Necropalypse: The River of Souls

"I HAVE EXPLOSIVES"

the bounty hunter yelled.

"Is running like hell the best plan for survivability? Honestly?"

The bounty hunter sighed, pulling out his remaining explosives.

"I suppose our choices are limited, yo. Let's do it."

"Give that here, I wanna play with them. I can clone that and make a BIGGER explosion!" 

The stranger sounded like a very excited child and was just as animated.

"Besides, that's only enough to collapse this joint, so you really have no choice but to hand that over."

"You make it sound like I was planning to resist. Silly stranger, if it'll make a bigger explosion I am happy to oblige."

Rol handed over his explosives to Stranger Danger.

"By the way, might you be capable of teleporting us away from here before the explosion? Or is running the only option?"

"Alas, to casually rip a hole in space and time to allow instantaneous travel is something that still eludes me. Unless, you know, you would prefer to use the the tables from the study and slide down the side and hopefully away from here." The stranger casually talks as he accepts the explosives with his left hand and from the right hand Magic Particles gather to recreate the explosives.

"Lucky nothing biological is used in these, else we would need need to invoke a Demon to help and they are a hassle to deal with afterwards. Oh, wait, where is this robot?" The Stranger asks, casually throwing down explosives from the right hand to create more. Roughly 5 clones are being made a minute.

"Unless you have hundreds of those explosives they won't make much of a difference. We just need enough to blow up Scott's mana core. The explosion that thing will make is more than enough to blow up this place and leave a crater almost as deep as this pyramid is high. Even if we make it bigger we can't make it too big.
Unless you want to make it impossible to outrun it and get us all killed."

Reganya sighed and walked back to the throne room. "We left the robot at the bottom of the pyramid to reassemble himself. If we hurry up we can get to him before he reboots."

"Mana cores are that powerful? Just one can leave that great a crater?"

The stranger sounded amazed and dropped the explosives from both hands. 

"How big would two cores be?"

"Too big, I don't want to die in a majestic explosion that I assisted in myself. Yet."

The bounty hunter stretched, preparing for the run, or whatever escapes means he was about to partake in.

"I don't know, nobody has ever detonated two mana cores. However, I've heard of a hypothesis that says that detonating a big enough amount of mana near a nexus could trigger a chain reaction. Causing all the ley lines over Val to explode. Ending all magic and billions of lives in an instant."



"Uh.. you sure its safe to detonate one on top of a nexus then?"


"No idea."


"...."


"Just kidding, it takes more than one mana core to cause that kind of disaster. During the last war mana core bombs were being dropped all over Val. They even used the ley lines to increase the damage. If one mana core was enough then it would already have happened. No idea about two of them though."

Reganya finished explaining just when the group reached Scott's parts. He was almost  fully repaired. There was no time to waste, if he woke up he would never agree to this.

"Place the core in my hand so I may copy it. He shouldn't know the difference unless there is biological matter in the core." The stranger's cheerfulness has dissipated and was replaced with the prior sternness of before. 

"I'm not risking dissipating the entire mana in his system by accident, so it's safer to just hand me the core and replace it back quickly once I make the clone. Then, I'll drag the robot as you prepare to blew the place up." The stranger looks to Rol as he finished his sentence.

"Detonate it at the center of the pyramid, don't worry about the mummies. Only a handful should be left, I removed most of their legs the closer I got to my mark. Also, should you get lost in here, go up. I entered from a secret exit there that he had for an emergency. I didn't have a look but something there you can use to escape is up there and some flares. Use it one once you'r safe and clear. Any questions?"

Roltharus put his hand up.

"Yes, mister stranger danger, are we all going to place the bomb mana thing, or just one of us, or?"

The bounty hunter asked.

The stranger shrugs, not really caring if the bounty hunter needed people to hold his hand or not. This was merely part of his clean up.

Rol sighed. 

"That literally answered nothing."

He turned towards his fellow guild members

"so, who's going to place the mana bomb, and will it require more than one person?"

The Stranger begins tapping his foot waiting for someone to hand him the damn Mana Core sometime soon before the robot restores itself.

"I was thinking to let you help me set up these bombs, Rol. You're the one who uses explosives. Unless your knowledge stops at 'click button and throw for boom'. Then I think we shouldn't let you anywhere near explosives ever again." She says while putting her hand through Scott's armor to reach for his mana core.
"Otherwise you can start rigging up a chain of your explosives while I work on building the container for the mana bomb. Meanwhile stranger danger over there can do his copying thing and Doomy.. eh you can try looking for an easy exit?"
Once she has found the core she takes it out and tosses it at the stranger for duplicating. Before moving on to rip one of Scott's legs off to build a bomb casing.


"..Looking for exits.. Okay will do. Up right?"

"Oh. I know how to chain an explosion."

The bounty hunter smiled, though no one could see it. 

"it's bewm bewm time!"

The stranger clones it quickly and hands the copy to the faceless girl before cloning another and handing the original back.

"Just in case on the off chance something goes horribly wrong. One never fails if they have a back up plan." 

The Stranger says so slightly annoyed.

"And you all may call me... Herst."

The pause before the name seemed hesitant, as if unsure about giving it. either way, as he gives his name, he pulls out a pouch and puts the backup Mana Core into it before placing it back into a pocket in his cloak. 

"Just replace the core back and I'll start moving the Robot out of here somehow. I easily lose sense of direction is these labyrinths..."

"Good, we need at least 17 explosives to set off this core. But my calculations might be off a bit. It isn't my habit to do those kind of equations in my head on the spot. So throw in a few more if you can." She says to Rol before turning to Herst.


"Good idea. A plan B is always a good thing to have. That's a lesson these guys should have learned already. But most of the time they don't even have a plan A."
She takes the mana cores and places the original back into Scott.


"Okay Herst, you can call me Reganya. Or just Ren, like some people who seem to be unable to pronounce my full name. Go along with Doomy, even if you get lost I'll still be able to find you if I merge with the pyramid. It's easier to find groups."
She then returns to building the bomb.

"If you don't have plans you can't fuck up. Which probably sounds stupid, but makes sense if you knew the people in our group. Mostly me."

The bounty hunter started counting his explosives. 

"Oi. Herst, i'm sure it slipped out sometime, but I'm Roltharus. And I should be a big and famous bounty hunter but no one really knows who I am. Which is weird since I almost broke everything.. BACK TO EXPLOSIONS" Rol segued, horrendously.

Herst just sighed and picked up Scott casually like a sack of potatoes and then awaited for the one called Doomy to return and lead the way to the exit.

"Wait, if I'm helping with the boom boom and they're gonna go and be safe and shit. How exactly will I get out? You've got your wall through thing.. Or was I just not paying enough attention to the plan?"

Rol scratched his head, looking at Ren.

"We'll set a timer. 10-15 minutes ish. That should be enough time to get to safety." Doomy shows back up a few moments later.


"..I almost got lost."
"Almost?"
"..."
"Here take these to mark your path so Rol can follow them later." She throws a bag with markers to Doomy.
"Herst over there is gonna come with you. I'm sure at least one of you is competent enough to find an exit, right?"


"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you need to get your ass moving or I'll blow you up next."

"I'd say blow our way out but but for all I know, we could be underground. Just lead and I'll follow, lugging this robot won't slow me from a running march." Herst says casually.

"Man, I wish I had a flying mythical beast here or something."

Rol sighed and started to look over the explosives.

"Are we going to blow this popsicle stand?"