A cold winter night. Fog had rolled over the city of Orario. Most citizens had gone to bed. Even late night businesses were closing their doors for the night. The hours that were owned by the living breathing masses were coming to a close. These would now be the hours of the dark. Where the spirit realm would be most active. The clock had struck midnight... Walking through the thick fog of the old city ruins was a shadowy figure. Her movements were with such grace she seemed to flow with the night. The moist cold of a foggy winter night bothered her not at all. Green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark like headlights cutting through the fog. A dark glove covered hand reached for a old steel gate. Pulling it open with a loud creak. It would not matter. There was nothing alive anywhere near this place. Melfior stepped through the gate into the old forgotten graveyard. The place was once a major burial ground for Orario's deceased. Now a tossed aside relic of the city's past. It no longer even had a ground keeper. During the day you may still see a rare elderly visitor for a deceased individual. Mostly though, it is empty of life. Such a great treasure trove of death for Melifor's practice!. She had made it a routine to come here once a month to acquire new corpses or corpse parts for her research. The necromancer also spent a good amount of time simply conversing with the dead here. They make far better conversation than most living things. Tonight Melifor would collect a nice body she had been eyeing for some time...
Melfior had no doubt come to this place once every month or so for research or specimens, it was a place that didn't often change, when it did it was perhaps done by a random elder who left a flower or two here or there but change was usually sparse with today being an odd exception. One that Melfior might notice from a splash of red staining the ground by the entrance that was particularly fresh with drag marks across the ground all pointing to different directions from the exist while the interior was a well beaten path of red with scraps of cloth or a discarded tool here or there. The originally dark and dank graveyard was made disturbingly festive with a variety of decorations and torches burning here or there for lightning and warmth providing a unique atmosphere that cut into the dark dankness that usually surrounded the graveyard. The decorations however, and even the torches were strikingly morbid however: Ranging from streamers made from intestines and organ tracks pieced together to create longer stretching decorations to torches made by burning the hair of scalps on heads wrapped in water to make sure it burned slow and steadily. Occasionally there was a more morbid decoration like bowls of various parts like collections of eyes of varying colors or a half eaten platter of livers that went unfinished. The center most crypt however had it's door forcefully kicked in by something or someone though, the stairs leading downward were clearly exposed to the air and light was glowing from within where the culprit was no doubt passing their time under the same torch light. From the very top of the stairs though, a sweet and energetic voice could be heard singing as if they were an entertainer at a party, though it was clear that they were far from a professional singer, their intention clearly not just to entertain. "Can't wait to 'meat' you-- so join my little undead family~ We open real soon-- try your best to hold on to sanity~ Come get to know me-- And you won't want to leave my side tonight! Down here we're lonely-- And we would love you to join us for a bite!" The song was a little bizarre, but it was sung with such a giddiness and excitement it was hard to associate it with the morbid setting it was clearly occurring in. If Melfior went down into the crypt, she'd find a myriad of corpses both old and rotten and some fresh and still bleeding walking around as if trudging around in a circle according to a program. Though the corpses seemed to come from different timelines and periods, they all shared a strange and common theme. Each one had deep brown roots and barks splintered across it's surface like scattered veins or root systems burrowing into the skin here or there; Sometimes penetrating through armor and skin, sometimes through orifices or eye sockets, other times through open wounds. No matter how decrepid or torn up a corpse was though, those weakened areas were reinforced by the root systems as if plant matter had grown to replace what was needed to make the limbs work once more as they trudged along following the same pattern of walking around in a circle in time with that singing voice. Those few corpses that were missing heads even had a portion of that parasitic plant rising up out of the neck hole with flowers growing over the top of the wood with smiling faces scratched in. The source of the voice though was standing on top of the center most coffin that had also been smashed in much like the crypt door, dancing in the shattered center of the stone coffin, a person wearing a bizarrely designed suit of armor twirled about not moving from her position. The armor covered a great deal of the person's body making it hard to distinguish male or female were it not for the female voice and the long platinum hair that made the silhouette seem more delicate. Though the woman's armor stopped at the ankle revealing pale and pristine porcelain white dainty feet. If examined closely, it could be seen that she was twirling about holding onto a corpse that was already-mid decomposing that lacked a head as well, but that didn't seem to bother the woman who was dancing with the limp corpse as if she were having the time of her life while the others were circling around her dancing along as well...
Melifor noticed the changes immediately. She had a nack for keeping track of things that were outside of her perfectly planed out norm.There was a intruder at large... and it was not Melifor. The deathly woman was not happy with this but, somehow the added undead parts scattered about gave the place a nice extra layer of macabre. "Less then refined." She muttered to herself and whatever ghastly spirits may have been stirred awake from this disrespect. Truly, she did not know if it was some cult, a single person, or even the dead themselves that were behind this little fiesco. This graveyard was much less conversational than some of her other haunts. She pocketed some of the eyes and checked the livers and intestine. They were beyond salvaging. This started to anger her somewhat even if it did not show. Melifor would have to understand more of what exactly was going on. She noticed that the crypt was where much of the blood and spare corpse parts were leading. As her pale hand touched the the old cold stone. The necromancer seemed to speak to no one into the night fog. "In laudem, et mortuus est. Quod est in vobis." A myriad of shadowy feelings and murmurs came to her. She was so close... so close to hearing what had happened. Soon her ability to speak with the dead at will without her 'servant' would be complete. She would have to speak more with her undead partner if she wanted quick answer. Summoning him would be a waste of energy right now. She was saving most of that for tonight's rituals. Removing her hand from the stone she descended into the crypt. It was the place she would gather some very well maintained bodies. Not many remained since the best she already used. Perhaps the.... no it would seem not. A eerily sing songy voice was coming from below. Melifor luckily always kept her scythe at the ready in case someone unfortunately tried to stop her from her collecting. The voice did not sound lacking enough in life to be truly from a awakened dead. This was a living person. Which meant she disliked them automatically. She did not stop her descent but finally would once she reached the bottom few steps and saw the 'party' going on. Melifor's face was stone cold as she placed her scythe into the palm of the other hand and now held it with both hands in front of her casually, but still fully able to use it's size to her advantage in the small entrance. Investigating the zombies was unnecessary. This was a magic spell. It had puppet type magic written all over it. Being a magic instructor and a elf helped with her ability to identify such things. Seemed the branches were the cause and then... the white haired dancer in the center was who Melifor needed to... talk to. "Having fun my dear?" She said with zero fun factor. @Gwendolyn Pierce
Though Gwen continued to dance with the corpse at the center she had stolen from the center most grave site, the others all froze when Melfior reached the bottom step slowly turning to face the intruder with equally icy and emotionless stares. Though Melfior likely had a means of communicating with the dead, each one seemed to be roused looking at her as a genuine 'intruder' who didn't belong compared to Gwen who was more lively dancing at the center of them. "Our eyes are on you-- We can walk in the world of fantasy~ Know what we've gone through-- We can teach you to laugh at tragedy~ You thought the nightmares-- Were would have ended quickly~ But we're all still right here-- So let's get friendly~" Gwen's song continued despite Melfior's efforts to talk to her or reach her, not because she didn't hear her, the swivel of Gwen's head, however brief it might be made it clear that she'd understood, but chose to turn away and continue playing. She couldn't remember a time when she had had genuine fun since the first time she picked up a paint brush and a chisel or felt a bright future for herself on the horizon without the repetitive cycle weighing down on her. She had found a means of breaking that cycle, a hope for change, but acquiring it was hard-- harder then hard even but she had a goal! Finally she had SOMETHING she could do! It prompted this party, her first step towards trying to achieve her goal, but at the same time acted as the celebration for her inevitable freedom from the cycle. She didn't want her playful fun to be interrupted no matter how morbid, those who tried to interrupt her fun parade to this location were counted among the corpses that were still bleeding even. This unfortunately even counted Melfior's interruption which was why the Undead all stalled out while she tried to ignore it. The Dead began to walk slowly towards Melfior with arms raised as they approached as if trying to form a human wall of corpses to make it hard for the girl to steal past them to ruin Gwen's fun time. Though the corpses were all largely dead, the throbbing roots across their bodies throbbed more frantically from the stimulus as they approached with intentions of grabbing onto her to drag her in to join them or push her out if that was too much of a hassle. The closest corpse would try to reach out to grab her shoulders to test her, if it was strong they would start pushing harder, if not then it's intention to drag her in would be realized by trying to grab more firmly so she couldn't flee if she intended to. Even as the dead moved towards her though, Gwen's fun chanting didn't stop as she continued twirling around with the corpse in hand. "We're feeling festive-- Join the party we'll try hard not to bite! Anger is restless-- Don't hold it against us we won't mind! The fun is starting-- A Celebration that'll last eternally! I'm always watching-- No matter who tries to murder me!" Gwen's happy chant grew more excitable as other graves would begin to grow restless and force themselves open. Roots from the ground digging into corpses and seizing control so that the corpses could move as they began to stand or slide out from their shelves to join the wave moving towards Melfior. Whether or not the girl was pulled in or forced out, or even if the dead were all burnt to ash, in her heart of hearts, Gwen didn't really care too much, after all surprises were a part of the fun. If she were to take such a thing seriously then her dream and ideal would be far too out of reach. Instead, she happily looked at this as a game and once more took it to be her first big step towards her goal and dream. The thought of reaching it made her tongue hang out rounding her lips slowly from the feeling of 'hope'.
Melifor could not help but sigh. Such good corpses for a party like this. They were not even real undead. Sock poppets is what they were puled on this brats strings. The necromancer disliked he act of destroying the dead. It was something she only did if a newly awakened corpse decided it did not share her affections for it and acted overly hostile. Unfortunately the only way to save these souls was to rend them asunder. "Unfortunate. However soon your tormentor shall be joining you. Praepara Te." She took a step back up the stairs as she pulled a packet of some kind of solution and drizzled it over the scythe's curved blade It shined from the oil as she moved it in by her eyes. She ran one finger along the blade as if in ritual. The zombies could be seen in the reflection of the greasy blade. The corpses were being controlled by the vines so... how ironic that her scythe would reap these weeds, and then of course she would have to burn them into dust to ensure the magic could not bring the parts back together. She began to slash her weapon of death vertically and then horizontally. Melifor knew that even if decapitated. Zombies would not relent. However if broken up enough, the vines may die or at least need to remerge themselves to fix their vessels. Melifor was not certain exactly what level of magic this girl possessed and had to adjust according to results. As she hacked she stayed out of arms reach. Horizontal swings were more difficult to perform on the tight stair well but it was compensated by thrusting the blade straight horizontally into the zombies to cleave them in half with the top of the weapon. As they were being chopped into fours Melifor would start to use just one arm for the task and pulled down one of torches along the wall with another. "If I light these aflame. You will become what you control. It bothers me none dear. You may find the fate beautiful." Melifor would step back up two more stairs and drop the torch onto the possibly still moving zombie pieces that the rest were walking over to reach her. The flame caught onto the plants and undead flesh combined with the oily substance she had sliced into them with her blade. The flame began to spread down the stairs going from corpse to corpse as they were all so close together. It created a sort of flaming wall that led down the stairs and was threatening to spread through the crypt as well. "It seems I dropped the torch. Vale." The flames rose up casting a horrifying light upon her dark figure and pale face with eyes that now anticipated murder. @Gwendolyn Pierce
Gwen was largely unperturbed by the woman, in fact, as if Melifor didn't even register, Gwen's gaze and attentions were on the walls and ceilings as if expecting something while she waited. She wasn't just doing this to be silly or for the hell of it, she was deranged and crazed, but that merely spoke to the intensity and extreme nature of her actions then how senseless or mindless it might be. Though her actions of desecration were perhaps bizarre, it was not without reason as she tried to anticipate the result in wait while continuing her song idly buying time with a happy expression. Though the scythe did well to cut into the zombie, cleaving completely through them would be difficult with Melifor's strength. Perhaps she'd manage to successfully dismember an arm or leg here or there, but more often then not, her scythe would get caught a few inches into the flesh of the zombies she tried to cleave through. Her efforts to move clean through one body and into the next however were no doubt impossible from the resistance she'd feel from the first body let alone a second as they continued to lumber after her. Those few unfortunate enough to lose limbs here or there would continue on without caring about the loss, instead branches and roots would grow up from the stump or hole replacing what was loss with a bark-covered tree replacement. The discarded limbs however would continue to amble forward growing assisting body parts in plant form to allow them to continue the chase, though arms and legs couldn't grow full bodies back, roots would stretch out like slithering snake bodies to lift them up and allow them to continue the chase revealing the real reason why Gwen's magic was frightening. The efforts to grab a torch though was something that made each of the ambling corpses leery though, Gwen's magic was naturally nature magic, so fire and flame were something they were all equally hostile against. Rather then fear, they looked upon the flame the girl tried to wield with a collective hate and hostility. Gwen's magic was one that despised the warm and hot and pursued the cold and frigid after all, even at it's core parts, the plants were not satisfied and willing to bend to fire. When the torch was casually dropped into the crowd, one zombie lifted it's arm to grab the wooded end seeing that it was safe before discarding the flame with a sharp shake throwing the burning head off to the sides away from the horde and Melifor herself as if they looked down on it. It was just as the corpses would begin to continue chasing Melifor that they all began to slowly freeze up in their advance, stopping suddenly as if they stopped receiving orders, or like the connection had been cut briefly. They were all still standing, all with plant life still throbbing and growing within them, but there didn't seem to be anything directing them any more. The reason was, naturally, Gwen dropping the corpse, her chant halting as she finally reached the point she'd been anticipating as she reached back to the spear she wielded that had been carrying a burning head as many of the torches had. With a shake she discarded the head at the end of the blade before turning it towards a shadow-y corner of the crypt with a bright eager grin. "You there~ I finally found you... It took a lot of effort to lure you out like this you know, I wasted a lot of magic with that dance." Gwen said with a pout as if it had truly bothered her, she'd been dancing and playing in this place for a long time after all, a large portion of her day had been taken up making preparations for this little festival. Though even without being able to see into that darker corridor of the crypt, Gwen could feel the rage and ire of what was lurking within growing stronger. In reaction to it's rage, Gwen fished out a gold coin holding it up with an ear to ear grin. "Ah-ah~ I've already done my research mister... As fun as being on your list seems, I still have a lot to do before I can break this stupid cycle~" She spoke sliding the coin between her teeth before adjusting her grip on her spear, gesturing for the subject she'd been hunting to come out and face her. It's anger and rage cooled significantly with the appearance of the coin, no longer filled with disdain as if it were looking upon some weak frail dog that dared bite it's hand, there was a measure of reservation and uncertainty that Gwen could feel as it hesitated in the shadow.
Seeing the zombies had actual intelligence when they threw the torch away. Melifor was puzzled as most puppet and reanimation magics were limited to only some basic movements not any individual thoughts. This must have been more akin high elf level magic. Or perhaps the girl had made a pact with one of those gods and acquire the power that comes with it. Melifor had heard of those things.... Falna. Wretched woman to make Melifor have to actually put effort to deal with this. That is, if it was even worth dealing with. This was certainly not the only graveyard or crypt. It actually was pretty old and used up. It many cases, the necromancer would have just said forget it and left the nut to her devices but, her increased interest in one with such magic and her irritation with her interfering in Melifors ritual night was warranting her attention here. Melifor saw how the zombies stopped moving. The magic had ceased and so had the obnoxious singing. So that was it was it? With the zombies no longer animated Melifor pushed the ones in the front with her scythe to cause them to all fall like zombie dominos down the steps. The advantage of true zombies was that once awakened they stayed that way. This magic that tried to mimic true necromancy made Melifor sick. Even if was performed in such a high level way. It was not the same as the real thing. Taking a moment to resume burning the bodies with a further up torch (how silly to leave all these torches and such for a party with the dead who needed no such light). She slowly made her way to the corpse pile and set it aflame yet again without them being able to resist. The smoke was pretty disgusting and even suffocating. Melifor was used to smoldering ash though. Her rituals often needed it and the smell of the burning dead actually was quite refreshing for her. This would all take some time but once she was finished. The puppet master would be lacking in puppets. By the time she was aware of it. Again Melfior made the possibly foolish decision to not use her magic. It simply was not needed when her 'enemies' were something she knew so well. Which was saddening to her. She so did hate bringing damage to the dead that did not involve her research in some way. If things were still going smoothly the necromancer would in a very disturbing display, take a elegant seat right in front of the still burning melting vines and corpses at the bottom of the stairs. Her scythe's stick was stuck into the top of the merged pile of ash like a flag. In her hand was the torch still burning as she nonchalantly waved it like a wine glass prepared to keep any non finished off parts from coming back to life. She focused on what was transpiring. To see who this strange hooligan was talking to. Surely she did not possess the ability to speak with the dead as well? Or perhaps she was just mad. No... Melifor could feel another presence in the room. Although it was yet to be known just what. @Gwendolyn Pierce
Gwen didn't care much for her burning puppets, they weren't useful for more then entertainment from the start, while they could help in larger conflicts, this certainly wouldn't be that type of situation. Instead, Gwen waited with spear poised, the coin in her mouth as she looked down that corridor, her eyes darting around it's blackened confines with impatience after coming so far. With a swing of her spear, she only raised her voice more. "FINE! You don't want to come out, I'll drag you out--" She started, starting her chant once more, the song a great deal more morbid and forceful as those corpses that were burning would suddenly jerk and rise to their feet. After all, burning to cinders wouldn't be a fast process, the flaming corpses would begin sprinting down the stairs, urged by Gwen's impatience as they broke into runs and sprints forcing their way past each other to try to be the first into that dark passageway. The moment they neared the entrance though, a black sweeping motion would blast a vast majority of them back, as if an explosion had occurred, the force ripped limbs from those farther away while those closer up were practically vaporized by the pressure of the swing. Despite the display, it wasn't magic, as two mages, Gwen and even Melifor would likely take notice of that, but it was something 'different' noticably different. There was no mana, no mind involved, there was a 'different' kind of energy, one that had nothing to do with life or death making it difficult to place. Though mysterious, Gwen seemed to recognize it, her posture shuddering with excitement as she pointed back at the corridor swinging her spear about persistently. "There's no point playing such a boring game any more-- Come out~ Let me see you-- Your face-- Everything~" Gwen persistently tried to call out to the creature, but as she was said, after the display there was no reason to remain hidden. With a heavy step, an armored body slowly revealed itself, it's armor was pitch black, with rounded spikes around the paldrons, and billowing cape at the back that had tares and rips here and there. Far from ancient, it looked fresh and well maintained, but it was not a person, that was clear from how it managed to casually stroll about despite not having a head. Instead, in it's hand, it held up a helmet that had a head within that was far from fresh, withered and corroded, it had the texture and appearance of old molded cheese and it's eyes had long since turned into useless mush. It's lips contorted into a smile that, like Gwen's, stretched from ear to ear, but was different. Rather then natural or eager, it looked forced, as if it were pinned into place physically to smile so wide. A snort of disdain came from the monster, but not from the head it held, instead it came from the neck hole of the armor. The sight made Gwen quiver with excitement, finally jumping down from the tomb, she smashed her spearhead against the ground cleaving a thin line over the stone as she spoke. "Yes! Hehehe-- I knew it, I knew it, you'd come if I messed with the list isn't that right? It was because I messed up your times table wasn't it~ hehe-- HAHAHAHA I KNEW IT!" Gwen was mid cheer as the creature took a step towards her, clearly frustrated by her cocky attitude, lifting an arm, it had a mind to strike back, but she raised the gold coin once more as if it were a shield again causing it to hesitate on whether or not it should. Gwen's brow furrowed seeing that it was intent on trying to be aggressive even if it was still cautioned by her. "Ignore the peanut gallery for me please... This conversation is important~ I'd rather you didn't try to work during our discussion." She spoke a bit more firmly as she raised the coin. The creature finally seemed to be at the end of it's tolerance and patience as well as it swung an arm towards Gwen impatiently. "Ignorant mortal, you think your gold will protect you from my curse?!" He tried to retort but, Gwen took it more seriously pulling out more coins, slipping one into her mouth again, and one in each hand as she gripped her spear with an eager grin. "My name has no meaning to me now, I abandoned it formally a long time ago. Without my new name your curse won't hurt me... Instead of empty bluster, let's get to the point; I want Brionac--" Gwen started to make demands, but the moment the name came from her lips, the armored creature drew it's sword in a rage. "You ungrateful monster, you think the name of Erin's treasures can be spoken by your dirty lips?!" Though despite drawing and raising it's sword, Gwen turned her head and the coin towards it to slow it's advance. Despite it overpowering her in almost every way, the monster was weary about the gold and drew it's blade back seeing that it would have to get close to it in order to strike. "I WILL break this cycle, to do that I need time; I need Brionac from you people-- I will NOT live out a NORMAL BORING life as a stupid human. You and your people WILL help me." Gwen shouted back tensions were raising, the chances of a peaceful resolution seemed impossible, but as far as Melifor went, the woman only earned a few glances from the creature's withered head every once in a while as if it were watching it's enemies very closely.
Having grown tired of the predicament and seeing little worth in continuing except for the sake of educational study. Melifor shrugged and left the crypt and the craziness inside to it's own devices. It simply was not like her to pry in another's. She preferred her own privacy after all. She would choose to make better preparations during her future grave excursions however. This type of thing needed to either be avoided, prevented or dealt with in a efficient manner. Not of that would come from this unless Melifor wasted precious mind on ridding the crypt of the girl. Just not worth it. Perhaps if next time... (OOC Exits Thread) @Gwendolyn Pierce
