Six Feet Under and Falling (Raz solo, Mali quit)

Tanic descended the stairs to the catacombs, with each step the air grew colder and darker. The still, brown stone walls were etched with blessings and murals of great deeds, real and imagined, but all so long forgotten that they only added to the aura of death that surrounds the place. In short time the torches in their hands were the only light within, and only now could he see the first of the bodies. To an unenlightened individual the objects sitting in formation would merely seem like similar sized rocks, but Tanic knew better, they were bodies of his brothers. When one died peacefully, he would simply curl up in a ball and harden, never to awake.

The Goron had been here before, as a rockling he had visited more than once to lay a relative to rest, so he had some slight knowledge of it's interior, yet even this provided no comfort.

Apparently a Hylian commander was looking for "mercenaries" to venture into the wretched place and scout some nearby tunnels, offering whatever was found in the tunnels and the fame of the deed as a reward; the latter of which he could not afford to pass up.

Tipping his hat to the poor souls that lay here, he moved forward, the catacombs were large, and it would be a while before they came to the spot they needed; he merely hoped the lad behind him would be of use in the ensuing hours.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Baloreth was annoyed. he was annoyed that he was underground, and he was annoyed by the fact that the dead seemed to speak. He hated being underground. it was repressive, and made his nerves get on edge. If he did not need money to feed himself, he would not even be here. Of course, that being said, he needed the money. Thus, he was marching down into the catacombs on behest of the annoying Hylian commander, to try and scout out the area. Baloreth really hated that damn commander. it was less the fact that he new the man, and more the fact that of all the jobs, he had to give him this one. "Damnit." he exclaimed to himself, followed by a quick apology to the dead. He did not want them cursing his soul. Apparently, he was supposed to meet up with another mercenary, one who would assist him in scouting the area. "That bastard better be down here, because he sure as hell was not at the meeting point!"

Further on Baloreth walked, hoping that his comrade would soon appear to him.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Tanic slowed his pace, looking around concerned, the other one should've been here by now; and this was not the place to get lost. The man sighed, he'd hoped the one sent with him was at least competent, and yet it seemed he was lost already. He was about to start a search for the child when he noticed a faint glow behind him.

"Bloody hell lad! You move slower than one-wing Keese! Pick it up or Ganon'll have circled the world and kicked your arse!" Despite the aggravated tone and violent words, Tanic was relieved, he boy may not have been prompt, but he was competent... maybe.

Just as Baloreth drew closer, Tanic saw movement elsewhere: the "rocks" were getting up. With only gaited walk and dead eyes to them, it was obvious that they were mere puppets, not quite alive, but far more than dead.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

"There he is!", Baloreth thought to himself as he neared the large Goron in the distance. "These damned tunnels... why are they so creepy! And furthermore..." Baloreth suddenly stopped, staring dead ahead, at the dead creature that had started stumbling around in front of the Goron. "DAMNIT, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP DOWN HERE! DUCK!" With this, Baloreth started preparing a blast of arcane bolt. Hoping that The living Goron heard his cry, he let fly the arcane bolt, aiming for the massive bulk of the dead thing. "Here is hoping that oldy is fast enough to duck this..."

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

'Competent enough it seems' Tanic thought to himself as he jumped back and let the bolt crush the body. Still, the countless others shambling toward the pair were unaffected by the first falling, and left Tanic and Baloreth in a difficult situation, they were surrounded by the unliving on all sides; undoubtedly their stamina and magical power would fail with countless puppets bearing down on them.

Still, they had little choice, and Tanic backed himself against a wall. Readying his free hand, he loosed a deadly punch to one's chest, shattering it's brittle body into indistinguishable shards. The flash of the punch only further illuminated the room, and the legions that were coming onto them. His punch was weakened by the awkwardness of carrying the torch, but still seemed up to the challenge of the brittle rock, his mind however, may not quite be.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

"YES!" Baloreth though to himself, as he viewed his bolt obliterate the zombie's torso. This feeling was short lived though, for he saw dozens of other forms heaving themselves up, slowly shambling towards the Goron and himself. "well, i might as well drop the torch and pull out my grandfather's pike. I hope this armour holds up... " With that last thought going through his head, Baloreth dropped the torch, hoping that the small light brought by the Goron would be enough for the both of them to see. He quickly fumbled for his pike, and charged in, hoping that he would be able to help the Goron survive. "I cant die here!" Baloreth thought to himself, as he ran through the mass towards the surrounded Goron.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Tanic saw Baloreth charge the Goron crowd, suicide charge being a more appropriate description for the action. "What in the goddesses' name are you doing you grody little Ding-bat!" he bellowed at the pikeman. But then it hit him, they couldn't stand there and wait for the encroaching beasts to overtake them, they had to push farther in.

"Keep up this time you bleeding serf!" as he stormed through the horde of animalistic monsters, punching as many as he needed too, which was many indeed. To his relief, the hall was safe and he ran into it's depths.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

"SERF! That pretentious old bastard!" Baloreth thought to himself. It was at that point he noticed his companion was running further in. "Damnit! in for a penny, out for a buck as they say!" With this, Baloreth threw another bolt at another zombie, and flailing with his pike at anything that got near to him, rushed after the elderly Goron. "This better be worth the damn money!" He yelled out loud as he charged after the Goron.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Finally, a moment of reprieve came for the Goron and his companion, the puppets were still hunting them, but behind far enough that they could afford a short rest. "Well dear chap, I'd suggest moving on once your breath is back in the body." In truth, he was tired himself, but he hoped the Hylian was more so, to cover his own.

"Well now, nice little stop, but I'm afraid he must be going." Tanic exclaimed in an upbeat tone, and began to turn a corner. Although this ran them right into another wall of stone, "Damn fine job they did here!" screamed Tanic sarcastically, angry at the whole mess. "Let's go b-..." his voice trailed off, as even having turned around he faced another, identical wall, and so it was on all sides, leaving the two boxed in as the heavy steps of the undead grew closer.

On each wall a figure appeared, wearing a dark red cloak covering his whole body, only a pair of large glowing yellow eyes were visible. "So they have finally come for me, I am glad that they did, so I need not live anymore. Take my life if you have mercy, for you shall most certainly fail. Those before you are dead and so can't be alive, and alive so can't really be. Loyal to one and none, for themselves there is nothing their bodies are." The image spews out before deanimating the ones on the walls, leaving only an imprint of it's form.

"Ghosts and magic walls now? Sounds worse than politics back home." the Goron mumbled, unsure of how to act, now that the steps were far louder than before.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Baloreth was getting angry. "This is, by far, the most confusing and annoying job i have ever taken old timer. We get out of zombies, and now there is this odd environment that keeps changing on us! I swear, when i get out here, i am going back to killing bandits! so. My name is Baloreth. what is yours old timer?" With this, Baloreth starts turning around, trying to detect where enemies are coming from and where the strange imprint had come from. "What should our plan of action be old timer? you obviously have much more years of experience then i do."

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

Tanic thought on the words that image released into their prison. 'That half-witted, two-faced, wort-ridden toad! He has the gall to mock us!' He thought to himself, though becoming visibly irritated. Still, that didn't change the situation, they were still in a stone cage and the sounds of footsteps seemed louder than a banshee's screech.

Pounding on the walls, he soon discovered the walls were far harder than even steel; leaving his knuckles sore, but not broken or even bruised. What made them so strong? What was that thing and it's pitiful and threatening speech? and of the broken, cryptic ending? "That scoundrel is taunting using old bean! But what the devil's arse does it mean?" he asked the lad beside him. "Those before you are dead and so can't be alive, and alive so can't really be? Loyal to one and none, for themselves there is nothing their bodies are? Pure nonsense! How can one be alive and dead at once? Sheer..." he dropped off, as if deep in thought.

"That's it dear lad! I've got it!" he shouted, quickly bringing his monocle to his eye, and saw the walls around him disappear, and the footsteps cease. "They aren't real! What fortune!" and began further into the tomb, "Don't just stand there like a lame donkey! We've got mapping to do!"

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

"They are not real? what in hyrul's name is he talking about!?" Thought Baloreth. Then, as he thought on it, he noticed the zombies seemed to fade, and then finally vanish! The Goron left no time for Balor to think it over however, as he quickly rushed into the next room. "Well, there goes my opportunity to catch a breath..." he muttered under his breath. Sighing heavily to himself, he quickly jogged to catch up to the lumbering Goron. "Damnit man, wait up!" he yelled ahead, and towards him, looking around nervously to be on the watch for any other unpleasant surprises along the way.

Re: Six Feet Under and Falling

"Hmm! This is worse than that rapid dog on new year's eve!" Tanic bellowed, filling the otherwise quiet catacombs. Still, even to him, the eerie silenced that permeated the stone structure after the echo passed was far preferable to the breathless shambling of those things before. He wandered on, coming to a spot where bones had long disintegrated to dust, remains of some Hylians long forgotten by their descendants and those of whom built the home they rest in.

Soon the Goron's walk turned almost to a shamble, the atmosphere was so depressing, so hopeless that it seemed it would never end. 'Almost there' he thought to himself, 'just a little longer and this part of the journey is over.'