Truth be told, Prince Thaddeus's spirits are beginning to flag a bit following all of their losses up to this point. Would they really find Hylii again if they continued exploring? They certainly hadn't found Violetta, and would probably not be seeing Norlash again until the raid was complete. There is some hope in the fact that the monster had kidnapped the mage rather than simply killed him, but for what purpose? To use as a hostage during the guardian battle, perhaps?

Even aside from Hylii's fate in specific, the prince is hardly blind to the fact that his followers, who had once qualified as nearly being a small army many months ago, had now been reduced to...four. Perhaps in some ways it simplifies things. He had made many promises in his initial recruitment, offering land, titles, money. He had every intention of following through on those promises, but at the initial size of the expedition it would have been...difficult. Now he has a following he can reward with his pocket change if it comes to it, or at least once he returns home. Yet it's hardly a tale of glory to lose so many, is it? He would continue even if he was the last one remaining, but gods, would that be -

The man's thoughts are diverted from his reflection as he ducks to avoid the lash of a stinger whipping over his head, requiring him to focus as he removes it with a flick of his blade. The party had taken another portal and found themselves in yet another waterlogged tunnel, although fortunately this one is at least horizontal. Horrors had ambushed them from both sides once they were halfway through but honestly it had hardly seemed to require much of his attention.

Linda's barrier blocks off the front half of the tunnel while Thaddeus and Reed clear the threat to their rear, a threat kept limited thanks to a smaller barrier being produced by Tizzy. Only one monster at a time can manage to fit through to attack the party, and despite the mounting injuries on the swordsmen the two find themselves easily up to the task. Tizzy's light spells help quite a bit with that, removing the oppressive atmosphere of the dungeon's design, and it occurs to Thaddeus again just how much he's relying on the half-imp scout. As Reed slays the latest horror with a rapier through the skull the prince's thoughts again wander, this time concerning the members of his party still alive and with him.

Linda is a powerful mage, to be certain. Highly focused in her skills, which is both a positive and a negative. When allowed to concentrate on a single barrier as she's doing right now the dungeon's monsters have absolutely no chance of breaking through it. Indeed it's almost a little pathetic watching the insectoid beasts clawing at her magic, their mandibles snapping open and closed in frustration. Yet despite her rather high level of expertise, Cogswell has far less flexibility than one might expect from a mage of her talents. She can fire off a few blasts, and the wands she carries around as sidearms give her a few other options such as the traditional lightning bolts or fireballs. But her focus makes her predictable, and Thaddeus worries that predictability is perhaps the worst weakness someone could have against a foe like this dungeon. He'll have to keep an eye out for counters against her magic when the final battles come.

Nalain, well, you could sum up her fighting talents with a single word: 'warrior'. The half-orc is quite traditional in her equipment - heavy armor, shield, sword. A vital role in a party to be sure, and while her equipment may not match up to Thaddeus's her strength is probably superior. She does have a few other tricks up her sleeves as well. The woman knows a personal barrier spell, and while she's not as good at it as Tizzy is, in a pinch it can mean the difference between life and death. She's also been steadfastly loyal since he's known her, an excellent trait to have. But aside from that, the woman was just one of hundreds if not thousands just like her where she came from. Not a character flaw to be sure, but perhaps a bit...unremarkable.

Meanwhile Reed is a man notable mostly for his flaws. The adventurer was trained as a fencer like his father, and while being a duelist certainly has its strengths in his homeland it's proven rather...less effective on many of their journeys since. It's a fighting style specifically designed for fighting other humanoids who are also armed with swords, and ideally fighting in a very similar style. Not exactly many of those to be found in a dungeon. It's honestly remarkable that the man's survived this long, but if Thaddeus could trade him for Hylii or Gerliari...or honestly, even for Reed's father, the prince would be highly motivated to make that exchange.

But Tizzy Barrelbottom...Thaddeus considers now that he may have underestimated her. He'd always known of her talents as a scout, and had especially come to rely on her after they had started doing more cautious inspections of new realms before bringing across their entire force to a new world. He'd known that her scouting talents were at least half magical, a rather unusual skillset in his experience. But her sheer flexibility. Perception, illusions, barriers. She only has a single notable attack in her pink-colored arcane beams, but its power level is nothing to scoff at. And now the decoys she's using, disguising both herself, Linda, and Thaddeus with false copies? True, Linda is helping to provide some of the magical power for those, particularly their solidity, but Thaddeus knows the core of the spell was Tizzy's.

Now more than ever he needs Tizzy to survive. With all the tricks the dungeon can pull, he'll need that sort of flexibility in both skills and mind to counter them, and...ah. The prince shakes his head as he realizes Tizzy is in fact saying something at the current moment. "I'm sorry, Tizzy, I was a bit distracted for a moment. Could you repeat that?"

"No problem, my lord - the rear's clear! Want Linda to drop her barrier so we can keep moving forward?"

"Indeed - my 'brothers' and I shall take the lead. Linda, if you would?" Once all three Thaddeuses are in position the Force Mage cancels the magic blocking off the front side of the tunnel, and while a trio of horrors are waiting for them on the other side they find themselves to be quickly outmatched. In the tight confines of the tunnel the princes make for an excellent shield wall, and they cut down the monsters fairly quickly. The false princes do have a slightly harder time cutting through the creatures' thick, rubbery skin, but on the other hand at least their illusory swords aren't at risk of melting from their acidic blood once they do puncture through.

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Finally the chamber is cleared and the party finds themselves at another crossroads - this time with a portal ring on one side of the room and another heavy, hatch-like metal door on the other. Tizzy looks back towards Thaddeus, having no particular insight on which route is better, and Thaddeus in turn looks to Nalain. "Nalain, if you would be so kind as to get the door? At least we won't have to worry about getting split up if we take that route."

"On it, my lord." The warrior sheathes her weapon so that she can put her full strength into turning the wheel that opens the door, and with a groan it eventually begins to loosen. "Might've been getting too used to having Hylii around - I'm actually having to put some effort into these damn things without his boosts."

"We can still hope that - watch out!" Just as Nalain pushes the hatch open a set of giant, spidery legs appear in the revealed space, reaching out for the woman. She moves quickly to activate her personal barrier, but Thaddeus is even quicker, leaping between the door and herself. That only gets him caught up in the ambush instead however, and the party looks on in horror as a humanoid face leans down, splits open a mandible-like jaw, and crushes the prince's skull between its teeth.

At least they're saved from the view of brains and gore when the illusory prince fades out of existence a moment later. Several members of the group breathe a sigh of relief, but the monster only looks disappointed.

"Bah! It didn't even taste like anything! Waste of a good surprise, wouldn't you say?"

Linda's eyes narrow. "Sevastion! You traitor! How many of us are dead now because of you and your sister!? When we succeed in moving this place, I hope the two of you don't survive the process."

The drider-like Wandering Boss laughs, an echoing sound that doesn't seem at all human. "Why should the dead fear death? It seems to me you're just upset that we achieved our goals faster than you - we already serve grandmother, and live and die according to her wishes! I could do the same for you, if you wish."

Thaddeus bares his teeth. "Is what what you did with Hylii? Offered him the 'choice' to be bound to this place?"

The monster shakes his head. "Hylii's fate is not for I to decide. Grandmother shall be his ultimate arbiter...but not right now. He is hidden from you, a boon for his...positive performance on his earlier visits."

Tizzy frowns. "So what now? The rest of us are all on the naughty list so you're free to try and wipe us out? You might find that easier said than done. Or do you have more of those little 'tests' for us?"

Sevastion again shakes his head, but this time with a grin. "No more tests - or at least not from me. Save perhaps for the ultimate test! Fight me, and we shall see who dies today!"

The giant spider-like man steps back from his side of the hatchway, giving the party room to move in after him, and Thaddeus - or at least one of the remaining two Thaddeuses - doesn't hesitate to step through first. it's a large circular chamber with no other exit aside from a small hole in the ceiling, apparently a mini-arena designed for Sevastion's use. The walls are supported with ridged, spine-like structures, and small puddles of acid dot the floor although at least they're minimal compared to those within Lollyp's arena.

Sevastion gives the party time for each of them to make their way through before pointing at Tizzy. "You declined a most generous offer from my sister earlier. You have chosen your fate, so perhaps you should be the first to DIE." The word is spoken with more than just his mouth, and although it gives everyone in the group a headache it seems to affect Tizzy the most. The small woman clenches her head, falls to her knees - and vanishes, only to reappear several feet away. The newly appeared Tizzy is still wincing at the attack, but doesn't seem to be in immediate danger of dying.

"You can speak to souls, but you should probably try making sure you're not focusing on an illusion! He'll need a minute before he can do another Power Word spell like that, don't give him a chance!"

Thaddeus doesn't bother re-stating her suggestion as an order but instead simply yells and charges ahead, his enchanted boots leading the way. Nalain and Reed follow in soon after, while Linda pulls out one of her wands so that she can support with the occasional blast of lightning. Without the element of surprise, the advantage of numbers, or the use of his strongest spell, it would seem as if Sevastion might be in a fair bit of trouble as the swordsmen of the party surround him. And to be fair, the guardian does seem to take the threat seriously.

But that doesn't stop him from smiling and laughing as he pulls out a pair of oversized daggers and begins slashing away with them, even as his long legs begin to stab at those attempting to charge in from his flanks. His agile body ducks the first lightning bolt aimed at his torso, and while a followup aimed at his spider abdomen does land solidly it gives his exoskeleton little more than a dark burn. Tizzy fires off a blast of her own, but takes a moment to consider just how much damage Sevastion actually did to her.

Despite the the ominous sound of it, Sevastion's Power Word magic doesn't actually allow him to easily kill just anyone with a simple statement. But it does afflict a number of mental and physical effects, potentially enough to finish off an already-weak individual, and although he 'missed' her she isn't entirely unscathed. The part of her magic which allows her to cast illusions feels...wounded, somehow, and Tizzy suspects that if it weren't for Linda's support the last illusions hiding the Force Mage and duplicating the prince would have already failed. Even just trying to recast invisibility on herself results in nothing more than a sudden migraine, and she quickly decides she needs to switch tracks.

Considering Sevastion's new nature, at least one thing seems clear. He's a monster designed for quick ambushes in dark places - and while that may be a strength, it's also a weakness of its own. Raising her wand, the scout shouts out a pre-arranged codeword. "Everybody - sunrise!"

Sevastion wasn't around to hear of that particular pre-arranged code, and so he's the only one taken by surprise when a light spell goes off directly in front of his face. The man howls with a snap of his mandibles, raising a hand to cover his blinded eyes, and it's exactly the sort of opening everyone else was waiting for. Reed thrusts his rapier in between the joints of Sevastion's exoskeleton, while a Thaddeus manages to remove the monster's left hand as the man swings it wildly. Nalain meanwhile takes a bolder approach and leaps her way onto the back of the guardian's abdomen, placing her right behind his humanoid torso.

The Xenostalker rears up onto his back legs, attempting to throw the warrior off, but she quickly wraps an arm around his neck to hold herself in place. With a whisper, she doesn't hesitate to sink her blade into his spine. "Suffer the fate of all traitors, Sevastion. I hope we'll be seeing your sister soon."

The guardian collapses, paralyzed and dying, and yet again he can only laugh. "Funny, funny...even now we hope for the same thing..." He's silenced by one more thrust from the half-orc, and this time the party takes a much deeper sigh of relief.

Noticing the appearance of a new dungeon chest, Thaddeus feels relief for yet another reason. "More tokens fall into our hands - and a guardian slain without any losses! We're now very, very close indeed..."

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