There hadn’t been as many volunteers for sewer duty, so Caelan was glad for the help he could get. The undead that roamed about weren’t that bad, not too difficult to dispatch compared to other things... Honestly, even just immobilizing them was as good as separating their head from their bodies if it came down to it. The real problem was knowing there were more cunning or dangerous things lurking in the sewers and being outnumbered by shambling corpses while being surprised by that was not on his to-do list.

He’d already tried death on for size, and it decidedly didn’t suit him.

So as one drew close he moved in with practiced precision, knives flashing forward to take out its leg and knock it off balance.

He raised a brow at Ignis when the man responded. The selkie had wanted to get to know the guy, especially with how entirely smitten Nida was with him. Caelan’s mind was one part curiosity, and one part ‘this lad is dating my best friend, he better be good for him.’ This was not how he’d expected them to meet, but it also wasn’t the strangest meeting he’d had in his life. “Grand, I’d hate to send you home covered in sewage.”

Ignis would find that in situations like these, Caelan was just as chatty as he would be if they were sitting around a tavern.

“Yeah, cats do tend to be a bit picky about the company they keep. At least the ones I’ve known have been.” He responded casually. Sure, he’d been speaking of fae cats, but the point still stood. They were finicky and they could be just as particular about the state of their company as any regular cat. With another small sidelong glance to check on Ignis, he side stepped a hand reaching out for him and kicked the creature back out of reach before he moved back to the one he was on.

Caelan didn’t really expect Ignis to say much about Nida, but that wasn’t necessary. After all, he already knew enough to have gotten an idea about the two of them. It would be nice to get to know the guy a little better is all. What was important now was 1. Keeping an eye on the undead to avoid complications, and 2. Keeping an eye on the door they were guarding for unpleasant surprises.

“Listen, you wrinkly old prune, I’m telling ya. You’re not my type, and I’m certainly not agreeable to your company.” He muttered sarcastically as the undead he’d kicked away was moving in again. The other zombie now laying in a heap at his feet, he made sure this one would join it with a few quick slashes to take the leg out from under this one as well to get at its head better. Caelan was, after all, shorter than average.

Glancing at Ignis a moment later, he hummed a little at the fire magic infused into the other man’s blades. “Neat trick, lad. Definitely effective as far as these things are concerned.” His own magic was hardly useful in combat, at least on land. Here he was as good as a skillful human that was decent enough at taking down other less skillful humans if he had to... but that was about it.

That Ignis could appreciate Caelan’s banter with their rather witless opponents was good, because it was unlikely to stop anytime soon. As it was, there was a small bit of stress relief in this job. So much pent up frustration that he’d been containing over the last few weeks, few months even, with this world. Considering how little he could do, how little control he’d had over the situation, especially after dying... It was good to have the upper hand on something.

Decapitating the next zombie, he stepped over its corpse to drive the others back a little further. The more room there was around the door the better, after all. “It’s something to note for the future. Working out the weakness could prove useful if this ever gets to be a problem again. The sewers are full of these bloody things.”

Part of him rather wished Ignis was on the other side of the door at that realization, unsure if anyone who went in had fire magic or not. It would be useful if the liche was similar to the undead in any way...

That gets a small chuckle out of him, “Well, sure, those of us who know how to take something or someone apart can do that just fine. There’re people who aren’t so skilled with blades, though. If magic is more their forte, the fire weakness is a good one to know.” 

Sidestepping lightly away from one to come up behind it and knock it over, he considered something. “Honestly, not a bad idea to start compiling how things down here work. Even stuff that seems familiar to me isn’t the same... and I don’t know about you, but I’ve already had a hard time discouraging someone from exploring down here on their own.” 

Normally he might not have cared about it so much. The map was enough for him to feel more confident in wandering around down here. Unfortunately, there was a small pre-teen vampire that he didn’t trust to not get into trouble if he ever disappeared again.

Caelan had the benefit of time on his side. Almost two hundred years gave a troublemaker like him plenty of experience. The fact that he looked as young as he did often made others underestimate him, or impressed them. Balancing and multitasking was important when you spent most of your time tricking humans and pulling off elaborate heists. Things could go wrong at a moment’s notice. You had to learn to stay on your toes and to think on the fly when things didn’t go off as planned. This wasn’t nearly so complicated, just a little more dangerous. 

“Nice shot, Ignis.” He responded with a grin, eyes darting to the skeleton that’s skull had just been impaled. Really, the few people he’d met that could summon weapons like that were very impressive. That was a rare ability, and a useful one. He had to be careful to keep a hand on his own weapons, to lose them would be inconvenient for so any reasons.

The selkie huffed lightly, darting around behind another one of the undead to avoid being grabbed and kicked the back of its legs out from under it before turning on another. “Exactly, they’re a convenient shortcut.” Or get away route... “At least as long as you don’t get cornered by anything.”

“And with the random frequency of people arriving or leaving, it makes less sense to put in the effort to track everyone’s skill levels as easily as we can just gather and compile information on the creatures down here to at least give everyone a chance.” That was the problem, not everyone had the skills to be using the sewers as shortcuts. He’d met a few people who came from rather normal worlds without magic by comparison, though at least that seemed to be a rarity so far.

Caelan couldn’t help but grin though at the idea of boredom setting in that much. Turning on his heel to drive a knife into another foe, Caelan responded with an amused tone. “If you ever hear me complaining of boredom, that means I’m likely five minutes from making things less boring.” He responded jokingly. Well... the selkie wasn’t exactly joking about that. It was just likely to be more chaotic than necessary.

Ignis wasn’t wrong, mischief was very much a part of his very nature. The problem was, he did sometimes get carried away with it, and that’s when the real trouble started. It was why his team was so important back home, they knew when it was time to step in and snap him out of it.

He couldn’t say what would happen when he lich was dead, but it would be interesting to know if these things were actually tied to it or if they were simply something that lingered in the sewers. He chuckled slightly, shoving one of the undead creatures into another to knock them off balance and into the sewer waters with a satisfying little splash. “Yeah, this’ll do for now. Not my usual brand of busy, but I’m always up for helping a friend.”

And Yuna had given him things to do here, she was a good friend and he’d do what he could to lend a hand if he was able.

Caelan glanced at Ignis with a little curiosity, healing potions? “Yeah? Those could come in handy, better that we not need them at all though.” He had experience with people using healing magic here, but it was hard to say if a potion would work or not considering he wasn’t exactly a human. Human made potions weren’t always effective on the fae, and he had to be careful.

He did have a jar of sea-fae made healing balm, but that was for emergencies only. Like iron burns. Not something he expected he could replenish in this world.

The idea of these undead creatures reassembling themselves is met with a wrinkle of his nose, he did not like the idea at all. “Well if they do go putting themselves back together, I guess we’ll know why there always seems to be so many down here.” Because if they never properly died, then it wasn’t as though this was going to do much more than stall the things. “Then again, they do seem to collapse rather quickly if you destroy the skull.” He’s just short, and needs to keep cutting them down a little.

As long as they can keep the entrance clear for if Yuna and the others needed a quick exit, that was good enough for him for now. He trusted Yuna a lot, she was a capable woman and seemed more than able to handle herself. The way she talked, she clearly had experience with these things and she had a good team with her. Caelan just hoped she’d been right, even the best laid plans could go awry in his experience.

“That I can’t tell you for certain,” The fae weren’t generally welcome around the holy, many graveyards walled by iron fences for a few reasons. But it was an interesting point. Of course, that only brings his mind to what Yuna spoke of when they started organizing this. “But Yuna seemed to indicate to me that putting the dead to rest was something she was accustomed to back in her world? She could sense the souls trapped within the cemetery walls, which was what drew her attention to all this.”

Which was why, as rare as it was for him to take in interest in ghosts or the dead, he had volunteered to help her out. That and his need to map out the sewers in the first place, of course.

Caelan would say, if he were asked, that most people in this world had more to them than met the eye. It was almost funny, in a way.

“I’m not entirely sure how her ability works, but it is possible. Especially if spirits want to be put to rest, I can’t imagine if I could become a ghost that I’d enjoy the whole... trapped in a weird limbo with so many rules and missing out on much.”

That draws a small chuckle from him, “I do pride myself in making those now and again, Ignis.” Forever chatty, always making a point to keep a conversation interesting. It was a habit of his, and a valuable one when he was trying to endear himself to a mark. Problem was, the selkie rarely turned the habit off.

As some would say, he had the gift of gab.

Continuing his little dance of take the dead out at the knee and then removing the head, he hummed a little. “If I were a ghost,” Which he knew he’d never be, being fae and all. Dead was dead, unless you were here apparently. “I’d probably make a habit of being a pain in the ass to those who deserve it, you know? Just constant ghostly harassment. Knock stuff over, noise all night, yeah?”

Not much different from alive, then.

Ignis wasn’t particularly wrong in his imagined ghost-Caelan. The selkie was a little more prone to the mischievous than the malicious... Unless someone tugged at his temper in a particular way. Just ask some whalers that crossed him and his crew during his time at sea a few years back.

Ducking easily under an outreached arm, he grabbed it instead and used the momentum to send the undead into another to land in a heap that he could dispatch with a few slices. “Now that’s a good question, Ignis.” He grinned a little, glancing over at the other man. “Being a ghost, it’d be a lot easier to follow a possible mark. See how they interact with others, watch for red flags, get a look at their lives before deciding to instigate some chaos.”

Honestly, he was a bit of an expert at spotting people in need of a lesson at this point.

Caelan shoved another of the undead out of his path, before turning back to face Ignis with a raised brow. “Define bigger?” He responded and tilted his head in the direction Ignis was looking...

“The bleedin’ hell is that?” He squinted a bit before tightening the grip on his daggers, “Ah, grand. Just grand. Suppose that checks out with what’s going on.” The fight within must be calling more formidable creatures to the doorway, to help or something...

“Hello tall, dark and undead.” Caelan muttered as the much larger zombie came into view. This one appeared to move with a little more ease than it’s counterparts did as well. Probably influenced by the dark magics that had been awoken.

Backing up some, Caelan shifted his stance and glanced to Ignis. “Listen, while I’m not exactly unused to larger dance partners, this isn’t exactly my chosen ballroom if you catch my drift?” Probably not, but he was hoping there’d be no questions.

Swallowing a little, he darted out of the thing’s way. “If I distract it, do you reckon that you could use your fancy fire to knock its head off in a couple blows?”

And that was good enough for him for a confirmation. A plan in place, Caelan sliced down another one of the undead and removed its head from its with a few swift slices, “Hey! Big guy! Look over here!” He gave a shout before lobbing the skull at the creature to draw it’s attention to him and away from Ignis to help give the man an opening to attack.

Caelan kept an eye on Ignis, wincing a little as the man was thrown about a bit. He made sure to keep the smaller skeletons and zombies away from the man while he took down the larger undead.

Kicking a last skeleton into the sewer water, he turned quickly to watch it go down, “Nice work, Ignis!”

Caelan cut down a few more, making Ignis’ path a little easier as he made his way back over. That had been an unfortunate surprise that they hadn’t anticipated, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. They’d have a long day ahead of them, perhaps longer depending on how Yuna and the others were doing.

(ooc: FTB with them continuing to bond over taking down the undead?)