Mortus Caligere | Tilly, Lekalis, Courcy

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/The Boardwalk/

The party moved like a steam engine; pressing forward with dogged determination, though the recent Fishmen slowed their advance even more. They managed to claim ten feet of movement before being stopped by the first few Fishmen.

Though, most pressing were those on their flanks; but with the first snubbed and kicked off the boards, the second found itself with a new breathing hole in its head as Lekalis' spear punched through its softened skull and forced it off the planks in a trail of blood that led to nothing but water as it slipped into its birthing origins.

On Tilly's flank, the two shrimplings were struggling to get their footing; they may have lost their ground but they were on their feet at the moment. Granted, they didn't make any steps forward as they sluggishly stepped forward, then back, then sideways and forward again. They both looked rather close to death.

Closer still, was the First Fishman that Courcy had swung her halberd at; it took the hit with a soft sucking noise, with no scream or protest to the pain and ichor-like blood that spilled out like a fountain from a huge wound in its shoulder.
Her ax-blade had cut through the clavicle and first ribs of the creature, and as she drew the blade back, opened up the upper parts of its ribcage, exposing its still beating heart and small but multiple sets of lungs.
Even then, it lashed out and scratched at Courcy's bracer; hopelessly riposting, the attack would find no purchase against the metal.
As it did so, however, Tilly's dagger suddenly and pointedly pierced its skull with such force that it stumbled to the edge of the Boardwalk and, as whatever Dark manifestation of Life left it, fell into the water.

The remaining two Fishmen gargled a warcry as they charged and lunged at Courcy; both in eerie unison as their spearpoints were aimed at Courcy's core.

The Tall Figure slowly began to catch up with the party once again; his arms splayed out, the waves on either side of the party began to toss higher and higher, splashing over their feet and the Boardwalk itself. So close to the Beach, it was washing up Flotsam onto the Walk with every wave.
\\
/Lekalis/

With hardly a moment to relish his victory, he turned to spot the charging fishmen and did his best to dance to Courcy's left side and jab out from beneath her arms. Crouching slightly, he hoped to stop at least one of them with the reach of his spear...

\\

[Vanitypirate]

At first a faded smudge along the horizon, Tilly saw it: the shore. It did well to lighten her spirits, and in the midst of the chaos, the encroaching Tall Figure and the crabs she made a wide grin.
"We're almost--"

It was only a small moment where she watched the fishfolk lunge at Courcy, and in that moment she drew another dagger and mentally kissed it goodbye, before flinging it at the closest of the fiends that were in view.

"--There!"

[black379]

The hellion first skipped back a step as the fishmen lurched toward her, allowing Courcy another second at least to react. While the creatures made to jab her in the belly, she brought the length of her halberd in an upswing to sweep their spears aside.

Now was not the time to thank Lekalis for his assistance too, keeping her from being skewered. If she managed to avoid their strikes, Courcy would cleave at the rightmost fishfolk's head.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/The Boardwalk/

The current Melee with the two fishmen managed to halt the party's advance until they were wholly dealt with...

... Thankfully, Lekalis' spear managed to effectively stumble the Fishmen's lunge somewhat; his spear gouged a quick gash across the left-most Fishman's chest, and punctured the scaley hide of the other's belly. Unfortunately, he had to pull back his spear in light of their charge, only barely able to keep a hold of his spear.

Courcy's Halberd doubly managed to effectively sweep away both spears, sending them off and aimless up to the sky with an exceptional parry. However, her attempt to cleave down on the Fishman on her right was equally blocked; the Fishman's spear pulling around and stopping Courcy's swing before it could connect by smashing the two staffs of the weapon together in a deadlock.

On the other hand, Tilly's dagger was flung to Left-Fishman; skirting just over The Squire and Elaine's shoulder, and over Lekalis' head, the dagger sank into the Fishman's chest, though it quickly smacked it down and onto the boards. There was a small rivulet of blood coming from the impact point, but the wound was markedly smaller than one might suspect from such a well thrown blade.

Both Fishmen looked to be a bit worse for wear. The Left-Fishman bearing more wounds and looking a bit rough. The Right-Fishman looked a bit strained, but still unbloodied.

The two Shrimpling's behind Tilly seemed to have regained some consciousness and scittered forward at an unnervingly fast pace; unlike last time, they managed to cross the distance and lunge in the same breath.
For better or worse, the Shrimpling uncut by Roderick's longsword managed to latch onto Tilly's back immediately after she tossed her dagger at the fishman. Its teeth tore into Tilly's jacket, though it was stopped by her rather recent requisition of scale-armor, halting it from cutting into the skin; however, its legs proved sharper than one might think and managed to punch through the scale-armor, though it scraped harmlessly against the leather jerkin beneath.

The other Shrimpling, actively bleeding a green snot-like blood, missed its lunge and fell to the ground beside The Squire and Elaine.

The Squire had enough sense, after a fair surprised yelp, to stomp down on the creature's head. With a sickening crunch, the boot connected and ended the creature's life as he turned to look at Tilly with his eyes wide; staring at the creature on Tilly's back,
"I-I-IT'S--" He managed to stammer out as he helplessly stared on in horror.

\\
/Lekalis/

With a grunt, he pulled his spear back and watched the forray of blows exchange; impressed by Courcy's swing, and inspired by Tilly's remark of land so near, he felt his heart rise.
It was a battle, but victory was within grasp. All they needed to do was but to seize it.

And, with teeth clenched and hands fast about the shaft of his Spear, he aimed and grunted as he gave a hearty stab aimed at the point just below the creature's sternum, aimed to impale the beast with practiced finesse...

\\

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly watched with apparent dissatisfaction as the dagger ineffectually dropped down onto the boardwalk. And then her eyes widened, following the Squires gaze to her own back, and she saw with even more apparent horror as the beast clung to her back.

Its attachment made her deeply unhappy.

"Sodding-- STARS ABOVE!"

In a quick motion, she rose the longsword over her head and made to stab it down from her back, so as to drive its point into the face of the beast.

[black379]

Courcy growled as her strike was blocked and her weapon caught against the pelagic's own spear in a deadlock. Though she kept a firm grip on her halberd, she grabbed at the fishfolk's pike in attempts to wrestle against its hold. She followed through with a forward kick, aiming to knock the creature backward, as well as disarm it.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/The Boardwalk/

The Ex-Lord's spearhead found vicious purchase in the Fishman's chest; while not precisely where he desired to strike, the blade slid up the creature's chest and caught the wound inflicted by Tilly's dagger and plunged deep into the collar of the Fishman.
It let out a gurgling drone as black blood spilled out of its mouth and it dropped its spear, clutching Lekalis' as it fell to its knees.

Meanwhile, Tilly's new and unwelcome backpack found itself being shanked repeatedly. One scored a devastating blow, across its left eye and opened up its skull, exposing the mush like brain inside the carapace.
Still, it wriggled and writhed, barely alive.

Indeed, it seemed the tide was turning as Courcy's kick found next to no impact against the Fishman's thick body. Her foot hit the creature's stomach with a wet thud, and it gurgled a low chuckle back at the Hellion.

In a more literal sense, the waves on either side of the boardwalk rose higher and higher; now actively splashing against the knees of the party members and occasionally threatening to pull their legs out from under them.
To Tilly, despite her distress, it would be rather apparent there was some magic unfolding from the Tall Figure's motions and drone.

The Shrimpling latched onto Tilly's back squealed like seaweed being popped as its greenish blood spilled out and over Tilly's back; its legs squirmed and dug deeper into Tilly's sides, breaking through the leather jerkin and scratching at her skin through her garments beneath. Its body tensed, pulling itself close to Tilly's back as it stretched forward in an attempt to bite at Tilly's nape.
However, while it was out of range, its mandibles and teeth began to slowly bite and pull her hair into its maw with a weary strength.

The last Fishman remaining, confronting Courcy, mimicked Courcy's relinquished grip on her Halberd. Instead, it let go of its spear and grabbed Courcy's forearms. Digging its coral-like nails into her exposed skin, curling in like a vice, it would start to rend through any armor there while it pulled itself closer to the Hellion; stopping the Halberd with its body.

Last, of course, was the Tall Figure that marched closer now; some 25 or 30 feet away, his body twitched again, and lurched as another Shrimpling spilled out of its body and skittered towards Tilly.

Thankfully, this Shrimpling only managed to bump harmlessly into Tilly's ankle as it raced forward, unable to do much more in the moment.

The Squire; watching Tilly struggle hopelessly, spied the Shrimpling and shuffled over before sending his hardy boot in a kick at the creature's face; successfully sending it a good five feet back with its antennae broken.

\\

/Lekalis/

With a huff, he pulled his spear back with more worry than victory; hearing Tilly's outcry had him glance back to see her doing the most peculiar yet frightening poses yet. At the back of the line, however, there wasn't much he could do.
Especially as he saw the remaining Fishman move to embrace Courcy.

Sparing any words, he turned his spear and aimed to shove the point of it up and under the creature's ribs...

\\

[Vanitypirate]

There were many reasons that Tilly disliked this fight in particular:
The possibility of drowning was a definite negative side; it was not her most favorite thing to do in the world. She also very much did not appreciate monstrous bugs nibbling at her neck and chewing through her armor. It was foggy, there was no sun, and the whole place was rather smelly.

She just wanted to leave.

With new adrenaline and a small gasp, she made to grasp the shrimpling by the neck with one hand and, with the other, swipe the longsword-- admittedly awkwardly-- just above the beast's mouth, cutting the hair and making to free herself.

[black379]

Courcy's kick halted abruptly against her foe's sturdy frame. She might have fallen back herself if she wasn't holding fast on each of the polearms. The hellion huffed and again tried to wrench its spear loose until the fish creature snatched up her wrist.

"Fuck- OFF!" Her halberd was useless at such intimate range. She hissed aggressively through her teeth to shirk the pain of her wrist, constricted and pierced by her assailant's crude claws. With knee jerks and the length of her weapon, she tried to shove the beast back.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/The Boardwalk/

Again, the head of Lekalis' spear pierced the scaley hide of the Fishmen; effectively cutting just beneath the ribs with practiced precision, though it didn't seem to phase the creature in the slightest as the wound wept open and more blood spilled out like viscous pudding.

Tilly's grapple proved to be rather effective; forgoing the blade, her fingers clasped about the back of the creature's chitinous head and pulled. There was an uncomfortable scratch along her ribs, four on either side, as the legs were dragged back. The creature dug its legs deeper in futility, only just breaking open the skin in marginal wounds before its legs were popped free from its body, leaving eight legs dangling from Tilly's side as the Shrimpling was held aloft in victory, dead in her hands.

The Other Shrimpling now lunged at Tilly, having recovered from the daunting kick of the Squire.

At the other end of combat, was the Fishman; locked in an evermore interlinked grapple, Courcy's attempts at breaking free of the creature proved to be as futile as her kick. If anything, the more she wriggled and writhed, the more the Fishman managed to pull her closer. By the end of her struggle, the creature had shifted its grip from her forearms to her elbows. Its salty and putrid breath nauseatingly familiar to the scent in the Limestone Tower.

This close, the creature lashed forward with its mouth to bite at Courcy's bare shoulders...

... The Tall Figure, on the other hand, now stood boldly fifteen feet from Tilly; his arms splayed out, his features were all but apparent. The figure was neither man nor beast, but something from the Deep. Its bared body was a writhing mass of tendrils, with anemones and other underwater foilage pinched beneath blue meat.
The tendrils were woven inbetween all of the flotsam and junk that made its great cloak of trinkets and baubles. Bits of coral and stone jutted out from its shoulders and head, like improvised armor.
At the ends of tendrils that didn't seem to have a beginning, were lipless mouths that opened and closed, twisting and turning in toothless, sightless hunger.

His resolve tested, The Squire watched the Tall Figure approach with bated breath; he offered no scream of terror, only quicker and quicker breaths until he turned and bolted past Courcy and Lekalis, towards the shore.

\\
/Lekalis/

The Fishman's inhuman endurance was only marginally worrying. Though the growing grip it had on Courcy was more than enough to spur him forward; his hands still gripping his spear, he tried to push the creature away, attempting to both help Courcy get rid of the beast's vile grasp, and open the wound he'd made earlier to something mortal.

\\

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly's eyes watered some as she spied the golden locks in the jaws of the dead beast. Another reason to add as to why she disliked this particular fight.

"Bloody minger." She huffed at it, as though insulting it would make their current predicament any better. She looked to the tentacled Tall Figure as it approached and immediately disliked it, too.
She threw the dead shrimpling at the Tall Figure's face, then made to kick the newest shrimpling as she beat a hasty retreat back to the rest of her group.

At least the Squire had the right mind to run.

[black379]

"Gaahhd! FF-!" Courcy squirmed, endeavoring to shift her weight to topple the beast as well as herself. The pelagic was solid and had her arms in a cruel vice. There was only so much she could do to keep it from gnawing into her shoulder.

"BLOOD!!" She was not too proud to admit she was in dire need of the ex-lord's help. While the fishfolk caught her elbows, she made to grab Lekalis' spear, just where it pierced the creature's hide, and twist it in the wound.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/The Boardwalk/

Lekalis' spearblade, with as much force as he could surmount, still only clove through a small portion beneath the creature's ribs. Granted, with Courcy's hands, the blade now pushed farther and deeper into the creature. Where its intestines were starting to peak, it now opened and spilled like a cauldron of fish guts.
With a warbling, gurgling tune, the creature began to fall backwards, into the inlet; Courcy still in its claws and maw. Its bite having only just scraped the surface of her shoulder, its drool over her shoulder was cold and numbing.

Tilly's toss was rather fair for such a bizarre object; it sent a streak of greenish fluid through the air before it smacked into the Tall Figure. Its blue muscles wriggled and writhed, and swallowed up the Shrimpling as it moved forward. Almost gliding over the crabs.

The other Shrimpling, caught in mid-air, was practically round-housed by Tilly's kick; its shell shattering and showing pulsing muscle beneath as it was sent off and into the ocean.

The Ex-Graverobber's retreat was unperturbed, and she was soon in line with Lekalis and Courcy.

The Tall Figure, however, stalked forward like a hurricane; its mouths and tendrils squirming in and out of eachother with growing speed and intensity. The Waves on either side now actively wrapped around their ankles and threatened to pull them over if they lifted their feet.

To Courcy, unfortunately; her compromised position had her suddenly taken over the edge.


In the distance, the dull thudding boots of The Squire vanished; he'd reached the shore and now looked over to the group anxiously, he looked back to land and seemed to spy the party's old campfire. Still smoldering, he started off at a run towards it...

\\

/Lekalis/

His brows rose, mild shock, worry, memories flooding in,
"COURCY!!!" He called back as she went over the edge; Lekalis was thinly aware of Tilly's presence, and the Tall Figure as well.

As much as he loathed to, he turned away from the vanished Courcy; his features stilled as he held a neutral expression on his weary features. Lekalis moved and stood inbetween Tilly and The Tall Figure; still within grabbing distance of Tilly, and looked to her. Thinking it may well be his last.
"Courcy went over!" He barked, looking to the Tall Figure. He didn't have a plan for a creature such as this...

\\

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly took a breath and found some resolve in steely outrage.
Teary-eyed with frustration, she still managed a weak smile at Lekalis-- only hearing his words without truly registering them. In one ear and out the other.

She plodded forward towards the Tall Figure, heavy but fast steps, solid hops to maximize both distance and speed-- normally she'd only do such a silly maneuver when stomping through mud and the like, away from guards...
When within range, she would lunge forward and make to swing the longsword longitudinally, across the core of the body. She wished to bisect the damnable creature.

[black379]

Courcy cried out, barely managing a gasp of air before she was pulled under. Being suddenly submerged in the icy water was shocking enough to have her frantically flailing. Though her struggle had been all but futile thus far, she continued fighting. Perhaps underwater, the creature's bulksome weight wouldn't prove so immovable.

She jabbed at the thing with her knee again, but tried to kick off of it more so than just kick it. Whether she wrenched herself away or not, the fish beast's claws tore at her arms. In this instant though, she desperately needed to resurface.