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Post by Mr. Butterfly on Feb 16, 2009 19:15:06 GMT -4
Since the zombie-killing duo... or one guy and a tag-a-long...were busy, it was quite understandable that they were oblivious to Elander's predicament. In fact, the priest probably thought she was getting taken to some horrible cave-creatures home to become part of a new soup. This was far from the truth - gladly for the poor girl, too. Her situation was, in fact, a running one. The cesspool had one or two extra spore bodies in it and a small trail of dead spores - not a mass genocide path of golden loveliness, but just one or two within seeing distance. She was headed straight for the stairs - the very same ones that the warrior kid had ran down. Her path was a more indirect one, however - A zigzag, a loopdeloop, a spiral that would look like a cow-lick on a fancy haircut. But the stairs she reached. Elander, might she have been a smarter person, would have realized that the creatures had given up on their pursuit. And then, she would have realized that a reason would be available for this.
However, Elander was not the sharpest spike in the torture chamber. She stopped halfway down the steps, leaning against a rotting piece of railing. She took a deep breathe, but the fact that Spore-crap covered her clothes made that an unwise decision. She gagged, heaving. This, in turn, broke the railing behind her. She tumbled over, but only from the waist up - it was like leaning on a yoga ball. And she caught sight of what should have been an obvious thing to notice. The thief caught a view of the zombies, and succumbed to panic.
Her scream would have definitely caught the attention of everything in the cave, and maybe even the guards at the entrance would be picking their ears, to make sure they heard something. The true fact was, however, that she was now in deep shit. And covered in it, too.
((OOC: Wow, this post sucks. Sorry about that, just trying to get things moving and so that you guys don't beat my head in with balls of fluff.))
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Post by GoldenKitten on Feb 19, 2009 3:17:47 GMT -4
Uriel looked from right to left, not appearing worried but rather it seemed he was piecing together the best way to go about this. Then he made a sudden click with his tongue and a sound as if he had realized what needed to be done. He held up one finger and pointed to his side at Rei though if the boy looked he would realize the man wasn’t watching him nor was he eyeing the lumbering and fear inducing form of the crusader, he had in fact been keeping his eyes on the archer the entire time even as the hatchet man drew closer. The reason showed itself shortly as another arrow came flying across the room but this time Uriel deftly parried the attack and struck the arrow out of the air since he was not caught off guard. With the girl trying to string another bow but clearly taking some time to do so once more Uriel finally responded to Rei.
“The mages and the injured swordsmen, go and get them, I’ll handle the hatchet and the arrow bitch and we will meet at the big guy. We don’t need anything trying to poke us in the back while we fight an undead tank…” He said it matter-of-factly and immediately broke off in a walk toward the hatchet man who was nearly on top of them at this point.
The hatchet man swung wildly at Uriels head and the priest brought his blade up to meet the blow. The moment he did so he swung his other arm around as if to motion to Rei to run past to get over to the mages since for the moment Uriel had locked the hatchets wild swinging movements. As soon as Rei passed Uriel pulled his left leg back and delivered a sharp kick to the hatchet mans knee and pushed until he heard a sickening snap as the joint reversed and popped out of the socket.
The moment this happened the hatchet man fell but he had just enough control left over his body to catch himself on one knee, however Uriel quickly exploited the situation and spun around with his blade splitting the mans chest open and sending him on to his back a few feet behind. But as quick as Uriel was the hatchet man still had some undead life in him and he quickly pushed himself up, took a lumbering step forward the force of which forced his knee back into the joint with another snap and then began coming toward the priest again, this time though blood and other bits were falling out of the warriors chest though this didn’t seem to phase the creature at all. Uriel was about to prepare a cleaving blow to the mans skull when the side of the hatchet mans head exploded in a spray of coagulated black blood and then fell to the side, an arrow placed firmly within it.
Uriel turned to the archer far off who had sent the shot his way and briefly wondered how her aim had been so bad after two good hits beforehand though he wasn’t complaining. He deduced after a quick look that pulling the string was doing far more damage to her hands than the other creatures weapons would do meaning with each shot her aim got worse as her hands split apart, bows could be pretty tough on hands even when they weren’t festering and mushy. Uriel began walking in her direction as she fumbled for another arrow while keeping an eye on the lumbering beast that had simply been standing there since it had arisen. Uriel however did not take this as a sign of not being aggressive though, he realized the real reason was because the dead muscles were trying to figure out an efficient way to attack while wielding all that weight, thus now was the time to finish off the archer and hopefully Rei would have done in the others before it started getting revved up and ready to go.
The girl would not have time to prepare another arrow as though Uriel had not run he had taken quick strides toward her and was already reaching out. She seemed to instinctively realize she was not suited for close combat and was attempting to pull back but was far to slow to escape the battle priest. He grasped the girl’s bow and ripped it from her hands taking off the remainders of the tips of her fingers in the process such had been the damage the bow had caused to them in the first place. Uriel pulled his sword back and pointed it at her tip first in preparation to skewer her when he heard the tell-tell sound of something large moving right next to him, he only had a few seconds to jump backward. The crusaders massive sword slammed down in between him and the archer and the way he had to throw himself almost saw him fall on his butt though he managed to prop himself up with one hand at the last second.
He was about to get back up and face off with the massive creature when he heard a sickening gurgle and the next thing he knew the female had tackled him and put him on the ground. She scratched at him furiously though her lack of fingertips resulted in this being more comical than anything, however the threat posed as she bit at his neck wildly was real. Thankfully it had only been the surprise of the strike that had taken Uriel down and she was in fact one of the weaker undead here physically. Uriel quickly grasped a hold of her wrists, brought his head back and then planted a head butt firmly against her skull forcing her to reel back in which time he launched to his feet while still holding her wrists. Using the force of the ascension Uriel threw her down and a moment later retrieved his sword from the ground and planted it firmly in her throat upon which she stopped moving several seconds later.
“Piss off…” Uriel commented while waving his hand at her body in disgust.
He quickly turned around and faced the towering form before him, he had hoped to coordinate with Rei to distract it but he was in the kill zone now and trying to break off at this close of range might see him dead. It wasn’t the first time he had faced a large undead and far from the deadliest creature he had run up against but it was still formidable if for no other reason than if it did manage to hit you, you were as good as gone. Uriel was once more formulating a plan while the crusader seemed to consider him and began raising its shield in an aggressive manner when a scream reached their ears from above. The crusader actually stopped and half-turned its great form around clearly thinking that it must have been flanked instead of it just being a foolish girl screaming. Meanwhile Uriel took in the whole situation and saw his foe turn, he then looked up at the girl and gave her an evil smile which she may or may not have seen given her current terror.
While the crusader was turned Uriel bent down and retrieved several large stones and then after quickly judging the distance he threw them up toward the girl. However they never hit her but several resounding pings could be heard as they hit the rusted iron she was leaning against and moments later it began to give. The metal creaked forebodingly and for a brief moment Uriel met the girl’s gaze and he gave her a mild and bemused wave at her current predicament. However he quickly pulled his sword to his side and the moment the girl dropped and came hurtling down toward the crusaders head he began running toward the crusader and then jumped through the air while preparing to stab it in the back of its neck. He just hoped the girl and her flailing, screaming, falling self would keep its attention long enough to complete this plan or else it would be a waste…of course he wasn’t worried to much about what happened to the girl, her fault for following, he was more worried about what would happen to him mid-jump if it realized she was no threat and turned back on him.
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Post by Zhiel on Feb 21, 2009 19:40:05 GMT -4
OOC: Sorry if its confusing at parts, tried to make it more than just "I HIT IT WITH MAH SOWRD!" >>
While Uriel was telling Rei what to do, the young swordsman was observing the area ahead with greater detail, taking note of the badly wounded, yet still walking corpse of a swordsman wielding a smaller two-handed sword, its widened tip suggesting it to be a slayer. However the swordsman in question held it weakly in his right hand, dragging it along the ground.
And just as Uriel had said, there were several frailer undead spread about, three mages infact, two being females with rather revealing clothing, which might have been attractive had their skin not become slightly... Dead and bloody, with obvious signs of decay, despite not being more than a few days old at most, perhaps an effect from either the re-animation taking place, or the area they were in itself. Even Rei could feel the evil flowing through this place.
Having grasped the situation as well as understood their course of action, Rei was about to run around the hatchet bearing undead to go after the first of the mages, when Uriel began to walk toward the hatchet bearer, who promptly began a wild swing at the priest, who easily blocked it with his own sword, while giving a form of 'go on' gesture to Rei, while keeping the hatchet in a lock.
Seeing his chance Rei broke off into a run, while keeping his upper body low incase the hatchet bearer would do something unexpected. Fortunately for Rei, Uriel was able to keep the zombie from getting away, and just shortly after Rei had passed he heard a sickening snap. 'Ew..'
Going full speed toward the closest mage, which just happened to be the male in a mages coat, holding a wizard staff in his gloved hands. Without his sword drawn Rei continued his dash toward the apprentice mage as the man, or undead, moved the staff around to his right side, like if he was about to swing it like a bat. This instantly registered to Rei, though he did not quite realize it himself.
But as he got within reach the mage swung his staff, which Rei responded to with throwing himself to the ground and catching himself on his hands before swinging toward the mage and kicking away with both of his feet, hitting the staff at the end of its swing shortly followed by impacting with the chest of the mage.
With terrible force the staff broke right in two as the mage was sent flying almost six meters before coliding with a very sharp section of cliff wall, piercing the now dead undead through his chest in more than one area.
"Woah..." Rei commented as he got back up on his feet, having not expected his kick to be that effective.
Though having been momentarily dazzed by the results of his little acrobatic stunt, Rei had barely no time to notice the second mage which was now behind him with a raised knife in hand. With barely no time to react Rei hurriedly put his right hand on the hilt of his sword and while spinning around to meet the attack he dragged it out of its sheath and swung it upward. It all resulting with the blade of his sword meeting with the unprotected wrist of the spinky mage.
In a moment of silence it appeared like if both Rei and the dead eyes of the female mage followed the hand still clutching onto the knife as it fell down onto the ground infront of the two.
"Uhm... Sorry?" Rei said questioningly as he looked up once more, just in time for the undead girl to nearly throw herself at him, Rei barely had time to duck low as he tackled her legs, sending her over his shoulder and back first onto the ground. A moment later the blade of Rei's Blade was pushed into her throat, severing the neck in the process.
"Huff... Huff... This is getting really awkward..." Rei said to himself as he leaned on the swords hilt while catching his breath, just in time to hear yet another footstep behind him. 'Oh bugger...' He thought as he tried to pull out the sword from the mage he had just planted it in, finding it being prety stuck.
"Crap..."
And with a desperate throw Rei just barely managed to dodge the tip of the undead swordsmans slayer which scratched at the edge of his left elbow, before continuing its descent and ironically cutting off the other hand of the mage, sending it flying a few meters by the swords impact.
Rei on the other hand caught himself prety well as he rolled up on his feet and turned to the swordsman which was now raising its blade again. A quick glance to the side revealed to Rei that the last mage was slowly making its way toward him, though her position gave him an idea.
With quick steps Rei positioned himself nearly at the same place as before, though right as the swordsman was about to strike once more Rei jumped back, over the body of the mage, as the large sword once again struck the ground, though harmlessly this time. Having his opportunity in the clear Rei took a step to the side as he moved his right leg back, and then kicked his sword with all his might, sending it flying from the mages throat and after a mid-air spin straight into the stomach of the swordsman, though not deep enough to truly cause any damage.
However the impact made the swordsman recoil slightly, and once again seeing his opportunity Rei launched himself at the swordie as he kicked away once again, this time at the hilt of his sword, running the sword straight through the swordsman, as it sent the zombie backwards nearly two meters. And on his way making direct impact with the last remaining mage, the blade of the sword piercing the much shorter female just below the throat.
Sadly, the swordsman had yet to fall, it seemed to be extremely stubborn as it once again started walking toward Rei, even as it was dragging the dead mage with it. Fortunately for Rei, the swordsman had dropped his sword on the way back, which he then picked up and after a quick swing parted the swordies head from his shoulders, seemingly the only way to kill the tank-in-training for good. Now with his own buiseness concluded Rei re-aquired his own sword before he made his way toward Uriel, it seemed he was about to have trouble with the giant of an undead...
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Post by Mr. Butterfly on Mar 3, 2009 22:38:09 GMT -4
((Sorry it's short but my inspiration keeps leaving, my humor is gone and Elander's part in this post/scene isn't that much))
Elander caught a glimpse of the grin on the priest's face and she felt more dread than she had in her entire memory. She tried to pull herself up, but the pieces of railing she attempted to grip pulled away to easily to firmly pull her self up. Her hand finally caught a hold of a sturdy piece, and she pulled herself up about thirty degrees - and then several pings hit around her. She winced, thinking that maybe the priest wasn't as epic as he claimed and was a poor shot. Then an ominous creek erupted around her, and realization sank in as the entire side of the stairs tipped over. She felt weightless for a second - then wind rushed past her.
Elander flipped herself over in the air, her mind racing to find something to do to save herself from the harsh fall. She wouldn't die from it (most likely) but no one here would help her from whatever condition they found her in. Her eyes grasped a low hanging wire, distance was judged. One of the Al Revs she had still strapped to her left hand reached out and cut the wire as her right hand grabbed it. Now a living, breathing, feminine Tarzan, Elander felt her momentum swing her low and down at a steep angle, a little slower than she thought she was going but enough to save her ass. She almost 'whooped'.
And that's when a murky metal color popped into view. If her scream was loud, then the sound of her left arm breaking as she slammed into the crusader's shield, who had turned slightly to see who had screamed. The young thief crumpled upon the shield, ~anime style~, and as if in slow mo she glided off the shield and upon the ground, clutching her arm. For some reason in her head, the words "56 Damage Taken" scrolled around oddly. She was still conscious, but only aware of pain - coherent thought was gone. This was probably all the priest needed, as something whacking your shield should be enough of a distraction for a big meaty bonehead to get stabbed. Funny - one bonehead stabbing another. It had a methodical ring to it . . .
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Post by GoldenKitten on Mar 13, 2009 21:24:45 GMT -4
((OOC: Joint post between Zhiel and myself.))
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One might question Uriels morals but they could not question his results, he might have acted without care for others but rarely did victory elude him. Such was the case at present, the girl in her vain attempts to get away from the crusader mid-fall proved exactly the cover he needed. He felt no remorse for her when he heard her arm clearly break for she was of no merit in his mind, hell if anything she was worth less due to the poor first impression she made, he only decided he would let her return alive after this was over because she had proved a useful tool in making this assault a bit easier. And easier it was as the crusader never guessed what was coming until Uriels blade sunk deep into the thick flesh at the back of its neck. It had been so unexpected that it took a full second in which time Uriel firmly planted himself on the creatures back for it to even respond, but when it did it let you know.
Letting out a blood-curdling howl that sounded wholly impossible for the vocal chords of a human to produce it began bucking wildly. The beast immediately forgot the young girl and began trying to pry wildly at the creature on its back, absent-mindedly dropping its sword in the process which Uriel considered a blessing, figuring having a groping hand full of sword coming for him would have been far worse. Uriel having wrapped his legs around its neck pulled on the blade ripping it free from his targets nape and then duly administered a second blow sending it into nothing short of a blood frenzy…if it had, had blood left that is of course. Eventually though the movement became too much and worse yet it’s frighteningly powerful hand had come far to close to Uriels head in its last grasping for the priests liking.
When it again came at him, this time on a beeline to vice-grip him he decided he had overstayed his opportunity and freeing his legs performed a single kick whereupon he flew across the room for several meters due to his opponents height before landing with a skid. The crusader was smart enough to realize that his opponent had gotten off and more over that it was now behind it. With a sickening lurch that made Uriel swear an oath it thrust all its weight into its free arm and performed a mad spin while releasing its shield straight for Uriel. Digging his feet into the ground Uriel just managed to push himself to the side as the psychotically spinning shield of death flew past him with more than enough speed to cut a man in half before slamming into the ground some ways, away and kicking up mass plumes of dirt before embedding itself in a nearby wall. By the time Uriel righted himself and turned to the crusader the beast had reclaimed its sword and was now storming with almost lifelike speed toward Uriel, clearly enraged near like a bull. Cracking his neck and spinning his sword in his hand Uriel took off toward his opponent in what from the outside probably looked like a game of chicken destined for failure.
*THUNK*
Was the sound of the thief girl hitting the flat side of the undead Crusaders shield, just moments later the things neck was then pierced by the sharp end of Uriel's sword. Rei who had just about finished his business with the lesser of the undead was sprinting toward the two as the Crusader was struggling to get Uriel off of its back, however as he noticed Uriel was about to get off Rei slowed down and brought his sword up just incase.
Fortunately for Rei, Uriel was able to get off safely, landing several meters behind the undead beast which turned around with pretty amazing speed as it swung its shield arm out toward the priest. With a snap the leather straps holding the shield to the arm broke off and the shield went flying in a deadly spin, plowing into the ground for several meters before it stuck itself. Though surprised by the immense force behind the shield, Rei was still capable of putting himself together as he lightly began to sprint toward the Crusader which began as quick a rush toward Uriel as it could. And as it did Rei sped up himself, going into a run to catch up with the thing.
Just seconds before the Crusader and Uriel would have collided, Rei came down beside the undead tank as he had his right arm raised above his head, focusing his strength into one strike he then swung the blade with all the force he could muster. "Yaaargh!" He yelled as his blade came down and pierced the armor on the side of the Crusaders right knee, the sword lodging itself in place and preventing the undead from moving it, which shortly followed by it falling over forwards. 'Nows the chance!' Rei thought as he pulled the sword out of the Crusaders leg and moved back a few steps, taking a firm grip with both hands on the sword as he raised it so that his hands were beside his head, waiting for the crusader to respond.
Meanwhile though he hadn’t expected Rei to come into the battle Uriel was at least semi-grateful that the boy turned out to be more competent than he had first believed. When Rei took the crusader down Uriel had been so caught up in the moment that he almost missed the fact that the behemoth would be sliding when it hit the ground…and probably take his legs out from under him at their current range. He thought about the matter, looked right, looked left, looked at the body hurtling toward him and then muttered.
“Fuck it…”
Uriel let out a roar and then placing both feet firmly on the ground launched into the air and pulled his feet up, tucking them just high enough as the crusader passed beneath. Uriel rolled forward during this and reached out with his free hand, grasping one of the crusaders many armored joints and was pulled after the lumbering beast in the process, luckily being in the air the force on his body was less intense. Uriels legs fell to the crusaders back but he managed to bring them up and balanced on his sword hand while rounding about on the enemy like a top. Uriel threw himself to his feet though it was more of a coordinated stumble and tossed his blade into the air so that he had more balance to work with, the creature had started to stir but its head was already in sight. Uriel plucked his sword out of the air and then aimed for the same place he had before along the neck, however this time when he plunged he was at such an angle that the blade carried forth up into its skull. The crusader shook a few times and then stopped moving completely, Uriel shifted the blade a few times and then convinced it was dead extracted it.
He hopped off his opponents back and looked over at Rei while regaining his balance. He bobbed his head up and down once or twice while dusting off his outfit before sheathing his blade; his trained senses telling him that enemy had been the last. He looked over at his new follower and made the ‘a-ok’ sign with his hands, about as much of a compliment as he could give without growing sick. With that done he looked over at the thief still tending to her wounds and then as if nothing had happened he turned around and continued off into the darkness.
“Lets go, still a job to do.” He said before yelling out over his shoulders, “This is your one and only last chance to leave little girl…”, for once he did not seem to be joking with her and spoke with a purely serious tone.
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Post by Mr. Butterfly on Mar 21, 2009 10:43:17 GMT -4
Elander's daze was not withstanding. The sense of grogginess lifted slowly, but with it the pain grew worse with each throb of her head. She moved her right arm from above her head, where it had been laying on the ground, to slowly push next to her, as the rest of her body worked to prop itself up. She tried to blink normally several times, but each was a slow, methodical thud to her. She looked to her left arm - wincing as she tried to move it to her chest with her good arm - and sighed to get out some pain. The arm was broken in several places, but it had it's shape and no bones were sticking out in the grotesque way that would have made her vomit. No, she leaned over and vomited from the pain that shot through her once she looked at her broken arm.
Once she was done expectorating, she realized that she had been concussed - she was starting to hear loud noises. Had she been without hearing this entire time? No, no, she clearly - or fuzzily - remembered hearing her own sounds. At any rate, several screams and the sounds of flesh being bitten by steel wracked his ears as she tried to decipher what was going on. She looked up, and saw that the younger one of the two had just pulled his sword out of the behemoth's leg, leaving it to tumble and skid . . . right into the jackass. He, however, leaped over the new obstacle, then without a thought slayed it. She thought she saw it move once or twice, but it was reflexive twitching and nothing more. The priest began walking away after looking at her - or her arm, or whatever he looked at when he looked at her - and then gave her his warning of leaving once again.
Well, that was the option she truly would have taken, except for the fact that she only had once working arm right now, and that he had destroyed a bit of the stairs. It might not be enough damage - but as she looked over, she saw that as the part she had been on had tumbled down, it took out a larger portion right below it. Normally, she'd just clamber her way around or use the hanging wires everywhere to climb out, but that was when she was still ambidextrous.
"Yeah, that'd be nice. Care to toss me to the entrance?"
Elander's sarcasm, combined with the possibly weak sound in her voice, didn't seem to come out the way she wanted. She sighed, and took off her bandanna. Her blond hair fell a bit lower than it was normally, and she had to shake some of it from her eyes as she slowly made a sling, to holster her arm to her opposite shoulder. This took a minute, but she did a so-so job and it would have to do. She considered staying here until they came back - if they came back, but that priest was to hardheaded to die - when it hit her. Priest - he could heal her, right? Any other priest would - but Uriel wasn't another priest, he was the other priest. She found that her only option was the one she dreaded most, since she didn't want to stay with the re-killed bodies. A few steps and she was off behind them - somehow, her injury made her as cautious and quiet as she should have been before.
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Post by Zhiel on Mar 22, 2009 16:53:13 GMT -4
Rei had been focusing his strength into his sword-arm once more, to finish the undead warrior off incase it was necessary. However before he was ready Uriel had flung himself over the beast, grabbed onto it and after it had stopped sliding across the ground, pierced its armored head, effectively killing it. Rei just shrugged mentally as he lowered his sword enough to look at it, it was covered in blood, as to be expected, but it was darkened and thick, those bodies had been there for atleast a few days.
Without really thinking about it Rei walked up to the corpse of the male magician and tore off a piece of his robe before he started to clean the blade of his sword, not really paying attention to anything else at that moment. Once finished he dropped the piece of cloth and re-sheated his sword, before looking around once more. Seemed like Uriel was about to leave, despite the obviously injured girl sitting in her spot, wimpering about what he guessed was a broken arm or such.
“This is your one and only last chance to leave little girl…”
He heard Uriel yell over his shoulder, and hearing this Rei looked back at the thief girl with a concerned look on his face. 'How is she supposed to get out looking like that? There could still be more things hiding up there...' He thought as he looked back at Uriel, about to say something when he heard the girl respond to the priest, and though the sarcasm in her voice was obvious, he voice was low and weak.
Rei scratched the back of his head then sprinted up beside the older man. "You sure its ok to just leave her like that? She kind of did help us bring down the big guy, and if you helped her, maybe she could be useful later on?" He said in a low voice himself, though not really whispering. Concern was obvious on his face and in his voice, although what was also obvious was that he was doubting the being useful bit...
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Post by GoldenKitten on Sept 25, 2009 1:50:51 GMT -4
Uriel had almost proceeded out of the room on his own by the time Rei spoke up. Uriel didn't give much of an expression other than to roll his eyes ever so subtly. Not saying much he fumbled around in his satchel momentarily before extracting a glass globe similar to the one he had left with Rei before only this contained a red liquid. Without turning to the others he held it up for a moment so that Rei would see it before tossing it back to him, not worrying about if the boy actually caught it. Uriel continued forward down the hall and disappeared off into the darkness once more making it obvious he trusted himself quite a bit and that he still viewed Rei as little more than a living shield. He spoke from ahead but in the dead silence of the cavern he didn't have to speak loudly for his words to reach them.
“I do understand how young hormones can get the best of you, but honestly you don't want a moron like her as a girlfriend?”
“Gi-GIRLFRIEND?!!!” The young thief yelled waving her one good arm toward the darkness Uriel had disappeared into, striking an emotion somewhere between annoyance and embarrassment.
Uriel managed to leave out the fact that the red pot would taste even worse than the medicine he had presented Rei with earlier. If the boy actually managed to get her to drink it she'd be lucky if she could do much more than squirm in horror for the next minute. Uriel allowed himself an amused grin when a few moments later he heard a disgusted scream and then the sound of the young thief hitting the ground and wriggling back and forth for a while. After a bit he heard the young girl running up behind him and a rather unnecessary “HIII-YAAAHHHH!!!” was issued. Uriel moved to the side and grasped the girls extended leg and she came toward him, twisted her weight and then used her forward momentum to send her flying before him where she hit the ground rather softly and rolled to a stop.
When she finally righted herself she pointed at him with her good arm while unconsciously patting her head with the broken one, “You bastard!!! WHAT WAS THAT?!!”
Staring at her neutrally Uriel raised one arm and touched his shoulder, “Feel better?”
He said no more and walked past her while she stopped and patted her injured arm, seemingly realizing the pain relieving properties of the drug for the first time. Of course her arm wasn't actually fixed, that would take magic and time, but just like Rei she wouldn't feel anything for the remainder of the day at least. Uriel was excellent at making salves and pots and while one could still injure themselves further if they strained to hard while under their effects there were few pots in the whole world with pain relieving properties as strong as his.
The group eventually got over their minor quibbles and began making their way down in one fashion or another. They soon broke free from the tight confines of the building back out into the wide open space of the cavern, however they now stood at the bottom of the cliff they had previously been atop. A steep grade went for as far as they could see before disappearing into the darkness, however if the others had been paying attention as Uriel had they too would know that after a few hundred meters they would find themselves at the base of the towers they had seen before. The entire time they did so the squeaks of all forms of bats sounded from about them, several made fly-bys of the group but none attacked. Uriel had trained in the Payon caves as a Acolyte and knew from experience that the reason was that Familiars and by connection their big brothers Drainlars only attacked when in mass...he had a bad feeling they might be exactly that a little further down.
Even without seeing what lay below anyone could have felt the oppressive evil that lay there. Well, perhaps not everyone but a priest certainly could and anyone should have been able to tell that this was the sort of place ultimate evils liked to take up housing. Uriel could have in fact brought light to the area, after all whatever was locked down here could certainly see them, especially a priest who to its dark eyes was likely as bright as the sun. However by not using visible light he was insuring they ran into as few monsters as possible and it did indeed work, a few bats that were either quickly dispatched or ran off on their own were all they found. It was about three-fourths of the way down the incline that the first speckles of light could be seen from before them, it was nothing bright but it was visible. A faint blue light, and as they got closer it became more apparent that it was shining out at them via a small blue archway, an archway that no doubt led into the central tower.
As it had seemed they were indeed at the entry to the central tower and with little concern for surroundings or safety Uriel waltzed right through. It became immediately evident that the pale blue light came from a series of lanterns hanging on the walls that gave off unnatural magic flames, that given this place was always sealed must have been everlasting. A single corridor lead to a giant hall that had it not been so dark would have looked right at home in a kings palace with giant etched pillars holding a ceiling up so high it could not be seen. Off of this single hall were dozens, perhaps hundreds of corridors that no doubt lead to hundreds more, luckily it appeared the hall itself went straight through the building so they probably wouldn't have to navigate a maze or anything. High above toward the dark ceiling strange floating blue lights performed spinning dances.
“Hide boy.” Uriel said quietly but with urgency only looking toward Rei slightly.
Uriel reached around and grabbed the young thief girl making sure to put his hand over her mouth and a moment later he was behind one of the pillars near the entrance. When the girl tried to struggle he simply knocked her on the head rather hard and made a quieting motion with his hand, despite her obvious desire to lash out perhaps she had seen enough to realize his senses and intuition were to be trusted. Of course he wasn't really protecting her, it was simply that her presence would give them away and she was less likely to take the hint and hide than Rei was.
At first there was nothing but it was quickly overtaken by what sounded like a hollow thump, like a hammer made out of wood constantly banging against the ground. It was quickly replaced by several similar sounds that became louder and louder, then just as it began to resemble the sound of horse hooves that it was the added sound of neighing could be heard. In a moments time they broke from one of the nearby corridors, no less than two dozen of them. Uriel did not have to look to know what they were, they were Nightmares, horses but horses made of black material like organic fluid that rippled as they moved, their eyes glowed red and from time to time one would expel fire from its nose. They moved like a herd, a single entity flying from one corridor to the adjacent one on the other side of the hall, thankfully ignoring or not even seeing the group as they flew. It took them all of twenty seconds to pass and perhaps another ten before they were clearly far away once more when Uriel released the girl, almost sending her plummeting to the ground before she caught her balance.
“Even I have no desire to run into a group of those that large. Keep your sense open, more of them...and perhaps worse and silenter things could be lurking.”
He nodded to Rei before he began down the large hallway, keeping his eyes on the darker shadows around them.
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Post by Zhiel on Sept 26, 2009 19:16:02 GMT -4
A smirk crept up on Rei's face when Uriel stopped to rumage through his bag, and pulled out a potion. It seemed the man actually did care, even if he did not show it outwards. Though Rei had been so caught up in his thoughts that he nearly missed the potion bottle flying in his direction, and almost dropped it as he fumbled with keeping it from crashing onto the solid ground. After finally getting a solid grip on it after a few seconds of almost having juggled it, he turned to walk back to the thief girl when Uriel spoke up again. 'Can't do anything without him being snide... eh?' Rei thought, ignoring the girls surprised cry.
"Here, drink this. It should help." Rei said as he handed the girl the potion, and though she looked hesitant at first, she soon accepted it, and after giving it a questionable look downed it completely. Rei expected the reaction of the girl, as he had drank a similiar potion, however he coulden't help but think hers must have been even worse as she nearly went into spasms after drinking it, but then in an instant she was up on her legs and running full speed at Uriel, from which Rei quickly moved out of the way. What followed made Rei sigh and put his face in the palm of his hand, but he ignored it and simply decided to catch up. When he passed by the girl however, he stopped for a moment as he whispered to her. "I think he cares deep down, he's just bad at showing it. Don't let it get to you too much, ok?" Before he jogged up just behind the older man, standing a little to his right as they proceeded down the ruins.
After a fair bit of walking, with the occasional ambush of bat-like creatures the small group made their way to a bunch of large towers, most likely the ones they had seen earlier, though with no true light source it was impossible to say for certain. However as they entered the center tower and looked around, Uriel urged Rei to hide in a silent voice. Rei who had been ready to act incase there was an ambush of some kind awaiting them did as the older man said, and hid behind an old bookshelf which stuck out from the wall quite a bit, using old rotten holes in it's side to look toward the a corner leading further into the tower.
What he saw surprised the young swordsman, as the 'herd' that galloped past them looked almost like horses, but yet clearly was not. Remaining completely still, only moving his eyes to follow the herd, Rei finally let out a sigh of relief once they had passed, having held his breath unconciously. Standing up in unison with Uriel, Rei nodded to the mans comment. Though he wasn't certain on what they actually were, they did seem dangerous. Once more they trecked down the hallway, as Rei followed shortly behind with the thief girl a few meters behind, constantly looking behind her back as they walked.
Many minutes later the small group came into a large cylindrically shaped room, with mighty pillars which once had runes etched on their surface, but had now withered away. And with the exception of a large symbol carved in the floor, the only thing which stood out about this room, was the large coffin which rested in the center of the symbol, with many runic letters surrounding it, holy texts which were meant for holding something in place. The coffin was empty, but there were black blotches all over the floor, leading to a large blackened door at the end of the hallway...
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Post by GoldenKitten on Sept 26, 2009 23:01:47 GMT -4
To the untrained eye it might appear that Uriel was acting just as he had before, however one with good perception might note that he had tensed up considerably. Clearly he considered where they were now to be far more dangerous than the previous area and was ready to respond at a moments notice. As if to back this up his witty banter ceased almost in its entirety for the time being and he left the two following him alone more or less, though it was likely he wouldn't have had much to do with them anyhow. Either way they made their way down the hall with relatively little in the way of event.
As Uriel had guessed the bats were thicker here but it seemed that they were sleeping along the walls as a whole with only a few swinging their way, perhaps though it was always dark down here they still worked on a day and night schedule. Another time they came face to face with a single Nightmare that had been standing perfectly silent in one of the halls for seemingly no reason, Uriel had quickly planted his sword into the creatures skull before it could make a single sound and it had sunk to the floor moments after with no argument. Twice Uriel spotted single corpses, he imagined they were the few individuals who had survived the massacre the evil within had turned into the zombies they had fought previously. The girl didn't react so he was sure she did not see them, he was unsure of the boy but either way he made sure not to approach them lest they be reincarnated themselves, no reason for a battle they could avoid.
The hall eventually reached its end in a large cylindrical chamber with thicker pillars and a massive black coffin set as the centerpiece. After quickly noting the coffin was empty Uriel kept his eyes on the ceiling, about the only place other than the pillars something could hide in the room. There was nothing of particular interest but he did note that the bats in this room were agitated, they were flying in greater numbers but actually seemed frightened and were paying the group no mind as they flew in frenzied circles. Convinced that nothing was an immediate threat but still not letting his guard down Uriel approached the coffin, he did not bend down to eye the runes as they were large enough to tell what they were straight off. His eyes quickly found the black liquid trail on the ground and followed it to the door at the back end of the complex which was slightly ajar.
He spoke but this time his voice was purely factual, “The runes are made for holding, whatever we are down here for this is where it came from. But something is wrong, stay alert. Oh and when it begins, help me but also stay out of my line of fire.” For the first time in a while he turned and smirked a bit, “Unless you enjoy being holy-fried swordie.”
Uriel pulled Ragnhildr from its sheath once more and then for the first time flipped the snap on his belt buckle and extracted the small and clearly very old unmarked book from its holder. He turned back toward the door and held both the book and sword extended outward as he walked forward with the sort of conviction only someone who had faced great evil many times could have mustered in the face of the overbearing miasma that permeated the ruin. He tested the door with his sword several times but no movement or sound issued from beyond and then waiting no longer he delivered a swift kick to the door and followed through with his weight so that it pushed all the way open. It was a large door made of stone but even so it was made to be opened and despite its age creaked forward to its full extent with little issue, perhaps due to the fact it had been opened shortly before. Uriel had only taken several steps in when he quickly sheathed his sword and withdrew the blue stone from his pack and moved forward with speed unfitting safety as if he was seeing something even he hadn't expected.
As before there were no words but a short wait later light exploded from the blue stone and made even Uriel shirk for a moment as his eyes had adapted to the darkness. Unlike before they were in a smaller room this time so the light did not die out over a distance, instead it lit the whole room up to an unnatural degree with the same piercing white light similar to the Schwarzwald electrical lamps. But it was doubtful any of them were paying much attention to that, instead they would be noting the only prominent feature in the short hallway, a corpse impaled on a massive stone spear jutting out of the ground. It was not this that Uriel found unexpected as he had seen people die in plenty of ways, it was what the corpse was. Even in death he could feel the immense evil that had once been held in its form seeping out so that it would eventually cease to be, it was identical to the energy that permeated the tower. The big demon they had come to slay was dead, Uriel approached the corpse and looked up seeing that though it looked relatively human it had a much large form, red eyes almost like himself and sharp fangs. Uriels mind ran wild though he remained neutral, it was possible one of the other adventurers had slain the creature but it would have had to have happened recently for him not to have noticed which meant they would still have been down here. They clearly weren't and moreover he doubted whatever had been left of the massacre had the skill to deal with this.
“Well, the big bad evil we came to slay is dead. Makes you kind of wonder what the fuck we're doing down here doesn't it?” Uriel said, however despite the words he did not sound amused or convinced they were done here.
Just as he had finished speaking a shrill piercing scream echoed from beyond the rooms exit. It was not a issue of normal pain, it was hardly human as if the act forced upon it was beyond the mortal realm of contemplatable torment. Uriel saw the thief girl cover her ears and more than a little fear cover her face as she backed away from the source. He did not react in any manner but he had to admit he had never heard a human, and he could tell from the limits of the vocal tone that it was human, issue such a call of pain since his days in Niflheim. It lasted wholly to long as well, continuing for almost a full minute with no pause for breath before it promptly cut off without warning. Finally Uriel turned half-way around to the other two and shrugged.
“That perhaps?” He then turned once more and walked off to face this new challenge seeming to forget he had only been promised paymet to face the already dead monster, “Follow close or turn back now, both your choices I suppose.”, the girl looked at Rei clearly ready to turn around if he did, though just as likely to follow him if he didn't as it was doubtful she had the courage to return alone after what she had seen and heard.
Even Uriel wasn't quite sure why he pushed forward, but somewhere in his subconscious he was certain he felt another presence here and it felt familiar. It was almost as if whatever it was had been hiding itself underneath the previous evils aura, that didn't necessarily mean it was weaker, it just meant it was better at controlling its power. The hallway exited out the back of the tower and they found themselves looking at an area that had previously been out of sight, it was also completely unlike the previous areas in that it was well lit from what seemed to be a sunlit source in the ceiling but clearly was of a magical nature since this complex was completely sealed. It was a smaller cavern, the hallway they exited lead to a series of stairs cut into a cliff wall that took them to the ground far below. The area was circular as if the cavern had been carved by hand or magic instead of forming naturally, in the middle of the area was a crystal clear pool of water with an island in the center. On the far end opposite where they were exiting now was a large twenty meter solid stone door with countless runes cut into it, it was doubtful anyone could move it without a legion of mages.
It took Uriel about two minutes to make his way down the steep steps to the ground below, still holding his book (having put the stone away once more) in one hand and his sword in the other, prepared for an attack at any moment despite the well lit surroundings. With nothing else of note and having seen something of interest on his way down he moved toward the pool. Sure enough as he got close he was able to confirm the corpse laying upon the small island in the center of the pool. He was also able to see that the burned clothes and skin had been flayed straight from its body and even portions of its musculature had been pulled back. Though it lay very still his senses as a priest could still pick up faint life within it, he made no motions to help it though as it was surely unconscious by that point and there was no aid that could be given now. Instead he made a witty comment to placate the minds of his followers and perhaps himself a tad as well, not wanting them to know something here could do that and leave you alive in the end.
“Well then, I'd say he's dead ya?”
Uriel happened to notice that there were several runes around the body though from this distance he could not tell what they were for. As such he began approaching the pool to get a better look, having to move all the way to the edge to see though he would not take the chance of jumping across lest they still be active. To his disappointment they were little more than incantations to keep the torture spell the poor sod had no doubt been put under active and didn't give him any clues. Searching the cavern for answers his eyes fell to the water below him and his solid reflection staring back at him. It was a twenty foot deep pool carved into the stone floor and polished smooth and shaped like a donut around the island in the center. Uriel was about to move on and look for further clues when an obvious and yet subtle fact hit him.
“Thats a very solid reflection...” He mumbled offhand.
That was when his reflection winked at him and Uriel immediately knew what was going to happen.
“Shit.” He said with little expression.
He tossed his book off to the side of the cavern as quickly as he could to keep it from getting wet and by this time six black tendrils had escaped the water and surrounded him like a cage. A second later he was pulled under and found himself thrashing about with the now very whole bodied creature that was well...himself.
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Post by Zhiel on Sept 27, 2009 22:17:58 GMT -4
Though Rei was unable to percieve the depth of Uriels change, he noticed the older man seemed to be more alert, possibly tense. Of course this was most likely only because he had followed closely behind the older man and thus had more chance to notice. After quickly dispatching a Nightmare, to which Rei just stood with jaw agape at the speed and efficiency of Uriels attack. He quickly pulled himself togheter though as he jogged up to the man once more, observing how the Nightmare was turning into a pile of goo and mist after falling.
As they entered the big cylindrical room, Rei's grip on his swords hilt instinctively hardened as he slowly pulled it out of its sheath, holding it with the tip pointing to the roof beside him. Unlike Uriel who quickly switched his attention to the ceiling, Rei's focus remained on the big black coffin, his instincts told him it was dangerous, though it was in fact the stagnant evil which had been trapped in it for a hundred or so years which remained behind, causing his sharp but unfocused senses to act up. Despite this Rei followed behind Uriel, and when it finally became painfully obvious nothing was going to jump out from the empty coffin, Rei turned his eyes toward the floor, following the black splotches of dried blood that lead to the door opposite to them.
Following shortly behind Uriel, Rei was impressed by how steady the man appeared, because as they moved closer to the large stone door, Rei felt like if his hair was about to stand on end from the overflowing sensation comming from the other side, and he was barely able to keep from shaking with anticipation (and fear), though the girl did not do as good, nearly clinging to Rei's free arm. It might have been humorous, if the situation did not call for seriousness. After passing through the archway and into the hallway behind the door, Uriel suddenly sheated his sword as he pulled something out and began to walk with speed toward 'something' further down the hall. And though even Rei could tell what he was doing was less than safe, he knew the older man could take care of himself and probably knew what he was doing, so he did not say anything. He did however look away for a second as Uriel raised the blue gemstone with which he created a brilliantly blinding light.
The sight which met the group was quite the surprise, and though it was not visible of Uriels face, it was clear on Rei's, while the girl gave out a quick shriek at the impaled corpse of what had once been Dracula. After staring at the remains for a good minute Rei finally worked up the nerve to follow Uriel, who stood by the corpse, analyzing it. “Well, the big bad evil we came to slay is dead. Makes you kind of wonder what the fuck we're doing down here doesn't it?” Despite the words he said, Uriel did not seem to believe they were finished, infact, it made it seem like there was an even BIGGER evil just waiting for them to slip up and give it an opening. However Rei had no time for deep contemplation on this, as a inhuman scream suddenly echoed down the hall from the passage ahead, filled with agony and suffering. Though the scream itself was painfull to listen to, it also bore with it part of the complete fear the victim was most likely feeling, or had experienced. Though the scream itself was still fresh in his memory, it caused images to flood his mind in quick succession, as screams of pain echoed in his head. However he could make no sense of it all and as quick as it had began it ended, as the scream of the unfortunate 'man' was cut short soon after. With trembling hands Rei almost stumbled, just barely catching his balance on the cold stone wall, as he breathed heavily from the mental stress he had experienced.
Uriel though did not appear shakened by this at all, and seemed to rather have found new determination to see this through. “Follow close or turn back now, both your choices I suppose.” The man said, probably assuming neither of them were truly up for the task of facing whatever lay ahead of them, while giving them the option to turn back. Rei honestly considered it for a second, looking back at the girl who was cowering on the floor, still shaken by the scream but at the same time looked helplessly at him. He wanted to atleast get her to safety, but he didn't want to abandon Uriel either, even if the older man was far better suited for this than he was. That, and he still believed that Uriel might be able to lead him to his forgotten past, however the way things were going now... He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know or not.
"Sorry, but I need to keep going. You should probably turn back now, before things get bad..." Rei said to the girl, putting on a smile toward the end. He didn't want her to get hurt further, since she was clearly not suited for this kind of situation, even less so than he was. Without anymore hesitation Rei turned around once more and followed Uriel down the hall, past the impaled corpse and into the large, well lit complex. What immidiately stood out was the small island in the middle of a small pond, just a few meters wide, but the water was too dark to tell the depth. After getting closer to the pool, the duo, with the thief shortly behind, could finally tell the black thing which laid on the island was a corpse, or atleast, appeared to be a corpse.
“Well then, I'd say he's dead ya?” Uriel said, not seeming like he wanted to confirm it for certain, though with how the body lying there looked, that shoulden't be necessary... Though something on the island did interest the man, as he walked closer to the pool to see it clearer. At the same time Rei stood still as he looked around, eyeing the walls and ceiling, but seeing nothing of value he was about to turn around when he heard Uriel mutter something, though seemingly to himself. "What did you say?" Rei asked as he turned back around, just in time for Uriel to toss his book aside as black shadowy tendrils shot out of the water and pulled him in. Rei's eyes widened in surprise and shock at this, and having no idea how to react simply ran up to the edge of the pool as he looked down into the water, desperately trying to see where Uriel had disappeared off to. However he did not get any time to help the older man, as he heard the terrified shriek of the thief girl, just as the sound of hoofs pounding the stone floor became audible.
Rei swiftly spun around, his Blade in a double-grip and raised above himself in a defensive stance as the horse-like demon came rushing toward him from the corridor they had just left. On it's way the demon, quite intentionally, tackled the girl to the side, though she was able to avoid actual injury due to quick reactions. Rei on the other hand decided it was best to try and dodge it alltogheter, and as the demon came closer the swordsman threw himself to the side, swiping with his blade toward the horse at random, only managing to scratch the side of one of the demons legs, before the thing jumped right over the pool and landed straight on the corpse of the wizard, causing a sickening crunch as what remained of his head was squashed under the mighty hooves. As the beast turned around on the island, it became apparent it's head began to 'warp', it turning into a swirling mist as what appeared to be a humanoid torso clad in a cloak in the same colors as the Nightmare's skin, with a large hood and a skull-like face formed from it, with a large scythe forming in it's skeletal hands. The Nightmare Terror had revealed it's true form.
Rolling up on his feet, Rei gritted his teeth at the sight before him. He had gotten used to seeing some monsters, and the Nightmares themselves weren't so bad, but this new one was more than just a little terrifying, he wanted to simply run away from it, but doing so would mean abbandoning Uriel and the girl. He needed to beat this thing quickly, so he could help Uriel! And with that thought, Rei's grip on his blade tightened as he raised the swird, with the hilt on even level with his head, just in time for the demon to jump straight at him, swinging it's large scythe as it was about to come down on him. In response, Rei focused his strength into his arms, as he made a powerful swing straight at the creatures weapon and with a loud clang of steel versus... Well, some metal-like material, the demon was sent off balance and flew by beside Rei, crashing down on the ground and clearly being vulnerable. Rei quickly took the opportunity, stabbing his blade deep into the creatures... throat..? As his blade was about to pierce the beast, it's form became a purple mist around where his sword would have hit it. It appeared his weapon was unable to harm the demon...
Giving him no more time to figure out a solution to this problem, the Nightmare kicked with it's hindlegs, hitting Rei in his gut with one of them sending him flying back a few meters as he tumbled on the ground and came to rest like a sack of potatoes near the wall. And though initially painfull, Rei coulden't help but feel it hadn't hurt as bad as it should have... It was probably the work of the potion he had drank earlier. As the swordsman shambled up to his feet, the Nightmare was already charging at him, just barely giving Rei the time to raise his blade to block the scythe as it came swinging at him in full force. With another loud clang of metal, Rei found himself with the Nightmare and him in a blade-lock of sorts as it tried to cleave him with the scythe, and him desperately holding it back. He was lucky he had the back to the wall, as it gave him extra support, and made the Nightmare unable to simply trample him. However seeing he would eventually lose if this went on, Rei decided to take a gamble as he rushed straight at the Nightmare, just barely holding the scythe off as he tackled into the horse-like body with as much force as he could muster, causing the creature to stumble back as it reared back on it's hindlegs, letting out a angry-sounding screech as the scythe was raised. However, seeing how vulnerable the thing now was, Rei reacted completely instinctually, as a memory from his past emerged. And with one strong thrust, Rei plunged his sword straight into the creatures exposed belly, the blade glowing orange.
"Magnum... Break!"
There was a short pause, as the Nightmare looked down on him like if it coulden't believe what had just happened, as the large wound his glowing blade had created was dripping a sickly purple liquid, before the creature exploded as flames rippled outward, covering Rei in purple liquid, which luckily for Rei began to simply evaporate as the demon itself faded away and became mist. Panting heavily and with wide eyes, Rei was completely shocked at what had just happened, even if he had been the one who had done it.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Sept 27, 2009 22:27:03 GMT -4
Uriel was turned head over heels several times thanks to the surprise his foe had enacted. Regardless he refused to fall into a panic like most might have and within a few seconds had righted himself and figured out his current positioning within the water, though his foe still had the upper hand. Several times he got a good look at was essentially himself but with several black opaque spider like legs coming from its back and grasping him, however it was spinning him quickly so these sightings were brief. He began to contemplate a certain fact in the back of his mind but at the moment he was more concerned with getting out of his foes trap.
He was continuously spun the enemy clearly intending to either drown him to death or at least into unconsciousness. Uriel looked upward where he could still see the piercing magical light of the chamber, every few milliseconds it would disappear and reappear as he was flipped upside down. He began counting in his head in synchronization with this event as he placed his foe into the equation. Then just as his lung capacity began to be tested, not having had the chance to take a breath before going down, he maneuvered Ragnhildr to his side. Just as the light disappeared he thrust the blade underneath his right arm so that as the light reappeared it struck out at the foe behind him. It was impossible to tell if it had hit as the water already offered resistance against the strike and there was no sound here.
Regardless as the tendrils of darkness retreated and moments later the foe left him it became obvious it had worked. The Uriel clone came launching out of the water in a flip and landed a distance from Rei and the girl holding a shallow wound it had received to its torso. Moments later the real Uriel breached the water and though he didn't do it with near the acrobatic grace his enemy had he still managed to pull himself out with extreme speed so that he was immediately on his feet with his blade prepared. Both of them were breathing hard though whether the enemy was short of breath or just putting on an act was anybodies guess.
The fake Uriel had since pulled its tendrils back and aside from its injury was indistinguishable from the real thing, so if Rei hadn't been watching carefully it could be difficult to decide who was who. He held his hand up and said, “Wait, thats the thing!” pointing at the real Uriel.
Uriel didn't buy into the act though and held his sword at him while speaking in a semi-aggravated tone, “Your ability to copy others. It reminds me of someone I once fought...I think you need to die.”
The fake Uriel stared at him for several moments and then the facade dropped exposing its true and only mildly human form. Despite the cloak it wore it was obvious that it was made of the same material as the black tendrils it had used before only formed into the basic form of a bipedal being. It stared at the group with its red eyes that despite being solid seemed to suggest amusement and perhaps a bit of intrigue. Uriel noted that it was still holding the wound he had inflicted shortly before, he quickly deduced that the holy properties of his sword would prove very effective here as even if it wasn't showing it most creatures of this ones caliber would have healed a normal wound by now.
“Well I might remember you if I thought for a while but that wouldn't be very efficient of me. I don't really pay to much attention to the human form itself, they cease to be so quickly when I am around.” His voice was nothing like Uriels now and held a guttural tinge, he continued, “I suppose I should have deduced from the methodical nature of that encounter that your personality would not be so easy to replicate. Ah well, there are other ways to face a more intelligent opponent...and I wonder if your friends are so calm?”
Uriel was pretty certain he knew who this was and though he wanted to get angry due to his previous dealing with the creature, or one of its kind, he had to force himself to think calmly. It was a doppleganger, whether there was more than one in the world had long been an argument among the magical professionals of the world but held little weight here. This creature was more intelligent than almost any other foe you could find in the world and of course obviously held the ability to replicate its foes form at a moments notice, it could even utilize the powers they held to an extent.
Doppleganger had no qualms about fighting its own way and quickly changed its target now that it was exposed heading straight for the thief Elander that anyone could have picked out as the weak link in the chain. Uriel was too far from them and Dopple too fast, he flung his black tendril cage around the young girl and she quickly found herself pinned, unable to use any weapons. She was then dragged off as if in a hunters net behind Dopple as it fled for the towers the group had just descended from. Only from this angle did it become apparent that there had been more than one exit from the towers, one to each of the side towers that was actually on the “ground floor” of the cavern they found themselves in.
Uriel broke off in the opposite direction, even though he could have caught the fleeing opponent immediately he would have been facing a high powered evil with only half his arsenal. He slid to a stop and ripped his book off the ground before performing an about face and rushing back after his opponent who had put a good distance between them but had been slowed down thanks to carrying the girl. It was then that Doppleganger began glowing with a light purple aura and seconds later split into two, both identical and both dragging squealing Elanders. Each headed for a separate entrance to a different tower and Uriel cursed under his breath. Being separated was the last thing they wanted to do due to his power but they could be put in an even worse situation if they both followed him and fell into a trap or were forced to negotiate a hostage situation. The longer this went on the more likely one of these two scenarios became and so Uriel pointed to the visage that was headed to the right tower.
“Go after him! But don't trust your eyes or senses he can replicate any form. If you find the girl then you knock her out and deal with her whining later, better than being dead.”
Shortly after both Dopples had disappeared into the tower and Uriel followed his a handful of moments later, losing sight of what happened with Rei in the process. He wasn't sure how much he trusted the boy but as long as the swordsmen didn't give in to his senses and followed Uriel's words then he could probably hold his own in a fight with Dopple and if Dopple did begin to fight then Uriel would quickly notice and go for him. It was hard to say which one was the real one, or if both were real as Uriel was unaware of the extent of his foes powers but if one was fake he had to admit his was the more likely candidate. Doppleganger was an intelligent opponent and just as he had gone after Elander the weakest link first he would probably go after Rei the younger and less experienced next, regardless basing his decision off of this theory alone could have been disastrous leading to Uriel making his current decision.
Uriel charged down one hall as he watched Elanders flailing form disappear around a far off corner. It wasn't long before Dopple had winded around more than enough corners to keep an average individual lost in the labyrinth for hours but luckily Uriel had managed to memorize the route so far, though much further and he might start having trouble. It was as this thought crossed his mind that one of the many halls opened into a larger chamber and he came to a grinding halt, he could no longer hear Elander or see see Doppleganger but he doubted he would have anyway, it seemed his theory that his was a fake was proven accurate. Before him lay no less than a dozen corpses of varying sizes like those from before.
“Ya, I'm gonna fall into that trap. Think I'll go back thi-”
He was cut off as he heard several moans and thumps from behind him. He turned to watch another dozen corpses, these reanimated, come spilling down the hallways behind him making retreat impossible. At the same time his head spun back around to see those corpses in the larger room begin to get up themselves.
“Or maybe...I already have.”
He would have wished Rei luck as the boy was probably in for a hard time himself, but Uriel had a feeling he was about to need all the luck he had with none to spare.
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Post by Zhiel on Sept 28, 2009 17:48:05 GMT -4
Rei had just dispatched the Nightmare Terror, and only a few seconds later Uriel shot out of the water with surprising grace, despite holding his left side like if he was wounded. Though as Rei had spaced out for a bit he had missed out on a lot of the details and thus it was impossible for him to really tell which of the two Uriel's now standing before them was the real one. Though he became pretty certain of the fake being the first one when it pointed the other Uriel out as the "thing". It just did not seem like Uriel, and though he had not been tagging along with the man for very long, he had always been calm and methodical, even when he was pushed down a vast chasm.
This was more or less confirmed when the second Uriel just ignored the first ones statement and asked it a question, before making a statement of his own. 'Yup... That seems like Uriel all right...' He thought as he slowly began to make his way toward the two, being on guard just in case. He stopped involuntarily however as the first Uriel decidedly dropped the act and reverted into it's true form, appearing like a humanoid-ish creature of living shadows. While the Nightmare's were terrifying in a bizarre way, this new threat was completely different. While not bizarre in the normal sense of the word, the way it appeared completely incorporeal, with tendrils of shadow waving out of the creatures cloak every now and then, it was easy to deduct this THING was far more of a threat than even the Nightmare Terror, it was like if the being itself was made out of sentient evil...
Not before long however the thing shot off to the side, heading straight for Elander with speed that only a trained assassin could have kept up with, as it 'threw' a shadowy net across her body and began to quickly drag her off. Rei cursed as he broke off into a run, reaching the doorway leading back into the towers just after Uriel, due to having been farther away and reacting slower than the more experienced priest. And as they ran, they soon noticed how Doppleganger seemingly split in two, and headed off in two completely different directions. Even Rei realized what the being was trying to make them do, but he also realized that if they did not split up now, the girl could very well get into an even worse situation. Uriel seemed to have a similar reasoning, as he ordered Rei to take the other path, as well as to knock the girl out if he found her, as a safety measure no doubt. Not hesitating Rei began to run down the hallway.
As he dashed down the ancient corridors and past crossroads, just barely keeping up with the demon as it continuously disappeared beyond a corner ahead of him, Rei began to realize that it most likely WANTED him to follow it... This gave birth to a number of different thoughts, such as that he was most likely following the fake one, or that it was luring him into a trap. But either way, he could not risk simply abandoning the girl, as it could very well be the real one. This continued for a good two minutes, as Rei began to breathe heavily from the ordeal he suddenly heard the sound of a loud crash from somewhere ahead, as the girl let out a surprised yelp and the sound of dozens of objects of varying materials hit the stone floor. With renewed vigor, Rei rushed around the last corner and came to a sliding stop as he drew his sword once more.
The room he had now entered was a fairly large one, with giant pillars on the sides of the room, causing most of the walls to be covered in thick darkness due to there only being one tiny light source in the form of a chandelier swinging in the ceiling, just barely lighting up the form of Elander's as she slowly sat up from the ground, rubbing her head as she let out a number of barely audible 'ow's. Around her laid the broken form of a suit of armor, which seemed to have been tipped just now, most likely the sound Rei had heard.
With quick but light steps Rei walked up to Elander, stopping just a short distance from her, just as she apparently heard his approach and spun her head around with a tinge of fear on her face. "Waah! Oh, it's you... Thank goodness..." She said, her voice quivering from obvious fear, but also being clearly relieved from seeing Rei. "You alright? What happened?" Rei asked, though he knew Uriel had told him not to trust his senses, there was no way THAT thing could put up such an act... Right? As he waited for her to answer, it almost looked like if she would start crying. "I.. I managed to grab ahold of that stand, the thing lost it's balance and dropped me. It looked like if it was going to kill me right then... Then it just turned and disappeared into the shadows! I was so scared..." Elander said, her voice trembling as she placed her head in her hands, seemingly crying now. "It's ok, as long as you're safe we can get that thing back!" Rei said, trying to cheer her up a bit as he walked closer. Though he did not believe this to be the Doppleganger, he decided to take Uriel's advice and knock her out, or try to at the very least, but just as he reached her and raised his arm, a rustling sound echoed out from the darkness in one of the corners of the room.
Rather than strike at the back of Elander's neck, Rei jumped out infront of the girl, who also seemed to have heard the sound and seemed to be trying to get up on her feet as quickly as possible. With his sword out in a defensive pose, eyes locked on the darkness in-front of him and Elander's behind his back, Rei had no way to see the devilish grin which spread up on her face, as one of her daggers suddenly appeared in her hand. She leaned forward slightly, just so that she could whisper into Rei's ear. "Humans sure are foolish..." just as a decaying corpse fell out of the darkness Rei had been facing, having seemingly been manipulated for the simple task of distracting him. Then the dagger struck.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Oct 1, 2009 3:29:27 GMT -4
He could have beat them with some significant effort and exertion, or even with a big wasteful blast of holy energy. However both would have left him worn out and with Doppleganger running about that was the last thing he needed and of course that, he realized, was Dopples plan. Instead he aimed for the far end of the room which had an exit to the inner halls, he might get lost but it was better than dieing down here. Unlike the corpses from before almost all of these seemed to be of the smaller variety with one or two knights being the exception. This might have sounded good at first but upon inspection it was quickly realized that most of them were in good shape and so much faster than the earlier group. Thus Uriel had no time to plan or try and waltz around them, he had to make a mad dash as the group within the room tried to surround him and an ever growing group flooded in from the hallways behind.
His first few steps took him within swinging distance of one of the freshest zombies carting a sword, luckily it telegraphed its movements far to much. Whether this was because it was undead or if the swordsmen had been poor even in life was unknown. Either way Uriel had ducked a full three seconds before the strike went over his head, he continued past without striking back as that would have slowed him down. Several arrows came whizzing past his head from behind and he had to look back to make sure he dodged anymore that were coming.
In doing so he completely missed that one of the zombies in the room itself and not coming from behind was an archer, a fact that was not long lost on him when he took an arrow to the gut. His clothes were thick leather and were not so easily pierced especially due to the zombies weakened strength but the tip still managed to gouge a hole in his side before falling to the ground that instantly began bleeding profusely. He tripped momentarily while gasping and holding his side before he sped off again, the wound was far from fatal and he could ignore it until he had the time to properly close it. If one had been observing they might have noted it was impossible to tell that Uriel had been wounded as his clothes were the same color as his blood. This was surely a conscious decision to psyche opponents out since it would be impossible to tell if you were effective against him, at least as far as light blows went.
In the intervening time that the slight misstep cost him several of the zombies got too close, close enough that one more mistake would cost him dearly. Uriel retracted the hand holding the book to his chest and murmured a prayer under his breath, Uriel never prayed in his free time, he didn't think there was a point to it as long as he believed and the fact that the gods still answered his battle prayers seemed to confirm this. As he finished speaking a mild-pulse exited the book, ruffling its pages from the inside though it did not open. To anyone else there would have been seemingly no effect but to every undead being within three meters of Uriel it was like being hit by an airship. No less than half a dozen of them went flying across the room, smacking into walls and breaking apart, none of them survived the attack intact enough to resume the assault but there were plenty to take their place.
Uriel made his way around what was dressed like a swordsmen but was strangely wielding an axe with a little more effort. The axe swung back and forth with a higher rate of speed but there wasn't much in the way of skill to the attacks, just a high and low pattern. Uriel fell forward and performed a basic flip just as the axe went low so that by the time it came high he was well past its range. It might have struck the back of his head as he came back to his feet but he had predicted this and brought Ragnhildr to bear behind him as a shield. The ensuing clash did little to either combatant and Uriel still holding the momentum of his run slid for a foot before bounding forward into a jump. There were no others in his way though every one of them was following by this point and he burst through the far entrance to the room which lead to even more hallways just like the one he had entered through in the first place.
He looked left and right, there could have been more undead here and the last thing he wanted to do was be stuck in narrow quarters with them. Thankfully it seemed all of their forces had been committed to flanking him and neither his normal senses nor his life-senses picked up anything abnormal. He turned around and looked at his foes charging him one last time before a bit of his usual sly smile and cocky gleam in his eye crossed his face. He extended his relatively long arm span up to the top of the doorway he had just exited and held them there for a few seconds, grimacing momentarily when the motion of raising his arms made his wound hurt. Then a bright white light exploded from his hands, it was meant for killing demons and undead in one on one combat but it still effected the physical realm and mortals to an extent. Light in the form of many blades exploded out of his arms and blasted through the stone structure before the archway collapsed, it seemed it was overall strong enough not to collapse the hall he was in though. When it was over there was no longer a entrance to the room filled with zombies.
“Take that you dumb bastards.” Uriel remarked before placing his hand on his head and rolling his eyes, “Of course, I suppose the one who just trapped himself in a portion of a mammoth labyrinth he knows nothing about might also count as a dumb bastard.”
He sighed and backed against the far wall from the collapse and pulled out a bandage and adhesive from his pack. He reached down his jacket and applied the small square wrap directly to the wound which while painful due to the “paper-cut” like feel of arrow wounds was actually rather mild compared to the many injuries he had experienced. As he did this he heard the undead on the other side of his impromptu wall, clawing and gnawing at it, even hitting it with weapons but there was to much rubble for physical methods to move it quickly. After some time they went quiet, they could simply have given up but Uriel knew if they were being controlled by Dopple directly it was more likely they were looking for a way around. Knowing this he turned down the first hall he saw and began walking, he tried to sense Dopple but found nothing, instead for the time being he wandered as within this place there was no logical way to go.
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Post by Zhiel on Oct 1, 2009 18:41:59 GMT -4
The one decimeter long blade of the dagger would surely have pierced Rei's heart, as Doppleganger thrust it with full force and total precision, had it not been for the creatures overconfidence that Rei was just 'another amateur swordsman'. Of course, the being had no way of knowing that Rei had reflexes far above the usual for someone his age, suggesting training since his early years. And as such, as he heard the words revealing Elander as Doppleganger, he quickly twisted his body around, as he swung his left arm out, taking the tip of the blade on the very center of his arm-guard. What followed was Dopples grin growing ever wider, as the blade pierced through the thin metal cover, and with a 'shunk' sunk into Rei's flesh. The blade did however lose force by the guard, and so stopped completely once it hit bone, burying almost half-way into it.
Though Rei was by far not ready for the new wound introduced to his body in the span of a few seconds, he did not show any ridiculous signs of it. Well, apart from his face which showed it all as he gritted his teeth and nearly clenched his eyes shut, but he did not make much noise from something which would have some adults screaming in pain. This apparently surprised, or impressed Doppleganger, which rather than act again stood still for a second as it analyzed Rei's facial expression. Rei on the other hand was not satisfied with his arm being used as a pin cushion for big sharp daggers, and so he twisted his arm around as he forcefully pulled it away, making Dopple lose it's grip on the blade, just as Rei's own sword came down toward it from the other side as Rei spun around, with a high yell as he put as much force into the blow as he possibly could with his one arm.
What ensued was a clear, piercing Ka-Ting sound, as the blade of one of Dopplegangers daggers went flying through the air, and a moment later a loud crash was heard as Rei's blade hit the ground, creating cracks where the tip of the blade hit. Though someone who was observant would be able to tell the blade was also damaged by this careless behavior, as cracks spread along the tip. Though it appeared as if the attack had not been completely in vain, as blood suddenly splattered on the ground and a fairly deep cut had opened in Doppleganger's torso region. Though still looking like Elander's it was easy to be fooled it had really been her as the expression on it's face was one of complete shock and looked like if it could not believe what had just happened. However this only lasted for but a moment, as the expression on Doppleganger's face shifted from one of surprise, to annoyance and finally anger.
Without any ceremony, the wounded body of Elander which looked as if it would fall over at a moments notice suddenly shifted, as the already weak light around the creature was being eaten away by the shadows which now escaped it's form. The wound which had been at it's chest had seemingly closed up completely, and now it's crimson eyes stared with anger at the young swordsman before them. Shortly after his transformation, both the weapons he had used dissolved into shadowy mist, even the one stuck in Rei's forearm, as well as the blood which had been sprayed on the floor and on Rei's blade. The power of Doppleganger's shape-shifting was truly not to be underestimated if he could even take on what was inside of their bodies, along with external things such as weapons.
Despite the clear anger in Doppleganger's eyes, the way he stood, as well as shifted his "head" suggested amusement. Which became clear as he began to speak. "No hesitation, not even as you cut at the face of a companion... I see, you must not have known each others for very long, yes that does make sense. You were better than I thought," Dopple began, his voice the same guttural, multi-faceted voice as it had been earlier, but as he began on the new sentence, his form began to shift mid-sentence, and as he reached the half-way mark, his voice changed from being several voices in one, to being two completely different voices speaking in unison. And as the new form took shape, it became clear it was Rei's own voice which was now speaking. "I hope you will entertain me properly!" He said this last thing with true malicious intent shining in his dull grey eyes. To the observant one, Dopple had even copied Rei's wounded left arm. However he had not copied his sword perfectly.
For several seconds, a deep silence fell over the pillar filled room, as the two swordsmen stood facing one another, each on one end of the small bit of light being given by the lone chandelier. One stood with both arms gripping the handle of his sword, having the tip resting on the ground as he panting heavily, both from exhaustion, but also from the pain the new wound gave him. Yet despite all of this, his unwavering gaze was locked on the other swordsman, never leaving the other warriors face. The other was the opposite, he stood leaned back, his right arm barely holding onto the tip of the swords hilt as he leaned it casually on the ground like a cane, lazily dangling his own wounded left arm beside him, but even as blood dripped from it, he was clearly not hurting from it as the half-crazy looking grin which was on his face told you all that needed to be said about this "man".
The real Rei was the first to break the silence, as he suddenly pulled his arms back, at the same time as he pushed away with his feet as he rushed forward, the hilt of his sword parallel with his chest, ready to be thrust forward and pierce the chest of his adversary. It was a shame Doppleganger was far too experienced to fall for this, now that he was ready and expecting Rei. With a clear 'ting' Rei's sword was sent to the left as Dopple parried the thrust, with his own sword in just one hand and seemingly not making any effort at all. What followed was a surprised look on Rei's face, as Dopple's left hand impacted the under-side of Rei's jaw in a fierce uppercut which caused the young mans head to swing backwards as his neck gave of a cracking noise, though for those with experience, it was not his neck being broken, just strained. However the force of the blow did send the unfortunate swordsman flying a few meters backwards, hitting the floor just at the end of the light once more.
It was clear that Doppleganger could easily have ended this battle now, as even if Rei tried to pull himself together after the vicious uppercut, he was still stumbling for several seconds, barely able to stand at all as he coughed violently. However Dopple stood still, silently, looking at his own left arm life if amazed by something. "You're quite the interesting little swordsman, aren't you?" Though his words seemed genuine, it was hard not to notice the malicious intent in it. As the shape-shifter began to step toward Rei, the sword held out at it's side. Rei on the other hand has finally gotten up on his feet, and though breathing heavily he had managed to clear his head and put his own sword, of which he had never let go, into a more defensive position, as he waited for Dopple to make the first move.
A few more seconds of silence ensued, and then the clang of metal upon metal sounded, shortly followed by another, and then another, as the swords of Rei and his copy danced through the dim light, cutting paths through the dust filled air as they met with a high-sounding clang every few seconds, with the two dodging each other's swings as much as they were blocked or met with equal force. Though with a casual glance, they would appear equal, it was clear that Rei was fighting with all he got, while Dopple was barely exerting himself. Despite this, it was quite an amazing display of swordsmanship.
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