Alright, whose bright idea was it to use the sewers instead of the usual route above ground? Oh right, it was his idea in the first place. Truth be told, it had sounded really good in theory. Use the system underneath as travel pathway, and act like a gopher, jumping in and out of manholes. His mana abilities wouldn't be wasted (which was important considering he was an extraction type) and he'd have the element of surprise on his side. Unfortunately, the blasted idiot had forgotten one thing: he had no idea about the layout of the sewer system. Unlike Vince who'd gotten a map of the area, Rick had winged it and went around with a compass and his gut. And he'd also forgotten about the fact caves and sewers always made him a bit queasy. Not just the smell, but the fact that he couldn't see the sky at all. Rick, though he didn't care to admit it, was bit claustrophobic. Kind of ironic, since out of all of them, Rick had the best chance of survival in case of a cave-in. That still didn't brush off the unease he felt.
So that's how he'd spent the past hour, going around in circles in Ashenhale's sewer system. For someone who had the mana of gravity, it seemed he couldn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation. He was singing to himself, the sounds he made inappropriate for the doom and gloom aura of his surroundings. It was a very welcome distraction though. The stink was horrifying, but considering the length of time he'd been underground, his nose had grown accustomed to it.
"Blast it, I give up. Where's the nearest exit?" Finally admitting defeat, the brown-haired sighed and flashed his light across the walls, trying to find a sign for some stairs. "You'd think they'd put neon arrows down here, pointing the way outside." Well of course they wouldn't, Rick, because no one's supposed to be down here in the first place. But as was typical Rick, he didn't think of that situation and instead kept complaining about the lack of directional signs.
"And this is how I meet my end~ With only rats and bones and pee as friends~" The man broke into a song, his footsteps sounding like gunshots against the silence. "In a dark cave -- holy crap what was that?" A silhouette moved quickly, the sounds of his footsteps echoing in the dark cavern. He wasn't sure what exactly that was, but if it was a mana-eater, it was his job to take it down, and fast. While the bigger threat was aboveground, having one of these things lurking around in the sewers (which so happen to be connected to other places) was not something to be taken lightly. He followed after the shadow, almost catching up. It was then that he saw the shape was human -- but Rick didn't let his guard down. Mana-eaters taking on humanoid features and shapes wasn't anything unusual. Plus what would another person be doing down... a guardian!
"Hey, wait --" The hallway suddenly ended and he almost pushed the other guy in. But the sight of a human forming from nothing but bone held Rick stiff... until he noticed a group nearby. He didn't doubt one bit whatever was forming wasn't good news for the people down there and he wasn't about to let it hurt them. Someone stop the altruistic idiot.
Unfortunately the idiot-stopper never came, and Rick jumped into the fray almost simultaneously as the skeleton formed its axe and made its leap. The good news is, Rick managed to grab a hold of an arm and throw him down with gravity. The bad news is, touching it was apparently a very big pet peeve and it exploded at the brunette.
Quite literally.
However the suddenly increase in the force of gravity had come unexpected, and the most damaging parts of the explosion was thrown right back at the bone throne. Since he hadn't turned off his powers yet when the thing exploded, most of the larger projectiles immediately fell back down to the ground, avoiding crushing the people around them. That didn't stop some of the other, smaller things from flying off in different directions. Namely, someone's femur hit Rick square on the head, and someone's rib cage decided to try dislodging his own. The splintered off sections from the bones that were directly hit by the explosion? They decided to make themselves right at home in Rick's thick skin.
Forty percent.
The robotic voice sounded loud in the aftermath of the explosion. Only one voice answered back to it, muffled and buried underneath bones.
"Aw shit, I forgot to charge."