++Bloodriver & Xenon++ (Overlord verse)

Regarding "things to do in this top room before we head to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team", the first thing we got done besides recruiting Landslide actually happened just after the seraphim burst out of that tank of water, namely, taking a sample of the muddy water remnants from that tank before it splashed on the ground. I simply used my blood control to coat the ground with a thin layer of blood, before scooping up the muddy water and putting it into my powered armor's compartmentalized storage.

Notably, Landslide wasn't curious enough to question why I took that muddy water remnants sample, and the other Hero Squad members knew Magnus well enough to know that the psionic 'min would want a sample of this muddy water for later psychometric analysis.

Xenon (I) asked Landslide what information about the dormant seraphim, such as their personalities, likes and dislikes, did he know about. Landslide replied, "Eh, I mighta known some of 'em, but only in passing. They come and go so quick when you're fightin' fiends." 

Hmm, that didn't inform me about each of the individuals here at all. Perhaps this calls for something more generic then, I thought, carving a message into the outside of the dormant Earth Seraphim's containers that only spirits could see. Notably, Landslide <i>was</i> curious enough to question this, so I explained to him thus: "Consider it a recruitment pitch of sorts."

We then all agreed to go down to the bottom room to back up the bottom room team, confirming to Landslide that yes, "we do have friends examining the bottom room, actually, and that we were going to head there to help them out."

"Would it be faster to bust through to the bottom room from here directly, or to just take the already existing passageway?" Candle asked, turning to look at Sigma and Landslide.

"Ah, you'd run into the roof of it that way, and whatever it's made of we never managed to get through it. Gotta take the path," Landslide replied.

"Well you heard him, let's move! Whatever they're screwing with down there, we'd better get it done before the seraphim show up," Sigma urged.

So we rushed down to the bottom room as fast as we could, Candle making a big ball of wax and rolling down in it, while the rest of us used our fastest means of getting down there. Since we had scouted this route earlier, we didn't have to spend additional time searching for hidden traps along this route.

When we made it to the bottom room and moved past the engravings, we came across a huge set of concentric rings, inscribed with glowing blue runes. Magnus was seated in the center of the rings, while Vika and Phi were fighting some suits of disembodied armor, covered in vicious spikes. These armor suits looked really tough, not taking as much damage from Vika and Phi as I had first expected.

Phi had ducked under one of the armor's extendable chain-connected fists, jamming one of his blades in an armor's joints to hinder it. Vika then slammed her staff charged with frost energy into the back of the armor, freezing it instantly, and then Phi grabbed it and slammed in into the ground <i>hard</i>, breaking the ice and cracking it. Even after Vika then blasted away at the armor, it got up again and resumed attacking with their extendable chains, so Vika fired a massive arcane beam into the armor, forcing the armor into another one, while Phi used an earthen jutsu to slam a huge rock into the two and pulverize them.

Only after a few more attacks was it confirmed for me that these armors needed to be pretty thoroughly smashed to stop them.