You plan on tossing timeskips around in this RP, or is it mostly going to be fairly regular temporal progression?
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“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?”
Atzi frowned at the talk of the second key. If Maira was correct about the dangers of breaking magical things, what exactly were they going to do even with the second key to the shrine? Keep it with them? And considering how the cultists featured an undying, superstrong, magic-cancelling tentacle-faced idiot, what leverage could be had that wasn’t just sparking an all-out war? Certainly, she didn’t see them as members of the village, so they were fundamentally enemies. It was weird then, that Enli considered all this.
But Atzi was just a young craftswoman who now only had one arm, and Enli was the village elder with decades of experience and knowledge. He was probably skipping through the five steps that led him to his conclusion.
“Alright, no breaking things for now…” She frowned, almost disappointed that the simplest answer wasn’t one that could be used in such circumstances. “...but I still think that it’s a good idea to like, better protect the first key, y’know? Recover it, then put it somewhere super safe and all. Like, I trust you can trap and hunt them all down, but if it’s the God of Knowledge that they worship, Maira, they’ll know eventually right? And then you have zombie-octopus-man after it.”
An unexpected snort of derision.
“Unless it took all their god’s power just to find the first one.”
Just a matter of having too many RPs, and still choosing to join another possible banger of one.
Will keep eyes buttered for this, against my better judgment.
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.”
"Fortune..." Atzi murmured, eyeing Gideon, then recalling all the other strangers that came into the village recently. The Raam offered little that she could consider helpful though. As a matter of fact, if not for his good work before this, she would 100% have planted her fist into his face (probably breaking her bones but definitely breaking his veins) for even suggesting that Achel was suspicious in any way, shape, or form.
It appeared, though, that Gideon was not pulled into this by the same fortune that those travelers from years past have been pulled into, and the Sage of Steel was more Steel than Sage. So she didn't bother to stop him on his way out. Didn't bother, but...why the fuck was he apologizing? The sting of her stump, the twitching of her phantom limb, all fed into a certain distrust. A budding dread, perhaps. Atzi let out a breath though. She could recognize when she was thinking too hard about courtesies, looking too deeply for malice. Gideon, after all, hadn't been with Achel while she laboured over the countless deceased who had to be placed inside the catacombs.
Didn't change though, that there was a shrine beneath the church. The same shrine that...
Atzi stopped. Thought.
"Could they have connected it?"
An undying body, possessing inhuman appendages and strength just shy of her own. A shrine that they needed keys for, lying right beneath the church. The dark-skinned woman could feel her mind fraying at its ends, trying to wrap it together. But it was certainly possible, wasn't it?
"Like, if they were looking for the stone, they would already know about the shrine. And if they knew about the shrine, they would want to get to the shrine. So like...tunnels? Easy to do if they don't die and have lots of arms. And going from the shrine to their church? Makes it easy to sneak into Dawn too, so Achel would want to close it up." Atzi moved to scratch her head, but only her shoulder moved up with that intention. She scowled. Shook distracting thoughts out. "Honestly though, Enli, could we just like, break that rock? I'm sure Bolcha's got at least one sharp chisel in his shed."
Putrid was the blood that stagnated within the corpses and the undead, while the air itself was abuzz now with the vibrations of the mosquitos’ wings. Fortunate, that in such a ruined, desolate world, her servants would present themselves to her unbidden.
Unfortunate, then, that her magic had been so drained that the creation of a single familiar was felt by her. Fallen from grace, fallen from might, fallen from stature. Ilena would pace herself then, and allow her kindred to exert themselves. One hand raised up, fingers wrapping around the form of two of the Exsanguinating Skeeters. She clenched her teeth, amethyst eyes burning with a dominating light, and then let out a quick shriek, one too high to register in the ears of her companions. The large insects shuddered for a moment, then immediately launched themselves into the first beastman to approach Luna, their proboscises piercing into his back while their wings lifted him airborne, even as he swung in vain to dislodge himself.
But every movement caused his blood to quicken, caused his heart rate to rise even as his life essence was drained further and further. A drained corpse fell, bones clattering loudly enough to signal the rest of the vermin to the two vampires’ presence.
Ilena motioned for her new thralls to descend, their abdomens bright as apples, and she drew a small incision in each, drawing the blood out. “A sip to wet the tongue?” the shadow witch spoke, gaze turning towards her martially-inclined companions. “If not, then feast as you wish on those beasts.”
Gunfire, but no nearby ricochet. There were others within the city after all, but perhaps that was no particular surprise. Ilena’s gaze turned towards that flickering torch in the distance, catching its light movements before it disappeared into the shadows of a Manor. Perhaps it was being hunted. Perhaps it had missed by such an embarrassing degree that it decided to retreat before any retaliation was to be had.
Dragan, pragmatic and warlike, took it upon himself to slay the wretch closer by, weaving a rapier from his blood to skewer the beast. Ilena pointed her own index finger downwards instead, and allowed the first digit to fall off. Flesh melted into shadow as it fell, before splattering against stone. Black ink reconstituted itself, the ball of shadow-substance growing tiny limbs and a mouth that opened up to reveal an amethyst eye, oh so similar to her own.
Ilena clicked her tongue, and the familiar darted off like a cockroach, scrambling to investigate the manor that the torchbearer sought. And for the shadow witch herself? She strode on, for the winding path and the destination her Goddess called her to.
It will take time still, to arrive at the church. Time enough for the mud-doll to scout out, and perhaps even track down, the distant stranger.
The past few days, well, were busy. Busy getting caught out and chewed out by Maira, of course. Though there was the ever-looming danger of the cult, it was honestly hard for Atzi to really be all that concerned about her missing arm. It was, after all, just an arm, an arm belonging to just a human. What were they going to do? Cure it and eat it? Boil it in a soup? Pin it up to a wall as a trophy, as a warning to others? Maybe it would have been spooky if they had taken Vammy’s arm, but if it was just big ol’ Atzi?
There were other things to worry about…or praise! Plenty of food to eat and wood to heat, as well as that terrible waterbeast about to meet its demise (and provide even more meat) was all great news to have. Though Mie’s situation looked to be dangerous, Atzi was unfortunately not in any real state to go help. She was pretty sure she could beat up some of the Yagas with just one fist alone, of course, but considering how Achel lectured her after her return…
Yeah, she would either get cocooned by the Chilralta or shot in the legs (again!) by Maira. And well, even if she didn’t have a clue what those cultists were doing, she wasn’t exactly going to keep mum about it either. Rising up from her seat at the church, the muscular woman let out a slight wince as her knees protested from the effort. She swayed to one side still, not totally comfortable yet with the whole ‘lacking her dominant arm’ deal, but those were irrelevant too. Others had lost their lives or their wives, their kids, their homes.
An arm, when her dearest friends were still alive, was a cheap price to pay considering the situation she had found herself in.
“Enli!” Atzi called out, then turning towards the Raam there as well. “And Gideon too! Help a girl out, would ya? Got a buncha stuff in my house that, well, can’t really do anything about right now, so uh, yup!”
She motioned for them to come after her. The Raam made sense, considering the whole ‘steel body, tough guy’ deal, but Enli? There were a couple of weird looks from the others, and Atzi quickly stacked on another lie.
“And yeah, Enli, it’s like, y’know? If there’s anything that could be reused for village stuff, check em out! Just doing some cleaning and…”
The woman continued to blabber on as she half-dragged the elder and the sage to her little home, gradually bringing them further away from the rest of the populace.
“...and basically there’s a cult lead by this guy who didn’t die even after I ripped off his head with my feet and then he took my arm and apparently kidnapped Maira too but now here she is to explain the story properly. And have you heard of magical stones used for rituals before?”
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