Castalla//

The night was growing increasingly long as the little band found themselves staggering from one peril to the next. Still coughing violently, Castalla sucked in clean air as though it were her dying breath - and perhaps the four of them had just come far too close to that.

Yet, as the shadows danced away from the flicker of their torches and the adventurers entered yet another looming chamber, they were once again besieged by misfortune. Like the towering homage to some fantasy or alien being, a series of bones were laid out, surrounding a skull of inordinate size. The path, snaking off into the unseeing, depthless gaze of the dungeon beyond, was entirely plugged by this ivory blockade. 

A flash of metal gleamed in the ominous glow of quivering torches and Castalla found herself stepping closer, pale eyes settling upon a large sword thrust into the crumbling husk of the creature’s skull.

“Anyone care to have a go?” Despite the exhaustion and her burning lungs, Castalla’s lips twitched into a smirk, eyes alight with challenge as she stepped aside to let one of the others see.

Wolf//

Wolf’s mood was beginning to sour as exhaustion ate away as the fringes of it, his body aching as adrenalin slowly faded. Yet he was never one to back down from a challenge. “It would be my honour,” he said with a low chuckle and a grin, bowing before he strutted past Castalla and took the sword hilt between his teeth. Yet, for all his strength and size, he found it to be wedged tight in the skull, deceptively so.

Emberclaw chittered away, something that Wolf couldn’t help but think was a laugh; the lava ant seemed to be enjoying the Courser’s struggle as he tried again and again to no avail.

Finally he stepped back and turned to the others. “The thing must be fused in place or something, it’s impossible to move.”

Elrim//

Elrim peered at the giant creature that stretched across the room as if it belonged to them. Deceptively fragile looking as bony toes curled into stone, and its gaping maw still opened in something of a snarl. Flesh no longer lingered on its shell, yet traces and shadowed hints of an essence from long ago still remained. 

Quiet, laughing eyes watched as Wolf gripped the sword, trying with all his might to finish the job. He heard the small scrap of stone on bone, and felt the way it pushed back. He followed the feeling inside the skeleton, tracing invisible likes that he couldn't see.

"An old legend says that there is a tale of a hero who will slay an ancient foe and earn a sword that will deliver them to greatness," Elrim commented with faint amusement as he stopped before the last of the lines. "You must not be that hero," he laughed, tone teasing and light as his gaze dropped to the ground, striking it gently with his hoof, feeling the surge of gathered energy weaken. It might be enough.

Quill//

"Oh! Really?" Quill's ears perked up, eyes bright with a hopeful look as he trotted forward. The aches in his muscles and lungs almost forgotten as he watched Wolf try and fail. "We could be heroes?" There was a hopeful lilt to his voice as he stepped forward, ears perked up as he looked at the greatsword embedded into the creature's skull. 

"What if we wiggle it?" He asked as Elrim walked through the bones, striking at the ground in various places. "Like if we're stuck in mud and trying to get out." It wasn't a helpful addition, but hopefully one that his newfound companions wouldn't judge him for. He glanced between the three of them, and then glanced at Walter, who gave him a disbelieving look.

With a huff, Quill hopped onto the front of the large bones. "I'll show you, and then you can try it Wolf, you're stronger." Carefully he bent his head, biting down on the hilt of a blade that didn't feel right for him. He braced himself, took in a deep breath, and pushed.

Tumbling up and over the skull, dangling from the skull with all four limbs flailing.