Necropalypse: The River of Souls

"VAL, IT"S WORKING. DEATHY'S WARMING UP TO REN ALL GENTLEMEN, DID'YA SEE THAT?"


Rol yelled while he wandered towards the death flow. 

"Well, time to get lost and die. Awesome." The bounty hunter grabbed Reathy's hand while Herst 'warned' (it was pretty much a threat) Val about thing. He then noticed Herst's stare that was revealed by the orb. "Dude, your eyes are shiny and shit."

Herst blinks in surprise at Rol's exclamation but is pulled into the orb before a word can escape his mouth.

"Yes, yes I saw. I'm so proud of my brother right now." She laughed softly in response to Rol's comment.
She also examined the weird gem orb thing Herst had given her. She shrugged.

---
Inside the orb of souls:

The darkness expanded around them slowly. The Sky was pitch black and the ground beneath them wasn't much lighter in color, it also appeared to be sand, Black sand.
A wall of darkness seperated them from the outside world.
The only lightsource seemed to be the river of souls itself as it flowed above them.
Giving off an eery green light. It kinda looked like an aurora but closer and there were many of them. All seemed to flow towards one bright point in the distance.


"I'm thinking that's where we're supposed to go.. It is. I can feel something disturbing it, no.. Someone."

The bright point in the distance seemed to flicker. The party made it's way towards the flickering light.
Meanwhile The Empress decided to check in on them just to make sure they got inside safely.

"Herst, can you hear me?"
"Did everyone make it inside without problems?"
"What's the situation in there?"
"..Also, I understand the concern for your soul, However I don't take kindly to threats. And I'd very much appreciate if you never do that again."
She said that last part calmly yet sternly.


On their way to the light in the distance the group encountered something..strange.
A giant grey humanoid creature that was very slowly walking. It was about twice as tall as a human, its head was large even for its size and was sunken into its shoulders, it had no neck. Its eyes were big and empty and so was its mouth.
Its body seemed emaciated and its limbs even more so. It's legs seemed like they would fall any moment, failling to hold up the weight of the rest of the creature.
And it's arms were so long that it's fingers scraped the sand below as it moved.
Behind it a trail of ectoplasma lingered, making it look as if the creature had a long tail.

It didn't seem to notice them.

Herst quickly threw his hood on as he went through to the other side. 

When he arrived, he already had an arrow nocked in a black wood bow of immense size compared to other bows, the pulling strength needed for it would make most archers not trained to use it struggle to pull the string, if they weren't the other group that barely could hold it steady. 

Even strung as it was, is was the same height as Herst.

No sign of a quiver was to be seen.

When he felt the thoughts of the Empress, he could also hear her actually speak. 

Fool, the thought drifted before he started to respond.

I feel your thoughts, yes. So far, the others have yet to voice any complaint so I derive that all is well. We are making our way to a landmark, ETA unknown due to the environment being excessively dark in colour. As humble as I come, you posses my entire being and care not if you do not like the threat. I will destroy anyone that dares to bind me to service. I serve only one purpose and anything that stands between I and it will be decimated, even if the gods themselves stood before me.

Herst's reply came as simple as fact as he can make it, but due to the lack of disguising the voice of ones thoughts, it's not in his normal voice but one much younger, that of a teen's.

I'd also like it if you don't enquire on my identity and tell no one about what I am not. Not that I'd do anything if I tried but those that know too much will find that Despair comes for them regardless.

"Ew, gross. What is that thing?"

Rol eyed the monstrosity that group came in contact with.

"Think we could tame it?" He asked Herst, knowing Reathy would just call him an idiot. He figured it would be a similar response from Herst, but he felt he needed to test that theory. 

Eventually he noticed the rather large bow Herst had. "Scythes, bows and shadows? If you start charging weapons with electricity and learn how to teleport you can just go and be ChaoZ, all by yourself." There was a hint of sarcasm in the bounty hunter voice, but obviously in jest.

Herst looks at Rol, or seems to as the hood moves towards him.

"But I can do those things... This arrow itself can shock a target with the full power of lighting, in fact. And havent I been teleporting just today? 

But for your first question, I would not know. I never saw this thing before. Instinct warns to not be seen however..."

Herst honestly answered the question and replied to the statements made by Rol.

Herst himself is unsure of whether to fire his arrow, or if it would even be effective. Undead feel no pain, but this seemed to be no simple Undead. 

Herst opted to swap out arrows for high puncturing shots, with the idea that pinning it to the ground would be effective. He couldn't use the majority of his magic here, this wasn't a place where his manipulation is strong. He had no control of this world. He wasn't Death.

"Well ain't that a plot inconsistency. Page 11 man." The bounty hunter's words made no sense, but then again when did they ever.

(Can we get a scope of Herst's powers? Or is ''well, whatever you can think of, other than creating matter." a sufficient list?)

"Whatever that thing is.. it's not alone."
Reathy pointed ahead. Several of the creatures seemed to be walking slowly in no particular direction. Their tails seemed to be the only part of them to move around at a normal speed.


"How do they even stay upright? Those legs look like they're gonna crack any moment. I dunno, they feel familiar somehow though.. I think I'd rather not know what that means. Also, Rol, If by any chance we don't wake them up before we fix this place I'll let you try taming one. Untill then, please leave the hideous things alone."

Reathy went for the stealth approach and tried to sneak past the Lemures. 
It didn't work.
One of the Lemures eyes suddenly lit up as Reathy moved past it. The green lights flashed through its large eyeholes. It seemed to study the party for a brief moment. But then it suddenly moved, it's thin legs scuttled across the black sand carrying the giant creature much faster than they should be able to.
One unexpected swing from it's arm and Reathy was sent flying as if they were a character in super smash brothers that went offscreen too far.

The creature then turned it's attention to Rol and Herst and scurried towards them. Somehow not falling or breaking any of its own limbs. It swung its long arm at them in the same way it did to Reathy.
The other lemures didn't seem to notice anything.



(A scope of Hersts power? Lets find out shall we? *evil grin*)

Herst evaded. Suddenly, he was above, flipping over the creature he knew not before he even got a chance to reply to Rol's statement. as he landed, he had 4 vials between his fingers in each hand.

He tilited his head back, hood falling away slightly as he downed the 8 vials. 

Enemy attack, Rol and I are standing, the others were launched and can be presumed unable for combat. Entering combat, kindly do not interfere.

Herst's alerted the Empress on their current status and begun circling around the creature as it turned to swat at him. Yet Herst's speed had increased. He evaded the blow and again flipped over the giant undead being and landed on it's head. 

Herst had no way to Shadow Steep, also known as Mock Teleportation. Herst could connect with the darkness and shadows of the world and traverse short distances with it, and doing so in quick succession gave an impression of teleportation.

Yet here, he was denied that connection, so he merely increased his bodies abilities. 

He quickly began rifling through a notebook of his, pulled out a talisman that affects the Undead and slapped it on the forehead of the creature and quickly evaded another blow. 

Herst had to hope that the being would decompose at an accelerated rate. If it did, he could his scythe that was effective against the undead, unless Rol was able to find their weakness before he.

(I know I said I'd only post once a day but feck it. Fun combat and all.)

The Empress got Hersts message and blinked. She remained silent as per request.
When suddenly Reathy comes flying out of the orb and smacks into the ceiling before landing on the stairs. They looked at Valkyria.
"Eheh, didn't see that one coming. Don't worry we got it under control." <.<'
They then launched themselves back into the fast pulsating orb.


"..."
------------

The lemure looked up at the talisman. The creature blinked somehow. It didn't decompose though. Instead one of its glowing eyes faded leaving it with only one eye. The creature grabbed the talisman and threw it back at Herst.

The lemure then slammed its hand down on Herst too fast to dodge. Herst sunk into the sand sticking out only with his shoulders and head. He possibly also had a major headache.
The Lemure then scuttered towards Rol and grabbed him with its giant hand. The creature's hand squeezed Rol.
The creature excerted a lot of force on Rol. Enough to break his bones but luckily before that could happen Reathy flew by and sliced the creatures arm in two, releasing Rol just in time.

The creature just got pissed off by this. And tried to grab Reathy in its other hand. But they phased through its hand and jumped back next to Rol. "Did We miss anything?"

Herst scrambled away out of the beast's shadow, not at all comfortable about how it disposed of the clone of himself he made.

While able to clone material, organic material isn't cloned alive, but does make for a good fake death. 

His heightened senses warned him at the last second, but it was by fluke he survived that.

This isn't a world he can manipulate. This is a world where his magic has no hold, for he is not Death.

Herst retreats into the shadows, gathering what he can as he tries to observe, shaken by the speed of the giant being.

"Thank you for fixing the plot inconsistency, narration." Rol blinked a couple of times and looked around, as if he had honestly forgot where he was. "Oh, shit death flow." He managed to get out the sentence before being manhandled by the creature.

"Not *huff* on the *huff* first date, yo." The creatures intense strength made it difficult to breath and Rol's shadow armor wasn't really hindering the pressure it was applying. Thankfully, the arm was  sliced off by a returning Reathy, releasing the bounty hunter. "Ooooh, nice save." Brushing himself of Rol re-evaluated the lemure as his mindfart prior had left him out of the combat that had occured in the last few minutes. "Wait, didn't it have two eyes? Why aren't the other ones murdering us? Did I just jinx the shit outta us?"

"I surely hope not. Did Herst chicken out? Nah I'm sure he's planning something in the shadows. I hope. Or did that thing Really kill him? Nah, the guy took out an entire army of soldiers. He wouldn't die that easily. I guess."
Reathy talked to themselves as they dodged the creatures attack. Becoming transparent was a good way to avoid being hit. Especially seeing how this thing was too fast to dodge normally. Although it's speed seemed to be unpredictable. One swing might be fast but the next would be slower, or sometimes even faster. There didn't seem to be a logic to this thing at all.

Reathy turned to Rol." I don't know. We were kinda busy rocketing out of this orb. And then back in. Did someone do something before it lost an eye? Maybe the other ones aren't attacking because their eyes aren't 'open'. Could be."
They attempted to answer while leading the creature away from Rol. "Jinx it? Yeah you probably did." They tried to attack the creature but they were too busy dodging. They couldn't stay solid for long enough to do any damage.
"Rol could you please try to restrain this thing with your shadows. While it isn't looking would be best. It'd be appreciated. We can't keep this up forever. Just saying."
A low swipe nearly got Reathy but luckily, they can fly as fast as they can run. "That was close."

"Oh right, I can do things too."

Rol, being uncharacteristically weary of the darkness that lurked here in the death flow decided his own shadows were much safer to 'deal with' and formed a bolo-type thing around the distracted Lemure's legs. The bounty hunter doubted that direct damage to the oddly formed legs would be overly effective if gravity wasn't.

"Pew pew." He said his 'signature' (even though he never really says it anymore) gun battle cry and fired two rubber bullets, as he didn't switch them to lethal ones. One right behind the other, the former covering the latter from view at the other eye of the Lemure.

The lemure was surprised when it's legs got bound together. It turned its upper body sideways towards Rol and looked like it was going to topple over just from the weird pose it was in. But again the creature defies logic and doesn't fall over. However it doesn't seem to be able to move around with it's legs tied.

Because of that, it can't dodge the bullets. But they go straight through the glowing eye and bounce around in it's mostly empty head. The lemure is distracted by the bullets as it's one glowing eye seems to follow their movements.

Reathy takes advantage of the distraction and flies through the lemure. Once they're through they rematerialize and grab it's ectoplasmic tail. They land with their back turned to the lemure and Yank it's tail so hard that it comes off.
Reathy then absorbs the tail of the creature into their hand."Guess we found their weakness."

The lemure's other eye fades as the ectoplasm is pulled away. The Giant creature falls on it's knees and let's out an ear piercing shriek. It then topples over and seems to deflate like a balloon. "Oww my ears."

The shriek echoed through the air.
The other Lemures turned their large heads towards their fallen brother(sister? Does it even have a gender?). One by one the eyes in their overly large sockets lit up. Once awakened the other creatures responded with a shriek of their own.
"..Fuck."

All 27 of the creatures began scurrying towards Rol and Reathy at inhuman speeds.
Reathy quickly grabbed Rol and flew up into the air. They floated above the river of souls. Out of reach of the creatures, hopefully.
"..I can show you the world~"

A mask, much like one that represents comedy in Drama with it's cheshire smile, floated near the group.

"So, nearly dying isn't a fun idea. How fast can you pull their tails? All of them? May have a plan. I don't have much time to hold them, lost count after that attack. But I can hold them down for maybe a minute, maybe more, maybe less. Just let me know how long I need to hold out for."


Herst sounded like he was still in shock by that attack, but rightly so. Those things were not natural in how they moved, and then one was temporarily moving at super natural speeds, the fact the unnatural was greater than the supernatural may shake people.

"No threesome, just you and doomy then? Hey what?! Just kidding. You better be!"
Reathy looked at the floating mask. "Speak of the devil."

They listened to Herst's questions and pondered for a while. Studying the creatures below. "Guess we have three plans now. Plan A, Hersts plan, keep them down somehow and pull their tails before they get loose. Plan B, Rols plan, full retreat. Plan C, Our plan, Which is too risky so we'll try to keep it as a last resort should everything else fail.


Lets see.. 27 of those things.. A minute.. That will be cutting it close. How immobilized will they be? Just not being able to move around or total paralysis? If it's the the latter then A minute might be all we need. If we have to worry about them trying to grab us however.. We'd need more. Also, We can't drop Rol, .. what do we do with him? Have him glide away on shadow wings? Can he even do that?..Hmm.
It's still a better plan than ours.. which is mostly based on a hypothesis. And if it turns out we were wrong.. We'd rather not risk that."

"Question, ethical treatment of co-workers aside, why can't you drop me? I don't think the impact'll kill me and the landing impact will distract enough of 'em to let Herst do his thing without too much trouble, Maybe?"

The bounty hunter contemplated and technically asked out loud.

"Sure the fall won't hurt you, those creatures on the other hand...
You saw what they did to Herst('s clone). Maybe we could throw you out of their reach?" Reathy shrugged and looked back to the floating mask.
Waiting for Herst to answer the questions they had asked him.

Meanwhile the Lemures tried reaching out to them. But luckily they couldn't get anywhere near Reathy or Rol.

(Sorry for late reply, been to GCAP, a big thing for game devs in Australia. 2 day convention thing. Full on. But home now, for like a day than PAX weekend.)

Herst had taken a couple of deep breaths. He took a knife out of his pocket stared at it. Herst may be hard to kill, but pain was still pain. Unpleasant. But he was running out of time and options. He had to do it or else be near useless as the only shadows he could manipulate were his and his groups.

Those and his blood.

He speared the knife into his palm and could be heard on the other twin of the Twin Masks hissing in pain. 3 of the 8 potion he drank affect his ability to near fatal injuries regenerate, replace blood at a faster rate and invigorated the heart to be able to work at harsh rates with little affect if not used to much or too often.

That also meant that spreading his blood out, making triangle spaces to keep integrity while spreading out the amount of area he could cover, he could skewer the beasts. 

He hoped for a minute. He couldn't circulate the blood outside his body that well, and his heart was pumping at a faster rate. Sure, he was generating more blood cells than he lost but to control the blood this finely in a large area was taxing.

His blood speared the giants from the ground. He tried to get their hands to stop them from attacking or to trap their upper limbs to keep their mobility lower but he wouldn't know from those out of his sight and just hoped they were.

This was his answer. He had no idea how much longer before the effects wore off, but nor dared he to use more of the potions for there was no way to replace them in this country when he returned from this place.

One word came out in a strained tone:

"Go!"

(Sounds like fun times. o: )


".. Okay then."
Reathy swung around and threw Rol, hoping that he would land far enough away from the Lemures. Both to keep him safe and to make sure he didn't get in the way. Because Reathy would have to be able to move freely if they were to succeed.

As soon as Rol was out of their grasp Reathy let themselves plunge towards the Lemures. They spiraled down, 3 seconds. Right before they hit the ground they stopped spiraling and flew straight out of the group of lemures.
Reathy grabbed one tail in each hand as they passed by a few of the creatures. They landed outside the group and used their momentum to pull out two tails at once.
6 seconds.
They then launched themselves backwards into the lemures again.They grabbed one tail and used it to swing around. Pulling it out before grabbing on to the next one.
They swung around the lemure using it's own tail. They grabbed another tail and pulled out the last one. They swung into the middle of the lemures and flew up into the air pulling out their fifth tail.
10 seconds.

Reathy then makes a three point landing right in the middle of the group of lemures. The five tailless ones deflate and shriek just like the first one. The 22 left respond with a horrifying shriek of their own. 
The sound makes Reathy flinch for a few seconds but they recover quickly.
Reathy then grabs two tails in each hand and spins around pulling out four more.
18 seconds.

Suddenly one of their long arms reaches out to Reathy but it passes right through them. They jump over the lemure, put their hand on it's head and somersault past it.
Grabbing on to it's tail as they land. They then pull it out and disarm the lemure.
21 seconds.

They then run around pulling as many tails as possible for the next 30 seconds. They manage to take out 14 more like this, putting their total to 24.
But they slowly start losing speed due to fatigue.
And then one of the lemures manages to break free of it's constraints. Reathy doesn't see the hand coming in time.
And they are again launched out of the orb.
The other two lemures break free too and all three remaining ones set their sights on Rol and Herst. They shriek loudly before scurrying towards them.

Herst groaned aloud. He stood up slowly, pulled out the spare explosives he had cloned of Rol's from back in the pyramyd and began cloning a lot more, casually standing there, a Will-o-Wisp hovering next to his head. 

"Gotta go out in a bang... hopefully this theory of physics is remembered right... Heat and Atom Kinetic Energy Manipulation.... something something... fuck it, I should get some air for a jump and they blow up... sleeeeeep."

Herst was muttering, not that anyone would hear him. It dawned on him he hasn't slept for quite a long time and this battle was using the last of his energy. After this, he was likely to sleep for days.

(Since busy for the next 4-5 days, I'm gonna be bullshitting myself out of the orb and have Herst sleep, which he hasn't actually done yet. No rest for the wicked, literally. Just conveniently let Herst sleeps for me as I have fun being social.... accursed need to network...)

(I'm kinda confused. Did Herst blow up the explosives? Or not yet? Is he sleeping now? Probably not sleeping yet but next post right? Was he anywhere near the explosives? ..I'll just post something and edit it if I got anthing wrong. Which I probably did.)

Meanwhile Reathy flies out of the orb and smacks against the wall, again. They then fall face down on the ground.
"Brother! are you okay?!"
"mjop! mime phime. jusd godda teek a nap."
Reganya stepped out of his body and dusted herself off. "He'll be okay. Might have broken something but nothing serious. However.. I don't think he's waking up any time soon. Give him an hour or ten and he'll be back on his feet."


"Where's Herst and Rol? What happened in there?"
"Still inside. We encountered some.. creatures. We managed to take out most of them but three survived and knocked us out of the orb. Pretty much the same way they did last time. Just slightly harder."
"I see."

Val looked at the gem thing Herst gave her. "Herst is everything alright in there? My brother is down for the count. He'll need a few hours to recuperate. You might want to retreat for now. You can't fix the source without him anyway."
----

The lemures are still scurrying towards Rol and Herst. Somehow they seem to take (a few posts) longer than normal.


/or/

The lemures are caught up in the explosion but so is Herst. Herst is also catapulted out of the orb by his own explosion?
Two lemures are blown to bits including their tail. Only one remains.
It's missing half it's head and an arm but it's still moving, towards Rol.