Cave Slickers: The Legend of Holly-Eyes Gold [FINISHED!]

[drlupinmario]

((Not to chritisize or anything, But I think it would be better to stay off on the posting until 3kul finishes his update.

Son of a Burget! I turned into a hypocrit! Not that I wasnt one already, but...))

[3kul]

((It's fine DLM, I kept most of you waiting for a long time with that post, so if anything I'm happy that people are enthusiastic to keep going ))

Neal is a little too excited in grabbing for throwable objects, and seems to have forgotten how sharp the sawblades are. You cut yourself on more than one occassion, and whilst the cuts aren't too deep they still hurt, and the blood on your hands begins to make it hard to throw accurately.

The sawblades really don't do much to the skeletons at all, lacking the weight that the porcelain tiles have and not getting nearly enough momentum to cut through anything. One sawblade manages to get caught up in one of the skeleton's ribcages, but even that doesn't seem to phase it much.

The tiles on the other hand have a bit of a better success rate, but it's pretty hit-and-miss. Half of the time it's the tiles that break rather than the bones, and unfortunately, you can't throw the sturdier ones fast enough to keep the skeletons back.

Two of them get close enough to grab ahold of your arms and begin trying to wrestle you to the ground. They aren't terribly strong, but you can see more skeletons emerging from the water, so if you falter now they'll surely swarm you. Little Sister doesn't look like she's going to help you just yet, so think fast or start writing your will.

[Cirrial]

(( I'm a little too preoccupied at the moment to write a real post, so I'm doing what 3kul did and posting to show that I've read the post, intend to remain active in the thread, and will kill this post once I've got a decent one. x_x ))

(( 501 could have really, really done with a copy of Serpells' book. ))

(( EDIT: Post forthcoming! ))

[Zerrer]

Neal had no time to think, so he just leaped backward and pulled his arms together. If the skeletons held on, they would smash together. Unless Neal is too weak, of course.

((I'm still alive, and I'll continue to post))

[Chronos]

Ensichrys was extremely upset at the loss of those few feathers and that his cape was torn. He stood in the hangar for several seconds attempting to adjust himself before finally turning to the grunt before him. Such a fine display of respect!

"Yes, I need to find an operational EC jet and a clear takeoff. Can you and your team do all of that for me? You will be promoted for this if you succeed."

[drlupinmario]

I wake up and look around. Easily, This is some trick. I kick a wall. My foot stops on it and I expect to hear a thud, yet no sound is heard.

I try to take one of my pills, only to discover that my pockets appear to be bare. Thoose "PayneKillers" are the only thing that help keep me sane.

I stop and think for a moment. Perhaps maybe I am dead. Perhaps I am a ghost. Such things could be possible, Right? So now I ponder; Do I forfeit on my mission? The only reason I actually consider this is because they have answers. Answers to Questions, Some of which I do not know myself. Do I just give up, Seeing as I lack a prayer?



No.

I try to grab my machetee, Only to have it pass through my hands. Figures. I suppose I will come back for this stuff later. For now, I crack my knuckles and walk towards the door...

[3kul]

[Swix]

Evil Swix's eyes blazed with a sort of morbid joy as the beetle in the clutches of the darkness screamed at her. Either it really didn't know anything or it was lying to try and get her to stop.
"I don't believe you" she snarled, keeping the pressure constant on the struggling insect "let's try it easy then. What's through that hole in the wall that you were trying to crawl through?" she paused, seeming to consider something else and clearly not caring about the amount of pain she was causing "and who do you work for? I can do this all day... or until you run out of legs"

----------------

Fade turned around and half fell, half sat down on the floor with her back to the once mobile corpses. The assassin would have felt relieved if that wasn't an emotion and so nothing she wanted to deal with right now. The assassin removed a small blue bottle from her inside jacket pockets, feeling sluggish despite the tourniquet restricting the flow of poison. Fade downed the entire contents of the bottle, then turned her attention to the offending blade. The mutant tugged the tool free, gasping with refreshed pain as it slid free. The tourniquet was removed and reused as a makeshift bandage, stemming the renewed tide of blood. In her present condition the assassin knew it was not a good idea to stand up, so she was going to have to wait for the antidote to counteract the poison before she could tend to her wounds properly. Fade decided to stay put for now, as there didn't seem to be any replacements being sent for the dead
----------------

Yet another enraged roar shook the Corrupted Caves corridors. After Furnace had been happily enjoying his bath of molten rock, the serpentine dragon had emerged from his smouldering room to find dead soft-skins were rising, as if having to share this place with live ones wasn't bad enough!
((Edit: hurrah, all done at last))

[drlupinmario]

((Ack, No one told me about a presance in the back of the room. I was assuming it was coming from the door or something...))

The screams echo through lucifer's ears, Snapping whatever sanity he still had for the moment. He screams before he runs over to pound the nearest person or thing to him, be it a ghost or a still-living person.

((Just a bit of clarity of what I can do as a spirit. I Can walk through objects, Find and communicate with other sprits and float. What I CANNOT do is communicate or hurt physical beings, Interact with physical objects, Go through walls (Because its too powerplayish and would just be confusing) or pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time. Is this pretty much all correct?))

[Chronos]

Ensichrys' beak curved just slightly at the corners. He was fighting a smirk. Deliberately, he strode over to the beautiful EC Jet and stroked it once with his tail. There was an extremely thin layer of dust on it. Ensichrys frowned in disappointment, but realized that a perfectly clean Jet was a bit much to expect from the filthy Grunts. He looked back at the Grunt that had organized for this.

"Thank you, Grunt #84643. I will remember this. Unfortunately, I can not check your position at the moment for I am very pressed for time. I will finalize your promotion upon my return." Ensichrys turned around and began to climb up the jet. It was very loud, so Ensichrys had to shout. He looked over his shoulder and, almost as an afterthought, he warned the grunts.

"OH, AND THERE MAY BE REANIMATED CORPSES AND INSECTOID MINIONS GIVING YOU TROUBLE VERY SHORTLY. DO BE CAREFUL AND MAKE SURE NO ONE FOLLOWS ME. THANK YOU."

Ensichrys, with a hop and a bound, entered the cockpit and lowered the protective top covering. Since the EC Jets were so cool, they of course had tinted windows, so Ensichrys was now free to place the sanity basket next to him and strap him down securely. "I'll try to keep it as level as possible."

Ensichrys flicked the necessary switches with his brilliantly clad talons and the Jet soared through the portal and into the Black Forest. He kept his angle low and traveled in large circles while he gained altitude, to keep from spilling Byule's sanity all over the floor of the cockpit.

This was no easy task for Ensichrys, who was rather uncomfortable in the seat due to his digitigrade feet and the lack of tail room. Finally, he got high enough to straighten out and flew in the direction of Noten's temple. He had been there once before and was fairly certain that he was going in the right direction. The jet was fast. He should get there very shortly. Ensichrys looked over at the basket. "Do you think anyone will give us any trouble as we try to land?"

[Cirrial]

Naine swivels on a leg to turn and see what new madness he has caused, the exobody juddering before a sound halfway between a crunch and a snap from the leg he pivoted on tells him that wasn't a good idea. Oh no. Oh no no no NO!

He hops down the corridor, leaving a snapped leg behind to be swallowed by the wave of doodads and gewgaws now catching up to him. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't move fast enough to avoid the tide of consumer kitsch and extremely narrow-purposed electronic gizmos. Frantically flailing his cannons and arms, he attempts to at least stay afloat of the rushing sea of merchandise, but having never attempted to swim using the far-too-heavy exobody before, he soon finds himself sinking further and further into the ever-expanding pile as it pushes out towards the corridor.

For a while, it would seem to an outsider that Naine wouldn't be coming out of the rolling storm of gadgetry. Then, violently, without warning, the exobody suddenly flings itself out of the merchandise, sprinting on legs made of things as mundane as toasters and blenders and television sets, smoking heavily and sparking violently, seemingly held together by pure will alone. That, and partial magnetism due to excessive amounts of rerouted electrical energy.

It turns out that life-or-death situations are very good for motivation to use will-based power systems above and beyond their intended capabilities.

Naine sprints haphazardly in front of the wave of merchandise, falling into it each time his patchwork legs fall to pieces, only to jump out with newer, stranger gadgets, moving through sheer force of will and lasting mere moments before catching fire or exploding violently. The main body of his transport machine sustains more and more impact and scorch marks, while his arms and cannons start to crack apart from the combined stress of explosions and the pummelling of the merchandise flood.

must go faster MUST GO FASTER AAAAAGH

---

Goldie feels less and less sure that its "creators" were perhaps entirely truthful when they stated they coded it from scratch, but finds the mental training it received incredibly useful during this sudden moment of hazy red madness and lust for violence.

Despite its every instinct telling it to go for the closest target, down the aisle, logic instead instructs Goldie to aim for the target with a larger chance of becoming a potential threat. With another blood-curdling shriek of metal and blades, the inky black shadow that Goldie now resembles dashes across the floor and toppled bookcases towards the undead Cornie copy that seems to have seen it first.

It leaps, with its claw-arms poised to render this next target into a similar state as its last victim. I've never felt so... so ALIVE!

---

CAM-501 remains strapped down due to lack of any better alternatives. What would MechAyver do in this situation? Hrm. Do I have a paperclip and a lighter? Nope. Oh well. Guess I'm screwed.

Feeling some unease over the warden's clear display of distrust and canniness, 501 opts to remain strapped down, rather than attempt another ill-advised impromptu escape plan. Well, escape plan #1 landed me on a hostile alien world. Escape plan #2 got me here. Escape plan #3 would probably involve me escaping life forcibly at the other end of an energy weapon, and I'd rather things didn't come to that.

I hope those EC grunts are okay down there on the surface.

[3kul]

"It's jus' a tunnel!" The beetle squealed to Evil Swix as one of his legs began to make a strange popping noise.

"An' I werk for- GAH!" Ah, that's why it was making that noise, because it was dislocating. Seems you pulled a little too long on that leg, and it's finally broken off. "MY LEG! MY LEG, Y'TORE I' CLEAN OFF!!" The beetle screams, writhing around even more furiously than it was before. "Y' don't understan', that bloody cat'll kill me if he finds out I tol' yew what I know! I dunno which is worse 'etween havin' me legs torn out or bein' burnt alive but I don' fancy neither! Lemme go, please!"

The beetle had foolishly let slip that he was working with some kind of feline, and that he might know quite a bit more than what he'd told you. He seems quite desperate, and if you can keep him under pressure for just a little longer he'll probably crack.

The only thing that might make you reconsider this is the oddly metallic screams coming from elsewhere in the library. Whatever was in here was going wild, and seemed to be pretty reckless in tearing this place apart (you could hear and even see some of the bookshelves falling into each other). Should you stick around and risk having it run into you?

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For now Fade would appear to be safe inside the medical bay, though she can no doubt hear the chaos that's taking place just outside.

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"Oh, the lizard's finished his bath..." HollowEyes commented, sounding slightly amused. "I don't think that your corpsies will do you much good against him, Chairman Meow."

Caton appeared to be thoroughly exhausted, and was barely able to sit upright. He was panting heavily, struggling to keep this many dead under his control. It wasn't just that he was controlling a small army of them, but also that they were all doing different things. It was a complicated and exhausting process, but without the recent power-up he'd gained from his master he'd never have been able to do anything like this.

There were dead beasts that he could take control of that might stand a better chance against a dragon, this was the Corrupted Cave after all, but he lacked the energy to do so. This whole ordeal had almost completely drained him, and he couldn't keep it up much longer...

"Boss..." He muttered, not able to bring himself to say anymore. That he'd failed his master in this one thing he'd been asked to do made Caton feel an overwhelming shame, but having to admit it was so much worse.

"Ha! I expected that you'd only last this long, almost down to the minute." HollowEyes responded in a rather heartless manner. "See? I've even drawn up a detailed schedule... Ooh, lunchtime! Time to get me a sandwich." HollowEyes picked up an old sandwich from off the ground and began to eat it. The sandwich struggled quite furiously until he bit into it, and upon closer observation looked a lot more like a six-legged rat than a sandwich. "It's cool. I want them to reach me eventually - can't have a show without an audience!" Caton's undead heart sank and for just a moment his control over some of the corpses slipped. His master had become so cruel as of late...

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The corpses fled and hid themselves as soon as they spotted Furnace, as though they or whoever was controlling them knew that they were no match for a Dark Fire Dragon.

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((What you CAN do:
* walk through objects and walls (it's confusing but not really powerplaying, considering that you've lost so much to gain this)
* interact with and sense the presense of other ghosts, spirits and, if they'll allow it, Gods.
* see, hear and smell the living
* walk, float or fly, whichever you prefer

What you CAN'T do:
* be sensed by the living in any way (ie: you can't be seen, heard, smelled, touched or even tasted), unless they possess the required skills to do so.
* touch or hold onto physical objects, including the living
* taste, but this is more due to your inability to touch other things than anything else.
* experience physical pain, hunger, thirst or fatigue.))

Lucifer's fist connects with a nearby ghost, who's head suddenly fades away. The sensation of hitting a vanishing face is not unlike punching smoke.

"Oh... Oh Gods, wh-what was that?" The ghostly grunt stammered as his face reappeared. Apparently you'd found one of the ones who didn't know that he was dead yet. "It went right through me... Why did your hand go right through me? Why didn't it hurt? ... And who are you?"

The dead grunt has a lot of questions for you, though you can barely hear him amidst all the screams.

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"WHAT DID HE SAY?" The greasy mechanic grunt shouted after Ensichrys blasted through the warp. The others shrugged and went back to their work, blissfully unaware of the chaos that was unfolding in the other parts of the Cave.

"I don't know." The basket responded to your question, not offering much in the way of help. The jet was very fast, and within 5 minutes the Temple of Nothing came into view. It was a floating monstrocity that looked half-building and half-beast, but you knew from experience that it was not alive. The gaping maw was the entrance, perhaps looking like it does for aesthetic reasons. Gods probably liked their temples to be intimidating or awe-inspiring places.

Nobody appears to be signalling you at all from the temple, but on the upside there's also not even the slightest hint of an attack. You can keep going and land in the temple's mouth, but be wary - this could also be a trap.

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"Hey! Who the hell are y-" The angry grunt shouting at Naine didn't get to finish his sentence, as he was quickly crushed under the growing pile of mechanical merchandise.

As you sprint through the tunnels as fast as your makeshift legs will carry you see many more grunts, some looking like they've been dead for quite some time, but before they can do anything about you they're swallowed up by the pile. Amazingly, many of the live grunts say exactly the same thing as that first one you encountered, but more interesting was the fact that they seemed to be saying more and more - the scrapheap seemed to be slowing down.

Eventually it comes to a stop just over the top of your feet, but before you can lose yourself in the intense relief of not being lost in a pile of gizmos you notice that you're now surrounded by four grunts. There are a few corpses left lying around on the ground, and the grunts look pretty shabby with their uniforms partly torn and a few light scratches on them, and upon closer observation the corpses appear to be wearing EC uniforms. You're probably not sure what to make of this scenario, but that's not really important right now.

"Halt intruder! Identify yourself or get shot!"

Better do as they say or have a really good plan, because they've got some pretty heavy weaponry on hand, and most of it is pointed at you.

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If the Cornie corpse could scream it would, but unfortunately all it could do was attempt to protect itself with it's moldy old arms, which offered little to no defense against the wildly flailing Goldie.

This one falls just as easily as the last, and you have no trouble in shredding though his decaying flesh. By the time you're done with it the corpse barely resembles anything human.

You know that there are more corpses to hunt but you can't see any from where you are... What now?

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CAM-501 remains strapped down like a good little prisoner, but Mucon and the warden appeared to have much to discuss, and they did not return soon.

You notice that one of the guards is getting restless. He's hopping from one foot to the next in a dance easily recognizable to most bipedal creatures. Eventually he caves in to his need to relieve himself. "I'll just be five minutes, watch him without me 'til then." The round lizard quickly darted off, desperate to get to the nearest bathroom. "Hey! What am I supposed to tell the warden if he gets back and you're not here!" The other guard shouted after him, but he didn't get any response.

Only one guard watching over you now, and no sign of Mucon or the warden. If you were to ever attempt to escape from here now would surely be the best time to try something...

[Swix]

Evil Swix was still grinning, though the fact that the library seemed to be being torn apart by whatever was making those weirdly metallic noises hadn't gone completely over her head and seemed to be getting closer. The tendril that had been holding the beetles leg flicked the detached limb carelessly onto the floor.

Evil Swix turned her head around to scan what was going on around the area closest to them (dunno what she'll see 3kul ), then turned back to the furiously struggling beetle. She didn't tug on the rest of the insects legs, purely so that he could feel the intensity of the missing limb.

"Just a tunnel huh? A tunnel must lead somewhere" despite the backgroud carnage she was thoroughly enjoying this "I want you to consider something, I've got a hold of you now, not this fiery feline you fear so much, and I've no intention of letting you go until you tell me what it is you clearly know. Now tell me before I pull another of your legs off!"
_____________________________________________________________
Fade began to force herself to move, now she could feel the poisons edge dissipating as it started to clear up. It wouldn't do to be in here and not get the proper treatment, that would just be a waste of being in a fairly advantageous environment. Of course the assassins sensitive ears picked up the sounds of the chaos outside, but she had been in no position to do anything about it. Worrying was one of the most useless emotions she could think of, as it caused you to waste your time thinking of what you could do if a different incident had happened rather than dealing with the present situation.

The assassin found and applied proper, clean bandages over her wound, removing and discarding the ragged blood soaked clothing. Now it was adequately supported the assassin took her Sapphire Dagger in her steadying hand and made her way out of the medical bay and into the chaos of the corridors, once again fading out of sight whilstkeeping her ears and eyes peeled for anything despite the screams. The loudness caused her pain but she had to, this kind of assault couldn't have just been an accident. It was too large and widespread to be uncoordinated, somebody must know something.
_____________________________________________________________
Furnace snorted, the black smoke from his nostrils giving out a sort of puff as the dragon observed the dead soft skins fleeing from him wherever he went. Suddenly they didn't seem so bad. But where had they come from anyway?

"You" Furnace said, his bright red eyes spotting movement of a mangled body that had once been an EC grunt "what happened? Are you all so weak that you can't fight rotting corpses?"

The Dark Fire Dragon had something of a reputation (or he thought he had one ) to keep, so masked his true concern with his harsh words. He'd picked where his loyalties lay not that long ago by dragon standards, but belonging to a group was what his kind was wired for. If anything threatened the EC, he was damn sure not going to stand by and let it happen. Not if he wasn't restrained.

[Cirrial]

Naine's mind is somewhat clouded from the lingering realisation that his desire for power is a little more extreme than he'd ever let himself believe. It's also rather more clouded by desperation from doing nothing but focusing on running from the tide of oncoming death.

Unfortunately, the choice of "tide of death" as a metaphor and the stress of the last few minutes is triggering some nasty flashbacks, a large mish-mash of the initial events surrounding his unceremonious packing into an armoured war machine, and of every tense, split-second hair's-width-from-death encounter he's had since.

In short, while Naine's sanity backs into a corner gibbering, Naine's rage and incredibly strong desire for both survival and power take full control of his addled brain.

The exobody rattles with a shrill but muffled series of clicks and squeaks, sounding more like wailing shrieks than any form of friendly delphine squeals. This would be less impressive and/or troubling if not for the fact the exobody's speakers were smashed in moments ago by a few unlucky blows from the merchandise flood.

However, in the exobody's current sorry state, it is nothing more than a barely mobile pile of somehow conjoined and badly mismatched components. The main body, the shell containing Naine's body and life support systems, is slightly moist on the underside, as water and coolant ever-so-slowly leak out of a few worrying cracks.

The pile shambles forth, sparking violently, an animated mess of appliances driven by dolphin rage. As far as threats go, it's not one of the most threatening ones to behold.

---

Goldie feels the desire to keep maiming reanimated Cornelii fade away, and has a few seconds to spare to contemplate the nature of its existence and its identity.

It concludes that stranger things have happened, and leaps around the library, looking for the presumably scattered pieces of whatever it was that contained or constrained it. While its freedom from the golden apparatus feels incredibly exhilarating, it starts to feel giddy from the free-flowing fluidity of it all.

It leaps around the library as an increasingly formless liquid black mass, seeking its power-depleted parts and any sort of useful book related to emergency power supplies. On the off-chance it encounters any more Cornie zombies, it slices at them in mid-air in a focused and calculated manner, completely free of the gratuitous overkill it displayed earlier.

I wonder if I could charge the batteries up by making a bonfire and putting them on it. Dunno if Naine'd approve of me burning books again, but I'm sure he'd understand in this case... And anything that irritates that creepy disgusting librarian thing any more would make me feel so much better right now!

---

501 notices that the amount of guards watching over him has abruptly halved. ...Huh. One versus one? I think I like these odds better! I'm sure the various injuries and the overall damage I've sustained so far won't matter that much at all!

He struggles against the leather straps as quietly as possible. Being mostly metal, tied down to a metal bed, this means there's only a few awkwardly loud scrapes of metal against metal. Hopefully not enough to attract the attention of the sole remaining guard.

With just as much a mixture of careful stealth betrayed by a lack of any sort of grace or finesse, 501 sits upright with his freed arms and rubs his sharp metal claws over any other straps, looking nervously around.

Okay, stop everything. There's one guard here. There may be cameras. ...No, I'd have noticed cameras, wouldn't I? I'm sure one of my subsystems would have told me or something. ...I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. Well, I have no weapons, brute strength got me in this problem, so it looks like I'll have to try subterfuge and intrigue!

...On this guy. Screw subterfuge and intrigue, the EC door grunts had more wits about them!

He creeps up as close to the clearly impassible forcefield as he can without risking some sort of adverse reaction between it and his own torso's forcefield. He switches his current language files to whatever language he heard the warden address Mucon with, and attempts to sound gruff and authoritative.

The end result comes across more as someone who sounds more than a little nervous and shaken, trying to sound gruff and authoritative while being extremely respectful and forcing an unspoken "please don't shoot me" into every sentence.

"Psst. Guard. What's the money like for this sort of job? I'll triple it. No, uh, I'll quadruple it! I can give you a high-ranking position in damn near any job you want! Erm, er, what's your favourite type of planet? That's where you'll be based! Please say yes?"

"All I need from you is a way out of here. And, er, it'd be nice if you walk me to the exit so it doesn't seem suspicious that a recent prisoner is wandering around unescorted on board a prison ship. Do we have a deal? ...sir?"

[drlupinmario]

((I also cannot seem to pat my head and rub my tummy. I mean it!))

With one more blow, Lucifer yanks the arm off the solder's ghost. As he drops it,he notices it turn into vapor then reappear back on the solider. He screams. What is he to kill some high-level commander when he cannot kill just a lowly grunt?

Just then, He groans. Well, maybe at the very least, this soldier will spill out some information. Honestly, The idea of being a ghost? Thats as silly as it is stupid of some bloke weilding a "Sword of Insanity" and calling himself a "God", Lucifer Reckons.

"I am as clueless as you are, my freind. More so, In fact. I look to find answers, yet they slip away through my fingurs... Tell me, What do you know of this present situation?"