The Fire gets hold of Vino and starts to suck his (garlic enriched) blood. He... has no real defense other than trying to get away from the fire? I have no idea if this is possible, but he's trying.
While Vino trying to flee from a vampiric fire is an obvious call of attention, which really makes Astrana panic is the sound of an opening coffin. The memories of rading an old tomb back in Elshar still in mind. Especially as it should be right behind her.
"Eek!"
In half-panic she turns to the opening coffin and makes a smashing movement with her glove. The iron hand mimicks the movement and comes down at said coffin like a thuderclap, possibly holding whoever was opening it against the floor if it isn't smashed into bits.
Right now her own skin felt more important to protect then Vino's.
Two things happening at once, dammit all. Durin assesses the situation quickly and decided it's Vino that needs help. The vampire steps over to him and help him get away from that fire quicker by pulling him away from it. Trying to grab somewhere the fire isn't of course.
The garlic blood... has no effect on the fire! It's a different kind of vampire!
Pulling Vino away saves him from the blood-sucking chemical reaction. But only for a moment, as it doggedly zooms after him to try to reattach its nonexistent fangs to him.
Meanwhile, Astrana crushes the opening coffin in the catacombs behind her! An emaciated corpse, crippled by the hand, flops out onto the floor and groans. It can't move at all, but its moans do start a chorus of similar sounds from all the crude boxes in the corridor walls. Pretty soon the lids of others begin to get pushed open as the zombies get a better grasp of their motor functions after their long rest, though they're still pretty slow.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Vino summons up a whirlwind to try and trap the fire and keep it from getting closer to him or Astrana. He assumes Durin is immune, but who knows?
Whether this works or not, he hands his axe to Durin so the drowpire can finish destroying the black coffin. They've got a job to finish, one way or another.
The ball of fire is swirled into a whirlwind and then gripped by an iron hand. It wavers and flickers for a moment, then burns with even more intensity. Suddenly, a counterspell is activated, as if the strange vampire were casting! It tries to dispel the magic animating the whirlwind and the iron hand with its own magic.
The shiny black coffin starts getting hacked at. As stated early, it's pretty sturdy, so Durin will have to go at it for more than a couple of swings. Now Rot begins screaming in his head in earnest, sending waves of fury and hunger and pleading, urging him to stop destroying the coffin, and turn on his allies instead! Yes, drink their delicious blood! Rot hastily points out a possible ally to Durin; the soucouyant will grant him much power if he stops Astrana and Vino from slaying her! Just stop swinging the axe!
The zombies in the corridor begin sliding out of their coffins and boxes onto the floor, where they either try to get up or start crawling toward the two living beings they sense in the room. Moaning and groaning in hunger and making little progress.
((Also, Vino might recognize the Soucouyant with his vampire slayer knowledge.))
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
The iron hand vanishes once the fire vampire dispel it and Astrana have to counter it with other means. She quickly reaches down into her bag and picks out a black note which she whispers a few words to before she throws it into the air.
The note will move towards the Soucouyant and will then, once it close enough, combust. If it's shot down earlier it won't have any effect, but if it reaches the vampire it might cause it's mind to twist for a moment, suddenly seeing the slowly rising zombies as it's enemies and food instead of the group.
Unfortunately for Vino, this is his first encounter with a Soucouyant. He knows about vampires from Gul'Thudar, and vampires he's encountered since in the Nexus (mainly Rot), but this is new to him.
He feels the attempt to dispel his wind, but it isn't strong enough to do it in one post, especially since the dispel was divided between two effects. Maybe if the Soocoo keeps concentrating, it could happen. Though now that Vino has handed the axe over to Durin, he's putting all his own concentration into keeping his wind going. When he sees Astrana's note, the wind takes hold of it to help deliver it to its destination.
Durin stops his attack on the coffin, the axe raised for another swing. Part of his mind is urging him to complete the swing, another to stop. Seems the stopping part is winning out for now.
[Coffin Hunting]
Good! Now feast! It's been a while since you've had fresh blood from a neck! Bite the woman, sate your hunger!
The Rot in Durin's mind is still pressing very hard. He tries to flood hunger and anger into the drowpire's thoughts.
The Soucouyant gets hit by the note! The combustion doesn't really bother the fireball, but her thoughts are successfully skewed. She zooms off and eats all the zombies! Except she's still trapped in the whirlwind. Whether or not Astrana's spell worked is not apparent, because fireballs don't have expressions and it can't move at the moment.
The zombies are beginning to get up now! The moans and groans are at full volume now, though only a few moving corpses have actually gotten out of their coffins. Better hurry up before the horde is ready!
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin's fangs slide out, his hands warp into claws. The axe falls from his hand and he drops to his knees beside it. The vampire clutches at his head, Rot's influence nearly overwhelming him.
When Durin's knees hit the floor, Vino realizes that they're going to die. Rot's influence has taken over, and there are more undead than he and Astrana can fight alone, even if Durin remains out of the fight. If Durin turns on them, it's over.
Vino had never really had to face his own mortality before. He'd always known he would be turned. But if he died here, he wouldn't. Durin couldn't turn him, because of the garlic in his blood. But if he was merely Rot in Durin's body, then that was a blessing. Better oblivion than to be the thrall of a monster.
So oblivion then. But until then, he had a job to do.
"Tenebras Victoria," Vino says. "Claudia, Petros. I love you"
He reaches down to grab the axe and finish the job. He'll keep swinging until Durin, or the ball of fire, or the zombies take him down, but he won't give up.
The wind loses strength as Vino focuses completely on the task of destroying the coffin. It can be dispelled or simply powered through now, though that may not be obvious. There's still momentum keeping it going, so it doesn't die off all at once.
In this chaos Astrana takes a deep breath and the world seems to slow down around her as she surveys the situation.
Zombies were rising from their graves.
Durin was going insane.
The flameball was trapped in the whirlwind and may or may not be effected by her spell.
Vino was trying to destroy the coffin with his axe.
Durin and the flameball were probably the most important enemies to take care of. The zombies could wait for now. Or she could just run, but no, that would be stupid, even if she lied about what happened there weren't any guarantee that Vino or Durin would fall. Not to mention it would be a jerk move.
The warlock positions herself so that she's further away from Durin then Vino but still stands so close to them that she can tell if the fire vampire is going for them or the zombies quickly.
If either Durin or the fire vampire attempts to attack them, she will blast them with a demonic ray from her staff, which by the way is sonic damage as demons from her world are vibration based.
If both of them attacks, she will blast whoever is attacking her. If both of them are attacking Vino, she will blast whoever is most likely to stop Vino from destroying the coffin.
Rot continues to scream in Durin's head and urge him to attack his allies. Come on, murder Vino! You know you want to: he hunts your kind for a living! What kind of ally is that?
Once Vino's concentration wavers, the Soucouyant forces her way out of the whirlwind. She is intelligent enough, even in fireball form, to know when a spellcaster is weakest: when he's distracted! The fireball flames off to engulf a zombie. Of course, she gets a jolt when she sinks her "fangs" into the disgusting rotting undead flesh, and soon turns to charge at Astrana. The time it takes for her to get to a zombie, shake off the spell, and get back to her real enemies is probably useful for them, as it gives them a chance to deal with Durin or the coffin or the advancing undead. The zombies are still crawling forward and getting out of their coffins though, and the first one is on its feet now.
The coffin begins to get chopped up once more. As noted earlier, it'll take more than a few swings of the axe to totally destroy the black box.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin bellows something incomprehensible. It's a raw, feral sound. He's on his feet in a flash, his sword very quickly in his hand. The vampire doesn't hesitate before rushing at the Soucouyant, likely just as it starts coming toward them. He swings his sword at it viciously, not even able to worry if his sword can effect it. His momentum will likely carry him through the vampiric fireball and toward the zombies in any case.
Than the stars! And the darks too for that matter!
If Durin passes right through the Soucouyant, she will send a beam of demonic energy against it and then turn to run up the stairs, "Come on! It's destroyed now! Let's go!" She shouts to Durin and Vino, not wanting to stay another moment in this place.
Rot screams in fury in Durin's head as he goes through the Soucouyant and into the zombies.
Not the zombies! You can't eat those! The girl!
The first zombie gets cut to pieces. By the time Durin has finished hacking at it, some more are coming for him, moaning and groaning with hands outstretched and grasping. Their tactic is pretty much to try to grab the vampire and then gnaw at his flesh. They don't even care he's not alive.
The Soucoyant gets hit by the demonic energy and shudders as the vibrations separate the fireball momentarily. She hovers there trying to keep herself together for a moment. But if Astrana tries to run past her to get to the exit, she's just going to try to latch onto and bite the warlock as she passes. If Astrana passes widely around the Soucoyant she'll remain out of her grasp, however.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin isn't exactly worrying about his own personal safety right now. He swings his sword wildly, sacrificing finesse for brute strength. Hack slash hack! Die zombies! Die again!
Vino realizes that the coffin is destroyed. He doesn't know for sure that it's Rot's, but the other wooden one had a ball of flame in it, and it's well known that Rot and fire don't get along well enough to share a coffin.
So.. time to go. He still expects to die, but there's a small spark of hope now.
He runs for the exit, along the zombie lined corridor, thwacking any zombies in his way with the axe. *thwack thwack thwack*
Astrana is smart enough to not go near the fiery vampire and will go around it instead as she heads for the stairs, prepared to blast any zombie who attempts to stop her.
The Soucouyant doesn't chase after them, too disorientated and weakened to continue and smart enough to know when to quit. The fireball will quietly creep back into her box.
And down the corridor they run! Zombies spring up in their path only to get cut down, but their hands still grasp for a grip on the fleeing slayers. They'll find their ankles being grabbed at by the wretched undead, or even bitten at by zombies with close-enough mouths.
If Durin is just hacking at zombies and not running, he will find that there are more and more walking corpses coming for him, and the ones he has cut down are still crawling to grab and nom him. If he doesn't flee, Durin will probably be overrun. Rot, feeling vengeful, urges his host to try to bite the zombies. They'll be horrible, and the drowpire will be in great range for the zombies' own disgusting teeth.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin does indeed continue hacking and slashing at the zombies rather than flee with his allies. It looks like he's gone too far into his murderous rage. The vampire buries his fangs into the next zombie that gets close enough, and starts tearing it apart.
Vino hesitates before trying to rescue Durin. Has he become Rot?
No, if he had, he'd be eating Astrana, not zombies. He's just gone crazy.
He grabs another blood pouch, pokes a hole in it, and uses some of the last of his juice to have a gust of wind carry it in front of Durin. The wind squeezes a spurt of blood out to get his attention, and then drags it down the hallway, just out of his reach. Vampire bait!
As the tiefling managed to up the top of the stairs, a safe distance from the zombies, she turns around to see if Durin and/or Vino was following. With a gesture she will make the symbol she put on the door before glow brightly to make it easier for the two to find their way.
"Durin? Vino?!" Losing them both would feel pretty horrible.
With Durin biting one zombie, the others close in and try to embrace him. And gnaw at his head to try and get at the gray-matter inside.
Vino hesitating also gives some zombies the opportunity to try to grab and bite at him too. Any zombie-inflicted wounds are filthy and prone to infection, though thankfully they won't make Vino a zombie since these are corpses raised by necromancy, not disease-created apocalypse causers.
Astrana makes it to the stairs! Some zombies stop at the bottom of the steps and moan up at her, but there is obviously a barrier they cannot cross there.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Suddenly Durin's attention is drawn that way! The vampire snarls and starts trying to move toward the blood. He more than likely suffers many wounds, but he's determined.
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