daybreakacademy | [CLOSED]

Entry tags:

[CLOSED]

Who: Adelaide, James, Keith and Ruby
What: After a month of searching, Keith's finally tracked down the necromancer responsible for cursing the ghost train. A group of students go on an unsupervised mission to try and take her out. Things do not go according to plan.
When: July 30th
Where: Vraxke's keep in the Outlands
Warnings: People getting rekt

[The journey to Vraxke's keep is largely uneventful. Keith knows this area of the Outlands well by now as he's spent a good couple of weeks doing reconnaissance of the area. Unlike the Herald, Vraxke has her stronghold on a remote peninsula atop a steep cliff overlooking an ink black sea. The location could almost be peaceful, but the mist is thick and the weak Outland sun isn't able to lift the foreboding sense of gloom and darkness. It doesn't help much that the area appears to be utterly devoid of any living creatures. No Outland birds or critters are in sight, Not even grass seems to want to grow here.

Keith briefs Adelaide, James and Ruby along the way. Vraxke has several known strongholds in the Outlands and spends much of her time traveling between her territories. This week, she's here and so far has largely been keeping to herself. When the drawbridge is lowered, it's apparently only to send strange cloaked figures out to do her bidding; Vraxke herself stays within the tallest spire of the stone keep.

The stone is black and oddly oily looking, and it appears the entire keep was carved out of what was once a large slab of this strange substance. Whatever it is though, it doesn't look safe to touch. From the parapet overlooking the drawbridge, a glowing geometric sigil of circles and triangles is etched into the stone.

>>Investigate?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Got an itch to poke around outside before anything goes down? Hm.]

[ ruby isn't sure about this anymore, but she's here. no going back. she looks on at the drawbridge and at the cloaked figures who cross it.

what do the robes look like? anything worth noting about them that ruby could possibly emulate with her own cloak? ]

[Sorry, Ruby. We're all in this together now.

The drawbridge is manipulated by what appears to be metallic chains. They look like they shouldn't be able to support the weight of the bridge, but it's holding well so it's likely magically strengthened.

The cloaks are black hooded robes that cover from head to toe. The figures wearing them appear to be of various shapes and sizes, though thankfully there don't seem to be that many of them for now.]

[ the magically strengthened part doesn't surprise her. she figured this place would be full of enchantments that would fortify the base. her own cloak won't work for this; it's obviously a bright red and it won't fly over with vraxke one bit.

she's going to look around at the areas surrounding the bridge to try to scope out any security measures that may be around. they might just have to ambush one of the figures to pass through to the castle, but they can't do that successfully if they're being watched. ]

[Good thinking, Ruby! There aren't any electronic means of surveillance that's for sure.

But there are stone turrets, one for each corner of the keep. If she squints and watches long enough, she may spot some black fabric billowing a little with the ocean breeze.

But if that's a sentry it sure is unnaturally still.]

[ hmm. that black fabric sure is suspicious. ruby turns to the rest of the group and gestures towards the bridge with her head. ]

Hey, guys. Do you see that fabric on top of the turrets? What do you think that is?

[Keith's going to squint upwards at a turret, brow furrowed in thought.]

Knowing necromancers? Probably nothing good. Might be safer to assume we have to take it out.

[ James is wondering why he's here for about the twentieth time since approaching the castle. He shouldn't be here. This is madness. But it's a madness that Keith would have gone to one way or another and it's probably better it's with James than without him. Or so he tells himself.

He's in his rune armor and armed with what we shall call Rifle B. It's a replica of Rifle A, which is... currently ominously stolen in a case that may or may not involve green chicken. Yeah. ]

If we hit it from here, chances are we'll give ourselves away immediately...

There has to be some way we can get close.

[Adelaide's not sure why she's here, either. This is completely insane, but...

It's a chance to prove herself, in some weird, twisted way. It's also a good way to get killed.

She presses her lips together.]

I can transform, but I don't know if that'll help us get any closer.

I can get us closer.

[Glancing down towards doggo.]

Or at least, he can. He can teleport us up to the nearest turret. But it's gonna tire him out if we rely on him too much.

[Baby wolf is baby, etc.[

Need to agree on a plan though. If it's a hostile up there, we're taking it out immediately, yeah?

Yep, no questions asked. I can probably take them out with Crescent Rose real quick.

[ she's a very fast striker, after all. especially with rex's modifications. ]

[With that agreement made, Keith's getting everyone to gather close to the wolf. Brace yourselves because there's a flash and then immediately everyone's zapped up to the nearest turret.

If there's any disorientation, better get over it fast because there's definitely something there.

Something that's wearing a black robe. It isn't moving. Or at least its body isn't. But why do you need to move your body when you can just turn your head 360 degrees? Alas it's not an owl or anything that can do something like that naturally. It's a human head.

One that looks kinda shrunken. Like it's been preserved somehow. It's eyes are lifeless. But as it turns, there's a sigil that's been cut into its forehead.

The sigil starts to glow.

What do...?]

[ YIKES. James has just recovered from the zombie soldier army and immediately there is some new nightmare fuel. That sigil though... If there is anything that is powering this head, it's that. And they do not want this head to be powered.

Without taking time to think further or consult anyone, James shoots an energy hit at it from his inbuilt glove gun. ]

[Always a good bet to aim for the sigil. The energy burst connects and mercifully nobody is treated to exploding brain bits.

But maybe that's actually more concerning? The head is simply knocked off the things shoulders and clatters to the ground. It sounds hollow]

The hell?

[Keith's grabbing his sword, coming over to check where the head fell. He'll give it a stab through for extra precaution, but like.... it cleaves neatly into two pieces.

>Investigate or move on from the fuckign turret?]

[ > investigate. distrust!!! ]

Hold on.

[ that was way too easy. there's gotta be some kind of hidden trick up its sleeve. ruby narrows her eyes and inspects the head to see if the sigil is still glowing. ]

[ Uh. Okay. There it goes? James looks startled by the total lack of anything big happening, but then quickly decides that if Ruby is handling it, he should raise his rifle and keep watch in case something wants to attack them while they are distracted. ]

[When Ruby comes over to inspect the fallen, broken pieces of the head, she'll find that the sigil is no longer glowing. But if she's peering reaaaaaal close, she'll notice a few things. First, that is definitely a human head that has had the brain removed and the skull almost entirely replaced with some unknown compound that, judging from the ease with which the head cleaved into two, was designed for ease of mobility than combat.

As for James, if he's standing on guard with the rifle up, he may notice a scroll on the wall. There's a pattern on the scroll that resembles the sigil, though it's incomplete.

Whatever they just decapitated though, its body is still standing unsupported. Mercifully it's not moving. But hold up. Looks like it might have been holding something.

Y'all gonna risk touching the body?]

Uhhh, guys? That was definitely a human head!

[ aka, DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID. ]

It's holding something, though. James, think you can get a shot on its, I don't know, arms or something? So it can drop whatever it's holding?

We could also just... touch it.

[ There is a pause here. A long awful pause. ]

Yeah no, I'll make it drop it.

[ The scroll on the wall is definitely something he wants to check out further, but the odd body takes priorities. Let's attempt to shoot the lower arm to see if that'll knock it down. The blast is medium intensity and pretty silent, they're still undercover and all. ]

[There's a lot to take in with the knowledge that the necromancer apparently likes to do shit to people to make them like this, bu that's a thought for later when they're not on the fringes of mortal peril. He frowns as James takes the shot.

As easily as with the head, the forearm seems to come off at the elbow, almost like it'd been held there by hinges. The lower arm drops to the floor making that same disconcerting sound, the wrist coming apart from the arm piece upon impact.

So now we've got two more body parts: an arm and a closed hand.

HM.]

Edited 2019-07-22 22:16 (UTC)

[Well this is...fine.

Adelaide crouches down, poking at the closed hand with the tip of her knife.]

It's kind of like it's a doll...

I wish it was a doll. That would be infinitely less creepy, which is saying something. Think you can get the hand open?

[ James himself is not joining hand attempts at least, instead going to examine the scroll on the wall. ]

[Yeah. Yeah. Keith's gonna be giving those body parts they've apparently been hacking off whatever the fuck this is an uneasy look and head towards the wall to check that out with James.]

Why are necromancers like this....

[Seriously. First the Herald now whatever this is. Is there some kind of necromancer code about being creepy shits or what.

inany case -- that wall scroll. As stated before, there's that half completed sigil. Upon closer examination, it looks like the basic outline of the sigil is completed, but the middle is blank. It looks like something is supposed to go there. Hm.]

[ ....she looks back at the scroll, and then to the sigil. she's starting to kind of piece things together. ]

I think that [ she points to the scroll. ] is supposed to go with this? [ she points at the hand. ]

...I'd be reaaaally careful about it, though.

Shouldn't we check if there's an easy way in first...? Before we accidentally press an alarm button because we were too eager to see magic.

[ He wants to know what the sigil does, but definitely not at the cost of his life. And it is on a guard... Is it a trap for inquisitive minds like theirs..? That seems weird, but... ]

[Keith's looking from the sigil on the wall to the hand.]

Should we at least hold onto that hand?

[IN CASE IT BECOMES NECESSARY OR WHATEVER.....

And oh god what a bad pun. Anyway, he's giving the puppet body another look over. Then looking at the three other turrets.]

If we want to sneak in, we can try taking this one's cloak. If there's one of these posted at each turret there's one for each of us.

[[A beat.]

Or we could just teleport into the main courtyard.

[At least if the view from the turret into the keep proper says anything, it's looking... reassuringly (?) empty. Bird's eye view is showing the courtyard is actually paved with the same oily looking black rock with a main path leading into a great hall... as well as a second path leading to a smaller... stable like structure? Hm.]

I'd rather wrap the hand in the corpse cloak than put it on myself, that's for sure... We don't even know if the necromancer's living guards wear the same outfit anyway.

[ Mostly he doesn't want to wear the corpse cloak. But he's still looking thoughtful about the matter. He's also eyeing the courtyard carefully. ]

I don't think any of the guards are living.

[She looks down into the courtyard, humming to herself.]

I don't think any of us can mimic the way they move, either, so it's kind of a moot point. We'd just give ourselves away immediately.

[As they watch the courtyard, the main door leading into the castle begins to open. two strange figures in hooded cloaks begin to exit the courtyard in single file and over the draw bridge. As they walk across, a marble path rises from beneath the black substance on the ground.

Maybe that stuff is safe to walk on?]

]No need to worry , Sadeelaide, the hand doesn't do anything weird when you poke it with the knife!

But you are gonna have to do more than poke it to get it opened.

>Continue?]

[She's probably going to regret this, but she's just going to bite the bullet and try to pry the hand open.]

[The hand doesn't offer up too much resistance, especially since it's not too difficult to just snap off a finger or two.

When she gets the hand open though, she'll find it isn't actually holding anything. But in the middle of its palm, there's an ornate seal that's been carved into the skin.

The seal vaguely resembles the sigills, but looks.. unfinished? It's not glowing though and nothing menacing has happened. Yet.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[CLOSED]

> Outside the castle

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i am so dumb i thought i tagged this ages ago im sorry /o\

no subject

no subject

no subject