2/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Instant Replay, Part I Date: Thu Apr 09, 1992 14:03 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Morgan Bluejeans #1 @9043 VirtualNET The dead soul drops silently into the pit, landing in a crouch. "Has it ever occured to you," he comments dryly, "the irony of a Glass Goblin using alloy claws?" He watches the Goblin for a moment, and then is suddenly running forward, apparently planning to leap at his opponent head on. But then he snaps forward and is suddenly rolling the last few feet, right into the Goblin's legs. As the dead soul impacts with Glass Goblin's legs, GG pivots over his formidable weight and does a midair flip and pirouette, landing in a crouch facing Mortemus. "Haven't they told you," he growls, "that bowling has become obsolete?" He circles, slowly, carefully, and shrugs; "Guess being dead has its disadvantages--" Glass Goblin lunges at 'mortemus, claws flashing-- "you become outdated!" He spirals away from the dead one, coming to rest several yards away in a defensive stance. The glass goblin hops up onto one of the pit's walls, grinning. "About my claws -- they ARE crystalline --" he flashes them in the light to prove his point -- the refraction casts a rainbow reflection across the Dead One's face -- "but strong as durasteel..." Mortemus remains stolid, almost frozen, as the Glass Goblin spins around his form, like moonlet around its parent body. Claws flash and circle a mouse's breath away from the dead soul's flesh. "Time does not heal," he whispers softly, staring into his oponents eyes. Something passes between them. The Glass Goblin grins then, Mortemus responds with a death grimace of his own. They clash and blood flies. Claws slide through taut flesh like silk, and still blood drops heavily to the pit floor. The slightly labored breathing of one of the oponents mixing with the creaking skeleton of the other to form a symphony of violence. A cold fist pounds and the Goblin's flesh discolors. Eyes glare and shift over each others' owners. The two break apart, each featuring the tags of his oponents attack. Mortemus appears to bleed much less freely than the Goblin, but is fairly criss-crossed with cuts across his arms and legs. The Glass Goblin has one gash on his forehead, and is dismayed that one of his fangs is coming loose. "Ding," the one without life comments nonchalently. And grins. "Ah, well," mutters Glass Goblin, spitting out a stray tooth. "That's easily fixed... Tell me," he says, circling once again, "how does a dead man heal? Or does he just carry his wounds around forever?" He smiles as the mottled bruises on his skin begin to fade slowly, but still much faster than the human norm. "You pack quite a punch there, Gravemold..." He smirks -- the Dead One's mouth quirking slightly at the Wild Cards allusion -- and then crouches. "Hell, I'm trying to discuss post mortem biology with a dead man in the Pit. What am I thinking?" There is a brief silence. The Dead Soul squints at the Goblin. Glass shrugs. "I guess Homey don't play that!" and with lightning quickness strikes again. The audience is treated to a sight similar to a 20th-century cartoon fight -- random limbs flying out from a cloud of conflict -- the faces of those involved flashing past like nightmares -- ending with the Goblin shooting out of the conflict directly upwards. The goblin executes several flips in the air as 'mortemus, even more cuts crossing his body, kneels in the pit. The Dead Soul looks upward and reaches his arms skyward, as if he were receiving a gift from the heavens. Glass Goblin plummets downward into those receiving arms. As mortemus proceeds to try to bearhug the Goblin's torso into something resembling a goblin pancake, Glass grunts and, angling his head, takes a bite out of 'mortemus' left shoulder with his remaining teeth. The deadly embrace breaks and both go sprawling against opposite sides of the Pit; 'mortemus holding his shoulder as tho it annoyed him, and Glass leaning, chewing the piece of flesh, his prize. In short order he spits it out. "Just as I thought, rancid meet. You've gone rotten, 'mortemus!" 3/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Instant Replay, Part II... Date: Thu Apr 09, 1992 14:03 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Morgan Bluejeans #1 @9043 VirtualNET The partly-chewed fragment of Mortemus's shoulder lies on the pit floor for only a few moments before disintegrating into dark, gritty dust. The Goblin raises an eyebrow. "Man was molded from clay, was he not?" the dead soul replies to the unasked question. His wounds glisten feebily, not healing but never bleeding. Only careful repair will erase them. His dark eyes spinning madly, Mortemus scopes out his opponent. More bruises, an apparent slight difficulty breathing... "Ever wonder what the speed of a gravestone is?" the one without life asks, sincerely. He stands slowly, body crackling faintly. He steps forward. The Glass Goblin tenses, ready to defend or attack. Mortemus grins slightly, a faded scorpion husk. "Six feet," he says. There's a brief, tense silence. The Goblin grimaces, but then lets out with a sudden, brief snicker. And of course, the dead soul is on him again, introducing the modified man into the Pit floor. "Ah, youth," he says, bonking the Goblin's forehead on the floor several times. The scene is a rather comic one, Mortemus having managed to pick up the Goblin and invert him, his heels skywards, his skull repeatedly hitting the pit floor. "Ugh" bam "I've" bam "got" bam "a head-" bam "ache and" bam "it's got" bam "mortemus" bam "written" bam "all over it!" bam -- that last impact is about all the Goblin can take before reaching around with his arms and slicing at the back of Mortemus' knees. The Dead One starts-- a rare, rare occurance-- and Goblin, his head bloody but unbowed, rolls away to an opposing wall of the pit. As mortemus stumbles and falls, his legs refusing to work properly for the time being, Glass attatches himself to the side of the pit, Spidey-style again, and begins running around -- in circles -- faster and faster. Mortemus attempts to track his opponent, but for the time being his reactions are a little slow -- on the second pass around the pit Glass holds his claws above his head, thus raking 'mortemus three-sixty about his torso. 'Mortemus scowls and holds out his arm, catching the Goblin still on his third pass. With an unamused smirk, the dead soul tosses him into the center of the pit, standing unsteadily over the fallen goblin. He growls softly and raises his clublike hands -- And the goblin brings his feet up hard into the Dead One's crotch. It serves to halt his blow, but nothing more. "Shit," grumbles Glass. "I shoulda known..." He wraps his legs around and Mortemus falls once again, and the Goblin is on top of him, claws thrashing. They tumble like lovers around the pit, blood and dust flying... Glass bites another small bit of flesh out of the Dead Soul's right arm -- and spits -- the flesh dissolving -- "Another one bites the dust -- hey hey!" Glass leaps back -- and the two face each other across the pit again -- Glass bruised but grinning -- and Mortemus cratered but still breathing in that still, steady rhythm of the grave... The dead soul stands across from the Goblin in the pit evaluating his wounds. Slowly, with faint whisperings, the deeper gashes begin to knit shut. The holes in his shoulders remain, but sealed. His stoney gaze locks onto the Goblin. "You really shouldn't talk so much," Mortemus says calmly. "The flesh is weak. You should conserve your strength." His head bows down, and then slowly rises up. Black fires screams in his glassy stare. The air seems to grow colder, as if icey javelins were being thrust into it. The Glass Goblin pales, and feels his heartbeat skip. "Have you ever been in a grave?" the one without life asks, quietly. The air is dry and smells of crumbling stone. "Have you ever felt the scurrying bugs climbing around your body?" The gaze burns hard and the Goblin finds himself not breathing. "Have you ever walked through a cemetary at midnight?" The dead soul shakes his head, and the air is suddenly warm and dank again, the familiar pit odor rushing back. The Goblin falls to one knee and gasps. "You may admit defeat now," Mortemus says cheerfully. A low chuckle, nervous, escapes the Glass Goblin as he kneels on the pit floor. "That was quite impressive," he exhales in a stage whisper. He finds his voice again as he brings himself into a crouch. He starts laughing, as though he's lost all his sensibilities. "You know," he says, "I'm alive, goddammit, because I'm the best of the Goblins. The rest of them are dead. I watched them die. I saw each one go his own way to the grave. Messily, usually." The smile on his face fades as he babbles. "And each time I saw one die, I said to myself, I'm not gonna be the next. And I wasn't. Ever. Each death that I see just makes me want to live more. You've just shown me another one, 'mortemus." His head hanging until now, Glass brings his gaze up to meet the Dead One's again. "In other words, buddy, you've just made me want to fight even harder!" The words are a part of his lunge as the Glass Goblin leaps from his crouch, thrusting both clawed hands like spears into Mortemus' chest, pinning him to the wall of the Pit. Straining, the goblin holds 'Mortemus there long enough to grit, "I... Don't... Give... UP!" He then pivots and swings the dead one around, flying off of the Goblin's claws, and slamming with a resounding THUD into the opposite wall. A nanosecond later, the Goblin is upon him again, slashing and biting with renewed fury. The flurry of traded blows erupts again... There's the crunching of bone and hardened, flexible tissue as the Glass Goblin's claws sink deep into the dead soul's chest. He seems slightly surprised, and is then flying through the air to land against the pit wall. The fury of Goblin's attack allows for no game plan on Mortemus's behalf. He simply lashes back out in reaction, punching, grabbing, and kicking. There's a *whuff* of air as Goblin gets a knee in the stomach. He aims a slaw at the dead soul's eye, ready to slam it home. Mortemus grabs the hand, jerks it still, and calmly breaks the end of the claw off. The *chink* of the steel alloy is cheap and faint, but causes the Goblin's face to scrunch up in emotion. "ASSHOLE!" He shouts as Mortemus and kicks him in the side, knocking him over. "Shit! You know how much these cost?" Mortemus tosses the broken bit of steel away. He stands, thin, weak rivulets of blood running down his chest, his sides. A faint, greenish bruise colors one pale cheek. "Children shouldn't play with knives," he intones and grabs the hand that the Goblin is bemoaning. There are several more *chinks*. "NO!" shouts Glass, bringing his foot up and knocking his captured arm away from 'mortemus' grasp. Quickly, he recovers some of the shards from his claws and then rolls away from the Dead One -- all in the space of a second. He then leaps skywards, infuriated, and hurls the claw-shards at his sepulchral opponent. The shards make their mark -- one into the center of 'mortemus' forehead, one in his right eye, and one in his throat. Glass Goblin yells and moves forward, slamming the palm of his hand against the shard in mort's eye, pushing it further home. He then grasps the Dead One's jawbone with his defaced hand (the one lacking claws now) and yanks with all his cybernetically enhanced strength. With a sickeningly wet sound, tissue tears and the jawbone comes free. Glass tosses it over his head and it lands somewhere in the midst of the crucible, apparently in someone's lap or drink, judging by the cursing sounds that follow. Glass grimaces at the Dead Soul. "Remind me not to go easy on you next time," he growls as he pummels the walking corpse's chest, hearing bones crack. Deciding it is enough, he leaps away, and affixes himself to the opposite wall of the pit, surveying his opponent. 4/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Final round Date: Fri Apr 10, 1992 13:58 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Homo Postmortemu #22 @9043 VirtualNET Lacking his lower mandible's, the dead soul has nothing to say about the Goblin's devestating, infuriated attack. He bleeds profusely (as profusely as a dead person can) from his wounds, and he lacks one of his souless eyes. He does not appear amused. But like any corpse, he knows that genius is eternal patience, and few are as patient as one from the grave. He pries out the broken shard of the Goblin's claw from his eye with a sucking wet noise, wipes his upper jaw along one arm. He moves, slowly, to the Goblin. The Glass Goblin is breathing hard with stress, rage, and a little pain. He's bruised, gouged, has a terrible headache and is dreading the cost of having his claws repaired. He peers angrily down at the dead soul. A gesture. The Goblin grimaces. Mortemus gestures again and the Goblin approachs cautiously. A pale, cold hand flicks out suddenly and grabs his throat. He reflexively slashes at the arm and too late realizes it is with the damaged hand with the broken claws. "Shit," he manages as he is lifted off the floor by the one without life. He's tossed into the center of the pit, suddenly, and coughs. Mortemus looks up at the pit edge, at the assembled watchers and the Old Man, and the crystal silence of the battle computer's sensor plates. He shrugs, settles into a lotus position, and awaits judgment. Eternal patience. 5/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Final round Date: Sat Apr 11, 1992 16:18 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Glass Goblin #21 @9043 VirtualNET The Glass Goblin, picking his aching self off the floor, looks over at Mortemus and nods, quietly taking up a similar seating position opposite the Dead Soul. Om? 6/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Judgement Day Date: Sun Apr 12, 1992 15:38 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Morgan Bluejeans #1 @9043 VirtualNET The computer awards the match to 'Mortemus. Morgan Bluejeans, still in a bad mood, looks over from the bar. He picks himself up, nodding at Achilles, and steps to the edge of the Pit. "Goblin, a bit of advice. Never try to KILL a dead man. Go for the cripple, or even the immobilization. Never let your bloodlust override your common sense." "'Mortemus, as ever, a good showing. Both of you should perhaps step into the clinic. I will let Elf know to expect you." 7/7 [6] Local The Pit Title: Judgement Day Date: Mon Apr 13, 1992 14:39 Unknown System (Unknown) From: Glass Goblin #21 @9043 VirtualNET Goblin scowls for a moment, and then nods. "Ah well," he says, "I didn't really expect to WIN anyways... I'll take the advice into consideration, Bluejeans." He flips head over heels into the bar and reclaims Mortemus' jaw from a nearby bowl, and tosses it to the dead soul. "Let's go get you a replacement --" he frowns at his right, clawless, hand. "And see what the current price is on getting these damn things replaced..." With that, he turns and heads towards the clinic. gg 8/8 [6] Local The Pit Title: Judgement Day Date: Wed Apr 15, 1992 21:52 Unknown System (Unknown) From: HomoPostmortemus #22 @9043 VirtualNET Mortemus takes his jaw from the Glass Goblin and holds it up to his hinge joints, managing to manually work it enough to say "Ok" (sounding more like "Murgh") before having to stick it in one of his pockets. He pulls out several more of the broken claws and hands them to the Goblin, then pats him on the back... perhaps a tad hard. His eyes, however, are dancing. [Portions Copyright 1995 by author, Jeff C. Mercer]