Into the Malevolent Castle, Trapped within Options

[Bill Nye]

(Yay! Ryuga is finally here! )

Sven slowly opened his eyes, he had no idea what happened, but he knew it couldn't of been good.
"Ugh, where am i..?" He said as he noticed he was chained up on a wall, this must be the castles dungeon, at least that's he figured.

he hear's a door opening, and the sound of footsteps on the cold, hard, stone floor. "Edward?" He prayed as the figure walked around the corner, the figure was in a black robe, Sven is unable to tell if it's male or female. "Edward? Is that another one of you're companions?" the voice was for sure male. "Who the hell are you?! Why am i in here?!" Sven demanded an answer, the robed man removed his hood which showed his face, short white hair with bright yellow eyes. "You're the one that will answer my questions..." he said as he stared at Sven, Sven only got more angry. "I'm not going to answer you're damn questions!" Sven said, the yellow eye'd man wasn't very pleased, he quickly
spun around and unsheathed his spear which was hidden in the back of his robe, and pointed it at Sven's throat as he came to a full circle. "I think you will answer my "Damn" questions..." he said in a darker tone than he had been speaking in, just then another person walked around the corner, a Tall muscular man with short brown hair, he looked like he could punch a hole through one of the stone walls.

"Ah, Barthello..." the yellow eye'd man said as he lowered his spear,
"Master has told us not to hurt prisoner, you disobey Master's orders?" Barthello said, as he walked forward, it seems he served a higher purpose that the yellow eye'd man, "O-Of course not, Barthello. I was only scaring him..."
"Good, i'd hate to have to see you at the chopping block, now then.." Barthello said as he turned his attention to Sven, "We have much to talk about.."
(Conversation will continue in next post.)

[Sparrowsmith]

As the group dispersed, Julian continued to spin the dice around in the palm of his hand. Finally, his hand fell limp, and the dice careened over his hand and plummeted towards the ground. They hit the stone with a two fine taps, synchronized in purpose, and eventually came to a halt. Two dots stared back at him.
"Snake eyes." The Madman murmured. He looked about the room at those that remained. Snake eyes meant one thing, but no one in the room would suffice. He took out his crossbow, smiled to his new companions, and set off through the broken door. "Excuse me everybody, I have somebody to kill" He never picked up his dice.
He started into as sprint as soon as he left the room, forcing himself through the first door he came to - which opened with ease. He then closed it. The room he had entered was empty, little more than a closet with nothing in it. With a mixture of disappointment and anticipation, Julian opened the door once more.
Immediately a thin layer of liquid crept into the closet: blood. It was all over the corridor he had now been brought to. Over to his left he could see a series of small steps, devoid of any blood, but for a few footprints left on their surfaces. He followed the footsteps, constantly checking around him, crossbow ready to fire.

[Trinsdel]

Westley just gave up. No one's sticking together and almost everyone set off on their own. Lets hope none of us end up like Ivan.

He walked towards the door Siegfried and Lillian walked through and opened it. It opened to a corridor with torches on the side. The hardwood floor was covered, in the middle, by a red carpet though some spots were darker then the others. On the side of the corridor he could see more doors leading to who knows where.

While keeping the door open, Westley looks back towards Janus. "Want to stick with me or go off on your own? I rather-ed you come with me. Don't like the feeling of this place and I would like have someone with me but it's up to you of course." He moves to the side leaving a space for Janus to walk through the doorway.

[Nicsp]

Siegfried and Lilian were looking around their new location, there were lots of spider webs around, that was for sure, one spider as big as a hand crawled over Siegfried's feet and he promptly punted it away. "I hate those things...Too many eyes, you know." He'd comment, trying to awkwardly make conversation with his elven companion. That was pointless however, as the wall right next to them came down with a loud crash.

Siegfried staggered backwards a bit once the wall was blasted open, he kept a tight grip on his halberd as he waited for the smoke to settle down after the wall had fallen. Once the Lanzenreiter realized it was a human, however, and mostly important, it was speaking and didn't have a melted face. Siegfried loosened up the grip on his weapon a bit, letting the blade fall to the ground while he held it only with one hand, the other one simply waved towards the newcomer. "Hold it there!" Siegfried spoke in his deep voice, which echoed slightly because of his helmet. "We're not your enemies, we're lost here, just like you." He'd say, hoping the man would leave it at that, if he didn't...Well, he was hoping Lilian could do something...But for now, his eyes were focused on the guy who had apparently just brought down a wall.

[Knot]

Janus gave a courteous nod to Westley as she strode through the doorway. She didn’t particularly want to get stuck talking to herself or worse...Ivan. Stepping into the corridor she made sure to walk off the side of the carpet, preferring the click clack of the hard wood under her boots. It made her feel like she was getting somewhere.

The smoke from the torches seemed to disappear into the darkness of the high ceiling. As for the corridor itself, it seemed to go on endlessly, all the doors were evenly spaced and none of them seemed particularly interesting. In fact, the entire corridor was a bit of a bore if she did say so herself.

Sighing, she walked over to the first door and tried to pull it open, only to fall back in a heap as the handle easily pulled out of its socket. She glanced up at Westley to check if he was laughing before deciding to get up and try the next door.

[Trinsdel]

Westley turns to Ivan while Janus walks through. "Can you keep this door open? Maybe I can cheat this castle into keeping rooms static." He turns around just to see Janus pull on a door knob and fall down on her bottom. Westley raises a brow at Janus and lets out a small chuckles.

He catches up to Janus and walks beside her. "Having troubles?" Westley opens the next door when they reach it. "Let me try this time." He opens the door to reveal a room with a fireplace, already lit, one raggedy couch and two undeads standing in the middle of the room. They're wearing torn up bloody shirts and a plate mail leggings, though rusty and in poor shape.

The pair of zombies notices Westley and they charge at him. He closes the door before they arrive and turn to Janus. "Uhmm...No we-" *BANG BANG BANG* "Oh the one time I need the rooms to change." He holds the door knob with his left while he pulls out his broadsword with the other. "We'll have to deal with them. Can you handle fight at all?"

[Show/Hide] OOC

Darkblade, I'll change the post if you didn't want us encountering any trouble.

[Ryuga]

"Oh..." replied the man. "Sorry about that. But, can you blame me? I mean you're wearing armor," the man pointed both his arms at Seigfried, before swinging them to his right to point at the other humanoid, "He's got some bulky armor... you know what? Forget about it."
Without warning, the humanoid charged forward, but was quickly flipped over on its back from a shoulder throw.
"You know, big guy? That big *** weapon of yours is exactly what I could use right now. I mean, I can tooooootally handle this guy on my own but..."
The man aimed a roundhouse kick at the aggressor's head as it got back up, knocking the helmet off. Once the helmet was off everyone could see clearly, that there was no one inside.
"Yeah..."

This post has been edited by Ryuga: Jan 12 2012, 10:07 PM

[Bill Nye]

"Of all of us, why the hell did you take me?! I don't know anything you'd want to know!" Sven said with a very angry tone, Barthello ignored Sven. "What do you want with the castle?" Barthello asked in a calm voice. "I wish to bring great fortune back to my family in Woodwalk."
Sven answered, still angry but starting to calm down, maybe they'd let him go after this. "I see." Barthello said, he knew Sven was telling the truth, he could see it in his eyes. "Tell me of this, family of you'res." Barthello asked, he told them of how his mother Martha was a drunk and he had to steal food to feed his younger sister Cisna, Barthello signed as he had to tell Sven the news. "I'm sorry, but you cannot leave this place." Sven temper flaired, he must get it from his mother. "Yes, i can! They said we had 24 hours!!-" "No, i meant You cannot leave, you must join us." Barthello replied, "Or what?" Sven replied back, "Or i shove this spear into your throat." The yellow eye'd man commented.

"Joining us and death are you're only options, but i will make you a promise." Barthello continued, "If you join us, i will send money back to your family in Woodwalk, through trusted followers." Sven knew his options, he had only one question. "You will? Truly?"
"Yes." Barthello replied, as he unlocked Sven's chains, Sven stood up and looked at Barthello, "Okay, i will join you.."
Barthello smiled, "Welcome, Brother." he said. The yellow eye'd man sheathed his spear, "Yes....Welcome, Brother.."
Barthello began walking away, Sven followed, the yellow eye'd man behind him.

[Knot]

Janus nodded somewhat reluctantly. She was somewhat wishing Sigel Fred was here, or at least his halberd arm. “Why are the bad prizes always behind door number two?” She muttered as she noticed the rhythmic banging on the door. It sounded like only one was banging on the door...

With a crash the door splintered as the other zombie completed its charge and broke into the corridor, only instead of the second door, it came out of the first, handle-less one. The brief sense of relief at the fact that the zombie had masked Janus’ small act of vandalism was quickly replaced by apprehension. She backed up to Westley’s side as both zombies slinked into the corridor, apparently unconcerned by their paradoxical entrance.

The zombie that had been banging seemed to be much like the creature that they had already encountered, blindly swinging its arms around wildly. The other one was more focused, though. It could definitely see them and it didn’t look all that happy. Although, when it turned to see that it had blocked its prey’s only route back to Ivan’s room she could have sworn she saw its face brighten, though that may have just been her own thoughts beating that fact into her.

OOC: hoping that when monsters open doors, the rooms can change too right?


This post has been edited by Knot: Jan 13 2012, 07:54 AM

[Darkblade]

((@ Knot : Yeah, the room changing mechanics work the same for everyone. Except the owner of the castle maybe...
Also, almost every room will feature a second door.

@Trinsdel : Go ahead and create danger for your character, danger is fun. ))

The cold night was drawing near, Edward and the others had only been in the castle for a short time.
Edward grabbed one of the slowly burning out torches, holding it infront of him to see through the dark path
ahead of him.
The whispers were slowly growing louder and louder.
"Edward....Tr..s...ser...D...roy" He could hear them say, his name being the thing he heard most clearly.
Most of the other words were inaudible.
He slowly walked towards a door looking behind him as he did so.
He stepped into the next room, appearing in what seems to be a kitchen.
The whipsers he had previously heard had alomst instantly stopped as soon as the door gently closed.

He lit a torch fixed onto the wall with the one he took from the ruined library.
Looking around, the room seemed recently used.
"Has Ivan been here?" he could smell freshly cooked food, specifically meat based.
"Whats *snort!* that!?" Edward heard someone snort.
The voice came from a large closet nearby.
"Who's....there? Heh heh...Hold on, let me... take a look... at you!" The person wheezed a sickly cough.
Edward remained silent, knowing this was not a good place to be, he stepped into the shadows and backed away quietly.
"I know you're there..." A large, bulging figure stepped out of the closet, the shadow covering most of his body, only a blood covered butcher knife and apron visible.
"Crap... Some kind of Demon Butcher, where does this guy even get the food from!? I hope that meat isnt what I hope it is."
Edward gripped his sword tightly, the Demon Butcher scanned the room, not seeming to notice him step out of the shadows.
Edward stepped closer to the Demon Butcher, his sword raised, prepared to slash at the demon.
As he got closer, the demon spun around and swung with his butcher knife, Edward was able to quickly parry the attack, just about.
"That was close. Too close! I almost let the sword out of my hand."
Edward took a few steps back, raising his sword and swinging at every chance, only to have every attack blocked.
"What the hell are you!? One of the creatures of this bloody castle I bet!?" Edward shouted in between swings.
"Might as well be. Wouldnt fit in out there anymore, at least the residents in hear seem to love me." The Demon responded.
Its pig like face came into view, if this demon was ever human, the remaining facial features were almost gone and now completly demon.
Edward stopped swinging his sword and leapt back, this time he attacked with his Barrier, hitting the enemy in the face.
While stunned, Edward slashed the Demons knife hand completely off.
With a squeal, the Demon dropped to his knees holding his wrist.
"You wretched fool! Cheating like that! ARGH!"
"Tell me what you know about this hell hole? What other residents are there?" Edward demanded.
"How could I possibly know? ... Theres undead constantly walking the halls, I live in this room now, I don't need to leave it." The demon replied between wails.
"How can you possibly live in this filth? Don't lie to me."
"Heh, theres a lot you dont know, have you met Ivan? He's helpful sometimes." The Demon almost laughed at Edwards lack of information.
A sudden tapping on the door Edward came from forced Edward to back away from the wounded enemy.
"There's always a couple of kids wandering through these halls, little girls and boys lost on their way home. All sorts of adults too, soldier types, trader types. Always end up dead... or worse!"
The tapping on the door got louder and evolved into a scratching , Edward ran to the second door and opened it, running through immediatly.
It slammed shut behind him.


((Other residents? Things just get worse and worse!))

[Nicsp]

Siegfried sighed and held his Halberd back up again. "For the second time today...My name isn't 'big guy', I am Siegfried! Siegfried Helge!" He'd state proudly before he charged at the living armor, swing his halberd vertically at it as the massive axe sinked into the place where the armor's head used to be. After a moment of silence, the armor would dismantle itself, falling to pieces. Siegfried would kick the armor's torso, which was still attached to his axe away and then let out a loud pained sigh. "At any rate, we should all get moving befor-" Suddenly, a 'tacs' were heard coming from behind them, back the way where the spider webs were.

Siegfried would slowly make a 180º degree turn to see what was moving towards them. He would be greeted with the image of about a dozen or so spiders, big as german shepards, crawling their way towards the group, using both the ground, the walls and even the ceiling, as the sound of their legs tacking against the stone got each time louder as they approached. Siegfried stared. "...I hate spiders."

[Ryuga]

"Alright then Siegfried Helge. Name's Lao Fei, but just call me Lao," replied the man as he sidestepped in time to avoid the peices of armor that shattered from the main thing. "Can I call you Siegfried, or Sieg, or am I going to have to call you by your full name every time?" he joked before catching on the the scuttling sounds himself.
Lao let out an "awwwww crap," before signalling to the two to follow. "Quickly this way." he ordered as he ran through the hole in the wall he had busted through moments earlier.
As soon as Siegfried and Lilian made it through, Lao was ready to push a shelf into the way of the entrance. Once that was in place, he proceeded to haul every sizable piece of furniture in the room to that one place, effectively sealing it off.
"That should hold them," exclaimed Lao has he stood back to admire his handywork. A violent thud and a shake from the furniture told him otherwise. "On second thought, lets keep going shall we?"

[AngelicFairy]

Lilian looked at Siegfried slam his halberd into the armor making aloud noise. She covered her ears quickly. "Ugh loud noises, definitely a weakness..." She looked into the shadows where she saw the spiders.As soon as she saw the legs she through an arrow at it and stuck one of the legs into the wooden floor. She followed the man and Siegfried into the room and helped the man move the shelf into the door way. "Yeah i'd say it'd be a good idea to keep moving..I think i pissed them off..." she said giggling. She ran to the next door and opened it to find the ball room. Completely decorated as if the ball was going to be held that night.It had red and silver banners and ribbon above the doorway.With a long red and striped silver rug leading up to one tall throne-looking chair. On the sides of the ball room there were seats,almost like bleachers for people to watch if they liked, also decorated with ribbon.Except, in the seats there were skeletons."Its..beautiful..minus the skeletons..."

[Trinsdel]

As the undead charges at him, Westley arms himself with his buckler. Westley raises his shield, in time, to block the undead's swipe. He pushes the undead back with his buckler before stabbing it, in the shoulder. The blind undead, after hearing the fight, runs towards Janus and Westley. It swings widely hitting it's counterpart, knocking it to the side. After, it keeps running towards Janus' location. Westley swing's at the blind undead's back. It roars while turning around to swing at Westley. The swing connects at Westley's head, knocking him to the side of the wall, dazed. It keeps running towards Janus.

The first undead walks towards Westley to finish him off. It swings down with both hands but Westley was able to block it. Soon after the undead grabs Westley's buckler and rips from his hand and throws it to the side. He swings at the undead and it connects with it's neck, cutting almost all the way through. Swinging again, Westley was able to cut off the undead's neck. Westley quickly turns to see how Janus was faring.

[Knot]

Janus was gingerly dancing away from the crazy creature that seemed to be getting more riled with each miss. Out of the corner of her eye she managed to see Westley dispose of his undead in a neat and effective fashion. As she refocused on her own opponent she was just in time to see a powerful swipe coming in at her head which she barely managed to dodge, ducking to the left. She'd curse herself for losing focus later...if there was one.

Realising all too well that she was within dangerous reach of those herculean hands, she quickly tossed the door handle she’d been holding to draw her blade. As luck would have it, when the metal connected with the wall the undead's head automatically swivelled to investigate the new sound. That was all the time she needed. Gripping her left sheath with the corresponding hand she whipped out the blade with her right, swiping it across the creature's torso. As the creature turned in shock, it brought its head right into Janus' line as she reversed the grip on her blade and drove it through the zombie's neck.

She stepped back as the zombie crumpled to the ground and admired the duo's work. She was glad she had gotten the simpleton, she didnt need any more bumps on the head. Although, she always felt better eating something after a knock on the noggin and wondered if Westley would too. Remembering the fire that the zombies had been so vehemently protecting she came up with what she was pretty sure was a super idea.

Dragging her zombie by the leg, she headed for the door they'd shattered. "Let's cook these suckers up, I bet the others would enjoy a warm meal when we find them. It'll be like a picnic." She gleamed, sure that her plan would bring a smile to everybody's face. Even Sigel Fred's. He'd probably be so indebted that he might even give her a helmet!

This post has been edited by Knot: Jan 17 2012, 11:36 AM

[Ryuga]

"Well then... I guess this was a party to die for!" Lao broke into a fit of laughter slapping his knee at his terrible terrible joke. He stopped after noticing the angry glares he got from Sieg and Lilian. "Aw come on. Lighten up a bit you two."
He walked over to one the skeletons wandering just how long they had been there. He gave it a quick nudge and it immediately crumbled to peices.
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaasant..." he remarked as he continued to wander around the hall looking for clues. He stopped in his tracks as all the candles in the room went out leaving the trio in the dark. "Hey! What gives!"
The candles spontaneously re-lit and the famiiliar sound of waltz music accompanied the light.

[Sparrowsmith]

Julian had been following the bloody footprints for some time. He had already decided the fate of whoever they belonged to, but his patience was beginning to wear thin. Finally, they passed through a still open door, and into the corner of a shadowy room. He inspected the darkness as he entered, and when he found no immediate threats, he tiptoed into the dark - crossbow extended. He reached a sniveling man in the corner of the room. A pitiful wreck.
"N-n-n-no more... Please, no more" it murmured to The Madman without looking. He raised his arm and pulled the trigger mercilessly. It was almost a mercy killing. Julian exhaled gleefully, pleased with his work. He looked towards another door, hoping to make his way back to Ivan and his dice, when the corpse began to stir. It coughed heavily, and the man began to groan. "Not again." He exclaimed, throwing the arrow that had been lodged in his chest into the center of the room.
"Good sir!" Julian shouted, dancing over to the man, "Why aren't you dead?" The man looked back with weary eyes.
"This place." he muttered with decay, "It won't let me die." Julian pondered for a moment.
"So that was your blood in the room prior!"
"Yes."
"Me, oh my! You must have died several times."
"hundreds."
"Well this is a problem indeed." Julian replied, grabbing a dusty stool nearby and sitting down next to the man, "See, I don't know whether this counts."
"Whether what counts?"
"Well, I was supposed to kill you... But you're hardly dead." Julian seemed as disappointed as he was curious.
"Why?"
"Well I don't know."
"No, I mean why were you supposed to kill me."
"Oh, terribly sorry, and about the arrow, it's just what I do when the dice tell me to. Keeps life interesting." He beamed at the stranger.
"So... The dice told you to kill me, specifically."
"No, just the next person I saw."
"And the next person you see, just so happens to be the only person in the castle that can't stay dead."
"Quite. That is a rather peculiar series of events."
"Yeah, this place has a sick sense of humor."
"And you're quite sure I can't just kill you again, or cut you up into ribbons and call it a day? Perhaps put one half of your head on each side of a door..."
"positive."
"Well this is terrible."

[Trinsdel]

Westley rubs his his forehead as he listens to Janus' offer. "One that's a really bad a idea. It's good if you want us to puke our guts out but I hardly think you'd want that." He grabs his pouch full of dried meat and tosses it to Janus. "Its jerky and if you're hungry try some. I've lost my appetite quite some time ago so help yourself."

He goes to retrieve his shield and walk through the door where the zombies came out of. Westley make sure he leaves the door wide open before taking a look around the room. The room's second door is on the same wall as the first one and would, if this was a normal door, lead out to the hall way. "Janus I found another room. Are you ready to go or do you need more time?"

[Nicsp]

((OOC: Sorry for the wait, me and Fairy initally intended another collab post but our schedues got in the way.))

Siegfried instantly reached out for his weapon immediatelly after the lights went out, as they came back on, however, accompanied by music, Siegfried let go of his weapon out of the sheer surprise of the scene ahead of him. While the original room still seemed somewhat intact, a sort of faint green light had covered the whole room as if making a projection over the ruined ball room, making it look like it was intact.

After a moment or two, the same projections started appearing standing around the ball room, as people, dancing, drinking and talking. Siegfried looked around for a moment and tried to reach out for one of the apparitions, only to find his hand went right through it.

The apparitions continued their festivities for a while longer before a green fog started to emerge from the ground, after a few moments, all of the apparitions started coughing uncontrollably, falling on their seats or right on the ground as they suffocated to their deaths. Once the last of the ghosts merged with his own skeleton, the green lights that caused the apparition slowly faded away.

Siegfried was quiet for a moment, he had been simply analyzing the scene until then. "...That explains some of the corpses...I suppose. But not all. I mean, I don't know if you noticed, but there are skeletons here which didn't have any apparitions to match the-" He was interrupted as the green lights came back, this time as string of light that came, apparently, from the ceiling. They attached themselves to the skeletons and pulled them off of their seats as green blades appeared on the skeleton's hands.

All of the skeletons were now standing and armed, they started dancing towards Siegfried, Lilian and Lao as the music still played, this time a bit more intensely. Siegfried grunted and then took out his halberd, as soon as the first of the skeletons got close, Siegfried whacked his weapon against it and it shattered itself into pieces. "They're weak! Just smash them apart quickly!" He was interrupted as another skeleton swung his sword at Siegfried vertically, Siegfried blocked it with his halberd and then proceeded to kick the skeleton away, causing it to crumble just like the other one. The strands of light that appeared were pulling the skeletons to move disappeared as soon as they were defeated.

[Knot]

Janus stared at the jerky for a while before deciding to drop the zombie and tear a piece off. Probably didn’t have time for a barbeque anyway, they only had 24 hours. A good barbeque took time. Maybe she’d have one when she got home. Smiling at the thought of slowly roasted everything she followed Westley into the room, giving him an appreciative nod for the jerky.
“Ready! But doors and you make bad bedfellows. With your luck we’d walk into a skeleton jamboree. HA!”

Confident, she didn’t wait for a reply as she grabbed the handle and threw open the door. Strangely, she found herself staring...at herself. She raised an eyebrow perplexed as did the copy. Stepping forward to poke it, her finger met the doppleganger’s as it aped her. But the finger wasn’t warm, wasn’t fleshy. No. Instead it was hard and cold as Janus slid her finger in a line in front of her: mirrors. The room was filled with them. Perfect mirrors that reflected everything back with not a scratch or dust mite tarnishing their surface.

She looked back at Westley. “Well come on, it’s like a fun house! Mirrors never hurt anybody!”. Somewhere in the distance, she could have sworn she heard a waltz playing.