Rufus nods and quietly steps beck into the hall and to the west. "Did you hear that? I'd say something knows we're here. Be alert." Trying not to show the fear he feels, he steps willingly into the maw of Hell.
Dura follows close behind Rufus. "Oh, umm, something I should mention. Uhh, it's kind of...unusual." She sucks in a big breath and, all in one big rush, whispers, "Ican'ttalkduringcombat.Itallcomesoutasgrowls." Her cheeks burn bright red. Daniel butts his head up against her thigh. "But Daniel understands me just fine, don't you boy?" She rubs the sides of this face and nose.
"Umm, hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. Just thought you oughtta know. You know... in case."
But you can understand language while in such a state, Dura?
She nods. "Yeah, that's not a problem."
Rufus leads the way into the large chamber filled with smaller cells. The path splits to continue to the north and south, and cells line the corridor to either side before branching off to the west. The cells seem to be nondescript - each holds some age-worn debris that is barely recognizable. Most, though, hold skulls, some of which have had pieces removed - carefully, if the old bones can tell an accurate tale. The doors to the cells are all at least partially open.
Dura looks to the northern side. "Let's look down here."
leeoli nods but glances over his shoulder, and decides to give voice to his concern I'd hate to have the porticullis drop while we are within. Should one or two of us guard the lever?
"On the other hand, it might engage to separate us. I suppose we're in the stew either way. I'll go back. Who shall join me?"
Perhaps you could break the lever with that bulging muscle you seemed to have developed a moment ago, Rufus?
Rufus glances down at his arms, then proceeds down the hall toward the winch. He gives the contraption a few solid twists and jerks in an effort to lock its current position.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dura's cheeks redden a bit at Leeoli's words. She was a bit confused apparently.
Rufus uses said strength and finds a way to disable the device in the open position. The portcullis trembles a bit at the manhandling, but stays up.
The northern corridor reveals much of the same - cells, mostly open, some with a skull in it, next to the body from which it was presumably removed. The corridor turns to the south at its end, and shows more cells all of the way down to another door that leads to the south.
The south then? In a hurry, Leeoli leads south.
Dura follows behind, keeping an eye on various bodies as they pass, just in case one decides to move.
The path to the south shows much of the same - cell blocks with various pieces of people within. As you near the southern door, though, some of the skulls begin to vibrate and clatter. More than one begins to expand, as would a bladder being filled to to bursting with water. As one, the skulls rise up into the air, and seem intent upon attacking you!
Ahead and to the south, the figure of a man - short but extremely thick and well built - stands guard over the way past, his thick and calloused hand holding a smith's hammer. His entire body seems to be somewhat transluscent, though surrounded by a sickly green nimbus. The man, or dwarf perhaps, weeps openly, though his eyes show the shadows of insanity. A skull, its surfaces cracked and fractured, looms over the man's shoulder, its jaws open in the stillness of death.
Bah skeletons. Hard to poke them with my rapier.
Dura growls in a most inhuman-like way, directing Daniel to move to guard Zazeria. She also steps up and swings at the skull directly behind her.
B
As the skull easily dodges her blow, Daniel tries to swat it from the air.
B/S
"Um, Zazaria? Now might be a good time to bless my sword..."
edit: changed hammer to sword.
Though Dura misses, Daniel swats the skull from the air, slamming it into the wall, where it cracks and splits apart, then falls to the ground, lifeless once again.
Leeoli, seeing Daniels paw smash a skull against the stone corridor, decides to wait on pulling out his holy water.
He thrusts at the nearest skull with dully-lit rapier. Are they to bite at us with their teeth, or have they another trick?
I am Maleye. Your darkness ends today!
Henrick charges past Dura and into the flanking beheaded, his hands elongating into claws as he runs by. He swats at one of the skulls when he reaches it. His claw rips the head apart as the strength of his arm pins it against the bars of a cell. It splits and emits a final croak as it falls to the ground, returned to the unliving
Vrilli narrows his eyes at the dwarf, and raises his empty hand to hurl a ray of light at the creature. The ray strikes a solid hit, but does no more than cause the dwarf to look up from his sobbing. His eyes show no anger, only a profound sadness.
Leeoli recognizes the beheaded skulls as undead, clearly....but notes that they are fleshy things and should take full damage from his blade. These particular ones make noise of some sort - a scream or whine, so are a bit more dangerous than most
The dwarf seems to be something new...a spirit or haunt left from a deep sorrow. If it is a haunt, then any physical damage may not harm it.
Zazaria nods at Rufus and uses her power to imbue his weapon with the power to strike creatures that even have no physical form.
Leeoli's blade slams into one of the heads, pinning it back against the bars of a cell as his own blade passes through to the hilt. The skull stops moving, and Leeoli shakes its unmoving form off of his blade with a few attempts
One of the skulls near Vrilli enters the hallway and lets out a shrill scream, forcing all within the chamber to hold their hands to their ears involuntarily.
The skull near Henrick flies at him, attempting to slam into him with force, as two fly at Leeoli and attempt the same. Only one skull hits, and it hits a glancing blow off of Leeoli's shoulder.
Directly after the skulls make their attack, the fragmented skull over the dwarf's shoulder turns slightly and seems to breathe or emit some foul essence into the dwarf. The dwarf's water-soaked eyes blaze and he leaps through the air at Leeoli, bringing his hammer down in a downward stroke of power. The swing misses as the Maleye deftly slips aside, and somehow the dwarf's form returns to its position just beside the hovering skull...as if nothing had happened.
Leeoli flinches at the piercing scream, but holds his ground. Bah!
The banshee shriek of the floating skulls adds only little to the horror already visited upon the scene by the Marauder and his bone menagerie. Clenching his teeth as the adrenaline takes hold, Rufus stalks through the hall with his freshly-blessed sword, swinging wildly at one of the skulls near Leeoli.
Leeoli drops his rapier, letting it swing at his side. Trusting to his magical shield to protect him, he draws a glass vial of holy water, steps toward the dead dwarf, and slings the sanctified water.
Dura barely shrugs off the horrifying sound. (Daniel may not be so lucky, depending on if it affects animals).
Rufus swings at one of the skulls between himself and the dwarf, but narrowly misses the flying thing as it flits about.
Dura moves forward hoping to take advantage of Vrilli's position.
Her mace connects with the skull (I believe). Daniel stays put, momentarily confused and unsure.
Henrick roars in animalistic fury, then rips at the head before him with both claws, attempting to rend the thing in two. He misses with the first, but catches the weaving thing in his second attack. Ripped nearly in half, the thing falls to the ground, once again lifeless.
Vrilli once again hurls a ray of positive energy at the dwarf, and again is rewarded with a hit. The dwarf sobs still, his shoulders bobbing, but the skull hovering nearby hisses out a sound.
Leeoli pins one skull to the bars of a cage, his rapier splitting it down the middle. Dura has equal success, her mace sending a skull careening down the corridor, making an awful clatter as it bounces off nearly every cell.
Zazaria steels herself and stalks forward, her fist clutching the symbol of Pharasma about her neck. She calls upon the power of her goddess to force the vile things about them to her judgement.
The final skull falls to the ground, its animation case away by the power of Zazaria's faith.
The dwarf grunts in pain from the blow, and seems to stagger. He puts his two meaty, caloused hands to his head and screams out his sorrows, as the skull beside him hisses and begins to whisper in his ear once again.
As the whisperings of the skull draw to a close, the dwarf nods and raises his eyes to the next skull he hadn't tried - that of Rufus. His form seems to elongate, and take an impossibly long step before slamming his hammer down at his living target.
Once again, his hammer blow misses its mark, and the blurred form of the dwarf returns to its original place. The skull begins harshly whispering in his ear, as if chastising him.
Rufus looks between the skull and the apparition. It's clear the former is exerting some kind of control. Steeling himself with a deep breath, he steps forward and, with a grunt, whirls his sword in an overhand chop. He aims for the skull.
Rufus's massive sword slams down on the skull, hitting a surprisingly solid, bony resistance. The skull chips, and fragments fly off, leaving oddly shaped holes like in a jigsaw puzzle missing the last few pieces. The skull gasps out a fetid breath of its power. Notably, the dwarf beside it staggers, as if physically struck.
Leeoli notes Rufus's attention, and tries to follow suit. Leeoli tries to reach the skull on the dwarf's shoulder with his rapier.
Zazaria, having seen the success of her attack, once again calls upon the power of her goddess.
Vrilli launches another ray of energy at the dwarf.
Henrik rushes back to the group, his chest heaving in barely contained anger. With a glance at the dwarf, his brows furrow and he pauses, seemingly unable to see a way to hurt this new target.
Dura moves down to stand with the others, though knowing her limits she stays back slightly, ready to rush in and attack next round.
Again the powers of Vrilli and Zazaria slam into the enemy, staggering the dwarf. Leeoli strikes the skull, and another chip begins to peel back from its surface, revealing an inky blackness underneath. Though it seems to have done damage to the skull, the dwarf seems not be harmed by the skull's damage.
The skull hisses into the staggered dwarf's ear, and the sobbing apparition throws itself at Leeoli once again, bringing his hammer down at his head. Once again, though, Leeoli proves too quick, and the hammer hits nothing. The dwarf returns to his stance, but does not seem to be firmly on his feet.
Believing he's on the right track, Rufus strikes at the skull again, seeking to reveal the inky blackness within.
Leeoli watches as his rapier strike did little. He shakes his head in frustration. He drops his rapier to dangle by its cord, and draws a vial of sanctified water and attempts to splash it on the dwarf. He then retreats to the west.
Rufus's mighty blade misses its mark, the skull proving too small a target for an easy adjustment to hit it. Leeoli's throw, however, is on its mark and showers the dwarf and skull both with holy water. The skull hisses as pieces of it's jigsaw puzzle bones flake away and disappear. Once its oily inside is uncovered, tendrils of the dark essence spring out and lash at the dwarf. Within seconds, the sobbing dwarf is wrapped in a black embrace. With a final wail of despair, the dwarf is absorbed into the blackness, then the blackness itself fades to nothing.
The quiet that follows is nearly as eerie as the specter itself.
"Is it gone?" Rufus dares into the gloom, tense with anticipation that another skull will appear. After a heartbeat, two, three, he relaxes a little, his bloodshot eyes examining the spaces where they stand, searching for anything useful.
Rufus finds nothing of note, save for the hideous and deceased disembodied heads.
Is that it then? Did we defeat all the five? Leeoli doubts it himself. Let us go ahead and clear out the rest of the prison. Let's go west.
Dura lays her hand on Daniel's flank to steady him. He makes a curious deep growl. "I know, buddy. I don't much like these creatures either." She follows closely behind Maleye, mace at the ready.