[center][url=https://imgur.com/vXokQ3F][img]https://i.imgur.com/vXokQ3F.png[/img][/url]
[h1][b][i][color=8493ca]Chance Blackbriar[/color][/i][/b][/h1][/center]
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[quote=@Zeroth]Then he turned to Bert and Chance, "But I don't believe the two of you have any form of holy protections, or experience with...the supernatural, correct?" Valentina clearly had an artifact or two on her person and had stated she was a hunter by profession. Kharne, of course, was the size of an outhouse of the brick variety. "I believe it's best if I stick with you for the moment."[/quote]
Bert seems annoyed.

"Don't trouble yerself none, father," he says. "All got me all the protection I need riiiiight 'ere..."

He pats the large axe on his belt.

Chance looks at the Inquisitor, then at Bert. Bert was being an arrogant bell-end again, and around these parts, Chance would gladly take any help he could. Not against Bert (though that certainly was a factor), but against whatever horrors lay here.

[color=8493ca]"Actually, we could use the company,"[/color] he says charmingly. [color=8493ca]"I might not have been wholly virtuous in my time, but anyone can recognize the value of a divine blessing. Besides, the more the merrier, eh?"[/color]

Bert scowls. Chance could see he didn't like company, aside from the usual ruffians he hung out with, but Chance wasn't taking any, well, chances, especially in Gransylva. People may call brigands cowards, but in fact brigands - at least the smart ones - preferred to take gold without a fight. For one, less chance of getting killed, and for another, less chance of someone getting caught in the crossfire, which then results in a bounty for brigandry being turned into one for murder, with much nastier consequences.

Even putting aside his oxymoronic caution, Chance could feel the place in his bones; this was an accursed place. He may not have the mystic eyes of a finger-wagger, or the divine senses of a priest, but it was easy to see that the land itself was... [i]wrong[/i] somehow.

[quote]The dark water churned.

"There is a grave there!" shouted Alistair suddenly, sweeping his mantle out as [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironomia]his hands rose in a series of sudden gestures[/url]! [i]Oro, allevero, protego![/i]

In the blink of an eye, a cube made of ethereal blue light expanded in front of Alistair's palm. As it grew in the space of another blink, it swallowed the Inquisitor, Chance, and Bert before freezing in place with a sound like crunching ice. The shallow water around their feet had been pushed back to the structure's edge, and the dead, blackened grass had been flattened under them. If not for the translucent glow, one might have thought they'd been encased in a glass prism somehow.

"This is a [color=gold][b]Holy Barrier[/b][/color]." Alistair said, his voice tight. "If we are attacked, do not leave its light." Had he overreacted? For all he knew, the thing in the water was a jumping polliwog or a garter snake. 

But people typically weren't buried right outside the front door of an inn. And in Gransylva, people had a habit of not [i]staying[/i] buried at all.[/quote]
The priest's actions nearly caused Bert and Chance to jump out of their skins. Looking around in bewilderment, they could see the grave Alistair was pointing at. Bert's grip as around his axe, almost pulling it out of his belt.

Bert starts grumbling under his breath, though even his usual uncouthness seems to unwilling to start insulting a priest - at least not yet - and Chance looks around, trying to see what else was there. Bert slowly slides his axe back into his belt, but does not let go of it. Chance checks to see if his pistols were still where they were.

"Least you could have seen is somethin' worth it," Bert mutters in annoyance under his breath.

[color=8493ca]"Well, better look for a better spot to cross, I guess,"[/color] he says, carefully letting go of the stick, taking his lamp, and checking for a shorter or at least shallower crossing spot. He holds his lantern aloft with one hand, while keeping the other on his bandolier with pistols on it.