[CHQ] Dawn of the Dead

[Alaina]

 

The group would take a carriage from Arbolia to a nearby town. Where they would end up would be a small town known as a Sigfran. The town itself wasn't much of anything to note. It was simple, merely existing near a river and having what was more a wooden fence then anything else surrounding it. The people of the village were self sufficient, gathering their own crops and not really making much trade with any of the other local towns or cities. The houses themselves were small and wooden and even the crop fields weren't all that big. Despite this apparent plainness to the town, the group would immediately notice something off about it as soon as they approached it. 

 

There seemed to be an odd darkening of the sky around them, though were they to look up it wasn't as though the sun had moved nor were they clouds to cover it. While most of the town could be seen in view, there was very little in way of people wandering about. The buildings looked scratched and worn out, as if a large pack of wolves had just plowed through the area. The ground was similarly trampled and seemed to have sustained damage as well. Once the crew's travel had finished, they would be greeted with a closed gate and a man who was sleeping outside of it. 

 

The man seemed to be incredibly disheveled, appearing to be wearing some leather armor, though both it and the clothing he wore seemed to be worse for wear, having scratched marks stretched all across them. Even still his arms and legs were covered in bandages with parts of his face being patched up as well. He would remain asleep until the group approached him, and was suddenly roused, groaning and seeming incredibly perturbed by this. It took a while for his eyes to fully open, the weariness in them being evident, as he sluggishly stood up. "He-, hey there." The man was rubbing his face trying to focus himself before continuing. Looking at the group he said, "you guys, um, aren't from around here righ-," he stopped as he looked at the naked lizard girl. He didn't show much reaction at all, but he was clearly at a loss for words before he looked back to the other two. "Am I still asleep?" 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Kasayee spent most of the trip on top of the carriage, laying on her back and watching the clouds go by. It was wonderful how, even with an evil elsewhere in the world, the clouds remain unchanged here. The evil hasn't spread far enough to affect them at a distance. And just like the clouds, Kasayee kept herself above the rest, physical if not mentally.

 

Those she was with were an...odd group. Something seemed off about both of them. She didn't know what to think about it but it made her instinctively leery.

"Beware the mage killer"

Kasayee wasn't sure what was meant by that; but she decided to keep her senses open even as she dozed off on top of the wagon.

 

She noticed they had arrived at their destination as she saw the unnatural darkening of the sky. She sat up shortly before the carriage stopped, looking out at the town. A simple one, without any of the large, unnecessary, buildings of other cities. A place worth helping.

 

Kasayee hopped off the carriage and joined the others by the gate.

"Am I still asleep?"

"Perhaps if I bite you you'll get your answer." Kasayee said without breaking stride. There was no intent to threaten but her lack of inflection made it difficult to tell. She expected to be let in but were she to be stopped she'd stare at the man. "Do you want my help or not?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Celica spent most of the travel in silence. She was seemingly feeling awkward about actually participating in a quest, and the way she held her sword was close to how a child would hold her stuffed animal. She noticed the darkening in the sky, which seemed to increase her anxiety, but after uttering some words to herself she seemed to get ahold of herself better and looked to be more aware of her surrounding, although she was definitely still quite awkward with the rest of the group for the rest of the trip.

 

Soon they would arrive on the gates of the troubled village, and was greeted by a disheveled-looking man. He talked, and was greeted immediately by Kasayee, which made him gave an expected reaction from someone seeing her for the first time, which was replied to by Kasayee and her stellar social skills which miiight probably would result in a conflict if not tended to soon.

 

"U-uh...we are from Cherry Heart and we're here since we heard there has been an infestation of the undead around here lately. Please tell us anything that could help us find a way to solve your problems."

 

---

[Hälō]

The carriage ride was nice and quiet, allowing Vincent a quality nap. The boy yawned loudly as the trio strolled up to the gate and were greeted by man who looked like he had seen better days. 

 

"Am I still asleep?" After peering at the lizard girl with a blank expression, the man turned to the Vincent and Celica. Though it seemed the little druid-thing was actually capable of speaking english and quickly responded for herself. "Perhaps if I bite you you'll get your answer. Do you want my help or not?"

 

"U-uh...we are from Cherry Heart and we're here since we heard there has been an infestation of the undead around here lately. Please tell us anything that could help us find a way to solve your problems."

 

Vincent peered down at the lizard girl, studying her aura as Celica tried to take control of situation. His tribe never really had an issue with druids. More than likely because they only used their magic to aid nature, and generally only evoked a brand of spell that the  Xel'cie considered not as detrimental to the environment as most schools of magic. Having never actually seen one in person, Vincent was curious as to what this girl's magic particles would feel like...

 

"..." With the ladies having already said everything necessary, Vincent simply stood at their side with arms crossed, exuding his usual hostile air as they awaited entry.

[Alaina]

As the man's question was asked, the female lizard creature spoke to him, which only caused him to turn to her, slowly. While her intent was already hard to tell due to the tone of her voice, the man seemed to be quite slow in registering it. Whether he was having a hard time what she said, or merely that she spoke at all, he continued simply returned a slightly more empty stare to match the girl's as she asked if he going to let them in. His brow seemed to furrow at the girl's rudeness, not quite sure what to make of her in general. While he felt like shooing away the lizard person, still not quite sure if they were real the blue haired woman eventually spoke up. 

 

Turning to her, he then listened to her, and seemed to be equally slow in processing what she had said. "Cherry Heart?" He mused, curious as to what she meant. After a few seconds, he seemed to perk up and said, "oh, right. The guild request. Yeah, come on in." He let out a yawn as he turned around, opening the gate and seeming to hobble forward. As he did, he seemed to get more vigilant, looking from side to side as if looking for something. The damage to the village, as would the strange darkness hanging around it, would be all the more evident now that they were up close. 

 

As they continued walking, the man would eventually say, "well, as you can see, the village has been a bit worse for wear. Basically," he gave a slight pause before saying, "the past uh, two, three weeks or something? I don't know exact time. I don't know why, but suddenly corpses and skeletons just started wandering around the village. They started just attacking people and, well, I think you see how that turned out." He gestured around to show the state of the village. "Doesn't matter how many of them I knock down, they just vanish and appear again. Only thing I can tell you for sure is that they come from the graveyard but...you probably could have figured that out yourselves." The man yawned once more as he said, "sorry but you're better off asking the others around town. Most people stay locked up these days since they think they'll die if the step outside but, but there are still a few place that'll probably let you in. Later." With that, the man walked away back to his original post before lying down and going to sleep.

 

Before the group were several options they could take. They could try and knock on one of the random civilian houses to see if they knew anything. While most of the buildings seemed to be closed shut, there were a few that still seemed to have open doors. One was the town's library, the other the town's guard house and the final being the building nearest the graveyard, the undertaker's house. The group was also able to go straight into the graveyard if they so pleased. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Kasayee was barely listening to the man.

He fought the undead.

He couldn't get rid of the undead.

Some others might have some idea possibly about something maybe more.

They came from the cemetery...what was it with the need to bury bodies like that? It made much more sense to use the meat and let the bones scatter as they will. Maybe after this incident these Humans will wise up next time.

 

She continued past the guard without giving him a second glance. She didn't even bother talking it out with her group...she had almost forgotten they were there. "No need to follow me." She called out. The girl then transformed into her bird form and headed straight to the cemetery, intent on flying over the gate and checking out what she could find, senses alert for any spiritual presence she might be able to discover.

 

Let the others gather information from the rest of the town. She would take the direct path.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Wait, where are you-

 

Ah, it's too late. In which case, I guess we should start asking around here for information. Catching up to her will be too hard, and I'm sure she can find her way back here."

 

Sighing at Kasayee's antics, Celica then attempted to gather the rest and start figuring out where they should go next. Most of the villagers had locked their doors out of fear...and truthfully even the atmosphere of the town was so uncomfortable that Celica would really follow suit had she lived there. They could go to the library...but it didn't seem like it'd have much easily accessible information about this outbreak. The undertaker's house could be a good idea, and Celica definitely placed it as one of the locations she had to visit. And lastly, the townguard base. Ah, that should be good. They should know about the nature of the attacks first after all.

 

"H-hey all, I'll go visit the town guards. Maybe they have some information for us."

 

After saying that, Celica went to the place and knocked on the door. Hopefully the town guards were not too tired of everything that they'd greet her hostilely.

 

"U-uh...I am sorry to disturb, but I'm from Cherry Heart and currently trying to find a way to solve the zombie infestation here. May I ask about the zombie attacks here recently? Any kind of info would be quite appreciated."

 

---

[Hälō]

Vincent watched with mild interest as the druid-thing shifted into the the form a bird flew off towards the cemetery. "Hm," He grunted a little upon "tasting" the contaminated magic particles that she left in her wake. "Green... very... green." The boy muttered to himself. The girl's magic definitely was most easily compared to a pine scented candle, in the sense that though it wasn't intrusive or bothersome at all, it was almost exaggeratedly "earthy" to the point where it were noticeably different from what you'd actually find in nature . 

 

"H-hey all, I'll go visit the town guards. Maybe they have some information for us." 

 

"Got it." Vincent responded to Celcia with a quick nod before walking off towards the building closest to the graveyard. 

 

The air around the town carried the residue of wicked magic all around, and with every step closer to the graveyard, Vincent senses were tickled by a steadily increasing amount of contaminated particles. It was clear that someone or something was cooking up some bad mojo...

 

"Yo," Vincent's voice called into the undertaker's building as he knocked twice on the open door to alert whoever was inside of his presence. "I hear you've got an undead problem that needed to be handled!"

[Alaina]

Kasayee:

 

As she took flight to the graveyard, she would see a rather ruined looking sight. The once grassy ground seemed to be withering, upturned and torn up. Odd patches of dirt and holes could be seen near each of the graves, with the grave markers themselves being either crooked or knocked to the ground. In the center of it all, though, seemed a rather out of place mausoleum that, while it had looked weathered, seemed to have only taken damage from time rather than any of the recent events around town. The undead, consisting of shambling corpses or skeletons, oddly well intact, were moving about the grounds. They seemed to be merely wandering about the area  without any sort of goal in mind. Though strangely they didn't seem to move out of the graveyard in these wanderings, and any time one were to get close to the gate it would merely turn around and start walking back. 

 

The undead didn't seem to take any note of the bird in the area whatsoever, and thus Kasayee was free to continue flying uninhibited. Were she to attempt to reach out to the spirits, for someone who always had them to speak to, she'd notice that they were strangely quiet. It wouldn't take long to realize that it wasn't as though no one was answering, simply that no one was there to begin with. 

 

Celica:

 

As Celica knocked on the door of the guard station, it simply moved opened on its, having not been locked. She would then see two young adult males, one with blond hair and the other with black hair, garbed in similar gear, albeit less worn, to that of the town guard she had seen outside. The two were sitting at a small table, staring each other down, as they both seemed to be smashing their hands together before saying, "go!" The blond held out two fingers on his extended hand, while the black-haired man seemed to have five fingers held out. The black-haired man looked at his opponent in shock saying, "how do you keep beating me?" 

 

"I'm just that good." He had a cocky grin on his face as he retorted, only to see Celica standing at the door. The cockiness seemed to fade into a more cordial grin as he said, "well hello there Beautiful. I'm -"

 

He was met with a short smack to the back of the head before he could finish whatever it was he was going to say from his partner, as his partner said, "he's San, I'm Ken. Thanks for coming over to help us out, as you can probably tell, the town's seen better days." 

 

"As for you question," San chimed in, "sorry to say that we're pretty clueless about the whole thing ourselves. They just appeared out of nowhere one day and bam, we had an epidemic on our hands."

 

Ken nodded at this, saying, "yeah. It appears to happen every night or every other. It has been quite a harrowing time for us indeed." 

 

San then added, "and it wouldn't really be a problem too, things are barely dangerous to fight against, outside of their number. But their bodies just disappear and then bam, the cycle repeats." 

 

"It's quite strange. I apologize we weren't able to be more helpful than that Miss, but if you have any other questions we'd be happy to answer them."

 

Vincent

 

As Vincent walked up to the door, before knocking on it, he'd notice that there already seemed to be odd holes in the door, as if something had pierced through it. Once he knocked on the door, it would become evident what caused them. As the rapping on the door and his voice called out, to the man inside, he would then hear and incredibly irritated, "calm down! I'm coming!" A shovel then almost seemed to strike at where the, now opened, door was but stopped as the man holding it looked at the boy at his door. "Oh, you're already inside. Well, that's no fun." 

 

An older man, seeming to be in his late 60s, and wearing incredibly drab clothing seemed to be the owner of both this shovel, and house. He looked at the boy, weirdly confused, disappointed, but then shifting back to a much more annoyed demeanor. "Problem?! Why I tell you the only problem here is that I'm gonna have to bury each and every one of them once this whole problem thing tides over. Again!" He seemed to get pensive as he said, "well, I s'pose a lot of them were buried before me, heck we don't even have that many dead people though. Hmmmm..." as he was lost in thought he then snapped back saying, "but 'sides from that, we ain't got no undead problem. Those buggers are harmless as flies and as dangerous as ones at that! Well, if flies had them there opposable thumbs and sharp teeth. But outsides that, they don't do much o' anytihn', unless it's night time. Then they're like flies with teeth, nasty ones but old shovel here knocks 'em right down yes he does." He looked at Vincent curiously before saying, "wait, you ain't got no shovel, how you gonna 'fend yourself from thems? "

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Even the grass seemed to be dying here. Kasayee wondered if that was due to whatever magic brought the dead back or if that was natural in these things. It wouldn't surprise her if a ritual that humans had, burying their dead, resulted in even more death of nature. But bodies were good for growth so that didn't seem right.

 

The undead she saw were less than impressive. She felt no fear at the sight of them; only a slight disturbance at how strange and not right they were. Her search of spirits came up empty so she could only reach one conclusion. These were not the kind of undead where spirits were forcibly bound to a body. They were animated in some other way.

 

This would make her job harder.

 

Kasayee went for the structure in the middle of the cemetery. Humans were indeed odd. Not only did they bury their dead but they also built entire structures to house some of them. What a waste...thankfully the stone seemed to be naturally breaking down. Eventually it would hopefully go back to nature and this place would be a bit less sad.

 

The girl turned back to her original form as she landed on the top of the structure on all fours. The stone was slightly cool to the touch, likely due to the sun not casting its light, and the natural stone felt nice under her hands and feet.

 

There was something unnatural about this structure; even more than the normal from it being man-made, and Kasayee felt an urge to leave. However she couldn't do that. This was clearly something important and she didn't want to abandon it this quickly. She didn't move far from the top of the roof, merely searching around for an opening that she wouldn't have to land on the ground to enter. As she did she watched the undead to see if they reacted any differently to her actions.

 

She would notice that the entrance had words written on it. "the tomb of Magni"

It seemed this was a structure built for a single person. This gave Kasayee a slight angry feeling. Wasteful. And arrogant. Whoever this Magni was; Kasayee had a feeling she wouldn't like them.

[Hälō]

"wait, you ain't got no shovel, how you gonna 'fend yourself from thems? "

 

Vincent sighed before extending his right hand. Though it was slightly gross using the magic particles from the area, he quickly gathered and molded them into a bow of shimmering red energy. "I'm a fan of shooting things in the face if I feel like I need to do some fending..." Vince said with a shrug before aiming the empty boy at the man as if here about to shoot an imaginary arrow. "Listen, I can tell whatever is happening started in YOUR graveyard. So what can YOU tell me whats going on, pops?"

 

The man first seems surprised at the magical bow before him saying, "I tell you, you city folks and yer fancy glowy things. Any how," he started thinking more on the boy's question. "Not much to say on that, nope. I was just minding my own business, singing a little diddy like I do, working on the graves and then BA BAM! Hand just popped right out of the grave. Now I just tried burying that thing but BAM BAM! More just kept appearing, it was right strange I tell ya." 

 

The man seemed a bit more annoyed recounting it saying, "nasty varmints I tell ya. I ain't got much o' a job since people don't go dying around here often so this whole just does me nasty. Can't even work on it now since any of the holes I fill up just have no bodies popping right back out'em. Darn good fer nothin'," the man seemed to be grumbling to himself before thinking on something.

 

"But yeah, can't say I saw anything 'er anyone weird when they appeared. Though, hm," being a bit lost in thought he said, "now I s'pose Magni's Tomb was open. No one, not even I, touch that place. Really old and not much tending to needed ya know? Unless it was those nasty rabbits that keep eating my garden crops. Blasted fur hoppers, Mr. Shovel'll have a word with them if they come back around." Blinking he said, "right, that all magic boy?"

 

"Vince." Vincent shot back as soon as the words 'magic boy' fell out the grubby man's mouth. He rolled the information around in his head for a little while."Who was this Magni person? Some kind of mage?" That could possibly explain why the corpses were raising...

 

The undertaker shrugged. "Dunno, was well dead 'fore my time. S'posedly he was some kind of hero knight or something who did some big stuff, but I ain't really ever paid attention to that kinda stuff."

 

Great. "Cool, thanks." Vincent turned and left the property whilst resting the newly formed bow on his shoulder. It wasn't much to go on, but at least he had another lead...

 

Strolling into the library, the boy quickly located whoever was in charge and spoke in his usual gruff manner. "Hi. Vince. Here with Cherry Heart. It's guild." He held his bow up, eager to get through the weird introduction people in towns like these seemed to like to give upon first encountering them. "I shoot things. Tell me everything you can about this Magni guy."

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"I...see..."

 

That was quite disappointing. Celica hoped the others would be more lucky than her. Looking at the two guards more for a while, she pondered about the situation for a bit more, perhaps that way she could figure out a better question to ask to the two guards. Wait...did they say their body just disappear after each attacks? Celica, with her reasoning of joining this quest in mind, decided to go ask the two again. Ah, perhaps she really should have followed Kasayee earlier.

"That must be the work of quite the magic...say...is there any kind of very notable tomb in this town's cemetery? And perhaps...could you two accompany me there?"

 

---

[Alaina]

Kasayee:

 

As Kasayee looked around the stone building, she would noticed that despite its weathered appearance it was still rather solid. As such, there was no indication that there was any entrance on the roof or the sides of the mausoleum. Merely, looking down they'd see that the only entrance available to them would be the one accessible from the ground. They'd also notice that the door to the mausoleum was missing, and as such, the entrance was wide open. Though, were Kasayee to look at it, the same foreboding feeling she had had earlier would only be greater. The undead, however, still acted as if they had paid no mind to the lizard girl and merely went about their business, stumbling around. 

 

Vincent:

 

As Vincent entered the library, he'd see a single man sitting about there. The man had short brown hair that seemed a bit on the shaggy side and wore a long gray robe, seeming to be reading something by candlelight. He seemed immediately startled as someone had entered his building, as no one had for quite some time recently, and was only thrown more off-kilter as Vincent immediately introduced himself without prompting. He then seemed a bit more worried as the boy proclaimed that he "shot things," and seemed to be a bit panicky as he tried to figure out what to say. "M-magni? Uh, um, uhhh." He was stammering a bit before saying, "oh right, yes! Magni, heheheh, uh yeah. I don't really know much about him, since we don't have much on him here but uh, he was some kind of hero knight from long ago. I believe he used to travel along with some others but I haven't ever really read much about them so I don't know their names." 

 

The man seemed to calm down a bit as he went deeper into thought. "Well, Magni was born here, which is why we have a tomb for him here. To, you know, honor his accomplishments and stuff from hundreds of years ago. There are quite a few stories of his accomplishments across his travels but the main things about him is his beginnings. He was apparently a person born with a curse of ruin, or something. I'm not really sure what the specifics of it were, but apparently he just kind of caused destruction all around him. People thought he was some kind of monster or freak or whatever. But, in spite of all of this he found some way to use this ruin and turn it into strength, and became a great hero and all." The man seemed to be a bit lost in wonder as he seemed to be recalling stories of Magni, only to then snap back and stammer at the man once again. "Uh, um, is that um, all?"

 

Celica:

 

San chuckled as the girl said it sounded like it was the work of magic. "You don't say," he slightly jeered. As she asked her next question, he thought about it a bit before saying, "uh, not sure on that. We're not exactly a big town and no one from here is really noteworthy, so I don't think we have anything more than regular grave markers."

 

"Really?" His partner looked at him, judgement clearly in his face.

 

"What?"  

 

Ken sighed as he looked back to Celica. "We have a mausoleum in the graveyard to the Knight Hero Magni. He's supposed to be an inspiration and reminder to us in the guard and any from this town who would become an adventurer. But clearly some people didn't get that lesson in basic town history." While San seemed a bit peeved at the insults from his partner, Ken seemed more curious about the girl's question as he said, "why do you ask?"

 

After she answered and requested something of them next, San said, "worry not maiden. I will be sure to defend you from the corpse walkers!" As his answer seemed to be filled with gusto, he then went back to a more playful smirk as he said, "or I would if there was any danger. Those creepers don't really bother anyone in the grave, or at least not according to that loony undertaker. Of course, they also try to claw through our houses during the night, so he might not be the most reliable source." Picking up his sword, he said, "even still, I shall make sure no harm befalls you. What say you Ken?" 

 

Sighing, as his partner seemed to be going through a usual act of his, the man picked up his lance saying, "aye."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

So they weren't reacting to her even still. Kasayee walked upon this mausoleum and would be clearly noticeable to anything paying even the slightest attention. Yet the dead still wandered aimlessly. She hadn't wanted to step on the ground, in case that drew their attention, but it seemed to be the only way. They still may attack but with their level of awareness Kasayee was not all too worried.

 

Still she decided to try to keep from the ground itself and dropped down, holding onto the edge of the roof, then swung her body forward and back, gaining momentum and jumping directly into the building itself.

She would see for herself what this foreboding feeling was being caused by.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

"That's settled then! Let's all go to the cemetery now!"

 

Getting the two guards to accompany her, along with hearing the confirmation on whose tomb it was on the village made Celica a lot cheerier despite the still drab situation the town were in. The first step to her goal went by quite smoothly. Without wasting much time, the two continued on their way to the cemetery complex, and in the meantime, Celica turned around to look at the two guards following her.

 

"Say, can you tell me more about the Knight Hero? Didn't expect such a figure to be buried here of all place, and it'd be interesting to see if there's any connection between this and the issues befalling the village."

 

Well, she's already aware of the story of the Knight Hero, but wouldn't hurt to see if she could learn something new here this time.

 

---

[Hälō]

"Uh, um, is that um, all?"

 

Vincent sighed. "Nope..." He wouldn't let this be another dead end. Willing his bow to vanishing into a flurry of bright red particles, Vincent crammed his hands into his pockets and stepped further into the library. "Show me where all the books on this guy are, will ya?" His voice called back to the librarian as his form vanished behind two large shelves. All he could do is hope that the girls were making better progress... 

 

 

 

 

 

"DAMMIT!" 

 

After shifting through a pile of assorted short stories about Magni's individual exploits, such as fighting what was referred to as, "the living mountain," and dealing with something known as the "Whale of the Woods'. Vincent found that nearly everything else that was written about Magni were either folklore about his origins or nonspecific garbage about the old bastards that he traveled with.

 

Not even anything detailed about his supposed curse. Only that it seemed to be something that he was born with that caused him to bring ruin to things around him. Nobody was really sure why he was born with it, some books said  he was unlucky, others that it was something deeply rooted in his family, and other things of that nature. Other than that, mechanical specifics on it didn't seem to be really known...

 

"Great..." Defeated, Vincent tossed one of the more useless books back into the shadow of the library before trudging to the exit. He had done enough reading in the last twenty minutes to last him a life time...

 

On his way out, he turned to librarian and hazarded a final question out of desperation. "Might as well ask... How did this guy die anyway?"

 

"It happened somewhere along the time that his travels ended. Apparently the collection of wounds he had accrued over his journey started to catch up with him and he eventually just fell from exertion and age. Strong as he was, he was still only human, after all." The man responded after some thought, clearly aware of his lack of usefulness.

 

"Cool." Vincent replied before sighing once again and moving out into the street. 

 

[Alaina]

Kasayee:

 

As the lizard girl entered the Mausoleum, it would be far more apparent that there was something incredibly off about the building then just a strange feeling. Once inside, Kasayee would see that she wasn't in a room that was the size of the building. No, instead it was a much larger corridor that seemed to stretch on for longer than it had any right to. The ground seemed to still be made of the same kind of stone from outside, however, there were red vein like strands going throughout it and it seemed to take on a more darker gray coloration. Were she to look behind herself, the entrance would appear to be entirely shadowed and the outside world entirely obscured. Further down the halls, the girl would be able to see that there were six different paths to take, three on each side, and a wall at the end of the halls. 

 

Celica:

 

As the two guards traveled alongside the girl, Ken had responded to Celica's question. "Well, it was said that Magni was born here, and once his adventures had finished he had decided to come back home and live out the rest of his days here. Naturally, he was buried here as a result. As for if he's related to these issues..." The guard trailed off as he was lost a bit in thought before shaking his head. "It was said that he was cursed, but that was more just general destroying things around him rather than anything to do with the undead. I'm not really sure how the two would be connected." 

 

Eventually, the group managed to make it to the graveyard, greeted with the same sights that Kasayee had been when she had entered. San looked to her and said, "remember to stay close and milday, and try not to make any sudden moves. They aren't the brightest of the bunch but I'd rather not take any chances here." 

 

Vincent:

 

As Vincent left the library, if he looked around for the rest of his party he'd notice that they weren't in any of the other buildings in the town. Eventually, when he went to the graveyard he would find Celica with San and Ken having already entered, though Kasayee wouldn't be anywhere in view. While magic around the area to Vincent would look like a red and black dust, with a much larger cloud of it around the graveyard then the rest of the town. In particular, his plot vision would show the mausoleum radiating with the same red and black energy around the town. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

BGM (provided by Skaia)

 

It was clear to the girl that something powerful was at work here. She was fairly certain humans generally couldn't build things that were so much larger on the inside. She looked around at the various hallways, trying to determine any differences in them.

 

The only thing of note were the vein-like things running along the structure. In some places they were brighter than others. She had no idea what she was looking for but her instincts told her that there must have been some reason that some were brighter.

 

This thought is what spurred her to choose her path. There was a staircase, descending of course, which Kasayee didn't hesitate to step onto. It looked to be more of the same. Nothing different about the material, more of the vein-things...Which, she noted, seemed to react to being stepped upon. It didn't feel any different but there was most certainly a flow around the area her foot made contact with.

 

While going farther she started to hear a noise. A combination of a groan and a hiss. It was faint but it at least confirmed for Kasayee there was something here....

As she descended it would become clear that the veins in this area were starting to converge into much larger ones. Her instinct told her she might be nearing a heart of some kind...

Perhaps it would be good to get the others before continuing but...she was already here, why stop there?

 

She did decide to exercise a bit more caution on the rest of the way down. She could see the bottom of the stairs by now and it wouldn't be good to be ambushed suddenly.

 

Turning into her lizard from she crept along the last few steps of the staircase and into a larger, box-like, room.

 

The veins were present here as well, of course, but they were all headed towards the center. The center which contained a large pit.  She was too far away to look into it and, before she got any farther, she realized that the noises from before were no longer present.

 

Curious, Kasayee began to examine the room more. More specifically she looked towards the ceiling. All seemed normal...except for an odd bulge on one area of the ceiling. Drawing from her experience in nature she determined this was some kind of camouflage.

 

Her notion before that something was here was confirmed without a doubt. There was something in this place. And it was clinging to the ceiling. Right above the lizard girl.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Remember to stay close and milday, and try not to make any sudden moves. They aren't the brightest of the bunch but I'd rather not take any chances here."

 

"Hopefully you two would be capable of dealing with them if they do attack us, right?"

 

The there of them carefully walked through the cemetery, though Celica could barely hold her giddiness in actually seeing the tomb of the knight. After a while, she noticed a mausoleum in the distance, and being sure that it was her target, she rushed towards it, ignoring the warning said by the two guards earlier. She felt something was strange about the mausoleum, but couldn't really understand about what. Well, even if it's unrelated to the quest, it's still her goal of coming here anyway.

 

"I'm sorry for this, kind sirs, but I can't hardly wait anymore. I think I should be able to handle this by myself from this point on."

 

---

[Hälō]

"That's... not good." Vincent mumbled as he studied the red and black magic particles that drifted into the town from the direction of the graveyard. Following the plume with his eyes, he wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that a large mausoleum was pumping the vile particles out like a factory. 

 

"I wonder who's tomb that might be," The boy said sarcastically as he jogged up to the outer limits of the cemetery. In the distance, he could just make out three figures as they approached the tomb, one of which brandishing familiar blue hair. The little druid girl was no where in sight...

 

Sighing, Vince stepped into the graveyard. Forming a bow from the cloud of magic particles that hung around the area, he shivered at the sensation they gave. He watched as the undead strolled aimlessly around as he began slowly making his way towards the tomb, clobbering any that wandered to close with his bow. 

[Alaina]

As Celica had made it to the Mausoleum, San looked at the girl as she dismissed them. "Are you sure, it could be dangerous in there?" He then looked around and said, "and I don't exactly wanna sit guard out in front of here." 

 

Ken nodded at his partners statemenets saying, "if you think it best to handle it yourself then we will leave you to your devices, but we won't be waiting out here when you come out. Hope you understand." With that, the two either followed Celica at her request or left the graveyard. When they saw Vincent, the both of them would glance at him curiously, not recognizing the boy in the slightest and seeming a bit weirded out by the magic bow he conjured up. However, they decided to merely let it go and not question him, figuring he was a part of the Celica's group. 

 

As the duo entered the Mausoleum, they would see the same thing that Kasayee had seen. Darkened stone floors and walls, with red vein like strands flowing throughout the halls. Six different pathways, each with veins pulsing of various brightness and frequency. While this was all Celica's vision would be able to make out, Vincent's plot vision would show things a bit differently.

 

The veins themselves wouldn't really appear to be at all out of place or cryptic to him, merely just another part of the strange magic permeating the place. Furthermore, there would be a clearly thicker strand of red and black flowing out of a specific path. However, this strand would change which pathway it would be coming from, at completely irregular intervals, not revealing anything more than confusion to the boy. Due to the intense red and black of the area, though, he would be able to make out a specific, small speck of familiar green towards one of the pathways, though that was nearly completely swallowed up by the surrounding colors. 

 

Meanwhile, as Kasayee stared at the strange creature stuck to the wall, it would merely stay there. No signs of movement whatsoever, merely staying in one place. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As Kasayee determined the creature was not going to make any moves with her just standing around she decided to make her way towards the center of the room. The pit there led into a deep hole. With rough, but scale-able, walls. Inside was something akin to the shadows she saw in the entrance when she first entered this place. Perhaps a way out? Or a way deeper. Whatever the case there was something she had to check before thinking about going inside.

 

Looking towards where she last saw the creature Kasayee realized it had moved. Without panicking her eyes flitted over the ceiling. Searching for the bulge she had seen before. Now that she knew what to look for it was simple and she spotted it...right above her again.

 

It could have just moved and happened to go there but her instincts were telling a different story. One that she most certainly did not like. She transformed again into her bird form and flew straight at the creature, waiting for a reaction.

 

And she got it. A very slight shifting in response to the flapping of her wings. Before she got too close, staying five feet away, she started towards the doorway that she had arrived from. Glancing back to keep an eye on the creature she noticed long, clawed, hands reaching out to drag itself towards her.

 

Suspicions confirmed. Kasayee was being stalked. This was not something she enjoyed. Predator and prey happened all the time. Such was the way of nature. However she was not some hapless rabbit to be taken by the fox.

 

She took a turn, adjusting her flight path, and headed for the creature again. Its body appeared to be balled up, making it somewhat difficult to determine what part was where. However she had noticed the arms, while long, were humanoid. So she had to figure the rest of the body was at least generally human-shaped.

 

As she got within four feet of the creature it un-balled its body in order to lash out with a clawed hand and let loose a screeching noise.

 

Kasayee spun out of the way, her small bird body making it fairly easy to avoid the grasping claws, and examined the creature.

As she had expected it was humanoid in shape. Six feet tall with skin similar in coloration to the walls and the veins on them. A fact that led her to believe either this creature was put here, has always lived here, or it had an ability to change its skin color to act as camouflage in any setting.

 

Its arms, which she had gotten within inches of, were long, four feet at least, had black claws on its hands. There were also claws on the creatures feet, which it was currently using to cling to the ceiling.

 

Its mouth was full of sharp teeth and yet the rest of the creatures face was covered in some kind of layer of what seemed to be skin. Smooth, without any features, possibly indicating a blindness.

 

She only saw this for a moment however as she continued past it, transforming into her regular form as she neared the ceiling, and grabbed onto the back of the creature's neck. Her desire was that the creature would be forced to let go in order to keep itself from having its neck snapped from the sudden weight put onto it.

She called out as her hands met the things neck. She could feel the flesh which proved to her that the creature's skin was not as stony as it appeared.

 

With another screech the creature reacted to her sudden attack. It moved one arm to join its feet in clinging to the wall and tried to swipe at her with its second arm. Showing just how flexible this thing was.

 

Letting go of the creatures neck with one hand, dangling now by a single hand, she transformed her free hand into the lizard claws she used for battle and gripped the creature's wrist. It was obvious this thing was stronger than her but the lizard-girl was able to hold the thing back for the moment.

It was enough to make the creature attack with its other claw as well as letting go of the ceiling entirely with its feet.

 

To avoid the second claw Kasayee transformed into her bird form and dodged out of the way of the creature's falling body, following it towards the ground.

She had hoped it would land and damage itself. Though she wasn't surprised when it landed feet first, much like a cat, and began to skulk around the area with its head in the direction of the bird it had tried to kill.

 

The creature leapt up at her, as she hovered around five feet from the creature, and tried once more to swipe at her. As she was waiting for just such a reaction Kasayee moved so that she was behind the creature and transformed, delivering an axe kick she had intended to aim for its head.

She instead connected with the creature's back. It tried to retaliate by swinging its arm backwards at her and Kasayee dropped to the ground to avoid being smacked by the creature's forearm.

 

The creature rolled through the air and landed on its claws, grinding to a halt across the ground. In the end Kasayee ended up near the door again and the creature was just a bit past the pit. However Kasayee had accomplished what she wanted. The stalker was now on the ground. And she wasn't about to let it leave.

 

She began to circle around the pit on her right, using her magic to transform both hands into her lizard claws, and crouched low as she moved. She was ready to spring forward if she had to but at the moment her main goal was to avoid the pit and keep her gaze on the creature.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Now, Celica was completely all alone after she dismissed San and Ken's companionship. Like this would be fine, she thought. She entered the mausoleum and started to study more about the building complex as much as she could. She wasn't exactly a scholar, but the veins on the walls definitely caught her interest as she went on. With the help of her lantern, she started to scribble notes regarding her surrounding as she moved forward.

 

And then, she was faced with six different pathways. She thought about which one to pick for a while before deciding to follow the one with the dimmest vein flowing through it. As the darkness became more and more noticeable, Celica stopped scribbling and pulled out her decorated sword. No one was watching. There would be no reasons for her to keep anything under wraps if there were any sizable dangers here.

 

---

[Hälō]

He watched the two creatures circle each other around the pit. It seemed it was a good choice to follow the trail of magic left behind by the little one's transformations...

 

Aiming his weapon at the larger of the two beings, he stood in silence. Watching and and waiting like a true hunter. It didn't take long for him to pick his shot, drawing his hand back pack he smirked in the darkness of the hallway as an arrow begin to manifested from the air.

 

BMG

 

"Hm?" Vincent glanced down to see the red viens at his feet convulse and release a cloud of red magic particles that proceeded to drift into his arrow. Though before he could further study the vein, the creature suddenly spun to his direction. Had it sensed him messing with the magic?! 

 

With his element of surprise quickly fading, Vincent sent his arrow flying towards the beast, smirking as it's drilled tip began to swirl angrily. His shot flew true, though the drill enchantment seemed largely ineffective, and only served to knock the creature back a bit.

 

"That should have went right through him..." Vincent mumbled to himself. His mind suddenly flashed back to the sickly red particles that had been used in the the creation of the arrows, causing his eyes to narrow in realization.

 

"We'll try the druid then." He sighed before reaching out and molding another arrow, this time from the bright green particles that hung in the air from the little lizard girl's nature magic. "Here," He called out to the creature as his second shot sailed into the room, striking it in the chest and causing to let a small howl of pain.

 

That was all he needed to confirm his hypothesis. Quickly forming a Scatter Shot arrow from the green magic particles, Vincent took a knee and aimed the arrow at an angle before shooting it into the center of the room's ceiling, causing it's payload to rain down upon those inside. With the girl being quick, and a much smaller target, he was fairly certain she'd be fine... probably. 

 

The creature opened it's mouth a produced a horribly screech. Seconds later, it dashed towards the boy, dodging past the rain of projectiles and only taking small wounds as it leaped up and attempted to claw at Vincent's face.

 

With little time to react, Vincent hastily formed an arrow and slammed into into the wall at his side just as the creature was upon him. Ducking under it's attack, Vince molded an Explosive arrow from the remainder of the magic particles left by the druid whilst sliding past the lumbering creature. The monster reacted quickly, swiping at his chest as the boy passed, but it had no way of protecting itself for what happened next. 

 

"BANG!" Vincent spat whilst skillfully tossing his improvised bomb into the arrow he had drove into the wall, causing a bright red explosion to blossom in the hallway. Him and the creature were both blown back by the blast, though only one of them was prepared for it. Using the force from the explosion, Vincent allowed himself to be pushed into the room with the druid girl, before ungracefully tumbling to his feet with his bow at the ready.  

 

He watched as the creature skidded across the floor before suddenly moving it's head around as if it were surveying the area. Watching the beast carefully, Vincent cursed at the realization that he had used the last of the green magic particles in his last stunt. Though luckily it seemed he wouldn't need them...

 

Before anyone could make their next move, the creature rushed forward with surpassing speed. Moving his bow so that it followed the strange creature, Vincent watched as beast dived down into the pit and vanished into the darkness.

 

"He seems nice..." Vincent ventured sarcastically as he turned to the druid girl. Lowering his bow he glanced down at his shredded jacket. The scratch was light, but the damage to his already limited supply of clothing would take much longer to heal...    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As Kasayee slowly made her way towards the creature...arrows came from the hallway and struck it. And then a rain of arrows fell. Kasayee was forced into her bird form to dodge around the arrows and only transformed back when the creature had retreated into the pit in the ground.

 

She glanced at the source of the arrows, one of those that she had come here with, as he made what Kasayee had to assume was a joke.

 

It was an odd circumstance. The spirits had warned her before of a strange feeling about this man and now he had almost caused her injury. She decided that she was right to trust her instinct to go here on her own. Which meant...

 

Kasayee shrugged in response to the man. "Bye." She said before diving into the pit after the creature.