Combat

Thunder reverberated around the chamber as Seymour and his associates arrived, the five archmages bursting into existence in and around the electrified cages, and for a moment only adding to the general panic as they strode like gods amongst the terrified crowd
One of the Retributors stretched and loomed high above Seymour, its shadowy jaws distending hideously at it opened its maw to consume him.
The archmage barely glanced at the thing before it blew apart in a wet mess of rapidly dissolving darkness, its black “blood” splashing gorily over a nearby nobleman who fell screaming to the floor as his body was slowly eaten away into nothingness
Seymour paid the man little heed as he strode past, his robes and his long grey hair billowing wildly in the unearthly wind as he made his way towards the dais

A series of explosions rocked the ground as the cages were blown open, their screaming human contents spilling out into the main chamber, perused by the shadowy Retributors, the creature’s snapping jaws, tearing people from existence

Cass arrived a few moments later, teleported in along with a squad of shock troops, by a witch who almost immediately sagged to the ground, exhausted by her efforts, the troops immediately deploying and opening fire, killing several of the nearby Retributors in a brutal display of violence
Sensing fresh prey, more of the shadow creatures swarmed in, the troops laying down a heavy suppressing fire; their weapons maiming and killing Retributors and nobles alike, all dying beneath the onslaught of their energy weapons

Playing the part alloted to her by Seymour, Cass hurriedly crouched down next to the stricken witch to and attended to the woman, her fingers gently pushing her lolling head up and over onto one side to stab a syringe full of silver liquid into the woman’s neck and inject her with it

Jay and others burst into existence nearby, he and the troops with him shifting formation along with those accompanying Cass and others nearby to form a loose defensive circle, indiscriminately slaughtering anything that moved nearby
The witch, a young woman in her late teens, or early twenties twitched and slowly stirred in Cassandra's arms as whatever she had just injected her with started taking effect, her powers somehow returning to enable her to join the fight


Seymour in the meantime had converged with the other archmages at the top of the dais where the gate Anubis had set up was slowly completing it's charging cycle
As a trusted and valued member of Seymours elite, the maco had made the very best of a bad situation, but the Retributors seemed to be crawling out of the pit in ever increasing numbers and even in spite of the rebel shock troops that had ‘ported in, the risk of all their positions being overrun was very real

One of the archmage’s, an ancient looking and heavily tattooed and tanned, bald man met Seymours eye
“Do it” he nodded
“But, an innocent?” Seymour protested, his nose wrinkling in distaste
“It must be done” one of the others, a witch, hissed; her voice somehow carrying over the howl of the unearthly wind buffeting the place "You know as well as I that only the blood of an innocent will seal the gate"
“You must, otherworlder” another nodded “If you don’t we will”
Seymour closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, as he extended his arm out sideways over the seething melee playing out on the floor below
“Come” he murmured, a figure almost immediately detaching itself from the crowd to levitate up towards the top of the dais
“I’m so sorry Katrina” Seymour breathed, slipping a knife out from within his robes as the tanned, bottle blond floated, wide-eyed and struggling towards him "Your death will be for the greater good"

The other archmage’s began a low chant, the air blistering with magical energy as Seymour stepped, knife in hand, towards the alternate Dwarfer, still writhing helplessly in mid-air at the top of the dais


Down on the ground, things were getting hairy
Retruibutors were massing in ever increasing numbers, the shock troops barely holding their line as wave after wave of the creatures broke against their ranks
The young witch by Cassandra’s side suddenly winced and ceased her magic’s to gaze up towards the top of the dais
“See” she hissed, pointing up towards the archmage's and the struggling alt-Katrina
Momentarily glancing away from the increasingly desperate combat, Cass looked up towards where the drama was unfolding the top of the dais
“What’s he...?” she managed
“Don’t you fucking dare!” alt-Jay yelled nearby, wheeling with his rifle to fire a blast of energy up towards Seymour

<tag>
What’s everyone doing while this happens?
How does it end?
Over to you
</tag>

<ooc>Apologies for the poor quality - It's late, so will edit tomorrow </ooc>