NARES - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – The Necromancer

[10:53 - ???]
Raka_Putra was alone in the room, his face lit a pale blue by a computer monitor. His face was blank as he continued to read the saved webpages from days of old. The clicks of his mouse resonated through the room, but somehow it made him even more lonely than complete silence.
He finished reading a webpage and looked at the clock on the bottom-right side of the screen. It was nearing 11 p.m., and he had to prepare his next speech. The whole thing was not as easy nor fulfilling than he had thought it would be. But he could not bring himself to stop them now, for it had gone too far...

===
[10:52 – Theater Room]

Pirateking grew weary of waiting for JeffreyRaze; not physically, of course, since he could lift the heavy club for a dozen more hours, but rather, mentally. He walked towards the glass pane and peeked to see the situation. JeffreyRaze was nowhere to be seen. He could only see Nio’s and Kazbar’s figures, lying in the carpet blackened by their blood. Pirateking’s face turned solemn and he looked at edwardsdv, who was standing beside him. He gestured to the volume control panel and made a cross with his arms. Edward nodded and turned off the audio device.

Throughout the mansion, the loud noise suddenly stopped, as if it never started in the first place. Pirateking and Edward took off their headphones.

Pirateking: Well, that didn’t go very well, did it?

Edward: Nope.

Pirateking: Let’s check our friends over there...

The duo made their way towards Nio and Kazbar. Kazbar wasn’t moving nor breathing anymore, Nio’s letter opener deeply stuck in his throat, a grotesque monument of steel and blood.

Edward moved closer to Nio, who was laying face-down, and turned over her body – and he was met by a stream of hot air blowing directly to his hair. He was not ready for the sudden make over and nearly fell on his back. Nio grinned, her face, drained of blood, was pale. Combined with her messy black hair, she was more a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave than a human.

The cheap scare jump was met with a swift strike from Pirateking. The heavy hardwood club hit Nio’s head with such force it twisted her neck to an obscene degree, accompanied with an audible crack. Her fingers twitched and the hairdryer whirred once again, a final salutation for Niorapth. Perhaps, just perhaps, she would have all the time in the world to practice doing shoryuken in the afterlife...

Edward took the hairdryer from Nio’s hand after unplugging it. Then he looked at the letter opener and pulled it out from Kazbar’s throat. Pirateking looked with a weird expression, something resembling disapproval. Edward looked at him and noticed his unpleasant expression before Pirate could manage a wry smile.

Edward: It’s okay if I take this, right? You’ve got two weapons already.

Pirate: Yeah, sure. Of course.

His voice wasn’t reassuring, but Edward let it slide for now, as there were more pressing matters. Along with Pirate, he inspected Kazbar’s belongings, but there was nothing of interest to them. They inspected the eyepatch, but out of respect for the recently departed, they didn’t even touch it. Done with looting, they moved away from the bodies – neither could admit that it was still rather sickening to be so close to a corpse.

Pirate: So, do you have a plan? I can’t say for sure, but I guess there are much less people here than a few hours ago. We’ve got to be careful.

Edward: Say, Pirate...do you believe in stuff like necromancy?

Pirate chuckled dryly.

Pirate: You mean, stuff like bringing people from the dead? No way, man.

Edward smiled. When he spoke, his tone was different – it was mysterious, if not outrigght eerie.

Edward: I didn’t want to do this, but, like you said, we’re probably close to the end. We’ll need all the help we could get.

Pirateking2000 laughed awkwardly, but he stopped when he saw that Edward didn’t laugh with him – rather, his face turned serious.

Pirate: Wait, mate, you’re not serious...are you?

===
 [10:55 – Computer Room]

GenesisSaga, JeffreyRaze, and masterplum put their headphones down, as the noise suddenly stopped a few seconds ago.

Plum: Genesis, would you mind if we inspect you?

Genesis: Why, yes, I do mind, thank you very much.

Plum: Then we must do it the hard way...Jeff!

Jeffrey moved his position and tried to take hold of Genesis from behind, dropping the golden sword he was holding. Genesis quickly dashed away, her movement both graceful and skillful. When Plum tried to block her way out, she slashed her katana and Plum ducked to avoid the blade. As if rerunning the scene from earlier, Genesis escaped once more.

Plum: Damn. You could’ve used your sword to, hold her up or something.

Jeffrey: Sorry, but I was thinking more about asking her to join us, you know. Didn’t really want to use violence if I could help it.

Plum: Eh, we’ll manage. We’ll survive this together. We’ll win.

Jeffrey: Well said!

Jeffrey picked up the golden sword, its blade dimly gleaming.

Jeffrey: Here, hold on to this.

Plum: Thanks.

Jeffrey handed the sword to Plum, who carefully traced the blade with his finger. It was rather heavy yet dependable.

Jeffrey: Oh, what’s that bottle?

It was the wine bottle previously belonging to Cody that Plum had put on one of the computer desks.

Plum: Oh, that...the bartender was carrying it with him.

Plum lifted the bottle to inspect the bottle more clearly. It was a vintage red wine from a French region famous for its wineries. The cork was still in place, and there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the bottle.

Plum: Just a bottle of wine. I don’t drink, but do you want to take a chug?

Jeffrey: We can celebrate later after we win.

Plum: Of course. Now...

Plum took out a small ampoule from his shirt’s pocket. It was filled with some sort of liquid. He stopped halfway opening it, and went to take something from Cody’s belongings. It was an exquisite looking blue handkerchief. He carefully put a few drops of the liquid to the handkerchief and polished the golden sword with it. Jeffrey watched while practicing using his PS2 controller, striking down speakers with it.

After a couple minutes of carefully coating the sword, Plum put back the ampoule into his pocket. He decided to leave the wine bottle in the computer room for it would hinder them more than helping them.

Jeffrey: So, any idea where we should go now?

Plum: Yeah. Let’s go to the kitchen. I can use some snack too, and we can camp there and wait for...unsuspecting people.

Jeffrey: Works for me.

Plum: Oh, but we’ll have to use the stairs from the gallery. You know, the hall’s probably still full with the bugs and everything.

Jeffrey: Let’s go, then.

Before they could even touch the doorknob, darkness enshrouded the room as the electricity was cut off.
===
[10:52 – Raka’s Room]

Resistance_pro and muddersmilk decided that they would distance themselves from all the commotion and murder. At least, they’d try to do that as long as they could. That was the reason they didn’t even turn around when they heard XIII_rocks and ImTheMacheteGuy entered the room from Raka’s study.

Machete: ..they left? Wait, where’s Gen?

GenesisSaga wasn’t in the room. The only other figure – if they could call him that – was metalsluggg’s body, lying motionless.

Machete: That’s right, one of them probably killed metalsluggg…I hope Genesis is alright. Let’s go find her!

XIII: ?

Machete: Don’t ‘?’ me!

Machete and XIII left the room and went into the long hallway with jdizzy’s body in it. Seeing another corpse would have made them even more grim, but they were pleasantly surprised when they saw GenesisSaga on the other hand of the hallway, without any injury. She was also relieved to see her teammates. They regrouped in the middle of the hallway.

Machete: Gen! Glad to see that you’re alright.

Genesis: Yeah, good to see you guys again. I thought they did something, you know? I bumped to them on my way here.

Machete: Did they say anything?

Genesis: Nope, they didn’t even pay any attention to me, they just continued on their way. I have a bad feeling about them, but I don’t think we should chase them for now. They are probably preparing a trap.

Machete: True. So what happened when we were locked?

Genesis relayed her story, how she escaped from Milk and Resistance, and then from Jeffrey and Plum. Machete, in turn, retold how they managed to run from the angry, angry elk inside the security room, although he glossed over the details of how XIII diverted the elk’s attention.

After catching up, they checked their weaponry. Machete still had his kitchen knife and Genesis her katana replica; XIII, on the other hand, left his saucepan back in the security room. It wouldn’t be worth the trouble to retrieve the makeshift weapon, especially with the enraged beast still there.

Genesis: I’m just glad we’re together again. So, where should we head next?
===
[11:01 – Computer Room]

Jeffrey: What happened?

Plum: A blackout? Beware, this must be a trap!

Plum’s intuition was proven right as the door opened as two silhouetted figures dashed into the room. Masterplum and JeffreyRaze distanced themselves and each of them faced against an assailant.

Plum thrust his sword blindly, hoping to hit the assailant. Pirateking2000, however, had prepared his eyes to see in the dark earlier, by blocking his sight with his hands. Therefore, the club wielder was able to avoid Plum’s wild attacks and countered with his club. It broke Plum’s hand and he dropped the sword as he screamed in pain. Pirateking chased after him as Plum tried to run, using his memory and instinct to avoid running into the desks. He had almost reached the door when he stepped on Cody’s body and nearly lost his footing. Luckily for him, he managed to keep running, although the swish he heard and the wind he felt indicated that Pirate’s club barely missed him.

Masterplum scrambled in panic as he looked for the doorknob. As his hand touched the doorknob, he swung it open. The light from the hall lit the computer room; however, light was not the only thing pouring into the dark room, as dozens of arthropods crawled into the room, with their many legs. The element of surprise worked in Plum’s favour, as he kept running and went downstairs while Pirateking was taken aback by the large amount of critters. Deciding that he’d just help his partner as Plum was already too far, he closed the door to prevent more abominations from crawling their way in. That was when he felt something climbing up his trouser.

He began to move his legs in a frenzied dance to get off the creature from his leg...
===
[11:03 – Computer Room]

Facing an unknown assailant, JeffreyRaze used his PS2 controller as a particularly weird whip once more, and it hit the attacker on his shoulder. He grunted but he moved closer while holding the cable, preventing Jeffrey from making another hit. The unknown man slashed at Jeffrey with a letter opener, but he missed Jeffrey’s throat and hit his chin instead.
Jeffrey let go of his controller and went for a good old punch, hitting the attacker’s face. The attacker stumbled back. Jeffrey seized his chance and swung the PS2 controller, hitting the assailant’s head. It was not very effective, as the attacker barely stopped. He moved closer and slashed again, this time it hit Jeffrey’s neck, but the wound was merely a scratch. Jeffrey pushed the assailant away and ran towards the door.

Before he could reach it, Plum had opened the door on the other side of the room, letting light to come into the room. Pirateking closed it a few seconds afterwards, but it was more than enough for Jeffrey to get a glimpse of the attacker. There was no mistaking it; the man was wearing his signature eyepatch as always, and his face was exactly the same as the last time Jeffrey saw him; the only difference was the lack of a gaping hole in his throat – although there was still blood on his clothes, coloring them a reddish black.

Emporer_Kazbar noticed the look of horror on Jeffrey’s face and grinned.

Kazbar: What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

Jeffrey opened his mouth in surprise but no sound came. Kazbar changed his attack method and lunged his knife towards Jeffrey’s throat…
===
[10:59 – Living Room]
Resistance_pro and muddersmilk had been taking a rest in the living room. They sat on the comfortable and luxurious-looking sofa and turned on the TV. They couldn’t get any outside channel, but rather the same video playing in the theatre room. The video made them uncomfortable, so they turned it off. Without it, the room became silent.

The grandfather clock began to strike eleven times.

Milk: You know, this doesn’t feel right.

Resistance: What do you mean?

Milk: Us, sitting here leisurely. While people are, you know, killing each other.

Resistance: Resistance wouldn’t stop you if you want to join the…fun.

Milk: No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…so much has happened tonight. I never thought it’d be like this. I wonder if that old bastard have a hidden agenda.

Resistance: That’s true. If this was something like a movie, he’d have a deeper reason. Although Resistance can’t think of anything. Resistance has never seen him before.

Milk: Neither have I. Maybe something is hidden in our codenames. Anything comes to mind?

Resistance: No, not really. Resistance_pro…wait a minute. Resistance thinks Resistance has seen it somewhere before…

Milk: Really?! Try to remember!

Resistance: Umm…let’s see…

Before he could come up with the answer he was looking for, the speaker in the living room –along with the speakers in every room– turned on.

Raka: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is 11 p.m. – well, not exactly, since it took me longer to prepare this speech and certain technical problems came up so I couldn’t monitor the computer room. Regardless, I applaud you for surviving this far. You have greatly entertained me and I thank you so. Currently, well, there are 9 people alive. I do not count people who come back from death, upupu. But you are still welcome to play.
And as I’ve previously said, feel free to use any room if you’d like to take a good night sleep. Unfortunately, some of our household staff are…no longer capable of providing service. For that, I deeply apologize. If you’re looking for a snack or second dinner, please don’t hesitate to use our facilities here.
Finally, about the monetary rewards…I’m sure you can calculate it by yourself, so please pardon this old man for not coming up with the exact numbers for each of you. I guarantee, however, that you will get your reward when the time comes.
That’s all for now, thank you for your attention and please enjoy your stay here.
===
[11:06 – Computer Room]

Jeffrey caught the blade of the letter opener with his bare hand. His palm bled badly, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened had he let it hit his throat. He used his free right hand to punch the side of Kazbar’s head. Kazbar’s grip weakened due to the shock. Jeffrey quickly grabbed the letter opener – which he almost dropped because his blood made it hard to grip – and stabbed it into Kazbar’s shoulder.

Jeffrey’s eyes were beginning to adapt to the darkness. He could make out the faint silhouette of Pirateking2000, and his club. Jeffrey was able to move his head just in time – the club smashed the computer desk behind him instead. Outnumbered, Jeffrey got on his feet and tried to run away. Pirateking lifted his club once more…when something stung his left leg. He screamed from the sudden pain and dropped his club. Jeffrey ran towards the door and out to the balcony.
===
!Dead!:
21st: Catastrophy – Blown up from a bomb-book while being drunk.
20th: jdizzy – Shot in the forehead by a samurai
19th: bbbtime – Couldn’t bear being suffocated with a giant teddy bear
18th: Orochimaru_Fan – Got caught in a trap that flung him into a coffin and covered him in hot wax.
17th: metalsluggg – Bashed in the head with a blunt weapon, then had his neck slashed
16th: Mega Mana – Stabbed through the chest with Edward’s sword, then eaten alive by a tiger.
15th: Natwaf_akidna – Bashed in the head with a candelabrum
14th: Kirbydamasta – Acid to the face
13th: Emporer_Kazbar – Sword strike followed by a stab with a letter-opener
12th: Cody11533 – Death by strangulation
11th: Bigwig_rah – Tiger food
10th: Niorapth – Clubbed

Status:
Pirateking2000 – Stung by a scorpion. Not fatal, but paralyzing.
.
Healthy:
Everybody else.

Whereabouts:
Edwardsdv, Pirateking2000, Emporer_Kazbar,: Computer Room, 2F
resistance_pro, muddersmilk: Living Room, 1F
XIII_rocks, ImTheMacheteGuy, GenesisSaga: Hallway in front of Raka’s Room, 2F
JeffreyRaze: Balcony, 2F
masterplum: Dining Room, 1F