Those at the gate see another set of bars recede into the wall. Beyond them, about a foot behind them, is another set of bars. But these are criss-crossed with openings, and people can see that the cave continues on beyond them. However, there are one set of diagonal bars, and then the single set of bars beyond it blocking the way. And there is now only one person that hasn't chosen a gem.
Some of the bodies have moved... are moving... twitching now... but they the bones are even slowly moving to go back together. Also, the light is beginning to dim, the crystals overhead growing dimmer.
Hearing Lina scream, Kong comes running...Vas iss it?! Ju are hurt?
The big man looks around, then kneels next to Lina...
You don't see that everyday. says Lumpy dumfounded and mouth agap. The banker shuts down emotionally at this point. He watches with dread at the healing Lina. He knew that all had changed. He had no reference point to hold on to.
He calmly walks to the door.
Lina's front is covered with blood, as is the wall. But as Kory checks, he finds the wound is sealing over. Not healing, per se, but there is black gemstone filling the wound so that it no longer bleeds.
Vat did ju do?
Kong looks concerned...this is new.
Harry! Yells Lumpy. Don't choose!
The banker points at the bodies. They're moving. If you choose. I think they will become dangerous. We need to think and have a plan.
I haff a gem...what's mofink?
Kong's accent is notably thicker...he's tense. Not sure that he can help Lina, he moves toward Sterling's voice.
Paul had left the others when he found out what they were trying to achieve. Choose a gem, open a set of bars he moved through the dark tunnel back into the room he had woken in. Searching the three reliefs, he came to the one of the man with tools and a dragon behind him. He looked happy.
Paul could see no gem, but knew one should be there, he began to run his very trained fingers over the surface, with the precision of a safe cracker. Feeling for hidden trips or seamless edges.
Neri had seen the entire ordeal from up close. Likely, he even had a bit of the viscera on him. He paused long enough for Kong to look over the body, as he watched it heal, thankful, as he was certain emptying liters of blood was something he couldn't have helped with.
Neri sighed, moving forward to analyze what he could see. If she looked well enough to be moved, he would ask Kong to help move her into the main room, taking off his coat to use as a makeshift sling in the process.
Casual observance was enough to ensure his worries about the bodies were noted. "He's right. The bodies, Kong."
Getting a bad feeling from the stone at the warrior picture, he will instead head into area 11 and pry the brown gem from the relief to the north.
As Paul walks up to the relief, he see's Harry pulling a brown square gem that was actually the head of the hammer.
The brown stone melts down into Harry's palm.
The stone moves through your body, up your arm and into your shoulder, then throat, then settles inside your head. You can feel it, a burning warmth that's hot, but not painful. Finally it sinks in and sets with an almost audible 'click'.
Harry doesn't seem badly affected by it, and in the distance stone grinds.
Watching the gem slide into Harry's hand, Paul decides to check another area. In one relief he finds a rare looking rainbow colored gem, something he has never seen before, he tries to remove it from the ladies hand.
Paul, the last of the group, ignores Sterling's warnings, and pulls the gem from the wall. It pops out of the wall, landing in his palm with little effort. Then it explodes.
Fortunately, the explosion is just dust that swirls around Paul, blinding him momentarily as it whirls around before the dust vanishes into his eyes and ears and nose and mouth. His eyes glitter for several seconds, and then he blinks and sags slightly.
The explosion was startling, but non painful. Having the dust blow around and into his eyes and mouth and nose was disconcerting, but non painful. It feels like lightning flowing into him, until it centers in the back of his head. The whole experience is a little draining.
In the distance, the grinding sound happens again as the second to last set of bars slide up into the wall. Left behind are 8 bars that block the way, one each with a symbol (that matches the symbols on people's palms).
Around the group the bodies begin to move faster. Currently they're moving a inch or two every half minute, but that seems to be speeding up. Sounds are also beginning to fill the cavern.
Lina's eyes flew open, and se rolled over on her knees and elbows. She inhaled deeply, her gulp of air turned into a cough, as the blood still in her mouth found its way down her lungs. She spat it out on the floor.
"That," cough "Was a bad idea." She attempts to get up, but fails. She settles for securing the safety latch on her gun. "The bodies. They're moving. I saw how they smell!" She has a wild look in her eyes. "We should." Cough. Blood and saliva on the floor. "Do something."
"Uhh guys, I don't like the look of things in here. We better make ourselves scarce. " then he will make a bead for the exit, and noticing that one of the bars matches his symbol and grab it.
Damn. OK. We need a choke point. Lumpy points to area 11. We need to set up a defense. Follow me. Lumpy heads to area 11
"We don't need a choke point, we need to get out of here!"
Neri placed a comforting hand on Lina's shoulder if she'd let him, given that she was conscious it was her choice.
"Do you think you can walk with Kong and my help, or should we carry you? Kong looks like a sturdy guy, and I'm not a wimp." The east Berliner looked capable of carrying her on his own, but he also looked like the most capable fighter, Lina included, amongst the group, so tying him up with carrying Lina full-time was a poor call.
Kong looks around...and just starts swinging the chain, dashing the heavy links into the nearest body.
Returning to the group, "We head for the door, these aren't moving fast yet and we're in no position or condition to defend ourselves." with that Paul moves towards the silver bar area.
"Or that." He inclined his head to Kong, as he worked to try to get Lina to her feet and moving.
I can get zere fast...Go...GO!
Kong keeps the chain whirling, letting the group get close before turning to run.
"I can." Lina got up on one knee. With a grunt and a great extertion of willpower, she managed to stand up all the way. "I can walk."
Neri headed for the door, but stayed close enough to support Lina, if something went awry.
In Sterling's general direction:
"Hey! Guy everyone was listening to! They're not listening to you anymore! Come back this way!
This looks like a bad party... or a drug trip... I need a solid reliable weapon in my hand... The thought coalesces in Sterling's mind, puffing into existence from his subconscious like a puff of smoke.[/i]
This is like some fairy tale... except if it was... I'd be a dashing hero with a sharp wit and a sharper weapon... something flashy to do some derring do with... The thought blinks into Jacob's mind, flashing in like a sudden sound and then settling down to sink in.
That was the stupidest thing I've done... and I've got a life full of stupid things... This useless gun isn't going to do me any good... I need something hefty to trash these things.. and some decent armor, not these worthless rags... The thought rips through Lina's mind, tearing at her, self loathing filling her mind.
Huh.. just bones and a little flesh in some cases... nothing that can't be smashed... that metal fetish kid has the right idea... but the wrong weapon... need something big and heavy.. like a maul... The thought rumbles up out of Harry's subconscious, like a behemoth rising up out of the depths, tearing the stone and dirt apart like tissue paper.
Come on wuss... I gotta do more than let that cretin smash things with that useless chain... it does make a nice sound though... if I want to live, I have to have the will to live... will is a weapon.. use it... use my will to live... The thought bursts into Neri's mind like a flame, exploding through his mind like fire spreading on a lake of gasoline.
Tight spot this is.. no where to sneak away.. no where to hide... have to do something unfortunately.. but don't want to touch those nasty things.. need something to pick them apart from a distance... something to whip them into dust... The thought slips in like a thief in the night, her subconscious analyzing the situation with dispassion.
What the hell is wrong with me... they're just the dead.. who cares if they're moving.. panic isn't the answer... they just need to know who's in charge is all.. smashing them is just a waste of time.. I need a symbol.. something any dead would recognize... to make them return to their graves... The thought slices through Kong's panic like a flashing blade in the night, flashing up from his subconscious and leaving icicles on his spine.
Interesting... undead... just need to break them so they can't put themselves together.. or burn the bodies.. but first things first... need an eleven foot pole first... wouldn't touch them with a ten foot.. disgusting things... The thought bursts into Pauls mind, flashing up from his subconscious in a blinding flash of intuition.
Kong stops, absolutely still for a moment, then holds his hand out...palm exposed..showing the skull gem...
Return to your eternal rest. You haff noting to be concerned with here.
Kong holds out his hand toward the uniformed corpse as it struggles to stand up. It's dead eyes look toward the rocker, and it hesitates for a second, then continues pushing it's way to it's feet.
For just a second there, there was a brief tingling sensation in Kong's palm. Then it went away. What an utter lack of will I have... The thought slashes it's way into Kong's mind, frustration welling up.
Lina is already putting away her weapon, kicking out after a rock, staggering her balance in the proccess, as she notes something is off.
Wait. I need my gun. What am I thinking? I don't think like that! She sets out to the others in the main chamber, shrugging off the help of Kong and Neri.
She keeps both hands securely on her firearm, points it towards the floor and releases the safety.
Luna tried not to panic and kept the gun readied, even knowing it couldn't be shot without risking injury, it still offered a kind of mental security.
She follows Lumpy into area 11 hoping he has some sort of plan, if they were under some kind of attack she needed protection via allies or weapon and she'd prefer both.
Neri clutched his temple, wincing with pain.
"Don't mean to alarm anyone, but I've been hearing a voice in my head for a while now. Once we're out of here, might want to tie me up or something."
Neri sighed, and took the broken sword out of his armpit, making it dance in his hand as he learned the balance, like a juggling pin.
Fine, you want to fight, it's better than dying.
Neri began cleaving any exposed necks in the dead bodies. Sure, it was just hollywood, but ten years ago when he used to have some time off for things, and spent time watching terrible horror flicks, it was the connection to the head that was important. Well, they weren't all bad. Resident evil was pretty good, aside from the hispanic lady who defied the entire plot-line by simply soldiering on for so long.
Where's a hall of lasers when you need it?
Neri severs several heads on the slow moving bodies, the heads tumbling to the ground. The bodies stop for a moment, then the hands reach for the heads, slowly grasping them. The attack slows the bodies down, but doesn't stop them.
Neri hears a chiming ringing in his ears for a second as he starts swiping at the heads, but it goes away after the second one hits the ground.
Given that we have gems burrowed into our brains. I'd say your alarm is a little late. Lumpy says with an emotionless voice
"Goddamn it people, get in here! Each bar seems to be coded to one of those gems. I bet it will open if we all grab one. "
I bet we have to finish one last challenge. The moving bodies might give you a hint to what that is. Says Sterling, matter of factly
Neri growls and begins going for the wrists of the bodies trying to reach for themselves.
"Severing heads does -not- do the job!" Neri called out, preferably loudly enough to be heard.
I could really use a real weapon.. this is taking too long, and we're very much outnumbered.
Thus the need for a choke point. So thier numbers mean nothing. Lumpy says paraphrasing the movie 300.
Luna felt even more uneasy that one of her supposed allies might be going insane but she wasn't fully sure she hadn't already as well.
The bodies giving us a hint? I don't want to stick around to find out honestly."
"Can we at least all try grabbing the appropriate bar and see what happens rather than trying to kill things that are dead already?"
The bars with the marks reflect what was taken already. The remaining bars, need something else to unlock it.
The symbols on the remaining bars do match the symbols on people's hands, and touching the symbol does cause a tingling sensation in everyone's palms, and the bars do twitch, but they don't withdraw.
As the group starts trying to set up defensive positions, and stop the rising skeletons in 2 and 3, Lina's gun barks. The bullets shatter bones, but the bones keep moving (except where turned into splinters).
Paul reflexively swings at a rising body, missing, but for a second as he's focused on trying to smash it with his fist, he feels something in his hand, something round and smooth and hard, yet also warm to the touch, not like an iron pipe, but more like a baseball bat or a stick. And the skeleton shudders as if hit by something, but then the sensation is gone.
it's a test. I know it's a test Lumpy shakes his head. Either I will pass the test or be dead. I don't care either way at this point. Lumpy wades into the undead
Neri swatted his own forehead. Moron.
Kong was covering himself, Sterling was throwing himself to the wolves.
Neri slid behind Sterling, doing his best to fend off the undead that moved for him, his strikes going for anything that could reach him.
"Idiot, get back with the group!"
It has a horrible beauty
Can I see any large bludgeoning type objects?
Without a weapon Luna felt useless, she tried to look around for anything she could use and stored the rusty pistol on her for now.
"If we can kill some of those things and pile the bodies in the walkway maybe we can make it easier on our self's!"