Chapter 23: Dancing with the Devil

“Please put your hands together for our wonderful dancers” Kelly announced at the end of the routine. The skeletons around the dance floor gave a half-hearted clap with a few scattered boos thrown in. “Now, now, none of that. There’s still plenty of opportunity for blood.” Kelly’s grin took on a menacing look.

“Next, we have the Hang the Jib Jig. Randy?” Kelly broke into the next dance. It was a lively piece, with a love of movement across the dance floor. Forwards, back, hop to the side in a dizzying pattern. The pace of the dance had picked up as well and the moves seemed to fly by faster and faster as the song continued. The tempo of the song being pushed as the dance continued.

Still Riley was able to memorize the moves as they came. Kelly calling them out as he performed them helped and the pattern, while sped up, did repeat four times through the dance so Riley had plenty of opportunity to correct any mistakes he made on the first pass through.

When it was their turn the dance floor rumbled, and pieces of the floor fell away leaving large holes that one could easily fall through.

Riley, surprised but not overly so, fell into the dance routine doing his best to get back on to the rhythm of the song. Each step and hop taking Riley over the gaps.

Kelly was still calling out the names of the moves as they danced. The pumping music and the energy of the crowd filling Riley with energy. Kelly called for them to hop right and Riley stumbled over his feet as he moved left instead, going off of his memory of the dance. He heard a yelp of surprise and turned his head to see Casey fall through what had looked like a solid tile before.

“Oh hoho! Better watch your step or you might break a leg,” the skeleton crowd roared its approval. Kelly continued to dance as they spoke and Riley kept up, no longer paying attention to the tricky skeleton and continuing the dance based on his memory. “We are an inclusive show, no mistake is fatal here. You just need to survive the Back Up Dancers.

Through the floor Riley watched as skeletons and zombies pulled themselves out of fresh graves. Some of the audience dropping down to join them. Casey was trapped down there, alone. He saw her step into a shadow only to appear in another part of the area below the stage. Casey dodged the grasping hands trying to grab her and pull her down. Scott and Heather were both on their feet shouting something which was lost the music.

Riley’s mind was split. Part of him was focused on the dance and keeping up with the increasing tempo. The other part was filled with worry for Casey. He was ready to drop down to the ground to help her out. He had been dancing in his Rock Armor and was fully prepared to put that armor to good use. Casey was able to stay ahead of the mob following her, dropping into her shadow whenever she got cornered. She used her Pummeling Blows once as well to hamstring a few of the enemies before fleeing again.

The song ended and a tile appeared below Casey’s feet bringing her back to the dance floor. The crowd booed at her appearance and Kelly did nothing to stop them this time, the disappointment clear on their face despite the lack of any facial features.

“Are you okay?” Riley asked Casey.

“I’m going to kill that skeleton,” She replied, half out of breath. She was glaring death at Kelly who only returned her a wide smile in response.

“Same,” Nermit added, sending his own death glare at the skeleton. Heather and Scott were adding their own voices to the discussion, hurling insults at Kelly for messing up the dance.

“He’s going to pull that again,” Riley warned.

“It won’t work a second time,” Casey said. Her gaze never left the skeleton who only returned a leer back at her.

“For our final song,” Kelly said, hushing the roaring crowd, “we have The Peg Leg Hop.”

DJ Randy started playing the next song which was a blisteringly fast pirate shanty set to synthetic tones. Kelly started the dance, calling out the moves as fast as they came, and they came fast. The skeleton was almost a blur as they moved across the stage seamlessly transitioning to the next move by the time he was done calling out his current one.

Riley bent his entire brain to memorizing the routine. He didn’t want to risk the skeleton pulling the same trick it had the last dance. Before half of the song was over Riley got lost. Despite knowing all of the individual moves from the previous two dances Riley couldn’t keep them in his brain in the right order. Things were moving too quickly, and Riley barely had time to understand what Kelly was saying before the next move was announced.

Resigned Riley looked down at the graveyard below. The skeletons and zombies which had crawled out of their graves to chase Casey hadn’t retreated back underground. Instead, they were crowded around where the three of them stood. Their bony fingers in the air grasping desperately for a piece of Riley, Nermit, and Casey.

Kelly finished their dance with a flourish, triumph clear in their eyes. Riley shared a shaky glance with Casey who also looked resigned to failing the dance. Nermit was the only one who looked confident, a smile on their face. He caught Riley and Casey’s eyes and must have seen the defeat in their eyes.

Nermit struggled internally with something. His gaze fell to the crowd of undead monsters waiting for them to fail and Riley could see Nermit set his jaw behind his mask. “Follow my lead,” Nermit said.

“For our finale we have a special dance floor prepared for you guys,” Kelly slammed their peg leg onto the stage and the rest of the dance floor fell away, leaving only the squares the three of them were standing on. “The dance floor will only appear exactly when it’s needed. Now, onto the show!”

The music started, “Swashbucklers Swirl!” Nermit called, followed immediately by “Left, left, ahoy matey…” Nermit kept calling out the dance moves. It was the most Riley had ever heard out of the man but Riley grasped onto the lifeline like his life depended on it.

Because it did.

Tiles appeared under Riley’s feet as he danced, tuning out everything else but Nermit’s voice. Riley performed every move in time with the music, Casey mirroring him on Nermit’s other side. The jeering of the crowd calling for their blood soon turned to boos as they realized that they weren’t falling.

Halfway through the dance a bone smashed into Riley’s forward leg, almost throwing him off balance. The bone shattered on his Rock Armor and other bones were thrown his way. The audience were pulling off pieces of themselves to throw at the dancers. Riley could hear Heather and Scott’s voices calling foul, but he couldn’t pay attention to that, Riley only had room to think of the dance.

Trusting his armor Riley kept on dancing, ignoring the bones completely. The weight of his armor did a lot to stop the bones from messing with his dancing. A golden glow came from Nermit as he encased himself in a shield. The bones sent his way pinging off of the magical barrier.

Casey used her Pummeling Blows ability to keep up with both the dance and the bones being sent her way. It was effective as she had the speed to both follow the dance and make any necessary corrections to dodge the offending bones as needed, but it wasn’t a buff that would last forever. As soon as it ran out she would be in trouble, and they were only three quarters of the way through the song.

Arrows started flying across the room and a bone exploded midair. A bolt of mana joined the arrow destroying another bone immediately after, the shot curving around Casey to hit something which had been thrown at her back. More arrows and Mana Bolts flew as Scott and Heather joined the fight.

The song ended with the three of them breathing heavily. A smile was on each of their faces as Nermit called out the final move, a dramatic pose with an imaginary cutlass held in the air. The lights came on and the music switched to the ending theme.

“Please, put your hands together a final time for our three dancers,” Kelly said with a voice like they had just eaten sour grapes. A resounding roar of boos came from the crowd and more bones flew at them. With the song ended they were able to dodge the attacks.

“For completing all three dances you’ve earned your prizes, here.” Kelly threw 3 items at them. Riley caught a pair of sparkling dance shoes. He wanted to look them over more closely, but Kelly didn’t give them a chance. The music cut out, all the spotlights turned off and the bleachers of skeletons faded away. The stage rumbled and started descending back to the floor.

Quest complete!

You’ve survived 3 dances with Kelly the Skeleton and completed the quest The Bone Zone, congratulations!

“Ugh, that’s going to be terrible for ratings,” Kelly said. “You’re free to leave, I can’t do anything to you now that you’ve completed the quest.” The fire in Kelly’s eyes blazed into an inferno as he tried to contain his rage. “But that doesn’t mean my audience will let you.” The curtain closed leaving the three of them descending into the still grasping hands of the skeletons and zombies on the bottom floor.

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