Akyasha internally cheered herself on as perfectly as she executed the throw. That took down more of these shambling bones than she could have hoped to otherwise with such an oversized weapon. Perhaps she could have used it for a longer period of time had she more blood in her system, but she didn't. She was to reply to Gisella as she noticed three skeletons closing in to her. One was a small bit further out than the others, but moved at a slightly faster pace. One intended to skewer her with a pitchfork while the other attempted to cave her skull in.

She couldn't let either of such things happen, of course. She moved towards and to the side of the pitchfork. She got a hold of the shaft of the improvised weapon and used her strength to easily reposition the skeleton as it held on. She held on to the pitchfork and spun around, forcing her victim to take the clubbing blow of it's fellow. The third was almost upon her in the few seconds it took to do so. As the original owner of the pitchfork crumpled to the ground from it's blow to the cranium, Akyasha spun around again and used the forks to grab the third around where it's neck had been at one point. With her foot she kicked the forks, and skeleton, up into the air soon making them land heavily on the second one with the club shatter the two skeletons apart.

Letting go a sigh of relief, Akyasha picked up the club the second skeleton had and walked toward the on-coming horde. "Whatever that beast is, I fear we'd be hard pressed to hold our own at present." Akyasha said with a small sad note toward the end. "With that in mind, yes, let us move forward." She would press forward, using the pitchfork to swat at the heads of skeletons from a small bit of distance and the club to clobber them when she got close enough. All the while, Aleksiya and Giselle could hear her making small prayers to Ichor as they moved.

Location: Alavaris
Cathedral Gate
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR@Click This

---

The skeletal creatures fell easily beneath their assault. As they slowly thinned the hordes of undead, they’d soon break through and find themselves heading towards the Cathedral area. The skeletal creatures would thin as they traveled, slowly becoming less and less common until they seemed to mostly be entirely gone.

The only roadblock would appear…when they’d discover the gate to the Cathedral ward was shut tightly. The entire thing with its ornate gate, depicting serpents and clockwork imagery was completely closed, and there did not seem to be any immediate way to open it. The shrieks from the beast had gotten further and further away as they traveled, but it was clear that while they were faster than it was…it was slowly getting closer and closer to them putting the trio of vampires on a timer.

Which meant, how to get around this gate?

Perhaps they could destroy it if they pooled their might together? There was also any number of side streets to go down, alleyways and houses near the wall…perhaps there would be a way in through there? Alternatively, they could wait to face down this beast, whatever it was.

Location: Alavaris
Squalid Ruins
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode

---

The insects commanded by Illena only struggled briefly to resist becoming her playthings. The thralls quickly drained their victims of most blood, the large proboscis doing their function perhaps, too well. Too easy, perhaps? Regardless of thoughts on that, the large insects would then present themselves to Illena. An incision. Sweet blood oozed from their abdomens. It was far from the perfect meal the vampires had ever had, but it was enough. The blood from the mosquitos seemed to have the odd effect of concentrating and purifying the filthy, rotten blood of these shambling half dead corpses.

As Dragan turned his attention towards the corpse, it would shudder as a new soul from the world would find the body of its host, rising to its feet with a groan. Raising the dead would leave Dragan just as weakened as Illena had been from raising a single familiar. Indeed, their skills had deteriorated quite far. It seemed that even the basics of tasks seemed to escape them. Still…with enough blood and time, they would quickly regain their lost power.

That just left them to head towards the Cathedral. Easy, in theory. Perhaps not so much in practice…

The road the trio were on curved around the lower part of the city, eventually meeting up with the Cathedral from the northern end, going under the main gate bridge as well as going through most of the rest of the city in the process.

This would eventually lead the trio to a bridge. A quite large bridge…that was completely broken, making the road impossible to pass in its normal state. The entire body of the bridge seemed to have collapsed at some point.

There did not seem to be any immediate way across. There was a small path down some stairs, though, that seemed to lead into what was once one of the bridge’s support legs. Rubble laid strewn about too, and there was the skeleton of some large creature lying alongside the road, about a hundred meter’s long. A few what seemed to be half eaten corpses of the half dead creatures and insects seemed to be laying near its body, too.

After the others went off to slay those in their path, Ilena partook in what remained of the concentrated blood within her thralls. The scent, unpleasant as it was, could be ignored, while the thickness of what she drank meant that nothing clung to the insides of her mouth after the fact. Perhaps it was closer to a pudding or a sauce than a liquid. Regardless, starved as they all were, it was bearable, perhaps even novel.

“There’s no reason to delay the instructions of the Goddess,” Ilena responded, tilting her head towards Luna. “And there is no guarantee my familiar will return either.”

That was all that was needed, then, for the trio to continue forth, past the corpses that they’ve all created. Bones shambled and wings buzzed as they strode through the ruination, only for their path to be paused by the simple fact that the bridge was destroyed. Obscured by fog and darkness, the skeleton of some great beast laid, picked clean by scavengers that even now returned to the site in hopes of uncovering new scraps.

No need to condescend then, even if there was the promise of more thralls below.

Ilena raised her hand, grasping onto the legs of one of the Exsanguinating Skeeters. Its wings buzzed a bit faster, but it would hold her weight, as light and insubstantial as she was. She doubted that her might was substantial enough to craft her own wings.

“I will take to the air then, and will extend the offer to the two of you as well.” A glance towards the man in their company, fully armored as he was. Knights. So cumbersome. “But in your case, I suspect you will have to be ferried after the two of us, Dragan.”

The blood went some way towards restoring a measure of Dragan's strength, but he was still far from what he judged to be an acceptable level of competence. Of course, he supposed this was still preferable to suffering true death, but his current weakness rankled nonetheless.

As they reached the bridge, Dragan found himself tempted by the large skeleton on the side of the road. Oh, how those bones would make for a magnificent minion. But alas, he already knew that he lacked the power to raise such a skeleton for now. Even with the mosquito blood restoring a measure of his power, it would still leave him to drained to fight properly should he somehow manage to reanimate it. So for now, Dragan turned away from the bones, frowning beneath his helmet.

Said frown only grew as he beheld the obstacle in their way, as well as Ilena's proposed method for circumventing it. While he supposed he could simply descend the bridge from the stairs and go along the bottom before climbing up with blood magic-granted agility, that was also a waste of time when their mission was to arrive at the Cathedral as soon as they could. So with great reluctance, Dragan nodded his assent to Ilena.

"In my current state, I suppose I've no choice but to accept. You've my apologies for inconveniencing you so."

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Despite their number, the hordes of undead gave the vampire trio little resistance as they cut their path towards the cathedral. The shrieking beast continued to linger in the periphery of their senses, however, so Giselle wasn’t able to affect as leisurely a pace as she wanted to examine the state of the city. Indeed, the thing that gave them the most resistance in their drive away from the creature was in fact the city’s architecture.

“Well, this is troublesome.”

The great iron doors to the Cathedral ward were sealed shut, barricading away the hordes of the mindless undead… but also higher beings, namely herself and her two companions. The white-haired vampire frowned at the ornate structure. It seemed centuries or even eons of neglect had not tarnished the grandeur of this structure and its ornate metalwork. That was good if they were to eventually rebuild, but here in the now, it was no small inconvenience.

Once upon a time, such a barrier would have been little obstacle to any of them, but now was another thing. Giselle was confident that their combined might could siege down the gate eventually, but at what cost? At the expense of what meagre power, they had remaining, to destroy a valuable fixture that had withstood the test of time, and would otherwise continue to, if unmolested?

No, that was a last resort.

“I am loathe to squander what little power we have trying to blast our way through a relic,” she decided, giving a nod of allowance towards the cleric. Giselle doubted Akyasha would approve of damaging fixtures in the Cathedral, religious nut that she was. “As it is, it’s too tall to jump or scale at our current ability. I’m going to look for an alternative way in.”

Not wasting further time to dawdle with a soft deadline on their entry, she began to make her way down a side street. There must be some sort of side entrance, guard exit, or secret passageway somewhere along the wall. They always existed.

"I must admit," Luna began, "The state of this city has me worried of the rest of the lands. If it's in this terrible a shape, what remains of the other castles, the cathedrals? Perhaps I'm being impatient. I feel as though we'll know soon enough," she said, half-musing to herself. She continued, making idle talk,

"Do any of you recall what you'd been doing before going under -before you awoke in the coffin? Without a familiar, I'm finding it difficult to guess how long I'd been in there." Stopping at the edge of the ruined bridge, Luna peered over the side. Dilapidated, unmaintained, filthy -Alavaris was well past its prime, long descended into obscurity and hauntedness that cried out in her mind as the first sign of an exceptionally long sleep. Whosoever remained of the past, besides themselves, surely had long since shifted and evolved into something unrecognizable. Besides feeding herself, acclimating to the new world already began to exhaust her spirits.

Finding a place to live was foremost on her mind, aside from understanding Ichor's luring call.

Luna extended a hand to follow in Ilena's suit, grabbing onto the spindly leg of another flying insect. From beneath her lightly-transparent veil, she smiled back at Dragan.

"How many wings would Dragan take?" she giggled, "Do we actually have enough?"

"Perhaps there is even a way to scale the wall in some shape or form." Akyasha mentioned, looking along the street and houses. "The wall may have crumbled in places in our many years of absence with places we might be able to climb over. That said, you two, please feel free to get checking on ahead. I'm going to find a place where I can hide behind a building and get a peak at what pursues us. In the worst case that we can't find a way forward, perhaps if it's something big enough we can trick it into opening the path for us... As much as it would dismay me to destroy things in the cathedral district... I would find it sad but necessary in the worst case... Damage to the Cathedral itself however is unforgiveable." The Vampire Cleric said her thoughts on that matter.

Giselle was on the move already so Akyasha smiled at Aleksiya as she found a nearby building she could peak out towards the approaching monster from. "I'm going to watch from there." The woman said before making her way over. She should be able to get a peak out without grabbing it's attention if she was careful enough. If there was anything to find, she was sure her sisters would find them.

Location: Alavaris
Ancient Garden
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR@Click This

---

Giselle and Aleksiya easily found their way down a small street near the wall. An alleyway wedged between it and a row of buildings. Even if they couldn’t find a way through the closed gate, there was little room for whatever was following them to pursue them down this road. As luck would have it, however, they would find a side door that led into the walls interior. Slipping inside would show what was once likely a guard station.

The room wasn’t too big. Just enough room for a desk, a bookshelf, and a set of stairs on the opposite end of the room that led up and out of the room that seemed to lead up onto the wall. Weapons and armor laid old, rusted, forgotten inside their racks or armor stands. There was just one small, little problem.

Between them and the stairs, was one of the undead that seemed to inhabit this place.

It was hunched over, its body stiff and rigid as it struggled to move or stand. Decissicated flesh clung to its bones, giving it an old, leathery appearance. Its head twitched in an unsettling manner as it slowly turned to face the two that had entered the room. The moment that it laid eyes on the two vampires it responded with a high pitched, disorienting screech, loud enough to temporarily deafen the two vampires as it would slowly walk towards them.

Akyasha would dash into a nearby building. Not perhaps, the smartest move all things considered. It offered shelter from whatever was hunting them, but she’d be lucky if the building was uninhabited entirely. At least, if nothing else an immediate scan of the surroundings seemed to reveal nothing aside from the fact that this seemed to have once been some sort of residential building.

Outside, if she waited only a few moments she’d see the creature that had been slowly chasing them, or at least part of it.

A skeletal hand wrapped itself around the front of the building, the tips of its bony fingers reaching in through the window and gripping the edges of the building as it seemed to drag itself along the ground towards the gate, stopping itself at the same house Akyasha had taken shelter in. Its ragged, ghostly breathing filled the streets as the skeletal creature’s head swiveled from side to side, seemingly looking for something.

Finding neither living nor the vampires, it shrieked and rose from the ground, using its hand to drag itself back down the street.

She couldn’t get a good look at it from here, but she at least could tell it was some sort of massive skeletal creature.
Not that she’d get long to ponder it. The air around her noticeably chilled, a cold hand wrapping around her neck as a ghostly figure attempted to grab her from behind.

Location: Alavaris
Squalid Ruins
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode

---

The skittering insects complied with the whims of the one they were enthralled by. Carrying the two women would prove a somewhat trivial task for the two insects. As Illena accepted Luna’s hand to be ferried across the bridge, however, Dragan would become increasingly aware he was not alone. Perhaps he should have paid better attention to the corpses that laid by the skeletal creature that laid upon the road.

Its bones shifted, the sound of earth and rock grinding against its body as it dragged itself to wakefulness while Illena and Luna attempted to cross the bridge. Its skeletal head passed right by Dragan as it lifted its long, serpentine body into the air. Scraggly, matted fur hung from its skull while its eyeless sockets and bestial skull stared down the vampire.

It opened its jaws…and howled.

Something was off about this skeletal creature, that much was certain as far as Dragan could tell. Even as weakened as he was, this creature in front of him was difficult to get a grasp on with his necromancy almost as if it wasn’t quite dead.

It would then attempt to slam its head right into Dragan.

To be honest, there were more then a few reasons why Aleksiya didn't want to try breaking the gate down herself. For one, it was a part of this city and a valuable barrier. For the other, she wouldn't be able to stand being unable to do it. She couldn't let anyone see her fail. It simply wasn't an option, and she unfortunately couldn't be sure about her own capabilities given how hungry she was. Thus, the petite vampire really had no choice but to follow Giselle's lead.

Thankfully, it seemed this choice was a fruitful one.

The small door led them into a fittingly unimpressive room, but at least it was shelter away from all those obnoxious skeletons and whatever irritant was pursuing them. She'd pay it back tenfold for forcing them to rush in such an unbecoming fashion.

Unfortunately, this particular bit of shelter was not unoccupied. There was another tenant, and sadly it wasn't even an interesting one. A dried out, desiccated, leathery corpse that didn't even appear to have any blood left inside of it. Was that all they were going to encounter here? Aleksiya was so hungry, too!

She was already preparing to cast a spell when it suddenly screamed, letting out an awful, deafening shriek that left her ears ringing. Putting one hand to her head, the small vampire winced as she took aim. So shortly after she awakened, and she's met with such an obnoxious sound!?

"Shut up!"

A ball of ice formed at the tip of her finger, surrounded by circles of light for a moment before being sent hurtling through the air, aimed squarely at the undead's head.

@Rune_Alchemist@Click This

Ah. It seemed he'd missed a spot leading up to the bridge. Dragan raised his rapier with a frown, instinctively leaping out of the way of the skeletal beast's head slam. Dragan could chalk that up to his post-torpor weakness, but that would be making excuses. No, he simply hadn't been paying enough attention, it seemed. Something to work on for later.

In the meantime, there was still the immediate matter to deal with. Dragan took up a fencing stance, calling back across the bridge as he did so.

"There is little need to concern yourselves overmuch!" He yelled in his companions' direction before lunging forward, juking one way and then the other before leaping up and plunging his rapier straight into one of the beast's eye sockets. He would have to determine if this thing was truly alive or not before committing more to the fight.

“If the rest of our Goddess’s rightful domain is in such a state, that means our blightful foe has fallen destitute alongside our brethren,” Ilena replied. But she was not sure whether to feel triumphant over that. To attain victory by outliving the natural lifespan of a human was the way of worms. And yet to become the rulers and rebuilders of a ruined world would be the surest way to stamp out the worshippers of lesser deities and extol the greatest of the Stained Queen.

Complication unnecessary. Luna’s second question was easier to answer. A short shake of Ilena’s head, followed by a casual disregard for her jest. Dragan was armoured, but the Exsanguinating Skeeters have lifted knights in full plate and drained them dry before. An unfed paladin, no matter the renown, would not be so different.

What would make things different, though, was the revival of that great skeleton, bones rattling against stone as it raised itself skywards, almost tall enough to reach the two flying vampires.

Ilena fixed her gaze on Luna.

“I suppose you could not command it to beg?”

And she dropped, her right arm melting into shadow as outsized claws shunted out from where her fingers once more. They slammed into the skull of the skeletal creature, digging deep as it swung its head down towards Dragan, before the impact caused those self-same claws to rip deep grooves into ancient bone, Ilena sent flying by the impact.

The giant mosquito caught her though, wings flaring with effort to stop her fall, and she landed gingerly beside Dragan.

“Your verdict, Death Knight?” Amidst the buzzing of her thralls, Ilena’s flesh began to tremble, muscles and organs changing from beneath the skin. “Will these bones be broken or merely displaced?”

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle had been right, as she had expected. Alavaris was too old, too lived in, and too storied to not have such little entrances, despite the decrepit state the city and the land was in now. In this case, it was the easiest of alternative entrances they found, a simple guard door. Time had ensured that whatever door or lock that might have gotten in their way was not an issue. Still, it seemed to have done its job enough that the contents of the guard room seemed relatively unscathed for their age. Perhaps, if she was so inclined, she could quickly restore one of those weapons herself and stow away her blood to conserve her energy.

Before she could do that, though, they had to clear the room. There was a single undead beast here. Giselle had been about to smack the degenerated body aside when it stared at her and Aleksiya, and screamed. She winced, placing a hand to her ears even as she lashed out together with the smaller vampire lord to destroy the lesser being for its heinous offense.

“Nasty little thing, aren’t you?”

She could barely even hear herself as aimed for center mass, intending on eviscerating its undead heart if Aleksiya’s headshot wouldn’t do the trick. Immediately after, she began to move towards the weapon racks, intending to inspect them for anything that she could restore and use on the spot once the trouble in the room was dealt with.

Akyasha held her breath as the giant creeped around and soon enough groaned and disappeared back the way it came. She relaxed her shoulders a bit. She was positive that, at the moment, she could not fight that if it came to it. Not by herself at least. Then, she felt a cold grasp around her neck ever so slowly. A ghost? How crude. One would not find this Cleric of Ichor easy prey. She raised her hand and encased it with her blood magic to enable her manipulating this ghost. She moved her hand up and grabbed the hand surrounding her neck by the wrist and quickly pried it away. She twisted the ghostly wrist in such a way that it would have broke a human's wrist under the same circumstance.

"How vexing to deal with a ghost at the moment." She'd continue supplying some of her available power to her hands to lessen the burden she would take in making a full blood weapon. She pull the ghost out of the wall and then gave it a good smack to get rid of it. These things were rather annoying at times.

Well, at the least this problem was solved. So took a look outside the building, carefully peaking her head out to make sure the there were no giant skeletal monsters out here ready to devour her. It looked clear at least so she quietly made her way to where she had noticed her compatriots went.

Location: Alavaris
Ancient Garden
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR@Click This

---

The ball of ice formed, slamming into the undead’s head with force enough to crack its skull open, making a large gash across the top of its head but not enough to put it down. Giselle followed up with her lance, the point of the weapon aiming for the wretched undead’s ‘heart’. Impact. The lance struck its target. The creature wailed, but there was no heart or blood beating in the creature's chest for her to eviscerate.

It writhed on the end of her lance, screeching once again.

And from the stairs beyond, they could hear a few shallow groans and raspy gurgles of more undead as some more fleshy zombies wearing what seemed to be old armor and weapons made their way down the stairs.

Had this screeching one alerted them? They’d have only a few moments to gather more weapons here should it suit them. Giselle would find a nice selection once she had completely ended the one on her lance. Old, but still serviceable enough swords of varying lengths, spears, even a few war hammers.

Akyasha would have a somewhat easier time. The ghost that had been attempting to choke the vampire out would soon find the tables being easily turned on it. Making a simple pair of blood-knuckles to smack something with was easy enough, the warm crimson liquid covering the entirety of her hand as she reached out, twisting the ghosts hand from her neck.

It hissed a ghostly wail as she’d pull it closer, promptly slamming another fist right into its spectral face without pausing so much to get even a good look at it before it’d shortly dissipate into an ethereal dust. No doubt it’d be back soon enough without a proper sending off of some sort, but for now the ghost had lost its physical form.

As she’d leave the building she’d be pleased to find the skeletal monstrosity had dragged itself back down the road. Most of the undead too, had fallen silent and had either gone into some sort of slumber or disappeared back into the houses or back with the skeletal creature.

As she’d head down the road back towards the gate however, she’d notice something odd.

Where an alleyway presumably existed on the opposite side of the street, Akyasha would notice something perhaps a little intriguing. A swarm of rats, scurrying down the alleyway. Large, over sized things with beady red eyes and fur as black as night almost as if they were shadows themselves. They disappeared shortly afterwards, down the alleyway.

Well...it was probably nothing at all, but they certainly might help alleviate some blood thirst if you could get some...

If not, then she’d easily arrive back at Aleksiya and Giselle soon just as the other undead began making their way down the stairs.

Location: Alavaris
Squalid Ruins
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode

---

The beasts head slammed into the ground with a mighty thud, kicking up dust and debris as it seemed entirely unfazed by the fact it just headbutted the ancient stone bridge. As he dodged one way, the beast would slide its head and long neck across the bridge, trying to seemingly shove Dragan off of it, only for the vampire to successfully leap out of the way. The armored vampire would thus lash out with his rapier…

And miss entirely.

Well, sort of.

The blade of the weapon seemed to bounce off something that was unseen, directing the blade from its eye socket down the side of its serpentine skill across what felt almost like some sort of smooth armor or perhaps hide. It seemed there was some sort of invisible barrier protecting the things bones.

A low growl followed as the beast was suddenly assaulted from a second source. Illena’s claws would fare just as well as Dragan’s rapier had. Her claws never reached the bones, instead seemingly gripped what felt like some sort of smooth, hardened armor or carapace. The creature reared its head back, contracting its meter’s long neck as it pulled itself away from Illena and her shadowy claws.

Another roar that shook the air as it raised its long neck once more, not giving Illena or Dragan much time to strategize as it darted forward nimbly, mouth agape as it attempted to bite Dragan in two and it was too quick for him to merely dodge out of the way.

Luna idly kept hold of the skeeter, its lazy, meandering flight ferrying her further to the other side of the bridge. Critical as the situation was the moment the half-dead beast awoke, Luna maintained a placid demeanor. A side-eye cast to Ilena at her question, and she looked skywards in thought.

"I could nary command a ghoul to shatter its own neck, t'would be difficult with this one, I imagine," she answered. Still she hung on for a moment more after Ilena's dive, marveling at the brazenness of her assault, before opting to drop back onto the bridge lest she find herself soon floating above the yawning ravine between. Luna landed with a small stumble -she was never one for much acrobatics- before righting up and squaring off against the beast's maw.

"But... I can try at least," she mumbled to herself. Luna unsheathed her saber, and her eyes flickered with crimson energy. The beast, seemingly half-reanimated and sporting an unseen barrier, reflected a lingering command from someone else magically-inclined, and perhaps long lost by this point. Even if its master was now dead, their presumed magic still puppeteered the beast; her enthralling magics would be a toss-up, she thought.

Still, she stared it down with conviction. Luna's pupils flared -a starry flash of red- and she exerted herself to influence the creature, if even for a moment.

"Halt, decayed creature!" she shouted. All she needed for now was a moment; just one moment to slow its movement and grant Dragan the second to dodge.

Akyasha was glad to be rid of that ghost. She was ready to meet up with her comrades... However, the shadowy looking rats... Well, it didn't seem like Aleksiya or Gisella was too keen on her anyway. They probably wouldn't even notice she was still missing. Well, if she could recover some of her strength, then it would be worth it. She could summon some cute helpers if she managed enough blood. "Guide my path, Goddess." Akyasha said before she took steps towards where those rats had went. She was cautious whilst she moved about, caring not to awaken any more of the undead guardians of this forsaken place.

Invisible protection around this beast? How vexing. Dragan narrowed his eyes as he observed Ilena's claws fare no better than his blade. Brute force didn't seem to be an option with the power he currently held, but magical assaults were still in play. Before the former paladin could capitalize on his hastily-formed plan, he was taken off-guard by the sheer speed the creature exhibited in snapping its jaws forward at him.

Even as Dragan reflexively moved to sidestep out of the way, he knew that he wouldn't make it in time-

"Halt, decayed creature!"

Ah. The benefit of having allies. Dragan's blood magic surged, increasing his speed further at the last moment to propel him out of the way of the slightly-slowed skeleton's bite. He skidded along the ground upon landing, coming to a sudden stop by plunging his rapier into the street.

"You have my gratitude, Lady Emeraltide!" Dragan called out, raising his rapier. "We'll have to erode its protection first! Impede it as best as possible until we do!" From his position, the vampire lord surged blood magic through his legs again, leaping onto the beast's back. Dragan raised his free hand as he mounted the monster, channeling necrotic magics in his palm before slamming it straight towards his foe, aiming to accelerate the decay of whatever protection was surrounding it.

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

The white-haired vampire clicked her tongue in annoyance as the creature continued to scream, despite having its skull caved in and a chunk of its chest cored out. Giselle quickly changed strategies and pivoted, yanking out her blood lance and taking bits with it, before willing her weapon to change shape once again. Keeping its pole, the lance blade immediately morphed into that of a reaper’s scythe. With a swish, she moved to remove the zombie’s head altogether, even as more undead began to creep down the stairs.

Finding herself unwilling to deal with this escalated mess, she bounded over to the weapons rack. In a few seconds, she picked over the rusted weapons before finding a serviceable lance. Trickling her magical energy into the mundane relic, she merged her blood scythe together with it as it became liquid once more, coating the weapon with her blood. With a flourish and a spin, the weapon glowed with energy, even as her blood rushed back into her body, reinvigorating her, or at least to almost as much as she had felt when she woke up. The portion of blood that remained fused with the lance, shaking off its rust, reinforcing and restoring the ancient weapon to a form that it would have envied even in its best days. Still, even this was a fraction of her former creation abilities.

New weapon weapon in hand, Giselle was still sorely tempted to blitz past the new group of walking undead. But without Akyasha with them, it was probably ill advised, even if she did annoy her. With a frown, she glanced over at the ice princess. “It would seem the priestess has fallen behind. As much I wish to hurry on… we should probably clear out these beasts, lest she might lose our trail.”

Smooth, hardened armor?

That was one way to call it, but Ilena, reverting her claws back into her regular fingers, came to a simpler, but perhaps more annoying, answer.

“Scales.”

Spirit magic then, calling forth the form it had once had in death. A bothersome art when she herself was ill-versed in magics more divine in nature. Luna’s voice rang clear, her charm seeping into the consciousness of this still-living skeleton, and Ilena herself bound forward too. Dragan ascended, his larger form drawing the monster’s attention, and Ilena herself sunk into the shadow of his prominent strike, sliding underneath the monster’s snapping jaws. Shadowed claws grabbed onto the slick shielding that existed just inches away from its lower mouth, while her right foot warp itself into a hooked spike.

No matter how tough a monster was, their defenses were always weaker where there was no bone beneath.

And so, Ilena launched a kick into the space beneath the jaws, seeking only to test whether or not it was possible to pierce those invisible scales with their current strength.

Location:
?????
@Pyromania99

---

As Akyasha stepped off the path and into the alleyway, perhaps, she might have briefly reconsidered her steps. The path soon narrowed only a few steps away from the mainroad, little rats scurrying past her into the maze like path in front of her, the old stones of Alavaris beneath her as the groans and wails of the undead faded into quiet nothingness until the only sound was her own footsteps, breathing, and the squeaking of the rats.

Eventually, she would reach the end of the alleyway. Slumped over against a wall was what seemed to be some sort of freshly killed body. The black rats were nibbling and tearing at its flesh, biting through its long black robes, surgical looking gloves and the pointed mask it wore. She may recognize it briefly as a sort of style of clothing Lord Estimé used to use as well as the thralls he had used to deliver his…cures, to the populace.

Why was it here? And why did it look so…fresh? Well, she wouldn’t really get a moment to ask.

The moment she’d step into the small dead end alleyway, she’d feel something grab her body. It squeezed her body hard enough to cause her bones to creak as she’d soon feel herself being lifted off the ground. It was as if something was gripping her hard, squeezing her body as she’d be lifted to be level with the roof of the surrounding buildings.

And there, she’d see…a rat.

No, it wasn’t a rat. The longer she looked at the large beast the more it hurt her head and seemed entirely alien. A long arm covered in black flesh with patches of coarse fur. Red claws for gripping. Three more arms for reaching other things. Eight eyes, across four different faces, but that was all the brief glimpse she could imagine was as she’d feel and see reality warping around her as her vision briefly flickered into unconsciousness.

…

…

…

“Wake up! Stand up. There you go. You were dreaming.” A voice would slowly bring Akyasha back to the realm of the living…well, unliving, perhaps. As her vision returned, Akyasha would find herself in a place that seemed…a strange, but familiar place. She had apparently been laying in what was some sort of cathedral, but one completely foreign to her. There were no imagery of Ichor at all, so this couldn’t be the one from Alavaris. “Now what’s the name of an little servant of Ichor doing allll the way out here sleeping so soundly not even a storm could wake you?”

The speaker in question was a woman, wearing similar clothes to the corpse she had seen before. In fact, this lady and the corpse she had seen seemed incredibly similar but she was much less, well, dead. Pale skin, crimson colored eyes and long, disheveled off white colored hair. A mask hung at her side and a top hat rested atop her head. A few large rats rest at her feet, and a few others scurried about the cathedral.

The woman had helped Akyasha to her feet, and seemed to know what she was and who Ichor was.

“Come on, don’t be shy. Perhaps I should introduce myself first? I am Est. Just a humble traveler that has been lost here for quite some time.” It was hard to tell what was outside the cathedral, save for the bright light from the windows. The only hints she might have to who it was dedicated too were the rat motifs across the entire thing, and a statue similar to what she had vaguely remembered seeing before bring brought here. “Well come on, do answer. I’m not known to be the overly patient sort.”

Location: Alavaris
Gatehouse
@VitaVitaAR@Click This

---

It was easy enough for Giselle to find a weapon to reinforce with her blood, the scythe easily and cleanly cutting the undead’s head off sending it rolling onto the floor as the rest of the shambling dead would slowly trickle down the stairs and into the room. At least the screaming had stopped, and it seemed as though no more undead would immediately be drawn to them. The number of dead would fall easily, all things considered. They might be fleshy zombies and some might possess old armor and weapons, but they were not inherently more dangerous than the skeletons fought earlier.

Location: Alavaris
Squalid Ruins
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode

---

Luna’s spell worked, at least somewhat. Enough that it would give the beast just a temporary bit of hesitation in its lunge. Just enough time for Dragan to be able to avoid getting cleaved in two from its jaws. As the warrior would leap onto the beasts back, the creature would raise itself into the air, shaking its serpentine neck irritably. Yet, as he would attempt to channel his necrotic magics into whatever ‘barrier’ was in front of him it was hard for Dragan to get a decent grasp of it. In fact, he felt almost no magic whatsoever from this barrier at all and attempting to decay it wasn’t proving to be quite so easy either.

But perhaps, Illena was on somewhat of a right track with her thought.

A shadowy foot slammed into the creatures jaw, sending the creature reeling back from the impact.

…the smell of fresh blood immediately met all three vampire’s noses as the creature shrieked. It was not a large wound. No, it was really more of a scrape more than anything but Luna and Illena would at least see the result of it and perhaps, give them some better understanding of what they were dealing with.

Blood, fresh blood, just a few drops fell from the wound. The area around the wound seemed to contort and bend slightly as if something wasn’t quite right, but they’d only have a few seconds to observe this before the creature went absolutely ballistic as it thrashed and slammed its head into the ground and walls around it.

Dragan would not be able to avoid the creature smashing the back of its own neck into the mountain next to them, crushing Dragan between it and the rockwall and making the vampire lose his grip, more than likely crushing a few bones too as he’d fall to the ground.

Immediately the serpentine creature would pull its head back away from the group, retreating some distance away as the ground around the bridge began to rumble. Slowly, part of the mountainside would start to crumble and give way, rocks and rubble falling into the gorge below as well as onto the road blocking any possibility of them heading back the way they came - but also conveniently knocking chunks of the mountain away to create a wide enough path for them to flee towards their destination - the Cathedral.

As the dust and debris began to settle, the creature’s head would slowly appear from the dust and debris that had been knocked loose, the serpentine skull glaring at them with impunity as more of the creature's body proper was slowly revealed. A massive beast with a seemingly extremely retractable and flexible neck that seemed to be nearly twice as long as its towering, almost feline looking body.

Its skeleton shimmered briefly, and for a few brief moments the vampires would see actual flesh. The blue serpentine eyes, the feline ears atop its head, its leathery skin marked with patches of scales. This beast, was very much alive, whatever it was, and it seemed as though it possessed some sort of ability to camouflage its skin while leaving its bones completely visible.

It roared, its posture becoming immediately aggressive as it seemed to wait for the vampires to make their next move.