The Ossuary

Locales abroad of the city centers, from out of doors to the outer planes.
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Spectre
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra's frail little heart all but jumps out from her throat as the elf leaps to the square room beyond, soaring right over the red glyph with the aid of her crooked staff. "Nrgh!" She landed hard, causing jolts of pain to spark up in her calves, spreading from her ankles. She knelt down to rub them and tighten the treated bandages she uses as footwear, pulling taut each strip of cloth over her bruised flesh. Feats of athletic or acrobatic prowess were never a strong suit of hers, and her long, gangly limbs were even weaker than they looked.

Still cursing her injured ankle under her breath, Nambra peers suspiciously at the square room she's found herself in, taking in its many candles, as well as its strange door. She was certain the door concealed another trap, but unlike the red glyph, this one had to be mechanical in nature, she was sure of it. Were scythes going to come slashing out from the walls, or were poisoned darts waiting to fly, provoked by an errant misstep? Nambra tries to avoid thinking about such things by approaching the forty candles, all arranged in a grid.

"Simply reorganizing the candles would be too simple, wouldn't it?" She murmured, spotting the octagonal symbol on the lock built into the door beyond. Simple or not, it was worth trying. After all, the last lock simply needed a good strike or three. Maybe this would work. Carefully, Nambra starts to set the candles out in the shape of an octagon.

All the while, she glances back over her shoulder. She's anxious, and it shows.

Her pallid skin has paled further.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"

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Keeper
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Perhaps Nambra should have closed the door behind her. That would surely have made the situation less foreboding, yes?
Regardless, simply moving the candles does not yield immediate results, though they are moved easily enough.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra sets the last black candle gently in place. A sharp, toothy grin forms on her face as she steps back to admire her handiwork. She celebrates her success with a series of sickly giggles, unable to mask her enthusiasm for the powerful magick she imagined she was about to bear witness to. Perhaps the sealed door would dissolve or disintegrate utterly. Perhaps a ghostly figure would appear to open it for her. That would be new; she had heard stories of men wealthy enough for their own servants. What powerful men, Father would say.

How powerful would she be, then, with a servant of her own? One bearing fiendish gifts, and a talent for evil inherent. This was her task here, to conjure a demo-"Amin delotha lle, the other door!" With widened eyes, the elf creeps back and starts to push. It would not serve her well to be ambushed again. Father would mock her if it happened twice. Of course, she could lie. But wouldn't he know? He always seemed to know. Before Nambra shuts the burnt brown door entirely, she pauses. She recalled Father's favorite poem: The Black Caske.

In the story, a human wine merchant swindled an elven king known for his hot temper. As punishment for his deception, the wine merchant was sealed alive in a tree of ash. After many years the elf king forgave the wine merchant, and so he unsealed the tree to free him, just to find him there dead and fused with its roots. The story had frightened her terribly as a little girl, and now it gave her pause. Nambra did not wish to seal herself inside the mausoleum like the elven king had sealed the wine merchant. Instead, she leaves it open just a crack.

Returning to the candles, she sets her crooked staff down and whispers a brief incantation into her palms. She then widens her fingers and closes her eyes, and as she does, pale green flames should rise up on each and every black candle, forming a blazing emerald octagon to match the symbol on the lock.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

As the shape of candles light, the symbol on the lock illuminates. The entire thing evaporates into red mist and the door slides up into nothingness, clearing her way.

Inside is a large chamber that doesn't seem like it should fit in this building. A huge altar with a sarcophagus lay on the far side of the chamber, which is dominated by a large silver circle set into the floor. The pentagram Nambra's father told her to seek out.
And standing in the center of it with a grim scowl is:

A SKELETON!
WITH A KNIFE!

It points at a point below Nambra and shambles towards her, blade held high.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra watches in awe as the door slowly evaporates, clearly impressed. "Hm. I must have one of those for my lair." She murmurs, rubbing her soft, clawed hands together excitedly. Then she peers ahead, into the chamber beyond. It frightened her, with its dark, yawning opening, and its impossible architecture. Was something there, lurking inside? Was that movement that she had seen, or were her elven eyes playing tricks on her? That was increasingly unlikely, no. This had to be - "Stay yourself, cryptwalker! I will not strike down that which I pity!"

The skeleton frightened her, yes. It saddened her as well. Was this one willing when his bones were taken up? Did he know whose hands would handle them, and did he know what they were capable of? Did he know what would become of his remains? Nambra could not think of a more frightening fate, nor could she bring herself to destroy the abomination before her, even though some small part of her knew it to be a mercy. Instead, the elf takes several steps backward and whispers another, increasingly complicated incantation.

This spell would put the dead to sleep, a temporary slumber that Nambra hoped was something like relief.

"Please, just rest!" She hisses, panicking more than a little.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Do the dead truly sleep? Epitaphs often implore them to do so.
Perhaps the elf answers that question as the skeleton slips to the floor with a low hiss, blade clattering from its hand.
The tomb is again as silent as a…never mind.

Nambra is alone in the chamber she was told to seek.
What now?
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra releases the tension in her shoulders, followed by the breath she'd been holding. She skitters over beside the skeleton and eyes it warily. Was the thing truly dead, or was it simply waiting to bury its knife in her side, as the spider had tried earlier? Skeletons weren't usually intelligent enough to deceive, but there were exceptions. Nambra knew that firsthand from Father's experiments. "Poor thing. I cannot simply..."

Her silver eyes settle upon a large stone nearby. It would not take much effort to take it in both hands and crush the sleeping skeleton's skull, even though she was feeble. Gravity would do most of the work. Was that mercy, though? Or was that something else? Something she didn't even want to think about. "I cannot believe that I am about to do this." Nambra pockets the skeleton's knife, first.

Then, she hurriedly retrieves a bundle of frayed rope from her satchel. Carefully, Nambra will bind the skeleton's arms behind its back, as well as its ankles. It couldn't harm anyone like that, could it?

Nambra then steps a few feet away and reaches for a small stone.

She promptly tosses it at the skeleton.

"Do you speak, lost thing?"
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The awoken skeleton does little besides twitch under its bonds and hiss from its missing larynx.
It does not appear to be sapient.
Nambra probably won't get much out of it. Aside perhaps from a bite mark if she lets it crawl its way towards her.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Arkhosia wrote: Sep 14, 2022 5:31 pm Even as she stands back to watch Pania work, it's hard for Cantata not to pick up on the negative sensations radiating from the enmitic in front of her. The sensations tingle at the edge of the empath's mind, little pinpricks spiking into needle points - and then railway spikes.

Cantata's knees buckle and she clutches her head with one hand, slumping against the wall to stay upwards as the pain and emotions radiating from Pania reach their apex. She refuses to let herself fall to her knees, though - a practical insistence that the other psion's radiating force of will poetically helps magnify.
Shadowcaller wrote: Sep 16, 2022 10:07 am Dena for her part doesn't catch any of these negative vibes, which perhaps is to her advantage.
She had been in plenty of tombs like this already. Not quite as big or grandiose perhaps (or rather, grandiose in a different way) but that still promised all sorts of unpleasant fates to those that dared to disturb them.
So on one hand she had gotten used to it but on the other one could never get over the tenseness of watching someone fiddling with a trap. Especially a person she hadn't properly evaluated the competence of yet.

Not that Pania was supposed to be trained for this sort of thing in the first place. Which while good for her evaluation didn't exactly make her feel more secure. But all she could do right now was what she always did. Hope for the best while preparing for the worst.
Rebonack wrote: Sep 16, 2022 3:30 pm [The Ziggurat]

The lid falls to the floor of the chamber with a grinding thunk as the psychic pressure of domination redoubles. To Dena the room will likely feel heavy in some difficult to describe way, but to the others who are more mentally attuned the sensation of conquest will be all the more acute. Even dead a powerful psychic presence still hangs over these remains. This king of kings isn't some lich or death knight or mummy. Simply a corpse that once had ambition great enough to choke the stars themselves.

As soon as the body begins lifting out of the casket the four giants occupying the four thrones rise to their feet, fell magic flickering in their empty eye sockets. They don't attack. Or speak. But their hands are on their weapons and the threat appears to be clear. If that body is removed from the casket then someone is going to be having a bad time.

Moments ago the giants seemed empty of thought and emotion.

But now Cantata will be hit by a wave of intent.

Not hate. Not fury at their beloved ruler being stolen away. Not even concern for the desecration of the dead.

No, the emotion the empathy will feel is a desperate sort of anxiety and fear.

They must prevent the body from being removed from this place.
[The Ziggurat]

Lifting the corpse should be easy. It should be nothing. Withered remains should pose no challenge to a woman who had so easily flung many a living being aside. Yet she was struggling. This corpse... it's own long-lingering will, impossible ambitions of dominion that had somehow survived through death was now bitterly fighting with her own.

Pania was not so focused on her task that she did not notice the other skeletons rise to their feet though. Unfortunately it seemed her psionics had not been enough. Touch was not necessary to bring them to life, apparently. Through gritted teeth, she hisses out to Dena, "Do I take it or not!?" With how she was shaking, she'd probably want an answer soon.
Bismark wrote:Silence, birb-wench.
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Re: The Ossuary

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[The Ziggurat]

"Throw it to me and then run!" Dena calls out with a wave as she readies herself to grab the corpse. She even had a special kind of gloves for handling cursed objects which this thing might very well be.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Keeper wrote: Sep 17, 2022 6:15 pm Mausoleum

The awoken skeleton does little besides twitch under its bonds and hiss from its missing larynx.
It does not appear to be sapient.
Nambra probably won't get much out of it. Aside perhaps from a bite mark if she lets it crawl its way towards her.
Nambra can't help but grimace and recoil as the skeleton inches forward, crawling upon the stone floor. "Amin delotha lle, you must stop that!" It was horrible! From its glowering red eyes to its long, awful nails that scraped so noisily against the stone. But it was also sort of cute, in a strange way, wasn't it? Although it was evidently mindless, the elf still felt a soft of pity for him. It? No, him. She couldn't bear to destroy him; he was helpless.

The elf squeezes her staff tight and rushes along past the skeleton, skirting far beyond its reach. With wide silver eyes, she scans the walls for some sort of instructive passage or rune. There must be something! "Oh Nambra, what is next?" Finding nothing, she returns to the ritual circle at the center of the room. It wasn't a particularly impressive-looking thing. Would this really work? As time passed, Nambra became less certain.

First, the elf reaches for her satchel. A handful of cursed ash is poured along the circle's perimeter and a bone poultice is smeared upon its center. Nambra then reaches for her knife. She looks down at it with a strange look on her face. She knew what was expected of her, but could she do it? Could she mutilate herself? No, but she couldn't turn back, either. Nambra knew the consequences of failing Father all too well.

The elf raises her right hand out over the circle and shuts her eyes tight. She tears a strip from her wrist bandage and sets it in between her teeth. She then raises her dagger high and brings it down, scarcely stymying a scream! The crudely severed tip of her pointer finger falls at the circle's center...

...and the circle starts to glow.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

A deep green light appears from the circle, an impossible light so dark it is almost black. Within it: an impenetrable void. From it: the odd scent of wine, smoke, and smoked meat.
And then a voice, a whisper that is still deep enough to shake the room.
what is it you desire?
Do you desire that which your enemies have?
Do you desire pleasures?
Speak.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Shadowcaller wrote: Sep 18, 2022 12:39 pm [The Ziggurat]

"Throw it to me and then run!" Dena calls out with a wave as she readies herself to grab the corpse. She even had a special kind of gloves for handling cursed objects which this thing might very well be.
[The Ziggurat]

Cantata pushes herself back onto her feet, teeth gritted as she shakes away the spiking pain within her skull and suppresses demands to submit to a dull background roar. She looks between the towering skeletons and then to Dena, and her brow creases with concern. She raises a hand.

"Those giants will be after us once we remove it from this place, It's all they're worried for. Destroy it here and they might not follow," Cantata signs, before recalling that Pania won't understand her words. Turning to her, she gestures to the corpse and then exaggeratedly mimes crushing something beneath a closed fist, eyes glancing back to the skeletons as her other hand moves to the baton on her belt.
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
~Welcome to Night Vale
SliiArhem wrote:Arkh I may be slightly delirious but I don't think that would make sense even if I was coherent.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The elf could barely hear the voice through the pain coursing up her arm, roiling from her severed finger. "Amin varna," curses the elf, hissing through the pain, "I c-can't!" She clutches the stump of her index finger, nearly fainting from the sickening sensation of her own blood slipping through her fingers.

Nambra drops to her knees. They hit the stone floor hard, sending a jolt of lightning up her body. Then a voice, something like the whisper of a god, called out to her from the darkness. "I desire..." The elf's voice trails off. What did she desire? No, wait. That didn't matter, not really. "Service! Power. A bond."

"I... mark you, creature! I bind you!"
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

A black wind blows through the building. The green void rumbles and settles down to the floor. There is the distinct impression of a strike against a steel bar, and then all goes silent.

And then the void solidifies into a huge, corpulent form of rough green skin and horns. A small flame floats between the horns on its head, a huge metal club is clutched in one mitt, and it is clad only in a small fur loincloth that looks like it could snap at any point from the strain it is being put under.
Oh okay, so that's how we're doing this? No answer about which aspect you wanted, no bargaining, straight to the binding. Well fine, Little Miss Unprofessional you get Aspect of Gluttony, then. And may I say that I'm used to me being the ugliest person in the room. Hell's Bells, do you ever eat? That's gonna be price numero uno if you want shit from me, you better believe it. I can't stand even looking at you! What the Hell do you even want? You sound like a greenhorn."
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra is mortified. The creature before her was nothing like she had imagined it would be. It was vast, and its round shape only added to its intimidating presence. Her first instinct is to cower, and so the elf falls back onto her hip, only to find that she can't even crawl. "Green... horn?"

"I'm sorry... this isn't..."
The elf is in a daze. The pain is quite a lot, but worse was the fear, flowing like ice through her veins and paralyzing her. She couldn't even think. "My Father, he..."

"Norien alon, I am going to be sick!"
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Oh Prince this is pathetic. Who even taught you this binding? You must have had someone decent backing you for this to work. Are you planning on letting me out of here or not? I can keep you from bleeding out if you give me permission to leave this circle. It'll cost you of course but my magic does that. The demon taps its club against the invisible barrier of the circle.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Arkhosia wrote: Sep 23, 2022 4:49 pm [The Ziggurat]

Cantata pushes herself back onto her feet, teeth gritted as she shakes away the spiking pain within her skull and suppresses demands to submit to a dull background roar. She looks between the towering skeletons and then to Dena, and her brow creases with concern. She raises a hand.

"Those giants will be after us once we remove it from this place, It's all they're worried for. Destroy it here and they might not follow," Cantata signs, before recalling that Pania won't understand her words. Turning to her, she gestures to the corpse and then exaggeratedly mimes crushing something beneath a closed fist, eyes glancing back to the skeletons as her other hand moves to the baton on her belt.
[The Ziggurat]

"Change of plans, destroy the corpse, Pania!" Dena remarks simply, feeling it was the safest option. This dude had all the hallmarks of a powerful asshole and she had absolutely no qualms about destroying their remains.
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Re: The Ossuary

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[The Ziggurat]

Pull on the corpse and run. Right. Great plan. Unless it turned out these things were fast. But sometimes one just had to-

Oh? Cantata was gesturing at her, and for once? It was easy for her to understand. Pania looked to Dena for confirmation, and got it. She had no idea if she could do this or not. But she was going to try.

Hang on though. She could crack the corpses bones, she was sure, but with this lingering will that clung to it Pania felt that trying to crush this corpse to dust with her mind was beyond her. She hadn't even tried to crush something like that before. But there was an easier way.

Pania lets the corpse down, back into the sarcophagus. When she finally releases it, she breathes a momentary sigh of relief, before turning her sights back to the coffin lid. "Get ready. I do not know what will happen after." She gave her companions that warning, and then once more did the force of her will fill the room. And with it, the heavy stone lid of the sarcophagus began to rise up, turning, until at last it's thin edge was above the corpse. And then, letting out an anguished yell, she brought it down like a hammer upon the corpse.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Keeper wrote: Sep 26, 2022 8:27 pm Mausoleum

Oh Prince this is pathetic. Who even taught you this binding? You must have had someone decent backing you for this to work. Are you planning on letting me out of here or not? I can keep you from bleeding out if you give me permission to leave this circle. It'll cost you of course but my magic does that. The demon taps its club against the invisible barrier of the circle.
Nambra's silver eyes flutter and drift out of focus. The demon's words are heard, but not quite understood, for the pallid elf is panicking—there was so much blood, more than she thought there would be. She could hardly pull herself away from her own bloodied stump. As horror built up inside her, she began to shake.

Fortunately, the demon taps its club against the protective barrier sealing it. The flash of light that follows is enough to pull Nambra's attention away from her own injury. "If I let you out... are you going to kill me?" Her words came out slurred, it was hard to speak. "Father says... you can't, because... I bound..."

"Alnor... Ilnauril, alnor..."
She slumps forward and the barrier drops. "J-just hurry. I d-don't think the bleeding is going to s-stop."
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The creature rolls its eyes along with its entire head as it moves toward her, its body grotesquely bouncing as if its bones aren't quite where they should be.
It snatches the finger off the floor and plants it firmly back on the stump. Green light blasts through the chamber and Nambra will find her hand healed. And also an intense feeling of hunger. Don't mind that just demonic energy coursing through your body nothing to worry about.
Idiot. You lopped your own finger off without a plan of what to do after? Not even a bandage? What kind of cultists are you?

Still, your price.

The demon fixes her with a horrific grin before snapping its fingers, causing...a large pie on a plate with a fork to appear?
Eat that. All of it. I can see your bones and that offends my sensibilities.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The hideous sight of the demon's grotesque head lolling about atop its shoulders is enough to further disturb the frightened elf. No, no—none of this was going like it was supposed to! The creature drew closer. Nambra couldn't help but recoil, but she can't crawl far enough away to prevent the demon from snatching her finger.

The elf shuts her eyes tight! This was how she was going to die, that much seemed certain. Then a warm, tingling sensation washes over her bloodied hand. All at once, her pain is magically excised from her body. Nambra slouches back after a moment, crossing her thin little legs as she recovers from her experience.

"N-no, of course I have..." She reaches into her satchel and retrieves a small roll of bandages, which she hurriedly wraps around her newly healed finger. "I had never b-beheld a wound of mine so deep." Her silver eyes flash up to the far larger demon before her, then down to the large pie it has summoned. It did smell delicious.

Still. This was a demon offering her food. Father always said never to trust them. With narrowed eyes, Nambra pokes at the pie superstitiously with a long, sharp finger. "It is safe, is it not? Because we are bound, you would not harm me, yes?" A hopeful expression creeps onto her face. She was really hungry, ugh.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

If I wanted you dead I'd have just watched you bleed out and be done. And yes, I am bound in your service which means helping in my own special way. It also guaranteed that unless she terminated his service she was likely doomed to die either of some terrible addiction or to one day be significantly larger than she currently is. Being bound to a demon based on gluttony usually does that.
Now eat you talking toothpick.
If Nambra eats the pie she will likely find it one of the most delicious things she's ever eaten. And it probably has more calories in it than everything she's eaten in the last decade combined, given her frame.
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra frowns. She could tell from how it spoke that the demon had meant what it had said—if it had wanted her dead, she already would be. Her hands clench into fists. This was a terrifying thought. Then she relaxes. It really had worked after all, hadn't it? This monster was hers to control, right?

The elf would need to test the limits of her control. Her silver, pupilless eyes narrow. She starts to stand but swiftly realizes that she cannot. "D-demon, you must answer truthfully! Must you obey my commands?" The elf kneels down beside the conjured pie and glances up at the monster before her.
"W-what... have you put inside it?"

"This is... human food, is it not?"
Nambra will messily jam a finger into the pie. She's ruining it. Not that she seems to care, there's a look of clear disgust worn upon her face.
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The demon groans, a full bodied groan that is unpleasant to look at.
In a general sense, yes. Though if you want me to use my magic, there will be a price involved. And since you accepted my energies for your healing that means you have to keep your end. So eat it. It's mostly fruit and butter anyway. And I even gave you a spoon. You know how to eat, don't you?
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

Nambra can't help but stare. "I see." She blinks once or twice. That groan was grotesque; now she wasn't feeling like eating anything. She had made a deal, though. Father had often told her of the perils of withdrawing a promise sworn to a planar being. "You g-gave me a what?" This was not a word that she knew.

Without warning, and while maintaining painful eye contact with the demon, Nambra then jabs her entire palm into the pie. Mercilessly, she continues to stare right into his eyes. This wasn't to intimidate, but rather to ensure her safety, like a wild animal, almost. But it was still very strange.

She then rips her hand out, causing warm paste to splatter about. The elf then voraciously devours the palmful of pie she had messily collected. It gets everywhere.

Blood and pie mix atop the dungeon floor. "MNN, NNN.... NNGMm..."
"What is blood for, if not for shedding?"
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Re: The Ossuary

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Mausoleum

The demon continues to be incredibly perplexed by this entire situation.
Okay so I'm used to people tearing into sweets with their hands like pigs but that's generally AFTER I've been a terrible influence on them for years. The spoon. I gave you a spoon, idiot. It's for eating so you don't get half of it on the floor. At this point you're getting so much on the floor I'm going to have to make you a SECOND pie since eating the leftovers off the floor are just going to make you swallow blood and puke everywhere.
Sure enough it conjures a second (smaller) pastry into its hand.
You promised you'd eat the whole thing and you are eating one whole pie, Prince damn you. How did you manage to summon a demon of greed and gluttony when you can't even eat right?!
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Rebonack
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Re: The Ossuary

Post by Rebonack »

[The Ziggurat]

There is the dry-twig snap of brittle bones and the grind of stone against stone as the lid comes crashing down into the sarcophagus, pulverizing the remains into powder. The lid catches the beard of the bronze burial mask, launching it spinning end over end through the air and sending it bouncing across the floor with a series of metallic clanks.

The feeling of domination fades like frost melting at the face of the sun.

The giants settle back into their thrones, returning to their eternal vigil.

Is that...

That isn't it, is it?

A deep stillness falls over the tomb.
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Arkhosia
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Re: The Ossuary

Post by Arkhosia »

[The Ziggurat]

Cantata readies to run, eyes darting between the awakening giants and the corpse suspended before them, a hand tight on the hilt of her folded baton - and then, just as the stone drops and the tension comes to a head, striking the sarcophagus with a loud boom and sending metal spinning through the air... it fades as swift as it had built.

The woman sighs, her shoulders slumping from the sudden release of empathic pressure upon her, and loosens her grip. She turns back to the others. "It looks like we're done here. We should figure out our exit."
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
~Welcome to Night Vale
SliiArhem wrote:Arkh I may be slightly delirious but I don't think that would make sense even if I was coherent.
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Rebonack
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Re: The Ossuary

Post by Rebonack »

[The Boneyard]

The mammoth boneyard is quite the place.

Massive elephant bones sticking out of the frozen earth. Great monuments built from tusks lashed together. Altars of skulls and stones. And, of course, the spirit well. A monolithic stone building standing atop the highest natural hill in the Ossuary, spectral light flowing into the sky from its depths. It is HERE that our heroes will arrive.

No, that might be a bit of a problem.

You see, Fortuna took all the cats in the bar. And also all the people holding cats. That includes more than just Rust and his smilodon pal.

A huge goofy looking pinata manifests above a heap of bones and snow before popping open with a 'yay!' and dumping a shower of felines and colorful confetti into the snowdrift.

Fun!

Beagle lands on his feet.

Because of course he does.

One hand on his hat, he glances around with those wide bright emerald green eyes. "Well crikey! That was a real trip. I don't think I've been here yet."

It might be helpful that Fortuna dragged the professional vagabond along for this little trip. He's probably more familiar with this sort of thing than the dentist or biker is. If Will got pulled in too, his noodle arms should be wearing off about now. And that cat toy (since it wasn't a cat) got left behind at the bar as well, so we'll see if Rust's buddy is feeling better soon.
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