(OOC: Skipping Arcus -- time to move the story along.)
"My, such an i-i-i-inquisitive young miss!" Quisling crooned at Solar's battery of questions and speculations, chuckling softly to himself.
"All very g-good questions. You have the makings of a h-h-historian, perhaps!"Before he could say anything more, Cordell stopped suddenly and signaled for the group to stop. Just ahead the tunnels opened into a large cave that stretched back into darkness -- sweeping it with flashlights revealed what looked like a miniature makeshift village of rough-hewn wooden buildings, more than half of which were nothing more than piles of timber collapsed from the passing of the ages. Barrels and crates lay littered about, the faint smell of what may once have been provisions wafting in the air, and here and there could be spotted yet more skeletons in various states. The Faunus in the group, if they strained their senses as far as they could go, would just barely make out that further back in the cave lay a large structure of some kind, though details from this far away just weren't possible -- it was a rough silhouette in the dark, nothing more.
"...By th' gods!" At first, Cordell could scarcely manage a whisper, flashlight going to and fro as she took in the pirate outpost.
"This... this must be it! Has t' be! Grimshaw's base of operations, hidden down under th' mountain!" She turned to look at the others, her grin absolutely
beaming.
"If'n there's anythin' t' be found, it'll be here. Let's get --"A
sound echoed through the vast cavern, where nothing ought to be moving... a dry scraping sound, accompanied by what sounded like wind. Even though it wasn't loud per say it seemed to cut through the air like a knife, stopping the pirate mid thought. In the breath-held stillness, the sound repeated... then began to grow, both louder and
closer. Whipping out a pistol, Cordell turned to survey their surroundings with an anxious urgency, trying to find the source with both her flashlight and her Semblance at once...
... until, unexpectedly, a pinpoint of orange light rose from behind one of the buildings. The flashlight focused on it at once, revealing what looked like a round bone-hued mask with a single glowing eye in the middle of it. The very air seemed to quiver around the thing, and the darkness grew thick as ink even where the flashlight shone. Cordell's next word put voice to the threat that now presented itself.
"GEIST!"Tendrils of unnatural dark power materialized around the Grimm phantom, launching off into the shadows as it let loose an echoing screech that resonated throughout the whole cavern. Trying to seize initiative Cordell dashed forwards, firing shots as she went, but she didn't get far. The color of the Geist's eye suddenly shifted, becoming a deep purple, and in the next instant a bolt of energy like lightning lanced from its gaze and hit her dead-on, sending her flying into a building. The wooden structure, weakened after so much time, collapsed on top of her.
At the same time, the scraping sounds from earlier were becoming more numerous -- and getting closer. From out of the shadows came the reanimated dead, skeletons given motion and violence by the Geist's malevolent powers. Bony fingers picked up swords, clubs, pistols, any weapon that was lying about, even grabbing up broken bits of wood where nothing else presented itself. Their empty eye sockets glowed the same unnatural amber hue as their master, and with a silent rallying cry the skeleton army charged the explorers who'd dared trespass this ancient tomb.
"From b-behind! T-t-they're coming from behind!" Quisling, terrified, pointed his flashlight back into the tunnel as the sound of bones scraping stone reached him, and not moments after the first skeleton stepped into the light with a cutlass in hand.
Culling the Grimm on the beach had been a good warm up, but there was no support to be had here. The adventurers would have to fight for their lives.
TARGETS:
▪ BOSS: ANCIENT GEIST ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
▪ Reanimated Skeletons (various weapons) [36 / 36]