Under the Bridge (IC) (GM)

[Supercape]

GM

"Tiny thing...." bellowed the kraken as Wave-Eye approached.

"What brings you to me, mote, to the depths where I rest...brave and foolish, speak! lest I crush you like the weak speck of bone and fat and muscle that you are...." it grumbled, slow and aching in timbre, at a deep pitch that Wave-Eye could barely understand.

"Tread carefully!" wispered Skull Eye "It is sleeping, if it wakes then I don't think either of us will be more than dust!"

The massive creature writhed slightly, kicking up a cloud of silt and mud from the depths of the ocean.

[Ari]

"So it appears" whispered Wave-Eye in return "A fortunate thing. OH MIGHTY KRAKEN!" he bellowed, sending echoes and reverberations through the water "I COME TO SEEK NEWS OF A SLAVER OF YOUR CHILDREN, WHO TURNS THE MIGHTY SQUID TO THEIR HUNTING BEASTS. AND DRIVES THEM TO WAR AND SLAUGHTER AGAINST THE SURFACE RACES!" he paused for a moment in order to regain some of his breath, panting from the effort needed to make oneself intelligible to such a giant. "AS WELL, HAS THE NAME 'NOCHEHUATL' BEEN SPOKEN IN YOUR HEARING AS OF LATE? THIS FIEND HAS SOME GRUDGE AGAINST ME, IT SEEMS."

[Supercape]

GM

"Nochehuatl?" thundered the Kraken.

"I have not heard that name from the lips of the living in ages...slayer, destroyer, warmonger. The dead speak his name still. The bones on the floor of the sea, where great and bloody war's were won and lost...

"But as for my pale relatives, small and anaemic, I care not for them as they are. If they are enslaved, that is because they are weak. Only the strong are worthy of will..."

With that, the Kraken flexed its mightly limbs, the ground shifting as it did so. Its temperament was not soothed but it was at least talking.

"Don't push it..." whispered Skull-Face "...and he is right, there are fields of bones under the sea's from long-ago battles..."

[Ari]

"It seems we must look to the dead after all" grumbled Wave-Eye, glancing briefly down at Skull Face before speaking once more to the kraken "I THANK YOU, O MIGHTY STIRRER OF THE DEEP, I SHALL DISTURB YOUR SLUMBER NO LONGER, AND TAKE MY LEAVE." So bellowing, he darted out of the monster's sight, shuddering at the memory of geysers of black blood from things much like that creature. To get himself back on track he said to Skull Face "So..where do we find this bonefield?"

[Supercape]

(GM)

Later...

It was not far, and closer to the shore. It was, however, well hidden. In a crack in the groud, that Wave-Eye actually had to squeeze through, into a lightless dark underground cavern.

"The field of the dead!" said Skull Face with a menacing tone.

"Thousands died here. Most of the bones are rotted, but something lingers. Something that sends a shiver down your shoulders. If I had any, I would know. There are things down there!" he whispered, as Wave-Eye descended still further.

He was right, it was cold, and dark, but something niggled away at Wave-Eye's soul...

Down at the bottom, the skeletons lay, with spear and shield and knife, from ages past...

[Ari]

There is a curse on this place Wave-Eye realized as he swam further down, peering through the murk at the relics and bones. He could sense the cold hand of such power on the area, which considering how many corpses the place was littered with stood to reason. Nobody would have wanted such a place to become anything other than a grim warning against the evil that had caused the slaughter.

"We must not stay here long" he warned Skull Face aloud "There is a terrible power in this water that I have not felt in many centuries. Where do we start? Did you know anyone here?" he asked nervously, glancing around a the forbidding battlefield.

He had a dim memory of hearing about such a place, shorty after he had gone out into the waters as a mercenary several of his kindred had gone into the service of Sedna, and in one of the Inuit goddess's expeditions to the southern seas had clashed with the vanguard of one of Poseidon's armies. The resulting mutual obliteration had stained the sea for years, and had sent waves of horror through the southern sea gods when they realized that the northern marine powers could challenge them.

[Supercape]

GM

Through the dark, fetid, water, the sound of groans and creaking bones slowly filtered towards Wave-Eye.

"I know plenty of people here...." snarled Skull-Face in an angry, ominious tone.

"Do you?" it asked, pointedly.

The water seemed heavy, ripe with blackness and despair, sucking Wave-Eye and Skull-Face down to the ground.

From all around him, the ancient bones of long-slain warriors rose.

"Who goes there?" came the whispers from all around him, as the skeletons emerged in the black depths, gripping shield and spear and knife.

[Ari]

"I know plenty of people here...." snarled Skull-Face in an angry, ominious tone.

"Do you?" it asked, pointedly.

Wave-Eye opened his jaws to retort, to say something in answer to that, but the awful spectacle around him, and the knowledge that he most likely DID know at least one of the dead here by name...

"Yes" he managed at last, very quietly and sadly "Some of my half-brothers and sisters fought here. A few perished at this place." He looked around at the approaching sounds of the dead closing in.

"Who goes there?"

At least he had something easier to work with.

"I am Wave-Eye, once called Nochehuatl, I have come here to seek guidance." He paused for a moment to let the dead absorb that before continuing "Someone has been killing humans, and carved my name onto the head of a surface human found today on the shores of the city above." He glanced around at the walking corpses about him "Have you heard any news of this?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Nochehuatl, Nochehuatl, Nochehuatl!" came the mumblings across the field of skeletons.

"Yes!" shouted Skull-Face "Nochehuatl!" he screamed.

"The destroyer! The slayer! I brought him to you!" came his voice, curdling with fury.

"For centuries and millenia I waited, so long, so bitter, so angry, that I hardly recall the faces of my beloved family that drowned in the blood the slayer had spilled! Untold ages, swearing never to rest! listening, always listening! my words breathing through the ocean currents to any and all...and then, I heard the slayer had returned!"

"Whilst I could not humiliate him on the land, I could not expose him for what he was, and let our ancestors above punish him, humiliate him...I did bring him here for our vengeance!"

"Muaahahahaha!" came the insane cackle from the Skull.

"Let your death screams echo throughout the seven sea's, slayer!" he spat at Wave-Eye.

And all around him, the skeletal warriors advanced!

[Ari]

What.

WHAT

WHAT?!?!

With a roar that sent shudders through the fetid waters of the graveyard, Wave-Eye tore the skull from his conch belt, hefted it, and threw it full-force at one of the skeletons, missing by several feet in his rage and shouting furiously "You monster! You all but entrapped me in an oath I could NEVER have escaped from, you let me kill a squid, YOU carved my name into that poor human's head! SKULL FACE!" He bellowed, his eyes reddening, teeth gleaming in the dark, spined hands clutching at the water as he slowly regained control of himself "I'm sorry I was so vile and thoughtless in those days, I truly am! But you are making me wish I had been crueler to your people, if this is what you planned and have set out to do!"

He drew himself up to his full height "If you want to try and kill me by these proxies, fine, I'll fight, and maybe even die fighting them! But if I win, you will PAY for disturbing what little rest these poor soldiers have found. Prepare yourself, Skull Face!" he shouted, pulling out his Red Wave Conch and pushing himself a little further upwards, readying himself for the assault.

[Ari]

The attack of the skeletons did a great deal to diminish Wave-Eye's gun-jumping bravado. The metal blades and heavy edges of their ancient weapons slammed into his hide, and though he turned two of the attacks that landed on him(evading most of the attacks through simple agility), one of the spears tore through his tough scaled skin, rippin a jagged gash over his left flank.

With a cry of anguish, the riton clutched his side just in time for the spear butt to slam into his head, the impact knocking him partially unconscious, and only barely aware of the world. The band of undead warriors surrounding him were still very real to his dulled eyes all the same.

[Supercape]

GM

The Skeletons swam upwards, despite the oppressive currents, and swam with surprising speed towards the aquatic hero.

"Get ready to swim with the fishes, as the saying goes!" yelled a cackling Skull Face, resting on the dark dirty of the sea bed, in a position that, whilst askew, still fortunately granted him an excellent view of the scenery.

"Revenge! Revenge! REVENGE!!!" he yelled, as the warriors for the past thrust, jabbed, and pummelled with their rotting weapons...

[Ari]

Skull Face's ranting was childish, perhaps, but his words still stung, knowing that he was responsible for this as much as the disembodied soul below.

So it was almost lackadaisically that he slowly gathered himself back to consciousness, and moved to evade the attacks of the his enemy's minions. This wokred quite well in his favor however, as the movements of the triton were so sluggish in appearance that the dead warriors mostly managed to either overreach or fall short of their target as he weaved and rolled around their strikes. The blows that did meet his hide slid off, partially from the motion and partially from its continued(if diminished) durability.

Shaking his head, Wave-Eye blinked as the world began to regain its more usual apsect(as much as a graveyard at the bottom of the ocean was usual for the planet, that is. Seeing how his foes were arranged against him, he realized that this presented a golden opportunity to at least slightly harm his tightly-clustered foes.

Shooting upward 40 feet, he put the Conch to his lips and blew a powerful roaring blast through it, a torrent of red-laced water erupting from it to encompass the dead creatures that had arisen against him, the threads slicing and pummeling as they surged through the crowd of soldiers.

Would that this had never been Nochehuatl thought wretchedly As sure as the sun rises, I am fighting at least a few of my half-brother's soldiers.

[Supercape]

GM

The force of Wave-Eye spread through the watery depths, blasting the Skeletons full on, shattering bone, shield, and spear in it's wake...

"Curse you!" screamed Skull-Face from his landing spot "There will be no respite, no absolution for your murderous hands! It must seem so familiar...killing this army once again! foul creature!"

All around him, on the fields of the death, was motion. An army was arising, not just ten but hundreds of the slain, slowly waking. Some near, some far, all shifting in the silt.

"You can't fight a whole army, even with your blood lust!" laughed Skull-Face...

[Ari]

Wave-Eye surveyed the multiplying forces rising against him. "No," he said to Skull Face "I cannot." He looked about himself morosely, at the vast battleplain slowly swallowing the strong bones and mighty weapons that once sped through the waves and colored miles-wide patches of water nearly black.

Shaking his head vigorously he said "There is no victory to be gotten here; I have you, and can give you the end you deserve." In a red flash he shot over Skull Face, grabbed him witha spined claw, and shot upwards for the crevasse leading out, the force needed to move at such speeds underwater making his limbs a touch weaker than he would have liked, considering how much peril he was still in.

What a day he thought bitterly I killed a giant squid for no purpose, appeared before a kraken who might recall me at the worst time, and revealed myself to some sharks. With any luck this won't destroy my chances at getting into the Lady Siren's service. he glanced at the manic skull he clutched And my oath is all but answered for.

[Supercape]

GM

"You will never escape! Never!!!!" yelled Skull Face as Wave-Eye neared the crack in the earth that lead up to the ocean proper. Behind him, a stream of undead, slower but relentless, some nearer and some father.

The odd spear was thrown, but they sailed slowly and shortly in the deep pressure of this forgotten place. One or two sailed lazily past Wave-Eye before slowing and drifting back down.

With a good, but not comfortable lead, Wave Eye reached the small crack he had squeezed through to get down to the forgotten cave...it looked tighter than before...

[Ari]

"Actually, I will." Wave-Eye said quietly, coiling himself into a ball of tensed muscles before firing through the gap hard enough to cut, bruise and scratch himself on the hard rocks, clawing ungainly through the narrowed slot to safety and open water free of the stench of ancient deaths...

...For the moment.

Spinning on his tail, Nochehuatl raised his Conch to his lips and blew a fearsome blast, sending a hammer of red-veined water to smash into the rock face hard enough to blow several tons of rock free from it. With his massive strength, he quickly set about levering them into place, slamming them again and again against the wall to make them fit into the crevasse, blocking it from light and sound and scent forever. When he was done the free waters were a haze of dust and sand, and his chest was heaving from exertion, and some old scars had been widened to the point where he was bleeding ichor into the water. None of which mattered to him, he aimed to make sure nobody came back to this accursed place without difficulty, and that above all no-one would ever think the place was safe to enter.

To that end he carved into the walls of stone in every language he knew "DO NOT ENTER HERE, THE DEAD WANDER"

He raised Skull Face to eye level and said brusquely "I know the why of your plan, and I have no wish to know the how, so I shall not ask. Tell me this: do you want to be brought before the humans for justice, or shall I simply toss you into some reef for the coral to fest upon? Your choice." He looked with dull anger at the skull. An entire DAY wasted on senseless fights and fruitless searches wasn't his idea of fun or goodness.

[Supercape]

GM

"I know the why of your plan, and I have no wish to know the how, so I shall not ask. Tell me this: do you want to be brought before the humans for justice, or shall I simply toss you into some reef for the coral to fest upon? Your choice.

"Pfah!" spat Skull Face "Justice? What would a slaughterer like you know about Justice. Perhaps Justice was on your mind when you where knee deep in blood all those centuries ago, where you?"

He laughed, a jangled, cackling and bent laugh.

"Sooner or later, you will bleed yourself for those crimes...there are bigger fish in the ocean than me...hahahaha!"

"You can do with me what you wish, seeing as you escaped your fate today. But whatever you do with me, my ears are long and my words will be heard. You cant escape your past!"

[Ari]

"You are correct" Wave-Eye said quietly, tossing Skull Face up and down in his palm thoughtfully "I hear the anemones are quite hungry this time of year." And with a flick of his tail, he shot southwards like an arrow. He had to stop and rest several times on the way however, his wounds preventing him from attaining his preferred speed.

Finding a good reef was harder than in the old days, and the great masses of coral that had once been the gardens of naiads and other water sprites were no more, but he knew of a small, well-protected marvel of pink and green off the coast of Chile that had stood the test of time and innumerable sea-changes. He often dreamed of it, and sleeping in peace among its gentle beauty was something he longed to do. But no yet...

With a careless "Be well, Skull Face" he tossed the decapitated head into a small patch of young brain corals, an odd sense of foreboding growing within him as he swam with all speed back to Freedom City.

In a flash of light, the towering demi-god stalked back onto the beach, his bullet wound closed, though his fresher ones ran white with ichor. Bowing before Detective Mead he said in his harsh gurgle "I was deceived. The talking skull was behind the killings, and that squid perished for naught. He has a powerful hatred against me for my savagery in ages past, and sought my destruction. I think he was a wizard." he offered awkwardly.

"He led me to an old battleground under the sea, and raised the dead against me. It was quite difficult to escape" he admitted sadly "But I have sealed it and placed a warning against its being opened" he touched the gravel with his forehead "I believe my oath is completed. I am sorry I could not bring you a better answer, this crime is being punished by him being slowly consumed by coral. A fitting end for him, i think."

[Supercape]

GM

"I believe my oath is completed. I am sorry I could not bring you a better answer, this crime is being punished by him being slowly consumed by coral. A fitting end for him, i think."

Mead gave Wave-Eye a surprised look, his eyebrows raised. A dash of suspicion crossed his face, as always. The man probably trusted nobody completely, but then, that was his job.

"I got no way of knowing if you are telling the truth or not. I guess in this city, anything's possible, including your story..." he shrugged. "But seeing as I have no evidence about what the hell happened here, I guess I can go with what you say" he conceded.

"I'll keep my eye on you, fish face, but for now, keep out of trouble. And, if your story is true, I guess we can thank you for ridding us of that jabbering skull. Gave me the creeps, that did".

"Sound's like you got a bloody past. No, I wont pry, but I will keep my eyes on you. Leaving him slowly rot in Coral, eh?"

He half smiled, a smile with little humour, and turned, walking away.

"Leaving him to slowly rot away like that" he said, back to Wave-Eye as he walked away. "Sounds like you still got a heart of fury...."

Meanwhile...out at sea

The Captain was rather shocked when his mate came in. They had been trawling for fish, with moderate success, a normal fishing run, nothing too exciting. But his Mate looked flushed, agitated, and rather fervish.

"Was that you Cap'n?" he asked.

"Damn thing. I heard somebody tell me to drop turn left, and drop the nets to the ground. But nobody was there! Voice crystal clear, it was, damn strange..."

The Captain calmed his second in command down.

"Wasn't me son..." he explained "sounds might peculiar to me. But then, this is Freedom City..." he laughed.

"Well now, this voice. Could be anything. Probably be your imagination. But hey, left is as good a direction as any!" he said good naturedly.

And with that, he slowly turned the wheel...

~Fin~