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Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

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The creature played with the tool in his black-blue hands, before lodging the end of the crowbar into the wall. Lear briefly considered what might happen if it grabbed a hold of him again. What would his bones do if it rammed him against a wall like that? Just one way to go.

It did*’t like fire, he hoped. He flung the bowl of embers at it, and then his lantern. Finally, he took a deep breath and…

Splash.

End of Chapter Four

02-Feb-2011 01:51:07 - Last edited on 03-Feb-2011 09:12:21 by Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Despite his most focused efforts, he found himself in a flailing panic after the creature slammed shut the door above. He couldn’t see, it was like he fell into a black hole. He knew he had a minute at best, thirty seconds at worst. He felt the cave roof above, and began swimming along it, praying he’d find a door. Nothing but stone made rough and jagged from countless years of water erosion. He felt himself getting dizzy, was this it? He fought the urge to gasp for breath with every ounce of will power he possessed.

What’s this? He punched what felt like pottery above him. Just a little pocket, big enough for a head. He moved his head in so quickly he smashed it against the hard stone above. He felt blood trickle down his neck, but that did*’t matter. He took a deep breath despite the musky staleness of the air that was captured, and then dove back under.

Swimming quickly, but feeling reassured knowing there were air pockets, he felt like he was making good progress. The air pockets were irregularly placed, but he felt much more reassured as he explored desperately for an escape.

Was it possible? Was that an exit? It was going to be a difficult swim there, it was just vaguely on the edge of his vision. It was going to be a coin toss if he could make it or not. He took one last breath from the air pocket, and…


Something had him in a headlock and was pulling him under. He struggled and wrestled with it as his vision fell from the dim light that he had hoped to be an exit. His punches were almost useless, as the thing wildly twisted and turned and dragged him about.

02-Feb-2011 01:51:50

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
It only had stick-sized arms, he thought. He grasped it’s wrist, but then… he kept himself from screaming in celebration, the exit! In their wild scramble, they had ended up where he needed to be. And then his emotions rearranged, he felt a burning rage of the most basic kind. Squeezing down on the thin-thing’s wrist, he left off a few punches where he thought it’d face would be hidden by the darkness, it tried to escape his grasp, but he would have none of it.

Grasping the exiting doorframe, he pulled himself out with one arm, and took a few panicky, adrenaline fueled breaths. “Agggh!” he pulled the skinny thing from the would-be watery grave, and plopped it down on the dirt floor. It crawled towards the water, but never made it. He began kicking it, letting out screams with each bone he shattered, each tooth he broke free, each organ he collapsed.

He finally relented. Panting. How odd, he thought glancing around. This exit was surrounded by lanterns, but the hall it was connected to was unlit. “What was that thing?” he rolled it over. One half of it’s face was entirely shattered, a mangled bloody mess from his boots. It’s eye hanged loosely from the socket, but he wasn’t pleased with the intact half of it’s face. It looked humanoid, and if it went by human years, about nineteen years old. It was handsome. His frame was thin, though muscled, his feet webbed and fins extending from various points across his scaled-over skin.

“He attacked me first though,” and with that, he wiped all guilt from his conscious. “Only one way to go I guess..”

“You killed him!” Was he hallucinating? No…

“I.. what?” he spun around, surprised by the gentleness of the voice more so than anything else.

“He’s dead, why? Why did you do that!?” She had been hiding behind the door, wrapped in a brown cloak. He giggled mentally, he must’ve looked right past her for him to have not noticed her before.

02-Feb-2011 01:52:11

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“He attacked me! I don’t know how the hell you managed to survive swimming under there,” he motioned to the door, “why would you care anyway? He’s not even human.”

“What? How did you make it here if he tried killing you? I bet you ended up right beside this door after you were done ‘fighting’ him!” She was red in the face with anger. He did*’t reply. “He dragged me from the entrance all the way here! It’s his job, I think.. I think their purpose is to help travelers through this passage…” She looked conflicted somewhat. Torn between sadness and a fading anger.

“Well.. Sorry,” he seemed at a loss for words, he just killed the thing that in all likely hood saved his life. But maybe not. Either way they had to continue. “I haven’t gotten anywhere in this place without fighting, it was just my first reaction.”

“To stomp it to death, while it was fleeing? He ignored her completely.

“Let’s go,” he ordered, as he plucked a torch from the wall. *Know, last time I grabbed a torch down here it burned my hand, the wood part. This place doesn’t make any sense, huh?” He attempted getting her mind off the murder.

“I’m not going with you.” She crossed her petite arms defiantly.


“Honey, what about those other monsters down here?” He glanced at her forearm, partially exposed through her sliced sleeve “Look, right there” he pointed to her wound “you can’t tell me they ain’t tryin’ to kill you. We’ll be safer together, right? Only one path to travel, too.” He put on his friendliest smile, (not a natural looking smile at all) and waited for her reply.

“Well, fine. My name’s Kath.”

“Lear, pleased to meet you.” He said, shaking her hand. “Heh, tiny thing ain’t you?” His hand was nearly three times the size of hers. She forced a brief smile, and they continued onward. The path was very steep, and narrow, forcing them to walk in single file.

02-Feb-2011 01:52:36

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“You don’t look like a miner, or a monk. Why are you here?”

“I was supposed to come down and locate a missing crew, but I ended up trapped down here. I was gonna leave after I found some tools but that damn.. Thing… forced me into the water.” She noticed he seemed more irritated just thinking about the creature.

“My brother, he’s who I’m looking for. I saw the corpses at the entrance, some of his friends… but he wasn’t among them, thank Saradomin.” She said a quick prayer.

“Well that’s good then. If we find’em, I get paid for the rescue, you get your brother, and then we seal up that mineshaft and hope these things never find the surface.”

“What was that?” A slight vibration caught her attention.

“Shaky old cave I guess.” They pushed onward, the vibration seemed to follow.

“Look!” He said, as the ground burst before them. “What…” it pounced on him. With the upper body of a man who starved to death, and..

“Oof!” He lay fighting with it on his back; it was surprisingly strong. It’s mouth resembled that of a leech, and it seemed desperate to taste him. He gave it a few punches, but it seemed mostly undeterred. *Hit it with the torch!” He commanded. She swiftly picked the fallen light source from the ground, and with all the expertise of a conscript, managed to land a blow to it’s face. A shower of sparks burned both of them. It reared back, and Lear was quick to shuffle away from it. Back on his feet, he realized it’s lower half was that of a giant, bloated leech.

Pulling his second glass knife from his pocket, he jammed the weapon into it’s chest, where upon the handle shattered. It hissed with pain, and slithered with bewildering speed between his legs, and towards the easier prey. It did*’t get a chance to grab the shrieking girl, as Lear began pounding it’s skull with a rock he dislodged from the floor.

02-Feb-2011 01:52:49 - Last edited on 02-Feb-2011 01:54:43 by Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“Let’s go,” she walked hastily past the corpse and Lear. Not one to linger, he was quickly leading the way once more.

“What do you think that thing was?” She asked, he glanced back at her.

“Stuff down here don’t make sense, I stopped trying to figure everything about ten minutes after stepping through the door.” They had been walking for ten or fifteen minutes, and reached a point where keeping balance was a challenge all on it’s own, with the dirt floor so eroded and uneven, the path growing steeper, and the torch slowly dying.

“We should run, this torch is almost gone.” He wasn’t scared of the dark. Hell the path was so narrow it’s not like one would find themselves hopelessly lost if the lights did fade. No, he heard a faint skittering noise, and a few labored breaths.

It was utter silence as they ran. Nothing but their footwear colliding with soil. He tossed the torch behind them as it finally died, and then there was blackness. “What’s that, up ahead?” It was a glow, faint and a pale blue. “Uh.. Stay close.” he whispered, expecting creatures to be listening as he noticed dim glints of silver light reflecting from the ceiling. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

The ground finally leveled out. “We’re on concrete again.” She observed. About thirty paces more, and Lear bumped into what felt like a steel wall.

“There must be a door here..” he dragged his hands against the cold surface as he searched anxiously for a doorknob. He was pleasantly surprised as a single match held by Kath revealed the doorway. A large, almost gate like pair of doors were before them. “Why would they do this?” Lear wondered aloud. The doors were barred up from the outside “Was this a.. prison?” Oh well. The bars would slide out easily enough, he grabbed one and removed it with no complications.

02-Feb-2011 01:53:15 - Last edited on 03-Feb-2011 09:19:37 by Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Pushing open the door proved to be more of a challenge than unlocking it. “Here, help me out.”

“Hehe, really? I thought you were the big man here.” Her mocking tone did*’t aid his temper, but he knew better than to argue at a time like this.

“Here, we push when I say go,” he explained as he demonstrated proper form for a task like this. “Go!” They pushed in unison, and with strained grunts and heavy breathing… Crash! The door collapsed with a metallic bang, and they stumbled through.

“What kind of room is this supposed to be?” Kath murmured in astonishment.

End of Chapter Five.

The room they had gained access to was large and circular, the walls covered in what appeared to be vaults. Massive stone pillars appeared to support the roof, and torches glowing a moonlight-blue were scattered in a V-like pattern throughout the room. The most aberrant object in this chamber was the massive coffin which lay undisturbed by time in the far end of the expanse.

“Look!” She tugged on his sleeve in a childlike manner, peering over his shoulder revealed the creature, playing with his father’s necklace.


“Go hide!” He instructed. She was quick to obey, but her path was blocked by..

“Brother?” Lear scanned all around. The big creature was approaching him from one side, her brother’s eyes were glazed over and he was shambling towards them with a pipe in hand, and finally… he noticed several of the smaller things clinging to pillars, their expressionless masks starring unblinkingly at the scene unfolding below.


Pulling her along by the wrist, he sprinted them past her brother, towards the wall-vaults. “Start opening these!” He commanded. He decided these were vaults containing precious objects… like swords and knives.
“They’re locked!” She shouted back in a panic, as one of the smaller things crawled down the vaults and gazed upon her face-to-mask.

02-Feb-2011 01:55:19 - Last edited on 03-Feb-2011 09:22:30 by Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“Ignore him, keep moving.” He felt a surreal calmness for some inexplicable reason, he felt like this was a bad situation, but he’d be in a worse one someday. “Argh!” He punched his fist through a wooden vault, and reached inside.

“What’re you looking for? And.. Kale? Can you hear me?” She tried talking to her sibling to no avail. Inside the vault lay several heavy metallic balls. Scooping some into his hands, he pitched them at the creature which had perused him this whole time.

The first two missed entirely, but the third connected to it’s shoulder, it reacted with anger as he charged towards the pair. Muscling Kath into the ground, Lear leapt out of the way of the charging beast and allowed it to smash into the vaults, he leapt to his feet, fists clutched. Clang! His shoulder felt a fever of pain. Whipping to face the attacker, he saw Kale. Kale lunged with the pipe, but his uncoordinated state of mind made him an easy target. Leaping to the side, Lear snatched the weapon from his hands, and in a fit of anger, connected it to his kneecap.

With a stomach-aching snap of bone, he collapsed silently into the concrete floor. “Kale!?”

“Run!” He shouted to her, as a pair of smaller creatures began skittering towards her across the floor. They stopped unanticipatedly, and crawled back up the pillars. Glancing to face the bigger creature, he saw him wave his hand at them in a dismissive way. “So you’re the commander here?” Without a leader, maybe they’d stop all together.

Dashing towards the commander with his newly obtained weapon overhead ready to spilt it’s skull, he let loose a powerful swing. They went back and forth for several minutes. Lear collected an increasingly concerning amount of lacerations and could no longer see through his right eye after a sharp punch left it swollen over. He remained determined, as the commander had a slight limp from a connected blow to his shin.

02-Feb-2011 01:55:37

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Kath stood over her brother’s body, trying fruitlessly to revive him with her medical knowledge. In her mind she knew he wasn‘t ever going to laugh at her jokes or take her on trips to escape the island for a while, hell, his mind was deteriorating even before he went missing… but it was still her brother.

With a display of agility and strength the commander hadn’t revealed before, it latched it’s tongue around Lear’s throat, leapt towards him, and kicked him in the chest. Lear slid across the room, the bandages he had worn around his neck shredded, the old wounds spilled open in conjunction to fresher cuts.

Lear did*’t move as the commander let out a rasped, painful sounding giggle, as if his throat were lined with broken glass. It limped towards him, sure the target was dead. Lear put all his faith into his ears, and just when he was sure it was standing over him. Fwap! The pipe bent upon collision with the side of the beast’s head. Leaping to his feet, he let out roars and a flurry of kicks and swipes from the pipe.

It managed to land one, decisive blow past Lear’s own attacks. Fist struck the man in the hip, sending him staggering. It leaped with one leg towards the nearest pillar, and pulled itself to safety. With a clap of it’s hands, the cave rumbled.


A dark glow emitted from near the coffin, when… fwoosh! A black cloud manifested. It seemed to contain hundreds of deformed faces which swirled in torment, fading in and out of existence repeatedly. The cloud swept in towards Lear. Leaping behind a pillar, he decided the cloud wasn’t going anywhere unless the thing that summoned it did. Smashing open vault after vault with the increasingly damaged pipe, he prayed for a sling, something heavy to throw.. Anything to knock the commander down.

02-Feb-2011 01:56:19

Baron Ogre

Baron Ogre

Posts: 18,957 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Many of the vaults were bafflingly empty. Some contained bodies which shook violently when their resting places were cracked open. He finally gathered up varieties of pots, candlesticks, stone religious symbols, and numerous other objects. Tossing each with a fading hope of forcing the commander to the ground, where he might finally be destroyed.

Though equally as injured as Lear, he remained vastly more agile and despite finding multitudes of items to throw while routinely sprinting away from the writhing cloud, he failed to land a single hit.
Running to meet with Kath, she pointed above them. A vault two or three persons high had a strange marking over it. “Quick, I’ll lift you up!” He did*’t give her time to reply as he shoved the pipe into her hands and pushed her overhead. Balancing on his shoulders wasn’t easy, especially not with the swarm of masks starring at her from all around. She reared back and smashed the vault, it cracked and whined.

“Hurry!” He sounded panicked, as the black cloud bellowed towards them. Her second swing broke a small hole into the vault, but she lost grip of the tool and it clattered to the ground. Picking and pulling broken shards of wood she tried to fit her small hands in. the cloud began to envelope Lear. His skin felt like it was trying to tear itself apart, his muscles convulsed, and he felt his heart pulse and compress in strange, painful ways.

“Here!” She dropped the item hidden inside the vault at his feet, and leapt off his shoulders and out of harms way. He fell to the ground, and was arms length from the object. It was an elegantly curved dagger. The hilt was gold, the blade was a shining steel so bright it nearly seemed white in color… save for a few faint, red stains. Two separate spikes protruded from the left and right of the hilt, and another ran the length of the blade, as if crudely mimicking a star.

02-Feb-2011 01:56:28 - Last edited on 03-Feb-2011 09:27:36 by Baron Ogre

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