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Post by Fraze on Nov 11, 2012 16:01:12 GMT -5
The skeletons run through the fire and dart around Celestial to where the air is cool, becoming slightly seared in the process. They appear to be coordinated.
Three split off from their formation to attack Celestial. They make rapid-fire attacks from behind, aiming for the back of her head and legs. Two more move in front of Bluebeard to protect him from the barrage of fruit, slicing the apples.
"Even in death, my beloved wives continue to serve me," Bluebeard proclaims over the rush of air. "See, even while protecting me they take the time to prepare a snack! Soon you, too, shall be added to my collection."
The final warrior attacks Kristy directly, preparing a blow to the head with a spiked mace.
The seventh corpse sits in unmoving in its resting place. Its flesh sizzles and is quickly turning to a cinder, but the dagger in its chest remains undamaged.
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Post by Celestial on Nov 11, 2012 16:25:39 GMT -5
Celestial hissed and cried out in pain as the corpses hit her. She protects her head with her wings from the worst of the sword blows. In a desperate attempt to buy time, the archmage blasts the skeletons off her back with a powerful, hurricane-force gust of wind.
It gave her a few moments breathing room before the skeletons got up and began attacking her again. Fire was not going to work against them and air would only hold them back. She needed a much better plan. Glancing at the last corpse which was not moving and the dagger which did not even seem slightly charred by the fire, the mage figured that it was her best option. She ran as quickly as she could despite the pain in her wings and legs, somehow making it to the corpse. It stank to high heaven, both of rotten meat and of burnt meat. Celestial murmured a quick apology to it.
"What about this one?" she yelled out to Bluebeard. "Why isn't it killing your enemies and making you delicious sammiches? This one is different somehow, isn't it? And I reckon it's something to do with this!"
She took the dagger from the corpse's chest and yanked it out, prepared to stab it again in case the dagger was the only thing keeping it dead. Celestial once again turned to face the skeletons that were descending on her, keeping the dagger in front of her to block any blows. But hopefully, somebody would come very soon and distract the darn things. They were a nuisance.
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Post by Draco on Nov 11, 2012 16:28:01 GMT -5
Draco finally makes it up the stairs, passing someone along the way he thinks, could have been a ghost or something, no idea. He stops at the door and just sees chaos within. Then he sees Bluebeard. Sneaking up behind him, he smashes the glass mug onto his head.
"Worst honeymoon ever!"
He darts past Bluebeard, who he hoped he knocked out, otherwise he was going to be one angry man. He tackles the warrior attacking Kristy.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Nov 11, 2012 16:28:13 GMT -5
Azzie liked the kitchen. It smelled absolutely wonderful, and the smells were making her forget the game again. She was just making up her mind to stay right where she was when she heard a loud yell.
What the- she thought. "Guys?" She was about to run out the door, realized she had no idea what was going on, and grabbed the nearest object to her- a frying pan. It seemed unlikely that she'd be able to do anything with it, but perhaps someone else could. Or, if the situation was less dire than it sounded, she could always make some popcorn.
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Post by Gelquie on Nov 11, 2012 16:39:33 GMT -5
Gelquie only stopped once along the way to the top, and that was in the kitchen. And she only stopped there because she felt exhausted from running up all those stairs at once. She didn't have much time to spare though. But she did take time to grab one thing from the kitchen... She grabbed a single apple and started eating a few bites. She didn't bother to finish it before she started up the stairs again, taking another bite of the apple when she could.
She didn't finish the apple by the time she came to the top, though the apple was pretty close to gone. She at first stared in horror at what was going on. The man who was convinced that he was her husband was blocking the doorway, Kristy and the Archmage were being attacked by a skeleton army, and Draco was in the room with them. ...But first thing to be worried about was those skeletons. In addition to being the most major threat here, they were more than a little creepy. Those skeletons were probably not fighting out of their own will. But then again, could she do anything about that?
Then she looked to Bluebeard. If he was the one controlling the skeletons... Maybe the skeletons would stop attacking if they could just deal with Bluebeard. Gelquie took a moment to think before creating an illusion of a skeleton, hopefully outside of the view of Bluebeard. She then made the skeleton come close to Bluebeard and look at him threateningly, ever advancing, with his spear raised ready to strike the crazed husband.
She hoped someone would do something while Bluebeard was paying attention to that.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Nov 11, 2012 19:00:10 GMT -5
Kristy gasped in horror as the undead wives moved through the fire and stopped her apple attack.
"Celestial!" she cried, noticing them attacking her.
However, her concern was drawn elsewhere pretty quickly. The undead skeleton ran up to her and raised a spiked mace. Kristy dropped to the ground, covering her head with her arms. She could feel tears running down her face, this wasn't fun anymore, she was going to die. There was a thud, but it wasn't on her head. She looked up, the skeleton was on the ground, wrestling with a ninja.
She noticed the mace lying on the ground and picked it up, raising it and smashing it into the head of the skeleton on the ground. She jumped back, hoping that was the end of that. She raised the mace to be ready to fight if any more of the undead wives came at her. She noticed Celestial with the dagger being swarmed by the wives. She managed to skirt around them to get next to her.
"What do we do?" she asked.
Kristy really hoped Celestial had a plan.
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Post by Tiger on Nov 12, 2012 10:36:46 GMT -5
Dazed by the flash of light from the book - "No fair, I don't have cat eyes?" - it took Tiger a few turns to recover her vision even after hearing the shouting and sounds of battle . At last, her vision recovered enough that she could bolt for the stairs, clutching the book in one hand and drawing her sword with the other. The sounds of fighting and the smell of smoke grew as she ascended the tower.
She hadn't expected to find an army of skeletons, but there wasn't really time to worry about that. Tiger shoved the book into one of her pockets, thinking it wouldn't be much use against creatures without eyes. As Tiger moved into the fray, working toward the skeletons advancing on Celestial, she tried to think what magic she could use here. Never before had she needed to create a bone-dissolving animal.
"I don't even know that much about bones - I'm a mage, not a doctor!"
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Post by Amneiger on Nov 13, 2012 0:03:21 GMT -5
Amneiger finally made it to the top of the stairs. For the past minute he had been hearing the sounds of fighting above him; there must be a number of people up there already. He took the last few steps slowly, and leaned around the last corner to take a look before rushing in.
There were skeletons and players everywhere. Amneiger was just in time to see Draco smash his mug over Bluebeard's head and then run out in front of Bluebeard. Amneiger decided to take advantage of the distraction. He put the block of knives down, drew the one that seemed thinnest and sharpest, and snuck up behind Bluebeard and sunk the knife into his ribs.
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Post by Fraze on Nov 13, 2012 15:15:39 GMT -5
"She was the last woman who betrayed me, no more than a week ago," Bluebeard answers calmly to Celestial. "She hasn't decayed enough to become useful to me--and she never will if you continue to defile her like this!"
Bluebeard seems about to do something, but the sight of Gelquie's illusion distracts him, and he is promptly struck on the back of the head by Draco. The impact brings him to his knees.
The previously immobile charred corpse grabs the hand that Celestial is using to hold the dagger. "It's not time for that yet," it says, with what could only barely be considered a voice. It loses its grip and slumps motionless against the wall once more.
The skeleton approaching Kristy is toppled over by Draco's attack, and receives a blow that caves in its skull before it can recover. It ceases movement.
Before Bluebeard can react further, Amneiger's knife sinks into his back. He lets out a yell, caused first by pain but soon evolving into rage. One skeleton rushes toward Amneiger with a raised sword, preparing to chop off his arm.
Bluebeard's gaze falls on the knife block. The remaining knives remove themselves from the block, and shoot towards various attackers, with three flying toward Draco and Kristy and two towards Celestial. One skeleton carrying a mace rushes to Bluebeard, running in tight circles around him to form a barrier from all sides.
Bluebeard looks once again at Gelquie's illusory skeleton. "That is not and has never been my wife!" He sees Gelquie, and sends one of the skeletons attacking Celestial to pursue her instead. The remaining two continue their assault on Celestial, continuing to attempt to disable her through swift blows to her legs and torso.
Sparks fly on the wall behind Bluebeard as his skeleton protector circles him. One swordstroke at a time, marks appear on the wall. Gradually, the marks form themselves into letters, and then words.
PLEASE KILL US
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Post by Kristykimmy on Nov 13, 2012 16:33:53 GMT -5
The room is now a mess of chaos, but in the midst of it, Kristy sees what is going on with Bluebeard. Celestial is in trouble, but Amneiger seems about to be in much more. She had started to run forward to try to help him when the knives begin to fly from the brick. Trying a move she hadn't used since her baseball days years ago, she dives to the ground, sliding along the floor. She narrowly avoids being knifed in the head, they pass through her hair as she slides below them. She collides with the skeleton that was about to chop off Amneiger's arm, knocking it down.
She grips the mace tighter, trying to get to get it up and get to her feet while avoiding both the skeleton she had knocked down and the one that was protecting Bluebeard. As she does so, she notices the writing that has appeared on the wall.
"How do you expect us to do that when you're making it so difficult?" she mentally screams.
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Post by Draco on Nov 13, 2012 21:55:26 GMT -5
Draco holds up the book he was still holding to block the incoming knives, them sinking into the book.
"Well... Whoops?"
He rummages into a few of his pockets quickly looking for something. After a moment he gives up and mumbles to himself.
"Forgot to bring explosives..."
He throws the book he had at a random skeleton, and then he unsheathes one of his short swords. He runs forward to attack the skeleton he threw the book at.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Nov 13, 2012 23:33:24 GMT -5
When Azalea finally reached the tower room, she stopped dead in her tracks. Fire, skeletons everywhere, and an angry Bluebeard quite clearly controlling them. She began to run toward Bluebeard, but slowed down as she got closer. There was a look in his eyes...he wasn't rational.
She tried to find somewhere to run that wasn't being attacked, caught sight of Tiger, and darted toward her.
"Why don't we just run?" she asked, hoping Tiger could hear her over all the fighting. "All of us, we could just distract him and then go get the cops! He's not..."
She stopped talking as she noticed something going on on the wall behind Bluebeard. She held her ears; the sound of metal on stone was not something she liked. But when the carving had finished, she sighed.
"Guess we can't. Here, can you use this?" she asked, holding out the frying pan she'd been toting along with her. "My aim is absolutely terrible."
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Post by Tiger on Nov 14, 2012 11:58:43 GMT -5
Tiger's ears twitched toward Azalea as she dispatched one of the skeletons and earned a moment to catch her breath. She frowned at the other mage's suggestion. A little out-of-breath, she panted, "They're too fast - they'd catch us - in the staircase."
Metal on stone made Tiger grimace, though she managed to block an attack from another skeleton, shoving it back to but a little more time. A message hadbegun to appear on the wall - Please kill us. Tiger clenched her jaw.
Azalea handed her a frying pan. Tiger stared at it, but finally shrugged, reaching into her pocket for the book. "I'll trade you this," she said, holding out the tome. "It casts a really bright light, so watch what you do with it." Assuming Azalea took the book, Tiger swapped the sword into her left hand and took the frying pan's handle. No obvious sign of enchantments...but even an ordinary blunt weapon might do more against bones than a blade.
The next skeleton to charge her would be met with Teflon instead of steel. Tiger briefly wondered what Teflon was before deciding that wasn't a prudent concern at the moment. It ended up being an entirely useless thought, as Tiger instead decided to strike at the head of one of the skeletons rushing past.
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Post by Celestial on Nov 14, 2012 12:18:10 GMT -5
This was seriously getting old. The skeletons were pretty strong and it felt like they had a grudge for her in particular. Not surprising, considering that Celestial was the one who opened the door. Still, she was determined not to become another skeleton in Bluebeard's collection.
The words that appeared on the wall gave her a second wind. It was almost like a blessing from the wives. The dagger would be no good against them though. So Celestial had to resort to her good old ways: burn everything. And now that the skeletons were right up against her, there was not much they could do to dodge this. In between blows, she tucked the dagger into her belt, gathered up all her strength and grabbed the ribs of the two skeletons, one arm each expanding the air inside their ribcages and between their joints until they collapse in a heap. A powerful gust of wind scatters them across the room.
Hopefully it would at least slow them down.
She took the dagger out of her belt.
"Hey, Bluebeard. Why are you being such a wimp, letting undead women do your work for you? If you're such a great sorcerer, you'd face me on your own! And just to make things interesting, if you win, I'll become one of your skeleton-wives willingly," she shouted, getting to her feet.
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Post by Amneiger on Nov 14, 2012 21:18:18 GMT -5
He wasn't dead yet? Amneiger should have known. This was the big bad, of course he wouldn't go do to something so easily.
Amneiger yanked the knife out of Bluebeard, leaving a gaping hole in his back where the knife had been. Incredibly, Bluebeard wasn't running. Amneiger took the chance that Kristy had given him by stabbing downwards into Bluebeard's neck.
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