Necropalypse: The River of Souls

"Gather them all into one place then blowing them all up and then letting reathy collect all the scattered undead limb souls."

Rol suggested, not actually having the fire power to do so, nor the safety measure of keeping everyone else safe from the explosion. But someone had to start with the brainstorm.

"That doesn't stop more of them from coming in. And it would just create more things to worry about." Reathy says while firing blasts of ectoplasm at the undead soldiers trying to get close.


"We retreat. If we don't my army will just keep losing soldiers for nothing. We just need to keep them out of the castle untill Mioki arrives. If we stay out here I won't have anyone left to mount a counter attack when she gets back." Empress Val joins in by shooting an undead in the face with a fireball.

"The second we retreat they'll start climbing the walls." Reathy grabs an undead and punches it before absorbing another soul.

"I know. We'll just have to keep raining fire down upon them from the castle. And try to find a way to close the tunnels without getting close. The less tunnels they have the longer it takes them to get inside."

"Maybe we should go fix the river of souls now. If we work quickly we'll be finished before they can get inside. And then you can mount that counter attack."

"My soldiers won't last long enough without you guys here to help. If you go fix the river of souls before Mioki gets here we'll be overrun before you get down there."

"Do you have magically accurate catapults that can hurl boulders perfectly into the tunnels? Because i'm pretty sure some of the tunnels i closed with explosions are just going to be re-opened, need something more solid that the stuff they literally dug through before filling them up."

Rol sighed.

"No, we do not have catapults like that. Look I realize we are trying to keep a leaking boat from sinking with a bucket. But we just need to stay afloat until Mioki the lifeguard gets here. And that bucket is all we have."


"That's an odd metaphor. Oddly fitting."


"Now that everyone is on board. Pun intended... Fall back to the castle!" Val ordered her men to retreat to the castle and close all entrances. Only Reathy stayed behind covering for the others. But even they soon joind the others inside.

"We need to get back on the battlements, the undead will start climbing the walls soon. Everyone get to your positions!" The empress commanded her soldiers. She then turned to Reathy. "You two keep flying around and shoot down anything that gets too high."

"Got it." They flew back outside phasing through the wall.

Lastly she turned to Rol. "I know it seems bad but ... Actually no buts. It IS bad. I think I have an idea though. I just need you to keep being my bodyguard. I won't be able to protect myself while I cast this spell." She said as she headed back up to the battlements.

With nobody to stop them the Undead soon started climbing the castle walls. Reathy tried to snipe them down with ectoplasm but some still got through. Unfortunatly for them the soldier up there were waiting for them with buckets of boiling oil.

"Bodyguard duty is priority, regardless."

Rol said, following Val on heavy alert. The bounty hunter loaded his guns and even sent out Cole. The shadow 'puppet' on had minimal capabilities without Rol directly manipulating him, but was capable enough. "Shadow buddy, help the other nerds."

"You ready? Make sure I am not interupted. I am going to shift the barriers around and use one to close the holes and stop any new ones from popping up.  I'll use the second one to stop them from climbing up here. If I screw up, the barrier could damage the castle or us. In the worst case scenario all three barriers shatter and we'll be sitting ducks."

Val got in position, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and started her chanting.
At the same time some undead made their way onto the battlements and attacked the soldiers. Two of them tried to go straight after Val.
More of them were already climbing up the walls.
Reathy tried to shoot as many of them down as possible while flying around the castle.
But they didn't stay down.

One of the barriers began to shift slowly.

Rol tried to sweep the two undead off the battlement wit a shadow tendril, hoping the fall would also knock more of the climbing undead down.

The Undead were thrown off the wall and fell down. One fell straight on another undead that was trying to climb up. More fell down as Reathy's ectoplasm blasts took them out.
Val's chanting grew louder and the second barrier started shifting too.

An undead leapt on the battlements and grabbed a soldier before biting through his throat. Another soldier decapitated the undead in an attempt to save his friend. When suddenly an undead soldier plunged its sword through him from behind.
Another undead grabbed a soldier as it was climbing up and threw him off the wall. With a group of hungry undead waiting below.
One of Val's soldiers managed to slice an arm off the undead. Only for the undead to grab him by the neck and slowly try to strangle him.
One undead soldier and two normal undead charged towards the Empress from the side.


The inner barrier slowly opened up on top and slid down, starting to cover the ground around the castle. Val focused on her spell and stood completely still while chanting.

Cole got behind the undead choking the soldier and stabbed its head with his lance arm, trying to pull it away from the soldier, while his blunt shield arm swung wildly at nearby undead. 'what the fuck is this man?'

The bounty hunter wasn't facing the soldier, but could hear its armor, he flicked his foot up behind prompting a pillar to pop up from the undead soldier's shadow, sending it flying straight upwards. When he returned his foot the ground he dashed towards the left side undead with a jumping knee, knocking it over then shot at the other one, with both guns to try to do the same. "Gonna have to throw them off asap damn." 

The undead that cole stabbed through the head let the soldier go. It tried to attack cole but only got its head penetrated deeper by the shadow lance. Putrid blood leaked from its mangled head.
The soldier had fallen on his ass but got back up and thanked cole. He sliced off the undeads leg.

The undead soldier crashes on the edge of the battlements before sliding off and falling to the ground. The first undead tumbles down and lands headfirst against the ground below. The last one is thrown of balance by the gunshots but manages to fall forward instead and tries to grab Rols feet.

The first barrier was halfway down when the second one started folding. Shadows danced around Val as she chanted.

Rol fell down, half on purpose, half out of surprised clumsiness. He used the closer range to get a better shot at the undead, hoping to separate its hands from its wrists.

"Let go of me nerd, I don't roll that way."

The hands came off as planned. However they held onto Rol's legs and squeezed. It was higly uncomfortable and slightly creepy.
The Undead crawled further towards Rol very slowly. Trying to get in biting range.

Meanwhile the first barrier had covered the ground, blocking all holes and any that might come up. The second one was still folding into place. The third one remained in place, being only one barrier it let a little bit more light through. Making it easier to see the battlefield.
Val was in a trance by this point which made it impossible for her to see the undead soldier throwing its sword at her.

Rol fluttered his legs trying to shake the hands off. "I am very disturbed and equally violated."

He stood up motioned his arm towards the undead and a moment later a shadow tendril impaled it through its chest. He looked over a Val to see how the chanting was going and noticed the undead throwing it's sword at her."Oh, shit. One sec." he said to the snarling undead, he swung and twisted the shadow o that the undead's body was blocking the path between the sword and Val.

"MY LEGS ARE SO UNCOMFORTABLE RIGHT NOW."

Buy more comfortable pants.


The sword was deflected and ended up flying through an undead soldiers eye socket and sent him falling down. Just as he falls the barrier reaches the castle and blocks of any undead trying to climb up. The barrier embraces the castle almost completely. Making sure the undead can't find another way in.
The only issue that remains is the dozen or so undead that remain on the battlements.
Reathy swoops in and takes care of those one by one. Before finally landing on top of the undead that Rol impaled earlier and absorbs its soul. Causing its hands to also die.
Unfortunatly they suffer from rigor mortis and don't come off.


Val finishes her long demonic chant and opens her eyes. She smiles at Rol and Reathy. "Good job, ..I.." But then the Empress wobbles on her feet and seems to be about to collapse.

Rol rushed over to Val's side to keep her from falling.

"I'd say don't over do it, but too late, right?" 

"Heh, true. I am not used to casting spells of this magnitude. I underestimated how much mana it would take." Val leaned on Rol, trying to regain her breath. The sweat dripped off her forehead.


"Are you okay?" Doomy asked.
He and reganya had split again.
"Yes. I'll be fine. We should be safe for a while."


"Lets hope so. Do we have a plan to survive this? I imagine they'll find a way to get through those barriers eventually."
"I sent word to Mioki. We're waiting for her."
"So we hope she gets here before those barriers break, basically?"
"Yes."
"You think they'll hold?"
Val frowned. "For a while.."


"That doesn't sound very convincing."
"..."

An awkward silence later Val seemed to have regained her breath for the most part. "Now that we are here.. You guys still need to tell us what happened."
"Right."
"Eh.."

"Yes, talk fam. Also, someone help me get these hands off my legs, i'm not a happy camper."

Rol whined to the trio.

"Well your highness, your suggestion to posses your brother worked. I helped him stand up against the memory of his abusive adoptive father. And then helped him escape the bandits that ambushd him. Kind of.. turns out even in memories you can't reverse your own death. But somehow we still moved on to the final memory. There I helped him complete your aunts training. But it was odd.. when he completed it she acted as if she knew. As if she wasn't part of the memory but actually there.."


"She was."


"I don't know that. She's dead so that can't be.."


"It was her. I know it. She said her last goodbye and passed on. She said.. she said she was proud." A smile grew on Doomy's face. Val smiled too and nodded, listening while prying the hands off of Rol's legs.


"As for what caused it.. I sensed something was interfering with his soul.. But I couldn't find out what."


"I know what it was. Those things we fought inside the orb. I absorbed their souls. They had been corrupted. Something or someone used them to do this to me. Whatever or whoever it was, they or it is powerful. When I completed Aunt's training I learned how to fully control spirits I had absorbed and could undo the corruption."


"Who could have done that?"


"I don't know. But whatever it was I felt its presence when we were inside the orb."


"Could whatever did this to you be the same thing behind everything that happened?"
Val asked while holding up the lifeless hands that she managed to finally get of Rol. She had to use butter.


"I think so."


"It does seem probable."

"Wasn't mummy dude the guy who did this?"

Rol was lost, but understood something was afoot. Obviously. He took the hands from Val and dropped them on the ground.

"Thanks for that."

"That's what we first thought. But Mekheris only broke up the river of souls. As far as we know he had nothing to do with the source acting weird. And he surely didn't make whatever those things were that we saw in there."


"He must have been working with someone. This can't be a coincidence that those two things happened at the same time."


"We thought breaking up the river of souls caused the source to act up. Which is still possible. But Doomy did sense something disturbing it from the inside. So whatever Doomy felt in there is probably connected to Mekheris."


"Mekheris him self is dead so it can't be him. Unless it's one of his creations."


"How did they get in there though? Nobody knows the source is even here."


"No clue."


"Hey, don't litter on my battlements." Val said to Rol after he dropped the hands.

"Don't dead things go into the death flow? Could he navigate his soul or whatever into it? Idk what i'm talking about, but the exposition won't continue unless i say and or do something."


Rol sighed.

"It's like it's waiting for me. Also, it's not litter, it's fear tactics because undead are totally susceptible to that."

"That's possible." Val answers Rols question about the soul river thing.


"No, Herst killed him with that Scythe of his. From what I understand that scythe cuts through the soul and destroys it somehow. Mekheris his soul doesn't exist anymore."


"So it's similar to Mioki's magic. I see. Then it has to be someone else."


"But who?"

"Probably another ex-Necropalypse member. They must have kept contact with Mekheris after the group disbanded. But I have no idea which one."

"Weren't you a member too?"

"Yes."

"Well it obviously isn't her she's right here. Not in there."

"I'm not saying that she is. Nice to see you're defending your girlfriend though, brother."

Doomy glared at his sister. "She's not my girlfriend damn it!"

"Then do something about that."

"What?! No, thats not what I.. ugh.."

"Back to the topic, I guess we won't find out who or what is in that orb until we go inside."

"Yeah. Before we can do that we've got to be sure the castle is safe. Those undead might not know where the orb is but if they do or if they discover it.."

"Bad things will happen."

Val nods.

"So how long do we have to wait for Mioki?"

"I don't know. She could get here soon but if something is keeping her busy.."

Exposition:"Actually I'm not waiting for you. I'm waiting for Herst. Because I'm not sure if he'll be returning. But I've waited long enough. I'm running out of things to talk about."

Thats when suddenly one of the Ornithopters flies over the barrier.
"There she is. I think."
"Just in time."

"Glad Deahty has accepted his fate to forever be with Ren, makes things easier."

Rol looked and the copter.

"If that's not her, I'll be angry."

"I haven't accepted anything!" Doomy yelled at Rol.

"It's her." Val said and stopped leaning on Rol. She stepped up and started another chant. A small hole opened up at the top of the barrier. The ornithopter hovered above the hole and a pink figure jumped down. The hole closed back up as soon as the figure was through.
Val took a step back.

Mioki came glidding down and landed in front of Val on the battlements. "MIOKI HAS ARRIVED!"
She then immediatly jumped on Val and hugged her. "You called Mioki?"
Val chuckled. "Yes, yes we did. We've got a bit of an undead problem."


"That's the understatement of the year." Doomy commented.


"No worries! Mioki has come to save the night! Meow!"
"Isn't that supposed to be 'day'?"
"Yes it is!"


"Where's the other Ornithopter?"


"They were behind us but then we saw a bunch of soldiers marching the same way as we were flying. Herst decided to stay behind with the pilot girl and her little body guard to deal with them."


"Another army of undead?"


"No, they were very alive. Mioki sniffed at them, they smelled of sweat, not deadness."


"What banner were they flying?"


"Those flags? Mioki thinks it was a black chicken on an orange circle."


"A rooster on a sun? Who.. Oh, Berk Volstag, Ashera damn that bastard. Refuse his request at marriage and get an army at your doorstep? Is he serious? Like I don't have enough to deal with already."


"Mioki already said Herst was dealing with him!"


"Yes, I know. Sorry, I just.. ugh. Anyway, let's start our counter attack. Mioki would you like to play a song?"


"Mioki says Hel yes!" The succubus in disguise jumped with joy.

Val smiled. "Everyone in position! The Barrier is going down!"

Val's soldiers all took their positions. Reganya stepped into Doomy and Reathy flew into the air.
Mioki got her guitar out and started playing a melodious song.
Val started chanting. Her chants sounding in resonance with Mioki's guitar music.
"Asher char zerdye!" Val finished her chant and the barrier shattered, the shards flying outward into the undead army.

Then the song changed to something similar to heavy metal and now it was Mioki who sung.
Val's soldiers poured out of the castle and attacked the undead.
Archon and Riaden jumped out from the ornithopter and joined the battle. Inside the ornithopter Reaver shouted "Die undead motherfuckers!" and opened fire on the undead soldiers.

"If you're really lucky, which based on the situation is unlikely, he's trying to win your heart by dashing in with his army to save you. Regardless, I'm good with Herst taking care of them."


Rol said to Val, he greeted Mioki with a wave and waited for her to do her magic/music/mugic.

"So, should I jump down and join the fray?"