CAST OF PLAYERS:

Jeremy Whitener…………Korin Alabaster………………………Were-Mongoose
Aaron Murphy……………..Claws-of-Honor………………….Were-Tiger
Jera Morrison……………….Alseyne Aulaudin…………………Sidhe Changeling
Debora Silkotch…………..Casey Gavin…………………………Human Psionic
Aron Head……………….Story/Setting/Everything Else…….Game Master

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“What the hell!?!?” Pip exclaimed as Korin emerged from the black curtain of swarming evil, cradling the malamute in his arms.

“Asshole!! I put this thing down and its your ass!” The Mongoose’s words were empty of conviction; he sounded overwhelmed and confused by the blinding light amidst the unnatural darkness. “Case…Casey?! Elijah?! You still alive?” He spotted Casey, sword in hand as she rushed to aid or attack the flashlight wielder. Elijah was not readily in sight. “What is happening?”

“That’s Korin,” Casey explained quickly to Pip. “He and Elijah were both being held captive down here.  There were two others, but the black things killed them.”  Casey was already making her way over to the new arrivals.  “We’re both fine, Korin, these are all friends of mine.  Except the ogre, watch out for him.  How’s Pana?”

Up close, Casey was quite a sight.  Blood from her nose was smeared across her lower face and spattered over her leather outfit, the phantoms’ claws had left deep scratches in her skin and clothing, and she was ghastly pale beneath her tan.  Her hands shook as they run over Pana’s body, trying to assess the damage her dog had taken. ** Pana…? **

“Her ribs, perhaps a lung.” The words were an animalistic growl. “Now can we get the hell out of here?”

The malamute, blinked, a bit disoriented. She yawned, jaws snapping as they close.

The dog looked fine and leaped out of Korin’s arms and shook herself out. :: How long was I asleep? ::

Casey blinked.  “She looks okay to me…” ** I don’t…um…I thought you were all broken…? **

:: I was… But apparently not anymore? :: The malamute was as confused by the development as Casey was.

^^What the He…!!^^ Korin apparently decided that after everything else he’d seen tonight a dog that healed itself was pretty tame. ^^Chalk it up to life Korin baby…This will make a hell of a pick up chicks story around the keg.^^ He shrugged. “Hey…I guess I’m full of it, but I’m no vet.” Looking from one end of the hall to the other…he spoke out loud to everyone and no one. “So who needs some help?!”

“What did you find down there?” Casey pressed.  “Any sign of the other prisoners?”

  “Prisoners? Unless you mean the giant stone monsters that kicked my ass,” Korin’s jaw throbbed in unison with his heartbeat from the blow “…or the weird shadow guy who threw me back into here, then no no more prisoners. There was a door, but it disappeared.”

Giant stone monsters…this just kept getting better all the time. “The giants must have been guarding something, though. We’ll have to find that door again, the prisoners must be on the other side of it.” She paused. “I don’t blame you for wanting to get out of here though; you didn’t exactly sign up for any of this. Could you…could you take Pana with you if you go, and make sure she gets to safety?” She glanced over her shoulder to see if the ogre had been taken down yet, just in time to see Elijah and then Claws flung against the cold stones.  The monster’s empty eye sockets glowed with an eerie green light; he seemed to have regained his ability to see.  Casey stared disbelievingly…and noticed that his amulet was giving off the same green glow.  

Korin followed Casey’s eyes. “So that’s what would happen if Big Mouth and Smurfette got busy.” He shook his head at his own humor. Taking in the rest of the scene, “So the furry cyclops, the other hottie, and obviously Elijah are on your team. Along with the guy swinging the street lamp…so what do you need me to do??”

Korin’s voice faded to a distant background murmur as Casey zeroed in on the ogre’s amulet.

He must be drawing some sort of power from it…?

Alseyne was feinting at him, trying to draw him away from her two downed compatriots and give them a chance to get to their feet and help against him. The Sidhe dodged as the Ogre himself feinted and reached his true target, his club. Weapon restored, he stalked Alseyne. “Pretty… pretty…”

Frowning, Casey reached back toward  the ogre with a grasping-and-pulling gesture, attempting to wrest the talisman from him telekinetically and draw it to herself.

It tugged, leaping from his neck — but the chain held.

The ogre’s attention was drawn to Casey. “Yyyyyyyoooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuu…” He backhanded Alseyne out of his way and strode toward the telepath.

Casey’s eyes got positively enormous as the blue monster set its sights on her and approached menacingly.  She backpedalled a little, but there was really nowhere to go; the milling black shadows cut off her retreat.

Pana set her paws, hackles rising, teeth bared. She growled fiercely placing herself between Casey and the ogre.

Stumbling backward, trying to shake off the blow, Alseyne saw the direction the Ogre was moving in. She called out “Pip! Protect Casey!”

“No!” Casey yelped.  “Keep the phantom things back!”  She’d rather face five ogres than get swallowed by that icy black sea again.

“What?” Pip turned, seeing the advancing ogre. “Oh crap…!”

His attention was diverted for just a moment. A moment was all the shadows needed. Black forms rushed the satyr as he disappeared under a mountain of pitch.

“CRAP!” In desperation Casey lifted her weapon, its glassy blade sparkling in the light of Pip’s staff, then dimming as satyr and staff were engulfed in dark evil.  She knew the blade was strong; it seemed she was about to find out how strong. Just before the ogre reached her, she rose lightly into the air and aimed a long, sweeping, two-handed strike at his neck, putting all her strength behind the blow.

Before she even came close to contact, he batted her from the air like Joe Carter with bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6 of the ’93 World Series. Casey was sent flying into the opposite wall, and tumbled to the pavestones.

“UNGH!”  She lay in a stunned heap for a moment, wondering if anything was broken.  It was hard to tell…everything hurt. 

Korin sprang toward the Ogre, ignoring the black phantoms for now. Like his distant cousin who routinely took down one of the most venomous snakes in the world, he sought the throat. He bounced from the pavestones to the wall and toward the giant, his jaws snapping in preparation, the ligaments holding the jaws stretching, warming to the task ahead. Take the throat and take it fast…get out before your enemy can strike. Instinct took over. With a vicious, reedy snarl Korin struck! He clamped down, teeth clenching flesh.

“ARRARARR!” The Ogre howled, still plowing forward to Casey.

The Mangoose swung, his entire weight supported by his teeth clamped down upon the monster’s throat.

••This ends now!•• Claws’ mind screamed. The hunter surfaced with a vengeance, the thirst for blood and battle strong, lending him the focus of will and strength of body. Rolling over, he spotted his prey easily. With but a thought, he transformed into the huge sabre-toothed cat of legend. On paws, swift, silent, and deadly, he closed the gap between himself and the Ogre that had been batting them around. As he got close enough he leapt through the air, planting his forepaws, followed by the rest of him, right between the Ogre’s shoulder blades.

The Tiger slammed the Ogre onto the stone floor, Korin holding on for dear life all the while.

Claws’s form changed fluidly to Crinos. Hakarrs in hand, he hacked away at the Ogre, sparks flying from the chain around the Unseelie’s neck.

Stars danced before Casey’s eyes; she blinked owlishly and her vision cleared on a terrifyingly close view of the ogre climbing to his feet despite the best efforts of both Claws and Korin. She scrambled clumsily to her feet, every bone and muscle in her back protesting the effort, and looked around for her dropped weapon.

No… sword’s no good. Not as long as his arms.

You know what to do.

Do it now. Throw up later if you need to. Just stop this thing.

She hardened her resolve, reached out with her mind, focused and deadly. Envisioned her power like a hot blade, spearing through his eerily glowing eye-sockets into his brain. Burning, flaying. Destroying. Leaving scorched ash in an empty skull.

Death.

And then some.

The Ogre, slowed marginally by the Mongoose and the Tiger, sneered as the young telepath stood her ground. Then his gait slowed… his head twitching, shaking off an unseen attack. He stepped forward another pace… growing nearer…

Claws hacked deeply into the monster’s shoulders, cleaving HUGE chunks of meat free from his form and yet his enemy continued his march.

Korin tore away at tendons and tissue, foul blood pouring over his jaws — and yet the behemoth plowed forward.

Pulsing forth, Casey’s mind pushed harder….

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHH!”

The Ogre’s head erupted in a brilliant blue-white flame!

Korin leaped away, blood soaking his face, neck, and chest.

The Ogre staggered just as his entire head EXPLODED, spattering the three with gore and grit.

The headless monster faltered, toppling lifelessly to the stone floor.

At last, the creature was finished.

His rage not sated, the massive Khan, in the haze of battle, continued to hack and slash at the corpse, the notion that it was dead not settling in through the bloodrage.

As the blood ran from the tip of Korin’s jaw mixed with spit, anger and fear, he fought back the urge to lick at his lips…unsuccessfully. The instincts of the animal still held him. ^^Yes….yes…the beast is dead. Before me lay the cobra.^^

But the animal’s joy of the kill was short lived as the black touchable bringers of pain circled for a new assault. “AAARRRRRRRROOOO!” The phantoms howled as they encircled the three. It cut through the ringing in Casey’s ears, pulled her awareness back to the closing peril around her. She was white as a sheet, but the trembling had stopped. Steady and sure now, she moved with smooth precision: scooped up her weapon-hilt from the pavestones, made a swift toss-away gesture with her other hand to send the ogre’s amulet sliding across the floor away from the Ogre’s body, stepped in close to Korin and Claws.  “We need to get everyone together.  We don’t have a chance against these things if we’re scattered around; we need to get to Pip and Alseyne and Elijah and group up.” 

It took a moment, but the voice of the telepath made it’s way through to Claws’ consciousness. Slowly coming out of the red haze of the battle, he realized that his foe no longer moved beneath his body. An odd calm slipped over his face and, deeper down, across his spirit. That battle was over….

Extending her crystalline blade, Casey realized that she could hear Alseyne screaming. She had the vague impression that it had been going on for a while.  “Let’s see if we can work our way over to Alseyne first.”