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."

"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?"

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..."

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.

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!

"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.

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."

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?"

((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.

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.

"No need to tell me twice!" responded Lao as he smashed a skeleton of his own with an upkick. His foot collided with the jaw, crushing it to dust before the head fell from the body.
He charged to the next skeleton grabbing onto its shoulders and flipping over it in order to kick the head off of another one behind it. The temporarily ignored skeleton was promptly dealt with a flurry of open-palm strikes right as it turned around,
The room was soon filled with the "woo-cha's" as Lao was fully engrossed in smashing skeletons to pieces. The slow, and less than durable skeletons didn't stand a chance to the martial-arts practioner's quick and dynamic moves.
It seemed that the battle would be done and over with very little effort until strings on light rained down from the ceiling attatching them to Lao's limbs.
"Ah hey! What gives!" he exclaimed as he attempted to move his limbs which had gone unresponsive.
"It's useless to resist!" responded a low and booming voice which echoed through the room.
Lao frantically looked around the room, looking for the source of the voice until his eyes found a cloaked man standing on an overhead balcony.
"You!"
Laughter rang through the ballroom before the man spoke up. "I suppose I should formally introduce myself. I am The Master of Puppets. And this will be where you all die!"
The hooded man made a move with his hands and Lao found himself walking towards Seig against his will.
"Ooooooooohhhh no! You aren't using me like a puppet," Lao stuggled to do the exact oppositive of what his body ordered him to do. "I ain't your slave!"
It was all for naught, however, as he soon found himself dashing forward, attempting to deliver a punch at his armored companion.

OOC: Boss time?

Lillian saw Lao all strung up. Maybe if i refract the light.... She ran over to him and put her arrow under one of the beams of light, refracting it to the other side of the room. His arm fell,free. "There we go! Sieg, refract the light and you'll set him free. Im pretty sure its the only way. I wish we had mirrors or something. then we could string him up..."

She started trying to refract the light into the puppet master's direction.

(You've got to beat that Puppet Master! Don't let it get you!)

Edward ran down the next hall, knowing that its darkness encouraged whatever it was chasing him.
He quickly passed through another door, back into the entrance hall.
"Finally, somewhere to take a break." he commented to himself.
He briefly looked around, looking for a place to sit, finally he decided on leaning against one of the pillars which held one of the Red Sword banners.
"That demon butcher didn't seem scared of what was trying to get through that door. What the heck was that thing, I could only hear it, not see it."
He sat, thinking about what to do next.
Either way, their wasn't much choice, most of the group was split up now.
Either find Sven or one of the others or talk to Ivan.

(Aw crap, i forgot about this..Sorry! Dx)

Sven followed Barthello through what seemed like an endless hallway, Barthello comes to a sudden halt and Sven nearly bumps into him.
"Here." Barthello said as he opened the door, the three walked inside and Sven was amazed. This must be the Throne Room.
Sven felt like he went back in time, the room looked great with clean banners, shiny floors and a nice red carpet leading up to the Throne.
Sven slowed down as they entered the room, the yellow eye'd man behind him shoved him forward. The three walked up to the Throne,
Barthello and the Yellow eye'd man bow'd honorably.

"You may Ssstand." The figure on the Throne said, the slither seemed odd to Sven, but he didn't bother thinking about it much. Barthello and the Yellow eye'd man stood back up, and backed away. The figure stood up, and approached Sven. "Mortal, will you Ssswear you're life, to me?" "Yes." Sven replied, he didn't have a choice. "Will you obey ordersss,
even if they put you in harmsss way?" "Yes." Sven replied again, The figure pulled out his sword and handed it to Sven. "Bleed." The figure said, Sven was shocked, his looked at the sword, sharp enough to cut through a full-grown bull. Sven took the blade in one hand and stuck out his other arm. He slowly cuts into his arm, not to deep, but deep enough. He lets out a small yelp in pain, as the blood spills from his arm to the floor. He drops the blade to grasp the cut.

Sven froze, the world seemed to have stopped, he could hear his heart pounding, he could hear voices, he could hear his family, he heard Edward, All saying terrible things, Sven felt something, Anger? Fear? Pain? Or all three? He didn't know. He didn't want to know.
Before he knows it, the world seems to suddenly return to normal. Sven is laying on the floor in front of the Throne, the figure only had one more thing to say: "Welcome, Brother."

Siegfried nodded. "That makes sense, I suppose..." He'd say as he would then try to help out Lilian, only to them be attacked by a bunch of more skeletons, who started ganging on top of him, though these weren't armed anymore they continued to pile themselves up on top of the Lanzenreiter, who yelled out. "Gah! Y-You keep doing that, i'll be there in a second!" He exclaimed as he was forced to drop his halberd and start punching and hurling the skeletons away from him. More skeletons kept piling up on top of him, until he decided to use the only magical barrier skill he knew. He surrounded his whole body with a second skin made of his bright blue barrier and then had it expand, sending the skeleton's pieces flying everywhere, he breated heavily, as he was not used to casting spells at all.

After a moment to catch his breath he rushed over towards Lao, tackling him, considering that Siegfried was using full plate armor, that was going to hurt a bit, but would definetly reflect all of the beams.

Westley enters the room after Janus and inhales sharply at the mirrors. "Cripes. Gave me a shock for a moment. So this is a strange room." He looks around the room filled with mirrors. "So you think these mirrors are harmless? I don't know Janus. Every room seems to be filled with danger though the exception was Ivan's." After looking around for a moment he finds the door. When he reaches the door he can hear music playing behind it. Westley opens the door and looks back at Janus. "Ready for what's behind here?"

He turns to face the new room. The scene in front of him was of Siegfried, Lillian, a new face, and a number of skeletons. He rushes toward Siegfried to help him but find the lanzenrieter getting rid of the skeletons.

Lao winced as Siegfried tackled him to the ground. The lanzenreiter's size, and the armor really put some weight into the attack, sending the smaller man flying across the room before hitting the ground.
Lao growned, rubbing his neck as he got back to his feet. "Man, I understand you had to free me from that pupeteer guy, but wasn't there a less painful way for you to do it?" he whined.
Once his complaining was out of the way, he started taking mind of his surroundings. Siegfried had taken care of most of the skeletons, though the puppet master was busy reanimating a few of them.
"Hey... you!" he said to Lilian, awkwardly pausing because he actually didn't know her name yet. "Shoot some arrows at the creep up there would ya? I'm going to see if there's a way up."
He scanned the room again, looking for a staircase or something up to the balcony. Didn't seem like there were any. Must be in another room, and leaving was out of the question.
"Hmmm..." Lao pondered, putting his hand on his chin, deep in thought. He seemed to reach a solution, the mental light-bulb blinking on. "Hey Siegfried. You think you can use that little burst attack to launch me up to where that bastard is?"

She looked at him. "My name is Lilian, or Lil if you'd like. And sure thing." just as fast as Lao blinked she already had two arrows into the puppet master. The next few arrows she fired were doused in paralyzing poison. Not sure if it will work...But it's worth a try... she thought.
She loaded two arrows into her bow at once and fired. One went into the puppet master's shoulder and the other into the thigh.
She looked at Siegfried. "He seems a little...Worn out. Maybe I could try?"

Lao whistled at Lilian's archery skills.
"Damn. Just keep that up and than getting up there isn't gonna be necessary."
The Puppet Master, on the other hand, retreated into the shadows of the balcony, outside of everyone (most importatnly Lilian's) sights.
"Guess not," he shrugged. "Guess we're back to plan A." He took a moment to assess his to companions. He was confident that Siegfried, with his larger build, would be more effective in bursting him upwards. True to Lilian's words, he was looking exhausted which may decrease the chances of success.
"Didn't know you could do that too," replied Lao as he approached Lilian. "Well, let's give it a go."

Lilian watched as the puppet master slipped into the shadows. "Damn...The most i can do is start firing into the darkness with maybe some fire tipped arrows..." she said but she looked at Siegfried as Lao was telling her to boost her up. "Alright, just stand in front of me facing me and turn yourself around in mid air, it should work out fine...but just encase...Here's some numbing medicine" she said smiling. Her smile was soft and warm despite the situation.

Lao started to feel uneasy once he noticed Lilian's expression. Almost as if she wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, but was trying to mask that behind the warm smile of hers.
"Yeah... thanks," he replied, taking the medicine from Lilian. "Ya know... I might have been the one to propose this idea, but now I'm getting the feeling that I'm missing out on something..."

"Well..You see..." She said getting her self ready." I've never used it but one...And the situation was an accident.... Heh. Anywaaaaaays.Lets get this going hmmm?" She pulled him in front of her." You'll want to be close for maximum flying distance." She giggled. She looked at him. "Good luck" she planted her feet and used her magical barrier. It pretty much sent Lao flying across the room.

"Hey! Wait a second!" paniced Lao, but by then it was too late. "This was a really bad ideeeeaaaaaaa..." he trailed off as he was sent flying.
Now that he was in the air though, there was no turning back. He rotated his body forward just in time to crash into the balcony ledge. "Ow."
He managed to grip the ledge, preventing his fall. Unfortunately, the Puppet Master was going to have none of that,emerging from his hiding place. Lao felt his fingers being crushed under the puppeteer's feet.
"Hah, a puppet like you has no right striking his master!" spat the puppeteer as he continued to stomp on Lao's hands. Luckily for Lao, the numbing potion kept the feeling of pain out his fingers, so he could continue to hold on. Still, Lao was in a compromised position, and he needed to get something to work if he wanted to escape. "Just let go already!" The puppet master shrieked, bringing his foot up for one more stomp.
"Just the opening I was looking for." Lao smirked as he used his arms to push himself up, leaping over the rail and landing a solid punch to the enemy's face.
"Aw, son of a..." cursed the pupeteer as he cluched his face. "You broke my nose!"
"Not my problem," shrugged Lao before he grabbed the Puppet Master and tossed him off the balcony to the ballroom below. Miraculously, the Puppet Master suffered relatively minor damage, though still suffering from the pain, evident as he slowly attempted to get back up. Lao smiled, dusting his hands at a job well done. "He's all yours guys!"

Siegfried was still recovering from having used his magic earlier, something which, as previously mentioned, he was not used to doing, at all, hence why he couldn't help by throwing Lao upwards as asked. By the time, the puppet master fell right in front of him, however, Siegfried had recovered his balance and energies more properly. He slowly walked over to the downed opponent as he tried to get up and proceeded to put his foot on his back and push him back to the ground, pinning him in this position. "So..." He questioned, turning to Lilian slightly. "What do we do with him? Not really a very honourable thing to do to kill a man in this position..." Siegfried would comment, his code of honor kicking in at a probably bad time.

He then reminded himself of the fact Lao was still up there, he turned to Lilian once more. "Keep him pinned for a bit? I'll go get our colleague up there."

Julian fired another arrow, deciding that he'd done all he could do to kill the man, and that he would waste no more time. Who knows what he might miss if he spent the whole 24 hours killing the same person over and over. Some time during his attempts he'd stopped really thinking and just tried anything. He was sure whoever next entered the room would be unpleasantly surprised. Feeling only half satisfied, he wandered to another door, opened it, and stepped through.

He found nothing in the following room, but he could hear some of the people he'd arrived with nearby, and headed in the direction of the sound.

Edward rose to his feet, ready to continue on in hopes of finding his companions.
As he was about to head to the door, a voice was heard.
Echoing throughout the castle.
"All intruders, all Prisnors will be captured and executed. Surrender and hope to be spared, giving you a chance to put your wrong-doings right."
The ghost like voice could easily be heard through the whole castle.
"This... place is a prison? But.. the Demon Butcher, the undead guard!? What the hell?"

"Sure thing" She said taking out 4 arrows. She laced them with a paralyzing poison and stuck them in each hand and wrist. "Think this will do?" she said smiling.

Siegfried let out a loud gasp and flailed his hands in a bit of 'what are you doing?' pose before he sighed heavily. "I asked you to hold him down, not crucify him to the ground!"

She rolls her eyes. "You have to be more specific!At least now we know he's not going anywhere...

Siegfried double facepalmed, his gauntlets making a loud 'clang' as they hit against his helmet. "...Fine! Just hold him down there while I go get...Uh...What was his name again? Down from there?"


"Lao...And sure thing.But tell me, if you can't remember his name, can you remember mine?"

Siegfried sighed. "Is that really important, we might not even be alive by the end of the day." He'd say as he held his arms out for Lao to jump on him, he yelled out. "Jump! I'll catch you!"

"Yes it matters!" She said throwing a dull arrow at his armor. "God...I'd like you to know my name, so at least if you make it out, you can tell someone about me...Ya' know?"

Siegfried didn't even flinch when hit by the dull arrow, it simply ricocheted off his armor and fell to the ground, he rose a brow towards her explanation below the helmet, even though she couldn't see it. "That's...Pretty stupid, if you ask me. But all right, I suppose...Le'see...It started with an L...I think."

Her expression dropped. She looked disapointed. I dont know why... But i really wanted him to know my name.'

"It's Lillian.." she said quietly.

The armored man let out a short nod in response. "Fine then, Lilian, since you're making such a huge deal of it, i'll do my best to remember it...Say...Do you mind returning the favor then? If you make it out and I don't, tell them of how Siegfried Helge fought bravely until the very end."

"I wouldn't say it another way Siegfried." she said smiling.

Lao leaned on the railing, looking down over Siegfried and Lilian. He chuckled at the scene that unfolded.
"Well would you look at that. Bonding between comrads."
Doors to the ballroom creeked open as more people walked in. One man with a broadsword, who just missed the fight, and a pecular man with a crossbow. They didn't look like enemies, but decided to make it known.
"Looks like we have more company. They friends of yours?" he asked his comrads. He looked down to see Siegfriend still awkwardly holding out his hands. "Oh, sorry about that," he apologized before jumping down, hopefully into Siegfrieds arms.

Julian addressed the fighters, observing the damage around them. His exasperation was obvious,
"Darn it all!" he proclaimed, "Seems I've missed quite the soirée in here." he tutted and shook his head as he approached, "If it's not any bother I think I'll I'd rather enjoy staying in your company for the foreseeable future. This place is far too-" he paused and sighed, rolling his eyes, letting the next few words ring out slowly in the settling dust "strange to confront alone." He stopped walking and smiled without the same enthusiasm he'd had upon entry, but still remarkably positive for the context.

Janus was too enchanted by her reflection to notice Westley walk off. She had never been reflected in so many places at once before. Surrounded by herself was pure bliss. She was broken out of her reverie, however, by the ghostly voice. While she did like new voices, this one seemed rather unplayful, no flare. Although, it did seem to have the right of it. There were a bunch of crazies running around that needed to be dealt with; it was about time that someone acted. Maybe if the voice did its job and cleared out some of the zombies it would be easier for her and the rest of the group to ransack this place blind. She nodded her head in silent approval.
Deciding it was about time to leave, she twirled around, thudding into mirrors, until she found a door. It was closed, but she had no idea where Westley went so she figured it was as good an exit as any. As she stepped into the wide chamber beyond, she realised she was back in the entry hall. Looking around, she noticed a man by one of the pillars. She scratched her head, trying to remember his name but drew a complete blank.
Seeing as he seemed just about ready to leave and not wanting to draw any unwanted attention from those scummy prisoners, she opted for the stealthy approach. Taking a cookie out of her bag, she through it at him. Her cookie throwing arm was as good as ever and it bonked him on the head, cookie guts flying everywhere. She was satisfied.

Siegfried was, at the moment it was spoken, too distracted arguing with Lilian to hear the message that echoed through the halls. As soon as Lao jumped down, Siegfried grabbed the man without much trouble and then proceeded to set him safely on the ground, nodding one more time in response, he looked at the two people that had just showed up. ((Which i'm guessing are Julian and...Someone else?)) He tapped his fingers against the lower part of his helmet, making a few clanking sounds as he thought. "Yes, they're part of our group." He stated, with a nod towards Lao.

Assessing the situation, he'd clasp his hands together. "Well then...I think we should all stick together from now on. Don't want to end up getting separated again...Also, we need to figure out what we're going to do with-" He turned to look at the puppet master from earlier, only to find that the man had passed out from the pain of being crucified to the stone floor. Siegfried let out a long, pained sigh and then turned back. "Okay, fine, guess we just leave him there...But at any rate! The first and most important step would most likely be trying to find a way out...However, since we already saw how those doors don't seem to follow reality very well...I think the best course of action would be figuring out how all those people who...Were already here, survived up until now. They obviously need things such as food, supplies, a safe place for meeting and what not. Judging from that, we should go and find their hideout and then force them to share supplies with us, at least until we can leave. Hopefully they won't be agressive...Though i'm doubting that." He started walking around aimelessly, brainstorming for a bit.

OOC: Trinsdel's character was the second person.

IC:
"Whoa wait a minute!" exclaimed Lao. "What do you mean these doors don't obey reality?" He walked up to the main door in the ballroom, opening it to reveal a hallway. He closed it shut, and opened it again this time revealing a bedroom. "Well, I'll be. And here I thought I just had a bad sense of direction," he chuckled.
He continued to fiddle with the door, opening it, and slamming it shut repeatedly, going through multiple rooms, even one with a zombie standing right at the entrance who immediately had the door slammed in its face. "Speaking of grub, I could sure use some right about now," he mentioned before finally stopping as a faint aroma of food came from the other side. Taking a peak in, Lao was ecstatic to find a kitchen on the other side.
"Oh finally!" he exclaimed as he ran in, signaling the others to follow. "I've been trying to get back here for some time now."
He immediatly ran to the stove, where a single cooking pot sat, something clearly boiling inside.
"Perfect. Soup's just about done."

((Oh, I see.))

Siegfried walked slowly into the kitchen, following Lao. "Hey hey there! You don't even know what they're boiling down there...Or where they would get supplies for fresh food, for that matter..." He said with a sigh as he continued to walk around the kitchen, slowly running his hand by the edge of the marble tables as he lost himself in his memories for a moment...

Flashback time! (You can skip it if you want.)

The young Siegfried found himself running his hand by the edge of the marble tables that decorated his tutor's kitchen, he'd then pull his hand away and look at it, his fingers now black with all the dust that was gathered up in it. "This kitchen is a mess! When was the last time you used it?" His tutor, an older man with tanned skin and black hair that he showed off both in a messy and spiky haircut and beard, shrugged in response before he spoke. "Me? Never even touched it. I always either eat out on restaurants or just have my trainees cook for me." He'd state, scratching behind his ears.

Siegfried let out a short 'uhm' before he realized something. "W-wait, what? You don't honestly expect me to cook for you, right?" The tutor grinned happily. "I sure as damn do. See, a Silver Blade needs to develop and master as many skills as possible, so he can handle himself in any situation. Do you want something more useful than cooking now?" Siegfried squinted his eyes and stared angrily at his tutor. "Master Beowulf, I think that's just a crappy excuse so you don't have to cook food yourself." The older Lanzenreiter laughed and then tapped his trainee's head a few times. "Just so! Now, get to it! I expect lunch to be done by 2:00 PM!" He stated as he started walking away.

Flashback end.

Siegfried stared at the dust that had gathered up in his fingers and sighed, proceeding to clean his fingers on his tabard. He started looking around the kitchen, searching for anything that he and the others could take as supplies. "Don't just stand there! Help me search!" He called out to Lilian, Julian and Westley.

"Course I know what's boiling in here," answered Lao, as he took a ladle and stirred the contents. "I made this myself. And by the way, don't bother looking around, I already salvaged anything that hasn't gone bad earlier today."

*flashback*

Lao walked through the dim halls of the castle. At long last he had made it to the legendary place. Though it looked more like a run-down dump rather than a site for which evil-doers would gather. He still continued to explore the place, opening the doorway at the end of the hall walking into what was obviously a kitchen.
"Huh. Wierd place to have a kitchen," Lao thought to himself.
The sensory cues reminded him that he had missed dinner last night, and breakfast this morning.
"Well, now's a good a time as any, I guess." He removed the cooking pot straped to his back, placing it on the stove. He immediately began looking through the cupboards, looking for ingredients. There were plenty but nearly all of them had rotted away, or had mold growing on them, or something of the like. Sighing, Lao gathered whatever was left of the fresh food, even taking some of the spoiled food, cutting off the brused bits. A couple leaves of cabbage, the top half of a carrot.
Luckily, Lao had managed to scrape together a decent amount of material. Also the herbs and spices never did go bad, so this wouldn't be the most miserable meal he would have to produce.

*end flashback*

"If you want my input, the pantry would normally be behind that door," he said pointing at the door near the back of the kitchen. "Course with that weird magic stuff on these doors, it probably won't be. There was a bathroom there last time."
He found a relatively clean looking bowl from the counter, pouring some of the soup in before offering it to Siegfriend.
"Eat up. It isn't much, but it's all we've got."

The door to the Kitchen swung open, half a second later, Ivan walked through.
He carried an empty sack in one arm and a sabre held in his other hand.
"Looks like I'm too late, all the new food is gone already?"
He asked Lao and Siegfried.


-------

Edward entered into the room where the others had managed to gather.
Not all of them were present however and Sven was still missing.

He got closer to the group.
"Anyone see Sven anywhere?" He asked.

Lao turned towards the unexpected guest.
"Naw. Havn't served it just yet," he replied, as he dipped the ladle back into the pot, retrieving some soup to fill another bowl. "Want some stranger? I have enough for everyone. Just don't expect any seconds."

(OOC: Edward must have a hard head if he doesn't even feel getting knocked on the noggin with a cookie =P)

Janus followed Edward into the room, adamantly refusing to waste another cookie after what she considered was a good shot. Noticing a good assortment of her companions she gave them all a smile, though she was disappointed to see that Madman Max's humour had changed somewhat.

Her mood quickly swayed to one of curiosity as she noticed the unconscious man embedded in the floor. It was no doubt Flower Ears' work, a good bunch of shots if she did say so herself...and she did. She crouched next to the unconscious man, removing his hood to reveal a gaunt face with greying hair. She wasn't really interested in the stranger, though, instead she felt the fabric of the cloak between her finger tips. She licked her lips as she decided that the dark purple cloak was just her colour and proceeded to undo the clasp at the man's neck. Next, she stood up, grabbed a corner of the cloak and began walking in the opposite direction, unceremoniously dragging the cloak from underneath the crucified man. A few splotches of blood, but she was satisfied as she whisked the cloak around herself and did up the clasp at her neck.

Noticing Sigel Fred's big metal frame in a nearby doorway, she decided that was her next stop. Striding into the room she noticed the other two faces, "Well, if it isn't Bloody Mary and..." she turned to the newcomer, unsure of what to make of him. "Who's that Sigel Fred? He's got soup!"

(OOC: sorry, there are so many rooms, its become hard for me to keep track of who is where and what is happening D:)

Edward noticed crumbs falling from his hair, soon what appeared to be half of a whole cookie fell to the floor in front of him.
"What...was I so deep in worring about everything I didnt even feel that?" he mumbled to himself.
He ran his hands through his brown hair to get rid of the remaining chunks, although no doubt a load of crumbs still remained.
"Janus... did you throw that?" He asked he said, rubbing the back of his head.

He sighed, sat down and took a sip of water from one of his water skins.

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

Ivan sat at the table, resting his sabre and sack on the floor.
"I guess I can spare a few minutes to take a rest. Call me Ivan, I met you two earlier, didnt see you there though."
Ivan looked around the room, scanning the shelves for food.
"Guess I got here too early this time."

"Name's Lao, newcomers," he replied as he handed Ivan and Janus each a bowl. "So how many of you guys are there. This group just keeps getting bigger and bigger as I go along." He went back to the stove to get his potion of the soup. "So what are you talking about Ivan. First you say you're too late, and now you say you're too early? What's up with that?"

"I thought I was late since you've started cooking, I assumed you got all of the food available. But looking around, the shelves are almost bare and food looks old and moldy, its something I don't see often. Every so often, I look around the castle to find supplies, its the only time I ever leave my room, I havent had the misfortune to run out of food yet." He paused to taste the soup.
"For some reason, the food is restocked every so often, but theres only a few people living in this castle. That I know of at least, none of them own this castle. One of them is a chef here, more specifically a butcher, but he isnt himself anymore. Infact, I'm glad I didnt end up in his kitchen." Ivan held back a laugh.
"Theres also the Guardsman, Gardner and Butler. They don't really talk about themselves, which is a shame, they were friends before we entered the castle. I only ever see the butcher these days, not that I want to."

OOC: You commented on Lao getting the nickname The Butcher, and we have someone by that name in the castle with the same occupation. Are you trying to tell me something Darkblade?

Lao took a sip of the broth in his bowl. It wasn't the best soup he ever made, but he found it rather tasty considering the limited ingredients. Pleased, he put it aside turning back to adress Ivan.
"So if we take your word for it, than we likely won't starve. Doesn't seem like things are getting stocked as often as you're used to. So we still need to solve the supply problem." He went back to downing his soup thinking about a possible solution to their problems. He set the bowl aside again with a grin, clearly having an idea. "You know what, This Butcher guy sounds like quite the challenge. Maybe we can get some real food from his kitchen. I think we should go pay him a visit."

Julian snapped out of his entirely unwarranted trance and approached the stove. With a slight nod to the others he grabbed a bowl and pooled some of the contents into it. He took a sip, and feigned a sincere smile of appreciation.
"Heavenly" he beamed, "Though I must agree with this gentleman here." Julian pointed to Lao, "Terribly sorry, I can't recall your name. Anyway, we should certainly seek out this 'butcher' fellow. Lord knows I could murder for a hearty meal."
There was an ominous tone in his breath as he uttered murder, like his personable facade could not hide his otherwise cruel whims. He began rocking from the heels to the toes of his feet, and back again, sipping on his soup with a childlike deviance.

OOC: Heh, heh, no, I can see why you'd think that, I came up with an idea a while after making that comment. It just so happens that Lao is a chef and there is a butcher in the castle. Just mere coincidence. The Butcher in reference to to Lao was just a silly nickname I'd give your character if he completely demolished a bunch of bad guys with a meat cleaver or something.

"He's really not the sort of person you should just meet on a whim." Ivan warned the two.
"Besides, the food he makes is of a questionable source, I mean that in the most of severe ways too." He quickly downed the soup and wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve.
"Well, good luck to you all, great soup by the way." He picked up his sabre and sack and headed to the door.
"Lets hope to meet again." He left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Siegfried, after having receiving the said soup, removed his helmet, setting it on one of the kitchen's tables, and then starting to eat. He kept to himself for the duration of this, only looking around and staring at people as they spoke. As Ivan left, however, he quickly finished off his soup and tried to reach over to the man, gulping down the soup as he was about to say. "Hey! Hold u-" The door was closed, Siegfried opened it quickly and found no one on the other side, he swung the door shut with a sigh. "Tarnations...Why split up? We're better off as a group, anyways..." He'd state with a disappointed sigh.

He'd set the soup bowl aside and start pondering again, shaking his head and then stating. "Anyways...I still think our first priority should be to try to find and secure an exit to this castle. Even if the door on the entrance hall is gone, there may be other ways out that we just don't know about yet." He'd state, gesturing his hands as he spoke, he'd then start looking around. "Now uh...Where did I put my helmet again?"

"Aww c'mon Sieg," replied Lao. "Did you come out all this way just to leave? I came here for a challenge, and this Butcher fits the bill." He puched at the air a few times to reinforce his point. Seeing as that approach clearly wasn't going to sway Siegfriend he brought up a different point. "Besides, we should secure food before we find the exit. We don't want to starve to death looking for an exit that might not exist."
Lao pointed over at a table his rant over. "Your helmet is over there, by the way."

"I'll gladly go with Lao to kill this butcher fellow" she said playing with an arrow and smirking. "It sounds like fun. And it's not like we really have anything else to do. But just because i'm wandering...How much time do you think we have till this castle disappears?..."

She walked over to Siegfried's helmet and handed it to him.

"I was thinking..If need be, we could always try and destroy a wall of the castle...I don't think those are like doors...Ya know what i mean? I dont think the walls of the castle rebuild themselves,and it would leave doorways open to see into other rooms.Plus we'd know where we have been." she said sitting on the counter sipping her soup.
"As good as this soup is, we just need to find bread and i'm sure we'll be fine for awhile..."

Siegfried grabbed his helmet, nodding a thanks towards Lilian before he put it on. He sighed. "Fine fine, guess i'll tag along then...The bigger the group, the safer, I suppose" He stated as he walked over towards one of the nearby walls, tapping it lightly with his hand. "As...Creative...As your idea sounds, I don't think there's any way for us to bring these walls down." He'd comment as he tapped his gauntlet against it once more, a few loud clangs being echoed around as he did.

"Doesn't look like any of the walls here are coming down," mentioned Lao as he cleaned out his cooking pot. "But we'll make sure to look out for anything we can smash down." He rubbed his neck, remember being tossed through a wall himself.
Done with the dishes, he placed his tools in a neat bundle, before strapping them on his back.
"Well, I'm all ready to go," he declared as he walked over to the ball room, everyone being smart enough to have kept that door open. He apporached the puppet master pinned to the floor.
"You pal!" Lao grabbed the puppet master's shirt lifting his head off the ground. "Tell us where this butcher fellow is."
He recieved no answer, as the puppetier had fallen uncouncious and didn't look like he would awaken any time soon. Lao gave the puppetier a few good slaps to the face before finally giving up.
"Back at square one I guess."

Julian sauntered over to the puppeteer and tutted at Lao's comment.
"Forgive my pedantic skepticism, but wouldn't square one be the way we came in." The madman speculated, "It seems more we are playing a game where the square we land on is entirely unrelated to logic or reason. We may walk through one door and find ourselves with all the answers, or with even less answers then we had before entering. However, there much be a finite number of rooms, and we only have a finite amount of time, so I would gamble that our best bet is to explore as many rooms as possible in as little time as possible. It's an absolute certainty that we'll find something useful eventually."

Despite its quiet, soothing voice, it seemed to suddenly grab everyones attention.
"Dinner is about to be served, every intruder and prisnor must make their way to Dim Lit Dining Hall or risk severe punishment. Residents are also welcome to join in and watch the entertainment! The path is simplified for your eating pleasure, travelling through three rooms will take you to the Dim Lit Dining Hall. Do not leave The Butcher waiting."

Ivan stopped as he heard the voice and her speech.
"Bloody hell. They have a feast every time this happens! Guess I'll join them tonight."

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

"I've requested her to summon our guests, Butcher. They should be arriving shortly. Clean yourself up a bit, wont you? This room is bloodier than the others." A confident, sophisticated voice spoke calmly to his collegue.
"*Snerk Huff* sure, whatever you say...I'd offer you an invitiation to stay...but theres already so many people expected to dine, I doubt theres enough to go around for everyone. A skilled chef like me can only... *Sniff* prepare so much food." The Butcher said as he lifted a severed hand into a pot filled with boiling water.
"Part of me goes into every dish." The Butcher laughed as he cleaned blood from the butcher knife now gruesomly attached to his wrist.
"You are vile. make sure to leave one or two alive, we need some new employees. Hopefully they'd be of quality grooming and breed. I'm off to see to My lady. Do not fail her." The confident man left the room, silently closing the door behind him.