Open - Homecoming | Page 2

Lucia chuckled sweetly not really put off by being in a weakened state. For whatever reason Lucia maintained her confidence and cool despite it. She had a myriad of dark magic, and while none of it could be used in that place, she still felt as if everything was playing out as it should. "It's okay. In truth, Death isn't so bad, at least, mine wasn't." Lucia mused, but the only reason why was because when she went to the other side, the one that greeted her when she died wasn't the one Savannah had met. Instead of that dark Resurrection hall with that same woman, Lucia found herself on a gondola, riding an inky and dark river through a dark tunnel illuminated by an ethereal purple lantern. At the head of the boat was the silent figure of the woman in that same sweater. No words had ever really passed between them outside of a soft and gentle thanks from Lucia every time. Lucia would merely sit in that boat and wait for the light at the end to appear once more where she would reappear once more in the game as usual.

"You won't have to worry about things like traps and sneaking too much. Fortunately, we're pursuing heroes who died in battle with Mortimer in the past during his lifetime. Any who faced Mortimer at his peak wouldn't dare use traps or chains, particularly his enemies. Instead, the tomb will be fitted with enemies and magical tools meant to target the strengths of rogues, assassins and thieves. It was built with the intention of stopping the future generations of the Winter's Claw if Mortimer happened to survive." Lucia explained with a mellow smile. Mortimer's legend and infamy wasn't to be underestimated, in life, for an entire two generations he lived as the embodiment of the boogieman. Those forced to fight him and confront him would know he was a master of traps, schemes and killing from the dark. Trying to keep him out of a place with traps and schemes was displaying a person's faint skill before a grand master; a very foolish endeavor that those Heroes had understood well during their pursuit of him.

With a glance from Lucia, she gestured to the scantily clad lich who flashed a smirk back. With a flash of hand and a dim glow of her fingertips, the earth began to shift stone by stone. Soil lifting, falling, building upwards like sand castles made of mud began to restructure itself. It formed a small little forest of soils, a structure that might seem vaguely familiar to Savannah. The foundation being built in Lucia's territory matched the structure that Lina had built with geomancy. "The structure looks like this. The woods will be a little dangerous, the Celestials watch over it heavily since there's no real traps to dissuade grave robbers, they instead patrol it like machines." Lucia explained gesturing to the few places Mortimer had discovered them. Some in the nearby woods, others in a smaller settlement near the tomb itself blending among the people. "Their builds are similar to contemporary paladins... just lightly armored in comparison. Swords, shields, but agile and flight capable." Lucia explained, celestials were akin to angels and other divine figures after all, most of them fit the image of knights in leather armors or cloths.

"According to the plan, I'll discard a different division of the Forgotten as we advance through the woods to tie up the reinforcements. At the moment, I have at least, 4 different forces to throw at them; Lina and the Courts will be the first, since the mages and liches need a wide area to perform well. The second will be Sylvanas and the Tal'darim to support them nearby, mages and knights form the most capable combination, and they're also my two strongest supporters." Lucia explained her plan as she gestured to the map, first at the forest where she intended the mages to reduce to a wasteland, and then the settlement she intended to attack to root out the remainder. While civilian and local knight forces might be caught in the crossfire, it was safer then allowing the Celestials to rouse the locals into charging into the tomb to deal with them. "Within the tomb, we will leave Alice at the door, as an army of one, she'll be able to deal with anyone charging in from the outside using the cramped hallways to funnel them in. At the tomb's depths, we will leave Sans and Papyrus in their fused state to ware away the tomb's sacred energy... It won't do much to help us advance but it will keep the higher level figures within distracted leaving only the rank and file soldiers to deal with us."

Lucia explained the plan, though she did so as if she'd come up with it herself, in truth, the plot had been collectively thought up a long time ago among her subordinates. In the end they found this layout to be the most beneficial, but only wondered how Lucia would deal with those celestials at the very end. The argument was out of concern, since without magic and combat prowess she might be struck by an accident with neither stealth nor power to fight back with. It was abruptly solved with Savannah's appearance by chance, but a lucky chance it was, not one that they would let slip now that they were close.

 

The Death Knight silently disagreed. Death had been scary for her, more so because she died with the knowledge that she had been trying to help another player. Sure, she wasn’t in the right armor not the right spec, but that didn’t matter, not really. She bit the dust because of another person’s negligence…and her hero complex. The latter was a harder pill for her to swallow and it tasted acidic on her tongue, so she largely didn’t ruminate on it. She merely accepted that it had happened and moved on with this life.

Eventually, she would get around to changing her name, to completing the transformation entirely.

She nodded at Lucia’s explanation. Hearing that there would be actual celestials at this tomb was an eye-opened. She understood from a logical point that, yes, she had given her vow to someone to practiced an “evil” magic, but to go against everything that stood for “good”…well, she was really picking sides now, wasn’t she? Paladins with wings, devas, cherubs; the entirety of a Christian’s wet dream had the possibility of standing against them.

Surprisingly, the thought made her smirk. Let them come, she thought, and let them be torn asunder for their arrogance.

My lady, are you sure about leaving Alice there? We, ah, met when I was looking for you. She doesn’t…she doesn’t have her, uh, shapeshifting? completely under control. Savannah cleared her throat, not wishing to speak against the girl, but also not wanting to put Lucia’s life in unnecessary danger. She couldn’t even catch me and I was slowly walking away from her... ​

 

Lucia nodded firmly, though oblivious to Savannah's thoughts, if Lucia knew she'd be beside herself with amusement. After all, things such as Cherubs and Devas would no doubt obliterate most of them with a wink or nod. At most Lucia expected to come across the typical celestials in the form of archangels, or other warrior types that were low on the totem pole. After all, why would those higher ranked divine creatures spend their time guarding a dead hero? It was much more efficient to just send low level guards to watch over a place with few strategic values.

Though hearing Savannah question Alice, Lucia wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry on the matter. Among her subordinates, Alice was certainly the fastest, strongest and most sturdy in terms of pure physical prowess. When paired for a fight, Sylvanas would be able to edge her out using superior technique and making use of vast combat experience to eventually come out ahead. Lina as well, could make use of vast overwhelming magical fire power to finish a fight with Alice, but those were Lucia's greatest combat based subordinates, it was expected for them to be superior. "Alice is a creature that would play and experiment with opponents in combat when given the chance. It's her highest priority to evolve and become a more effective monster, so confronting enemies that will provoke evolutions in her combat potential isn't so unnatural. If I gave her the order to kill something, do you think she'd move the same way?" Lucia asked with an amused laugh.

When Alice first met Savannah, the creature investigated her for useful components to further her growth, when she didn't discover any she instead switched gears to acquiring useful biomass. While it wasn't completely as Lucia assumed, it wasn't far from the truth. "Alice's body will change and adapt new components to suit it's needs. You'll understand when we get to the temple, she's the best one to guard the gate." Lucia explained with a gentle smile. Her physique was fluid, flexible and adapted to combat, she was a better gate keeper then any other purely because she could 'become' the gate if asked. She felt that Savannah's opinion might change once she saw the girl in action when trying to kill.

"That is our plan though, it will be tough, I'm not sure I want to invite everyone else to join in, but... Well, we can only see in truth. We still have a lot of preparing to do before we begin the attack on the tomb." Lucia couldn't help confessing, a worried expression on her face. She didn't want to include those close to her if she could help it, at least no more then she needed to. It was both dangerous and she felt it wasn't good for them to experience such a thing so suddenly. Luna was no doubt not ready for such an adventure while Vivian was likely eager to burn every bridge with the celestials for the sake of success. It was something that truly worried her and weighed on her mind.

 

As usual, Lucia had a point. The child monster had been sitting out in the wasteland by herself, seemingly just waiting or watching or existing before Savannah had approached. And then the changing had happened, the morphing of arms to legs to…other things that Savannah didn’t want to think about. Merely mentioning the name of the child monster made her stomach turn, but she did well to school her features in front of Lucia. Alice was, in the grand scheme of things, another being that would see to Lucia’s protection and if she thought of Alice in that way, then perhaps she would be able to get over the constant shifting that the creature employed.

At hearing the worry in Lucia’s voice, Savannah looked up and over at her. She hadn’t seen this part of the Dark Lady before. She had always seemed, in Savannah’s opinion, very sure of herself and able to think through almost anything. Granted, they had not spent a lot of time together recently, so perhaps other things were bothering her? Still, it was in Savannah’s nature to be as reassuring as possible and, with a small hesitation, she reached over and gently patted Lucia’s arm.

I think it’s a good plan, she said, her voice ringing with confidence. I think things will go our way. I do wish there were others to help, but we can work with what we have here. Her smile was soft and warm, hopefully inspiring Lucia with the same feeling of confidence that currently was a heady toxin in Savannah’s bloodstream.

How can I help with preparation? I’ve been working with some human blacksmiths in some of the outlying villages and I’ve gotten pretty good if we need weapons and armor.​

 

Lucia only chuckled, seeing Savannah so deep in thought about Alice. Though she was oblivious to the woman's reservations, instead assuming it was uncertainty for the creature's ability to perform as Lucia explained. Shaking her head, she tried to make her words more clear as she spoke. "You see, Alice, at least among my group of subordinates, is not a monster by nature, not a fighter like Sylvanas, not a mage or a warrior. In truth, she's closer to a scientist, one that experiments and tests with their own body as the subject matter most of the time. She's very unfamiliar with social situations, and if I give her a goal, she won't deviate or switch gears and will charge forward with the impression that I'm giving her a task to test herself." Lucia explained. Alice's nature was one that was steadfast and without distraction. The monster would hear a task and accomplish the deed or die trying. It was for this reason Lucia had to be very careful when giving her tasks without supervising her. If her body and abilities couldn't keep up and adapt to face them then she might kill herself trying.

Though when Savannah patted her arm, Lucia smiled back sweetly, nodding her head. Certainly things will be very difficult, but it was better to face them together right? Lucia firmed up her resolve to invite Luna and Vivian. If need be, Lucia herself could always try to protect them if things ever got too dangerous right? The thought of doing so made her a little concerned though, if something truly dangerous appeared, Lucia wouldn't be able to face them on even ground while restraining herself. Going all out after all would have dire consequences of weakening her rituals and cracking her facade here and there. Even so though, Lucia felt it was better to have everyone profit and share in adventure together right? "For now, I want you to gain a bit more experience in combat. Syvlanas, Lina and the others can help you adjust to different styles. The more you fight after all, the better you'll get at handling certain kinds of attacks. I've managed to create subordinates with almost every kind of method of attack after all." Lucia mused, all she really missed were a handful of different kinds of specialists she was now searching for.

"In the mean time, I'll help the others warm up to the idea of gathering together. We can all go together." She offered with a gentle smile, hoping that things would turn out okay. After all, she didn't want Savannah to feel left out among Luna and Vivian. The thought made her take a second glance at Savannah though, looking at her curiously for a moment. A musing thought entered her head. Maybe her steadfast knight too could also join them in more ways then one. The thought made her heart quiver, a sweeter smile spread across her face. "Anyway, I want you to be at your best, we can make armor, train, and grow little by little until we're ready. Alright?" She offered, thinking a bit deeper on whether or not Savannah would be interested in joining them in other ways.