Grave Investigations

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Kaija
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Posts: 626

Grave Investigations Jul 31, 2022 0:06:07 GMT

Post by Kaija on Jul 31, 2022 0:06:07 GMT

Kore chuckled and gently shook her head.

Why? Could’ve been a lot of things. Maybe she was happy that Silvaria stayed by her side. Maybe she was starting to really feel just how fucked up Isabella’s actions really were on a personal level. Maybe she was just relying on humor to push out the thought forming in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe…

…the liches weren’t the only ones who remained sentient after being inducted into Sugar Skull’s service. She kept that thought to herself. Silaria was a mystic consultant after all, not a bodyguard nor hired gun.

Kore wasn’t going to ask her to fight if she didn’t have to, nor push her burdens onto the girl.

"You know, the last time that I decided to leave Sugar Skull’s pets alone, one of them exploded and summoned a lich. A lich that then tried to kill you. So uh… yeah.”

She gestured for Silvaria to follow and started walking towards the graveyard. If the witch got a good look at her, she’d notice the redness fading from her burns; less of a strain in her expressions as the pain continued to gradually dull. Violet eyes watched as a legion of undead began to rise from their graves expectantly.

"Unless there are some elites here, it shouldn’t take very long to clear this place out. And, if there are?” she opened the gates to the cemetery and stepped inside, "Then I’d rather know about them before we’re face to face with whatever they were put here to protect.”

The horror that followed was downright biblical.

By… either definition of the word, honestly.

As the brobdingnagian horde began their approach, the devil widened her stance, focused on her core, opened her mouth, and unleashed a legion of her own. The largest swarm that Silvaria had likely ever seen. A reminder of why, despite everything she did to be a force for good, many would always see her as more of a blight on the world than those like Isabella would ever be. And, honestly? If someone were to witness the events unfolding before Silvaria’s eyes and mistake those zombies for people who still lived? Well…

…it would’ve been hard to fault them for believing something like that.

It was like someone had distrubed the world’s largest beehive. Demonic pollution so thick, it was almost as though they’d been observing the world through a dirty filter. The errant buzzing of the swarm filled their ears as creepers darted about. And the smell of rotten flesh and bone dissolving to chemicals that didn’t belong in this world would assault Silvaria’s nostrils. Did zombies feel pain? Could they scream?

If there was ever a moment to find out, this would’ve been the one.

Despite all of it, Kore seemed unphased. “Focused” was probably a better term for her current expression. Perhaps she’d expected the scene or perhaps she was just used to similar views. The only thing that those violet eyes searched for within that ocean of dread was a monster that would not fall to the swarm, alone. Many of Sugar Skull’s creations would’ve taken more to slay. But, as it turned out?

None of those monstrosities seemed to be here today.

Still, it took time to clear the yard. Exponentially less than Silvaria had been expecting, a few passing minutes at best, but the hunter was thorough. The swarm spilt; opening a direct path towards the ominous, glowing crypt. Kore gestured for Silvaria to follow, then walked; half anticipating for an elite to rise up and surprise her along the way. To burst forth from the pools of goo and shower them with necrotic energy.

But none came.

And Kore’s curiosity shifted away from the distractions that fell behind to the… nonsense lying in wait. Or at the very least, by the expressions on her face, the hunter was very confused by something that she’d been sensing. It wasn’t until she opened the door and got a good look with her physical eyes that she understood the madness that her sympathetic Poltergeist had been feeding her.

"Oh. It’s a literal labyrinth built into a crypt,” she nodded to herself in acceptance, "That… doesn’t bode well, I don’t think.”

She lifted a hand to her side and slowly lowered it; sending out a death command to the swarm. A sound indistinguishable from rain would fill their ears before the light sound of small fires took its place. It would seem that the hunter didn’t want to proceed with divided focus.

With a whistle, she summoned her familiar to her side. Shade never needed to be reminded to warn his master of hostile magic when he smelled it; and Kore could only imagine what this place had in store. She took a few slow steps inside. Okay, nothing’s exploded so far. Then, dropped into an indian-style sitting position and just let herself feel the layout of the place, as well as check for any more intruders. Then, Silvaria chimed in with a bit of insight that made Kore’s eyes widen.

"Wait, hold on! You can read that!?”

Wide-eyed, she turned towards her assistant and gestured at the runes on the walls that, honestly, she hadn’t even bothered paying much mind. I mean…

If Silvaria could read them, then she was the only one. More importantly, if she could, it might’ve turned a potential obstacle into a goldmine. Or, at the very least, it might’ve given them some insight on who or what was lying at the bottom, what purpose the labyrinth served beyond the obvious, and why the hell the runes were even glowing in the first place. Like, seriously.

That might’ve changed everything.

"Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to finish mapping out the route to the lich, telekinetically. We’re going to follow that path- or at least some of it- and I’d like for you to read the runes lining the path and tell me everything that you can about, well, all of this before we meet our guest of honor. Could be nothing, but I think it’s worth the effort.”

And so, unless Silvaria took issue with that, that’s what they’d do. All the way down until they ran into doors that seemed leech at her Pride and test her strength before finally coming open. And, while there were a great many things that Kore expected to see…

…Isabella’s face definitely wasn’t one of them.

She was speechless.

And she was wrong. She’s seen it wrong. I mean she had to be wrong. It had to be a trick of the eye. There was no way, no fucking way, that that bitch would just be sitting down here while her house and her parents, while her goddamned parents just-

-no fuck this

FUCK. THIS.

Caution slipped her mind for a crude mixture of incredulity and rage and a sense of overwhelming disgust. She flickered over to the girl, grabbed her by the collar or whatever she could get her hands on, and hoisted that girl up so that she could get a good look at just who the fuck this really was.

It didn’t matter whether or not she was intangible. She’d fought ghosts before. Most of her kit couldn’t even interact with their kind, sure, but no spirit could casually pass through her Pride, and that included the armor wrapped around her goddamned fingers. No matter what, before she moved forward and did anything else-

-she would know the face of the foe standing before her.

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2022 0:11:15 GMT by Kaija

Kore Smith

Silvaria
Junior Member

Posts: 92

Grave Investigations Jul 31, 2022 3:43:58 GMT

Post by Silvaria on Jul 31, 2022 3:43:58 GMT

Kore had decided to not listen to the Witch- and as she explained, she was right in doing so per her experience. This was a powerful necromancer capable of converting hordes of undead into a mass of giant undead if she so willed. Whether or not the witch in question was alive was a factor they couldn’t ignore because of all the evidence that they had run into thus far in this place, from the exploding alligator to the undead in the basement and the seemingly random objects turning deadly without a moment’s notice. Silvaria did not appreciate her employer ignoring her words. She made a face and followed Kore.

What she witnessed then was likely the singular most horrifying incident of badassery and horror the young witch had likely witnessed from her or anyone else. Like an infernal demon, Kore Smith breathed swarms upon swarms of buzzing creepers into the air that quickly spread across the graveyard, blocking what little sunlight there was in the wake of the darkened skies. The only source of light was coming from the entrance to the catacombs.

The witch tried not to think about it as sounds of crunching, falling and dissolving could be heard all around. She was rightfully disgusted but at the same time, was in admiration of her boss. Kore could keep her word and protect Silvaria. “Show off…” Silvaria had said in passing when they reached the entrance to the catacombs.

"Wait, hold on! You can read that!?”

“Mhm.” The young witch nodded, smiling. It wasn’t just the unfortunate incident with the scythe that had given her this ability. This was her field of expertise too, a glance was all she needed in order to tell what a rune was trying to tell her.

“Alright well,” The Witch decided to take a moment as she sat right in front of Kore, mimicking her stance. “There were four skulls. Four rituals that were performed right here in the catacombs. Remember that skull I gave you earlier? Yeah, it’s from one of those rituals.” She spoke, running her Adamantine hands across her stony abdomen right along where there was the scar left by the scythe. That was such a horrific experience for a young witch to have to have borne a girl with no prior experience with fear or pain. “There was a ritual performed to give resistance to heat, electricity and fire. There was a ritual meant to grant defense against limitations of the body, to turn it or them stronger than conventional undead as we have witnessed above. And the last was I think the more complex ritual, it was meant to combat blessings and curses…so whatever we encounter might be highly resistant to magic…”

After a moment spent finding their route through the labyrinth, they were on the move until they came across a door that Silvaria felt similar to when she was attacked by the scythe. Fortunately, Kore was there and eventually they were able to muscle through- only to come face to face with the source of the nightmares. It was Silvaria’s first time seeing that face, and her fist witnessing Kore so angry. Perhaps angry wasn’t the word. Maybe it was.

Before she could do anything, Kore was on the move, gunning right for whoever or whatever it was. As for Silvaria, well she prepared for the worst, fists clenched, her defensive spell on the ready to pounce at the enemy at a moments notice.

Last Edit: Jul 31, 2022 3:44:37 GMT by Silvaria

Azra
Senior Member

New site same oddball

Posts: 502

Grave Investigations Jul 31, 2022 8:43:46 GMT

Post by Azra on Jul 31, 2022 8:43:46 GMT

Can Ghost's Afford Time?

By now the house was fallen cinders. It'd fallen I'm and in the room once belonging to Morgan in the debris was the final stone present here the others were shattered but that one lay among the now gone home. And as the insect plague battled the undead hoard, as the investigators moved to enter the labyrinth many of thee undead would look to move toward that gem.

Most the graveyard was a battle ground, insects versus zombies but it wasn't to competitive. The undead were shambling, a glow may have started to escape them but the enchantments weren't settled in. A hundred people swatting at a bug and that bug might be hit, but you make it a hundred bugs and the people slow and the insect body count might not be that remarkable. As grand of a hellish move as it was, neither Kore or Silvaria had to stick around to watch. In a ideal scenario the numbers to push through would have meant something but the powers at be weren't impressed by this.

And she knew this. It was why those generals were made. It was why those generals weren't here. And it was why the remaining phylactery had been smashed.

So the duo enters the lair and talk. They meditate, they navigate and soon they are at the door. They push past it and come for the ghost. They would find hands passed through her. But it would feel like running ones hand through water as opposed to air, unapologetically off. The ghost would stand up though in respondance to the move meant to lift her up. "You hold a lot of hate for a woman never met. What is it what I did to them? It was orders from beyond the veil. I've only as much autonomy as them. Good play with dad by the way. Sure he just wants to protect the only thing left but the deal? I mean if you can't rip a gem from Morgan's head how would you stop what's beyond? Right? For all the creativity and powers shown what are you but a killer?"

"And you the inquisitive witch? You think she'll ever listen really? How many clues are lost how much do you have to study? The ingenious nature of a witch is to clever for someone who's strategy is only going for the throat. Oh not that I blame her, death is freeing. And simpler." There was a laugh and with the laugh the sound was off. When the Echo spoke it came from the ghost but that laugh it seemed to hail from the walls. It wasn't like the woman laughing, but rather the blood. The long there yet wet stains of the room.

"I'm sorry, monologuing. Isa..I I used to love Dungeons and Dragon's. When you got to the big villain and they just told it all. So sure they couldn't be harmed. They weren't afraid of death. I was as a child then I was fascinated by it. I wax willing to give my life so Morgan could have one you know? And in a way you could say i did. And after that the curiosity became a hobby. Kept the secret for awhile guess thats out though isn't it? As i took to necromancy more fully however I started to fear something else. Death is a sweet void but it's sort of overwritten by the after. You know, that place that empowers huntress here and the opposite of it. Why should that surpass finality. Wheres the dramatic tension of death if there's a heavenly sequel? Ugh doing it again, I shouldnt be asking questions im sure you have your own."

The Echo looked to give the ladies the floor to talk and inquire. However as each moment passed the lights, the five veins of color would pulsate. It was the rhythm of a heart beat at first but it was building in intensity. A heart sent racing. What was it rushing towards though? It was only lights after all. Perhaps one thought they could disrupt it, but then the phylacteries used for this was gone.

The hands of the Echo would spin the pistols playfully. She wasn't like her family that video game like red weak spot wasn't there. She genuinely felt untouchable. Even if she weren't though she felt her goal complete, to die was just to see the welcoming void she desired. Her eyes seemed to trail off trying to remember where something was in this room. Until finally guns would smoke as she fired off rounds above her. Something to reveal soon....

Carmen/Onigirl
Sophie
Mana/Mango

Kaija
Senior Member

Posts: 626

Grave Investigations Aug 1, 2022 5:30:40 GMT

Post by Kaija on Aug 1, 2022 5:30:40 GMT

For the briefest of moments, the hunter felt an impact against her fingers.

But, as she pushed forward, flesh and cloth gave way and flowed around her hands. She curled her fingers and, like water, Isabella’s form raced between her fingers and rippled for a moment before once again settling into its original shape. She reached forward as the ghost rose, driving her hand all the way through to confirm what she had just seen. A cold rage spread through her as she clenched her fist and withdrew it.

An eerie stillness.

"Of course you would be.”

A harsh reality dawned on Kore, but the experience wasn’t exactly an unfamiliar one. The words of Isabella’s victims echoed through her mind. Sugar Skull would not- could not- perish until all of the phylactery had been destroyed; both those that had been shattered already on the cemetery grounds and those still unidentified elsewhere. She knew exactly what she needed to do to kill Isabella. And if the entity standing before her really was the Sugar Skull that she’d been hunting after?

Then attacking her directly was a complete waste of her time.

And yet, the hunter remained unfettered. Despite her foe standing barely a foot away from her, Kore turned her attention elsewhere. For a moment, violet eyes shifted away from the distraction and towards the surrounding environment in search of a target worth pursuing. Information that might’ve led to the necromancer’s actual defeat. But, as she continued to speak, something drove the devil’s attention back towards the echo of Isabella. Her eyes flickering back to meet hers once more.

Disdain and disgust were the only emotions that she’d see swirling behind those violet eyes.

"It takes one to know one, doesn’t it Isabella?” The hunter would not deny the skills that had served her so well throughout the years. No shame in her words, "But, tell me something. Just who was it that took everything else away from that man and left him in such a pathetic state to begin with?”

Isabella’s voice was sickening. So cavalier about the entire situation. Nonchalantly talking about a goddamned board game after watching the souls of her parents shatter. The people who believed her all this time. Weaponizing the situation with sarcasm and a smile. And, you know what? As Kore watched this maggot revel in the suffering of those who loved her up until the very end?

She realized something.

Never before had she felt such motivation. Never before had a fire burned so hot in her chest. People- monsters- like this? They were the very reason why she did this. The embodiment of the filth that Smith Inc. had been created to destroy. In her mind, she knew that Isabella’s sadism was no different than the senseless bloodlust that defined her kin. And yet, for some reason…

…the only time Kore had ever felt this much hatred towards someone was when she thought of her own father.

"Yeah. Yeah, you know what? I do have a question for you.”

The echo fired into the ceiling, yet the hunter would not send even a passing glance upwards. Eyes filled with overwhelming disdain would remain locked onto her foe. Even as dirt and bits of debris fell onto her head and rolled off of her Pride, she found it hard to care. Whatever might come, she would deal with it when it became an issue.

Right now, all Kore wanted to do was hear the truth while there was no miasma to conceal her lies.

"When your mother entrusted her magic to you. When your father suffered and lost everything for you. When your sister became a hero to atone for your sins and try to salvage the family name. When you abused all of their love and dragged them down into a living hell… did you ever, ever feel anything? Did you ever regret any of it?”

She clenched her fists, jaw tightening.

"Or were they all just playthings to you? Toys to be tossed aside and forgotten when you no longer had any use for them?”

Kore Smith

Silvaria
Junior Member

Posts: 92

Grave Investigations Aug 3, 2022 12:58:42 GMT

Post by Silvaria on Aug 3, 2022 12:58:42 GMT

Kore’s hand went straight through her, seemingly as if through fluid. She was there but maybe as nothing more than ectoplasm that reacted with the physical world but remained unchanged, or something along those lines. Silvaria tried to make sense of what she saw, trying to decide which it closely resembled.

The movement of the multi-colored runes and mana did not go unnoticed. While a voice veiled by malicious souls spoke to Kore and the Anti Christ was using both words as well as her senses to figure it out, Silvaria would look to follow the essence of mana floating and pulsing like a beating heart. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. She was probably not as naturally gifted at sensing mana as someone who was born with it, but she was learned in an area that few could boast of. Closing her eyes, the witch tried to pin point to a location.

The rituals performed here, what were they for? Just meant to linger in the air that would affect anyone and everyone entering the catacombs? Or did the seemingly random streaks of runes and lights hide a meaning behind it? She tried to discover the secrets behind it all, to try and hopefully destabilize and destroy the spell if she could do that.

The echo of Isabella fired at the roof of the catacombs above. They startled Silvaria a bit and broke her focus. The young witch looked up at the ceiling. Was there something there?

Last Edit: Aug 3, 2022 12:59:01 GMT by Silvaria

Azra
Senior Member

New site same oddball

Posts: 502

Grave Investigations Aug 7, 2022 19:46:31 GMT

Post by Azra on Aug 7, 2022 19:46:31 GMT

Killers Don't Play Nice

The sounds of moaning dead and the buzzing plague was fading away from the graveyard above. Soon a new sound entered that landscape a hand, missing an index and rotting rummaged through remains of Morgan's room to pull out a small stone. As the gem submerged so to did a floating scythe. Eyes of the zombie briefly flared with a semblance of life. It wasn't a phylactery but holding one in it's hand was empowering. And so it began to whistle some part of him came more to itself. This undead began then to wander away. Just leave the graveyard look to get lost in swamp and forest near by. It's one objective get the stone away from here. Let it be lost.

And the scythe began traveling to its owner...

------

"Darling I lived and breathed death, I worship it. You have people and a heart being a killer has weight for you. May be a shifty hero but you still count as one. I gave any heart I have to my sister. But let's not say takes one to know one. Because while you may be a killer I aim to BE death." It was words that had as much faith to them as any priest. Said with a conviction to match any pastor. Spoken as if comparitive to the vows of a nun.

Her father's status as a undead living phylactery was thrown as a insult. But to Isabella the mother and father reslain today were works of artistry. They were pieces of her made into being tools for the end. All those here were just haunted marionettes to a higher power. Or perhaps, lower was more accurate. "No not hell. Heaven hell they are the insulting thing. If you kneel like a bitch you can have paradise for eternity. If you dare to take what you want you burn forever. And while living long as one can should then be the goal. To live is to suffer, the only eternity worth a shit. Is death." This was the sermon of a necromancer, the gospel of the reaper, something to maybe make hymns for the shinigami.

"She gave me magic but loved the people. She wanted to celebrate the living and the dead, but I only see beauty in the latter. He loved this land, its only alive because of how I made him. If I had my way he'd make this world thrive as the dead and undead inherited it all. Because the plants aren't sick like us. And yes I feel something still for Morgan." There was a pause there. This Isabella wasn't the same one as the one killed by Kore. This Isabella was a ghost before the family like Massacre. And this sister didn't want her sister to die.

"The hand of death is surfacing." The pause ended and the ghost would continue. By now Silvaria could probably sense it. In looking around she would start to piece where skulls had been. The blood on the walls would give off hints. "You feel it don't you? The rot, the heat, the weapon, the mind, and the cursed or blessed. They were friend's and I turned their skulls to conduits for something more." Destroying it couldn't be done as the spell was cast. Tracing it though was, the right kind of student of the arcane could learn how to identify and maybe even find who the spell was for. While looking awell the magic weirder would be able to tell that Isabella was essentially all ghost here. No physical based attack was going to end her. But she was bound to something else, and that something was getting further away.

Clues of the more physical sense were harder to come by. There was blood, however and those might tell of a story. One seemed to smell sickly, another gave off heat it was like being near a camp fire. Getting close to one seemed to scream. Another had gunpowder residue in the blood. And the last it would feel wrong and inviting. That was the stain for blood both damned and holy. Looking around the floor one would find a rusty wined scalpel, a lighter, bullet casings, an old necklace of a cross and pentagram. Lastly on the ground was something harder to quantify. It was more a mush now, something organic once now long sense rotted away.

And in the casket behind Isabella if one looked was, guns. The rusty dusty and otherwise untouched for years mirror of what Isabella held I'm her hands. She could feel it, the ghost knew the others were rising. She could feel how they were further empowered by the crushing of phylacteries.
"Any other questions? Maybe you'd like to join me? Us? You can despise me all you want but for all the hatred for death can you even make a case for the living?"

As the ghost finished that was when the sickle would pass through the walls. Through the earth, corridors, caskets it would enter into this room. A silent deathly thing passing like a ghost until ready to strike. The weapon looking to impale the hunter through the heart. It was a ghost ignoring durability until given form. And when the blade struck, should it manage here it'd be a exhausting thing. The mind likely to feel tired and dazed. This weapon wasn't perfectly made but it still was a mind rotting instrument of reaping.

As for the gunfire it was to blast apart some of the ceiling. A mural would be exposed from the cracks. Sure a lot of debris fell but it wasn't room for a painting. The picture had moved here at some time. What magic got a picture on a ceiling though wasn't all to interesting. It was the picture itself. It looked like Isabella some, but also not. Idealistic was maybe the word, how a kid liked to see themselves perhaps. The figure was a knight of the dead. Out there was a sister, who had used this look as a costume. For Morgan it had been a nod to a memory when her sister was still sweet and a hero I'm her eyes. For Isabella that memory of childhood had been twisted just as much anything else. That Death Knight, was who Isabella looked to become now. From enjoyed childhood and heroism to becoming the end of all things.

SPOILER: Click to show
{Art Above is Of The End}

Last Edit: Aug 7, 2022 19:55:51 GMT by Azra

Carmen/Onigirl
Sophie
Mana/Mango

Kaija
Senior Member

Posts: 626

Grave Investigations Aug 9, 2022 5:03:16 GMT

Post by Kaija on Aug 9, 2022 5:03:16 GMT

As wary of her surroundings as she was, Kore wasn’t omniscient; especially when she wasn’t actively searching for something at great distances. There was little reason for her to suspect that the specter standing before her was anyone other than her target. A phylactery drowned in a miasma of wicked souls was just as indistinguishable as the individual souls that composed it. And it was easy to let a stone slip away, unnoticed, when the very target of a hunt was standing right before your eyes. As the hunter took in her surroundings, a singular thought kept echoing in the back of her mind.

This isn’t the battle that I should be fighting right now.

And it wouldn’t be until a phylactery lay before her waiting to be shattered.

This was little more than a distraction. A game. A cheap excuse to get worked up, waste time and endanger both of their lives. Isabella could boast about her intangibility all she wanted but, as far as Kore was concerned, it made no meaningful difference. The devil had completely destroyed her when she was flesh and blood and it did nothing to keep her from returning and continuing her nefarious schemes. Was there any reason to believe that history wouldn’t repeat itself if she were to destroy her spirit while the other stones remained intact? She knew this. She knew this in the depths of her soul.

And yet, something compelled her to stay.

It wasn’t bravery or stubbornness or anything idiotic like that. No, it was something far more melancholic that weighed on her mind. The image of a violent ghost left unchecked to spread chaos and death for, well… who knows how long it was going to take to find and destroy every fragment of her soul. Perhaps destroying the foe before her would only briefly impede her acts of terrorism. And maybe it wasn’t the best use of her time. But, if she could bring this town a brief moment of respite from Isabella’s bullshit, then she’d have slept a bit easier that night.

More than enough reason, honestly.

But what was the best way to go about-

CLANG!

…

Huh.

Hahahahahahaha, whadda you know?

Perhaps even a devil could earn the favor of God if they worked hard enough to live a virtuous life.

Reflexively, the hunter raised her forearm to block a projectile that she saw coming in the corner of her eye. And, almost in response to the inquiry running through her mind, an intangible weapon that could cut both physical and ethereal targets alike fell right into her lap. She could feel its magic trying desperately to invade her flesh, and that only raised her interest in the blade. As far as the devil was concerned?

The sinister tools of a deranged necromancer were no different than the powers inherited from Satan, himself.

Two hands shot out with startling speed and latched onto the shaft of the weapon in an instant. Two eyes laced with a cold, focused hate locked onto Sugar Skull. She couldn’t have cared less whether that scythe was physical or ethereal, neither state would’ve made it any easier for the cold, hard steel to slip through her fingers. She’d tighten her grip, bunker down and fight with all her strength to steady- to tame- the living weapon locked between her fingers. You see, Kore knew full-well that, no matter how things went down in those catacombs, it wouldn’t be the last time that she saw Isabella’s face.

Even so, at that very moment, there was absolutely nothing that she wanted more than to hunt the prey that stood before her and collect its head.

Last Edit: Aug 9, 2022 6:47:39 GMT by Kaija

Kore Smith

Silvaria
Junior Member

Posts: 92

Grave Investigations Aug 13, 2022 6:19:47 GMT

Post by Silvaria on Aug 13, 2022 6:19:47 GMT

“You sound an awful lot like a bitter apostate.” Chortled Silvaria as she found herself distracted a moment by the ghost of Isabelle. “Weren’t a good practitioner of religion then go on to view them as vile and evil after you leave fold. I have seen so many like you back where I come from.”

Silvaria was studying the spell, its origin and eventually she found where the ritual was done, smears on the walls and floor confirming the gruesome fate as suffered by those unlucky. One thing the young witch was able to surmise was that the ghost was not there at all. Still, she could see a strand of magic connecting her to something that was going up through the ceiling of the catacombs.

She sighed to herself, before looking at Kore. She was busy with something familiar, a scythe that had almost killed her before but her employer was sturdier than she was. Silvaria cursed herself. She had fucked up here. The only rune even remotely useful was the soul rune. The soul rune. Earth Rune was only somewhat useful and mind rune was not used at all! Even if she did use it there was no use of it against Isabelle or any of the undead they faced here. “I’m gonna go see where this leads.” She said,

When she deactivated her Atlas form though, all manner of gut pain and blood started pouring out of her wound, making her kneel down for a moment between turning on the soul rune to pretty much become a ghost. A ghost with blood running down her clothes to her feet.

She looked up at the ceiling, there was a painting exposed from the gunshots. Looked like a pale knight that looked somewhat like Isabelle, but there wasn’t anything interesting about it because it had no trace of magic. It was only a painting. She looked to leave the catacombs to the surface.

In the graveyard Zombies were all but dead, reduced to chewed bits and pools of gray matter, there was residual magic everywhere, some rising from the corpses still which made Silvaria’s job even harder. Eventually the trail led her to the fallen house where a phylactery used to be and from there it was leaving to go to the depths of the swamp.

She hesitated, not knowing what other nasty surprises a necromancer had in store, in a swamp of all places. There should be more nasty surprises for sure! For this exact reason, as she entered following her senses, she’d keep a keen eye and ear out for any sign of danger.

Last Edit: Aug 13, 2022 6:20:27 GMT by Silvaria

Azra
Senior Member

New site same oddball

Posts: 502

Grave Investigations Aug 14, 2022 15:34:38 GMT

Post by Azra on Aug 14, 2022 15:34:38 GMT

"They preache the end of days coming, I am the end! Don't compare me to them. Contradictions in faith all so you chase something better after the end. As if tainting the start isn't good enough it has to corrupt the conclusion." The pastor of death clearly had been rattled by the words of the witch. Furious as she was the ghost was only a gunslinger and commander of a scythe she had no further magic left in her.

Perhaps before the ritual she did. Now though whatever piece of her that was tied to the arcana of the necromancer was forfeit.

A sickle was captured in the hands of Kore. The hunter tried to wrestle the weapon, and as she held it Isabella would move to get behind Kore. The sickle would rotate as if following the ghost. With edge looking to point toward Kore's face Isabella would gesture the weapon to come for her. Wrestling the weapon away wasn't the goal instead the ghost would pull it towards her. The levitating weapon looking to move in a way the mechanics of the body already worked. The goal simply trying to impale the hunter and intangible blade hopefully sliding through the defenses to materialize in the body.

The weapon moved on its own though being a haunted thing meant Isabella was free to raise her guns. "Tell me killer how you planning to kill whats already dead?" The pistols would bark, the sounds echoing through the room as a bullet at barely a few yards away looked to pierce the back of Kore's neck. The bullets were ethereal not really something to form until finding flesh. With these spectral guns the ghost could shoot other ghosts or in most cases ignore the armor and resilience of super humans.

Those guns were also in the room however...

~~~~

There had been two gunshots though.

It was easy for the spirit of Silvaria to move back to the surface. The magic trail was easy to follow as well. Sure there was zombies around but most were bug food, those not were wounded and aimless. There were ghosts to but they didn't have any drive. Whatever power commanded them before was waiting. Be it permanent or just ones mana currently spent the zombies were shambling and ghosts haunting. The undead couldn't go after Silvaria anyway given their corporeal form but the ghosts wouldn't either.

The whistling zombie looked behind it and saw Silvaria though.

The gem is swallowed and the zombie begins to run. Given more sense of self from the phylactery it looks to preserve itself. A mad rush beginning for the swamp. It's legs stiffened by rigor mortis shouldn't move like that but through the power of arcane they do.

Healthy for a undead's legs or not however the dirty water of a swamp would start to slow it down. In comparison a ghost like form like that of the witch likely wasn't going to be slowed by anything. The zombie needed a better defensive.

It's stomach was going to be hard to get to, the sturdy forms of the witch wouldn't be good for swimming. Lastly those swamps were gator filled. A idea formed, and if one looked there might even be excitement in the zombies eyes. Having that stone inside made it feel more alive then ever.

The zombie dives into thr swamp and begins to sink to the bottom. Undead gators turn to him in curiosity but knowing him dead don't engage. Getting the phylactery be it to keep it or break it was going to require diving after the zombie and trying to get into its guts. It was pretty sure though doing that would need a physical body. A physical body that also wasn't going to sink. Be it a stone like figure though or flesh and blood there was zombie alligators likely to go for it.

And lastly came a bullet. Because the spectral ammunition of Isabella didn't care about the soil and trees it had to pass. It wasn't conventional so it wasn't dragged down like another round might be. And while Isabella couldn't see where Silvaria went she knew where her phylactery was so she knew where to relatively aim. As Silvaria likely began the dive she would likely have a bullet looking to form in her lower back.

Carmen/Onigirl
Sophie
Mana/Mango

Kaija
Senior Member

Posts: 626

Grave Investigations Aug 14, 2022 20:41:02 GMT

Post by Kaija on Aug 14, 2022 20:41:02 GMT

Silvaria raced off to chase a nearby lead and after a few chasing shots, Isabella returned her attention back to the hunter.

Good.

Hopefully that meant that she could devote all of her attention to the duel while Silvaria took care of business on her end. Kore had locked the scythe down in her grasp and, though it resisted, it wasn’t putting up enough of a fight to break out. It probably shouldn’t have been that surprising, really. If the tool was designed to rely on its intangibility and necrotic magic to kill and move freely…

…then there probably wasn’t much of a reason to consider giving it much horsepower, was there?

Still, tone as her body was, feats of raw strength weren’t exactly her forte, either. Wrestling that scythe to a standstill kept her locked in place as Isabella flanked behind. And the devil didn’t need eyes to sense the movement of a sinner as she leveled her spectral guns towards the nape of her neck. The sound of steel grinding against steel echoed through the chamber as the shaft of the weapon rotated within her curled fingers. When the blade was facing her- perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it had been pointing towards an area behind her- she felt it using all of its strength to push towards her. Then, Isabella asked her a quick question.

And the devil’s expression sharpened as a smirk drew across her lips.

"I dunno, Isabella…”

The movements that followed next transpired in under two seconds.

A hunter began to move with the preternatural grace that she’d become well-known for.

Just as Isabella began to pull the trigger, Kore took action. She pushed away from the scythe and used the resulting force to spin on her left foot while throwing her right leg back. Bullets whizzed past her neck by mere centimeters as she spun in place. She continued to ride the backwards momentum and fell forward into a sprinter’s stance as soon as she came to face Isabella. The scythe scraped the edge of her shoulder as her torso descended and sailed overhead as it flew towards Sugar Skull; its blade perfectly aligned with its creator. Then, in a burst of startling speed-

-she lunged towards the necromancer with perfect form.

With a loud clang, hands shot up and wrapped around the scythe. The power and speed that she carried in her stride would only combine with the momentum that the blade had already been carrying as it flew towards its maker to hasten her approach. The hunter devoured the distance between them in the blink of an eye. And, with equal haste, she brought the blade down upon her prey. A downward diagonal slash meant to cleave the specter in two at the waist. And, if it landed?

Then the ectoplasm composing the phantom’s body would become the perfect testing ground to help Kore figure out just what the enchantment on the nefarious weapon in her hands really was.

"Why don’t we find out, together?”

Last Edit: Aug 14, 2022 20:56:53 GMT by Kaija

Kore Smith

Silvaria
Junior Member

Posts: 92

Grave Investigations Aug 15, 2022 2:06:18 GMT

Post by Silvaria on Aug 15, 2022 2:06:18 GMT

The ghost of Isabelle didn’t like the remarks of a young witch, maybe because it’d hit a nerve but as she had a lead to follow she didn’t stick around. Top side was like a scene out of some post apocalyptic horror movie with writhing zombie parts and spectral ooze rising out of dead corpses but they weren’t in a state to offer Silvaria more than a passing glance as she quickly left the graveyard and entered the swamp beyond.

At first her senses had some difficulty locating the zombie with the phylactery, but as it broke into a sprint, the sound of its legs wading through murky water was enough to steal her attention, but not just hers, though. It was enough to attract the attention of predators like alligators hungry for the next meal. The Zombie powered by the gem that it was holding suddenly decided to swallow it and dive into the deeper waters.

Unaware of the spectral bullets being fired at her, the young witch dove in after the Zombie, well aware that she was unable to retrieve it without changing runes and forms but in her mind, if she could just prevent the ghost or the spectral essence within the zombie from moving, then hopefully the zombie would rise up on to the surface…and hopefully she would be able to retrieve it before the Alligators helped themselves to a rotting corpse, if that even was to their fancy.

A hand pointed towards the murky depths, guided only by her magical sense. A weapon composed of her soul appeared in her hand, promptly before she released a sword strike aimed at hitting whatever was aiding the zombie to move, taking extreme care to not hit the object she was after. It would’ve been an epic blunder if she did hit it with her soul attack.

This moment of occupied attention allowed a spectral bullet moving through solid ground, soil and water as though it were air, to arrive at Silvaria’s location unnoticed. She didn’t think anything was capable of harming her in her form. She was wrong though. The bullet punctured right through her shoulders, causing chunks of her ectoplasmic matter to become dislodged from her shoulders before fading from existence, leaving behind a nasty hole in its wake and the screams of a young witch that wouldn’t be heard by anyone in the depths.

Damage to the body could be healed fairly easily, but damage to the soul? Now that was an entirely different matter. Was there just one bullet? Silvaria turned, facing the other end of the mana trail, from where the bullet had come from.

Last Edit: Aug 15, 2022 2:06:47 GMT by Silvaria

Azra
Senior Member

New site same oddball

Posts: 502

Grave Investigations Aug 16, 2022 1:13:51 GMT

Post by Azra on Aug 16, 2022 1:13:51 GMT

The bullet misses the blade hadn't. The Echo of Isabella wondered if the hunter could feel it. The scythe when it cut pulled at thoughts and stamina. It was flawed tiring and fugue over the intended one hit zombie maker it was meant to be. Still it was a weapon that's potency wasn't in the edge but the magic bound to it. Regardless how well the blade worked on Kore it was now being channeled into an attack on the Echo. And the face of the ghostly gunslinger would smile.

She'd lean into it. Even if the hunter was smart enough to start pulling it away the weapon was Isabella's as if gravitated to her. The ghost also didn't have a body to stop. Put simply if someone wanted to impale themselves with their possessed weapon it was likely to happen. Be it more by a killer's swing or a ghostly ambition the scythe blade came down on her crown. Slipping through until the hook could be seen piercing through her jaw. And if one watched carefully they would see an Astral bleed.

The Echo didn't have blood to spill but something pulled from the wound anyway. A keen eye would see that clear water gushing free though had reflections in it. Memories were pouring from the ghost. It was her weapon, her magic and her design this weapon worked wonders on her. However it also meant information was spilling out. And there wasn't exactly a bucket for memories just hanging around. "Feels like somethings slipping. You ever take a gun safety class? Think they say something about where to point ones gun."

The Echo was becoming just that, a shadow a reflection devoid of self identity. So long as the phylactery existed the ghost would stabbed through the head wasn't lethal for the ghost. It did reduce her to more basic instincts however. Isabella had shown deep down death was more her identity then anything else. So with blade still in head the gunslinger raised her guns. Two more ethereal shots aiming to tear into the guts of Kore. Bullets which cared not for durability and at this range were likely hard to evade. Because melee range and gunfire aimed at center mass didn't go well.

~~~~

The events in the catacombs were not without advantages however. The mindless killer of an Echo also meant it wasn't an intelligent killer. It didn't have the capacity to think to shoot at Silvaria again. The witch was free of further gunfire.

A weapon slashes into the zombie a blade that hacks through ribs and organs the stomach splitting open. The muddy swamp water begins to dye red as blood escapes the wound. Amongst the grime and gore though the gem still shines. The phylactery was separated by the zombie. Now one just had to take a physical form to claim it.

As the stone started to sink the alligators would move to defend it. Wanting to snap and chomp at the witch. Wounded as the assistant was and as peril filled as these waters were though she'd now gotten her chance. A friend and boss made sure the real attacks weren't coming either. Provided Silvaria could navigate the jaws coming for her injuries and swamp the phylactery was hers to grab. What would one do with it though? So long as it existed the ghostly killer did to, but the secrets of the necromancer burned inside that tiny stone.

Carmen/Onigirl
Sophie
Mana/Mango

Kaija
Senior Member

Posts: 626

Grave Investigations Aug 16, 2022 14:55:37 GMT

Post by Kaija on Aug 16, 2022 14:55:37 GMT

The familiar sensation of steel plunging into flesh and bone reverberated up the shaft of the scythe and through the hunter’s arms.

Far more effective than her armored knuckles had proven to be. The blade lodged itself into the phantom’s skull, but what seeped from its wounds wasn’t blood. It was a liquid canvas upon which Isabella’s memories had been painted. An almost kaleidoscopic view at first glance. But there was more to it than that.

Isabella’s facial expression dulled. Her posture slackened and her movements began to slow. It was almost like watching a live lobotomy which, honestly, probably shouldn’t have been all that surprising. Even her words lost what little refinement that they’d been carrying.

"Can’t say that I have.”

At this range, the devil was right at home.

A quarter-step forward.

With grace, she advanced. Her grip loosened on the scythe as Isabella’s guns began to rise. Simultaneously, both hands shot out from the shaft of the weapon at a wide, downward diagonal; parrying both guns with the back of her wrists just before the phantom could fire. Both shots veered well off course. And perhaps, if the phantom had lost enough stamina from the blow, those strikes might’ve knocked the weapons right out of her hands.

Another quarter-step forward.

Her right hand shot low and reclaimed the shaft of the weapon at the far end. Her left forearm rose and crashed against the shaft of the weapon just below the point where the blade connected. Their eyes met with only inches between them. A stance that sacrificed speed and mobility for maximum leverage.

A void orb opens behind Sugar Skull

She tightened and steadied her right hand. Then, she threw all of her weight onto her left whilst pushing forward with every bit of strength that her legs could muster. The cold steel buried deep within her skull would become a firm handle for the hunter. And she would use that handle to drive the specter back and banish it from this world. Perhaps she wouldn’t need to destroy its phylactery to defeat it if she could seal it away within the endless void. And if that were possible then maybe, just maybe…

…they still had a shot at leaving the Naicitrom Manor with a fully intact phylactery.

Kore Smith

Silvaria
Junior Member

Posts: 92

Grave Investigations Aug 18, 2022 13:21:19 GMT

Post by Silvaria on Aug 18, 2022 13:21:19 GMT

The young witch did not think that her attack was going to work…but it did, to her release. She spotted the glint of the stone but it continued to sink to the bottom of the murky water. Her senses picked up on other lifeforms as well, they belonged to gators though, not undead.

“One last time Silvaria…” She told herself before switching runes. Her blood escaped the wound momentarily as she switched runes, then into her Atlas form and started to sink with the added weight. In no time she managed to grab a hold of the phylactery.

A couple of gators came looking for a bite but one mean punch from her Atlas form sent them hurtling back. Animals, once they sensed resistance, they backed off. In nature, wounds and scars were fatal and not worth the time at all.

Having secured the stone in her fist, the young witch looked around as she considered how to escape her predicament. Now, yes, stone form meant she wouldn’t drown at all but she was also made of stone, she couldn’t float or swim up to the surface. And thus, the young witch would be just spending a lot of time underwater as she searched for a slope going up to the surface, or rocks she could use as stepping stones to get out

A few minutes later she managed to walk out of the water onto land. She sat down beneath a dead tree, taking a moment to herself and studying the rune. If the others she had seen were any hint, then she knew that it was powering up something, and seeing as she followed a trail from Isabella, then likely the stone was what was keeping her alive.

"If I destroy this now...it will make Kore's job that much more easier...but if I do that...then I would've lost perhaps the only opportunity to study an intact stone..." There was a moment spent on deliberations before she decided. She threw it onto the ground and took a large stone and smashed it on the phylactery. They'd managed to get a cracked one at the very least and it wasn't worth leaving a dangerous necromancer alive.

Last Edit: Aug 18, 2022 13:21:45 GMT by Silvaria

Azra
Senior Member

New site same oddball

Posts: 502

Grave Investigations Aug 21, 2022 12:53:45 GMT

Post by Azra on Aug 21, 2022 12:53:45 GMT

The Above the catacombs a stone figure takes up a phylactery the stone swimming in muddy water and blood is seized. The weapon of choice helped free the stone and so a form not approached by hungry zombie alligators got to walk out of the swamp. Silvaria found a means to perform a task without returning to a human form for long and so the monsters with her didn't find themselves enticed by a meal.

Beneath a tree one was able to study the stone. It pulsated with a blood red light and when in ones hand they could feel the acursed power contained. Shouls were entrapped in the rock being flayed apart to feed something else inside. To someone like the witch they could feel it, what was being fed was another soul but it was so blackened and changed by the process. Or had been, but there was something further off about the phylactery. This stone was meant to keep someone bound to this world but that someone wasn't here. Isabella had used magic to bind herself to this world in classic necromancer fashion but then went on to hell by choice.

Observing the stone it seemed to not just pulsate but have a set rhythm. One two three four five, then it would pause. There was five others, then we'll those five and the one inside Morgan. The magic between what empowered Isabella and what gave Morgan a second chance in life were intrinsically linked but Morgan's was a sacrifice for a loved one the five was born out of a witch's greed. Further looking at the stone one could see hints of five lights becoming three.

Somewhere out there the phylacteries had combined powers. In the heart of that phylactery was two white lights that became one. Two black lights that became one, and then a singular red light. The stones started out red because as a kid that was Isabella's favorite color, as a teen she started leaning more towards black and as a adult she actually started to favor white. However how or if ones color choice might factor into resolving things remained to be scene. What was clear to Silvaria though was this.

There was three hosts, among them five stones. Originally there was meant to be five hosts but as the situation got dire throughout the night those hosts had looked to merge. Also her favorite colors had once been red, in present were black, and in the future white?

Then the stone was shattered. The few remaining zombies off in the graveyard would fall over. As the last stone on this land was demolished the curse was lifted. There had been a home full of love once but now it was ashes and the putrid feeling of unholy magic. There had been a garden around a graveyard once blossoming flowers and healthy trees, now it was all wilted as dead as the wretched aroma to fill the air. Isabella's ghost was laid to rest and with it the grounds fell silent...

~~~~~

Below the graveyard a sickle blade had dived into the crown of a ghost. The blade punctured through the jaw and from the wound flowed not blood but a stream of silver. Despite still wanting to gundown the opposition Isabella now was now more a lobotomy patient waving a gun around then a marksman. The hunter knew how to move and then use those steps to flow into her own movements. The leverage of the scythe used to direct the ghost to a portal opened behind Isabella then the echo was pushed.

Driven backwards and moving into the rift the weapon starts to pull free. Until finally the Echo had her face halted split in two sides. Whisps flowed from the cavity as the ghost fell away.

Maybe Kore would feel it. Even as the ghost had head flopping on shoulders it shot into the void. The identity was gone and now the gunslingerIjust emptied round after round looking for something to kill. Some semblance of life to end was all the ghost was after. Every time a rift opened perhaps there would have been a chance of a ghost trying to escape or ethereal bullets shooting out. Could a void orb be haunted?

Even if it could though now Isabella was gone. And the scythe in hand would fall apart a handle a blade and a skull. The cursed weapon broke away but perhaps the skull could be salvaged if one desired. The weapon handle and blade were aged and without use now the magic was dead. But the skull could have a clue. Silvaria had collected one as well. While the weapon seemed to shatter abruptly the pool of silver didn't evaporate quickly.

At Kore's feet was a puddle of memories a kaleidoscope of moments. The stories that lingered seemed to fixate on those with a ghostly pale little sister. Sketches of a character sheet for D&D of the sorceress Memento Mori. Same girl older now early teens, having art of a costume they were working on for the hero of the same name. As well as memories of Isabella trying to ignore her sister to go off with some friends. Seemed to be the same night when Isabella was coming back home to find a body in the front yard. The feelings were hard to read when viewed from the first person's perspective but it seemed like a pair of sisters had loved eachother. And when it seemed like everything was being taken the older sister had snapped some from self-loathing for not being there. Other memories hinted at the woman always being wicked but there was hints that not being there for Memento Mori was when someone snapped.

Then the memories dissolved into a fog. Inside the void a ghost was still shooting but then that stopped. Isabella was seemingly gone.

Even if one didn't feel it in the void they would likely here it. The sound of metal snapping if one went to look they would find two rusty pistols that spontaneously shattered. As the phylactery was destroyed the ghost was slain.

Besides the broken pistols, skull on the floor and blood on the walls the room was now rather empty. These could be clues or useful in making tools for oneself who knew? But now the catacombs were just a cold and silent place. The howl of the night the only thing to echo through the halls. Perhaps more so for someone's eyes the location would seem brighter. Sins had been washed away, the force holding many of the souls here was gone and so other souls got to leave. Even if there were souls lingering they would seem lighter brighter nolonger twisted by black magic. It was a graveyard it was probably always going to be haunted, but it had moved on to one not flooded by sin and occult arts. Sure it was rundown and uncredited for but one could maybe make a case for some beauty still there. As the memories had shown for all the wickedry of one resident this still had been a place of love once.

And if nothing else now Kore knew the sister in question was Memento Mori. Someone who wasn't made a phylactery to further a deathly agenda, but made a phylactery when a young Isabella didn't want to lose her sister...

Carmen/Onigirl
Sophie
Mana/Mango