[IC] Skulls & Shovels (Strangelander and UnendingEmpire)

[Strangelander]

It was a beautiful night, the stars were shining and the moon was bright and full. A few cars drove along the city streets, heading home, to bars, or countless other places. A pair of figures walked along the sidewalk, one of them carrying a duffel bag with the logo of Keyport University on the side. Riley stretched out her arms and breathed in the salty air with a smile on her face.

"Ok, so I've decided we should stay away from the graveyards for a while with the close call we had last week," Riley began, shifting the heavy duffel bag around on her shoulder. "Ugh, you'd think they'd have like, lighter shovels or something. Anyways, I thought 'Hey, let's go over to that little hill outside of town, they buried a bunch of guys there way back in the Civil War or something', then I realized, they never fought any Civil War battles here, at least none in the history books. So I went and did some research, and as it turns out that it wasn't a bunch of Civil War soldiers, it's supposed to be an Indian burial ground," Riley stopped to take a breath and continued. "So I'm like 'I'm not gonna mess with that,' because sometimes they actually did have magic, y'know? Anyways, that's why we're going to the old Wessman crypt at their estate," she finished, before suddenly stopping and spinning around to face her friend.

"Wait, you think they still have security and stuff there? I mean, the estate isn't being sold, and I think they're planning to demolish it, but then they also want to turn it into a museum since they were like war heroes or something. Maybe we should just hit the graveyard by the church like we used to. What do you think?" Riley folded her arms across each other and scrunched up her face like she always did when she was thinking hard.

[UnendingEmpire]

For somebody with such awful eyesight, Lily Valentine had no problem seeing out at night. Of course, street lamps were a big help for the visually impaired, so there was that. Odds were that without them, Lily wouldn't be so sure which way she was headed. At least, not without the sound of Riley chatting about where they were headed, but the presence of street lamps meant such a situation was easily avoided. For that, Lily was thankful. And of course, she clearly recalled the close call Riley was speaking of. Nights like that contribute to Lily's distaste for dogs.

And then Riley proposed the two try for the graveyard by the church. Not a bad idea, really. Nodding in approval, Lily answered the question with "I don't mind digging dead bodies up on hallowed ground at all. Let's just try to be quick about it though; churches make me nervous." It was always fun to help Riley with these necromantic practices. Though she never would admit it, she herself wanted to learn how it all worked as well. You take a corpse, add some magic, and poof, it's moving. Pretty cool stuff, and who wouldn't want to do that stuff? There were tons of books back in Lily's room about "occult nonsense" like this. It was a pretty neat shock when she first learned Riley was doing this fun stuff, but it was sure a nice foundation to solidify their friendship on.

[Strangelander]

Riley smiled. "That's the spirit!" she exclaimed, throwing a fist up into the air. Tonight, she had a little something special planned. She'd picked up a new book from her 'friends' at the antiques shop and there was a particular method for communicating with the dead, but she needed to get a skull. Sneaking into the local museum was out of the question (though talking to the skull of some guy from colonial times would be cool), but there was bound to be an intact skeleton at the church graveyard. Maybe. She remembered her first time here, before she'd decided to show Lily her hobby.

It was a cool, Fall night and she'd just begun practicing necromancy for the first time after the 'incident', and she'd decided to try bringing back a recently buried man. Not just as an undead, but actually alive and fully sentient, something she'd only managed once before. It went... Badly, to say the least.

Riley dismissed the thought and continued down the road. Only a block or two away they'd find themselves at the church, and next to it would be their target: the grave yard. Riley pulled up her hood and brushed her hair back to keep it hidden, then turned back to Lily. "You listening to something right now?"

[UnendingEmpire]

"You listening to something right now?"

"I had Bach a little earlier, but nothing right now," Lily answered. "Might listen to some Mozart or Glitch Mob after we're done. Not sure which." Pulling up her own hood and making sure her own hair wasn't visible either (not that it'd mean much if some onlooker made eye contact with Lily and her bright red eyes) the bespectacled girl followed her necromancer of a buddy onward. Hallowed ground still bugged her; that was always where supernatural shit hit the fan in horror films. Sure it was just a preconception, but what was wrong with a little friendly superstition?

[Strangelander]

Riley nodded. "I'd ask you to play something out loud, but.. Y'know... Stealth and all that jazz." She stopped as she approached the waist high fence surrounding the graveyard and gently set the duffel bag down on the other side before she vaulted over the fence, landing in a crouch and standing up to deliver a bow, "Thank you, thank you, I know, I'm amazing." She said with a stupid grin on her face. "Need a hand?" Riley asked, offering a hand to Lily before scooping up the duffel bag and wandering around the graves, looking at headstones.

"Ok, how about this Isaac Fuerhelm guy?" She suggested, stopping at a relatively simple headstone. This Isaac fellow had died a few years ago at the rather young age of 36, apparently as a hero of some sort. It didn't say what kind of hero though. "We just need his skull, and we'll get to talk to him! I bet talking to a 'hero' would be interesting. Whaddya say, pal?" Riley asked as she knelt down and opened up the bag, revealing a pair of shovels, a rather old looking book, packs of candles, and other assorted bits for casting spells. Riley picked out a shovel and offered it to Lily.