[IC] Guild of Renta-Experts [[CANCELLED]]

[Xaltwind]

"Bu- hey, Sofers, waiiiit!~" Brandy protested, much like a child being dragged off by their mother would.
"Hmph! Such impudence!" The salesman gasped in outrage at Sofia's - apparently? - uncouth behavior and comments, both regarding his wares and his family. Though she wasn't wrong about his mother-in-law being on the chunky side.

Meanwhhile, if Alice were to inquire about the legal hassle of peddling wares in Gnarlton, she'd come to learn of the joys of beaurocracy. Local merchants needed a license and permit, as well as a suitable locale before they were allowed to sell any wares of any kind. Meanwhile, travelling merchants and peddlers needed to apply for a permit, which cost money, required an extensive interview and run-down of the applicant's inventory, as well as other fun things. Such as only being permitted to peddle goods on weekends, and only in certain specific locations, and that there was a tax which needed to be paid at the end of the weekend on any goods sold. Basically, being a travelling peddler in Gnarlton was more paperwork and legal fees than it was actually being a merchant. On the plus side though, peddlers didn't need to own a shop or stall of their own, and were free to set their own prices without the mrchant guild having any real say in the matter.

But back to Brandy and Sofia!

While at the general store, Brandy had the opprtunity to pick up some vegetables - since they were heading out on the road again. They were a bit pricey, and not quite of as good quality as the stuff they grew back on her own farm, but they'd have to do! Mostly because there really wasn't much else to choose from. Other than the stalls, but they were mostly selling ready-cooked food. The satyr then dutifully followed the undead archer as she picked out her bolt of dark cloth, paid ad then snuck around the corner of the store to head behind it.

"Oho~ What's this, Sofers? I didn't know you were this bold." A smirk-sporting satyress stated while giving Sofia a mix of an amused and naughty-face.

However, once the duo arrived and the undead got to work, the satyr said nothing. Which was odd. Instead, she just stood there, looking on in seemingly a trance-like stupor as she observed the lightning-fast needlework of her companion. Once the deed was done and the fabric had been turned into an accessory though, Brandy squeed in the most girly way possible, complete with hands pressed against her own cheek and full-body wiggling in a unnaturally quick way.

"Sofers! You're amazin'! 'Totes amazin', girl! You're so good with your hands, I can't even! Oh my gosh, this is so incredible!" She was very impressed, obviously.

Then, when Sofia demanded that Brandy be her muse, and produced a hairband - which she had somehow managed to finish not too long after the choker - Brandy let out another squee, this time longer and louder than the last. As she grabbed the little hair-accessory and stared at it with the genuine exicetement of a child opening their first christmas-present, Brandy looked remarkably cute. Gently raising the item over her head and carefully sliding it down onto her noggin, the satyress blushed, but her smile was as wide as a valley and her eyes glittered like a pnd in sunlight, filled with gemstones.

"How do I look~?" She asked, striking a forward-leaning pose, which somehow made the lighting behind her become much brighter and... Were those bubbles and sparkles floating around her? And what was that jingly sound, no wait, where was it even coming from!? Also, was the background cityscape melting away and giving way to an opaque, pink background? What the heck?! Luckily for Sofia, all these oddities seemed to vanish in an instant, as if they'd been nothing but a mirage. Or trick of the light. Or result of Brandy's cleavage being more exposed by leaning forward.

Regardless!

"Seriously though, Sofy." Sofy, not Sofers. "Thanks. Thanks a bunch. I can't believe I get to have an accessory this great. I coulda never afforded one on my own, and I ain't really good at sewing myself, so... Um... Well... Maa-haa-haa~, c'mere you!"

Glomp!

And now she was stuck to Sofia, rubbing her cheek lovingly against the other girl and embracing her in a firm but pleasant hug. it also beame very clear that despite having been born on a farm and done a lot of manual labor in her life, Brandy as a whole was surprisingly soft and supple, like, everywhere. Also, she apparently smelled like a mix of flowers and ... Wine...? Something sweet at least. Nevertheles, the happy satyr was perfectly content with keeping on hugging her new personal designer and not having a care in the world, giggling and thanking the other girl profusely as she did.

Many much minutes later...

The girls would eventually join back up at the southern gate, the place they had entered Gnarlton from. Apparently, the graaveyard their quest would tae place at was located some hours off in the eastern directions. Luckily, it was along a road, so they wouldn't need to go huffing it in the wilderness.

[The Irish Tree]

Sofia had to admit that this wasn't exactly how she'd expected to spend today. Making a choker, a headband, and getting the most touchy with someone she'd been in...what, a century? Well it wasn't exactly easy to score a date when a guy saw that you were undead but...y-y'know, true love finds all, and all that. She definitely wasn't also idly wondering if maybe Brandy could give tips on finding a boyfriend, but that conversation would only come after Brandy was deeply, horribly in debt to her for fashion reasons.

DEEP in debt.

Still, she had to admit, being hugged felt nice and she'd hug back, before very gently tugging the Satyr's horns with barely enough force to move her head, saying: "N-Now uh...we can work on outfit ideas later. We need to meet back up with Alice and begin our quest to...t-t-to go and investigate that graveyard... It was clear she was dreading it, but it wasn't like she could back out with her party already set to go there.

Meanwhile, Alice would trot along to the meeting place, humming happily as she'd bought the materials for and created replacements for three rejuvenation potions, and four vials of holy water, in case of an emergency. With her pack once more bulging with alchemical delights and reagents, she would trot along to greet her party once they arrived. "Ready to head out girls? Oh, that choker's cute. And you found a headband too Brandy?"

Sofia saw her time to shine and would place a hand atop her chest, the other gesturing towards the choker she herself had made. "Such top-of-the-line craftsmanship could come from none other than I! If you want a similar one, that could be arranged."

Alice seemed decently impressed, enough so to beam, tail wagging. "Oh wow! And here I thought you both went and spent a ton. I guess you really are a good sewer Sofia."

Basking in praise, Sofia would let out a chuckle, hiding her eyes with her hand splayed out over her face. "Hmhm! Now, if you will, I considered some adjustments to everyone's attire with Brandy's suggestions." She would hurriedly pull out a sketchbook and show off her "improved" version of Alice's outfit, which got the werewolf's tail standing on end.

"That's uh...a lot of exposed skin. ...I don't think that's compliant with Alchemy Standards and Practices Regulation code 37-B. N-Not that I'm saying its bad! Its just a health hazard."

[Xaltwind]

"Maah~?"

Brandy let out a surprisingly cute-sounding noise when Sofia tugged at her horns. Apparently she hadn't been expecting that, and once the two girls had seperated from their friendly, behind-the-store hug, the satyress gently rubbed her own head-protusions and gave Sofia a questioning glance.

"Sofers, these're attached, y'know? I know they're 'totes rockin' and stylin', but you can't have 'em." The little tanned satyress said, pouting and folding her arms over her plump chest, before snickering. Obviously she was just making a silly a joke.

After complimenting Sofia's sewing skills to the point that it was almost getting umcomfortable, she spent a few minutes helping the undead girl figure out the 'best' way to improve and make alterations to their outfits. Although to be fair, the one that got the most attention and revisions belonged to Alice... For some reason the duo was very keen on having the werewolf apothecary dress in a similar fashion to themselves... Perhaps it was so they'd all 'match'? Who could say. They both might just be pervs and wanting to see a certain alchemist covered by less fabric.

At the southern gate, Brandy bobbed up and down on her hooves as she listened to the exchange between her compatriots. When the issue of health and regulations for her outfit were brought up, Brandy laughed, bounced over to the werewolf's side and gave her a shy friend a few pats on the back.

"Maa-haa-haa~! Don't worry, Al. We can always make you a really cute aptorn to wear when you're doing that mix-y wix-y stuff of yours! Oh, I was the one who decided on what type of lingerie that'd go along with the new threads!" There was no way that Brandy would've picked something non-scandalous, so Alice would probably do best in ushering the party to leave for their quest, less she wish to see more sketches and illustrations of herself in various moments of undress.

Some shennaningans later...

Back on the road, though this time heading east. Just like with the southern path to Litroot though, this 'road' was more of a wide dirt path, rather than a proper one. Still, it worked well enough for walking. On their journey, the girls would meet a few stray travellers who either greeted them briefly, or who hurried past them. At one point a wagon pulled by a horse lazily rolled by, and the elderly farmer - wearing a straw hat - offered the girls a ride... Though his toothy grin and caw-ing chuckle was dead-give aways that his motives were less than pure.... So, naturally, Brandy got onto his wagon and proceeded to skull him.

After the pervert had been dealt with, they were bakc on track!

"So, Al. Like, give us the detes on this quest, yeah? We're going to some old grave-thingy? What're we 'spose to do there though? We gonna hunt another one of those bunny-things? I bet Sofers would be awesome at hunting, right? You could just Ptching! Ptching! and the rabbit would be all: 'Aagh, I'm done for!'." Brandy asked, praised and acted, all at once... Making a remarkably deep voice for the supposed rabbit who had been taken down by fictional Sofia.

The day was slowlyu turning into afternoon. More clouds had started to appear in the sky and the temperature seemed to have dropped a little. A slight breeze had picked and as the girls walked along the mostly grassland-y scenery they could hear the chirping of cicadas or grasshaoppers or something in the tall grass. There was the occasional tree, b ush, boulder or other natural landmark, but nothing exciting or out of place. And no slobbering feral trolls either, thank goodness. At this pace, the trio would likely reach their destination in another hour or so.

[The Irish Tree]

Alice would shake her head heartily, wanting no part of dressing in such a scandalous outfit when half of her materials would melt through her skin if handled improperly while wearing...jeez, could you even call it clothes when the design was sheer!? Putting the sketch back in Sofia's hands, Alice would begin walking with the other girls to head towards their graveyard shift.

After Sofia and Alice had a good laugh at the blow Brandy dealt to the cat-calling caravanner, Alice would answer Brandy's question.

"Well, the job wasn't very descriptive...just to go there and investigate some strange happenings. Might be ghosts, might just be robbers using people's superstitions to cover up their hideout," Alice explained, while Sofia tactically scanned the area around them...really hoping that the graveyard was haunted by bandits and not like...people ghosts. That would be well and truly awful.

The group would be there to find out in an hour, with Alice sniffing the graveyard for anything suspicious, resisting the temptations to dig a hole and gnaw on bones. ...Werewolves lived by instincts more than wit, after all. Sofia meanwhle would maintain a solid 20 foot avoidance of any graves, clutching her bow in her arms as if it was a teddy bear. "Ghosts are real but they're not here...ghosts are real but they're not here..." Sofia chanted to herself, looking perfectly prankable if Brandy felt mischief-inclined.

[Xaltwind]

The graveyard, as it were, was a dull sight. Apart form the fenced-in area where the numerous tombstones and gravemarkers were, there wasn't really much to the place. The old, weatherworn stone fence was cracked and crumbling in several places, as well as having vines and moss vying to conquer it for their own. The graves ranged from modest or minimalistic headstones, to elaborate statues or busts. The only really notewrothy things were two locations on the premises.

The first was an old mausoleum. At the very cneter of the graveyard, this lone little stone structure stood out like a sore thumb. It's red-tiled roof and stone brickwork looked to be of decent qualality and sturdy make, but not enough so to make it the resting-place for any noteworthy nobility. Most likely, it was the resting place of a well-to-do merchant family or other influential high-profile commoners. But regardless of who it belonged to, the fact stood taht there was a large, heavy and imposing-looking dark iron door sealing the place shut. Complete with criss-crossed chains and a padlock that was the size of bulldog. Needless to say, unless there was another way in, the girls would have more luck getting inside by blowing up one of the walls with the help of Alice's concoctions, rather than trying to get that slab of steel to yield.

The second location was a small, rutty and squalid-looking shack, off some feet to the southwest of the grabeyard-proper. This eyesxore was run-down, dirty and in real bad shape, complete with most likely a leaky roof, grime-covered windows, paint so faded you couldnä't tell what color it once was, and an overgrown 'yard' surrounding the place... Though it was more looking like a thicket or mini-weald at this point. Other than these two structures though, the place had pretty much nothing that stood out at all. Maybe a tree or two that cast a bit of shade, and a few crows perched atop the stone markers and cawing ominously, but that was about it.

Brandy, having placed her arms behind her head as if she was lying down in a bed while standing up, was busying herself with a leisurely stroll through the rows and columns of tombstones. Her eyes lazily swept across the dull, empty and quiet scenery and whistled in a low and carefree manner. Then she spotted Sofia. Then she spotted Sofia clutching her bow like it was a stuffed toy. Then she heard Sofia repeatedly repeat the same phrase over and over. Then she noticed the mischievous smirk spreading across her own face.

Now, normally, Brandy herself was a bit spooked by them ghosties. However, unlike Sofia, Brandy's fears only extended to the point of being afraid of these ethereal freaks when they were actually present. So, as long as she couldn't see any ghosts, in her simple-minded head, there wasn't any reason to be be scared. You would be forgiven for thinking that, sharing the same fear and anjxiety where these haunting spirits were concenred, Brandy would act in a manner to calm and bond with Sofia over their mutual fear, offer sympathy and grow closer as friends.

... Unfortunately, this is Brandy we're talking about here...

Silencing her whistling and carefully maneuvering herself in such a way as to begin approaching from behind the undead archer, Brandy smirked. Tip-toeing on her soft hooves, she slowly but sureoly approached the on-edge Sofia from behind. Step by step, breath by breath, Brandy's cheeks were flushed with the tinge of red from her excitement at pranking her poor partner. And then, as she was mere feet away...

"OoOoOOOooOooooOooh~!!Give us your bloooOOoOOoOOOoOOoOod~!"

Brandy's voice was altered to sound like some kind of mix between an elderly woman and the Count from Sesame Street... Apparently her knowledge of ghosts, despite her fear of them, was a bit lacking...

Meanwhile, as Alice was sniffing around the graveyard, she'd find a few things. For once, some of the graves seemed to have been either recently filled, or otherwise disturbed, as they were covered in soil, and not grown-over with grass like many of the others. Furthemore, there were marks and signs of dragging or pushing something along the ground at various spots, most notably at the parts of the fence where there were gaps of parts large enough for a person to pass through. Finally, on some of the tombstones there were a strange mark, like an' x' carved into the lower corner. You wouldn't notice it was there if you just casucally looked at the gravestone, but if you examined it closely, you'd notice that the mark was clearly made intentionally, and not a naturally result of time or weather.

The werewolf could then hear a soft clanging and banging coming from the small shack off to the side of the graveyard. Followed by muffled shouting and an agitated voice. Followed by the door swinging open and... Someone... emerging from within the sad excuse of a home. It was a man! ... or... Was it? Maybe it was a dwarf? It was hard to tell, as he was quite short... But he lacked the trademark beard of the short-folk... In fact, he looked very odd.

"Woah! That's one ugly fella!" Brandy exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of the approaching... Person...

And while her comment may have lacked tact and common courtesy, the fact of the matter was, there really wasn't any other word to describe this poor bloke. He was a short thing, about four and half foot tall, he suffered from a case of really bad hunchback, with a large hump and his head almost looking like it was situated on his chest rather than a proper neck. His skin was pasty and pale, his hair was a mess of black, greasy and unwashed lumps of black, matte tangles. One of his eyes was bulging and nearly popping out of its socket, the size ofa golf ball, while the other was sunken in and small, like an average green pea. His nose looked like it'd been broken several times, his legs were skinny but his arms were stocky, and his attire consisted of grey. Just grey. Grey pants. Grey tunic. Grey cloak. Grey, dirt-covered shoes. He had a bit of an overbite, and his teeth didn't seem to be able to agree on what direction to point, choosing instead to each take a unique oritentation... It kinda looked like he'd tried to bit a brick at some point thanks to that. But, as you can tell, this poor man...thing... wasn't exactly photogenic.

"Whass'is?! Whass'is!? Who're you'suns? You's no 'ere to be buried! Wha'choos doinä with muh graves!?" ... His voice was as unpleasant as his appearance, sounding like the guy was trying to gargle gravel or marbles while speaking in a coarse but agitated way. He was holding a shovle... Was he the culprit!? ... Or maybe the gravekeeper? OR BOTH!?

[The Irish Tree]

Sofia would make a high-pitched scream as she was assaulted by Brandy's (admittedly very good) spooky voice, turning around and blindly shooting an arrow that just barely avoided doinking Brandy's bosom with one of her cursed arrows, instead taking a branch off a tree. And then she realized what just happened.

A pale grey blush overtook her face as she stamped her feet. "Brandy, don't you dare do that again! I-I thought an enemy was around...that's all," the Revenant said, huffing as she turned and walked away to go and investigate on her own, while Alice was left to deal with the gravekeeper.

"Hello sir," Alice said, bowing respectfully to the gravekeeper. "My associates and I have come on behalf of the G.O.R.E. We've heard there's been an issue with something strange going on in this graveyard. You're the gravekeeper, right?"

"What else'd I be!? I'm Vincent," the irritable man-ghoul said, adding: "Ain't nuthin' goin's'on here! 'Cepttin me diggin'. You all git! Ain't need no 'lil ladies prancin' on tha graves!" The man was clearly dismissive of them, and seemed to be in no mood to talk about anything strange.

"Oh, we don't intend to touch the graves, Vincent," Alice said. "But, we'd like to at least take a look around for a bit. At least until its a little later in the day. After all, if we come back with nothing to report, someone else might take the job and come to bug you."

Furling his upper lop in a way that made it seem completely independent from the rest of his mouth, Vincent would say: "Wuzzat? They'll come'an give me bugs!?"

Alice was slowly feeling her patience, goodwill, and braincells dying and as such would clarify with: "Oh, no, I just mean that they'll bother you a lot more than we will. After all, we're just here to see if anything strange really is going on. ...Come to think of it Vincent, did you post the job?"

Scratching his head before finding a tick, grabbing it, and eating it, Vincent would say: "Ohh, forgot! That's right, someone was makin' a ruckus all around at night! Yer dang guild took so long to send someone I dun' forgot!"

Oh. Of course. It was their fault now that nobody wanted to come to the creepy graveyard with the unhelpful man tending it. "Well, we're here now at least. What can you tell us abou-" Alice started to ask, before Vincent interrupted. "I ain't tellin' you's all nuthin' about nuthin' until that job's taken care of! Now git!" Vincent said, before walking off to go...Alice didn't know, stick his shovel in a skull somewhere, or something.

Brandy could see Alice's eye twitching as the werewolf turned around. "...Well, I guess...that at least means we can investigate as long as we aren't in the way..."

Sofia was hiding behind Brandy. "...I'm amazed she's hiding her bloodlust so well. I can tell she'd rather rip that man's throat out than help him," she said, exaggerating heavily as she watched Brandy straighten herself out. Alice would then divulge her plan to have the three patrol different areas while they stayed out of Vincent's way.

[Xaltwind]

"Maa-haa-haaAAAAAHHH!!" Brandy's happy laughing at having scared Sofia was decidedly interrupted when the undead woman turned on his heel and fired an artrow. An arrow that, with only the power of plot armor, managed toa void Brandy's face with not but a scant distance that was uncomfortably close. "H-hey! it was just a lil' prank, Sofers! Jeez! Way to nearly face-blast me." The satyress complained, puffing her cheeks up and looking indignant, as if she'd done absolutely nothing wrong and was in no way, shape or form guilty or at fault for anything. She did scratch her lower forearm a bit when she saw Sofia harumph off in a huff though, perhaps feeling just a twingey smidegeon of guilt? Or perhaps her arm was just itchy.

Regardless!

After this exchange, Brandy joined Sofia in the spectator-seats as the two watched Alice deal with Mr. Handsome. At the sight of the man plucking a small bug from his own person, then shoving it into his mouth and eating with a crunch, the satyr made a gagging noise and nearly reeled backwards.

"Gah! What's with this creept, gross, uggly, nasty guy!? He's just yucky all over!" She, not too discreetly, blurted out in response to the vule act of buyg-munching she'd just born witness too. At Sofia's comment about Alice though, Brandy merely chuckled - once she'd recovered from being grossed out - and patted her archer-friend on the shoulder. "Didn't ya know, Sofers? Alice's the greatest ball-buster in the lands! If she got serious, that thing wouldn't stand a chance! She did manage to keep her head though, yeah? We should praise her when she comes over. Maybe rub her tum-tum?" The tanned buxom wench commented and suggested, tapping her chin with an index-finger as if she was debating or deciding on something of grand importance.

Once the troglodyte was well and good enough out of the way, and amany feet away, Brandy rejoined Alice's side. By glomping onto the werewolf's back and nuzzling the latter's neck with her face.

"Good job, Al! You're always so dependable! So, so? What'd he say? What're we looking for and doing and stuff? Nothing to or with him, I hope? I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, reeeeaaaaaally don't wanna touch him..." She asked and assured, before being informed by her friend about the absolute nothing that had been relayed in terms of information. "Ah... So, he's not only gross and ugly and rude, but useless to? Gotcha. ... Hmm... Guess I'll just snoop around and see what I can see! Hollar if ya find somethin' girlfriends!" Brandy sage-nodded and skipped off in a bouncy fashion, which made certain torso-mounted objects also bounce... Luckily nobody except the girls were really around to see it this time.

Brandy's snooping could best be described as her going from one gravemarker to the next, and standing on top of it. She even tried to scale onto the maousoleum's roof at one point, but the brickwork proved an unsuitable surface to try and scale vertically without proper gear... And so she failed. Which led to her falling onto her rump. Which subsequently led to her giving the wall of the building a kick. Which led to her jumping around on one leg, holding her hoof and swearing as apparently stone was tougher than satyr hoof.

Leaving aside the antics of certain brainless bimbos for the time being though...

Apart from the small markings on some of the gravestones and the disturbed soil ontop of some, there really wasn't much else around of note. North of the cemetary was the small road they'd used to get here from Gnarlton to the west. Though further north there seemed to be a shrubland of sorts, filled with.. Shrubs... And bushes... ANd knee-high grass that was likely riddled with ticks. To the east of the burial site, the terrain shifted slightly to a mix of sparse woodlands and low hills. And to the south, there seemed to be, eventually, some kind of bog or wetland of sorts, complete with ctatails and frogs and... wetness... That was a ways off though, so the graveyard was in no danger of being waterlogged or sinking.

"FIND ANYTHING YET!"" A random yell from Brandy broke the otherwise silent and solemn silence that hung over the cemetary. She yelled this while balancing on the eastern-most stone fence - on one leg - of the graveyard, waving her hand energetically at the other two girls.

[The Irish Tree]

While Sofia wanted to continue being upset...she did have to admit that Alice was definitely getting the worst of it right now. If even a Revenant like her can practice good hygiene, there's no reason this man can't. Even if he wasn't physically deformed, that attitude was winning no friends over. And to make it all worse, when Alice returned with the new that he basically told them to do the job before being told anything, she wanted to just about scream and call it then and there.

With Brandy going off to investigate, Alice and Sofia would sus out their options between the bog and grasslands. Alice's fur would make the ticks problematic, but without warm blood for them to feast on, Sofia determined she could check it out herself. That and, with her stiff limbs she'd get stuck and sink in the bog, which would be where the werewolf would conduct her search. She wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Though, when time came for the group to come back together at Brandy's calling, only Sofia would answer. "The nearby grassland is completely fine..." she said, maintaining a healthy distance while brushing her hair free of the debris and potential insect stragglers that had been caught in it. "...Have you seen Alice, actually? I'd have thought she wouldn't be gone too long in that bog to see if it had anything in it..."

That would be because currently, Alice was eagerly picking various fungi, moss, and plant samples and storing them in her bag, surprised at how valuable some of the stuff located here was. "Beggar's foot, Pale Green Moss, and even a couple Dainty Finger Mushrooms!" Alice said excitedly, looking down at her haul.

[Xaltwind]

"Huh? Wasn't she with you, Sofers? Jeez, I tell you. Take your eyes off that girl for a second and she just goes ahead and runs off to who-knows-where." Brandy said and sighed, putting her hands on her hips and looking mock-exhausted as she answered Sofia. Either she was just teasing Alice for her penchant to run around, or she was trying to deflect her own proclivity to the do the exact same thing. "But uh... Yeah, so the grassy grass ain't got nothing, huh? Guess we'd better get our booties over to that swampy area and make sure Al hasn't sunk into the muck or something." Brandy continued, jumping off the tombstone she had been previosuly balancing ontop of while speaking with her undead friend.

Meanwhiel...

As Alice happily rummaged around the small bog and picked her fungi and flora, she was not privvy to certain events unfolding in the murky, mucky waters behind her. At first, a couple of ripples, as if someone had thrown a pebble and disturbed the water, was all that could be seen. Soon though, the water began to move, and eventually out of the relative shallow depths, a figure emerged! It was covered in vines and weeds and gunk and was just not aesthetically pleasing to look at. But it made no sound, no noise, and because it moved so slow and didn't make any sudden or large, excessive moments, it didn't disturb the water in the bog all that much as it advanced. Stepping out of the stagnant pond, the creature was ... Well, honestly it was human-sized... And as it walked towards Alice's back, more and more of the wet weeds and vegetation fell off of it.

As it stood behind Alice while she now kneeling down and happily picking mushrooms from a patch growing on a rotting log, the creature opened its mouth and...

"Greetings, young lady..." An unexpectedly calm, collected and gentlemanly voice escaped from the being. As Alice would turn around, in whatever way she chose to do so, she would come face to face with the mysterious being at last!

... Disappointingly, the swamp-monster turned out to be nothing more than your run-of-the-mill skeleton. True, he wore a fancy suit, complete with red bow tie, but otherwise... He wasn't the great or mysterious Monster of the Boggy Lagoon one would've perhaps wished for. Though, fortunately for Alice, or perhaps more for his own sake - seeing as he was made out of bone and she was a werewolf - he didn't seem to have any hostile intent at all. His eyeless sockets just kept looking at the young woman before him. His face was very hard to read. Probably becausse, y'know, he didn't actually have a face.

"What might a lovely young lady such as yourself being doing in a place like this...?" He asked, again with that suave, gentlemanly voice that seemed to belong to a middle-aged dandy.

[The Irish Tree]

Alice would merrily hum, ears twitching and silence befalling her as someone greeted her in the middle of a bog. Slowly and with creaking movements she would turn her head to face the newly risen skeleton standing behind her and...

Started drooling, tail wagging as she looked at him. "H-Hello Sir!" she said, admitting to herself that even bones covered in mud and bog guck were still delicious, especially when they were composing someone so polite. "I didn't expect to see any living dead out here..." the werewolf calmly said, pacing around the skeleton before realizing she hadn't answered his question that he'd asked so likely. "Oh, and um, I was gathering alchemical reagents. Stuff to make potions, basically. I'm Alice, Mr...?"

The dapper skeleton would give a cordial bow, introducing himself with: "Philip Jay Matthew Chesterwood Esquire, a pleasure to make your acquaintance Alice." In all likelihood, Philip was probably delighted at the chance to have a proper conversation for the first time in what may have been centuries, since a bog usually preserved bodies instead of skelefying them. Seeing that this was the best lead she got, Alice would press the question of any recent happenings around the nearby graveyard since...hopefully the skeleton knew something.

---

Sofia meanwhile was starting to worry, shivering as she held her elbows. "Y-You don't think that maybe...Alice was spirited away by ghosts and is now being held captive!? Or worse?" she questioned, nervously reaching for her bow and stepping towards the bog. "I-I can't cross a bog like this...my limbs are liable to get pulled off if I try and walk around in such thick mud. Aliiiiiiiiiice! Where are you?" The undead did have a point that her body wasn't as sturdy, but was also kind of being a chicken about it. Calling out to Alice really was the best plan she had without diving headlong into the murder mud.

[Xaltwind]

The skeletal gentleman listened intently and cordially to what the werewolf had to say. He neither interrupted nor interjected and waited patiently for her to finish speaking. Once it was clear why she was here, what she was doing and what she wanted, the dapper skeleton placed a throughtful, boney hand against his shiny, blank chin and tapped it ponderously with a dainty boney finger.

[color=silver]"If herbs and plants for the creation of concoctions are what you seek, may I suggest looking over there, Miss Alice?"[/colro] The undead man made a sweeping motion with his free arm towards a particular area of the swampy swamp. A small patch of elevated ground, surrounded by the boggy bog, with a water-logged willow tree and a fallen log, sat alone like an island in the ocean. "A lot of the rarer plants and fungus grow there, as that place is a bit out of reach and thus, nobody ever bothers to forage there." He politely informed, before going on. "But as to strange goings-on, I'm afraid I cannot say. The last thing I recall before being awakened just now was a .. Hmm... I suppose you could call it a shiver? Or perhaps a unpleasat twinge? I do recall that the sky was dark when it happened, and it cannot have eben too too long ago. It felt like someone was trying to... Hm... Grip my mind, if that makes any sense? Apologies, I'm not much help at all it seems." The skeletal sir explained, told and apologized.

Apparently, it seemd that he didn't have any specific details or information. but he did give at least one tid-bit of information. Someone had been up to something at night, or so it would seem at least. And whatever that someone had been doing, it was strong, or specific, enough to have had an impact and reaction to this poor, submerged gentleman of the quiet wetlands.

Meanwhile...

"Jeez, Sofers! I told yoooouuuuu! Ghosts don't live in swampy bogs or marshes. They hang out in haunted houses, or old crypts. Or under your bed. Or in your closet. Gah! Enough 'bout that, now you've got me worried about, Al!" Brandy bemoaned, chiding her comapnion.

Then a proverbial candle lit up above Brandy's head. It seemed the tiny satyr had had an epiphany ! Though in the case of this specific individual, that likely wasn't a good thing.

And it wasn't.

"Well, if you're gonna sink and fall apart if ya step in the muck, the answer's obvious, yeah? Upsy-daisy! Wow, you're lighter than I thought. Maa-haa-haa~!"

In one swift movement, without asking permission, Brandy had scooped the undead archer up into her arms, and was now holding her cold-blooded corpse-companion in her arms, princess-carry style. Good things Brandy was a farm-girl and some strength in those supple arms of hers! Or, not so good, if you were Sofia, who was now being carried around like a newly-wed bride being carried over the threshold...

"Well, let's go find Al, 'kay?" Brandy said, tilting her head and with a huge smile on her face...

Then she leapt over the graveyard fence, and started sprinting at full speed - with the carried Sofia in her arms - towarsd the south and the bog, all the while calling out in an elongated fashion: "We're coming Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!' As the sound of hooved hoofs clapped on grass, the sound eventually changed to more wet and spluttery noises, as the terrtain changed from grassy field to mucky, watery and wet mud and goopy dirt.

"Aw jeez, I dun wanna get any of this muck on my shirt... Hey, Sofers! Could you like, fold the lower part of my shirt up a bit? I dun wanna stain it, thanks.." Brandy requested, not stopping at all to make the task any easier or more do-able... And was she really asking Sofia to partially strip her right there and then? Clearly, no shame at all.

[The Irish Tree]

Alice's tail would stand straight up behind her as she eyed the veritable buffet of precious ingredients growing on that log, eyes sparkling while she started panting like a non-human-dog. She'd have to restrain herself from bounding over to gather stuff, patiently waiting for the boney bachelor to finish explaining the strange feeling of being reanimated, nodding twice as she pondered the implication. "Assuming that the 'grip' was necromancy pulling your soul back into your body...maybe the mud around here has something special about it that made the spell incomplete? ...I really wish I knew more myself, but there has to be SOMETHING that reanimated you so far away from Noxiria. Let me go gather that stuff real quick, and I'll bring you to meet with my party. Would you believe me if I said you were way more charming then the guy who hired us? ...By like, a long shot?"

The last part wasn't a joke, since Vincent was kind of a toad by all measures. Especially appearance. Still, Alice would eagerly step her way over to the island and get to picking up the bounty of ingredients the likes of which would probably make Brandy gag, even getting on her knees to really get some of the mushrooms inside of a hollow log.

Meanwhile, Sofia was once again forced into a position where the undead woman couldn't help but get a bit flushed as she was carried like a princess. "W-Well, this is an efficient way to keep me from being dragged down by the bog...good thinking Brandy," she would say before fulfilling her request of folding up part of her shirt, tying it at about an inch below her bra. "There."

As the twosome walked, Sofia would keep an eye out for Alice and, upon seeing her, was about to call out until she saw the mud-covered skeleton also approaching Alice. She was about to be ambushed! "Brandy, look! Alice is in trouble!" Sofia didn't have the space needed to draw her bow, and as such would get Brandy's club from her belt, offering it to the Satyr. "I knew this place was haunted! ...B-But at least its a skeleton and not a ghost..."

[Xaltwind]

As previously, the well-mannered man of bone did neither interject nor intercede when Alice spoke. Instead he listened, periodically shifting his weight a bit, causing his calcium-rich frame to creak a bit. As the werewolf concluded her words though, the gentleskeleton gave a cordial and elegant bow in resposnse.

"My sincere gratitude for such a compliment. If your companions are half as charming as yourself, I am certain that it will be an absolute delight to meet with them." He replied in eloquent manner.

... Of course, the poor skeleton was unaware of just who was among Alice's companions...

Speaking of...

As the pair of satyr and undead came sloshing through the mucky bog, Brandy muttered something about how she should've worn her labor leotard instead of her good, white shirt. Luckily, there didn't seem to any gunk or mud had managed to get onto her attire just yet... Probably because she was carrying Sofia in her arms and the undead woman was acting sort of like a stain-shiled...

Still, as soon as the archer in her arms perked up and announced that Alice was in danger, Brandy's focus immediately returned from the realm of self-centered mutterings. Seeing the gunk and mud-covered figure approach her friend from behind, a chill ran down the satyress' back and she gasped, almost dropping Sofia in the process. Luckily she didn't. Instead, as soon as she felt Sofia's cold hand push the spiked club towards her own hand, the satyr nodded and quickly jogged - as quickly as one can move in muck - to a small, isolated patch of grass. There, she quickly plonked her friend down, telling her stay put.

Then, with wooden blunt instrument in hand, she turned towards the infenral creature of the abyss that was sneaking up on her precious ally, narrowed her eyes and let out a lloud, thundering war cry.

"IALIIIIIIIIIIIIICE! I'M COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING"

Splutter, splutter, splosh, splash, splish, splutter!

Running through a mucky swamp wasn't easy, though it was made slightly less cumbersome due to how goat-hooves were made. Rushing as fast as her legs could carry her, Brandy approached the evil assailant and her ally with surprising speed. The poor skeleton, however, who was completely innocent in all of this, merely turned his head and was able to let out a confused: What-ho? before a cylindric wooden club adorned with many sharp spikes connected with his fragile skull, and promptly smashed it into a hundred thousand itty bitty tiny pieces.

The skeleton's body shuddered from the impact of the blow, before comedically collapsing where it stood, like a house of card crashing down under its own weight and instability. The bones and clothes of the reanimated gentleman fell into the muddy waters with soft sploshes and splashes, before allw as silent except for the noise of bog-bugs and distant birds. Breathing heavily, Brandy let out a relieved sigh, wiping her forehead and then wading her way over to Alicve.

"Whew! That was close, Al. You needa be more careful, yeah? That creepty ghoul-guy was sneaking up on ya, probably to get a grope at yer tush! Lucky me and Sofers got here just in time." Brandy explained, triumphantly puffing out her chest while pointing with her fre thumb at herself, then at Sofia abandoned on the little grass-patch a ways back.

"So, uh..." Brandy looked around in the swampy swamp. "... Found anything? Doesn't look like theere's much here, huh? Well, whatever. We should head back. This place got some stank to it, yeech! And Sofers ain't exactly waterproof, maa-haa-haa~!"

It appeared the satyr was fully convinced that she'd just rescued her friend from a potential molester, and was feeling no shame or remorse over her actions just now. At all.

[The Irish Tree]

Sofia was elated that they'd managed to save Alice, the werewolf so stunned by their rescue that she was left speechles-

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" she screamed, hands twitching as she held them by her face, before diving into the muck to try and fish her arisen friend from the swamp's clutches. She'd fish his bones up, along with his busted skull, swimming to shore with them in tow and laying him out. Alice looked ready to cry, leading to Sofia growing even paler. "B-Brandy...I believe...I may have made a very grave error here..."

Alice resisted the still-growing temptation to snap open a bone and slurp up some marrow, instead aligning Phillip Chesterwood's corpse as if he'd died lying down, sniffling as she said: "You had the most gorgeous bones I ever saw, Phillip..." She was crying...but also drooling.

With them close enough to the island that Sofia didn't need to worry about sinking, she would get out of Brandy's arms and run to Alice's side. "Was he friendly!?" she asked, worried that they just murdered someone.

"He was a gentlemaaaaaaan!" Alice sobbed.

If Phillip wasn't dead, now might be a good time to speak up. Of course, if he was dead, dude, wow, rude, Alice is having a whole moment here.

[Xaltwind]

After summarily shattering the skull of the suspiscious skeletal stalker, Brandy felt her chest swell with prid and her eyes twikled with the fire of excitement. Finmally. Finally she had taken her first step to become a true adventurer! Having vanquished an evil, nefarious and possibly lecherous creature of the living dead - forgetting entirely that Sofia was one too - was sure to put her on the right track to reaching the stars and beyond!

... Wait... Bawling? What was going on here!?

After hearing the cries of Alice, and watching her companion dive into the gunky muck to rescue the crumbling bones of the clobbered culprit, Brandy couldn't help but stand still and confused for a bit. The satyress had been so lost in her own thoughts and her own brilliance that she'd sort of zoned out for a bit... Or, for a good while actually...

Still, when her werewolf friend started crying about how the now re-deceased skeleton was a gentleman, or had been one, and Sofia turned to her and stated that she may have made a mistake... Well, let's just say that the busty babe of a satyr suddenly felt a veritable mix of emtoions. These included confusion, bewilderment, fear, anxiety, hunger, bafflement and an icy chill running down her spine. Her goaty ears drooped down and she looked at the spiky club in her hand, which ironically still had fragments of Phil's skull stuck in it. Then, a realization dawened on Brandy as she watched Alice mourn the bones of the fallen. The satyress dropped the club to the ground, placed both her hanmds against her chin to try and cover her mouth, and began frantically swaying back and forth, side to side, in quick, spastic movements, while all the while going:

"OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!OhMyGods!" Her eyes had shrunk down and she'd gone a bit pale, despite her really nice tan. After a few minutes of these shennanigans, Brandy suddenly snapped to attention, turned to Sofia, grabbed the undead's shoulders with an iron grip, stared into the eyes of her ally, and with a face that screamed: WHAT HAVE I DONE?! she spoke in a horse and wuncharacteristically stammering voice.

"So-So-So-So-Sofers! I mu-mu-mu-mu-murderized him! I c-c-c-clobberkilled Al's b-b-b-boyfriend! Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-whaaa! What should I do?! I'm a c-c-c-criminal now! A criminal! A bandit! A thug!! A bad guy! I'm gonna end up in jail and get whipped and forced to do all sorts of things for the other prisoners! Waah!"

She was... Very upset... To say the least...

As for Master Philip Jay Matthew Chesterwood Esquire... Well, despite Alice's best intents adn efforts to re-assemble him, it was kinda hard to maintain an existence without a head. And given that most of his skull had been unceremoneously shattered and caved in by a certain zealous satyr savior, there wasn't really any chance of him suddenly getting back up, dusting himself off and making a cheesy one-liner like: "Back from the dead, baby!". No, not at all. He was well and truly dead. For realsies this time.

[The Irish Tree]

Well, pack it up, RP's over.

Brandy and the gang were murderers.

Alice would erect a gravesite for her boney friend, his second departure from this world so untimely that uh...it meant most of his head was lost somewhere in the swamp. Oops.

Sofia would try to calm Brandy down: "Y-You see, Brandy, actually, according to Crusade Law #14-J, it is not only lawful, but encouraged to put down wandering undead outside of civilization. After all...w-we didn't know he was friendly!" There was some sketch ass laws in this world, but since they weren't in vampire country...by and large, few people actually cared about undead lives, for the reason of them already being alive and dying. Some places outright feared the undead. It was just sheer luck that Sofia hadn't been run out for having the pallor of a corpse.

After offering a short prayer and rising up, Alice would pound her fist into her open hand. "Don't you worry Phillip...I didn't even take one of your femurs, just because they looked delicious. We'll get to the bottom of this, and make whoever resurrected you and made Brandy kill you pay!"

Sofia shrank back a bit at the second part, but Alice would grab both her companions, saying: "We have to solve this job now! For Phillip!"

"For...was his name Philip? For Philip!"

Alice would utilize what magical know-how she had to try and make an agent from the various things around the swamp to react to any necromantic magics in the area, bottling it and putting it on her belt. It would turn black if they neared the source of the same magic that reanimated Philip, a little shard of his skull resting at the bottom of the bottle to serve as a reactant piece.

Alice would never forget her incredibly handsome boney friend. But she also would forgive Brandy for his bashing, since...lets be honest here, she should have known a skeleton wouldn't be accepted by her friends without an introduction.

Sofia would pray at Philip's makeshift grave, catching on fire on her left hand from performing a holy-based action, before quickly patting it out. "Let's find who's responsible for reanimating corpses, then."

[Xaltwind]

Brandy's cute little goat-ears didn't stop being droopy, even after Alice explained the situation with rationality and law-abiding technobabble. Probably because the satyr didn't know what a crusader was to begin with, or why whatever it was gave people the right to undo undead. Still, after the werewolf had made the miniature marker of martyrdom to the departed deadman, Brandy wqas respectful enough to clasp her hands together and offer up a silent little prayer. Or perhaps she was just imitating what she'd seen others do at funerals? Who could really say.

After her alchemist-ally proceeded to mix the group up the little container of negative energy-tracking goop, the trio would meander about the swmap for a bit. Ironically, as they wandered about the boggy wetland, they soon came to the realization that the reaction got stronger whenever they were walking in the direction of the graveyard they'd come from earlier.

"Looks like that sludge gets darker when we like, get back towards the graves and stuff. Let's head back, girls!" Brandy suggested, very gung-ho about finding the culprit who had revived Mr. Chesterwood, probably so she could give them an earful.

On the little satyress' sugggestion, they made their way back to the spot where they'd started - Brandy helping Sofia out of the swamp, which was oddly thoughtful and considerate of her... Or perhaps she just didn't want to risk losing another undead citizen of the world today. Still though, as they entered the gorunds and poked about, they noticed something. Whenever they got close to the big, locked-up maousoleum at the center of the cemetery, the goopy beacon Alice had made went almost completely pitch black. This would insinuate that whatever had brought back the gentleman of bones was somewhere inside.

... But wait...

"Huh? Al, you sure this thingymuhwhatsit's actually workin'? I mean, it's gloomin' up a storm near this big ol' house here, but like... There's a big lock... And chains... On the outside! How the heck're we 'spose to get inside a place that's all locked up tighter than am overprotective father's daughter's virginity!? Oh, wait! I know!" The satyr bemoaned, but then came to haved an idea in that empty head of hers. "Sofers! You got arrows! You can like, stick'em in and twist'em around and jerk'em a lil', right? Kinda like a key, but not a key, yeah?" Brandy bobbed up and down on her hoofy heels, excited about her lockpick-idea... Which was completely ridiculous, since Sofia's arrows would likely not work at all.. Or even fit inside the keyhole for that matter.

They could always ask the charming gravekeeper for the key, but somehow that seemed as an unlikely avenue of approach, given his earlier disposition. They could probably havve Alice blow up the padlock and chains though! ... Albeit that may cause a whole heap of other problems in the future... Likely the only reason Brandy hadn't suggested that was because she still had a bit of a negative outlook on the bombs, given that Alice collapsed the last time she'd used one.

[The Irish Tree]

Looking up at the mausoleum, Alice would sniff the air a bit, before eyeing the lock. So, in order to "help" Vincent with his problems, they'd have to destroy property...or find some way to pick the lock. Because there sure as shit wasn't any way they were going to actually get Vincent's help to solve the problem they'd been called out for.

Sofia would chuckle at Brandy's idea. "While I AM skilled, I don't think that works as well as it does in adventure novels. Besides," Sofia would draw an arrow and show the head's size compared to the hole. It was far too girthy, thick, not to mention hard to get inside. Sofia tapped it a few times to make sure Brandy got it, that shaft wasn't making it inside that hole in any capacity. "Though...I am at a loss for how to get inside now. While Alice could likely blow it open, that would no doubt catch that gravekeeper's attention...

Alice was already working on it, humming softly as she brewed something in her alchemical oven. "Little bit of Aluminum~! Wan! A strip of magnesium~! Wan! And to top it all off~" Alice sang, getting up with a set of protective goggles on and scraping a large amount of rust from the chains and padlock, gathering them in a piece of paper until they piled high. "Iron Oxide~! Wan!" she sang, before the fucking light of GOD itself manifested in the ceramic oven container, a menacing glow bathing Alice in an orange light while Sofia recoiled. "What IS that!?"

Alice would be handling it with gargantuan oven mitts and as much caution was due of literal lava. "A special tool to help us get inside! Thermite!" Alice said excitedly, before getting around to silently melting the chains and lock. Much safer and quieter than a bomb.

Sofia stared in abject horror as Alice committed to her property damage, astonished that such a mild-mannered bookish person was so eager to literally make magma.

Alice would say: "By the way, don't touch this. Don't even touch the stuff it touched. It'll be crazy hot." In all likelihood, that warning was meant exclusively for Brandy.

[Xaltwind]

Brandy pouted as Sofia crushed her dreams with cruel reality when she demonstrated how, in fact, an arrow-head could not be used as a lockpick to open doors. Her ears stood almost straight up, like those on a bunny, when Alice unleashed the wrath of luminence upon the padlock via her new, om-the-spot, alchemical substance of DOOM. And, luckily for the satyr, who was noq squatting down over the melted metal ex-lock, she was stopped by Alice's warning about not touching the damn thing before she could poke the smoldering remains out of curiosity, recoiling in abject fear of the sheer terror of imagening one of her delicate and exquisite fingers being melted off like warmed butter.

"W-well! Anyways, good job, Al!" Brandy finally stated, having now stood back up and brushed the vivid imagery of de-fingering from her mind. "Let's head inside and find the bad guy! Or gal. Or thing. We hafta avenge that boner-guy!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air, having seemingly or conveniently forgotten that said bony man met his demise at her own hand rather than that of some nefarious mastermind.

Pushing the vaulted metal door open, Brandy was the first to enter the mausoleum. Doing so also caused her to start coughing and sneezing and shaking her head like a dog trying to dry its coat after getting wet. The interior of the tiny crypt-hut was... Dusty... To say the least. Layer upon layer of caked, ancient and dry-as-phuck dust lay prevalent all about. On the floor, walls, cracks of the walls, atop the sarcophagi, the statue at the very back and the memorial urns on the concaved and vaulted shelf-indentations on the walls. After having sputtered and frantically brushed her face and head free from the initial onslaught of dust, the satyr turned to her two allies still outside the door.

"This place sucks! Whoever's in charge of keeping things clean is a total slacker. Jeez, it's so dusty and moldy and miserable, who'd ever wanna be dead in an awful place like this!?" She whined, outraged at having been dirtied by the dirty and dank locale.

As she continued to bemoan the crappy conditions of the crypt, Brandy wasn't exactly paying attention to her surroundings. Apart from a pair of large, lying stone sarcophagi at the center of the room inside, there was also a statue off to the very back - probably a statue of some protective god or something of the departed. There were a total of eight urns, four on one wall and four on the other, mirror almost to a T. There were wall-sconces, but they weren't lit, so the only light that came into the place was from the now-open doorway. Other than this, the place was rather dull - tiled stone floor, brickworkk walls, bricked ceiling amd apart form the pots made of - what seemed to be - brass, everything else was just grey.

Obviously, the more important detail of course, was that there didn't seem to be anyone or anything inside the mausoleum. No person or creature of the darkness, no wicked or manically laughing lunatic who praised them for discovering their contrived plot.. Just a dusty, empty room. Surely there had to be something inside though? Othwerwise, Alice's death magic-detection-sludge would have had to be classed as faulty! But that didn't seem like it was very likely. No, more likely was that there was more to this drab place than one could first see.

After having finished the ramblings, the tanned and buxom goat-girl proceeded to, carelessly, march straight into the center of the cryptorium and start touching absolutely everything with zero regard for whoever was laid to rest in either urn or large stone coffin. Poking and smudging and smelling and sneezing-on... Yup... No vvampire-sneezes either. Full-on, non-covering-the-mouth sneezes... Any man of the cloth who saw this would likely have branded her a blasphemous and heretical sacrilege on two legs for the blatant disrespect towards the deceased.

"So, uh... Al, Sofers? What're we 'spose to be looking for in here? i don't see anyone evil around..."

[The Irish Tree]

Alice looked smug as hell after melting that lock, heading on in with her party to find and defeat whatever evil necromancer had resurrected and (very very distantly indirectly) caused the re-death of her friend! Sofia would also be fearfully clinging to Alice from behind, seeming very concerned that she'd wind up seeing a ghost.

Much like Brandy, Alice would start sneezing up a storm from the amount of dust, while Sofia was fine since she was kind of already too dead to have snot. As such, the undead would watch in horror as Brandy recovered and proceeded to not respect a single speck of dead dust in the entire crypt, sneezing over everything while Alice at least covered her nose with her hands. Sofia would rub her temple, saying: "No good necromancer would possibly just sit inside a crypt this small. So..." the revenant would look around, before confidently pointing at one of the sarcophagi, shouting: "There!"

The ornate sarcophagus was devoid of dust, rather conspicuous in a place that looked to never have been opened since tis inhabitants were put inside, the Revenant confidently sliding the lid off to reveal a set of stairs leading further downward. "Nice...n-nice ja...jahaaa..." Alice struggled to say, before letting out the loudest sneeze yet. "...Nice job, Sofia," Alice said before dashing down, urging the others to follow after her, with Sofia soon realizing they could have just gone home if she had kept quiet about the secret entrance.

Running down the stairs, Alice's undead-energy-detector would start detecting more...likely due to them reaching the same vertical height as the necromancer.