Bad Company [Rayne & Death]

Far above head the sky was a perfect shade of pale washed-out blue that matched the unforgiving chill of this wasteland. As far as the eye could see in every direction was gray cracked earth marked by crevasses and boulders. It looked like there had been some kind of battle here ages ago, one that had left the land scarred but no other sign of itself in its wake. The sun was a distant memory, faded into the sky and offering none of the warmth that it gave to other climates.

It was no wonder that there were few players around here. It wasn't exactly the sort of place one went to find idyllic scenery or friendly company. Which of course, suited Rayne.

The red-haired woman stood out around here by virtue of her vibrantly hued hair alone. A red coat to match and keep her warm against the frigid temperatures only added to the fact that she was remarkable upon her worn gray surroundings. At least the rest of her outfit was more subtle, gray pants and black accessories such as the pistols on the outside of either thigh blended in just fine.

She moved slowly across the plains, keeping low to the ground particularly as she rounded a huge bolder. Ahead she caught sight of a temple that she knew was there from earlier scouting. It was gray worked stone, hardly standing out at all against its surroundings. She slipped closer slowly, making it to the edge of the ruins. Rayne could already hear her heart beating loud in her ears. Pounding as she glanced around the edge of the pillar that hid her from view.

There it was, just as she'd been promised. A dark naga.

It's black scales glittered dimly in the faint light offered by the sun so high above them. It was sunning itself on a rock, human face turned toward her as it slept. It wasn't aware of her... yet. Just the fact that she'd managed to sneak up on it sent a slow crawling smile over her features. Flushed with success she took aim.

The trek out to gain this new summon was pretty nice.  The graphics used for this particular section of the game impressed Drake.  Regardless of the fact that it was bleak and desolate; the amount of detail that went into each and every crack in the earth, the smooth flow of the clouds that always seemed to block the view of the sun.
Someone in town had been crying about getting killed over and over by this "Dark Naga" that was near their quest area.  Drake had heard of this before but thought it was just a joke by the Devs in this new patch.  
"Well, Death, let's see what you're made of, shall we?"

Death's run speed wasn't the greatest so it was slow going.  He had Scarn to keep him company along the way.  She didn't talk much...well.. really not at all... but that suited Death just fine.  He could talk to her for hours about anything during their excursions to find new monsters to add to his repertoire.  This particular trek was no different.  
"Hey Scarn, remember that one time where we were facing those three level 5 Tigers when we were still level 2?  We sure showed them, didn't we!?  Well.. after one death, yes, but still!  I can now summon those tigers to do my bidding!  Who got the last laugh now, huh?"
Death looks at Scarn expectantly after posing his question, only to be met with staring, blinking, unwavering eyes.
"That's what I thought!"
The next five minutes of running were relatively quiet, all three viewers enjoying the scenery.  When the time came that the surroundings looked more and more like what the poor sap in town had described, the going went a little slower and more careful.  While Death was no longer that n00b that died to the tigers, he still knew that if he didn't play this right, he had another 5 minute run out here.  Someone else might get here before then and he wouldn't get the summon.  Hopefully nobody else is already there.
Ahead in the distance Death caught sight of the ruins that the poor sap who was getting killed there had described.  This place looked quite ominous, even to Death Incarnate.
Creeping around the ruins was no easy task. There were bits of broken clay pots, bones, and old tumble weeds everywhere just begging for you to step on them and make yourself known.  Turning around one of the corners was when Death realized just why he should have put more into sneaking.  He stepped on a fragment of a clay pot making a resounding *CRACK* under his feet. Death wanted to react to the sound and look down but his vision had been caught by something else that he wished it hadn't.
There it was.  The Dark Naga 'was' sunning itself on a rock, sleeping with its face turned away from him. The loud crack wasn't heard by Death alone. The Naga started to stir.
"Dang!  So much for surprise!" laughed Drake heartily.  "Get 'em Death!"
Drake pulled his chair in closer to the desk to prepare for what was undoubtedly going to be an epic battle.
"Ooooo... good song starting too!!"  Drake reached over and turned the knob on his speakers to turn up "The Final Countdown" by Europe.

There was a loud resounding CRACK through the air that startled Rayne and ruined her shot as her body gave an involuntary startle. Just for a second she thought that she'd been shot at - or that the naga had been, but there was no sign of a bullet. Adrenaline was pumping fast into her veins now, and the naga itself was on the move, sliding over the rocks and twisting itself toward the sound that had been made from behind it.

Without thinking Rayne fired off a shot, knowing that it would miss, but hoping nonetheless. The shot went wide, and she cursed doubly when she caught sight of a cowboy hat over the rise of one of the snakes coils.

Another player. Of course it was another player. One that it seemed had no ability with stealth what-so-ever, and had given their position away to the naga. Maybe the thought was a little unkind to whomever they were; after all they might have put some training into stealth. She just wasn't generous enough to guess that it was very much. "Sonofa-"

She didn't have time to say the rest, the naga was sliding over the rocks and - damn the thing was fast - right toward the other player. Rayne fired off another shot, this one more accurately aimed and kept her place behind her cover. Just because some idiot was dumb enough to attract attention didn't mean that she was going to give away her position.

The sound he had made was the last thing on his mind.  He was about to have to make another 5 minute run out here.  That wasn't very appealing.  Death saw the naga start bearing down on him and would be there very shortly.  Closing his eyes, Death quietly calls forth the departed souls he has taken for his own will.
"Slaves of my will!  Rise and grab hold of this foe before me!"
The Dark Naga at this point has covered over half of the distance to him.  Just before Death Incarnate had finished his last few words of the Incantation there was a sound like a gun going off.  As He said the last words, a ricochet from a nearby pillar sprays little splinters of stone in his direction.
Scarn, obviously annoyed at this rain of sharp little spikes from noise in air, digs her nails into Death's shoulder and makes a high pitched scream, nearly inaudible to the human ear, but you know it's there.
Death barely has time to react to the first shot as arms are starting to protrude from the ground, reaching desperately to obey their master's will, when the next shot rang out.  No splinters of stone from this one. The sickening squish of a bullet penetrating flesh was nearly drowned out by the sound of the gunshot.


The Naga had barely reacted to the gunshot behind it.  It had found easy unwitting prey that it wanted to eat.  The other sound could wa-*SLAM* A burning sensation spread from the back of her left shoulder blade to the inside of her chest where it sat and continued to burn like an ember flung from a fire.
Screaming in agony as it's left upper body is thrust forward from the impact of the bullet, the Naga spins it's head around to find the source of this excruciating pain and end it, permanently.  The food could wa - Ughh... What is this?  
Hands had begun to grip about it's tail, some even grabbing onto scales and holding on.  Each moment that passed another couple of hands would pop up and grab onto another hold to keep it in place.
Up ahead was another soft fleshling.  This one looked very different than the other one.  This one was a tall female with crimson black hair and two pistols aimed right at it, one of the barrels still smoking as she crouched back down behind some rocks.

Opening his eyes after the sound of the second shot, Death sees the Dark Naga lurch forward and spin around to look at a figure tucking itself back behind the rock it was hiding behind; opening it's mouth and started to make a noise till it looked down to see arms and hands bursting through the ground attempting to grapple it.

Drake let out a huge sigh of relief.  
"I thought for sure I was gonna have to run all of the way out there again. THANK YOU for being here!!" Drake laughed at himself for talking to his monitor.

Death took advantage of the distracted Naga to start focusing on this person that now had the Naga's attention, casting another spell to help that other player who had undoubtedly just saved his bacon. Wincing slightly at Scarn continuing to dig her nails into his shoulder, Death cast an instant spell.
"This is for your protection!",  Death called out loud enough (hopefully) for the other person to hear, as small bits of bone slowly started covering the person's armor, leaving all moving parts free.

Ahead of her the naga ignored the first shot in favor of chasing down the cowboy hat - which was all she could see from where she was. The second shot hit it though, and this time drew the attention of the beast. Angrily it screamed and tried to thrash about on the ground. Tried because there were arms rising up out of the ground to hold the creature in place. Rotting and bony limbs that dug into scale and kept the serpent with a woman's face firmly where it couldn't reach either of the players. From the way that the naga was moving though, it was easy to tell that it wasn't going to be held in place for very long.

Rayne wrinkled her nose at the arms, the scent of decay rising from the ground unpleasantly. That told her what cowboy-hat was though. A necromancer. A cowboy necromancer. She shook her head at the thought and was distracted just long enough that she didn't immediately realize what was happening until it was actually happening.

"This is for your protection!"

"What?" Asked Rayne smartly, suddenly startled by the sound of his - it seemed that the man she was rescuing from being eaten was a man - voice coming from behind the naga. The creature finally moved a little and she got a better look at him, and assuredly; he at her. He was fairly tall, thin and clothed in a long duster. The shadows covered most of his face, and the distance hid most of his other features so she wasn't exactly getting the best look at him.

Meanwhile, bones were gathering up around her body, covering her in a protective lattice that made her skin crawl. As if to make a bad situation worse, the naga seemed to have spotted her in spite of her hiding spot. And it was not pleased. Angrily it shook its body to free itself of the arms holding it and managed to free itself. Quickly it threw itself at Rayne and the woman lifted her weapon to block its mouth.

The weapon only just caught the attack. Blood oozed down the back of her hand from where her fingers were half stuck in its mouth while her weapon was keeping it from chewing the soft flesh off of her bones. Like lightning the rest of the naga's body flowed forward, wrapping around the woman. Now Rayne was at least half grateful for the armor because it was she suspected the only thing keeping her from being crushed to death. "FUCK. YOU."

She cursed the naga loudly, aiming her second gun straight at its eye, and shooting it. The creature's head recoiled, and its eye disappeared. Crushing weight constrained Rayne and she realized that it was still alive. Still crushing her. It had to be nearly dead, but somehow it was clinging to life enough that it was going to try and kill her before it kicked the bucket.

He had barely finished warning the other person, who appeared to be a woman from the quick glimpse he had got of her around he Naga while it was spinning around. When the Naga finished the scream it had begun and writhed about wildly, snapping the decaying arms like twigs, it threw itself forward with renewed fervor, catching this woman by surprise with speed and agility.

"It's a good thing I got that spell off on her, eh?" Death Incarnate softly muttered to Scarn, who thankfully, had released her death grip with her talons. Death could see his magic working wonderfully well against the Naga.  He paused for just a moment, admiring how well it stood up to the crushing forces that thing beast must have when

"FUCK.YOU."

rang out through the air in a female voice.  Yup, definitely a woman. The bone armour continued to work it's magic, even forcing the Naga to slowly release it's grip as the armour thickens up during the course of the spell.  This woman would be dead without that armour, and he would be dead without her; this was becoming painfully clear.  He needed to do something quickly before the Naga snapped the gun in her teeth, leaving but a face to be eaten.  While running over to stab the Naga in the back with his cane he saw the full features of the woman as she brought her other gun up to the Naga's face and let out another shot.

Brain matter, scales, bone and blood did nothing for the Naga as the gun's projectile dug it's way deeper through flesh, hungry for more and more as it threaded its way out of the skull and into the rock just a few feet away from where Death Incarnate stood.

Expecting that to be the end of the fight, Death almost dropped his guard as he heard a crack followed by another crack.  This Naga was starting to break the armour around this woman!!  How is that possible?  It's not even done formin -
Death stopped thinking and acted. Thrusting his cane forward, he went to push his cane's sharpened end up into this Naga's skull and end her life.  The feeling of the vibrations along the cane as the tip slid it's way through soft and squishy brains made Death Incarnate queasy. This woman's life was in danger because of him, so he kept pushing through the  material till it met with resistance.  

"Another hard thrust ought to get this through that thick skull of yours!!", Death grunted has he put all of his might behind what he hoped would be the final push.

That cracking and grinding can't be good. The thought echoed in Rayne's head as the armor around her groaned with the effort of keeping her from being crushed. Visions of death were starting to play in her mind and she was pulled into tighter, and tighter embrace by the naga. Even through the armor it was becoming harder to breathe.

It was interesting how the game actually simulated the lack of oxygen. The way that the world grayed around the edges slowly, and everything felt just a little heavy. Stubbornly she lifted her arm, ready to fire off another shot when the man came into view. He lifted his weapon, a cane in his hand and stabbed it up into the top of the Naga's skull through one of the softer points

The naga wasn't making it easy, shaking and shuddering as it tried to get rid of the noisome being that was stabbing it. Not taking any chances that the creature might not be killed by the man's blow, Rayne fired off another shot in close proximity. The echo of the bullet resounded in her ears, but instantly the naga went into death throes. Flinging coils released her, and she instinctively jumped the man; trying to throw him bodily onto the ground and out of the way of the naga.

Dirt was sent flying up into the air in every direction, and when the naga finally finished dying it lay there on the ground limply. Much, Rayne imagined, as she must look. Hugging the piece of ground that she'd managed to find. Or rather - was that ground she was hugging?

Death Incarnate pulled back his cane just a fraction of an inch and put everything he had into pushing his cane through this monster's skull when another gunshot, followed by ringing in the ears went off, the head recoiled back again and Death noticed that both shots had taken an eye each.  This woman was amazing! This time the beast was dead for sure.  As the body started becoming limp and releasing the pressure on this amazing woman, Death Incarnate started offering his hand to introduce himself when the Naga's body started to go into the throes of death.  Quick as lightning the woman pounced on Death Incarnate like a cat to a mouse.

"Dang, I wish my character could move that fast!! That was awesome!" yelled Drake excitedly.

Caught completely by surprise, Death Incarnate is thrown back onto the ground, shielding the brunt of the fall for the woman with his body.  Not how he planned this day to go.  The force of the fall alone would have knocked the wind out of him.  Throw in a body on top of that and you get the picture.
Death Incarnate could barely move.  His first thought was "BREATHE BREATHE!!  C'mon lungs, BREATHEE!!!!" as this woman just laid on him like he was a couch.  Did she forget that SHE was the one that jumped on HIM?  "She had better not be trying to pilfer my belongings", thought Death.  As the woman started to stir Death Incarnate's lungs finally decided that their vacation was over and would help out a little with this situation.
"Get... Off...." was all Death Incarnate could muster.

"Get... Off...."

Nope, not the ground.

Hastily Rayne got up off the ground, or rather the man she'd tackled to the ground, and moved several steps away so that he didn't get the wrong impression of her. In fact once she started moving she didn't stop, putting some extra space between them under the guise of looking at the naga now that it was dead. If he was as male as he looked goodness knew that he might get the really wrong impression.

She couldn't help noting however that he was definitely dae'u, the race of undead that existed in the game. Who played an undead necromancer? Clearly this guy. Rayne watched him from the corners of her eyes. "Sorry about that, didn't want you to get crushed by the naga's death throes after all that effort of saving you at the beginning."

There was no sign of anything valuable from the naga itself, but she suspected that there would be inside the temple itself. A few seconds, it'd only been a few seconds of combat, but her heart was still pounding away inside her chest. It'd been a close one and much as she loathed to admit it - and oh how she loathed to admit it - she owed him for saving her ass with his spell. "Thanks for the spell. I think I'd have been crushed if you hadn't been so quick on your feet."

That hurt.

As the woman climbed off of Death Incarnate, he could barely see the armour on her repairing the damage that had been done by the naga as it continued to finish the spell. Something was blocking his vision. *deep breath* *gasp* *deep breath*  
"They work! O-" *cough* "Oh they wor*cough*k!" exclaimed Death upon realizing that his lungs... 'worked'.

Doing a quick check of his very small equipment list, (running his hands along his pockets, checking for certain items, patting himself down) after she hastily retreats to a distance, Death noticed she hadn't taken anything and begins to stand up, dusting himself off as he stood to his feet.

"Sorry about that, didn't want you to get crushed by the naga's death throes after all that effort of saving you at the beginning."

Ah!  That made sense.  Rubbing the back of his head, he realizes that his hat had been pushed forward during the fall.  Fixing his hat, he looked up while gingerly rubbing the back of his head.

"Please, no apologies nee -" Death started to say when during his quick pat down, he was missing something from his back pocket.  Instantly suspecting the woman of having taken advantage of the situation, he felt his magic start to surge.  Out of the corner of his eye, right where he'd fallen down at, was what he was looking for.  Letting out a small sigh in the form of a chuckle, Death walks over and picks up a small round coin looking object before standing back up.

"Thanks for the spell. I think I'd have been crushed if you hadn't been so quick on your feet."

"No thanks needed, as I was saying.  It is I that should be thanking you!
You could have sat there and watched it eat me, then killed it while it fell asleep again to nap. I was the one that ruined your hunt here by not being as careful around that Dark Naga over th..." He pointed at the body as his voice trailed off as He looked over at the Naga and got an excited look on his face.  
"Pardon... me..." Death trailed off almost too inaudible to hear.  Almost as if he'd forgotten anyone was even there.
Death walked over to the corpse of the Dark Naga and started performing a ritual.  The language was gibberish, or so it seemed, that he spoke while leaning forward to place his hands on the crumpled mass of bloody flesh before him.  The moment his hands touched the body, there was a glow that started forming at the bond between man and beast.  The glow slowly enveloped the entire beast then abruptly stopped.  

The body of the Naga laid there motionless.  Death Incarnate stood up and did not look like the man that had just knelt down mere seconds before. It was as though he had just run a marathon AFTER she had tackled him.  He was covered in sweat head to toe, his hair clung to the sides of his face like tattoos. The look in his eyes was a mix between ecstasy and excruciating pain thrown on top of not having a clue what was going on around him.

"Hey, you have great aim and I can maybe keep us alive while you kill things" *wheeze* "for us." As he took a step toward her, his eyes rolled back into his head and he started falling forward.

Scarn, not willing to take ANOTHER fall with him, jumped off of his shoulder and hovered in the air while he fell towards the ground face first.  You could almost swear there was laughter coming from the tiny little dragon.

"Awww man... I knew I should have put more points into Endurance!" Drake complained loudly. "At least I think I got the summon. This other player is awesome! I hope she goes with me to the temple." Drake held his arm out towards the monitor, palm up, fingers outstretched and in an 'all powerful voice', "We could get so much loot together, you and I!"