[INSANITY BATTLE-50 M] Dead Men Walking (Alex+Mort)PURIFIED!

[Seussi]

OFFENSE CLASS TITAN

HP: 40/40 ** Halved due to special effect
RANGE: 0 - 50 meters
CLASS: *** (3 Distortion Fragments needed to successfully purify)
Attack: It is a tall creature that requires heavy maneuvering to keep up with its pace. It will swipe with its claws when threatened.
Auto damage: This creature does 10 auto damage a full round.
LOOT: Upon successful purification, roll a 4-sided dice to see what you obtain

1: Bonus Distortion Fragment x6
2: Insanity Claws x2
3: Insanity Broken Core: x1
4: Insanity Fragment x4

 

[Seussi]

Ugh back here again.

Well, Alexander supposed it could be worse. His company, for one, could be a horsemen he didn't trust or another initiate that he barely knew. Instead, he was blessed with the company of his best friend, even if said best friend was...well, not quite the same as he used to be. He didn't want to think about that too hard, however. Not considering where they were heading off too, and what horrors the particular land possessed.

Insanity horrors. The best kind.

The zomboil put on a brave face as he stood at the portal, staring at the tower beyond and the large grey masses that lumbered away in the distance. While he might not have become infected with insanity himself, he had witnessed what it could do in the worst way during the events of the haunted house, and was loathe to see it's effects up close once more. The fact that Mort was infected....well, that just made a slightly uncomfortable feeling itch at the back of his head, and he reached up to run fingers through his hair before giving the other boil a glance.

"Now or never, I suppose." He gave Mort a lopsided smile, one that was out of place with the worry he couldn't quite hide in his visible, pale eye.

And then, turning, he shambled his way through the portal, and into the proverbial frying pan beyond.

He really wasn't looking forward to the proverbial fire that came next.

Fire bad. Real or metaphorical.  

[medigel]

Fire bad. Insanity bad. Everything about this bad.

The only good thing was not going at it alone or with a horseman, just as Alex thought, though they weren't all so bad. He knew of Fai, Shaheen, and Kiwi, and Sal he sometimes forgot was a horseman. But there wasn't quite anything like going against some titans of horribly disrupted Fear in a land completely corrupted by the substance with your zombro.

Mort was actually shaking a little, but it was hard to tell under his layers of clothes. He matched Alex's half-smile with one of his own, somewhere between wanting to assure him he was just fine stop looking at him like that and bristling because he wasn't a scareling he could handle this just as well.

Deep breaths, boil. Even if you don't need them.

The distortion fragments he had collected sat heavy and nauseatingly in his pockets.

"Wish 'now' could wait bit more," he mumbled as he followed his zombro into the chaos. "Bells'll kill me . . ."
 

[Seussi]

"Just uh....do what I do. If she doesn't ask, don't tell." He, of course, was referring to his own relationship with Yin and how he dealt with situations such as these. There was more often than not, moments when he was sure that if he didn't die, his boilfriend would surely kill him when he returned from his expeditions with the horsemen...but only if he truely knew what was occurring. This wasn't to say that Alex hid everything that he did, because it would have been severely unhealthy to his relationship if he did so. He just...didn't offer the information up freely and without prompt! Simple, really.

But if asked he would spill. All of it. Every last ounce of the information he kept locked up inside that he was fairly sure would burst out at any given moment. Not even just initiate stuff, no. Everything. Anything.

No not thinking about that either.

If a zombie could sweat, Alex would have surely been wiping it off of his brow at that moment, gazing out at the expanse of grey that stretched out in front of him as he attempted to put a lock down on his wayward thoughts and emotions. The walking helped, at least, but the silence did not. He dared not speak at that moment lest he go on an endless rant about all of the things that were currently bothering him.

So he walked. And shuffled. And shambled along.

And then one of the colossal titans arrived. The tall kind with the swipey claws of pure awfulness.

"Ohhhhh great." He mumbled under his breath, before shooting Mort a quick glance to see where he stood, and moved off to try and put some space between them in an attempt to possibly split the titan's attention. In fact, getting in nice and close to throw a punch at it seemed like a splendid idea while he was at it.

Getting hit with the claws however, was not so great.

"This is a little like fighting a giant Yin!" He shouted while he staggered back. Was he trying to make a joke? If so it was probably fairly ill timed, but he could hold on to his silence no more!

Alex HP: 40/50
Damage: 5
Boss HP: 35/40  

[medigel]

He thought it over, but doing so would probably just piss Bells off . . . She had a knack for reading him like a book; then again, he wasn't all that great at hiding his emotions like she was. "Mrrr . . . Feels weird not t'tell her though," Mort added indecisively, rubbing at his neck as they made their way through the nearly indistinguishable foggy landmarks. At least up until they found a target.

Splitting up was a good idea, only . . . As soon as Mort started charging up Thor, several claws gouged his shield and threw him off his concentration. The thing was surrounded by them!

"Hopefully Yin isn't t-trying t'kill in battles," he called, a bit dizzy from the blow, cursing himself inwardly. Third year in Amityville and still wasn't all that great at fighting.

Mort's Stats

HP: 40
Damage: oh mort
Distortion Shards: 10
Current Loot: x3 Insanity Fragments

 

[Seussi]

Alex understood, of course. It felt weird keeping things from Yin as well, but again he just could not bring himself to telling him. Part of him said it was because he didn't want to have the boil get angry with him for what he did, but he knew the other part of him just didn't want to worry him, to add more to his boilfriend's already heaping plate full of troubles. He didn't want to be a liability in that way....or any way for that matter.

"Oh ummm...well probably not no but...he definitely doesn't hold back." And this titan wasn't holding back either, as Alex soon found out when another swipe was directed his way, eliciting a small cry born of both fear and a little pain from the boil.

Punching it seemed to work well the first time. He gave it another go, really putting some force behind it this time and watching in almost amazement as grey began to somehow seem to both crumble and mist away at the same time. It was bizarre.

Alex HP: 30/50
Damage: 8
Boss HP: 27/40  

[medigel]

"Neither does Bells." He smiled a little bit better at the memories--specifically her Death Knight who always seemed to do a number on him regardless of the situation. He really ought not to worry about her safety in battle, all things considered. "Guess are both lucky--"

Whumph.

Mort hissed in pain as he was battered about, this time managing to swipe back with Thor in angry retaliation, electricity crackling. It was only like this that he realized how those claws gave him an eerie sense of deja vu of when he had been a fog beast, swiping at his friends among others . . .

Focus.

"Not t'say can't hold our own, huh?" he added, passing Alex what he hoped was an encouraging grin. "Are zombies after all. Can't stop us!"

Mort's Stats

HP: 30
Damage: 12
Distortion Shards: 10
Current Loot: x3 Insanity Fragments

Boss HP: 15  

[Seussi]

Ah yes, lucky. Alex probably shouldn't have been smiling, given what they were currently facing, but a grin spread across his features regardless. "Very lucky." he replied, even if Mort had gotten cut off by a massively clawed hand.

With slightly rising confidence Alex drew back a fist to punch the great insanity beast once more, but found his attack being cut off just as Mort's voice had been, with a swipe that sent him stumbling back.

He only stumbled back forward again, like any lumbering, persistent, and well trained zombie would have done. No time to sit back and let others do all of the work. Not right now.

With Mort's words practically mirroring Alex's thoughts, he let out a nervous chuckle. "This is very true! Though we two are few in number, we are driven by both our determination and unholy amount of endurance! We shall persevere!" He said it loud, and he said it proud, the grin of earlier spreading across his face and wild glint in his eye. It was a declaration fit for an undead awareness and appreciation party. In fact...had he read that all on an advertisement poster?

HP: 20
Damage: 4
Boss HP: 11  

[medigel]

That did sound a bit recited but who cared! Zombie power!

. . . Perhaps a bit too much given how flimsy the thing started to look after the hit he delivered. At least it was solid now . . . ?

"Right. Next is, er, delicate pressure've distortion shards on it," Mort explained as they approached, shaking his hand out with a tiny wince. Those claws had really done a number on them, Jack damn. "So be careful or could dissipate."

Mort's Stats

HP: 20
Damage: 8
Distortion Shards: 10
Current Loot: x3 Insanity Fragments

Boss HP: 3

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

"OH! Um, right!" Alex had been busy avoiding getting hit again, and possibly with admiring Mort's final blow to the titan, when the other boil had spoken up about the purification process. He had at least done this one before, with Sophie and a horsemen named Jay that had tried to make him into perch for her to rest on.

Fishing a dark red distortion shard out of his pocket, he gingerly shambled forward, careful in case the creature should attack once more, before finding an opening and pushing the shard against it. How many would this one need? He was thinking probably more than just one.


HP: 20
Damage: 1 distortion shard @ 1 damage  

[medigel]

Mort watched him go and nodded in approval. "Right, yes. Lessee . . ." He approached the creature, wincing as it howled at the intrusion of the distortion crystal. Its howls startled him, and it was perhaps with a little extra vengeance that he shoved two more crystal into it just to get it so shut up.

Who was the weak one now?

"There we go," he said, satisfied as the creature began to fade from existence in a curtain of mist at a slow rate, as opposed to the instant dissipation. "Now can see if left anything useful behind . . ."

Boss HP: -5 PURIFIED
 

[Seussi]

Alexander had made a pretty hasty retreat once his distortion shard had emptied and dulled in color, stumbling back away from the titan to avoid anymore blows that might be sent in his general direction. Considering it's size, it likely wouldn't even need to aim to be able to hit him.

The howling, which had started the second he had pressed his own crystal against it, had him covering his ears and grimacing. Did they all have to go on like that? They were trying to save them from a life of...well, whatever it was they were doing!

Letting his hands drop, he shuffled back forward, eying up the familiar remains. "I can't say that I really wish to make anything from this." He admitted, before bending down to sift through what was left of the titan. "But to examine it, to try and find answers in what is left behind...maybe it can help. Maybe we can find some answers." Yes, the lure of knowledge in this particular case was far stronger then the one to build weapons.

The zomboil closed his hand around some few fragments, and stood up so that he could shove them into his pocket. They would do for his studies nicely.

Items: Insanity fragment X4  

[medigel]

Mort thought to agree, but kept his counsel, instead watching Alex pick up several more of the insanity fragments. Something in him twisted just the slightest bit at the zomboil's words for a reason he was surprised by: something akin to being possessive over the little crumbs of Insanity.

He really needed to get out before this got overwhelming. The creature had just smacked him a bit too hard, that was all.

"My thoughts 'zactly," Mort mumbled as he grabbed the remaining fragments, letting them roll like cool pieces of ice in his palm before pocketing them with the other three he had gotten earlier. It was paradoxical: he needed to learn more and thus expose himself to further Insanity, and yet he always wanted to cloister himself away and not deal with a single thing. Of course, nothing was wrong after all: he was still quite whole after the encounter, as he always would be.

Nevertheless, Red's snarls haunted him.

"Break time, m'thinkin'." He pushed his glasses up with a finger and turned to Alex. "Can see if can examine these in labs, yes? Might understand behavior better in smaller solid pieces . . ."

It was a start. Hopefully not a false one.

(( x4 Insanity fragments ))