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Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Great, it seemed like the priestess was as clueless as she was stupid. Not that Giselle was ever going to say that, either to her or in public. She was too much of a class act for that, even if she did like to show her disapproval of things at times. Rather than correct Akyasha’s misconceptions, the white-haired vampire thought that she had better things to do, such as to pay proper attention to the words of her goddess. She hardly rushed to hear her words like a giddy child, instead affecting a solemn pace and posture as she received her words.

Her words of guidance were more worldly than what might have expected out of a god, but given the circumstances, it was very understandable. To revive more of her fallen brethren, together with the queen of her kind was only logical.

Giselle did have her doubts about ‘the seven,’ but there was little doubt as to who the seven were—the seven remaining vampire lords that had not been resurrected and were together in the cathedral with her. Some of those remaining seven, though… Well, for somebody who valued good governance, administration, and the love of her people, she had no love for them and thought they should continue to rest as they were.

But who was she to question the will of a goddess? She did have to admit, in these times, a strong set of hands would be needed to guide things onto a better path, no matter how flawed the tools might be…

Eyeing one of the leftover vials of blood, Giselle made to partake of it, even as she continued to mentally curse Akyasha for the loss of an extra good vial.

“West we shall go, but a word of caution, friends,” she said, once she was done. “The three of us recently came from that direction. With six of us, it might not be so problematic, but it is worth mentioning that a great skeleton beast lies in our path there. Perhaps one of you have also encountered it?” She glanced over at Luna, Dragan, and Illena, inclining her head towards the latter as Dragan mentioned her as the bearer of the heart.

“There are also other humans in the city we have encountered. Other entities too, though it was not I who encountered them…” Trailing off, she glanced at Akyasha.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Unfortunately, given the state of the village, having Nylah and Eirhild with her was about as much Lissa could ask for. She had asked anyway, but as expected, the hunters and the rest of the villagers had their hands full putting out the rest of the proverbial fires in the village before anything else could be seriously done outside of the village.

Thankfully, the village was not so resource-starved that it couldn’t spare a small amount of supplies and goods for the disguise and plan that Lissa had cooked up for the three of them. Given that the Raam-in-disguise had played at the merchant trade before arriving at Dawn and had about a lifetime’s experience on the road, if confronted by the Yaga or Kyrsa while investigating the situation, Lissa had a reasonably convincing explanation for hanging around their area. Lissa would be a traveling merchant, recently arrived from Dawn, with Eirhild as her escort, and Nylah as her traveling companion.

So when, after traveling northeast for some time, arriving at a village of Yaga some days later, she had her playbook to use. Avoiding any obvious subterfuge, she traveled along the main road, playing every part the smalltime traveling merchant running into an unexpected change in their traveling route. Naturally, if the situation went south, well, she had provisions to literally run back south with her companions.
The camp of the Kyrsa was an oddity, but otherwise, the small city didn’t strike out as being any different from most towns that she had come across. It was perhaps one of the more alert towns, with some obvious patrols and lookouts about the area, but nothing immediately problematic off the bat.

“Well, looks okay,” the white-haired girl commented to her companions as they neared the village on the main road. “Maybe one of you should hang back, but I’m going ahead.”

Sticking straight with her plan, she’d just boldly go straight into the village to ask questions and peddle the small amount of goods that she had with her.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

“Next time, perhaps read the room,” said Giselle, as soon as Rikard had left. Pinching her nose, she gave the woman an exasperated look. While she was glad that she hadn’t fully burned the bridge with the strange human, especially so after the man’s warning and manner of exit, she remained rather annoyed with the priestess. If she had just played along, then it was very likely they would have had a far superior replenishment of blood than that of a filthy rat. As it was now, though, it was all that she had.

Rather than sinking her teeth directly into the dirty fur of the rat carcass, she opened her palm upwards, letting the rat float upwards for a couple inches before she began to extract its blood from its body in a long stream of ichor that she then civilly drank. It had a displeasing, pungent taste to it, even if it did provide a kick of fulfilling energy to her starved body. For this act, she couldn’t be entirely displeased with Akyasha, even if had bungled the entire thing in the final stretch.

At the very least, the path to the cathedral was no longer barred. Without any further interference, they entered the sacred building soon after, walking into three more of her fellows, and a most peculiar scene. The new company she recognized, even if only passingly so for two of them. The third vampire lord –the only man among them for now, it seemed—she was more familiar with. Together with herself and Aleksiya, he was a lord in the more traditional sense.

It seemed, however, that reminiscing about the past could wait for another time.

She acknowledged Dragan’s words with a slight incline of her head. “Indeed.” Without further words, she followed the others onto the balcony. Kneeling before her presence, her light, she relished in the familiar comfort of Ichor’s embrace. Giselle had always been more secular among the lords, but her loyalty, especially in these times, was never in doubt. Faced with such a bleak future, who else was she to look to for guidance?

“My Goddess, I am once more at your disposal. Guide us as you will.”

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa inclined her head towards the suddenly semi-amicable woman. “My thoughts exactly. As far as most people in the region are concerned, I’m an uninvolved traveler, and I intend to leverage that status if the entire issue is more… political,” she explained, as she blew on the stew to cool it down, out of habit, if anything. She’d already taken a few bites of it now, but it was definitely to her liking. Shortly, she had a second bowl of the stuff.

“My understanding of the situation is that it’s more of a siege... Hopefully not as dire of a situation where she needs to ring the caravan wagons into a defensive circle in an open plain sort of thing, but I’m not going to charge in there blindly and lose any of you in some abortive rescue.” She shook her head at the dwarf, appreciating her boldness, but to her, discretion was far more important, even if it costed them extra time.

When Nylah spoke up in approval of Eirhild’s take, Lissa shrugged. “Hmm… Be that as it may, I don’t want to turn us into another party that needs to be rescued out of a dire situation.” She settled into her stew once more, letting her voice more of her thoughts, before she had to chuckle and raise an eyebrow at the Mothraki girl. “Nylah, I thought we were on the same page? I was the one forming an expedition and recruiting for it just moments ago, you know. My thoughts on this are obvious. The three of us would make for a good small scouting party. Perhaps a plus one from somebody else to round us out, but it’s not necessary,” she commented, thinking of who else in the village might be useful and willing to help. It was obvious that Sorcha was not going to leave her charge, nor would she have seriously thought of asking her. As far as things went now, though, they could do far worse with herself, Nylah, and Eirhild.

Prophetiae Adventum: Envoys of the Pantheon

RIP.

I do have to say though, I enjoyed what little we had of this RP. It was fun while it lasted.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle couldn’t help but to frown, a slight expression of annoyance momentarily flashing through her face as the human man began to respond in the negative. Alas, the more he spoke, the bigger the impression she got that this Rikard was not speaking of the giant skeletal beast. If it was shrieking and coming closer, how would hunters lose track of such a quarry?

She was loathe to do nothing, but if that was his answer, then so be it. There were far too many unknowns to go about making enemies this early on in the game, and she wasn’t in the habit of making enemies without good reason to begin with. That had been a great part in keeping her lands prosperous and untouched for centuries, until the death of the era brought an untimely end to even that.

Thankfully, the two of them got their lucky break when a certain priestess unexpectedly showed up, seemingly no worse for the wear as she almost casually sauntered up to their conversation. Immediately catching the dead rats that she held by their tails, she arched her eyebrow at Akyasha, even as Rikard spoke again. Surely he wasn’t looking after literal vermin? No, obviously not. Something larger, and associated with rats, then. Now, what sort of entity associated with that might still be alive? She pondered the question, even as she continued on.

“Perhaps an exchange of information for the vials will be in order, then,” she concluded diplomatically, shooting Akyasha a look that was intended to request her to acquiesce. “What did your encounter with these… rats look like?” Nonetheless, she took a rat for herself with a nod, though she refrained from partaking of it immediately.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Entering Nylah’s house along with said host and Eirhild, she gave a quick look around before her eyes fell on Sorcha, standing guard by one of the doors. Despite the frosty initial introduction between the two, she nonetheless gave the grumpy woman a polite nod of acknowledgement before she turned back to follow the mothraki girl to whatever she was doing, apparently grabbing supplies for the evening’s supper.

Ah, so it seemed Nylah wanted to discuss something along the lines of the little expedition that she was planning. “Well, sure, we can talk about it shortly,” the Raam-in-disguise nodded, before glancing over at the ingredients laid out in front of them. “Maybe in the meantime I can help you with preparing your stew?”

Once that was done, though, she sat down together with the other girls after giving an acknowledgement of thanks to her host like a gracious guest should. Once they were eating, they finally had the talk that Nylah had so wished earlier. “Right. The effects of bad timing with all of these… local disasters was what made me think the elder beast was to blame…” Lissa considered her words as she slowly sipped her stew. She gave a hum of approval after her first sip, before continuing on. “I’ll confess, I don’t have the same feeling of foreboding or sense of wrongness of the entire situation, at least not beyond the facts we established… but, eh, I’m hardly as familiar with these groups and the region as you are, Nylah,” Lissa admitted, before glancing over in some surprise at Sorcha deigning to answer. “That is a good point, and if we’re to do this, we’ll have to exercise utmost caution.”

“I’m sure I mentioned this earlier, but the simplest plans are the best, and that’s to carefully scout the situation, either from afar or by asking around on the periphery before deciding what to do. Whatever that ultimately ends up being, either going in for a committed rescue mission, or falling back to reassess the situation or gather more help all depends on what the landscape looks like. Without proper information or manpower, the pre-planning scouting mission would also have to fall to us…”

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

“Done.” Lissa didn’t hesitate to offer a number on the spot from her own savings, basing her offer of coin on her own calculations based on the gemstones that the dwarf had received as payment from Sorcha. Of course, she would petition the village or the merchant Mie for reimbursement if the entire endeavor was successful, but she wasn’t the type that would balk at the loss of petty coin to help somebody else in need. She thought she was a good judge of character and experience, and so far, Lissa didn’t find Eirhild wanting in either department.

Just as she began to depart, the mothraki in question returned, coincidentally along with Enli. The raam-in-disguise raised a hand in greeting, only to shrug as the village elder stepped aside. “Hum… wonder what all that was about. Eh, no matter, I guess. Shall we away to your house then, Nylah?” offering the girl a small smile, she stepped in alongside Nylah as they returned to her house. “Busy day, huh. So, you wanted to speak earlier? It’s not about Mie and the little trip I want to take, is it?”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Fighting the shambling hordes of the fallen undead together with her lordly companion was but a trifle for Giselle. But even a trifle was no minor thing for herself and probably Aleksiya in such a deprived state, though having an enduring weapon that didn’t actively use her own blood helped wonderfully in that regard. Once she had reaped the mindless undead and found the upper levels free of offending hordes, she was nonetheless glad for the momentary respite.

The white-haired vampire couldn’t help but to remain a tick annoyed at the tardiness of a certain overly-religious redhead, though.

It was perhaps because of her drained state that it took an extra mite of time for her to realize that the two of them were not actually alone atop the ramparts. Poising her weapon to strike at the new figure, her eyes slightly widened in mild surprise as she beheld a man, and a human, at that. Nonetheless, she flicked her scythe back into a defensive position, even as he spoke. Giselle still had no clue as to the political and cultural landscape of this new era, after all. Certainly, she did not jump to thinking of him as a quick meal as some of her peers might.

“Indeed, and likewise. I would not have expected to find a simple human here, but if you were merely one, you would already be dead if you were.” She gauged the man as she parroted some of his words, albeit in a diplomatic manner. The man seemed exhausted; Giselle ventured it was from fighting against the selfsame hordes that had been giving them trouble. More intriguing, and far more interesting, though, were the red vials of what obviously had to be blood adorning the sides of his coat. Combined with the mention of a partner, she was very curious who this man was, and all the more so his partner. What did he mean by vermin, though? Was he referring to that beast’s screeching from earlier?

“Hunters, then.” She paused, before adopting a slightly apologetic and pained look. “Ah, where are my manners? I am Giselle de Farry. You have us at a slight disadvantage here, ser…” Whether he supplied a name or not, she continued on, after giving Aleksiya the chance to give her own introduction if she wished. “I am curious about that partner of yours, no less than those vials of yours.” Frankly, the both of them needed the blood, but they would be negotiating from a very disadvantaged position if she didn’t want to take it by force of arms, something she’d quickly pondered and dismissed as a last resort.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“We would have use for some of those vials, if you can spare them,” she finally said, after a moment’s pause, before glancing at her smaller companion. “In return, we could assist you in locating this vermin you seek, within the best of our abilities.”

Prophetiae Adventum: Envoys of the Pantheon

Kyra Pfalz-Karstadt,

most definitely not Lutatia Eichenwald von Brudel

---

Lutatia gave the girl a soothing expression, both to take her attention off of Aurelian, and to distract her from the obviously terrible business that had befallen this village and its inhabitants. Schooling her face from frowning, she nodded at the meagre information she offered, glancing in the direction of the field the half-elf child had pointed towards. She shared a glance with Aurelian before she knelt back down as the child burst back into tears, doing her level best to calm and soothe the girl with reassuring words and further offerings of biscuits and sweets.

Nonetheless, when she received Vyandar’s message, she had to step away to communicate with him.

Acknowledged. Discovered empty village, found one child. Investigating with Aurelian, regroup on us.

By the time Vyandar had made it to them, it was a few hours later. Lutatia had returned to the girl’s house to give her shelter, and looking about her house, decided to make a meal for her in the meantime with the young child’s help to take her mind off more morbid matters. In the meantime, Aurelian had gone off to inspect the field, and when he came back, what he found was not very encouraging when it came to the survival of the girl’s parents or any of the villagers, if whatever these insect monsters were had really destroyed both a patrol and enemy action.

She met Vyandar as he arrived, keeping away from earshot of the child under their temporary charge. “Nothing significant. We have an easily tracked trail for these beasts. With the three of us, we can probably scout further, but not with a child in tow. We can either return to the city as-is and report our findings, or I can fly the girl back to safety and return so we can continue uninterrupted,” she replied, offering the two options that came to her. Personally, she leaned towards the latter, although she was unsure where to bring the girl to. She could probably hand her off to the city guards, and they’d take care of her well enough, but her parents were dead, then she would be sent to an orphanage. Not terrible, but not the best of fates, either. Alternately, she could bring her to her house and leave her to the care of her host’s servants, who she was sure would provide a gentler hand in all scenarios…

Well, she’d think more on that later.