Cuckoos and Chalk Marks

The thing surged into the arms and jerked them. The torso twisted as it tried to turn them around so it could stab Sorenson. Sorenson brought his index fingers together and then spread them, and a thin string of lightning hung between them for a split second before he flipped it toward a samurai armor. The armor singed, hissed, and kept walking as a scorch mark sizzled on its breastplate. Sorenson grimaced and looked down at Skull's body, then shot into the air. He reached floated near one of the paintings--quite lovely, with the clouds treated with gold leaf--and gestured at Skull's body again. It rose into the air about five feet, then trembled and sank back down.
"Damn," he muttered.

I fought back against the torso turning, but I wasn't able to stop the apparently sentient armor from turning around to face Sorenson. My plan of fighting against the armor for control of it was seem less and less like a good idea.

"I think it's time for a new plan," I said, wrenching back control of the arms long enough to chuck the sword to the side. "I still have a few minutes before I can get back into my body, and I can't do anything besides possess things right now."

"Well, how important is your body to you? Because I can't lift it very high while hovering," Sorenson called down. "And no way am I going down there."

The other armor had begun to beat at the suit of armor Skull was occupying. The thing inside held the armor still now, letting itself be dented and scraped by weapons and gauntleted fists.

"It's very important," I replied. "Especially my-ow!-skull."

Getting hit by other suits of armor hurt. I kept trying to move, but the armor was holding itself steady right now. The best I could do was take each blow and try not to wince.

Not that the armor was letting me.

They started rocking the suit of armor back and forth, trying to get it to fall. Sorenson hovered where he was, watching as an orcish suit of armor picked up Skull's body and prepared to crack it to the ground. He shot a bolt of lightning at the armor, which turned and pointed up at him.

As another metallic fist slammed into my armor face, an idea hit me. This suit of armor had figured out how to overpower me, but it was the only I had possessed so far. If my powers worked like they were supposed to...

The moment another fist collided with my face, I switched to possessing the armor that had hit me.

Spoiler

Is it okay if Skull has enough control of the other suits of armor to the point where he can get over to the orc armor? Or to one nearby?

(Yeah, he can body hop for sure and theyll put up a fight if he tries to move them but that should work)

The armor he had previously occupied pulled back a fist and slammed it into the new host, which removed its helmet and began to batter around inside the breastplate.

Spoiler

Awesome!

I winced as my previous suit of armor started beating up my current one. I was surprised with how quickly they had switched from one target to the other. They must have had some kind of big hive mind.

I fought against this one's control and touched another suit of armor with a touch of my foot. I kept the pattern up, fighting against the control just enough to get near the suit of armor that was carrying my body. When I finally reached it, I fought hard against it trying to break my body. I wouldn't be able to hold it for long, but if I could get it just long enough to distract it and the other suits of armor, I would be good.

The suits of armor were trying to climb up the columns of the room to reach Sorenson. The orcish armor smacked at Skull, keeping his body just out of reach and passing it to another suit. Sorenson closed his eyes and crossed his legs, reaching up to touch the ceiling paintings.

I uttered a Victorian swear.

Fighting back against the will of the suit of armor I was currently in, I reached out to the one that had just taken my body. They must have been smart enough to realize who was possessing them. If not, they had decided to be a pain by not letting me get to the one thing I wanted to get to.

I touched the armor with the very tip of my finger—just barely—and switched to possessing it instead. How long would it take before I could hop back into my body?

And when I did, how was I going to get out of this mess?

The air grew warm and heavy, crackling like it had in the pit room.
"Skull," Sorenson said, voice trembling with effort, "get your body on the floor and away from the metal. Now."

"That's easier said than done," I said. The air had shifted. I knew that Sorenson was asking me to drop my body for a reason. But I was in a room filled with metal suits of armor that didn't like to stay away from my body.

I eyed a rare open spot on the ground.

Dropping my body right there, I turned, forced the armor to take several steps forward, and pushed back against the suits of armor that were now trying to get to the body on the ground. I should have popped out of the armor then, but I didn't trust that the armor would stay away from my body.

The moment the body hit the ground the entire room was electrified. The suits of armor jerked, standing still as lightning coursed through them.

Getting shocked by electricity hurt. It didn't matter that my current body was made of metal instead of fragile human skin. The moment the electricity coursed through it, I felt it. I bit back a scream at the pain, but a pained noise still left me as the electricity went through all of the suits of armor.

At least this didn't feel like dying.

Some of the armor stilled, joints melted, while others were singed beyond functioning. There were still a lot of them, but the herd had been culled.
Sorenson closed his eyes tightly; he had a massive headache coming on now. He wasn't sure he could manage any more spells of that caliber.