Dancing Dead (Open)

[Yorick]

As the Bonewalkers converged, Yorick collected herself, ignoring the pounding in her head, and prepared for her final strike. Then, as their weapons raised, the Halberdier sprang up, whirling like a tornado, and striking down two of the half-dozen phalanx. Disappointing. Now on the defensive, she dodged back and drew them towards her. Oya was focusing on the Wight. Mila was... Oh, damn.

The other phalanx was enveloping the mage in a pincer-like movement. So Yorick took off, her dead sprint coming out as a half-hearted, wobbling jog, and yelled to her companion as she advanced.

"Watch out! They're trying to box you in!"

Swinging her strong arm, Yorick felt the satisfying feeling of bone being crushed, and used her offhand axe to finish the job. Everything was sore, and she was definitely feeling run-down. She'd overexerted herself. But the battle wasn't done yet!

There were nine Bonewalkers. One Wight. Three weakened and exhausted monster hunters.

But they had resolve!

Yorick didn't even bother to switch weapons, simply blocking the Bonewalker's sword with an X-block and then twisting her weapons to wrench it out of the fiend's hands. Two swift chops later, it fell to the ground, nothing but dry bones, and then there were eight.

"Mila. Stay safe, watch my back. We've got to take care of these. The fewer numbers, the better our odds of success. The Wight knows there's safety in numbers. So we have to remove that safeguard!"

The heavy thud of an axe-blunt hitting her armor caused her to swivel quickly as another Bonewalker attacked furiously. Would this onslaught never end?

[Mila]

She coughed. Her body was worn out from the constant struggle and casting. Why are there still so many of them? She thought. Had their efforts been for naught? Everywhere she turned she could either see or hear the sounds of bone walkers. Wait am I surrounded?

Her eyes widen as she had realized a part of the army indeed had her boxed in. Oh crap! She looked around hoping to find a gap she could squeeze through and avoid death. From the distance she could hear Yorick yelling. Mila barely avoided the lance of one bone walker, and then heard Yorick's axe tearing into another of the living dead. She tried to peer through the dust and estimated that there were about 8 bone walkers left and one Wight.

"Won't let anything happen to your backside ma'am!" She replied. Not exactly the best reply in the world but it was the first one that popped into her head. She couldn't give up. No matter how much her body screamed for some rest. Can't just drop now. Were so close! She launched another ball of fire, knocked a bone walker's head off. Seven now right? But by the gods I'm.. just so.. drained. Can't even.. think properly.

She was moving on instinct now. Rolling and dodging out of the way of the bone-walkers. Not truly thinking of her next move. She kept a bit of distance away from Yorick to avoid getting hit by her weapons. One walker had made it's way behind Yorick.

For a moment the power of the spirits entered her body, and she channeled that power into a particularly powerful ball of flame. The power of the spirits bid her to turn around and she fired that sphere of concentrated fire magic, into the exposed chest of the sneaky bone walker. The un-dead corpse screeched in agony before turning into a charred mess of ash.

Now there were six dead walkers remaining.

[Oya]

With that beast down Oya took a moment to catch a breather. Their were eight more of them left and Oya was starting to tire out. Xigshaw was good for increasing the power of Oya's muscles, but it did little for his conditioning. All of that was left to the boy wonder who had taken considerable effort in toning his body up and keeping himself ready to use the massive club with full efficiently. However even he had limits and that last run had taken a bit out of him. To his surprise however the other two seemed to be doing well, thought he was sure they would not agree with that statement. None of them had their stomach cut open, nor were they dying to poison so they were fine in Oya's book. Still he better get back into the fight.

With the Wright dead it left the remaining Bonewalkers leaderless. This was good as it would make it harder for them to group up and pull off formations, or at least Oya thought it would. He was not sure how cohesive the group of undead bones were. Though like humans and other beast he figured their movements would be directed by the leader, but for all he knew one of the weaker ones could have been deciding their course of action. With so little knowledge of the creatures left in the world Oya was going to have to do some more research. With a battle ahead of him and targets to take down Oya rushed back to the other members of the group.

"Out of the way", shouted Oya as he rushed in and smashed one of the walkers to oblivion from behind. The pirate's hammer shinned with delight as its might radiated across the battlefield. Oya knew their work was far from over, but he was starting to feel the after affects of using Xigshaw too much. Oya was starting to feel drained. After this was all over he was going to need to get something to eat. The number was now five.

[Yorick]

"I... will... send... you... back... to HELL!"

With a gargantuan effort of will, Yorick swung her axes in a pincer at one of the Bonewalkers... To no avail. It leapt aside, dodging and then striking back at her with a quick jab of its lance. Luckily, there was enough time for Yorick to sidestep, but all of this fancy footwork was taking its toll. She didn't want to have another situation like that Bael hunt...

Thinking the word 'careful' to herself over and over, she struck again, causing the 'walker to step backwards to avoid her strike.

And there it was... An idea.

Quickly stepping forward, striking quickly at the monster, and then repeating, Yorick forced it back, and back, and back, until it tripped backwards over a gravestone. Seizing the opportunity, the Halberdier planted an axe firmly into its skull, marking the end of that interesting tango.

There were four bonewalkers remaining on the field. The graveyard was covered in dust and the ruined remains of skeleton fiends. What a perfectly picturesque Ostian scene. If she wasn't a battle-hardened warrior, she'd take the time to paint it and call it something profound, that reflected human pain and suffering. Something deep... Maybe "Stranger in a Strange Land" or "The Metamorphosis" or "Our Town." Something with a good ring to it, that made you wonder what you had done with your life. Whether or not you were a good use of space and were fulfilling your own life's goals.

Yorick. Focus.

[Mila]

Still seized by the power of the spirits she cast another spell. She launched square into the chest of one more bone walker bringing the total down to three. She felt a sharp pain hit her across her back which brought her back to reality. She turned her gaze over and saw what hit her. The stick part of a bonewalker's lance. It would leave one nasty bruise on her body, but what was worse is that it completely ruined her focus. With out focus a mage cannot properly cast.

Her mouth let out a sharp gasp or cry, or some sort of noise that was a mix of the two. She could barely duck and weave out of that one bonewalker's way. And each breath she took felt like acid going down her throat. But by some miracle she managed. The bone walker continued it's approach and assault towards her forcing her further back from her companions. Until she backed up into a familiar grave stone. The one that she hung her cloak on.

She grabbed the old thing and quickly threw it at the walker to blind it. The cloak clung to the walker like wet sheet. The walker stabbed it's lance wildly into the general area where she had been. She rolled out of it's way, and popped up behind the walker. She jumped back slightly and struggled to regain her focus. She kept her vision trained on the walker as it managed to finally pull the cloak off of it's flesh-less face.

At this point she regained enough of her stamina to launch one more ball of flame and roast the monster's bones. Then she promptly fell to her knees. Gods.. please let this madness be over.

[Oya]

Three more, there were only three more of them left. Oya was already getting tired of killing these things. You would think after Oya and the gang cut down all the others that these three would just retreat, but nope. They continued to fight even after there comrades were nothing but dust. Oya soon realized that the others were not going to be able to go for much longer and he himself was getting tired. He was going to have to speed this up and finish off the last three.

The pirate began to take a deep breath as he prepared himself. He wanted to fill his muscles with a lot of oxygen before he charged forward. Steeling himself and his muscles the pirate let off a blood thirsty roar before he charged the last three bonewalkers. To the monsters surprise Oya cut the space between them in seconds as he focus his strength on his legs. Like a dart Oya lunched himself through the air. The first Bonewalker face Oya's hammer blow right off the pirate's bounce attack. The second bonewalker stabbed forward hoping to counter the pirate. To its surprise Oya used the massive club as a jumping pole. The pirate increased strenght shot him into the air avoiding the monsters attack and giving him a opportunity to attack himself.

Returning from his flight into the sky Oya landed on the shoulders of the skeleton that attempted to stab him. His own body weight shattered the monsters bones as he drew his two iron axes from his side. Xigshaw's magic was not running through his body at the moment, but the fearsome pirate could still fight without it. The last Bonewalker attacked with a horizontal slash. Oya blocked the attack catching its blade in the space between the head of his axe and the wooden shaft sticking out the end. Using the small opening presented Oya chopped off the monsters right arm. As he exspected the beast jumped back to avoid any more damage, but the boy pirate was way ahead of it.

Oya grabbed the mighty hammer and tossed it at the monster with all of his strength. The weight of the massive club slammed into the bonewalker ending the last of the beasts. As it finall fell Oya let loss a massive amount of air as he fell to the ground tired. "@#$% Bones", he spoke as he began to suck wind.

[Mila]

Mila slowly picked herself up. All the world around her seemed to be quiet. And the silence was broken by Oya's obscenity to the bones. She slowly hobbled over to where the remains of the bonewalker she felled lay. And picked up the remains of her tattered cloak. She quietly placed it back on her body, it felt cold.

She slowly walked over to the sound of Oya's voice. She couldn't tell where Yorick was and the silence was unsettling. My gods, please let her still be among the living.

"Oi..Oya.." She managed to speak out in a bit of a weakened voice. Her side was pulsating in pain as she tried to speak each syllabus. She put hard hand on her side then looked at the hand. No blood. That was fortunate. Her head was spinning and there was a foul taste seeping up from the pit of her stomach to the back of her mouth. Ugh.. don't hurl. She tried telling herself.

She managed to find the Axe man on the ground breathing. Hey that's a plus. She plopped herself down near him.

"Ha.. Is.. it over?" She asked weakly. The remains of the bone walkers scattered around them. She tired her best to try to regain her composure. She tried to say something, but so far all that came out of her mouth was gibberish of syllables. Her vision started to go hazy before she fell on her back.

"I've got some water. If you need it." She was finally able to repeat. She held her hand to her forehead.

"We.. have to walk.. back. Damn it." She remembered as her vision started to refocus. Her connection to the spirits was returning, color slowly returning to her face.
--

The return trip to the village was uneventful. Mila could barely process the words of congratulations and cheers from the village patrons. All she wanted to do was collapse on a bed and sleep. Sensing this the inn master guided her up to a spare room and left the mage alone. Mila made herself as comfortable as she could before her body gave out and she drifted off into dreamless sleep. Come morning of the next day Mila would head out back on the road.

(Exeunt thread)