A Return to Form--Open

[Orcleous]

"Umm, no", spoke Orcleous, but he knew what the outcome would be even when he said she couldn't. So there was no point in denying her. After she tossed his blade and grabbed the attention of the undead she shot off like a rocket jumping into battle with the four undead. The fighting was quick and up tempo and to Orcleous great surprise she managed to take them out with some flair. However she should have given him some kind of signal or sign. Instead of the two of them taking out two undead each she took on all four of them before Orcleous could even join the action. Not to mention she fell into the well, which was not a good sign. Orcleous was not sure if she was still alive or maybe fighting the undead underwater. However there was one thing he knew above all else, he would never drink the water from this village.

In the distance Orcleous could see a few shambling corpses moving in there direction, but they where far off enough that he could get something done. The first thing he did was rush over to the well and look down. He saw the maiden holding on by her spear, which made him wounder how that even happen. However that was a question for another time. He did not even bother to say hold on. Instead he quickly stabbed his silver sword into the ground and pulled Xigshaw off his back. Setting the magical hammer on the ground Orcleous grabbed the rope that was usually used to get water out the well and threw it down to her.

"Grab onto that rope and tie it around your lance. On the count of ten I am going to pull you out the well", spoke Orcleous. Without waiting for her to respond Orcloeus grabbed hold of Xigshaw with his left hand. He could feel its power shooting through his body. It was less than usual because Xigshaw was being jealous, but it did not matter in the long run. He had more than enough strength to do what he needed to do. "Ten", shouted orclouus as he reached the number in his mind. With just his right arm he pulled up on the rope with enough force to send a human jerking up, one of the great advantages of the strength boosting magic weapon. Weather she was there or not Orcleous then turned his attention to the three undead that had reached his location. If she did not come up with his first pull he would get her on a second after dealing with his new friends.

The first undead charged toward Orcloeus with a fury that was uncommon to the group of monsters in this town. It was not a slow moving corpse like the rest and from what Orc could tell it was probably a warrior before it died. It struck out with its arms like whip trying to strike at Orcleous throat. Using his free right hand Orclous deflected the rotten flesh by striking the back of his hand against the creatures wrist. The force from his attack caused its attack to go upward and remove its assult from the equation.

However the second Zombie rushed at Orcloeus from his right flank. As he smacked away the first beast attack it rushed in to make one of its own. Its blow was aimed for Orcleous right eye. The hero was not sure if this was intentional or just accidental, but in the long run it did not matter. Like the old swordmasters of Old Orcleous simply shifted his head to the side and lowered his shoulders. Its arm flew by his head by a hair allowing the hero to dodge the attack. Pulling down on his arm Orcleous fist slammed down on the creatures skull like a hammer. The force from the attack turned its brains into mush as Xigshaw's power was exalted.

With the second undead down the first had recovered and began its assault with its left hand. The third undead was also now moving in attack the hero from his left. Releasing his war hammer Orcleous jumped back creating space between the two undead and himself. The monsters however now stood between him and his holy weapon, but that did not neither scare or worry Orcleous. As the first Zombie rushed in Orcleous dashed toward it. The beast threw its hand again in a wild assault, but Orcleous moved with the focus of a warrior. As the creature attack cut through the air Orcleous counted its blow with a right cross. As he threw the punch he channeled the natural energy through his body. "Smite", he shouted as his fist made contact with the creatures face knocking its head clean off its body.

The third undead rushed in without a worry in the world. It was truly amazing how these creatures had no fear. If Orcleous had done that to a man the other would have run away screaming for there life. Not the undead though. They feared nothing and could care less about the death of there brothers. The beast swung at Orcleous with its claws and the hero leaned back. He dodged the beast blow and delivered a punch to its jaw. The blow was no where near as powerful as his punch before, but it knocked the beast back a bit. Taking that one opening Orcleous rushed forward and grabbed his silver sword out the dirt. With a single swing he lopped off the creatures left arm as it attempted to attack. Naturally it switch to trying to use its right and Orcleous took that as well. Before it could lunge forward and assault with its mouth Orcleous stabbed the blade through the beast head.

"As if such weaklings could kill me", spoke Orcleous as he walked over to his warhammer and picked it up off the ground. He then turned his attention back to the well and looked to see if his partner had gotten out safely.

[Armitage Apolithymius]

The stars were truly wonders of the universe. As Armitage waited patiently in the pit that made the well, there was naught else to do but stare upward. She had started listening for fighting, to try to hear if Orcleous was in trouble, but after a few moments of not hearing anything, her attention was grabbed by the beauty of the night sky. The darkness overhead was deep and the top of the well looked like a portal into a whole other world. When she was a young girl she remembered her father telling her stories about how the stars were gigantic orbs of dragons breath streaking slowly through the sky. She had little mind to wonder what made the lights, but she could not deny their beauty.

As the rope fell into the well, she didn’t notice it until it literally hit her in the face. It wasn’t until then that Orcleous’ words broke through to her. She considered tying it to her spear as he said but she didn’t want the spear to break from being stuck on the sides. Quickly, she stuffed the iron sword into the belt that held her tunic together. Holding onto the dangling rope, Armitage was able to sheath her spear on her back and prepare to be hauled up. What she expected was to be slowly drug up the side of the well. Just like in life though, what we expect is rarely what happens. Armitage stifled a yelp as she was yanked up and out of the well at alarming speed. She landed quite unceremoniously on her side at the top of the well, the surprise of it all keeping her from rolling to her feet.

Armitage watched as Orcleous was already dispatching a group of undead. Standing up, Armitage brushed the dirt and grime off of her clothes. She took an extra moment to readjust her shoulders, making sure the sudden jolt out of the well hadn’t taken them out of the sockets. She was surprised by Orcleous’ strength. Her eyes fell onto the monstrous hammer that lay on the ground a short distance away from the well. Could that be the source of such power? Armitage let her eyes rest on the weapon lustily. Such strength simply from holding a weapon was unthinkable! She inched closer to it, tempted to touch it, just to feel what it was like. To try to confirm her suspicion. Before she could make the choice, Orcleous had returned and picked the weapon up himself, snapping Armitage out of her daze.

“Thanks for the assist. Got a little ahead of myself there.”

Armitage spoke dazedly as her focus broke from the warhammer and her eyes looked down the street. A sharp stab of panic returned her focus as she saw a large, inhuman crowd moving down the street. They hadn’t caused a whole lot of noise but the commotion was apparently enough to get more undead to migrate this direction. She eye’d the mass, trying to see if they were actually pursuing her and Orcleous, or just naturally migrating this way. They were still slowly shambling--not quite doing the strange shuffle run that happened when they were chasing prey. Still, it was hard to tell. She searched for an escape and she quickly found it in the form of a cramped alley that ran between two shop fronts.

“Seems like they might be onto us.” Armitage said as she motioned toward the crowd. “Best bet now is to just try to stay ahead of them. Lets pick up the pace.” She pointed past Orcleous to the alley on the opposite side of the street from where they came out. “Lets head that way. Seems like good cover.”

Armitage took off into a sprint out of the open street. She had known coming out into the open like this would give them trouble, now she could only hope to stay ahead of the crowd and find what she was looking for before they whipped into a frenzy. Clearing the street, Armitage slowed down a bit as she reached the alley. Suddenly, the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Instincts kicked in as Armitage dove forward into a roll as a metal axe came down, hitting the building right beside where she had been. Rolling to her feet, Armitage spun and saw a skeleton soldier. Again she got snuck up on by one of these infernal creatures! Luckily, this monster was between her and Orcleous, so he would be easy to take down.

This time, Armitage heard the noise. It sounded like bone scraping on rock. Her ears were attuned to the sounds that metal or leather made against skin when someone was trying to sneak up on her, but not the dull scraping made by bone. She turned around and saw another skeleton, this one with a sword, sneaking up behind her. The tables turned as Armitage realized she was the one being sandwiched. She tried to draw her spear--she had fought off multiple enemies before so this would be no different. Suddenly, Armitage became painfully aware of how little space there was for movement in the small alleyway. There wasn’t enough room to draw her spear.

The first axe skeleton seemed content to hold position, stopping Orcleous from coming too deep into the alley. The second bore down on Armitage, intent to attack. Armitage pulled the iron sword out from its makeshift sheath in her belt and launched into a flurry of blows. Her attacks were quick but sloppy--her intent was to just drive the second skeleton back, deeper into the alley so she wouldn’t be so close to the first skeleton. Last thing she wanted was to take a cheap shot to the back from a skeleton with no honor.

The skeleton fended her off deftly and she was surprised at the ease of its defense. On the surface, the skeleton knights were hardly different from the shuffling undead. In reality they were a whole new world of danger. Free from the bindings of flessh, the skeleton knights are crafty, strong and deadly. Armitage was caught completely off guard when the skeleton, not only blocked her attack, but then launch out in a fierce counter that threw her off balance. She flailed slightly, her lack of experience with the sword showing in the sloppiness of her attacks. She could only hope the skeleton’s instincts weren’t keen enough to discern the weakness in her stance. Armitage squared up warily with the skeleton, awaiting its next attack, hoping Orcleous would get the attention of the second before it joined in her fight.

[Orcleous]

Orcleous stared at the maiden for a moment. She was fine enough after being pulled out. He just preyed that he arm was not messed up form the lift. Still Xigshaw's strength powers where not only effective, but useful. The more Orcleous used the weapon the more creatively he became with using its strength boost. Still he regretted that it was a Warhammer and not a sword. If he had this kind of weapon as arming sword, the potential would be endless. However that was a thought for another time. There was a horde of undead moving there way. Looking at the horde of creatures orcleous began to think on the most effective way of eliminating them all. Setting the entire town on fire seemed to be the most logical decision, thought experience taught him that was not the most effective choice. However he did not have the time or the resources to do that at the moment. So instead Orcleus began to focus on the here and now. Taking the maiden's words to heart Orcleous followed her through the alleyway. It was a sound decision, well sound till she got ambushed by a crew of walking skeletons.

"Seriously why are these guys here", spoke Orcleous as he held Xigshaw on his shoulder. Never in his life had he encounted both the skeletons and the zombies in the same space. At one point he thought that monsters might be territorial, but now he threw that idea out the window. There was no way that the zombies could not have run into the skeletons and the skeletons would simply avoid the zombies. The fact that the two monsters where paired together here made him worry a bit. He wondered if the skeletons had some way of making zombies. The gargoyles had that power, could the bone walkers have it too. Well that was a thought for another time. At this moment Orcleous simply needed to remove the enemy from his path. Orcleous could use Xigshaw in a downard strike and simply crush this monster into dust. However that kind of attack would send a sound wave all over the village and grab the attention of all the zombies in the area. Orcleous did not want to do that, yet at least.

The bonewalker rushed forward to attack Orcleous. It was clear that the beast had placed Orcleous as the greater threat then simply stabbing the maiden in the back. It was a smart choice to be honest. If it would have turned to stab her Orlcoeus would have stabbed it. Dropping Xigshaw on the ground Orcleoud didged the creatures slash attack with its blade, but moving over to the far right of the alleyway. Naturally the beast turned its arm and swung to the right once it missed in a attemt to slice off Orcleous head. The Hero ducked low this time ducking under the blade and getting into the creature face. Drawing his silver sword from its sheath Orcleous slammed the hilt into the monster's sternum causing it to take a step backwards. The step back was more of a balance issue rather than one of pain and with a quick turn of its hand the creature stabbed the sword foward with the intentions of stabling through the hero.

Orcloeus, showing his skill with the blade, deflected the blow toward the left side of his body with a slash attack of his own. The strength of his arm far surpassed the stabbing power of the beast. Now with a opening Orcleous pulled back on his right hand and slashed off the left arm of the creature. While doing so he moved toward the best left causing the two of them to trade sides. With his back now to the soldier Orcleous held out his sword with a smug smile. "You are going to have to do better than that", spoke Orcleous. The bonewalker took his line seriously and in a mad attempted it grabbed hold of Orcleous powerful hammer. If one did not know anything about Xigsahw one would think the hero was in trouble, but Orcleous did not have a single fear in his heart as he knew what was about to happen next.

The monster pulled onto the hammer with its right arm. However it did not have the strength to lift the mighty weapon. "Sorry, but you have to be worthy", shouted Orcleous as he rushed forward and slashed clean through the monster's skull. The blow ended the skeleton and Orcleous picked back up his legendary weapon. "So much better than fiery", he spoke as he placed his silver sword in its sheath and walked forward with the hammer at the ready.

[Armitage Apolithymius]

Armitage lashed out at the skeleton with ferocity. Her frustration was mounting as the skeleton continued to deflect her blows with ease. Had it really been so long since she used a sword? Armitage didn’t know why these monsters were here, together. Although she had fought a lot of monsters, she never bothered to learn the reasoning behind her. To her knowledge, they had no reason for anything they did. The beasts were indiscriminate and everywhere--usually just as likely to fight each other as anything. At least, that’s how Armitage saw them. With a yell she struck out again, her blade finding only air as the skeleton anticipated and dodged. This was getting old.

“Die monster! You don’t belong in this world!” ((I couldn't resist))

Getting desperate, Armitage kicked out her right leg toward the creature. The attack seemed to take him by surprise enough--he lashed out his sword regardless. Armitage anticipated this though and let her greaves absorb the brunt of the blow. Her kick hit the skeleton in the chest and sent him stumbling back. Armitage took a moment to breathe--this was the most space she had been able to create this whole fight. It was time for a new approach. As the skeleton fell back, Armitage tossed the sword at its chest. He was able to deflect it but it compromised his balanced even further. The sword clanged harmlessly against the alley wall.

Exhaling, Armitage brought her arm up and gripped her spear. Her original assessment of the alley was true; it was too small to fight with a spear with optimum efficiency. Regardless, Armitage figured she would have a better chance fighting handicapped with a spear than with the sword. She brought the spear down with both hands in a powerful overhead slam. The skeleton reached up ineffectually to block it but he was caught on the back foot and unable to put up a proper guard. Armitage’s spear broke through his defenses and slammed the top of his skull. A satisfying crack resounded in the alley. Having taken damage, the skeleton’s efforts redoubled and he pressed hard toward Armitage.

Whipping the spear around, Armitage fended him off with a series of quick jabs and twirls. Keeping enemies at range was the obvious specialty of the spear, especially when they only had a simple sword. Armitage breathed evenly as she attacked, twirling her spear in the ribcage of the monster and busting a couple ribs. She was almost surprised at how natural and easy a spear felt for her. Using a sword was nearly like forcing yourself to write with the opposite hand for an extended period. During her moment of thoughtfulness, the skeleton did manage to get inside her range. Pressing his sword to her spear, he held the attack off and ran down the length of it toward her. With a skillful wrist flick, Armitage brought the blunt up of her spear up, twirling the weapon, and butted the skeleton in the chest again.

Holding the spear at the middle of its length, she now wielded it almost like a quarterstaff. After hitting the skeleton with the spear butt, she brought the spear end back down into his clavicle. Spinning the spear to the other side of her body, Armitage kicked the skeleton again while deflecting his attack with her spear. As he stumbled back, Armitage lashed out like a viper, the tip of her spear shooting through the crack she made in the skull before. Shifting her hands and weight, Armitage pulled up on her spear and wrenched the monster’s head from its shoulders. With a final spin she smashed she skull against the pavement, ending the fight.

Armitage turned to see Orcleous sauntering toward her. He seemed to have finished his fight a bit before her. “You should take your sword back. I’m no good with those things anymore.” Armitage admitted as she handed the iron sword back toward Orcleous. She held her arm out expectantly, waiting for him to take it. As she handed Orcleous his weapon she mused over what their next course of action should be. Sure they had been making alright progress but it was terribly slow. And she couldn’t help but wonder if that crowd would still catch up to them. A part of her felt like they were close to the manor, had to be, but she had no real reason to think that. “I don’t know how much good trying to sneak is doing us.” Armitage admitted to Orcleous as she thought of what the next best step would be.

[Orcleous]

Orcleous reached out and took his sword back. in his mind he thought it was a bit foolish for her to try and use the blade, but then again it was combat. You go with the flow or you get stabbed by it. Still things where starting to heat up and like the maiden said sneaking around might not be the best course of action so far. This was mainly due to the Bonewalkers. If Orcleous had known they where here he would have slowly picked apart the horde of undead and then entered into the city slowly and thoroughly eliminating them. Now however they where going to have to deal with them popping up now and then. With a pile of beast coming from behind them Orcleous was sue they could not stay here any longer and trying to sneak around with the horde close by would be not only difficult but life threatening.

"From the looks of it we are just going to have to abandon the idea", spoke Orcleous as he looked into the street. For the moment he did not see any threat which was a good sign. "Alright we have two options. One we could charge toward the center of the town and try to find this noble estate. With that plan we would have to prey that the undead that are wondering around have gathered into one great horde and take a bit to catch up. Two we could try to be stealthy after we got a good bit away, or possibly create a detraction to draw in the Undead and make passing possible. Well I take that back. There are three options. I add the last one when it popped into my head. I could always become the distraction myself and let you move toward the center of town to do what you do. If you decided to take the third option understand I will hold them off as long as I have a escape route. I am not going to get myself completely surrounded. That and you will have to deal with the threats alone. Since we are trying to help you find whatever you are looking for in that noble estate I will let you chose", spoke Orcleous as he placed his iron sword back into its sheath. "However make a decision quickly, I don't think the undead are willing to give you much time."

[Armitage Apolithymius]

Armitage dropped her chin into her hand. This was a difficult choice. She wasn’t usually the indecisive type but there were so many unknowns. Having given hard commands before, she wasn’t quit sure why this was difficult to her. After a moment of pondering their options, she realized the problems. She had given hard orders before, even expected men to do things she knew they would fail at doing, but Orcleous was different. He wasn’t a soldier under her command or someone in her platoon. He was his own person that came here by his own accord. Perhaps letting him fight the horde would be the smarter thing though, he had planned to do that in first place after all.

Her eyes fell onto Orcleous’ magic weapon. That was definitely a factor to consider. Even now she thought she could feel the thrum of its strength, pulsing like a heartbeat. On the other hand, she did have him come with her in the first place. It seemed counter intuitive to change her mind now. And he had been helpful too; Armitage’s mind flashed back to how she would have fared the first time running into that skeleton would have went if she were alone. Suddenly, she remembered how naked she felt. She rested a hand on her chest, feeling her plain tunic. Going it alone...And armorless to boot. She was a fearless warrior; a soldier. But the prospect of fighting without armor still gave her hesitation. Time was running out.

”I appreciate the offer, Orcleous, to stay behind. But, I can’t in good conscience ask this of you. We do need to move quickly, so I’d like to try my luck just running to the center of town. While I do that I leave the choice to you; either stay and fight the undead, accomplishing your original intent, or follow me into the heart of the city. I’m sure in either capacity you’d be useful.” Armitage set a tentative hand on his shoulder as she finished her sentence. Hopefully, he wouldn’t find her too forward. ”I want you to know I truly appreciate your help in all of this. Whatever choice you make I will not spite you for it.”

And with those words, Armitage turned from Orcleous and took off running toward the innards of the city. If he did choose to stay and fight, this would be an ideal place for it. The houses were tight enough to bottleneck the undead, but the street itself was wide enough to give him room for movement. She was sure he’d have an easy time of it with that weapon. Still, Armitage couldn’t shake the image of those wings she thought she saw when looking out the window earlier in the night. A part of her worried there was something worse than undead looming around in the town. She sprinted quickly, her boots slapping against the pavement. The time for action was now.

[Orcleous]

Orcleous looked at her for a moment. She had decided on letting him chose. Well it was a pretty smart choice when you think about it. Orcleous did have experience dealing with the undead and if something did happen she would not want Orcleous fate on her conscience. Still this was not something to laugh at. A horde of undead was a deadly foe that many people would not be able to deal with. Even dragons themselves feel to the might of a horde. If Orcleous was going to stay he would need one heck of a stratagem. However on that note Orcleous had decided on what he was going to do. "Fine then, I will simply chose option D. I will stay back and create a distraction to get the horde's attention. After that I will try to break away and meet you near the center. Good luck", spoke the Hero as he reached into his bag and pulled out a torch. If there was anything Orcleous knew about the undead that was that their attention span was limited. All of them heard the sound and as a result they came running. If Orcleous could create a bigger and better sound or distraction he wondered if he could draw them into it and move away while there vision was disturbed.

Rushing from his current position Orcleous ran into the main street. He needed place that would be able to draw in a lot of the undead, but at the same time would be easy enough for him to escape to from. He had already decided in his mind how he was going to do it. If he set one of the buildings on fire not only would it draw there eyes, but it would also create a sound. He could then escape out the back way of the building and move a few houses over. From there he could judge weather or not the undead where still following him. Once he was in the clear he could head to the center. It was a solid plan, but Orcleous still needed a solid location and a sold escape route.

Running down the street Orcleous took notice of a tavern located at the corner of a street. It was the perfect location, thought Orcleous to himself as he saw the building. Not wanting to waste any time Orcleous feel onto the power of Xigsahw. The Hero slammed his mighty hammer into the wooden door knocking it off its hinges and sending it flying toward a back wall. As the hero pushed into the building he saw three skeletons sitting around the bar. The only think going through Orcleous mind at the time was the question on whether or not bonewalkers drink as he knew exactly what the bones where. As he expected the bones began to rattle and the dark energy that infest the skinless creatures began to shutter through out there bodies.

"Great", spoke Orcleous as he pulled a torch out of his bag. He still needed to light the darn thing, but at the moment he had bigger fish to fry. He was sure that horde was probably heading his way already as well. He needed to defeat these three monsters and then set the building on fire. This was not going to be a easy task.