The Twelve

[The Great Nevareh]

Zachary opts to explore the spa. Little else to do.
Whether or not it would be useful, Zachary takes the whip, anyway. He also takes a moment to crush the corpse's neck, as you never know what could happen.
He then dabs the fresh blood all over himself, mostly for the look of it. Better fearsome than nothing.

[Molokidan]

Zachary waded through the steamy pool, looking for signs of bodies, or anything else that he could use. The pool seemed to be vacant. The wall that had been previously blocking the male pool from the female pool was now destroyed, and Zachary could see a small bit of ways into the other room, but not much.

Otherwise, the spa was generally fine, with the overgrowth everywhere. A few lockers were open haphazardly, and there was a mess by the sink, but otherwise, there was no strangeness.

[FF Fanatic 80]

...welll... it is either this or wear myself out running away. Adarl think briefly I doubt this will be my last encounter, assuming I live...

Without wasting another second, the half-drow grabs two bottles of the wine in each hand, quickly turning around and sending them hurling at the creature.

[The Great Nevareh]

Zachary opens all of the lockers, slowly regaining his ability to reason. He pokes through the mess. He stretches. And other things. Goooo Zachary!

[Molokidan]

Adarl began launching the wine bottles at the beast. The glass dissolved on impact, and the wine splashed onto the thing, soaking it and seeming to be evaporated into it.

That was where the problem started. Afrter the two bottles had finished, the thing seemed to. . .be moving a lot more haphazardly. It swayed left and right, standing just a few feet from Adarl, and then began crawling around to the left in a drunken stupor.

Adarl, stupefied, stared backwards at the owner of the thing. He too was teetering back and forth on his feet, his face beet red, his eyes blinking dizzily.

"Not bad." a female voice said, stepping out of the shadows. "I've been watching you this whole time."

The woman was tall, wearing a black dress with a frilly, umbrella-like bottom, and a tight corset top which came up to her neck. She was wearing black gloves, and then finally, a large black veil with black birdfeathers that covered her face. Not an inch of her skin was visible. She moved forward daintily, and Adarl couldn't think of a more unapt-looking fighter.

"He seems to, for whatever reason, be able to project his stomach into some strange beast. The digestive juices destroy everything they come in touch with. . .and absorb nutrients. Which is why they absorbed the wine.

The woman flicked her fingers, and suddenly, the man was covered in over a hundred different lacerations on his body. His arms flew off, his head fell backwards, and his body fell to pieces on the floor. Adarl didn't see it too well, but he could see that whatever had made the cuts had been very thin, and very fast.

Her head moved back to Adarl. She had long black hair in a bun at the end, which spiked outwards like razor blade. "I will not take that man's badge." she said. "It is your kill. But. . .I do wish to duel with you."

****

Unfortunately for Zachary, there was nothing in any of the lockers. This shouldn't have been a surprise, since there was absolutely no one using the facilities at this moment. The clock ticked away as he finally regained his senses. . .

[wkz]

Its not everyday someone gets to feel like a sack of grain, and liking it. But after what happened, Theodarus wouldn't mind being carried by someone, as long as everyone gets carried away from that self-peircing freak as fast as possible.

And there's the fact that he could at least rest a bit, despite all the bouncing around jarring his injured shoulder....

[Molokidan]

(OOC: Sorry Joshua, but we just gotta keep moving.)

Rall hefted Theo and Negi hastily onto his shoulder. "D. . .damn. . ." he said. "Negi, you're heavier than I thought. You need to lose some more blood."

No one laughed at his joke, so he quickly turned around and called to Riley and Fwupo. "Hey!! Get over here, I need help carrying these guys!"

Riley ran over, and hefted Negi over his shoulder. "Alright, you take that guy."

Rall picked up Theodarus, and turned to Fwupo. "Let's get the hell out of here."

The five ran out of the hallway, and began zooming down towards the stairwell upwards.

"Alright." Rall said, taking one quick look at the barrier barring entry to the third floor, and stared ahead. "We got a fork in the road. As I hate making decisions, and Negi is unconscious, this is your call, Mr. Icicle."

[FF Fanatic 80]

"It would seem... I do not have much choice..." Adarl answers, backing off slowly, one arm readied on his sword. Whatever this woman was using for a weapon, it was fast and near-impossible to see. The badges could wait, for he had no desire to see himself a pile of flesh like the stomach-shooting man. He waited, to see what she would do first.

[Molokidan]

"Good." she said, removing her veil with one hand and moving forward.

Her face was covered by a black mask with a swirly print on it. Adarl could still not see any of the woman's skin. Two paper-thin slits were in the mask, for the woman's eyes to see out of.

She put her hands at level with her chest, and seemed to be flexing around something. Adarl squinted to see what it was, and could see some sparkles, but nothing else. Was it invisible?

"Here I come." she said. Adarl could feel a gust of wind past him, and suddenly, there were two slight cuts on the edges of his shoulderblades.

"I suggest you move." the woman said, moving closer. "Although I just killed that man there, immobile prey is really not my thing."

[wkz]

(OCC: I would venture a guess at this popular anime/manga weapon, but Adarl's in that fight, not me. Looks like someone's really soaked in Japanese Culture...)

"I need to rest a bit..." Theodarus said. He looked at Negi, badly injured and barely moving, not even sure if he would survive despite the word clearly visible on the arm...

"Between Negi and me, we got enough extra to let one person through..." Theodarus thought, trying to ignore the pain on his shoulders. "But first..."

"How many badges have you all got?" he asked the other three temporarly allies...

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wkz@rpgww60462>wkz</A] at: 11/17/04 8:56 pm

[Molokidan]

(OOC: Hey ! I'll take that as a compliment. )

"I have my own, plus two." Rall said. "I'm all set."

"Fwupo and I haven't gotten any extras yet." Riley said. "We still need to go collect ours at some point. . ."

"Negi is really damaged, though." Rall said. "And Theo, you don't look too hot yourself. I think we should go down the right and see if we can find any first aid stuff in the nurse's room."

Riley and Rall hefted Negi and Theodarus onto their shoulders, and the five continued down the right passage. They were in the white square room with multiple doors.

"Crap. . ." Riley said, looking around. "Now which one is the door to the medical room."

"It's this one." Rall said, pushing open a purple door and taking Theodarus in, setting him in a chair.

Riley and Fwupo soon followed. Riley set Negi down on the white cot in the room, and then looked around.

The place was pretty bare, with just a few cupboards and a sink. There was gauze and a sphygomometer on the table.

Rall began opening cupboards randomly with his human hand. "Darn. . ." he said. "There isn't much left in here." he pulled out a roll of bandages and some medical tape, and looked at Negi on the table. "This will take a while. . ." he clasped the bandage with the clamp of the mechanism on his right arm, and began wrapping up Negi. "Anyone want to give me a hand?"

[The Great Nevareh]

(OOC: Isn't the Medical Room near the Spa? Edit: Yes it is! Thank you.)
Zachary, having apparently exhausted the available things to do in the spa, opens the door to the spa area and then surreptitiously looks around outside before ducking back in. If he sees no one, he shall then walk out and precariously search around, he a wonderful vision of ragged-looking man coated in the blood of others. He's also mentally prepped to spring on someone if they attack him.

Edited by: The Great Nevareh at: 11/17/04 10:41 pm

[Molokidan]

Zachary moved outside, to see the large white space full of doors to be prospectively empty.

There was a trail of blood leading from the entrance over to a purple door, but besides that, there was nothing much else out of order.

Zachary looked around once more, and then caught a glimpse of another person walking down the hallway.

This was a female. . .she was wearing a ridiculously skintight leotard, that showed off *every* aspect of her body. Her skin was flawlessly smooth and white, and she had beautiful long hair, to match her gorgeous face. She was fairly tall, and while her legs and arms were firm, they didn't seem to be grotesquely muscular or anything. Her body itself was perfectly shaped, as if she stepped right out of a swimsuit magazine.

She stood at the entrance to the spa/medical area, looking around, saying nothing, her red lips curved in a pouty expression, as if she was looking for someone and couldn't find them.

[FF Fanatic 80]

Adarl wasn't about to argue, quickly looking for anything in the small restaurant he could get behind. He winced at the pains coming from his shoulder, still trying to figure out what hit him.

What is she using? Some form of magic? Some kind of fine threads? I must figure this out if I am to strike back...

The half-drow continues to observe his opponent, finding whatever is handy to put between himself and the woman.

[Molokidan]

Adarl backed up, keeping his eyes on his opponent, quickly looking around for something that could aid him.

Meanwhile, the woman moved forward, flexing her fingers. "You're not making this very fun for me. . ." she mumured. "But you don't seem to be putting the pieces together. . ." she stopped. "Do you know who we are?"

Adarl was confused, to say the least.

"I am-"

"Victoria Mephisto, 6th member of the Dark Zodiacs." A new voice said, a tall man with ebony skin and braided hair in a ponytail. Adarl recognized him from the first and second preliminary rounds. "You're using animal hairs. . .you use the life force that's left in them to power them up and use them against your enemies." he stepped in between Victoria and Adarl.

Victoria seemed to be considering this new man that had appeared. "Interesting. . ." she said, in that same dreamy, slow voice that she had been speaking in the whole time. "Is it possible that I had made a mistake in targeting?"

Kamome turned quickly to Adarl. "I'll deal with her." he said. "Get out of here."

Victoria flexed her fingers again. "No matter. . .I'll just kill you both."

"No." Another voice appeared. This was a man with brown hair down to his shoulders. He was wearing a tank top and jeans, and there was nothing special about his outfit. He stepped out of the chinese restaurant and came around, looking at the three people. "Victoria, you handle this new guy. I'll take our friend Adarl with me."

Adarl was more than a bit confused at this point, since he had never mentioned his name to either of them, that he could remember.

"Come on." the brown-haired man said, stepping down a corridor of the restaurant halls. "We have stuff to talk about. Unless you'd rather stay here and get cut into ribbons."

[wkz]

"Just let me rest a bit," Theodarus said to Rall. "Let me rest to calm myself enough such that I can do heals all around... but in the meantime, we have to stop that bleeding..."

With that, Theodarus forced himself on his feet, and walked over to Negi, trying to help with the first aid if he could....

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wkz@rpgww60462>wkz</A] at: 11/18/04 9:09 pm

[The Great Nevareh]

Zachary appears somewhat confused as to what's going on, and he eyes the woman with incredible suspicion. He is sorely tempted to try to disable her before she acknowledges his presence, though in his current state he's not too sure as to whether or not he can overpower an opponent- his attack against Bruce took a lot out of him.

However, it is better to be safe than to be sorry... and so he begins the mental calculations required to successfully and efficiently pull off one of his moves.

[Molokidan]

Theodarus moved over to the blood-ridden Negi, who was bleeding out of so many cuts that it was hard to tell where the actual blood was coming from.

The man was a mess. . .it was amazing that he had survived this long. He had long since slipping into unconsciousness, but was still breathing smoothly. It appeared as if the blades hadn't pierced deep enough to cut any vital organs.

"We'll have to bandage him up for now. . ." Rall said, wrapping bandage after bandage around Negi's first arm. "The worst part I've seen is his stomach, which has a really large gash. That might have to be stitched afterwards. . .but I don't know anything about medical stuff. Do you??"

The cuts on Negi's four arms had already started healing, but were still bleeding profusely. There were slashes across his chest that were shallow by now, but the deep gashes in his stomach had remained open. He wasn't bleeding his guts out per se, but it was pretty bad. His legs had the same sort of shallow gashes that his arms had, and there was nothing dangerous there. Luckilly, there were no cuts on his head. It wasn't going to be easy, that was for sure.

[FF Fanatic 80]

Something was very... very strange here. How did this man know Adarl's name? Had someone he grouped with prior told the man, such as Fwupo or that Theo fellow? Possibly even Saffron or his cohort...

And the woman said she belonged to the Dark Zodiacs... how many more of them were there? Do they have a purpose for being in this tournament together? Was this man one of them? If so, why had he allowed the half-drow to live?

Adarl wonders all these things, as he backs off from the thread-wielding woman. He had no desire to fight if unnecessary, and the man's behaviour seemed very strange as well. He wished to know what the man wanted with him.

Not taking his eyes off of anyone, he does attempt to take the badges from the corpse of the stomach shooter, before exiting after the man. The half-drow figured if anything, he could watch the man's reaction. He would know if this simply involved his badges, or something else.

Edited by: FF Fanatic 80&nbsp; at: 11/19/04 11:51 am

[Molokidan]

The brown-haired man nodded as Adarl retrieved the badge from the corpse, and then began walking down the hallway.

Adarl followed him through the hallway, looking at the man. He truly looked like your average man -- he could have even been a farmworker. He was so normal, in fact, that it looked like he had even gone out of his way to make himself look inconspicuous. His brown hair came down to his shoulders, but was not styled or anything. He was wearing a plain white tanktop, and brown pants that weren't ripped enough to be noticed, but weren't new enough either. There was really absolutely nothing abnormal to him. . .except. . .

There was the tattoo of a faceless ox on the back of his neck.

He continued down the hallway, and began to talk to Adarl. "We're going someplace where we can't be bothered. Victoria gets a bit excited, so don't worry about her. She wasn't really going to kill her. But I hope she goes easy on that other guy. . ."

They found a small stairwell and moved up it, coming up into a small hallway with a door at the end. The man moved up to open the door, and Adarl found himself standing in the hallway that Saffron had brought him so long ago. Down at the end, the gold doors seemed to be open a crack. There were a few dead bodies scattered around.

"Let's see. . ." he said, looking around the doors. "This should do fine." he said, opening the same door that Saffron had opened so long ago, and stepped inside.

"By the way. . ." he said, stepping into the desert scenery and closing the door behind him. "My name is Lamotte, I'm the 10th member of the Dark Zodiacs."

He stood in the desert dunes, staring at Adarl. "You probably don't know what I've dragged you here for. Maybe by now, you've realized this is not about badges. This is something much more important than badges. I've been ordered to kill you."

Lamotte removed his tank top, revealing a thick, wide x-shaped scar that covered his chest. He cracked his neck and stared at Adarl. "Nothing personal, really. It's what I do. You got any questions before we begin?"

****

Victoria stared at Kamome. "Well. . ." she smiled. "It seems you are my new target now."

At least I let that other guy get away. . . Kamome said. Now I don't have to be wary about using my powers. . .

He quickly tapped his boots twice on the floor, almost like a reflex action, so smoothly that Victoria didn't even notice.

"Yeah. . .if you can catch me, that is." he said, suddenly turning and speeding down the opposite hallway of the food area in a flash.

"Interesting. . ." Victoria whispered to herself, picking up the bottoms of her dress and pursuing her prey.

[FF Fanatic 80]

...that tattoo... Adarl thought, as they entered the room. The style of it seemed very familiar to him. In fact, it seemed much like Sa...

...

And as he heard the man proclaim where his allegiance lay, and his intent to kill him, it clicked.

...Saffron is one of them. the half-drow realizes, as he keeps a hand ready at the hilt of his blade. Winslow must be one of them as well, he guesses to himself. And now, apparently, the swordsman's group wanted him dead.

Yet, Saffron did not do so that very morning, and had instructed Winslow not to either. There was something else going on here... and the half-drow had no intention of dying before he could find out. Though he did have one question for the man, if he was sincere about a question.

"...what is so special about me, that you felt compelled to isolate me here to fight alone?" he asks Lamotte.

[The Great Nevareh]

At that point, Zachary was relatively sure he had worked out all the math to at least disable the woman.
If I raise the gravity to an appropriate level to stun her, than I can do my headlong-smashy thing while she's still. I should probably come up with names for my moves at some point. Just a couple more seconds...

[Molokidan]

Lamotte shrugged. "My orders." he said. "The Dog told me to. I wasn't going to be one to argue, anyway. . .you don't mess with him."

He cracked his knuckles now, stepping forward to Adarl. "So, can we get this over with already? I wanna go to the checkpoint as soon as possible and meet up with buddies."

Without a further word, Lamotte dashed towards Adarl, hands splayed to grab his neck.

****

The woman stepped forward to Zachary, smiling sweetly. "Hello. . ." she said. "Could you help me for a second? Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you. I'm weak anyway. But I'm looking for my husband. . .have you seen any men around here lately?"

[The Great Nevareh]

"Erm... not particularly. Who's your husband?"
Pi divided by the square root of negative seven-Xpah with the infracture toremis derivation over the Shadrach equation times...

[Molokidan]

"His name's Bruce. . ." she said. "He's a very very large man, and is bald. If you've seen him, you really can't forget that sort of face."

She seemed totally off guard, and there were obviously nowhere for her to hide any weapons. She stood in front of Zachary, looking at him quizzically.

[FF Fanatic 80]

...the....dog... Adarl thought, for a very brief moment distracted by the man's statement. For Saffron's tattoo was of a d...

...then he quickly tried to dodge to the side, as he realized the man was charging forward. He had a feeling those outstretched hands touching him would mean certain death.

[The Great Nevareh]

"Bruce, you say? I might have seen him, though I'd need a last name."

[Molokidan]

Adarl dodged sideways. The drow was fast, but Lamotte, even with his momentum, still managed to shove his elbow into Adarl's side, sending him jerking backwards a bit. Lamotte growled and spun around, turning his body face to face with Adarl's, aiming for another punch to Adarl's face.

****

"Bruce Wernhart." The woman said, cocking an eyebrow. "My name's Rose Wernhart. Do you remember yet?" She seemed to be losing her patience.

[FF Fanatic 80]

Adarl whips out his bastard sword, trying to use the metal blade to block the punch. If successful, he tries to look for an opening to knee the man in the stomach.

[Molokidan]

Lamotte's hand hit metal, striking off of Adarl's blade with a loud crack. Adarl kneed him swiftly in the stomach, his knee smashing into the vortex of the man's scar.

Lamotte staggered backwards, breathing heavily. "Oooh. . ." he said. "That hurts. . .yeah. . ."

He took another breath, and then wound up for a kick.

[wkz]

Meanwhile, Theodarus had bandaged Negi sufficiently, and felt reasonabily good enough to start writing "heals" all around, immediately starting with the moogle.

After all, the little guy injuries occured because of a attack which most probably had saved his life...

[Molokidan]

Theodarus took a look at Fwupo. The moogle was a bit winded, and had a large gash in each of his thighs. Luckilly, they weren't too deep, like Negi's, but they would still take a while too heal. Using the rest of the bandages, Theodarus and Rall successfully bandaged the moogle up. He would just have to rest a little bit before he got fighting again.

Negi began to slowly come back to consciousness, blinking and looking around. "D. . .damn. . ." he said. "Who bandaged me up? What happened?"

Rall turned to Negi. "Theodarus and I." he said. "We're on the second floor. How do you feel? Don't strain yourself if it hurts to talk." Rall then turned to Theodarus. "And, more importantly, how are YOU? You haven't said a word about yourself the whole time we've been up me. And unless my eyes decieve me, you have two large holes under your shoulders."

[FF Fanatic 80]

The half-drow tries to take steps back to avoid the kick, intending to counter with a strike from his blade if successfull.

[The Great Nevareh]

"Oh, him? I left him downstairs after he tried to kill me and a friend. He might still be downstairs. He's probably still down there actually, though so are a whole bunch of other people. Would you like be to go look for him for you?"

[Molokidan]

"I just came from downstairs!" Rose said. "I was looking all over for him. He's not there anymore." she said. "We have to look for him up here."

As Zachary listened to her, he realized he was hearing a background sound as well. It sounded like water flowing. . .

He realized it was coming from behind him, but he didn't yet turn his head to see what it was exactly. Yet, he could feel as if there was a puddle water coming from behind, and soaking into his boots, slowly rising up his legs. . .

****

Lamotte came forward to connect the kick with Adarl, and the half-drow brought the blade down. Lamotte looked up in time, but made no move to dodge. He instead seemed to raise his chest up towards the blade, allowing it to cut a clean arc through the center of his scar.

Adarl followed through with the swipe, as Lamotte staggered backwards, blood gushing from the center of the scar.

"Y. . .yes." he said. "Finally, the curse seal has been broken."

Suddenly, what looked like thin muscle tendons began to flow out from Lamotte's scar. They grew, covering his body, turning him into a huge bulking mass of muscle. Underneath the covering, his body seemed to be taking some very strange turns and twists. Finally, the tendons began to flow back into the scar, and Adarl could see with his eyes what had happened.

The man's body was now a dark green, with thick red veins pulsating through his skin. In random places all over his body, bone stuck out, razor-sharp like knives. Covering his body in random places were what looked like white plastic, but Adarl guessed it was something much tougher than that. His hair was like a white flame and flowed like one organism on top of his head, and his eyes had turned black, with white voidless pupils. He stared at Adarl, grinning.

"Thanks for helping me out, bud!" he laughed, his voice, strange enough as it was, completely unchanged. "Now we can fight for reals."

He bent his head down, and then reached behind his back. He stuck his hand into the nape of his neck, and began to pull. . .pull. . .PULL out his spinal cord. he held it in front of him, weilding it like some grotesque sword.

"Let's go." he said, suddenly dashing towards Adarl with incredible speed.

[wkz]

Theodarus winced at the mention of his injuries, as if he had completely forgotten the pain. "This?" he indicated his left shoulder "Its not that serious, at least not yet."

That, despite the fact his left hand hung useless at his side...

While talking, he was already charging up the brush for a "Heal" for the moogle...

[The Great Nevareh]

Zachary, thinking rather quickly, jumped in the air, turned around, then jumped back to face the woman, catching a glimpse of what was happening but also trying to keep the woman in his vision. It is wholly possible that she is not causing the disturbance, and if so, it would not be nice to break her neck because of something someone else did, whatever his feelings about her husband.

[Molokidan]

Theodarus had not regained his full power back, but in the short rest they had taken so far, he had got a good amount back.

He knelt down beside Fwupo and began healing the moogle's wounds. Soon, they were back to normal, and he could walk without any limp whatsoever.

"Thanks, man." Fwupo said, staring down at Theodarus. "You're sure a lifesaver."

"Hey. . ." Riley hopped off the cabinet top, looking around. "Is everyone back to normal now?"

"Errrgh. . ." Negi clamored off the table, standing up and jerking a bit before getting balanced on his two feet. "I can walk, that's for sure, but. . .don't expect me to save your ass again." he smirked at Theodarus. "What I mean to say is. . .thanks back there, man. Even before we met that psycho knife freak, I would have been cut to bits by that huge mod-tractor. You've managed to save my butt yet again."

Rall smiled at Theodarus. "Interesting, indeed. I say we get going. Most of you still need badges, we've wasted far too much time in this medical room."

He shoved open the door with his metal arm, and everyone stepped out, just in time to see Zachary land from his jump, and look back at Rose.

She seemed unnerved by his quick response to the water, and turned to look at the five newcomers. "Hey, have you guys seen a tall, bald, built man by the name of Bruce? I'm looking for him."

Meanwhile, Zachary was studying the water. It seemed to be leaking out from the spa at an intense rate. It was practically gushing out from under the door, and he couldn't think of any reason why. The spa itself was a good ten feet away from the door, and it sunk down low into the ground, and was far from full. The water must have been increased to an incredible amount for it to spread this far through the door. And not only that, but it was unnervingly cold. . .

[wkz]

Theodarus on the other hand...... well...... he's not staring at the woman. Nope, no sirre, definately not staring at the flawlessly smooth and fair skin, not at the gorgeous face, and definately NOT at the perfect curves at the....

Theodarus violently shook his head a few times. "THIS is not the time for staring at that..... that....... incredibily cute butt, and that.... Dammit!!" He shouted in his head, unconsious of the fact that he had slightly whispered out certain portions of that internal monologue.....

Edited by: [url=http://p068.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wkz@rpgww60462>wkz</A] at: 11/23/04 5:16 am

[Molokidan]

Rose turned to stare at Theodarus, who was currently having an internal battle with himself.

"Hey. . ." she spoke to him. "Your name is Theodarus, right? Averyl is looking for you, you know. Don't ask me why. . .he gets this way sometimes, when he has something in his head. Nothing can turn him off. . ." she shrugged. "But honestly, he likes chasing people. So you don't have to find him immediately if you don't want to."