Xinae is too greedy for her own good.

They moved silently through the small, abandoned graveyard, until Xinae passed by an intricately carved, gothic crypt - with a rusty, yet noticeably intact, lock. Cal glared at her, knowing exactly what she was thinking, and the two shared a strained, whispered conversation.

"Ehhh, we probably have enough time to do a cheeky bit of graverobbing."

"Xinae. Focus on the mission."

"Calm down, those risen aren't going anywhere. Let's see what we can find!"

"There is a powerful undead around here. Now is not the time."

"The lords aren't THAT powerful. We can take it. We might find something good! And if we come back with cool shit, Miss Fancypants will be so very very impressed. You know, she might even ~reward~ you..."

Cal's eyes bulged at the mention of a reward from Naomi, and Xinae took the opportunity to easily break the lock and slip inside. However, as soon as she crossed the border, she froze. A deep, inhuman roar of primal rage echoed across the cemetery - but that wasn't why she froze. She froze because she had stepped on some sort of mystic sigil... and been paralysed by its powerful curse. She still had enough movement to breath, and more importantly for Xinae her ability to speak wasn't affected. "Cal! Cal, uh... I might have triggered a little bit of a curse... I can't move. Um, what was that noise...?"

Cal was already moving, speaking through the stone. "Xinae, we'll discuss your extremely stupid decision later. I can't free you from that magic, we'll need Lady Naomi. But you woke up that lord, and this one sounds... large. I'll try to keep it off you, you try to get Naomi here. Don't worry, we're going to get through this." She moved quickly but stayed low, hoping she could see the lord before it saw her. And see it she did, as it burst through the wall of the chapel, bellowing. She gulped. She thought these things were meant to be thin, dry husks, manageable, cowardly spellcasters. This one was not.

He (and it was definitely a he) was huge, probably seven feet tall, desiccated grey skin taut with rippling muscles,... and he had the equipment to match his size, already at half mast while he sniffed at the air like a beast. His face was expressionless and strangely artificial, uncanny in its lack of change. Cal shivered, trying not to look below the lich's waist, as Xinae's panicked voice projected through the stone. "Um... Naomi's not answering... She's probably still fighting. What was that crash? It sounded scary."

Even her quiet, magically broadcast voice was enough for the lord to perk his ears up. He started stalking towards the gravestone Cal was hiding behind, as she struggled to control her breathing. Throwing a rock to distract him, she moved further away from Xinae's location, whispering as quietly as possible. "Listen, I think this 'lust aura' or whatever it is... it definitely affects risen too. We can't allow this thing to catch us. I'll try to draw it away, okay?" Xinae's worried voice came through the stone again, sounding a little intrigued despite herself. "What makes you say that?? What is this thing? Does it look weird, is it doing something pervy? Oh, fuck..."

Cal tried not to let her horror come through her voice as she realised the creature had started lazily stroking itself to full hardness, sniffing harder and moving back towards the crypt housing Xinae's trapped body. "It's... well, it's... um, touching itself. And it has a, a quite... anyway. Xinae, I think I'm going to have to get this thing to chase me, it's getting too close to you. I'll be fine, there's no fucking way I'm letting this freak catch me. Stay calm and wait for Naomi. Here we go."