Captain Meralco the mink, Vic the lemming, Medina the water
buffalo, Camia the parrot, Earl the beaver and the remaining two water buffalo
men approached the glass coffin at the center of the room. Inside was the decayed
and emaciated body of a jackal woman. Her body was twisted as if in agony, her
eyes were closed and she grinned in a rictus of agony. She wore a dress that
had visibly faded and rotted and her arms were wrapped around her body as if
she was shivering in the cold.
“Oh Nadia!” Medina cried as she looked into the glass
coffin. “What has he done to you?”
Then, much to the horror of those looking in from the
outside, the jackal woman’s eyes snapped wide open, revealing milky eyes that
stared hard at them.
+++
Kiana the spider had climbed up the ceiling of the basement
and the bone giant tried smashing at her with its arms comprised of multiple
skeletons. It pounded hard and tore holes in the flooring above, bringing in
more mist into the already foggy basement. The remaining lemmings tried
desperately to find the dropped Candle of Protection but with the rampaging
bone giant smashing and crushing all in its wake, they were more than hesitant
to get too close to where their comrade fell.
Zenny the tiger fought well, managing to avoid getting
stomped on by the undead horror but even she was beginning to tire and could
barely see in the thickening fog.
After managing to reload his pistol, Prince Gaius the lion shot
the bone giant which only dislodged a skull and a few bones from one of its
shoulders. It was very clearly not going to stop just because of a few shots
fired from his pistol. He had to leap away from the monster as it continued to
roar and thrash above him as it would most certainly crush him if it caught
him.
Having run out of ammunition, Cindy the skunk resorted to throwing
fireworks at the bone giant and was successful in dislodging bones from its
body and angering it further. The occasional explosion from her fireworks lit
the ever-darkening basement briefly and only revealed how trapped they were.
Still Cindy dug through her pockets for more fireworks to use against the enormous
skeletal beast and threw them at it whenever she could.
McGrath the scorpion and Zobel the rat did their best to
distract the monstrosity but it was clear that they only provided little help
in the long run. The bone giant was simply too big, too powerful and too resilient
to be effectively killed by anything any of them had. Add to that the fact that
the room was being quickly enveloped in dense fog and it was clear that the
monster had the upper hand in their struggle.
+++
“Medina?” the corpse of the jackal woman croaked. “Medina,
is that you?”
“Yes Nadia,” Medina said. “It is I. I am here. I have
brought help.”
“Oh,” the corpse very disturbingly tried to smile. “Thank
goodness.”
+++
The doors to the basement burst open and Prince Gaius’ heart
sank. That meant that the other undead were probably pouring in from above. He
tried not to think too much of what could happen next and focused on reloading
his pistol so he could use it again.
Then the mist parted around them and the familiar sound of
chanting filled the cellar.
It was Father Stanwick the badger, Sanchez the dog and those
that came with them.
“Sanchez!” Zobel said as he dove aside to avoid being
crushed by one of the bone giant’s enormous legs. “Help us out.”
And that they did.
+++
“Thank you,” said the corpse of Nadia Belford. “Thank the
Redeemer that you’ve come.”
“We’ll get you out!” Medina said, opening the glass coffin. “We’ll
help!”
“No,” said the corpse. “Please, if you must help, please
help my daughter Wendy!”
+++
Sanchez the dog, Fr. Stanwick and the lemmings and buffaloes
that came with them were quick to join the fray.
As the priest descended, he began to chant louder,
dispelling more and more of the fog so that the others could see it better. Their
group also had their own lanterns and Candle of Protection which they used banish
more of the mists that surrounded them. Now they could all see the thing more
clearly and they fought it with even more ferocity.
+++
“Joseph!” Nadia Belford said in her raspy corpse-voice. “Joseph
took Wendy with him when he left Karlaca!”
“Nadia?” Beryl asked. “Is your daughter still alive. Is she
still alive like us? Or is she like you now?”
“My Wendy is alive,” Nadia answered. “I was merely his
experiment. My husband just wanted to know the effects of undeath so he used me
as his test subject. Oh, how I suffered for him! If I could only get my hands
around that man’s neck!”
Vic shivered at the idea of an undead woman like Nadia strangling
him.
“Then let us get you out!” Medina said, once again prying at
the glass coffin. “Help us find your husband!”
“No Medina,” Nadia said. “You must destroy me!”
+++
Fr. Stanwick’s prayers almost dispelled the fog completely
but it was clear that they were still at a disadvantage against the bone giant.
They simply did not have enough energy and ammunition to keep fighting it and
destroy enough of its body. Fr. Stanwick considered calling for divine
intervention to disintegrate the monster but that would allow the mist to
reform, blinding them again.
But then several small things fell unto the creature below
which exploded, causing parts of the monster to scatter everywhere. Then, bolts
of fire rained down from above, setting parts of the bone giant ablaze. To
forms descended from the holes the bone giant made earlier. One was avian and
dressed in a bright red hood and cloak while the other was long and serpentine
with a white coat.
It was Sienna the owl and Zane the cobra. Next, the doors to
the cellar swung open again and a crocodile and a bat entered, followed quickly
by a hare and a tortoise carrying a small cannon. More people came through the
open doorway and more people came in armed with muskets.
+++
“Destroy me Medina,” Nadia said. “End the awful curse of
this place!”
“But...” Medina trailed off.
“Please Medina,” Nadia went on. “My husband has gone mad! He
has become obsessed with undeath! He is now bent on finding Admiral Sebastian and
learning all that he can from the archlich!”
“He’s what?” Beryl asked. “You’re telling me that Count
Belford is looking for Admiral Sebastian?”
“Look to his notes,” Nadia pointed at the table with all the
notebooks and papers at the side of the chamber with a shaky, skeletal hand. “You
will find it all in there. He has written there all that he knows of the undead
pirate and how he may achieve undeath himself. Joseph has recorded everything.
Every minute detail of how to create undead and transform oneself into one.”
“Does he know how to find Admiral Sebastian?” Beryl said as
she looked over the notebooks on the table. “Will we learn of his whereabouts?”
“Yes,” Nadia said. “With those, you may find my husband and,
if you follow him, he will likely lead you to Admiral Sebastian. He is obsessed
with the old lizard, you see. He will stop at nothing to discover the archlich’s
secrets, including and especially his immortality. All that I ask is that you
save my daughter from him. Take her back and tell her what her father had done
to her mother. Tell her everything.”
+++
“FIRE!” shouted Khayyam the crocodile once they had a clear
line-of-fire towards the bone giant.
“Fire!” repeated Prince Gaius as he fired his own pistol at
the undead horror.
“Fire!” yelled Cindy as she tossed her last remaining
firework at the goliath made of skeletons.
The crewmen with muskets all fired at the bone giant as
Gustaf the tortoise and Karl the rabbit blasted away with their cannon. Sienna
the owl attacked the bone giant with a more potent fire spell, expanding her
bolts of fire into a large ball of flame. Zane the cobra tossed a bomb at the
monster that immediately sizzled and began eating away at the bones of the
creature when it struck.
The combined force of the attacks knocked bones out of the
undead horror’s body and finally, it toppled to the ground, its body dividing
in half.
Those gathered around the monster were about to cheer in
triumph but then something started happening.
The bones that had been knocked free from the bone giant
began shaking again as if there was an earthquake. Soon the bones began to fly
in the air once again and filled in the gaps of the two masses of bones. Then,
after all the bones on the floor had gone, two new bone giants clambered on
disproportionate feet.
“Not again,” Zobel the rat said. “You gotta be kidding!”
+++
“Now, please do as I ask,” Nadia said. “Please, destroy me.”
“But why?” Medina said. “There must be some other way.”
“No, my friend,” the corpse-jackal said. “There is no other
way. I would want to help you but through me my husband has already too many awful
things. I have felt and witnessed many who have died within Belford Mansion.
Those who were unfortunate enough to find themselves within its walls have rarely
escaped. Through me, the curse of the house has spread through Karlaca in the
form of the mist. I have seen how it has taken the people and turned them into
zombies. I have seen how the mist reanimated the dead, trapping unfortunate
souls within their own decaying bodies or imprisoned within the mist and slowly
forgetting everything they had ever known and loved. I am what powers the curse
and to end it, you must destroy me.”
Medina the water buffalo only looked away.
“Please, I am just so tired,” Nadia Belford said. “I am so
tired of being here. Of being trapped in this coffin. Of being trapped in this
rotted husk of a body. I am so cold but I know that nothing will warm me now
even if I am set on fire. Please, end it.”
“No,” the water buffalo said. “I can’t.”
But then Beryl put a hand on the other woman’s shoulder.
“I will do it,” said Beryl and drew her pistol-sword. “Will this
be enough?”
“Yes,” Nadia said. “That will do.”
The corpse-jackal pointed a gnarled finger at her forehead.
“Aim here,” Nadia said and again attempted a smile that only
made Vic’s skin crawl. “But please find my daughter. I do not know what her
father has told her and I don’t know what she has done but I assure you that
she is a good girl. Her father has taken her with him, corrupting her mind with
his own ambitions of eternal life. Please take her back from him. Take her back
so that she can live a better life. The life of a necromancer is not for my
dear Wendy. Please, I beg you.”
“I will,” Beryl said, pointing her pistol sword at Nadia
Belford. “I promise.”
+++
As a gun was fired somewhere on the upper floors, the group
in the cellar prepared for the worst. Their combined attacks worked to a degree
but it was clear they needed even greater firepower if they hoped to destroy the
bone giants. What they had on hand was clearly not enough.
They tried to reload as fast as they could while McGrath,
Zobel, Cindy, Kiana and Zenny tried to distract the enormous monsters that were
trying to stomp on them like vermin.
Prince Gaius was trying to reload his pistol, carefully
pouring in gunpowder into the barrel with shaky hands. Zane was trying to
prepare another acid bomb as it did damage the monster couldn’t easily repair
but had to rummage through his rucksack because he didn’t dare take his eyes
off the monster. Sienna had expended a lot of energy in her last fireball
attack and took deep breaths just to be able prepare firebolts.
But then, just as the bone giants bore down on them, they
suddenly stopped and bones began to fall and scatter from their enormous forms.
Bones rained all around them as the bone giants began to fall apart. It was
clear that whatever force animated them was gone now.
The mist too began to part, revealing the cellar fully.
Whatever power it had was fading too as they could hear corpses and skeletons
above fall over. It was over, the curse had been lifted from Belford Mansion.
Yvonne the fruit bat raised her head cautiously.
“Is it over?” she asked. “For real this time?”