[Returning]
Previously coming here at night would have risked the dangers of undead prowling the salt caked grounds of this forgotten and forsaken place.
But instead, an eerie silence hangs over the Ossuary.
Elvyra will no doubt be able to discern why.
Here and there, scattered across the face of this necropolis, are little heaps of ashes still glowing with faint wisps of golden light. The Virtuous Consecrator has been quite busy over the past days, slowly and steadily putting the restless dead to the grave and ensuring that their souls pass on to their rightful peace.
Some of the ash piles look recent.
VERY recent.
He's probably still here, somewhere.
The Ossuary
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Returning
The undead do not scare the Vile Necromancer, unlike the Virtuous Consecrator. He does scare her. Fortunately, he has this amazing habit of using Light, meaning his location should be quite obvious; like most Lycaonese, his idea of subtlety is limited to insulting people when they leave the room. So she's going to keep an eye out for him, and his presence, as she approaches the central ziggurat with her bundle of bones.
The undead do not scare the Vile Necromancer, unlike the Virtuous Consecrator. He does scare her. Fortunately, he has this amazing habit of using Light, meaning his location should be quite obvious; like most Lycaonese, his idea of subtlety is limited to insulting people when they leave the room. So she's going to keep an eye out for him, and his presence, as she approaches the central ziggurat with her bundle of bones.
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Re: The Ossuary
[Returning]
In spite of the heaps of consecrated ashes littering the earth there are no tell tale light blasts. Not from the ground. Nor in great pillars from on high. While there appear to be ample signs of the Consecrater's work there's no sign of the lad himself.
At least...
Until the Necromancer enters the ziggurat.
There she'll see and hear flashes and blasts of light from the central chamber. As she draws closer she'll find a troubling sight. The Consecrater is cutting into the rock salt floor with his light near the sarcophagus. And standing by is a... purple unicorn?
As soon as the light wanes corrupted darkness begins oozing out of the hole, only to be siphoned away into the twisted horn of the unicorn. That gives the light wielder time to recover before he starts blasting again.
In spite of the heaps of consecrated ashes littering the earth there are no tell tale light blasts. Not from the ground. Nor in great pillars from on high. While there appear to be ample signs of the Consecrater's work there's no sign of the lad himself.
At least...
Until the Necromancer enters the ziggurat.
There she'll see and hear flashes and blasts of light from the central chamber. As she draws closer she'll find a troubling sight. The Consecrater is cutting into the rock salt floor with his light near the sarcophagus. And standing by is a... purple unicorn?
As soon as the light wanes corrupted darkness begins oozing out of the hole, only to be siphoned away into the twisted horn of the unicorn. That gives the light wielder time to recover before he starts blasting again.
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Returning
That is, indeed, a very troubling sight. The unicorn gets ignored, for now; instead, the Vile Necromancer first hides the bones she's carrying in a pile of the Consecrator's ash, so they are not destroyed by mistake. Task complete, she stalks slightly closer and mutters an incantation under her breath, the cadence revealing a Jacquinite chant derived from a church hymn, as black flames gather about her hand. When she reaches the end, she throws her arm out to point directly at the Virtuous Consecrator and the ball of black flame streaks out towards him, detonating upon impact. Fire is not her strongest work, but the black flame is not true fire; it leeches vitality from those it burns, a subtle curse that may weaken the unicorn or the Consecrator without them noticing, at least to begin with.
That is, indeed, a very troubling sight. The unicorn gets ignored, for now; instead, the Vile Necromancer first hides the bones she's carrying in a pile of the Consecrator's ash, so they are not destroyed by mistake. Task complete, she stalks slightly closer and mutters an incantation under her breath, the cadence revealing a Jacquinite chant derived from a church hymn, as black flames gather about her hand. When she reaches the end, she throws her arm out to point directly at the Virtuous Consecrator and the ball of black flame streaks out towards him, detonating upon impact. Fire is not her strongest work, but the black flame is not true fire; it leeches vitality from those it burns, a subtle curse that may weaken the unicorn or the Consecrator without them noticing, at least to begin with.
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Re: The Ossuary
[Returning]
As the black-flame fireball's incantation begins taking shape a very strange thing happens.
The unicorn, who previously had her eyes fixed on the Consecratrr's work, suddenly snaps her attention toward the Necromancer.
Maybe if the Necromancer knew a little about these creatures it wouldn't be that much of a shock. Their horns aren't just a natural spell focus, they're also a precise magical sensory organ. Casting a spell near an equestrian unicorn without them noticing is no mean feat. The unicorn reacts by yelling, "She's back," and lightning her horn with a crown of shimmering magic. Her shadow suddenly stretches, a bestial paw popping out of it and catching the dark flames and smothering them in a grip of inky fingers.
The Consecrater grunts in response, busy burning away at the salt still. "Can you hold her off and keep it contained at the same time while I recover?" he asks through gritted teeth.
"Gunna give it my best shot," the unicorn replies, planting her hooves in a wide stance and lashing her tail behind herself as the Consecrater's holy flame fades. Immediately darkness begins seeping out of the hole in the seal, only to be siphoned into the unicorn's horn as the whole chamber is lit by a sourceless light that somehow casts everything in stark contrast.
As the black-flame fireball's incantation begins taking shape a very strange thing happens.
The unicorn, who previously had her eyes fixed on the Consecratrr's work, suddenly snaps her attention toward the Necromancer.
Maybe if the Necromancer knew a little about these creatures it wouldn't be that much of a shock. Their horns aren't just a natural spell focus, they're also a precise magical sensory organ. Casting a spell near an equestrian unicorn without them noticing is no mean feat. The unicorn reacts by yelling, "She's back," and lightning her horn with a crown of shimmering magic. Her shadow suddenly stretches, a bestial paw popping out of it and catching the dark flames and smothering them in a grip of inky fingers.
The Consecrater grunts in response, busy burning away at the salt still. "Can you hold her off and keep it contained at the same time while I recover?" he asks through gritted teeth.
"Gunna give it my best shot," the unicorn replies, planting her hooves in a wide stance and lashing her tail behind herself as the Consecrater's holy flame fades. Immediately darkness begins seeping out of the hole in the seal, only to be siphoned into the unicorn's horn as the whole chamber is lit by a sourceless light that somehow casts everything in stark contrast.
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Return
As she's discovered before the shot even lands, Elvyra pulses out her aspect of Direct, seeking to usurp any undead wandering nearby that the Consecrator hasn't got his shiny hands on yet, and call them here to use them as a mix of distraction and fodder.
Exposed by the shadowlessness, Elvyra de Tejedor straightens and weaves both hands, chanting once more in her native Tolesian, a ball of fire- straight fire, this time, no curse to it- and launches it at the unicorn. The orb will once more explode, but straight up fire with no hidden surprises.
As she's discovered before the shot even lands, Elvyra pulses out her aspect of Direct, seeking to usurp any undead wandering nearby that the Consecrator hasn't got his shiny hands on yet, and call them here to use them as a mix of distraction and fodder.
Exposed by the shadowlessness, Elvyra de Tejedor straightens and weaves both hands, chanting once more in her native Tolesian, a ball of fire- straight fire, this time, no curse to it- and launches it at the unicorn. The orb will once more explode, but straight up fire with no hidden surprises.
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Re: The Ossuary
[Return]
There weren't any skeletons on the way in.
Every single one of those niches in the walls?
All turned to ashes.
No doubt the heroes were expecting undead trouble of some kind when they started messing with the seal and so they cleared out all the potential undead nearby first. There's nothing. The Necromancer has walked into a pretty bad scenario here, the fact that this is the tail of a Rule of Three notwithstanding.
Or maybe that's WHY she walked into such a bad situation?
The unicorn reacts but hurling magic back at Elvyra. Not a fireball, but a wide net-like mesh of darkness. If it hit someone it would probably just bind them up pretty well. But when it hits a fireball? The unicorn has learned that these fireball spells are usually set up so they'll blow as soon as they hit something relatively solid. And that includes a wave of semi-coherent magic tossed back at them. The net will be shredded in the process, but it served its purpose.
"What the HECK is your PROBLEM!?" the unicorn demands of the necromancer. "You come in here and just attack us outta the blue? Get outta here, we've gotta make sure the dead thing under the pyramid stays dead."
"You're too... merciful to Evil," the Consecrator says, still catching his breath.
"Yeah well I don't kill people, so it's merciful or nothing," the unicorn retorts.
There weren't any skeletons on the way in.
Every single one of those niches in the walls?
All turned to ashes.
No doubt the heroes were expecting undead trouble of some kind when they started messing with the seal and so they cleared out all the potential undead nearby first. There's nothing. The Necromancer has walked into a pretty bad scenario here, the fact that this is the tail of a Rule of Three notwithstanding.
Or maybe that's WHY she walked into such a bad situation?
The unicorn reacts but hurling magic back at Elvyra. Not a fireball, but a wide net-like mesh of darkness. If it hit someone it would probably just bind them up pretty well. But when it hits a fireball? The unicorn has learned that these fireball spells are usually set up so they'll blow as soon as they hit something relatively solid. And that includes a wave of semi-coherent magic tossed back at them. The net will be shredded in the process, but it served its purpose.
"What the HECK is your PROBLEM!?" the unicorn demands of the necromancer. "You come in here and just attack us outta the blue? Get outta here, we've gotta make sure the dead thing under the pyramid stays dead."
"You're too... merciful to Evil," the Consecrator says, still catching his breath.
"Yeah well I don't kill people, so it's merciful or nothing," the unicorn retorts.
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Return
Well, that is... an unpleasant surprise. The Vile Necromancer wasn't expecting that, at all. Surely they'd missed some? A hidden passageway, a shallow grave, a locked door? Regardless, she pulses out Raise instead, trying to find any reasonably-intact corpses to knit them together. Or even very incomplete skeletons, so long as enough bones exist in proximity for a skeleton or two to mostly assemble.
Rather than giving a proper answer, Elvyra changes her chant, the cadence adapting to a different hymn as she changes spells. Instead of fire, when she points down the corridor a the unicorn and the Lycaonese hero, a blast of lightning streaks from her fingers to crackle and spark along any metal objects and potentially electrocute or burn anything organic nearby.
Well, that is... an unpleasant surprise. The Vile Necromancer wasn't expecting that, at all. Surely they'd missed some? A hidden passageway, a shallow grave, a locked door? Regardless, she pulses out Raise instead, trying to find any reasonably-intact corpses to knit them together. Or even very incomplete skeletons, so long as enough bones exist in proximity for a skeleton or two to mostly assemble.
Rather than giving a proper answer, Elvyra changes her chant, the cadence adapting to a different hymn as she changes spells. Instead of fire, when she points down the corridor a the unicorn and the Lycaonese hero, a blast of lightning streaks from her fingers to crackle and spark along any metal objects and potentially electrocute or burn anything organic nearby.
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Re: The Ossuary
[Return]
The lightning bolt arcs through the unicorn, causing her to grit her teeth and her muscles to clench up right before she kind of...
Explodes?
There's a splash of shadows, smearing them across the floor as she vanishes. And when the vanishes the corruption leaking out of the hole burned into the seal on the floor begins trying to take shape-
-only for the Consecrator to redouble his effort, burning away the phantasmal form with his light as he starts blasting again.
Notably he's only really keeping half an eye on the Necromancer and the whole of his power is focused on searing away the evil leaking out of the ground. That leaves him pretty vulnerable, right?
Very vulnerable if not for the fact that the unicorn, now looking a singed from the lightning, coalesces out of the shadows behind the Necromancer and aims a rear-hoofed kick at her. The unicorn is absolutely not a small animal and getting kicked by her would likely lay out even a sturdy warrior. Definitely the sort of thing that would be effective at disrupting a spell.
The lightning bolt arcs through the unicorn, causing her to grit her teeth and her muscles to clench up right before she kind of...
Explodes?
There's a splash of shadows, smearing them across the floor as she vanishes. And when the vanishes the corruption leaking out of the hole burned into the seal on the floor begins trying to take shape-
-only for the Consecrator to redouble his effort, burning away the phantasmal form with his light as he starts blasting again.
Notably he's only really keeping half an eye on the Necromancer and the whole of his power is focused on searing away the evil leaking out of the ground. That leaves him pretty vulnerable, right?
Very vulnerable if not for the fact that the unicorn, now looking a singed from the lightning, coalesces out of the shadows behind the Necromancer and aims a rear-hoofed kick at her. The unicorn is absolutely not a small animal and getting kicked by her would likely lay out even a sturdy warrior. Definitely the sort of thing that would be effective at disrupting a spell.
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Return
The Vile Necromancer grinned in grim triumph as she apparently vanquishes the unicorn, before readying another fireball spell to attack the Consecrator with. That gets disrupted with a yelp as the unicorn rematerialises behind her and aims a kick into her spine. Elvyra is knocked over, the incomplete spell getting dropped and released early so it detonates harmlessly, mostly as light and heat, with only a few flames that fail to gain traction on the ragged robes of the Necromancer.
The Damned is surprisingly sturdy stuff, however, and Khannie is not the one to whom her destiny is tied, so after rolling around she stands up, reaching into her robes and pulling out a bone-handled steel knife, holding it close in case the unicorn attacks again. "Why are you getting in my way! I am not here for you, I don't want or need to kill you, let me get what I deserve, what I need to enact my revenge!'"
The Vile Necromancer grinned in grim triumph as she apparently vanquishes the unicorn, before readying another fireball spell to attack the Consecrator with. That gets disrupted with a yelp as the unicorn rematerialises behind her and aims a kick into her spine. Elvyra is knocked over, the incomplete spell getting dropped and released early so it detonates harmlessly, mostly as light and heat, with only a few flames that fail to gain traction on the ragged robes of the Necromancer.
The Damned is surprisingly sturdy stuff, however, and Khannie is not the one to whom her destiny is tied, so after rolling around she stands up, reaching into her robes and pulling out a bone-handled steel knife, holding it close in case the unicorn attacks again. "Why are you getting in my way! I am not here for you, I don't want or need to kill you, let me get what I deserve, what I need to enact my revenge!'"
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Re: The Ossuary
[Return]
A knife?
Seriously?
Khannie keeps a respectful distance. She's tangled with enough knife wielding thugs to have a pretty good idea of what lunging range is. She's pretty sure she could evade or block but really it's better to just hang outta stabbing reach.
Her horn still crowned with a plume of magic, the unicorn replies. "'cuz I'm acting in grace you dope. If you let that thing under the pyramid into you then you're gunna DEFINITELY get what you deserve. But I don't wanna let it corrupt you or anyone else. You don't even know what it is, do you?"
Khannie's eyes briefly flick to Hero, who's still burning away corruption with his magic.
"It's a demon. The king of this place bound it under the city as a power source for his rituals. It wants OUT. And if it gets out then it's gunna cause a lotta trouble for everyone before it gets put down again. So me and the Consecrator are gunna fry it while it's still bound and send it back to hell where it belongs."
A knife?
Seriously?
Khannie keeps a respectful distance. She's tangled with enough knife wielding thugs to have a pretty good idea of what lunging range is. She's pretty sure she could evade or block but really it's better to just hang outta stabbing reach.
Her horn still crowned with a plume of magic, the unicorn replies. "'cuz I'm acting in grace you dope. If you let that thing under the pyramid into you then you're gunna DEFINITELY get what you deserve. But I don't wanna let it corrupt you or anyone else. You don't even know what it is, do you?"
Khannie's eyes briefly flick to Hero, who's still burning away corruption with his magic.
"It's a demon. The king of this place bound it under the city as a power source for his rituals. It wants OUT. And if it gets out then it's gunna cause a lotta trouble for everyone before it gets put down again. So me and the Consecrator are gunna fry it while it's still bound and send it back to hell where it belongs."
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Earl of Purple
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Re: The Ossuary
Return
"A demon? I... I thought it was the king himself, I was dealing with. That was why it wanted his body to escape." That gives the Vile Necromancer some pause, as she looks between both Khannie and the obnoxious Lycaonese. She considers a moment, before she smiles, puts the knife away, and nods her head. "I won't trouble you further, not here at least. I won't stop, but the risks here... They do not outweigh the reward at the end. Nothing with demons does. Evade. With that, the Vile Necromancer disappears, both invisible and dislocated slightly, and sure enough she's now attempting to leave. She'll drag the bones out from where she left them to leave them where they can be found, but other than that... she's going to leave them to it.
"A demon? I... I thought it was the king himself, I was dealing with. That was why it wanted his body to escape." That gives the Vile Necromancer some pause, as she looks between both Khannie and the obnoxious Lycaonese. She considers a moment, before she smiles, puts the knife away, and nods her head. "I won't trouble you further, not here at least. I won't stop, but the risks here... They do not outweigh the reward at the end. Nothing with demons does. Evade. With that, the Vile Necromancer disappears, both invisible and dislocated slightly, and sure enough she's now attempting to leave. She'll drag the bones out from where she left them to leave them where they can be found, but other than that... she's going to leave them to it.
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Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.
Don't run now, my eggs are hatching.