"[censored]!"

Reem didn't shout the words but the alarm was clear in his voice as, book forgotten, he watched alarmed as Karst drew her bow on Festus, By the Nine she's gonna shoot him... I think unsure of what to do Reem took a step backwards, the glow of a paralysis spell guttering nervously in his left hand, he didn't want to hurt anyone just to stop the fight. He stepped towards the stand off again, Disarm first Reem headed towards Karst.

"Alright, calm down guys, Karst lower your bow... please? This is getting us nowhere, anyway you're not really gonna shoot him over this are you? At the very least he's better use to the group alive, even if he is an arsehole"

Reem faultered, he couldn't think of much else to say, a death like this wouldn't be good, he stood, a short distance away tensed with the spell subtly readied, the glow hidden behind his hand, waiting for if Karst decided to shoot come on you nut, put down the bow this isn't the way a group works

Perenne looked up with her eyes blazing as Festus made certain to rub every fault of the group into their faces before deciding that he was going to set off on his own, and leave the group behind. Yeah, and that was very brilliant of him too, wasn't it? It's not good to be frightened of the unknown and of near death, actual danger, but wow, he was all set to go rip-roaring alone through the cave. No matter what may be lying in wait inside of it. Oh no, these bandits all died of natural causes. Oh yes, that vampire must have turned on them, then conveniently lay in wait in the coffin to get dusted. Yes, she was SURE that was what happened...

But much to her glee, Karst stepped forward, with bow drawn, and leveled at the arrogant man. Hell, she hoped that she shot him... She really, really did. If there was one thing that she despised, it was people that made passes at her character. Sure, she may be arrogant sometimes and rather quick toa nger, but dammit, she still knew enough not to go pushing herself away from the group! Or indeed, to insult them outright, as yet she had not made a single comment on anyone but playful little jabs. And now...

Her thoughts were distracted as she saw Reem step forward, with his hand behind his back, a soft glow wreathing it. Well, now this was certainly interesting... It seemed that he had a spell all prepared. Well, Perenne didn't really mind if it came to violence, and if Karst did shoot him... Well, all the better for her. So, she stepped quietly forward, and lay a hand on Reem's shoulder, as she had been behind him when he moved forward to get a bit closer to the standoff. "Paralyze." She said cheerfully, casting a spell of her own. Though she didn't bother to actually wait. No, her spell flowed into his shoulder right off the bat, getting him out of the way... This was a standoff between those two for a reason. "You really should learn to keep your tongue to yourself. If the man wants to go and get himself killed ou tthere, well, no skin off my back."

Reem is paralyzed for the next 20 seconds.



Something creaks in the darkness directly behind Festus.

Reem stood tensely as he awaited Karst's reaction, come on put it down he didn't pay any attention as Perenne moved up behind him until she laid her hand on his shoulder, the spot she touched began to feel strangely numb.

"Paralyze."

Reem's eyes widened in alarm as he realised what was happening, the feeling spread quickly through his body,

"Perenne you b_"

He didn't get any further, his jaw went slack, his arms and legs followed quickly, the readied spell, was loosed into the ground as he collapsed, helpless. Panic spread through him as he desperately tried to gain some control over himself. He couldn't move couldn't talk, even his eyes remained staring ahead, unfocused by the spell.

"You really should learn to keep your tongue to yourself. If the man wants to go and get himself killed out there, well, no skin off my back."

The words hardly registered. I can't breath oh [censored]! I'm gonna die here. Frantically Reem pressed and pressed, willing his body to react, desperately trying to expand his lungs. he managed it, barely. He could just about sustain himself on the thin whisper of sweet air passing his lips, he became aware of his heartbeat, also weak despite his frantic panic, imprisoned as he was within his own body.

*Creeeeeeeaaaaaakkkk* the noise came from the darkness behind Festus. Reem couldn't react, he was motionless, terrified and unable to defend himself He just lay there and hoped the others would defend him until the spell wore off, in the meantime he grew ever more frantic as he struggled against the magic, doing all he could to try to move his limp form. If he could, he would have been shouting as he was engulfed by an insistent fear of helplessness in the face of the unknown

OOC: LOL! I love irony. xD

IC: Perenne smiled as the mage collapsed like he had no skeleton, stepping to one side so that she avoided getting taken down with the poor man. Standing directly behind someone that is falling backwards is not exactly wise, after all. But, it seemed like it had worked, at least for a short time. What he was going to do after he was unparalyzed... Now that was something that Perenne really hadn't given any thought to. "Well, you know it's true. Shouldn't have tried to interfere." She chastised him as he lay on the cave floor, crouching down beside him. Her Magicka was certainly getting used up quickly after all this. Soon, they may have to take a pause in order to actually allow Perenne to keep this up. "That's right, just focus on breath..."

*Creeeeaaaak*

Perenne's head shot up from the sound, her gaze locking on the darkness that was just behind Festus. Now that wasn't good... There was something there. Perhaps that rat that had been seen so long ago? Perhaps they would just finish it off here... And Perenne would use a bit more of that magic to make sure of it.

She raised her hand casting a ball of Light. Much to her chagrin, the ball that emerged was flickering, going from a soft light to a bright, blinding one almost like a strobe light. But, it would at least illuminate the area, even if her magic was starting to deplete. Still, if it was a true emergency... She always had those potions.

Alister simply frowned at the Imperial as he ranted and walked away. He supposed he could understand that the man was stressed and frustrated, but still, he was effectively proving himself to be a complete idiot by trying to leave the group. Now normally, he wouldn't care about something like this, but under the circumstances, it definitely wasn't the wisest thing to do.

He stared for a moment when the Khajit woman aimed her bow at the Imperial's back. He wasn't really sure if he should applaud her for her actions or try to stop her. Of course, when the Argonian tried and failed to stop her because of the Breton girl's interference, he made up his mind to not mess with the looming fight. Instead, he walked over towards where the Argonian was laying on the ground and looked at him for a moment. Only paralyzed. That's good, I was worried she might have killed him for a moment.

Unlike the others, he didn't notice the creak. What he did notice was the Breton casting a light spell that went from dim to blinding. He briefly wondered why she cast the spell, but then began looking for anything in the darkness, thinking she had perhaps seen or heard something he had not.

Dedave ignored the hole situation and leaned down towards Reem, he checked for a pulse.
"You'll live" he sighed while reaching for the book Reem had been holding. It was not the fact he did not trust him, but in the case of running for their lives the parlyzed guy would be left behind, with the the book, and they did not know what advice could be found there.

(Congrats, Webster. That light show is the icing on this Sanity-violating cake...)


Perenne hurls an orb of flickering light at Festus. The spell is not fully formed, and thus is quite volatile and spasmodic. The light spell flickers and pulsates, casting shadows and outlines over everything at blinding rates. As the spell zooms over Festus' shoulder, it illuminates the object responsible for the creaking noise directly behind him.

A skeleton is looming directly over Festus. Its bones are old and chipped, and covered in grime and dried gore. Its empty eye sockets glow with an unerthly red hue. Its bony fingers grip a blood-stained iron shortsword, while the other arm hefts a dented and scarred iron round-shield up to protect iself. The flickering light spell casts varying degrees of light and darkness over the skeleton, and the effect only worsens the image of the creature's actions. The pulsating light causes the skeleton's movement to appear as thought it is in slow motion - and you all watch in horror as the skeleton raises its sword slowly into the air, and prepares to bring it down upon Festus' neck.

Things get worse from there, too. The light spell goes out with one last vibrant flash of illumination - and reveals two more skeletons quickly advancing behind the one about to behead Festus.[/i]

EVERYONE except Festus loses 5 Sanity Points for seeing a skeleton with glowing red eyes getting lit up by a strobe light.

Dedave slipped the book into his pocket shuddering as he stared at the skeleton with grim curiosity. As he removed his hand from his pocket he snapped back to reality and grabbing his bow in one hand and an arrow in the other he had strung and drawn the arrow by the time he had aimed the bow. He pulled the string back as tight as possible and his hand still quivering released it at the neasrest skeleton, aiming for the skull the bone with the least holes and thus easiest to hit with a strong blow.

In his rush to notch the arrow, Dedave pulls too tightly - the string snaps.

"What, are we all just gonna kill eachother here and now? We haven't even seen anything scarier then a ra-" Mick started to say, reaching down to pull Reem into a sitting position. He had just grabbed his arm when-

*creeeeaaak*

The Breton looked up slowly at the sound, just as Perenne sent a blinding flash that way. Mick jerked back, seeing the undead monster. Letting go of the Argonian's arm, he fell to his rump, his mouth hanging open. He tried to get his bearings, and yell somesort of warning to Festus.

Festus was taken aback from the abrupt threat of Karst , he stood somewhat paralzyzed as he was standing forward looking into an abyss with a mad khajiit-dunmer hybrid aiming a bow at his back . His fingers tightly grasped the hilt of his sword , but relaxed them when he knew the situation was hopeless .

He turned around and faced the group , Karst in paticular . "You cow" he spat with a leering sneer and a gaze as sharp as a silver dagger . His face bloomed the brightest of red . He was furious .

Before he could retort , a flickering ball of light shot past his shoulder , but he payed it no mind as he was locked in scathing anger . He glanced over everyone in the group....and saw Dedave's wearing an expression of somewhat concern . Well , "concern" was putting it lightly , the man was shuddering .

"Seem's Ive got them bloody well scared" The seething Imperial thought in his head . But then he realised Dedave's was in fact NOT looking at Festus , rather , something behind him .

Suddenly Mick shot back , landing on his backside in horror . He seemed to be trying to yell some sort of warning . And it was at that moment , that the grey haired adventurer knew something sinister lurked behind him .

His heart sank as if it were a ball of pure lead in a river......and a sharp chill shot up his spine . His eyes lost all signs of fury and were replaced with cold hearted fear . And with that , he slowly turned around shaking , fearing the inevitable....

"You bastard son of a skooma whore." Karst shot back coolly, smiling a little at seeing him looking so pissed off and hopeless. She closed one emeraldine eyeball and lowered the bow to aim at his groin. "So, you gonna be nice now, or do I get to add a second piece of wood between your legs?" she asked crudely, tauntingly. Then suddenly, as Perenne's ball of light strobed past and illuminated the skeleton, her seven months of fighting Daedra kicked in and she raised the bow, aimed and fired at the thing's head. Inside, she was freaked, she'd seen undead, even played with the slower ones before destroying them, but never, ever, had she seen one that glowed red. The 'eyes' bore into hers and she felt like her blood had turned to ice in her veins.

Oh, Gods, what the [censored] is that?! Some.. advanced form of undead I've never seen before? Gods.. those eyes.. the flesh.. this.. it looks.. fresh. But.. how could that be? Are there Necromancers here? Or.. [censored].. maybe this is why this cave was deemed haunted. Maybe there's a whole colony of the damn things. Maybe.. this is what killed all those people.

As this went through her head, the only outer sign of her fear was in her eyes. Other than that, she drew another arrow and brought the bow up to aim it. The smell of the thing's rot wafted into her sensitive feline nostrils and another spike of fear shot through her. Zombies smelled like fresh death, skeletons usually just smelled like dust and bones. She didn't bother to check if the first arrow had hit as she fired the second arrow at those horrible, glowing eyes. She could only hope it'd go down before she had to actually get near enough for swordfighting.

Kurrian was dead silent the entire argument, not willing to interfere when there was nothing productive he could offer anyways. But when Perenne cast her flickering light spell, and the skeleton was revealed... Kurrian's face, if it could get any longer, did, as he let out a stammering cry of fear. He'd seen skeletons, actually even used them as fodder for his conjuration practices, and while never particularly liking them, the undead never garnered this sort of reaction.

What did, were those eyes. The empty sockets, glowing an unearthly hellfire red. He could swear that glow emitted from the nose as well as the skeleton rose one grimy hand with a bloodied shortsword, to behead Festus. Karst reacted, firing two arrows at the skeleton, but Kurrian was reacting just as quickly as he reflexively retreated, dropping the journal and thrusting out his staff with a whimpering cry.

The staff flashed red-orange, and from the crystal in the center of the crescent moon a ball of fire erupted, launching at the skeleton trio. Thank you Father thank you! he spoke out in his mind, as it was his own father who had given him the enchanted staff. Weak, but better than no fireball at all. Of course, Kurrian rarely used it and was startled by the flame shot, falling backwards onto the ground.

"Sistemech!" Kurrian shouted the word out as if calling out a name, and his entire body shimmered with magic before the ground in front of him heaved upwards. The pillar of stone cracked, and finally burst into fragments which fell from the figure that emerged. Dust and rubble rolled along the Daedric armor as the Kynval stepped forward, hefting a wicked Daedric Mace in one hand and a demonic shield in the other. Through slits in the helm the Dremora looked upon the three skeletons, eyes as equally red as theirs. The Dremora actually paused noticeably in regarding the skeletons, intrigued.

It didn't last long, however, as the Kynval snarled out a gravelly voiced war-cry and charged forward, coming from Festus' flank to swing his mace at one of the two skeletons behind.

Kurrian had his eyes shut the entire time, but could feel the presence of the Kynval in his mind. Along with it, however, was a pair of burning red eyes, emitting their hellish glow from an empty skull.

Cry Havok, and let loose the dogs of war...

------


The events that occured over the next three seconds seemed to flow in slow motion. No one present would ever be able to forget what they saw.

Festus slowly turns around, his face pale with the knowledge that something is behind him. He locks eyes with the skeleton, and opens his mouth to scream. Just as a fierce shriek begins to emit from his mouth, the skeleton bringst he blade down upon his neck. The sword slices easily through the soft flesh of the man's neck, and the scream is cut off as his trachea is severed. Festus' head flies free from his shoulders, and whirls into the air. It spins backwards into the room, thunks to the ground, and rolls across the floor. It comes to rest at Perenne's feet - his mouth forever open in an unending scream, and his eyes staring horrified into nothingness.

The adventurer's body stays standing, and blood begins to spray from his neck. It spurts forth like a fountain as his heart continues to beat, and the skeleton is doused in its victim's blood - the creature seems to relish in the unholy baptism it recieves, and it doesn't even appear to notice Karst's arrow glance off the side of its skull. The spray of blood from Festus' neck quickly reduces to a trickle, and as the tensing of his muscle's fades away, his body finally drops unceremoniously to the ground. A puddle of crimson ichor soon forms around it, and his right foot twitches a few times before ceasing to move.

Festus is Dead. Everyone loses 10 Sanity Points - Perenne loses another 5 for staring into Festus' dead eyes.

The blood drenched skeleton does not have long to enjoy its kill, however. It is suddenly struck by a fireball spell, and explodes into a vibrant pillar of flame. The darkness of the tunnel is instantly erased - it is clear that there are only two other skeletons present. The flaming skeleton is then struck by Karst's second arrow - the wooden shaft impales through the creature's skull, causing it to stagger backwards momentarily. But then it regains its balance, and charges foward, rushing to meet the Dremora - the sight of a flaming skeleton charging towards an attacking Deadra, both of them with weapons raised, is an awesome sight to behold indeed.

The other two skeletons, however, do not rush forward to attack. Instead, the grab onto Festus' feet, and begin to quickly drag his body into the darkness.

OOC: Reminder to self: 15 Sanity down...

IC: Falco had frozen through the entire event. Everything in his mind and body stopped working as his feet seemed glued to the ground, he wasn't really an adventurer, hadn't really seen anything like this. He was a fighter, used to fighting with men, with living things. Still though, he snapped out of it as the skeletons began to drag the body away, and though he didn't know Festus, the sight of that gave him a sense of comrade, and an urge for revenge.

Rushing forward towards the nearest skeleton (ignoring the one on fire) his sword was drawn within a second, and he swung it down in an arc towards the skeletal head, not uttering a word as he did so.

OOC: Silently stares at screen. Wow, what a way to go.

IC: Alister stared at the skeletons behind Festus, his mind not working. He had seen death, corpses, and skeletons, but never had he seen something like this. These, things were simply evil. Never, had he even thought he might encounter something so horrifying. He slowly backed away, trying to get away from the skeletons and their piercing, red eyes. Had he been in a better state of mind, he might have summoned a scamp to aid in the combat, but as it was, all he wanted to do was flee.

When Festus was beheaded by one of the skeletons though, he turned straight around and began to stumble away, wanting to run but finding that his legs wouldn't respond. Finally, he fell to his knees and turned around again to see the skeletons dragging away the corpse of their fallen comrade. Momentarily regaining his senses because of this sight, he flung his right hand forth and put a some more of his magicka into summoning another scamp. He didn't even bother to watch it appear or see what it did before burying his face in his hands and murmuring silent prayers to the divines.

OOC: Wow. You really have it out for my character. She's lost 31 points of sanity already, and it's only 3 rooms in. She's going to go insane and suicide before we get even halfway in. XD *Curses* And now I need to find that Sanity Chart... I need to know at what point of her "OMFG HE'S ACTUALLY BEEN BEHEADED!" fear she's at.

IC: Perenne watched in silent horror as the skeletons were revealed, her heart plummeting in her chest as it was cruelly lit up by the strobing light that she had cast. It made the bones seem to move in slow motion, the blade first appearing next to Festus' neck, as it gauged the blow... Appearing up next to its shoulder as it began to draw back, Festus' face frozen for a few moments in horror as he realized what was behind him... Appearing behind it, as it completed its draw back for the mighty swing that it was preparing, Festus' back turned to her, his head tilted up at the monstrosity... Appearing about halfway down in the swing, as his horrible scream began to echo through the cavern...

Perenne was still frozen, she couldn't even move, couldn't think, she could only see those burning eyes, those evil eyes, and the blood... Oh gods, the blood as the blade appeared gruesomely in the center of Festus' neck, the moment of his death caught like some kind of picture. She would remember that moment for the rest of her life, however long that may be. She would remember, the warm blood that spurted first sideways out of the wond and then straight up, as Festus' head arced, again seemingly in slow motion, through that strobing light. She would remember the wet sound of flesh tearing as the blade had cut through his neck. She would remember, the sound, that horrible, horrible grating sound as the blade slipped between the vertebrae of his spine, the steel grinding against the bone as it forced them apart to sever the spinal cord. She would remember, the wet sound of his trachea still svcking at the ar to try and breathe, as his body, still living, trembled in place as his head finally snapped out of the slow motion, wetly slapping against the cold stone of the cavern floor to come rolling over to her, like a sick game of catch.

She would remember, the day that her sanity began to unravel. She would remember, the look in Festus' eyes as his head came rolling to a stop against her knees, as she had been crouched beside Reem in order to check him out when she had cast the spell. She would remember it all, so clearly...

The world seemed to fade into a haze as she slowly reached down, stunned, to pick up Festus' head, as though she couldn't believe that it was actually real. That the blood that coursed over her hand, outlain in a trail all the way back to that skeleton's blow origin in several spots, separated only by the distance that the skull rolled before its wet neck slapped against the cavern floor again, was actually not fake. That the flesh, that was still warm to the touch, lively with the blood that had once coursed through it that now decorated the floor, was not simply an imitation, created in order to fool her. That those eyes that gazed emptily at her, yet still reflected the horror that he had felt before his death, were not simply small orbs of glass.

The thing that snapped her out of it, though, was the roach that came crawling out of his agape mouth, scuttling from the warm depths to emerge onto his cheek. Apparently, it had been lying peacefully on the ground, only to be snatched up by the agape mouth as it had rolled across the floor. But that.... The sight of the insect crawling out of it, that was what brought Perenne crashing to reality.

She screamed.

She screamed.

She screamed...

OOC: I've gone and forgotten how much sanity I have...

IC: Kurrian opened his eyes as he heard the Kynval roar, and there was a soft, wet thud nearby. Something rolled, and Kurrian curiously watched the object, narrowing his eyes. When it stopped at Perenne's feet, however, he realized what it was, and the Altmer let out a scream one might not have thought could have come from Altmeri lips. Scrabbling backwards into the wall he frantically sought to escape the sight, closing his eyes. But again... those burning red sockets... the red muscle of Festus' severed neck.

Kurrian's magic exploded from his body; but no one could see it. The magic left him, punching through the Liminal Barrier forcefully and radiating into Oblivion. The magic grasped for anything and everything within reach, anything weak enough to bend to the divided will of the conjurer.

Kurrian thrust out his hand in the air, eyes still closed and screaming. "No! No no no! I won't let you kill me!" The rock that made up the wall to his left began to crack and stretch, and when it fell away a scamp was scrambling for freedom. Simultaneously the air began to condense in front of Kurrian, taking a frosty overtone. The instant the scamp broke free it screeched like a demented rat, and scurried after one of the two skeletons trying to take Festus' body. It was a somewhat disturbing sight, the Scamp on all fours chasing the skeletons.

And it was a reflection of the current disturbing condition of Kurrian's overstressed mind. As the air began to crystallize in front of him, forming a large Humanoid figure, the Conjurer curled into a ball on the floor, a young child shuddering from a nightmare. The Frost Atronach groaned, clenched its fists with a crack, and then took a fighting stance, ready to attack anything that approached its master.

The Kynval accepted the attacking skeleton eagerly, undeterred by the flaming scraps of flesh upon it. Fire was nothing but a warm comfort. And that iron shortsword was child's play. Confident, the Kynval advanced and swung at the skeleton's sword-side. If the abomination sought to block with the shield, it would leave him wide open for a swift shield bashing to the ribs, and subsequent shattering.

The flaming skeleton doesn't stand a chance. The monster doesn't have time to react before the heavy Deadric mace smashes through its body, completely obliterating its right arm and rib cage. Its shoulders and skull fall backwards onto the ground, and quickly fall apart. The legs stagger a step or two onward before loosely clattering to the ground, continuing to burn.

Falco brings his longsword down upon the right skeleton's skull. The blade cuts into the bone - and catches. The skeleton looks up from its work, and focuses its burning red eyes upon the Imperial. It then begins to reach for a steel mace hanging from a belt around its pelvis.

Meanwhile, the left skeleton looks up to see Kurrian's scamp briskly charging towards it. The skeleton begins to reach for its weapon, but it is tackled into the darkness behind it before it can react. The sounds of claws on bone and blade on hide can be heard echoing from the void.

Alister should have put more focus into his spell. The scamp he summons is not under his control - it is a wild scamp, and it is intent on attacking the first thing it sees. Unfortunately, that thing is Kurrian. With a mad snarl, the scamp begins to walk towards the mage, preparing a fireball spell.

OOC:Wow, someone dead already? Good thing I had absolutely nothing to do with it...

IC: Mick stared at the body, from when Festus turned just in time to have his head cleaved from his shoulders, to when his head flew about, landing in front of Perenne, not three feet from him. His gaze stayed locked on dead Festus's chest as the rapidly spurting blood slowed, and the corpse fell to the ground. Even as several creatures ran past him, towards the skeletal attackers, he still could only watch the body. The battle around him, as well as the whimpering and screams of his companions were drowned out, his focus not unlike tunnel vision.

All the while, a single thought that Mick could only focus on ignoring, kept flooding his mind, whilst replaying the fatal moment. It's all my fault...

OOC: Not to impose on you Lycan, but I think we could slow down the sanity loss a bit, at least for a while. Save the more juicy stuff for further in the story

IC: The sword was stuck in bone, and although that worried Falco somewhat to say the least, he was more worried about how the thing was reaching for its mace, but still, he had his own bones to deal some damage with.

Pulling at the sword still with his left hand, he brought his right elbow flying forwards to smash into the side of the skeletons skull, hopefully with a lot of luck he might be able to put enough pressure on to prize the sword free, or maybe even to crack the skull more. It was at about this point that he wished it was more like the stories he was told by travellers, one swing of my sword and the things skull flew from its shoulders! Or maybe he should have aimed for the neck?

The skeletons were the greatest danger, this the Dremora Sistemech knew, so as it watched through the flying bones of its former opponent to see one of Kurrian's summons tackle the third, and a swordsman take on the second, the Dremora chose its target. Charging forward with shield raised, the Kynval sought to body ram the skeleton from the man's sword. But the man moved to elbow the skeleton and came right into the Kynval's path.

But it continued anyways, undeterred by the thought of hitting both a skeleton and a mortal. If he dies, he was weak and pathetic. The Kynval reasoned.

Kurrian was curled in a ball with his eyes closed, shuddering on the ground, so did not notice the wild scamp scampering towards him with malicious intent. The Frost Atronach did, however. The towering form of crystallized water turned to face the approached scamp, and as it ran towards Kurrian, the Atronach pulled back one fist, the air frosting over around it. Judging distance and speed the Atronach timed the punch, and swung its cold-ensorcelled knuckles at the rat-like Daedra.

OOC: Not my fault you guys keep running headlong into stuff...

Falco jars the sword loose, but he has about a second to react before a Deadric mace shatters his left arm.

The Frost Atronach punches the Scamp in the face as it runs by, effectively imploding the things face. The scamp flops to the ground, and quickly crumbles into dust.

OOC: Erm... dude... Shield bashing, no mace involved. Battering Ram style, ya know?