[table] [row][cell][h2] [color=palegoldenrod]L O R A L I E[/color] & [color=darkorange]S H A R O D[/color] [/h2][/cell] [cell][right] 7 days and counting to floor collapse Floor 1 Viewers: 0 | Followers: 0 | Favorites: 0 [/right][/cell][/row] [/table] [hr] [color=gold]"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-BOSS BATTLE You have discovered the lair of a Neighborhood Boss! Put your game faces on, ladies and gentlemen! Aaand Here. We. Go!"[/color] Music starts to increase from the background. Sharod and Loralie find themselves in an old Rollerrink, a kind of Skate Hall. It looks like a hall abandoned in the late 00s. The walls are covered in graffiti. A makeshift stage has been cobbled together from strange materials. There are a concerning number of cinderblocks in the center of the scratched and dinged skate floor. The speakers start to boom with drums, a guitar, and bass. A spotlight comes on, lighting center stage. A large framed man, with black hair covering his eyes, and dark black eyeliner applied too thick and sloppily stares at them slack jawed. He wears a white tank top with armpit stains, a black chain necklace with a cross hanging just above his navel, and converse with his left big toe sticking out. A yellowed fractured nail catches the light. Loralie’s stiff, Sharod is scrambling backward. His back hits the door. It knocks the wind out of him. Behind the man, are 3 rollerskating spiders like they’d faced earlier. These spiders are each in a cage. Based on the locks connected to chains that are at the end of the singer's microphone, Sharod shouts. [color=darkorange]”When we kill this guy, it frees those spiders. Don’t burn out too quick.”[/color] Each one is responsible for a different instrument. Loralie can feel her sanity slipping from between her fingers. It’s all so- unbelievable. This is stretching what her mind ever thought possible, and it’s something about the familiar vibe this man is putting out. It’s not a good one. A barked laugh forces itself out of her lungs like it’s choking her. [color=palegoldenrod] “This is insane. I’m losing my mind.”[/color] Her voice is high pitched, and tight. The man, who seems to be the stature of an ogre? Maybe? Lifts the microphone and screams into it. It’s not a well trained vocal scream, it’s a high pitched whine. Both Sharod and Loralie cry out- covering their ears. He pulls it away from his mouth, and a ball of spikes becomes visible in the spotlight. The spikes are bloodied. It makes Sharod assume the worst- they aren’t the first crawlers to make it in here. The dungeon pipes back up. [color=gold] ”The Elder Emo Level 6 Neighborhood Boss! Abandoned by his scene sometime in the late 2000s, this elder emo has lived in this abandoned skating rink since he lost his home town’s battle of the bands competition. He won out to a short red head with a power voice, and he’s been bitter ever since. Generally regarded as a creep- he’s never quite let the good times go. He’s been creating captive audiences for almost two decades- and he’s about to captivate you thats for sure.”[/color] [color=darkorange]”Focus up Lor- this is gonna suck.”[/color] He equips his bladed brass knuckles and turns his body into a more protective stance. Loralie stares, arms limp at the oozing man up on the stage. A shimmer of gold, and her arm is once again weighed down by her shield. [color=palegoldenrod]“Diane would have kicked the crap out of this guy.”[/color] Loralie’s mouth is dry as she says it. Memories of late nights sitting around- listening to old alternative and emo music filter through her consciousness. Regret for spending time with people too old for either of them, alcohol at ages way too young, and bad memories all around. Awareness of a kind of revenge tickles at the back of Loralie’s mind. Maybe- maybe Loralie can avenge them both in some sort of way. What had Igva implied? That every thing in this dungeon is made out of the parts and components of the real world? This wasn’t a real guy- the ogre face betrayed that. But- maybe something in him once had. Loralie takes a step forward, hefting her shield in front of her. It flashes a dim gold, as she equips her machete. With a grunt, the singer hefts the microphone-flail and begins to move it around in a circle in front of them. Loralie knows she’s going to have to tank a large hit on her shield for the first time. Her gut churns, but she rushes at the singer. The flail strikes her shield and she feels like a bell that’s been rung. Her eyes see double for a moment. [color=palegoldenrod]”Nice-”[/color] with her right hand, she raises the machete, and clips some of the skin of his shoulder as he knocks her swing out of the way. A roar comes out of the singer’s mouth- [color=olive]“You said I was too much- my feelings a phase- you left my hoodie smelling of your betrayal- you never understood the pain you gave me-”[/color] Loralie blinks, spit covering her face has he screams. The flail lights up a neon blue-purple as it comes down once again at Loralie. She’s fast enough to adjust her angle and it glints off of our shield once more. The impact knocks her back a step, and she falls on her ass. [color=palegoldenrod]”Shit- ow-!”[/color] It’s at this point her friend steps to the man. Sharod approaches the elder-raccoon from the side. His fist slams into his gut, and the blade slides in. He pulls it out and sinks it in once more before the singer pivots and smacks him away. The ogre is strong, and Sharod slams up against the bars. His head makes a ‘brr-iinggg’ sound as it bounces against the bars. He grunts. The ogre steps forward, flail seemingly increasing in size. [color=olive]“Black runs down my face again- [sub]its the rain, im not crying[/sub] Can’t see thru the eyeliners, can’t see thru the pain- you never stayed to know my PAIN”[/color] It’s a bellow of a scream. The sidebar comment about the rain catches Loralie completely off guard. It feels like a fourth wall break, except, she’s inside the tv. It makes her want to turn and look at a camera. She’s- inside a tv show- probably- she almost forgot. A laugh escapes her at the absurdity of the statement. The distraction is enough for the flail to come down and catch her off guard. It knocks down, into a blinding fiery pain. It smashes into her left shoulder, and her shield falls limp against her side. She keeps the reaction to a high-pitched grunt. But it’s not until the ogre steps onto her shield, searching for leverage, to rip the flail out of her should. [color=olive]”You said I should [sup]let! go![/sup] and you left! You took mr. kitty! And left me all alone in the world!”[/color] His voice is taking on this whiney quality that sounds nothing like any alt or emo band on Earth. The Earth before, at least. It’s a clown mask over Loralie’s community. She’d be more upset about the way one of her subcultures that she grew up with was being remembered, if she wasn’t actively being maimed at the moment. A kind of squeal escapes her as the flail finally comes free. Blood pours down her arm, gliding against the surface of the gold. This squeal urges Sharod back to action, and he doesn’t fool around with his next blow. As the ogre raises his flail to take another crack at Loralie, Sharod slides the blade into the monster’s neck. As fast as it’s in, it’s out and plunging back in repeatedly. The creature is no longer able to sing, his voice coming out in gargles. The flail falls to the ground beside him. Fingers claw up his throat, as he tries to stop choking on his own blood. A few more hits, and his neck starts to separate on one side. It’s not much longer until Sharod’s lobbed it clean off. Tears filter down Loralie’s face as she stumbles around in her game menus, attempting to apply a healing spell. It freezes the rapid descent of her health bar, but the wound stings and remains just as gnarly. Not bleeding out was going to have to be the state for a little longer, because the second the microphone-flail crashed to the ground. Each of the connected chains seemed to shatter like glass. The sound seems to trigger the spiders into action- as they begin to throw themselves against the walls of the cages. When they free themselves, all three spiders pounce at the woman who has shifted to her knees. She’s starting to stand as one of them latches onto her machete arm with venomous fangs. Something inside Loralie splits at this attack. She feels herself break open a little on the inside as she rips her arm against the spider, dragging its fangs thru her arm. It comes loose, and she plunges the machete into it, slicing it cleanly in half. Blood pulses out of the wound, a weird gray hue tinging it. Sharod is able to sneak up behind the drumming spider as it approaches Loralie. He pops the spider open like a boiled crab with his knife fist. The last spider is able to slash Loralie with one of its fangs. It causes the ‘setlist bracelet’ to activate on her hud. +1 strength for every 3 separate enemy hits. The pair pivot on the last spider together, and the metal of their weapons collide inside its body. A kick of strength from the bracelet forces her machete in harder than she’d been able to previously. ‘Shiiinngg–” [color=gold]”Wiiinners- Loralie and Sharod versus- Elder Emo”[/color] The voice booms around them. The doors fall open, and Loralie’s health bar is rushing quickly toward zero. Half of her health bar seems to be tinged with an olive-green color. She swears, [color=palegoldenrod]”I’m poisoned.”[/color] Her voice falls open, horrified, and also somewhat resigned. Sharod rushes over, meeting her where she remains on her knees, eyes inspecting the forearm wound. He’s sputtering as his thumbs pull the skin apart. Loralie forces down a scream. A tool tip appears next to her health in the menus and it reads- [color=gold]”Status Effect- Poisoned, Apply antidote from inventory?”[/color] When she selects ‘Yes’ nearly all of the poison indicator is removed from her health bar. A heaved sigh of relief escapes her. [color=darkorange]”That- was too close. I don’t think we should fight one of those again for a while.”[/color] Sharod was already cataloging details about the opening to the area. Like how the door was slightly narrower than the hallway. If you looked at the floor in the middle of the doorway you could see a locking mechanism just barely hiding in the floor. Loralie was shell shocked. This was the most injured she’d ever been. The pounding in her chest makes her acutely aware of the dungeon's ability to keep her standing upright. How something about the dungeon suppresses her heart condition. That’s the thoughts she stumbles through on the way back to the safe room. The ‘Wing Snob’ sign shining red and green in the distance like a moon at night. Sharod- is rambling the entire way back. He’s walking through the fight step by step aloud. How the monster didn’t attack until its introduction was given. How it used a secondary ability to increase the size of the flail- and that it seemed connected to the singing. They’ve gotten to the part where the spiders are freed from the cage as the sign comes into view. It shuts him up as the last observation filters through his awareness. Three spiders slamming against the insides of their cage. Flinging themselves out of the cages- and directly at them. No- her. Directly at Loralie. Why do the spiders always seem to target Loralie? Did she have some weird debuff he was unaware of? Was there something wrong with his stats? Was being ignored by enemies something- wrong though? The vision of Loralie, with a flail sticking out of his shoulder gives him a violent full body shiver. He should be tanking for her. He’s bigger than her. Older. Less- ill? The reminder of his sickness files even more questions into his folder to ask Igva later. When they stumble inside Maxlo immediately begins shushing them. “Quiet! Quiet! The Dungeon Premiere is on!” On every tv in the former sport bar, are shots of crawlers experiencing horrendous things to them as a large metallic logo flies in from off screen.