[FMA] One skeleton too far

G'day,

Played a game of FMA with Lachy last weekend, though you might be interested
in our little bit of fun... Lachy decided it should have the
feel of one of those B-grade adventure movies, so here goes ;)

Have fun

Beth

> [quoted text omitted]

"Now you sure dere's gold in dis here pyramid fing?"

"No... they just call it the GREAT GOLDEN TEMPLE on account of it being done
up rather tastefully in weatherboard...you moron!"

"Shhh, up there. Zem, get ready to guide the boat in" cut in CC.
Catherine Colville, Captain Cate, Comely Cate, she was all of these -
depending on where you'd met her and who you were. Right now she was the head
of a raiding party heading for the treasures of yet another soon to be
plundered temple...hopefully.

For a brief moment all that could be heard was the tumble of the approaching
surf, the slap of the oars and the screech of some forest bird.

"Why do you reckon these temples are always in such far away places? I mean
jungles always look so pickahre... picktur... damn nice on postcards and da
like, but its stinkin' here, I'm gonna end up nuffin' but a puddle!"

"Don't know Joe, but its close, I can taste that gold already!"

"Is that what that is?! I figured cook had been spittin' in the porridge
again!"

Cate sighed, good help apparently was hard to come by these days. Finally they
edged ashore. Zem was first out into the thigh deep water; Lokai quickly
followed. Between them the centaurs beached the small craft with ease. Cate
was always astounded by just how useful these
eye-catching brothers proved to be.

"Last one dere's a pickle" laughed Joe vaulting on to the sand and
racing to the vegetation-line skirting their beachhead. Joe on the other
hand could always be relied upon for his grasp of subtlety.

The other members of the party clambered from the boat and started up the
shore. It would be wrong to say eyes were watching, but the intruders'
presence had not gone unnoticed. Well hidden by their jungle home, shadows
moved to block the raider's way. One small group glided from the jungle and
edged into the dunes, while more heavily armed reinforcements flowed down
jungle trails as quickly as their bones would let them.

Cate watched with satisfaction as each of her raider's dropped into place.
Shortie hunkered down watching along the beach, Zem and Lokai covering the
other flank, Joe in the middle "being one with the bushes" and Thorin hanging
a little behind to plug the holes when they appeared. The breeze shifted just
as there was a lull in the waves and for a moment she heard it. Rather she
didn't hear it. That absence of noise that always accompanied *them* when they
attacked. She didn't think she'd ever get used to facing *them*. The gold was
too much to pass over though, just because vamps and skellie's gave you the
jip. Cate's hair prickled and the centaurs' head swung round to look to the
northwest as a screech cut through the jungle silence.

"Geesh! They'll be here in seconds if she don't stop yellin' at 'em like
that!" Joe quipped. It was meet with a short round of nervous snorts, but
everyone was afraid he was right. Suddenly a dull, but regular thud began, as
if something was pounding the ground someway into the jungle.

"Ahhh what's that?"

"Bone Golem"

"Heaven's Zem did ya have to go and tell Shortie somethin' like dat? He's
still so green, he can't tell when you're jokin..."

"He ain't jokin' Joe" Cate cut in. There were at least 3 very audible
swallows. Instantly every little noise took on a heart pounding significance
and Cate had to force herself to calm down and gently urge everyone forward
off the beach. The shoreline trees were more loosely spaced than the dense
jungle that could be seen further in. Cate was glad she'd decide to ease into
this. Landing straight into that jungle would've have been a mess, even if
they would have been placed closer to the temple. Creeping forward, Cate was
also grateful that the dappling was taking the sting out of the tropical sun.

Suddenly a horse and rider broke from the trees further ahead, coming straight
at them at break neck speed. The skeletal steed was charging right at them,
its cowled rider rising up to swing an enormous scythe. Then there was a mind
staggering bang, smoke in the air, and the horse folding up as its bones were
shattered.

"Good shot Shortie, keep it up" Cate said, reassuring the stunned looking
dwarf. Unfortunately, the rider was unhurt and was still sweeping forward. And
now a second skeletal horse and rider had burst from the trees. The young
dwarf proves he has a nerve of pure diamond though, as he smoothly reloads his
musket and fires again. The rider and mount are unhurt, but their momentum is
broken.

Mixed with the deafening blasts from Shortie's musket are the sharp barks of
Joe's pistols. First with the left, pinning the horseless rider to the ground,
and then with the right, to finish him off. "What Joe lacks in finesse, he
certainly makes up for with efficiency." Cate thought, admiringly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cate caught a dark shape. Swinging her
head round her eyes swallowed the image of an immense bat-like form. Her
skin pricked as Cate slipped her throwing knife from her belt with her free
hand. As Cate began to take aim, there was the unmistakable twang of a nearby
bowstring. Zem's faster reflexes had beaten Cate to the punch. The Vampire was
just as fast however, and it easily danced up on to a tree branch to avoid
Zem's arrows.

Taking advantage of the briefest of lulls, Thorin races from the rear into
combat with the remaining mounted rider. Wearing his vast experience like a
helm, Thorin briefly ignores the rider and concentrates on trying to take the
legs out from under the horse. The gamble is risky on the unsteady ground of
the dunes however, and the blow is only a glancing one. The axe skids up the
horse's thigh, the blade ricocheting of the pelvis.

The flitter of shadows at the corners of her vision, the shifting shapes in
the jungle and the incessant low thud of the approaching Golem begin to way
heavy on Cate. She takes a deep breath to centre herself, forcing herself to
focus and get on with the job. Not an instant too soon, as
she notices another bat-like form coalesce out of the shadows. She can
just make out the vampire, just visible through the trees, leaving a dirt
track that must lead to the temple. Abruptly, Cate's instincts take
over and she dodges behind a tree; the dull thud-thud of knives hitting
wood only inches from her head.

Lokai thoughtfully cover's Cate, by firing on the dismounted rider, forcing it
back to the ground.

Thorin sure footedly regains a fighting stance as the horse now stumbles.
Before it can gather itself and take its rider out of Thorin's reach again,
Thorin swings his axe. The rider is fast though, and easily deflects the blow,
jamming the scythe's grip down into Thorin's belly and face. Shortie tries to
draw the riders attention away from his injured friend. Rising in its saddle
the rider redirects his scythe swing from Thorin to Shortie. Now on the
defence, Shortie desperately bats the blow away with the stock of his musket;
the tail end of his ginger whiskers fluttering quietly to the ground at his
feet. Shaken, by how close the blade had come Shortie stumbles backward out of
the frey, firing without lifting the musket to his shoulder. He had hoped to
slow the thing down, put it off again, but he had done more than that, much
more. The shower of powdered skeleton and the toppling, skull-less pile
of bones attested to that.

Cate let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. How the young
dwarf had missed Thorin she would never know! Her deity was with them today!
Whether it would be enough she wasn't sure, as a screaming,
half-putrefied corpse came running out of the trees. The sight was
riveting. Bits of flesh bouncing as it ran forward, ribs obvious through a
gapping hole in its side. "A female Zombie? Bloody hell that's equality for
you" Cate half whispered to herself.

The horrific creature pulled up, sending a ninja star singing straight at
Thorin. Thankfully the dwarf was as quick as ever, diving for cover behind
some fallen timber. A shakey smile for Cate to show he was all right.
Realising Thorin hadn't seen the Zombie take aim again, Cate leapt forward to
rpotect him, clearing the log beside Thorin's head and swinging her sword at
the foul thing. "As if jungles didn't stink of decay enough without the likes
of "her* around!" Cate thought as she grappled with the creature, flesh
peeling off sickeningly under her fingers.

Reloaded and jockeying for a better shot Joe shifts to a tree stump a few
steps forward. "Now I got ya vamp" Joe muttered as he fired off his
pistols again. But as if by magic the bullets miss, the bat-like thing
sweeping them away like a matador with a cape.

In the midst of her tussle Cate notices another decomposing Valkyrie enter the
scene. "Joe! To your left!".

Dropping his left pistol and sliding his third from his belt Joe twists to
follow Cate's warning. But without being fired the pistol slides from his
hand, his body falling back, lifeless eyes skyward. The blade of a ninja star
adding an extra sharp ridge to his nose.

Sensing yet more horrors approaching down the dirt road, Zem moves to the
road's edge and fires down its length. But his efforts are greeted only by the
disheartening clang of arrows bouncing off armour.

Exposed as he is on the edge of the road, Zem immediately draws fire.
The nail-like throwing knives of a vampire grazing Zem's side as he
draws back a little into cover. A blur flies over his head, Lokai cleanly
landing in the middle of the road and then bounding into the jungle on the
other side. Taking up position in support of his brother, Lokai also fires
down the road. This shot finds its mark in the shoulder of another female
zombie.

The centaur's efforts do nothing to slow the tide though, the rambling mass of
skeletons, zombies, golems and vampires flowing forward unstoppable.

Whether frightened or merely contemplating the scene, the tree bound vampire
makes no move and surveys the mayhem silently.

Cate's breath is coming short and hard now. Her lungs are beginning to burn
with exertion, the zombie proving surprisingly strong. Stumbling in the sand
Cate is pushed back and the zombie swings, raising a crimson line of blood
across Cate's abdomen. "Amazon or no Amazon, this is the last bloody time I
wear a bikini into battle!" Cate swears as she uses the bite of the wound to
add extra zeal to her sword thrusts.

Feeling more and more overwhelmed with each second, Shortie manages another
shot from his musket, but his shaking hands make it all but useless.

Back on the road the horde has reached the centaurs. The mass splits and
swirls, one arm surrounding the centaurs and the other peeling off
tentacle-like toward the dwarves and Cate. A large skeleton in the
remnants of a mail shirt aims a powerful spear thrust at Zem's chest. Unphased
Zem smoothly deflects the blow. Bringing this sword around in a smooth arc Zem
decapitates a small skeleton at his side and blocks the blow of another to his
front. Despite his cool demeanour Zem knows this battle is beyond his control.
He is out overwhelmingly out numbered and
tiring fast in this sapping heat. The thrusts of the sword-wielding
skeletons around Zem seem to grow more and more frequent and then finally the
moment comes. The large skeleton uses his height and reach to skewer Zem over
the heads of the skeletal swordsmen. Retaining dignity to the end, Zem calmly
looks in his attacker in the eye as he feels his strength flow form him.

All too aware of his brother's fate Lokai holds his attackers at bay with a
relentless hail of arrows. Draw, pull, fire and again before the string falls
slack, and again, and again. Reaching back Lokai slides the last arrow from
his quiver he fires smoothly over the heads of his closest enemies. Even
before the arrow can find its mark Lokai sails over the heads of his attackers
and dashes for the shore. The arrow flies true, despite Lokai's hurried
departure and it sails cleanly into the eye of the approaching bone golem. The
low thud of the golem's pounding steps is replaced by a deep, rumbling wail as
it halts, thrashing, trying to dislodge Lokai's parting gift.

Realising the intruders may be about to slip from their grasp, seems to spur
the treebound vampire in to action. Taking careful aim it throws a knife
straight for Thorin. Thorin ducks back behind the log he's using for cover.
Now certain he wants to be anywhere but here, Thorin rolls down the dune
toward his boat.

With a last mighty shove, Cate pushes her zombie away and heads for the boat,
calling for Shortie to follow. Cate's escape is not clean though, and the
zombie cuts deeply into her calf as she tries to get away. Whether by luck or
divine presence, Cate's momentum is enough, carrying her down the dune and
depositing her sand covered by Thorin's feet.

"Shortie!" Cate calls dragging herself unceremoniously over the gunwale into
the boat.

"We've got to go Cate" Thorin states matter-of-factly, pushing the boat
off with Lokai's help.

"Shortie!" Cate's voice takes on the hard edge of anger. "Now is not the time
to disobey me boy!" she quietly screamed rolling to a sitting position to
clear the way for Thorin and Lokai.

What felt like an eternity later, Shortie appeared over the top of the dune,
pelting down the beach, splashing into the water without hesitation, diving
into the boat half drenched and breathless. "Couldn't let them unholies get
Joe's teeth!" Shortie declared holding Joe's
shark-tooth neckless up, a grin splitting his face. "Not after the hours
he made me listen to every painstaking detail of how he got them!"