Joseph Stephens and the Hallows End part 4 of 4

    Joseph Stephens, Jaye Williams, Bob the skeleton and Lynara the magic user all stood staring up at Gujia Ironspine, the boss of the Devil’s casino in Hallows End. Gujia held his giant iron club out, ready to strike the group. Lynara was preparing her next spell and Joseph was trying to come up with a plan on the spot.

    Jaye began to chug his bottle of maple syrup. He then pulled out his claw hammer and stood ready to fight. Jaye eyed the situation and Gujia. The large skeleton boss was so big that the four friends were child sized in comparison. Any melee attacks would only reach Gujia’s hip at best. Jaye decided to act first and charged forward.

    Gujia was preparing to swing his large club. He moved into a sweeping motion, hoping to take out the whole group in one shot. Jaye jumped over the giant club and tumbled forward, closing the gap between them. Joseph jumped backward, barely missing the end of the club. Lynara grabbed Bob the skeleton and floated up above the strike. “Bob, go get help. We are outmatched. We both know a fight in the streets won't get much attention in this town unless we give them a reason to care” Lynara said then launched Bob with her magic. Bob went soaring down the road and crashed through the eye window of the Grinning Jack Inn.

    Lynara dropped from the air and launched shadowy fireballs at Gujia. Each flame burst into smaller flames upon impact. Gujia took a step back as he tried to pat out the flames. Jaye took this opportunity to attack. He swung his claw hammer and struck Gujia’s bulky kneecap on his right leg. Joseph Moved quickly towards Gujia as he recoiled from the attacks. Joseph brough his sword up and went in for the strike but before he could blue energy erupted from Gujia’s body.

    The bluish green aura exploded outward, which pushed Joseph backwards and threw Jaye several feet. Gujia charged forward and slammed his club down at Joseph. Joseph narrowly rolled out of the way as the giant iron kanabo club struck the earth. Gujia then stomped his giant foot down at Jaye. Jaye had enough time to stand up then swung his claw hammer at the giant foot. The hammer struck and knocked off a chunk of Gujia’s middle toe. The large oni skeleton reared back in pain. His anger surged causing flames to spring up from all around him.

    “I think we are a little out of our depths with this one” Said Joseph as he pumpkin sword transformed into steel armor with a pumpkin look to it. Jaye pulled out a handful of autumn leaves and looked down at them with nostalgia then put them back into his ratty, green hooded sweatshirt. Jaye then took his claw hammer and chucked it. The hammer went soaring through the air and lodged itself into Gujia’s eyehole.

    The giant skeleton recoiled in pain as he tried to unhook the clawed hammer from his eye socket. Lynara used the opportunity to caste her biggest and most exhausting spell to use. She closed her eyes and stretched out her arms. In her left hand she held a wand with a pumpkin on the bottom and her right hand was stretched into an open palm. She moved her right hand through the air, drawing invisible symbols with each strike of her palm. The end of the pumpkin wand bounced up and down in a playful manner. Once the spell was finished, Lynara’s eyes shot open then changed shadowy purple and black. A dark portal to another world opened up in the ground by Gujia’s feet. Long purple tentacles sprung out from the shadows. Each tentacle hooked into the ground and a large spherical creature pulled itself from the depths. This all took place in a matter of moments and by the time Gujia realized what was happening, it was already too late.

    The orb like tentacle monster grappled onto Gujia and attempted to wrestle the club from his hands. The two monsters wrestled for control of the weapon as Joseph and his friends were given a slight reprieve. “How did you do that?!” Joseph shouted in amazement. Lynara couldn’t move or respond, she was frozen in place as the shadow monster fought with the giant skeleton boss. “New plan we run and let the monsters deal with their crap” Jaye said clearly tired of cleaning up after others. “No, we promised Bob we would stay” Joseph retorted. “Bob is gone just like we should be. This skeleton guy is no joke” Jaye replied.

    Bob could be seen running back towards the battle just as the two friends conversation became more and more heightened. “I am back, my friends!” Bob replied. He ran clumsily along the road then tripped over a rock in his path, causing him to fall on his face. When he stood back up his mustache was stuck to the road. He quickly picked it up and stuck it back on, luckily for him no one had even noticed his arrival or his de-mustaching.

    Joseph and Jaye turned to see Bob standing ten feet away petting his mustache and whispering. Behind Bob was a whole group of monsters from town. Pumpkin Jack lead the charge of angry townsfolk. Each monster from town had weapons drawn, teeth bared and claws out.
    Lynara began to struggle with her magic as her shadowy avatar pried the Kanabo club away from the mad skeleton boss. The shadow monster began to flicker like static as Lynara’s legs began to tremble. Gujia was pushed back and separated from his weapon just as the shadowy tentacle monster blinked from reality. Lynara regained consciousness as he eyes returned to normal. She stumbled and fell backwards completely out of strength.

Once the shadow beast vanished Gujia was free to reclaim his weapon. Lynara had stalled the skeleton boss just long enough for  half of the town to show up to the fight. The angry mob arrived right before Gujia could claim his precious kanabo club shaped like a spine.
“Gujia! You have some crimes to answer for! Bob here told us all about your plans. Then we were able to extract a similar story out of a skeleton henchman who works for you” Pumpkin Jack shouted. The scarred man was brandishing a long, jagged cutlass. The sword that had slain the Necromancer of the Haunted forest.  Next to him were the Czars of Halloween, two humans from the Autumn Forest who loved Halloween so much that they fight the dangerous Lich to save the town and then moved into the town as heroes. These heroes were backed by werewolves, ogres, ghosts, trolls, zombies, banshees, witches, grizzled veterans of the Haunted Forest and worst of all Bob the skeleton. Bob was still singing a sweet, soft lullaby to his mustache.
Gujia turned to the group. “This is personal business. I am not involving the town” Gujia lied. “You are trying to take over the town with an army of skeletons. We arent dumb” Rebuked The deadly Pumpkin Jack. “You corrupted skeletons with greed and false promises!” Lynara added as she slowly gathered her strength.
Gujia stopped walking towards his weapon and put his hands in the air. “Alright, so now what? Is this a fight to the death?” Gujia asked, a threating challenge in his tone. “No, because we would clearly win. You need to leave Hallows End and cause no trouble. Your casino goes to Bob the skeleton. It will be converted into a club hall and community center” Jack shouted back.
One of the Czars whispered something into Jack’s ear. “We will keep the black jack and poker tables” Jack added. The town cheered.

    Gujia was forced from town. He claimed his weapon and headed off into the densest part of the Haunted Forest. The town cheered then dispersed to get drunk.

Lynara smiled at a job well done then turned to leave. “Wait, aren’t you going to say goodbye?” Joseph called out as he ran to catch up with her. “I think you are incredible and I know you probably aren’t interested in me but if you are, I’d really like to go out for coffee or something” Joseph said, immediately nervous about how she would reply. Lynara chuckled. “I am interested, at least a little” She said with a wink. “But you barely know me. I’m also not even human” She explained. “I figured you were some kind of witch or something. But I don't mind. And we can get to know each other over coffee” Joseph replied. Lynara let out a long drawn out sigh. Then snapped her fingers. Her human form changed in a puff of violet smoke. A second later the true form of Lynara stood before Joseph. She was a female, magic user, skeleton in black robes. “I’m a skeleton who can use magic and illusions. I didn’t mean to trick you but I was worried that whoever was changing skeletons bad would go after me. So I hid my identity. I assumed you would have figured it out though, why else would I want to help skeleton kind so much?” Lynara explained.

Joseph’s expression never changed. “I am still very interested in coffee, regardless if you are a human, a witch, skeleton warrior or even a skeleton magic user” He told her as he grasped his hand gently over her skeletal hand. “You really are persistent” Lynara said with a laugh that echoed into her skull.

“Well since we saved the day, maybe we can collect that reward and do a little sight seeing!” Jaye said. Then looked at Bob. “OH! Yes of course. I have your rewards. Magical potions that the old hag of the forest made. They let you transport to any realm of your choosing! Just drink the stuff and you will have the power to realm jump. Also the Czars of Halloween have agreed to show you around town” Bob explained as he handed Jaye the two bottles of realm jump potion.
The two friends had once again saved the day and were rewarded with new powers and a wonderful Halloween. The whole group celebrated at Hallows End through the rest of October.
The town slowly returned to normal. Bob was put in charge of the newly remodeled casino/skeleton club center/town community center. He was truly an expert organizer and the community center was the best run organization in Hallows End.

Joseph and Jaye eventually returned to their normal lives and decided to give the adventuring a break for a little while. Joseph and Lynara started a relationship together, whether she was a skeleton or was in human form, he loved and cherished their time together.

The moon hung up high in the night sky. Peace drifted over the land and ever so faintly the sound of laughing could be heard. The sound of the laughing pumpkin echoed over Joseph’s quiet home.

Joseph Stephens and the Hallows End part 3 of 4

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.