. Let the next passing cleric or necromancer handle him." She had just told him the dangers of going in alone, and he did just that. Pounding her foot against the cave floor, there was a loud crack as she let out a sound of frustration. "Hey! Get back here and quit running you dim bulb! You have a death wish or something?!"

The cloaked woman, named Julie heard a noise and a flash of light as monsters had made their way to the two humans. She was about to run when one of them ran past her. She looked after him as she heard blades and chains slaughtering the creatures. The other human killed the creatures and when she or he finished it mumbled something. "Great…now where'd that hired blade go? Good lord, he'd better not have run in the opposite direction of the exit. I don't have any terms related to body retrieval on my bounty, and I hate adding extra charges to my services. I swear if he dies, I'm dumping him in the morgue. Let the next passing cleric or necromancer handle him."

The voice seemed like a woman. She was silent for a while before she suddenly pounded her foot on the ground yelling. "Hey! Get back here and quit running you dim bulb! You have a death wish or something?!" She made the wind around her stronger to get away the blood stench. After that she made her precense known for the other seemingly human. The creatures were slain. The lady just walked not caring where she stepped as the ground got soft and the blood seeped down. Her black cloak still hiding her face and body. She lit up the cave with her fire and the human was now visible. It was a woman. Julie stopped and her eyes glowed for a second before it dimmed.

Aerei panicked and the fatigue of holding his spell began to set in. He was clearly getting nowhere, and eventually would be overtaken. He turned and flourished his weapon, staring straight into the dead eyes of an incoming undead. Suddenly, his companion sheathed her weapons. What is she doing!? He cried out internally. But all of a sudden two shadowy hands rose from the ground, pulverizing every being they came into contact with. But oddly enough, every being crushed seemed not to flatten, but rather disappear entirely, as though they no longer existed in this world. Breaking from his stupor, the undead swept it's arm at him, but he dodged backwards, swatting aside the blow with his rapier and searing off the hand by the wrist. With the speed of a flying cart, a shadowy hand hurtled in his direction, "pulverising" the zombie, and Aerei barely dodged in time. Suddenly, the chamber was deathly silent, and the hands were gone. He barely noticed his blade had already extinguished. He heard his companion gripe in the pitch darkness. Well, I suppose Salem has every right, he thought. It was very dishonorable to flee a battle, especially with a companion on the line. Feeling through the darkness, Aerei eventually stumbled upon his companion, whispering a quick apology under his breath. "I deeply apologize for my insubordination." He said in a low voice. "You have now saved my life twice today, and that is a debt difficult to repay. I do pray you aren't hurt?" He asked, raising his left hand and beginning to recall a healing spell. On second thought, he couldn't see in the darkness and doubted she could, either. "You did say you noticed and exit. If you could find that, I would be more than glad to leave and seal the exit." But what am I forgetting? He thought. Suddenly, he remembered. Did he not, for an instant, see a fire? Considering how quickly it started and was extinguished, so it was likely magical. "I need to check something." Aerei said. "I, er think I dropped my rapier." And with that, he quickly, yet carefully, made his way to the source of the fire.

Her mask made it less obvious, but she was very much relieved that he did come back to relative safety. This was probably his first time in the Umbral Depths, and though she wasn't new to the area–even the most prepared groups could easily fall if the odds willed it. In the cave's darkness she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "…I wasn't kidding when I said even I wouldn't want to be down here by myself. It's easy to get yourself killed when you can't see ten feet in front of you without a light source." Her anger cooling, she sighed. "You sound like you're alright, so I'm glad. Just don't do that again. If you want to repay your debt to me, then see to it that you don't lose your head. I don't have anything to resurrect you with." As reluctant as she was to admit it, she figured he deserved to understand why she had been so tense when he charged ahead.

When he asked how she was, she waved it off. "No injures, just strained myself more than I wanted to. My limbs are functional and I'm not disoriented. Still doesn't change the fact this place needs to be torched pronto." Looking up at the ceiling, she noticed the air currents were a bit odd here. Normally drafts should be coming from the direction of an opening to the surface, not otherwise. Addressing his other statement, she confirmed it. "Yes, I know where the exit is. When you're ready to leave, I'll give you a rope to hold on to. I'll just retrace my steps and we should be outside." As she was preparing the rope into a makeshift lead, Aerei went silent for a while. "I need to check something. I, er think I dropped my rapier." 

"…Alright then, go ahead. I'm pretty sure I cleared this place out, so as long as you watch your step everything should be fine." Then again since when did that ever happen? With paranoia still biting at the corners of her mind, she did another scan using aura sight. She couldn't help it; it was a force of habit. Just because she was no longer a mere human didn't mean she no longer had to be careful. Her scan brought up something troubling. How on earth did she miss it? There was a blazing magical signature right there! And it wasn't just some cave-dwelling hobgoblin–it was strong. Adjusting her eyes, she could make out some sort of bipedal shape in the dim light. Still, it was too dark for her to see any of the finer details.