The boss of the casino sat at a towering fifteen feet tall, he was the largest one in the room, he was dressed in expensive clothes and had guards surrounding Joseph and his friends. The only hope for the group was Bob the skeleton. Joseph was already thinking of a plan B.
“I will be direct, as you seem to be a businessman like myself and we both know how things go around here” Said the skeleton boss. Bob nodded his skull with such forceful agreement that his mustache almost fell off. Bob stood a menacing five feet tall, he wore an old suit he found in the forest years ago and his ‘bodyguards’ were a couple of friends from the human world. Bob felt a little out of his depths but played along anyway.
“Your employees said that you had an offer for me. I am interested to hear it. But first, My name is Bob, nice to meet you. I run many very successful skeleton related clubs and I used to be an accountant for a tavern in the Autumn Forest” Bob told the monstrous skeleton. The skeleton boss nodded “Yes, I have heard of you. I do my best to keep track of all the skeletons in the Haunted Forest. In case you were not aware, my name is Gujia Ironspine. I own this casino. I also like to watch over my skeleton brothers and sisters. We have such a negative reputation that most skeletons do not have a voice in this town and even less so outside the Haunted Forest” Gujia explained. “THANK YOU! This is what I’ve been saying!” Bob declared. He was so happy to have someone agree with him and his cause that he completely forgot that they were in danger. “Hmm, well yes. So as you were saying. You had an offer for me? As we are so like minded, I am very interested” Bob said as he straightened his suit and tie.
Gujia gently places his hands together as he spoke. “I don’t ask for much more than what you are already doing. I want you to go out and champion the cause of skeletons. With my resources and your specific skill set. I believe we can make a difference in this town” Gujia said in a sweet and calm voice. Bob really liked the sound of all of this. “Uh, excuse me. SIR. Maybe we should find out exactly what Gujia wants” Joseph whispered to Bob. This snapped Bob back to reality. The Mustachioed skeleton raised a single finger bone. “This all sounds wonderful Mr.Ironspine. But how exactly am I supposed to help?” Bob asked.
The skeleton boss adjusted his large frame in his equally large chair. Then calmly took his hat off and placed it on his desk. When Gujia removed his hat he revealed two horns that grew from the top of his forehead and curved upward. His horns were six inches long and easily concealed by a wide brimmed hat. “You are very direct. I respect that. I need you to go out into town and recruit more skeletons. I want you to bring them here so that I might offer them jobs as well. If my men approach the skeletons it might look suspicious but if you do it, people will assume it is club related. We need every skeleton in the Haunted Forest to band together and you bringing them here will hasten this goal” Gujia explained. “What exactly IS the goal?” Asked Bob as his excitement began to faulter. “The goal is to take over the town and establish skeletons as the dominant citizens” Gujia said very bluntly.
Lynara was still invisible and had been sneaking around the room as the skeletons spoke. She pickpocketed the guards, she looked for possible exits and made a startling discovery. When Lynara walked behind Gujia’s desk, she spotted an iron Kanabo club. This club was made of solid iron, it was in the shape of a spine and was as long as Gujia was tall. It looked massively heavy and dangerous. Lynara quickly and quietly made her way back to Joseph and Jaye to warn them of what she had seen. Lynara realized that Gujia must have been an undead Oni by his size, horns and weapon of choice. Oni were incredibly dangerous, they had the size of an ogre but larger and with the powers of a demon.
Lynara whispered in Joseph and Jayes ears and told them of the danger. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to tell Bob before he blurted out the first stupid thought he had. “You can’t take over the town! Thats wrong! I think we both agree on wanting to empower skeletons but we disagree on the method. I do appreciate the opportunity but I am sorry, I must decline” Bob said with a respectful tone. Gujia twisted his head sideways which made a series of cracking sounds all down his back. He pushed his table forward and stood up, revealing that his sitting height was fifteen feet but his standing height was even bigger. “By this point in the conversation, this wasn’t really an offer you could refuse” Gujia said his voice turned cold and bitter with each word.
“Time to run” Jaye loudly declared as he grabbed Bob by the back of his collar and made a break for the door. The casino bouncer, Handsome Johnny, stepped in to prevent Jaye’s escape. “Clawwww Hammmaaahh” Jaye shouted as he brought trusty hammer down on Handsome Johnny’s face. The Handsome skeleton was now less handsome with a cracked skull. The bouncer collapsed to the ground and Jaye darted through the door with Bob.
Joseph ducked under the skeleton ogre bouncer and then used his pumpkin sword to slash across the bouncers legs. The pumpkin delivered an attack that cracked the ogre’s leg bones. The ogre skeleton stumbled as he slammed his bone hands down to crush Joseph. Dark tendrils tore out through the fabric of reality, ripped up through the floor and began to assault the dozen skeleton guards inside Gujia’s room. Joseph looked over and saw a half invisible Lynara focusing on her spell. “Run idiot!” Lynara snapped. Joseph was in love.
Joseph ran for the door. Once everyone was out Lynara turned invisible and made her escape. The dark tendrils vanished the moment Lynara dropped her focus. Gujia had picked up his Kanabo club and turned to attack with it but in a matter of seconds everyone was gone and his guards were dazed by the sudden magic tendril attack. “Worthless!” Gujia roared as he swung his club in a sweeping motion. Half of his guards exploded into piles of broken bones upon impact with his iron club.
Gujia walked to the back of his office and opened a hidden door that revealed a giant doorway to Hallows End. The skeleton boss exited out to the back of his casino, he loosened his tie, unbuttoned his dress shirt and removed his expensive suit jacket. Blue and green flames began to swell within his skull as he took off into a sprint in pursuit of his prey.
Joseph and Jaye huffed and puffed as they ran. “We are out of shape” Joseph said between breaths. “Maybe YOU are!” Jaye replied equally out of breath. “Shouldn't we be in better shape after all the fighting we do?” Joseph added. “Maybe YOU are” Jaye repeated. Bob ran alongside his new friends but didn't have breath and could run indefinitely.
The group made it past the bright lights, slot machines, shady dealers and skeleton bouncers. They burst out of the casino sweating, out of breath and shouting about Oni. The people on the street didn’t pay attention and continued walking. Joseph stopped to catch his breath. “I think we made it” Jaye said between gasps. Gujia appeared from behind the casino just as Jaye finished speaking. “Please never say ‘I think we made it’ or ‘what's the worst that could happen’” Lynara said the only part of her that was visible was her frustrated expression.
“What's the worst that could happen?!” Jaye shouted as he turned to see Gujia fast approaching.
“Don’t you guys have magic weapons and armor from the Autumn Forest?” Bob said in a panic. “No! We did at one point but when you summoned us all of our stuff was left in the Autumn Forest. All I have left is the pumpkin sword and Jaye has his claw hammer” Joseph rebuked as he readied his sword for a fight.
Gujia charged at the group like a runaway train barreling down the tracks. He was quickly within range to use his fifteen foot club. He swung it down at the group with immense force, Bob and Jaye were able to dodge the attack but Joseph wasn’t quick enough. The club came hammering down on top of him. He braced himself only to realize that the club never struck. He looked up to see the oni club had struck a magical shield above him. Lynara had once again broken her invisibility to use a spell. She held the shield in place, her face strained as she if she had been holding the club with her bare hands. “Please get out of the way now” Lynara said. Joseph nodded and quickly scrambled out of the way.
Gujia was furious that his first attack was blocked by such a small witch. He reared back, lifted his club and slammed it down again. At this point Joseph was out of the way and Lynara had dropped the shield. The club came down threatening to crush Lynara but just before it struck, she blinked out of this world with a little flash of light. She then reappeared next to Joseph and Jaye with a casual expression on her face. “If you were hoping I was stronger than this guy, you are incorrect. If I were stronger, I wouldn't have tried to recruit you guys to help me come to the casino. So you really need to come up with a plan” Lynara said frankly.
The battle with Gujia Ironspine had arrived and Joseph felt woefully unprepared. Lynara stood with the group, an annoyed expression on her face and Joseph couldn’t decide which emotion he felt stronger, fear of Gujia or love for Lynara.
Bob was worried.
Jaye was eating.
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