Alanar glances back every so often, wondering why the others have not followed yet. He told them to run away from what was attacking them - they could not afford to waste time fighting things. He hoped that they would catch up soon.
For now, the ifrit slowly makes his way forward down the dark hallway, searching for the voice he hears ahead of him. If it is Ilesea, he needs to get to her quickly so he can bring her out of here.
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Alyona looks at the skeletons and their weapons, then down at her prybar. I don't really want to fight anything, but it seems these others are all weak. You are not weak. She walks up to the golden longsword and picks it up, hefting its weight. Beautiful if nothing else.
"I'd rather use this sword than that bar. Someone else can take it if they please. Ve need to go find Alanar now, it vill do us no good if ve find the halfling only to lose the ifrit. Bring the lantern, lets go," the northern princess commands, taking the lead. "King, help Anelessa, she doesn't look so good." Alyona stands there, waiting for the others to fall in. If they do she will lead the way in the direction Alanar went.
Taeo feels his heart decend back out of his throat as Alyona crushes the final spider...and then he looks around at Alyona's comment and sees that Alanar is missing.
"Ay ay ay, did he run ahead? Alyona's right, we need to catch up with Alanar quickly before we lose of us." Turning to Anelessa, "Can you walk OK with that bite on your leg? Would you like to lean on me? Let's get this over with; I think we need to get you back to Hokuto soon."
Erik makes a low grumbling noise as Alyona ditches the prybar... but then again, even discounting his own dismal luck with the thing, who wouldn't want to use one of the gilded actual weapons over clumsy iron prybar? Not me, Erik thinks. He's not exactly happy about borrowing a weapon from someone who's dead and buried, but if they run into any more spiders, he doesn't want a repeat of this encounter... or, more to the point, he doesn't want to be as useless as he was dealing with that spider. Especially not if they have to haul a wounded Ilesea out of here.
Erik grits his teeth, approaching one of the shrouded figures; he studies it for a moment by the light of the lantern, wondering, briefly, who they had been... but there is little time to ponder the question. He takes a deep breath... then, with surprising reverence, lifts the rapier. "Sorry 'bout this, but there's someone we gotta save. I'll bring it back as soon as I can," he mutters, so quietly that the corpse is probably the only one who can hear him. He hefts it, and can't help but admire the way the weapon gleams in the darklight.
Erik grimaces, conscious of how much of a contrast the lovely weapon makes with him... but there's little time to fret about such things. "Yeah, he ran ahead. Some o' you lot probly shoulda gone with him, too--I'da squashed that spider, eventually, and Ilesea's the one we gotta worry about." He pauses for a moment. "But, uh... thanks, I guess. Anyway, let's get goin', huh?" He hefts the rapier, feeling the balance of the thing--it's surprisingly light, enough so that he can probably wield it while holding the lantern in the other hand if he's careful. He falls into place behind Alyona--as much as he'd like to rush after Alanar, being the one with the lantern means that he probably needs to stick near the middle of the group.
Stands on the Spiral Surveys the room around him with momentary reverence before leaving it to continue on.
"These are the burial weapons of the Honored Dead," he says, indicating the ornamental weapons the children have withdrawn from their places. "You must return them to the homes before we are leaving. Much bad magic can come of it, otherwise. Haunts. Ghosts," he wiggles his left fingers, making the talons tied there clack together, "Wraiths. Bad magic."
He makes his way in the light of the lanterns, musing quietly, "This ifrit, seems like, same ifrit Stands on the Spiral says 'Don't run ahead'. Could be different idiot."
Shen Hua will offer Anlessa a shoulder to help her walk. Bending down to pick up the prybar, she gives it to the wounded girl and prepares to move forward, staying to the center of the group where possible.
Aldon stumbles back from the twitching spider as Alyona brings the prybar down. He groans at the sight, before clearing his throat and spitting out to the side. He wipes his mouth on his sleeve.
"Yeah, I'll make sure to give this back... it's only right, now that I owe him." Aldon nods towards the corpse of Alacarus, perhaps in a manner more respectful than the way in which he had taken the saber. "It'd be mighty rude to come racing out of here without returning what's his."
He gestures Shen Hua and Anlessa forward with his free hand, taking a spot in the back. With Alyona and Erik up front with the other weapons, it seems the best place for him.
"Let's go quick as we can, then."
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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Deeper in the ossuary, Alanar follows his senses as they guide him towards the distant sound of echoing sobs emanating through the structure's stone walls. The corridor he finds himself following is a long one, longer than he can see even in the dark. The wide, arched hallway is decorated every fifteen feet by a shallow alcove laden with the bones of the dead in decorative patterns. In some places the entirety of the ceiling and walls look to be a tessellation of rib bones, femurs, skulls and other ossified bodyparts joined together in some macabre artistic expression.
Rapidly approaching from behind, Alanar can hear the voices and scrabbling footsteps of his peers. Soon, over his shoulder, he can make out their forms seemingly moving in the dark without light source. To his peers, they see the soft, sapphire glow of the blackflame lantern casting this grim display in eerie hues of sapphire and midnight.
As they come to a cross-junction in the hall, Alyonna and the others see more displays of sanctified figures in regal attire, but down one particularly long corridor adorned with skeletal human remains, they spy ALanar creeping in the dark, and they can hear the sound that draws him onward.
A distant, mournful sobbing.
The ifrit looks back as he finally sees the others - he wonder what took them so long to run from whatever was attacking them. He lifts a finger and presses it up to his lips in a shushing manner to them. After that, Alanar continues to creep forward towards the sobbing, desperate to reach Ilesea.
Alyona continues to saunter forward in her heeled boots, tsking to herself at Alanar, but also relieved that they had found him. She grips the golden longsword in two hands, keeping her eyes peeled for any more dangerous inhabitants of the crypt. "There he is."
"Never again to a place like this comin'," Anlessa remarks, leaning against Shen Hua. For all her fury, energy, and bravado earlier, she looks and feels just absolutely drained. "Notin' that I had much of a choice this time, but well an' well be avoidin' again."
She takes a deep breath, offering an appreciative smile to Shen Hua. "Come on, faster the better," she remarks, sounding more pleading than agitated - after that bite, she wants out.
Shen Hua will pick up her pace, making certain to stay in the middle of the group.
"Yeah, there he is alright. Not even waitin' five seconds for the rest of us," Erik grumbles... but he hears the sobbing, too, and if that's Ilesea, the sooner they get to her the better.
And if it's not? that voice whispers in the back of Erik's mind.
If it's not? Come on, what the hells else would be sitting in a crypt, sobbing? Erik shoots back.
There is no answer to that save a patient, waiting silence, and for a moment Erik actually makes the mistake of thinking about what else might be sitting in a crypt, sobbing. While he has up to this point made it a point to avoid a firsthand education in the field of 'Horrible Things Waiting in Crypts', his imagination is more than willing to supply any number of nightmares that might fit the bill; he can't quite suppress a shudder. Thankfully he's able to close the door on that particular line of thought before too many visions of eldritch horrors are able to disembark. Shaddup. It's her, he thinks firmly, in response to the distant chuckling he hears from the back of his mind.
"Mmph. What she said," Erik says quietly, indicating Anlessa with a jerk of his head. "Sooner we get where we're goin', sooner we can get outta here."
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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As the group moves down the narrow corridor, they emerge into an enormous chamber that first comes into view to Alanar's monochromatic vision. Whether it is bathed in haunting cobalt light or cast in shades of gray the macabre quality of this chamber is in no way diminished. A pair of stone columns bristling with skeletal hands rise from floor to ceiling by the entrance, hands clasped together in prayer. The walls and ceiling of this gallery are entirely laden with mortared bones, joining at the vaulted ceiling in a grim display of opulence in the form of a chandelier of dangling femur bones, shoulder blades, hips and vertebrae. Staring skulls adorn the walls, and peer hollow at the children trespassing in their sanctum.
As grisly as this scene is, what Alanar and the others can see in the dark beyond where another vault lies is even more terrifying. On opposite sides of the room, more reliquaries of long passed saints lie decked with webbing, save that these figures of historical renown do not sleep silently. Instead, they are moving.
A pair of jewelled, gold-plated corpses step out from their alcoves, dressed in flowing linens and adorned with glittering regalia. The one emerging from the northern vault carries a jewel-studded golden knife in one skeletal hand, while the corpse emerging from the southern vault has his hands covered in gold-plated gauntlets studded with colorful gemstones.
The weeping persists from beyond these three chambers, where a pile of rubble can barely be made out -- rubble they had seen from the surface. But neither Alanar nor the others can see Ilesea, they can only hear the mournful sobs of someone in great distress.
The unquieted dead move with creaking, broken grace. Their ancient condition seems to impair their mobility. These skeletal corpses are brittle and fragile, barely held together by whatever will or purpose has animated their remains. They falter in their steps, their movements as they threateningly raise their weapons jerky and without fluidity.
<< | | | The Ancient Ossuary >>
Moving in their jerking gait, the skeletons slowly approach Alanar. One raising his long, thin dagger in backhanded grip ready to plunge it into the ifrit. The other clenched his gauntlet-clad fists and looks ready to strike when it finally closes the distance. For all their terrifying, unliving appearance, these creatures are quite literally falling apart as they move. Tiny fragments of bone and jeweled decoration drop from their decayed corpses with each step.
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The increasing creepiness of the place is unsettling, but Aldon manages to keep a smooth face as the group progresses deeper. The walls and ceilings are admirable in their craftsmanship, but Aldon is unable to reconcile this with the disgust he feels roiling quietly in his stomach. The sobbing is disquieting; it makes Aldon want to rush, but he is wary of any noise or disturbance he might create.
When the others begin to speak of hurrying, he takes in breath to respond. Then they enter into the chamber, and his attention is taken by the chandelier.
It'd be amazing if it wasn't so gross. Wonder who would go through the trouble of making such unpleasantness.
He's only able to ponder for a moment, when his eyes are captured by a different sight.
Aldon's eyes widen in terror as his gaze meets the empty sockets of the knife-wielding skeleton. A shaky breath is drawn, but he does not panic. He'd seen walking skeletons before... and those had been more fearsome than this.
"Alanar, get away!"
Dashing forward, he heaves the saber towards the neck of the skeleton with the knife. A lot of awful things had happened at the hands of those skeletons. Even if these were falling apart... he wasn't about to let it happen again.
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One to the left of him - another to the right. Too spread out to hit with his trump card just yet. But they moved slowly, and he knew what to do here.
"Stay back!" He hisses to the others, moving forward up the corridor before turning around. He holds his hands out with the fingers spread wide, a gesture that anyone who has seen the ifrit's trick before knows that they should not get in front of.
He readies to blast both of the skeletons with a gout of flame when they come after him - hopefully everyone will stay back until he's done so.
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"Bloodclots and miscarriages!" Alyona curses, hefting her heavy borrowed sword as best she can. Run sprints awkwardly across the chamber, her heeled boots nearly causing her to take a fall. With a cute little feminine grunt she heaves the longsword towards one of the ancient dead. The swing is unpracticed and the blade deflects off the bones, causing little to no damage. "One of you who von't be fighting, quickly, run back and get one of those blunt objects. The scepter or staff. This sword is too heavy, and it von't work well on bones." Sweat is streaming down the princess' face, and she's clearly completely terrified though she's pretending not to be.
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Taeo’s relief at seeing Alanar is short lived, when he sees the shambling skeletons. Looking back and forth at the other kids he announces: ”I want you all to know that the world you all live in is very creepy! Very, very creepy!”...and then shrugs and yells as he runs at one with a wild swing of his torch.
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Anlessa looks more than a little nonplussed about the appearance of the skeletons, groaning as others shout out to Alanar. "Oh, yay. Needin' this in my life right now, clearly...," she grumbles, a hand lenched into a fist. With a groan, she pushes herself off of Shen Hua's shoulder, offering the girl a thankful nod. "Thinkin' I can't just kick these ones," she notes, eyes narrowing as she watches the skeletons. Maybe, but she can at least help the others...
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Erik stares for a moment. "And here I thought it couldn't get worse than the spiders," he sighs, his voice tinged with a mixture of horror and disgust.
Other than that, though, his voice is level. It's not that he's not afraid--he most certainly is--but at this point the fear feels oddly distant, as thought it's happening to someone else. "I'm guessin' this is the kind of bad magic you were talkin' about earlier, huh..." he observes, glancing to Stands on the Spiral... but the shambling dead aren't about to wait for conversation. They shamble towards Alanar, their weapons glittering in the darkflame's light, and the fear Erik is feeling ratchets another notch higher... but it still feels distant. There are more immediate things to worry about right now, like getting to Ilesea and getting the hells out of this place. Sucking in a quick breath, Erik shifts his grip, trying to find the best way to hold the unfamiliar weapon as he prepares to attack... but before he can lunge, he hears Alanar hiss out his warning. He hesitates, wondering if the other boy has gone insane or if he actually does have some trick up his sleeve...
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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The increasing creepiness of the place is unsettling, but Aldon manages to keep a smooth face as the group progresses deeper. The walls and ceilings are admirable in their craftsmanship, but Aldon is unable to reconcile this with the disgust he feels roiling quietly in his stomach. The sobbing is disquieting; it makes Aldon want to rush, but he is wary of any noise or disturbance he might create.
When the others begin to speak of hurrying, he takes in breath to respond. Then they enter into the chamber, and his attention is taken by the chandelier.
It'd be amazing if it wasn't so gross. Wonder who would go through the trouble of making such unpleasantness.
He's only able to ponder for a moment, when his eyes are captured by a different sight.
"Bloodclots and miscarriages!" Alyona curses, practically taking the words out of Aldon's mouth as she hefts her heavy, borrowed sword as best she can. Run sprints awkwardly across the chamber, her heeled boots nearly causing her to take a fall. With a cute little feminine grunt she heaves the longsword towards one of the ancient dead. The swing is unpracticed and the blade deflects off the bones, causing little to no damage. "One of you who von't be fighting, quickly, run back and get one of those blunt objects. The scepter or staff. This sword is too heavy, and it von't work well on bones." Sweat is streaming down the princess' face, and she's clearly completely terrified though she's pretending not to be.
One to the left of Alanar - another to the right. Too spread out to hit with his trump card just yet. But they moved slowly, and he knew what to do here.
"Stay back!" He hisses to the others, moving forward up the corridor before turning around. He holds his hands out with the fingers spread wide, a gesture that anyone who has seen the ifrit's trick before knows that they should not get in front of.
He readies to blast both of the skeletons with a gout of flame when they come after him - hopefully everyone will stay back until he's done so.
Anlessa looks more than a little nonplussed about the appearance of the skeletons, groaning as others shout out to Alanar. "Oh, yay. Needin' this in my life right now, clearly..." she grumbles, a hand lenched into a fist. With a groan, she pushes herself off of Shen Hua's shoulder, offering the girl a thankful nod. "Thinkin' I can't just kick these ones," she notes, eyes narrowing as she watches the skeletons. Maybe, but she can at least help the others...
Erik stares for a moment. "And here I thought it couldn't get worse than the spiders," he sighs, his voice tinged with a mixture of horror and disgust.
Other than that, though, his voice is level. It's not that he's not afraid--he most certainly is--but at this point the fear feels oddly distant, as thought it's happening to someone else. "I'm guessin' this is the kind of bad magic you were talkin' about earlier, huh..." he observes, glancing to Stands on the Spiral... but the shambling dead aren't about to wait for conversation. They shamble towards Alanar, their weapons glittering in the darkflame's light, and the fear Erik is feeling ratchets another notch higher... but it still feels distant. There are more immediate things to worry about right now, like getting to Ilesea and getting the hells out of this place. Sucking in a quick breath, Erik shifts his grip, trying to find the best way to hold the unfamiliar weapon as he prepares to attack... but before he can lunge, he hears Alanar hiss out his warning. He hesitates, wondering if the other boy has gone insane or if he actually does have some trick up his sleeve...
Taeo’s relief at seeing Alanar is short lived, when he sees the shambling skeletons. Looking back and forth at the other kids he announces: "I want you all to know that the world you all live in is very creepy! Very, very creepy!”...and then shrugs and yells ”” as he runs at one with a wild swing of his torch. The torch connects solidly against the skeleton's head and sends it jerking backwards with a spray of fiery embers. The saint's jawbone clatters to the floor, teeth rolling out, and it stumbles noticably.
Aldon's eyes widen in terror as his gaze meets the empty sockets of the knife-wielding skeleton. A shaky breath is drawn, but he does not panic. He'd seen walking skeletons before... and those had been more fearsome than this.
"Alanar, get away!" sounds like good advice, and in a way it looks like the ifrit is listening as he goes charging off into the rubble-laden room. But even as Alanar rushes in to the adjacent chamber, there is a sense of chaos about this confrontation, a lack of cohesion or planning that terror can lead to.
Dashing forward, Aldon heaves the saber towards the neck of the skeleton with the knife. A lot of awful things had happened at the hands of those skeletons. Even if these were falling apart... he wasn't about to let it happen again.
Aldon's calvary saber shatters the vertabrae of the skeleton Taeo had pummeled with the torch, and its head comes toppling off of its body and shatters on the floor like a ceramic jug. Bones, jewels and gold-lead decorations scatter across the floor, joined soon after by a shower of ancient bones and skeletal remains draped in crumbling linen. The dagger it was once carrying lays glittering amidst the dusty heap of cadaverous detritus.
Seeing one of the skeletons fall and Erik readying himself to charge at a moment's notice, Deriku retrieves the darkflame lantern from him and carries it aloft into the room. The cobalt light of the lantern washes over the undead and it recoils from the sapphire light. Then, slowly, it scans the room trying to find Anlessa, who is still standing but a hair's breath away from the creature. It acts as though it cannot even see her, head tilting from side to side and gauntleted hands clenching and unclenching.
Hokuto was right to tell them to stay in the light.
<< | | | The Ancient Ossuary >>
Clamboring over the rubble, Alanar makes his way into the chamber Ilesea fell into. But immediately he can tell something is terrible wrong. Ilesea is nowhere to be found, and the temperature in the room drops enough that the ifrit feels a prickling chill up his arms and can see his breath as steam. The weeping noises seem to come from the very walls of the room, echoing from all around Alanar.
For a moment, a strange girl comes into view before the fiery boy. Ethereal and translucent, dressed in robe of unfamiliar design with runic embroidery and a drawn down hood resting over her shoulders. She stares at Alanar from behind a sea of black hair that flows as if it were underwater. One cold hand reaches out, snow swirling around her fingertips, and suddenly the sobbing turns to screaming.
The scream becomes a wail of pain, and the spirit recoils from her own hand at the sight of the snowflakes. As she recoils, the girl breaks apart like smoke, and a rasping hiss fills the chamber. From where the phantom girl was, motes of the same ethereal smoke and shadow that made up her body coalesce into a swirling skull-like visage hovering off of the ground.
This disembodied head opens its jaws and bursts into flames, letting out the young woman's shrieking wail. As Alanar finds his footing slipping, he backs down the rubble pile a step, and notices that the hole in the ceiling above looks... different.
The sky outside does indeed look like dusk, much as it had when they arrived. But the fog is not present outside, and through that opening Alanar can see one corner of an enormous palace of black stone and torchlit windows perched atop one of the mesas that simply was not there when they arrived.
The flaming skull stares with fiery eyes at Alanar, and a burning sigil in the shape of a crescent moon appears on its brow as it hisses in torment again.
But back in the main chamber, the last skeleton standing stumbles around near Alyonna, then turns its back to her and begins to shamble towards where Alanar had run off to. As it moves away, Alyonna takes a wild swing at it with her sword but the weight of the blade practically yanks her off of her feet, and the sword clanks against the floor as she stumbles with a grunt of effort, missing entirely.
Alanar turns, seeing the last remaining skeleton drawing close. Raising one hand, he reaches within himself to that sensation of heat and flame that burns deep in his heart. Rippling waves of heat emanate from his hand, smoke begins to issue up between his fingers, and with a thrust of his palm outward towards the skeleton, and for the barest of moments the light of fire is there. But then, nothing.
No smoke, no sparks, no fire. There is just a dull glow on his palm like a smothered campfire about to go out, then nothing. There is a distinct sensation of cold that permeates through Alanar's body, and the sensation that it is harder to perform that fiery trick than it normally is...
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[dice="Flaming Skull" Initiative]1d20+1[/dice]
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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That flaming skull is not undead, it is some form out outsider that simply looks undead.
This is not the material plane. Somehow, you've traveled to another plane entirely. What Alanar and anyone else who looks can see through the opening in the ceiling is clearly the shadow plane, where all light and fire based spells are impeded and spells that control darkness are more powerful.
That sigil on the flying creature's head is the mark of an eidolon, an outsider called by a summoner and bound to their soul.
"Alanar, get into the light!" Alyona cries. She runs to the edge of the lantern light, holding the sword wobbling over her head. Her heeled boots fill the chamber with clacking, which she punctuates with another grunt as she brings the heavy blade down at the skeleton's back. This time she manages to hit it squarely between the shoulders. She hops off the ground a little, transferring the full weight of her momentum onto the blade.
_____________________________________________________
He stares up above him in surprise, at the fogless scenery above, the palace of black tone he was sure had not been there before. How was this possible? As well as what appeared to be a specter of the dead in front of him.
He looks back at it as he finds his trick has failed him for the first time in his life, the fire not coming. It is distressing to the young ifrit, and now he is trapped between the skeletal creature and the floating, flaming skull. It was a girl before, one that he didn't recognize.
Or did he?
Cowering and holding his hands up defensively, he speaks to it in his native tongue, fearful of its wrath.
"شقيقة، يرجى أن يغفر لي. لم أكن التخلي عن ابنتك. وقد قبلت هذا التوظيف لإنقاذ حياتها، لاجبارها على المساعدة التي هي بحاجة. لم أكن لأفعل كما وعدت بعد ذلك؟ إلى الاعتناء بها؟"
_______________
Shen Hua runs back to where they came from, searching for the scepter and staff before returning.
Talking quietly, Taeo says, ”Hey Eric, if you come forward, I think those skeletons won’t be able to see us!”, and then to the others, ”I must be crazy for saying this but...I’ll go around his far side. Will someone come opposite me, so we can divide it’s attention and make it easier to hit?”
______________
"Huh. The light..." Anlessa says simply, slinking a bit closer to it. She doesn't say anything, instead looking for someone else she can assist; she feels much to drained to do much of anything on her own at the moment.
-----------
Erik nods at Deriku as the other boy reaches for the lantern--as bad as this place is, it would be worse still if the lantern were to get broken...
A vision of that scenario flickers into Erik's mind for a moment--being trapped in this place, in the dark, with the lumbering dead closing in around him, their movements still jerky and graceless but utterly relentless as they advance... and as that vision flickers through his mind, the distant terror that he feels suddenly looms close and it's all he can do not to drop the rapier from his suddenly violently shaking hand. It's all he can do to breathe.
Scared? You could always run, Erik. This lot's certainly doing well enough without you...
Erik doesn't even bother answering that; he just clenches his teeth and works on shoving the fear away with all the strength he can muster, driving it back into the distance. It still looms, but it no longer feels like it's crushing the life out of him. He takes a shaky breath and watches, waiting for his moment.
He doesn't miss observing the skeleton completely failing to perceive Anlessa; he spares a moment to give the girl a moment's smirk as she moves closer to the lantern, staying in the light despite her earlier mockery of him for advising the same thing. There's not really time to gloat at any length, though; Alanar seems to have stuck his hand in a figurative rat's nest. Erik doesn't know what language the other boy is speaking, but the fear in his voice is plain enough--and the other skeleton seems to have decided that Alanar will be today's victim.
Taeo seems to have a different plan, and one that actually isn't a bad idea at that. Try as he might, though, Erik can't figure out a way to reach the skeleton in time to do anything to help with that.
He swears under his breath, twists sideways to slip past Anlessa and moves forward as quickly as he can without bowling the girl over; he brushes past Alyona, swerves, and comes to a stop just outside the circle of the lantern's light, in the shadows. This is so stupid, he has just enough time to think... then he opens his mouth anyway, as usual. "Hey! You!" he calls at the skeleton. "Over here! How 'bout you pick on someone your own... er..." he pauses, realizing that the skeleton is taller than he is by... a lot, actually. "Someone your own weight! Yeah!" he finishes, raising the rapier and giving the best smirk he can manage under the circumstances, trying not to think about the sheer number of ways this could end badly. "Best I can do, make it count guys," he mutters under his breath.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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"Alanar, get into the light!" Alyona cries. She runs to the edge of the lantern light, holding the sword wobbling over her head. Her heeled boots fill the chamber with clacking, which she punctuates with another grunt as she brings the heavy blade down at the skeleton's back. This time she manages to hit it squarely between the shoulders. She hops off the ground a little, transferring the full weight of her momentum onto the blade. The sword connects soundly with the crumbling skeleton's back, and it turns its creaking visage towards where Alyonna should be, only to find a vacant space.
Alanar stares up above him in surprise, at the fogless scenery above, the palace of black tone he was sure had not been there before. How was this possible? As well as what appeared to be a specter of the dead in front of him.
He looks back at it as he finds his trick has failed him for the first time in his life, the fire not coming. It is distressing to the young ifrit, and now he is trapped between the skeletal creature and the floating, flaming skull. It was a girl before, one that he didn't recognize.
Or did he?
Cowering and holding his hands up defensively, he speaks to it in his native tongue, fearful of its wrath. "شقيقة، يرجى أن يغفر لي. لم أكن التخلي عن ابنتك. وقد قبلت هذا التوظيف لإنقاذ حياتها، لاجبارها على المساعدة التي هي بحاجة. لم أكن لأفعل كما وعدت بعد ذلك؟ إلى الاعتناء بها؟"
"Huh. The light..." Anlessa says simply, slinking a bit closer to it. She doesn't say anything, instead looking for someone else she can assist; she feels much to drained to do much of anything on her own at the moment.
Erik nods at Deriku as the other boy reaches for the lantern--as bad as this place is, it would be worse still if the lantern were to get broken...
A vision of that scenario flickers into Erik's mind for a moment--being trapped in this place, in the dark, with the lumbering dead closing in around him, their movements still jerky and graceless but utterly relentless as they advance... and as that vision flickers through his mind, the distant terror that he feels suddenly looms close and it's all he can do not to drop the rapier from his suddenly violently shaking hand. It's all he can do to breathe.
Scared? You could always run, Erik. This lot's certainly doing well enough without you...
Erik doesn't even bother answering that; he just clenches his teeth and works on shoving the fear away with all the strength he can muster, driving it back into the distance. It still looms, but it no longer feels like it's crushing the life out of him. He takes a shaky breath and watches, waiting for his moment.
He doesn't miss observing the skeleton completely failing to perceive Anlessa; he spares a moment to give the girl a moment's smirk as she moves closer to the lantern, staying in the light despite her earlier mockery of him for advising the same thing. There's not really time to gloat at any length, though; Alanar seems to have stuck his hand in a figurative rat's nest. Erik doesn't know what language the other boy is speaking, but the fear in his voice is plain enough--and the other skeleton seems to have decided that Alanar will be today's victim.
Taeo seems to have a different plan, and one that actually isn't a bad idea at that. Try as he might, though, Erik can't figure out a way to reach the skeleton in time to do anything to help with that.
He swears under his breath, twists sideways to slip past Anlessa and moves forward as quickly as he can without bowling the girl over; he brushes past Alyona, swerves, and comes to a stop just outside the circle of the lantern's light, in the shadows. This is so stupid, he has just enough time to think... then he opens his mouth anyway, as usual. "Hey! You!" he calls at the skeleton. "Over here! How 'bout you pick on someone your own... er..." he pauses, realizing that the skeleton is taller than he is by... a lot, actually. "Someone your own weight! Yeah!" he finishes, raising the rapier and giving the best smirk he can manage under the circumstances, trying not to think about the sheer number of ways this could end badly. "Best I can do, make it count guys," he mutters under his breath.
Talking quietly, Taeo says, ”Hey Stands on Spiral, if you come forward, I think those skeletons won’t be able to see us!”, and then to the others, ”I must be crazy for saying this but...I’ll go around his far side. Will someone come opposite me, so we can divide it’s attention and make it easier to hit?”
Cowering as he is, Alanar finds himself the target of that burning skull's sinister intentions. The creature drifts forward towards the ifrit, then opens its jaws and lets out the hissing pop of a flame consuming a log. Then, lunging forward it tries to snap at the boy, but Alanar manages to paw at the skull's bony surface, feeling the heat of the flames close to his hands. Gripping the skull with both hands, Alanar sees its jaws gnashing and snapping before he hurls it away.
The skull rebounds, circling back, trailing bluish fire behind it as it makes another mournful hissing sound.
Hearing Taeo's request, Stands on Spiral carefully adances into the chamber, holding aloft the darkflame lantern in one hand ahead of him. That soft, azure light bathes the room, and as he brings it near the chamber beyond becomes more clearly lit. Alyonna can see the hole in the ceiling clearly now, and the strange twilight sky outside. With Deriku in place, Taeo breaks into a sprint, cutting past Alyonna, skidding across the floor with torch in hand and throwing himself between Alanar and the ancient dead.
Unable to perceive Taeo now and distracted by Erik's taunting, the ancient corpse finds itself unprepared for when they fey boy winds up with his torch and strikes it as hard as he can. The skeleton's head shatters from the impact of the torch as tiny, muted embers spray out from the blow. The whole of the staggering cadaver's body comes tumbling to the ground in a clatter of bones and ornately inlaid metals.
Shen Hua runs back to where they came from, searching for the scepter and staff, but the young Tian woman only gets a few feet away before being swallowed by the darkness outside of the lantern's light. Here she can see not even a hand in front of her face, let alone the staff or scepter.
___________
Flaming Skull
Free Action: 5-foot step
Standard Action: Attack Alanar
(miss)
Taking a moment to pant over the fallen remains of his shattered skeleton, Aldon's attention wavers for a moment. It's hard to believe what they're fighting. What he just defeated.
He's jerked back to reality by the screaming and wail of pain. Whatever had made that sound was out of sight, and the only other kid he couldn't see was Alanar. Which meant, most likely, that he had forged on ahead without them. Again.
He really is crazy.
Aldon barrels forward, leaping over rubble and skeletal debris. When he rounds the corner, the source of the screaming becomes apparent. At least, he assumed the skull was the source of it. There did not seem to be a wounded kid anywhere around it, thankfully.
There were no more skeletons; the only threat in sight was the screaming skull trying to snap and gnash at Alanar. There wasn't much of a thought process going through Aldon's head. He got to that skull, he killed it, and maybe Ilesea would be beyond it. Then they could leave.
Leaving would be real nice.
Screeching to a halt next to Alanar, Aldon hauls the saber back and then up and over, crashing it into the skull.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
|
Aldon's saber connects soundly with the flaming skull, and the impact of the blade against the bony shell causes it to release a wail of pain as blue sparks shower from its blazing form. The skull recoils, jaws opening and hissing like a wet log burning in a campfire. The skull drifts up a few feet in the air, then bobs back down, visibly bearing a crack in its brow and cheekbone where the saber struck.
"" the skull screams in a shrill voice, the alien language it speaks echoing in the tomb. Its eyes blaze with bluish fire and the crescent symbol on its brow surges with light. Then, flickering into view, the apparition of the weeping girl appears once more. Covering her face with one hand, black hair flowing around her shoulders where it spills out of her hood she lets out a mournful cry as a crescent moon of light flares on her brow.
The temperature in the ossuary drops rapidly as she appears.
<< | | | The Ancient Ossuary >>
__________
Alanar was confused now. The skull had attempted to attack him there, but then Aldon had attacked it. He had seen the ghostly girl appear behind the skull, with the same mark on her brow as the menacing head.
He may have not been the most perceptive person in the world, but he could tell that there was some kind of link between them. He thought about this briefly, before looking at Aldon again.
"Do not harm her!" He shouted in Taldane, preparing to stop any of them from attacking the skull. This had to be a misunderstanding. And maybe this girl knew where Ilesea was - but they wouldn't know if she disappeared again. "Stop fighting!"
He adopts a defensive position as he carefully steps around the skull, trying to be as non-threatening as possible, getting closer to the girl behind it. "Please stop crying...I'm sorry my friend hurt yours..."
____________
Taeo is startled to hear the flying skull speak the familiar tongue he's used to using with many of the darker fey.
He holds the torch in front of himself in warning and replies, "Κοίτα φίλε, αυτό είναι ο πρωθυπουργός Υλικό είστε επιπλέουν περίπου στο, οπότε δεν είμαι σίγουρος ότι ανήκουν ούτε εδώ, αλλά επιτρέψτε μου να σας κάνουμε μια συμφωνία: Όλοι προσπαθούμε να κάνουμε είναι να σώσει τον φίλο μας που έπεσαν εδώ κάτω . Μόλις την πάρουμε είμαστε όλοι στην ευχάριστη θέση να υψηλή ουρά έξω από εδώ. Αν θα μας βοηθήσει να την βρούμε - ή ακόμα και απλά ας περάσει - θα αφήσει όλο αυτό το τάφο σας, για τα καλά. Πάρτε το δρόμο μας και θα συντρίψει ό, τι έχει απομείνει από το κρανίο σας. Το 'πιασες;"
___________
Alyona doesn't understand the words that Taeo and the skull are speaking, but she understands body language. She lowers her sword and steps up next to Taeo. She nods and smiles, adding the weight of her own support to his plea.
___________________________
Erik darts forward, slipping past the others to try to get a better perspective and figure out just what is going on here. Unfortunately, while making it into the chamber does indeed improve his perspective, he finds himself just as confused as before.
That isn't Ilesea, is his first thought. That girl is floating, is his second. Did Aldon just hit her in the head with a sword? is his third.
He stares blankly for a moment. "What the hells is going on here?" he blurts out, sounding utterly bewildered. He blinks, considers for a moment. "Everyone alright?" he asks, glancing at Aldon and Alanar... and, after only a moment's hesitation, at the floating girl, as well. He lowers the rapier slightly, peering at the floating girl with a mixture of curiosity, concern, and unease.
"Stop fightin'?" Anlessa sounds confused, head canting to the side as she observes the others. She looks confused, looking around the room and at everyone lining up. She opens her mouth to speak up, but instead just keeps quiet, moving up to join the others. She seems uneasy about this, eyes scanning the darkness around them.
----------------
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
|
Taeo's words, while spoken in the same clipped tongue as the skull, find no recognition in its hollow eyes. When Alanar moves away, the skull seemingly ignores his departure, looking back to Taeo for a moment as twin points of fiery light dance within its hollow sockets. As Alanar approaches the floating, ghostly young girl he can feel a blistering chill reaching his body, a prickling cold unlike any that he has ever felt as his breath becomes visible and his nose and fingers numb. She stares down at him, tears frozen to her cheeks.
"He is not my friend," the spectral woman whispers after a ragged sob.
With a baleful shriek the skull suddenly lunges forward, heedless of the words offered to it, and opens its jagged maw as it comes down at Aldon. Swiftly reacting, Aldon brings his saber up and finds the creature's jaws clamping down on the blade instead of flesh. It jerks back, howling wildly as the flames around it surge brighter but give off no heat.
As the others approach and the skull begins its attack, they can all now see through the hole in the ceiling that Ilesea should have fallen through. There, amidst twilight skies, they can see a towering black palace with torchlit windows rising high atop an ancient mesa. The landscape that can be seen through the hole looks like some sort of twisted mirror of where they had come from.
_____
With the resumption of combat, the young Tian girl weighs her options:
1) Run off into the darkness after a staff and a scepter she didn't get a good look at, down a hall with bone armored giant spiders, only to return to a room where all of her companions have been eaten by a floating skull and Wendy the Ghost Girl.
-OR-
2) Show off the great fighting skill she has so far been hiding from her companions by charging the skull and destroying it.
-OR-
3) Use her incredible stealth skills to evade notice, toss a grappling hook at the end of 50' of rope to the rim above, scale the sheer walls and find help.
-OR-
Shen Hua takes a full round action, trying to decide which of the above plans have the greatest chance of success.
Aldon's eyes widen hugely, shocked and afraid, as the skull lunges towards him. Thankfully, he manages to bring his blade up in time, thwarting the attempted attack. As the skull jerks back, Aldon draws a shaky breath before glaring swiftly around at his companions. His expression is both furious and indignant, upset that his bodily well-being is rather less of a concern than the feelings of some ghostly girl.
"No, I'm not all right! Don't know what you're all thinking, trying to talk sense into a flaming, flying, biting skull! She said it ain't her friend, and it certainly ain't ours, so stab the thing!"
Aldon twists back around towards the skull, huffing like an angry bull. Unfortunately, this does nothing to assist his aim, and the blade swishes underneath the skull. Aldon curses, the hilt of the saber clutched in sweaty palms.
____________
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
|
Alanar was confused now. The skull had attempted to attack him there, but then Aldon had attacked it. He had seen the ghostly girl appear behind the skull, with the same mark on her brow as the menacing head.
He may have not been the most perceptive person in the world, but he could tell that there was some kind of link between them. He thought about this briefly, before looking at Aldon again.
"Do not harm her!" He shouted in Taldane, preparing to stop any of them from attacking the skull. This had to be a misunderstanding. And maybe this girl knew where Ilesea was - but they wouldn't know if she disappeared again. "Stop fighting!"
He adopts a defensive position as he carefully steps around the skull, trying to be as non-threatening as possible, getting closer to the girl behind it. "Please stop crying...I'm sorry my friend hurt yours..."
Taeo is startled to hear the flying skull speak the familiar tongue he's used to using with many of the darker fey.
He holds the torch in front of himself in warning and replies, "Κοίτα φίλε, αυτό είναι ο πρωθυπουργός Υλικό είστε επιπλέουν περίπου στο, οπότε δεν είμαι σίγουρος ότι ανήκουν ούτε εδώ, αλλά επιτρέψτε μου να σας κάνουμε μια συμφωνία: Όλοι προσπαθούμε να κάνουμε είναι να σώσει τον φίλο μας που έπεσαν εδώ κάτω . Μόλις την πάρουμε είμαστε όλοι στην ευχάριστη θέση να υψηλή ουρά έξω από εδώ. Αν θα μας βοηθήσει να την βρούμε - ή ακόμα και απλά ας περάσει - θα αφήσει όλο αυτό το τάφο σας, για τα καλά. Πάρτε το δρόμο μας και θα συντρίψει ό, τι έχει απομείνει από το κρανίο σας. Το 'πιασες;"
Alyona doesn't understand the words that Taeo and the skull are speaking, but she understands body language. She lowers her sword and steps up next to Taeo. She nods and smiles, adding the weight of her own support to his plea.
Erik darts forward, slipping past the others to try to get a better perspective and figure out just what is going on here. Unfortunately, while making it into the chamber does indeed improve his perspective, he finds himself just as confused as before.
That isn't Ilesea, is his first thought. That girl is floating, is his second. Did Aldon just hit her in the head with a sword? is his third.
He stares blankly for a moment. "What the hells is going on here?" he blurts out, sounding utterly bewildered. He blinks, considers for a moment. "Everyone alright?" he asks, glancing at Aldon and Alanar... and, after only a moment's hesitation, at the floating girl, as well. He lowers the rapier slightly, peering at the floating girl with a mixture of curiosity, concern, and unease.
"Stop fightin'?" Anlessa sounds confused, head canting to the side as she observes the others. She looks confused, looking around the room and at everyone lining up. She opens her mouth to speak up, but instead just keeps quiet, moving up to join the others. She seems uneasy about this, eyes scanning the darkness around them.
Taeo's words, while spoken in the same clipped tongue as the skull, find no recognition in its hollow eyes. When Alanar moves away, the skull seemingly ignores his departure, looking back to Taeo for a moment as twin points of fiery light dance within its hollow sockets. As Alanar approaches the floating, ghostly young girl he can feel a blistering chill reaching his body, a prickling cold unlike any that he has ever felt as his breath becomes visible and his nose and fingers numb. She stares down at him, tears frozen to her cheeks.
"He is not my friend," the spectral woman whispers after a ragged sob.
With a baleful shriek the skull suddenly lunges forward, heedless of the words offered to it, and opens its jagged maw as it comes down at Aldon. Swiftly reacting, Aldon brings his saber up and finds the creature's jaws clamping down on the blade instead of flesh. It jerks back, howling wildly as the flames around it surge brighter but give off no heat.
As the others approach and the skull begins its attack, they can all now see through the hole in the ceiling that Ilesea should have fallen through. There, amidst twilight skies, they can see a towering black palace with torchlit windows rising high atop an ancient mesa. The landscape that can be seen through the hole looks like some sort of twisted mirror of where they had come from.
With the resumption of combat, the young Tian girl weighs her options:
One: Run off into the darkness after a staff and a scepter she didn't get a good look at, down a hall with bone armored giant spiders, only to return to a room where all of her companions have been eaten by a floating skull and Wendy the Ghost Girl.
OR
Two: Show off the great fighting skill she has so far been hiding from her companions by charging the skull and destroying it.
OR
Three: Use her incredible stealth skills to evade notice, toss a grappling hook at the end of 50' of rope to the rim above, scale the sheer walls and find help.
OR
Shen Hua is paralyzed with inaction, trying to decide which of the above plans have the greatest chance of success.
Aldon's eyes widen hugely, shocked and afraid, as the skull lunges towards him. Thankfully, he manages to bring his blade up in time, thwarting the attempted attack. As the skull jerks back, Aldon draws a shaky breath before glaring swiftly around at his companions. His expression is both furious and indignant, upset that his bodily well-being is rather less of a concern than the feelings of some ghostly girl.
"No, I'm not all right! Don't know what you're all thinking, trying to talk sense into a flaming, flying, biting skull! She said it ain't her friend, and it certainly ain't ours, so stab the thing!"
Aldon twists back around towards the skull, huffing like an angry bull. Unfortunately, this does nothing to assist his aim, and the blade swishes underneath the skull. Aldon curses, the hilt of the saber clutched in sweaty palms.
<< | | | : The Ancient Ossuary >>
As the skull continues to fight with the children, that ethereal young woman covers her face with her hands and curls into tight fetal position in mid air, continuing her mournful sobbing. Her shoulders curl up, the cold around her intensifies, and frost begins to crackle and spread over the walls. "Where are you? It's so cold..." her ghostly form whimpers the words, hands trembling. "The monster won't leave me alone..."
________
|
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
|
"It does not belong," Stands on Spiral finally calls from the back of the ground. "It is not restless dead, but it is tormenting her. It is a spirit," he proclaims, holding the blackflame lantern up with one hand. But something still sets poorly with Deriku, he'd seen the matching symbols the girl and the skull wore. But if it isn't undead, what could it be?
"Bring peace to this place!" Stands on Spiral shouts, offering the best advice he possibly can.
_____
The girl was cold, and crying, and look immensely lost. Alanar could only think of one way to try and help her, attempting to put his arms around her and letting his natural warmth stave off the frost. The fact that she was ghostly and possibly incorporeal didn't cross his mind.
"Shh. No need for tears. If you are cold, I will help to stave it away," He tells her gently. "Will you tell me your name? I am Alanar. We came looking for my friend, Ilesea."
__________
I shoulda known a crazy flying skull wouldn't listen to reason!
Taeo ducks around it's side, trying to use it's focus on Aldon to sneak in a solid hit. The torch is still very awkward in his hands, despite a few lucky swings earlier, and it goes far wide of his target.
___________