A passage opens from the swamp, leading down into the earth. The catacombs spread from this point, a maze of chambers and passageways lit only by the occasional flaming bracket on the wall.

Eerie, silent and dark, this is not a place you enter into lightly.

[A small speck of glowing light dances down to the entrance of the catacombs, leading the way for Andrea, Julie and Hunos.]

::Andrea rushes over carrying Hunos as a bluebird perched on her hand. She stops and almost falls into the passage, just managing to stop herself (Hunos takes a bit of a spin though, good thing he has wings).::

"Ha! I'm supposed to go down there?"

::Julie stops a few feets away from it.::

"Why couldn't she be somewhere nice? Like the park?"

::She sighs.::

"Should I go in first?"

"I will."

::Hunos changes back to his cat form as he lands on the floor, feet first. He pads down a few steps and looks back up at Julie and Andrea.::

"Now, you're sure about this?"

"We've got your back, Hunos."

::Andrea nods.::

"Ready as I'll ever be."

::She fingers the potions on her belt.::

"I'm thinking Julie, you use your energy balls until I can hit her with a binding potion. Then a paralysis if we need it. After, I'll have a vanquishing spell ready, because I think that's a better way to make sure it's done rather than relying on these."

::She taps the orange potion.::

::Julie nods.::

"Sounds like a good plan."

::So Hunos continues down into the catacombs, descending into the darkness below. Animal bones littler the path as he enters the primary passageway, various opennings leading to other passages.::

::Julie nods to Andrea.::

"You take middle, it's easier to protect you if you're in the middle."

"Yeah yeah."

::Andrea goes next, but grips onto Julie's hand in what is quite possibly terror as she follows Hunos.::

::Julie holds Andrea's hand firmly, but keeps her eyes and ears open for anyone or anything that might attack.::

::Hunos' ears perk at a noise far off in the distance. Suddenly, he darts forward into the darkness and is soon lost in the black.::

::Panics.::

"Hunos!"

"Come on!"

::Julie darts after Hunos dragging Andrea along.::

::Andrea keeps trying to flick the lighter, but the flame goes out because of the speed they're running at. Bah!::

::Julie stops running.::

"He's gone."

::She takes the lighter from Andrea and flicks it on trying to look around.::

"See anything?"

::She looks back, can't spot the exit anymore.::

"No."

::Andrea's breathing is erratic, and not just from the running.::

"Why did he run away? What good could that ever achieve?"

"I don't know. I don't know where he ran to... or from."

::Julie swallows hard.::

"This isn't good Andrea, we've gotta get out of here."

[A horrific and surreal cry echoes through the passage, reverberating from the walls. It's a long, drawn out cry of intense pain from an animal. Possibly a cat.]

::Andrea whimpers. Loudly. Her nails dig deeply into Julie's arm.::

"Hunos."

::Her voice is a terrified whisper.::

"Julie... we..."

::She can't tell what direction it came from.::

"Oh God. God, help us. Oh, please God, help us."

::Julie winces.::

"Andrea, shush."

::She tries to listen for something, or at least figure out which direction the cry came from.::

::Andrea can't shush. She pulls Julie in one direction, then another.::

"Andrea!"

::Julie grabs Andrea and makes her stand still, she covers her mouth with her hand.::

"Listen."

::Andrea whimpers one last time but shuts up.::

[Once again, there is another cry, this one longer, more eerie, but also in more pain. The echoes fade fast and all that's left is the darkness and the sound of their own breath, the only other noise.]

::Julie lets go of Andrea.::

"I think it's that way."

::She points down toward one of the more narrow passages.::

(Azura would've been happy here.)

"Why would he run away like that?"

"I don't know, I don't know why, I don't know why anybody would."

::Tears roll down Andrea's cheeks, but it's too dark to tell. She's so scared, for herself and Julie as well as Hunos.::

"Don't let go of me, promise you won't."

::Julie takes Andrea's hand and kisses it.::

"I promise."

::She holds it firmly and starts to head down where she thinks the noise came from. Somewhere inside, she hopes it's the wrong way.::

[Unfortunatley, there's a promise you can't keep. Julie suddenly finds her self dragged away from Andrea at a speed she can't comprehend and before she can fathom where she's going she's in pitch black and all alone. Possibly.]

::Julie looks around, but nothing, she can't see anything. She feels around trying to find something.::

(Don't panic. Don't panic.)

"ANDREA!!"

"Julie! JULIE!"

::Andrea just stands there and screams.::

"JULIE! Where are you?"

"ANDREA!"

::Julie lets out a sob, she's scared.::

"ANDREA GET OUT OF HERE!!"

[Though both in two different locations both girls feel a sharp sting in their ankles at the same time. If they looked, they'd see the dull light reflected from a purple scorpion's shiny exoskeleton as it recedes back into the ground. Both of you will feel queazy and unsettled instantly, the confusion and dissorientation growing until, in three of this thread's posts, you will both pass out.::

::Andrea yelps and brings her foot up, hopping away from whatever stung her.::

"Nn..."

::She starts to feel sick, stumbling a little.::

"Julie?"

::Although she can't see, she knows her vision's gone funny.::

::Julie retreats her ankle now that she's sitting. She shakes her head trying to make sense of what's going on. She sees the scorpion's body.::

"Oh no..."

::She has trouble flicking her lighter on but even when she does, she can't tell what she's seeing.::

"Andrea..."

::Panting now, Andrea wipes the cold sweat from her forehead, recognising this feeling.::

(No.)

::Knowing that the dizziness and nauseated sensations can only mean one thing, she quickly drops onto her knees and presses her forehead onto the ground. It doesn't help. She's aware of the dangerous potions strapped around her waist, and gently slides onto her side. They're fine - they're all nestled safely in heavy-duty leather, but it's good to be safe. As the confusion overcomes her, Andrea's eyes flicker shut and she passes out.::

::Julie lets out a long breath before passing out and falling limp on the catacomb floor.::

[Two large and heavy creatures approach the girls seperately as they lie on the damp ground of the passage. The one who approaches Julie takes her and drags her to the entrance and up into the light, unmasking itself as a mangy hyena, before changing into a huge vulture and picking her up in its claws and flying her to The Cliffs.

The one with Andrea takes it's time dragging her still body through the caverns, making it's way into a much larger room, lit by many candles in wrought iron brackets and candleabras. The place itself is still dark, being in the heart of the catacombs, amidst the maze of passages. There is a large table with various pieces of equipment on it. Bottles, knives, herbs. A huge cauldron bubbles in the corner, fumes rising as the kindle fire provides heat.

When Andrea awakes, she will see a dark figure over by the cauldron, moving around with purpose, robes dragging in the ground behind. She will still feel dizzy, but no longer sick, a dull headache weakly throbbing in her skull. Her arms and legs are secured to the wall with heavy chains, securing her in the sitting possition. She will also see, once her vision clarifies, the still figure of a very familiar cat sprawled across the floor in a pool of it's own blood.]

::Andrea's head suddenly twitches, having been slumped down over her chest for a while now. She makes a soft grunting sound as she starts to come to, her body feeling strange to her. Disoriented, Ands weakly opens her eyes and sees a whole mess of colour, mainly red, is that fire?::

"J..."

::Her mouth doesn't seem to want to work with her. Rolling her head back, she winces as it lightly hits against the wall, and she realises that her hands feel so heavy because the clasp of a chain is hooked around each one. And her ankles. She doesn't have much room for movement, but at least she's sitting down, which means she can probably stand up. Not that she's going to try. Her head swings from side to side, trying to find Julie. She looks left, then right, then left again because she forgot that she'd already checked that side. Nothing. Finally Andrea focusses on what's in front of her. A person wearing a cloak or something doing... she frowns. She doesn't know what, but the figure looks like they're not wasting time. Her eyes travel down to the body on the ground. Suddenly her alertness returns and she scrambles forward only to bounce back, the chains clinking and crashing against one another.::

"Hunos!"

::She only barely manages to choke the name.::