"Here! Take a health potion! Shit, take all of my health potions!" Tizzy immediately starts scrambling through her bag, ignoring the treasure chest that appears where Brightsky once stood, but Prince Thaddeus gestures towards Hylii instead.

With his right arm, of course.

"Please, conserve your supply, you may need them yourself and I do have my own." The man grimaces as the first stirrings of pain begin to register. "First, Hylii, can you stop the bleeding? I believe that would be...most useful at this moment..."

"Of course, my lord." The dark elf rushes over and quickly casts a spell on the prince's stump, severed between the shoulder and elbow, and the blood flowing from it dies off as if the mage had turned a faucet. "I...can't reattach the limb, that's beyond me. But I could put it into stasis, so that it will last until a more powerful healer can see to it. At least for a time."

"Thank you, do that please." Thaddeus carefully sheathes his sword and pulls a healing potion from his supplies one-handedly, with well-practiced ease, and pulls the cork from it with his teeth. He swallows half of it down, but as he examines the remainder of his limb Tizzy steps forward again.

"Here, let me, prince. And you should probably sit down, too."

Thaddeus has to smile slightly at the concern. "Before the blood loss does it for me, yes? I suppose you've had a lot of practice with first aid these past few years." He does as the scout requests, carefully sitting on his legs as he hands her the rest of the potion bottle. Taking it carefully, Tizzy begins to apply the remainder of the potion directly to the wound.

Linda approaches, but before she can ask about his well-being Thaddeus flips it around on her. "How is the rest of the party doing? Was anyone wounded by the slimes?"

She blinks for a moment, then has to scan the crowd before she can properly answer the question. "Everyone seems fine, my lord. Well...Nalain may have a concussion, but I know Hylii can treat those well enough. I don't believe Norlash and Reed took anything worse than a bruise. But - my lord, your injury!"

The prince breathes deeply, a little surprised himself at how calm he feels. Some of it may be shock for certain, and he's fairly sure Hylii deactivated his pain receptors around the wound. He'd also like to think that he's just the sort of man who remains calm under stress, but whatever the reasons may be he knows that it's just as important for him to keep the rest of the party calm. "All of you, hear me - this doesn't change the plan! Severe this wound may be, but we will not be halted! I can still fight, and I can still lead you to victory!"

Reed bows his head, looking both worried and impressed. "I must admit, my lord, this makes my own injury seem like a trifle in comparison. Is there anything we can do for it here?"

Hylii carefully removes the shield from the severed arm and moves to place both in Thaddeus's bag before answering. "My spell and a bag of holding should keep the arm in a useful state for two to three days. It...may be possible that if we do impress the dungeon, it could reward us with the healing needed to repair it here. Otherwise, I believe there should be a healer in Grassbrook capable of it. As far as being combat-capable goes...it won't be easy. With a few more healing potions and some boosts from me I believe our lord should be able to make it from here to the core chamber on his own two feet. I cannot speak to my lord's ability to fight monsters in this state, however."

The man in question considers that carefully before he responds, and he does so with a question to his mages. "Tizzy, Linda, the...ace we have been sitting on. Would it be capable of doing something about this?"

The two women share a look, and Tizzy raises a finger in Thaddeus's direction. "Ah...one minute, my lord." The pair huddle up for some hurried conversation, which quickly turns silent as Tizzy casts a noise-dampening spell. Whether or not the dungeon can still listen in, it's likely it can still pick up quite a bit of context from the many gestures they make and the expressions on their faces. Eventually, Tizzy cancels her spell and returns to the prince.

"Uh, the answer is...sort of. We could make an...arm, but we'd have no way of giving you control. It would basically be strapped on to your shoulder, but that could be enough to hold a shield? We'd have to cut down on the number of our, uh, 'aces' by one, but we'd still have plenty. Assuming you want us to play that card at all."

"A shield would be very useful, thank you. As to your question...what are your reserves? I realize we are only just now reaching the point where we thought we would begin - could you play it now and last for the rest of the raid?"

Linda handles this one. "It has been a long day, but we're better off than you might expect. The rest on Floor Five helped quite a bit, and besides - this is the end of our quest, isn't it? We still have quite the supply of mana potions left and no reason to be frugal now. Two floors should be quite within our means."

"Very well." Thaddeus raises his voice as he addresses the rest of the group. "Ten minutes rest, or however much longer Hylii needs to get Nalain back on her feet! Then once we get to Floor Eight - we show Xenia what we're truly capable of!"

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As the party steps through the portal ring leading them to the infamous 'Mimic Floor', Thaddeus clenches his left fist - then blinks as he realizes again that he has no fist to clench. The 'arm' he now sports is a little difficult to get used to, considering it's magically strapped on to a nearly-fresh wound. There's actually no weight to the thing, but he can feel the pressure as the barrier spells hold it on to what's left of his limb, and he suspects that if it weren't for Hylii killing his pain he'd probably be a screaming wreck right now.

Visually, it...sort of resembles his original arm, armor included. There was no point in spending the energy making it look lifelike given that the dungeon is surely fully aware that it's fake, but it's at least the exact same size. They'd tried a few poses for the limb and gone with one that keeps the shield held up, so that he can easily use it to defend himself. The shield itself is real, as it also cuts down on the amount of mana the pair need to expend, but Thaddeus does wonder for a moment if his false arm might not be more durable than the metal in its current state.

Regardless, the prince snaps himself out of his self-reflection in order to take stock of his environment. No one on the team had ever been to Floor Eight before, but they'd collected the rumors like anyone else and it did seem to have the appearance of a dark, windowless castle like they'd been expecting. The starting chamber is large and open - a throne room, Thaddeus realizes with some surprise. It seems like an odd place for a floor plan to start with, but then it's not as if the floor guardians actually sit upon thrones as they await adventurers. Dotting the place are decorations such as tapestries, suits of armor, candelabras, and so on, and the man shouts to ensure everyone is paying attention.

"As usual, be prepared for ambushes! This floor is known to be populated almost exclusively with mimics of all sorts and strengths. We've not been here before, so it's possible the dungeon hasn't seen fit to redesign the place specifically for our arrival. Either way I would still expect mimics to be a large part of the challenge ahead. Tizzy, Hylii, do you have methods for sussing out these monsters?"

Tizzy expression is uncertain, but Hylii seems more confident. "While mimic bodies usually don't make much sense - they're often not much more than muscle, jaws, and sensory organs - they do definitely still have organic bodies. Determining that a piece of furniture has muscle tissue is child's play, my lord. Allow me."

The dark elf casts a simple spell with a wave of his hand, but as he peers at each side of the room his frown deepens. "...Hrmmm..."

Nalain, still not in a great mood following her bout with unconsciousness at Brightsky's hand, grumbles at the elf. "Oh, c'mon, Hylii. Don't tell me the dungeon's figured out a way to counter your magic or some shit!"

"I don't think so. I just don't detect any mimics in this room, which is surprising given the size. It seems like a lot of wasted space, is all. I - ah!" He suddenly turns and faces the large set of double doors sitting opposite the throne. "There's bodies coming this way! ...A lot of them, actually. Humanoid, too."

"On your guard!" Thaddeus waves his sword and, with a grimace, raises his shield in front of him. "Be prepared for whatever comes through that door!" His followers quickly obey his commands, readying their weapons and wands. Yet they fail to be prepared in at least one aspect.

After all, none of them were expecting a party to march inside as the doors swing open.

Brightly-dressed nobles and courtiers step through, laughing and toasting with drinks on one side as bards come in playing instruments on the other. Humans, orcs, and elves all begin to spread into the hall, ignoring the adventurers as they take up positions in the corners and along the walls, having loud conversations about nothing in particular. Confused as the group may be, Thaddeus is on the verge of ordering them to attack when he notices Linda suddenly looking back and forth with widened eyes, glancing at the throne and then the partiers.

"It's - I know what this is!"

Norlash grumbles back as he attempts to keep his eye on everyone at once. "A particular form of ambush? Assassination via bardsong, perhaps?"

"No, it's - did none of you ever visit it?" She turns back to face Prince Thaddeus, someone whom she knows would be unfamiliar with what she's seen. "This is the throne room of the Fallen Tower! It - it goes through stages of being empty and being claimed by one warlord or another, I visited it once when it was in use!"

"Very well, but what is the purpose of all of this...pageantry? Why aren't they attacking us?"

A man growls, and Thaddeus finds himself surprised to see that it was Hylii rather than Norlash. "They're not what they seem to be. Look closely, my lord. At their faces."

A few of the new arrivals are actually wearing masks which makes it a little difficult, but after a moment Thaddeus realizes what the mage is talking about. Each of the attendees seems...wrong. The placement of their eyes, the sameness of their noses, their - dear gods, the prince would swear one laughing man had sideways teeth. "So...these are not Challengers taking part in some dungeon scheme, then. But what are they?"

Tizzy hazards a guess. "I've heard some dungeons do this, actually. They have the ability to make fake...people, basically, to populate scenes. Some dungeons use them for puzzles, or as hosts on rest floors. I heard there was one in the Domain that even does historical reenactments or something. They're supposed to be really weak, though? Like killing them usually isn't the point, we could wipe out this whole batch in about ten seconds."

"So this is some sort of special test then? A non-combat puzzle? I suppose...alright, everyone be on your guard, but don't slay any of them unless they turn aggressive. We need to figure out what we're dealing with."

Despite his even tone, the prince can't help but jump slightly as a jester suddenly leaps in front of them and addresses him directly.

"What you're dealing with? Oh ho, no no my young prince, you need to figure out far more than that!"

Blinking for a bit at the strange fellow, dressed in stripes of black and white and with a mask made of swirls of each, Thaddeus takes a moment to respond. "Then what exactly is it we need to figure out...sir jester?"

The figure leans in, and despite the mask Thaddeus can still hear their grin. "You need to figure out what you believe."

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