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Arikana Arikana is offline
Don't Poke The Tiger!
Default   #33  
Despite her eagerness to join this expedition, the moment the IFV halted its movements Ei’lycia stiffened as she robotically activated her x-ray-like vision on instinct. She began to analyse the monastery before them, seeking out any threats that lurk ahead and figure out just what was going here. Mechanically following behind the others as she sought to decipher the mass of darkness and limbs before her eyes.

I’m not sure of what I’m picking up, but it certainly reeks of something massive. I wonder if it would be a good idea to shed some light on this situation.

Realizing the limbs were belonging to young children, she delved deeper within the hallowed hall as she sent her senses as far as they’d go to aid in her search.

The voices of those also in the party barely registering in her mind as she unthinkingly spoke in a monotonous whisper, “Ahead... I see...”


I'm blunt and direct.
I like to lurk and observe.
Old Posted 10-23-2013, 12:24 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #34   Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Nodding to each other, and beckoning the others, Diogenes and Thomas begin once more the measured advance into the monastery. The priest is ready to call down utter holocaust at the first sight of an enemy.

They pass into the covered entranceway for a second time, now lit by strange pale torchlight. The dead are in here as well, but not scattered as they were without. Rather, they are gathered in a circle, all these mutilated children, heads cast back and eyes clenched closed. Their mouths move in silent, indecipherable prayers.

And within their small circle is the corpse of a woman, gowned in white and her face concealed by a heavy veil. A red-bladed knife juts from the center of her chest, and the blood soaking her raiment is old. Dry and colorless.

Lips tight, Thomas calls the group to a halt and passes around the circle, making an attempt at the door.

It does not open.

He tries once more, shouldering it with strength that defies his slight frame. The entire frame shudders and vibrates, but the heavy, iron-bound portals refuse him entrance.

He signals for Diogenes to try, and the psychic is at his side in seconds.
Motioning for the priest to back away, he places his palm against the door, and focuses.

A resonance begins to build, the accumulation of psionic potential, until his hand begins to blur, quivering with restrained power. There is a barely-audible drone in the air as he prepares.

All at once, his arm flashes in a single, precise strike, a concussive punch into the steel and heartwood. There is a tremendous crack, almost as if the entire marble structure above them is about collapse, and then...

Nothing.

Neither of them can force it.

"Some power of Hell seals the way against us," comes his muffled voice. "I fear force will avail us little here."

Behind his goggles, the man's diamond eyes study the strange, rectangular keyhole forbidding their entrance....
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-24-2013, 01:54 PM Reply With Quote  
Arikana Arikana is offline
Don't Poke The Tiger!
Default   #35  
Ei’lycia observed the leaders of this party struggling to open the door. It was fairly obvious to her that brute force wouldn’t work and she had her doubts that the keyhole would as well. Whoever lives...or lived here, I have this feeling in my gut that wouldn’t be the type to use force or keys. No, there has to be something more. She examined the door closer, noticing that the door was formed from three layers of wood. The two outer layers were both solid, heavy and by the looks of it, made from aged maple. But it was the middle one that caught her attention; unlike those which sandwiched it, it was littered with many tiny, oddly shaped holes.

What...what is this gibberish? Runes, perhaps? Letting out a slow breath, she moved to the front of the group as her arm absentmindedly reached out toward the door, her hand moving quickly in the air as it traced the runes. At the same time, her mind was frantically searching through the many archives of information from books she’d seen for any recognition that she’d seen those runes before.


I'm blunt and direct.
I like to lurk and observe.
Old Posted 10-24-2013, 05:54 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #36   Salone Salone is offline
Problem to the Solution
You waste sustenance...

"I know!"

Lev shouted, panting for a moment while he calmed down. He ignored anyone questioning him. There was nothing to explain. There was...oh, there was more. More children. More flesh. Spoiled by corruption, but it called to him. It begged him to strip it away and devour it. It was all he could do to maintain composure.

"We...we could penetrate the door. Seven sixy-two millimeter could eat enough away. Wasted ammunition though. And who is to say it is not barred from other side?"

His eyes drifted away again, settling on the circle of meat calling towards him. They would not last for much longer if he was kept so close to them.

"You could try knocking."
Old Posted 10-26-2013, 12:55 PM Reply With Quote  
Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Default   #37  
Scoffing in near disbelief, Diogenes slams his fast against the door once more, twice more, yet only resounding silence gives answer.

His gaze swivels to Lev. "Hell's hospitality seems lacking. Such a shame."

Content to let Thomas work out a means of ingress -- no doubt, if their vehicle had not disappeared by some foul magic, the priest would have merely blown the side of the monastery open without a second thought -- Diogenes turns away from the door and sets his attention to the circle of children.

His khukri flashes out once more, and ten small heads roll free, ten limp bodies sag to the filthy stone. When the slaughterous work is done, the assassin crossed his arms over his chest and looks to the white-gowned woman. The knife juts from her heart like an accusation, the iron a deep crimson darker than her dried blood upon the blade. Something is amiss about the weapon....

Diogenes gestures to the mercenary and the blind man. "We will not touch this thing," he says, indicating Thomas, who is still studying the door. "But it must be returned to the Celestrine for destruction. One of you take it and see that it isn't lost."

Just then, a sudden crash draws their attention as the priest assails the door, his arm sheathed to the shoulder in ruinous golden flame, the blow falling like an earthquake. His fist smashes through the ancient wood, just above the lock. He reaches within, grimacing with some intangible strain, and at last manages to open their way.

As he withdraws his hand, it is plain to all that it has been horribly damaged in whatever contest of power just ensued -- the flesh and sinew are gone, burned utterly away, leaving only dull hydraulic digits the color of gunmetal reflexively clenching in the aftermath. The priest quite obviously feels no pain.

"Well done," Diogenes grunts. "I suppose if one merely knocks hard enough..."

His voice trails away as he moves away from the group, back out toward the courtyard, his attention drawn by a silhouette lingering near the entrance to the arched tunnel, back-lit by the sun and cast in shadow.

The other soldiers slowly turn, weapons trained.
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-26-2013, 01:31 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #38   Espy Espy is offline
Wanderer
Well...hospitality doesn't seem to be a common trait around these areas anyhow, Dante thought to himself as he made his way clumsily over to the grotesque body. There was nothing strange about it that he could tell, but it still felt...intimidating.

He reached out with his mind, tangling green wisps of light around the handle, tugging as much as he could, but gaining no purchase. Apparently the time he had spent trying to move various objects around in Thyat'ria hadn't been nearly enough. He tried again, clenching his jaw, and was startled out of his efforts by a thundering crash. At least the door seemed to have given to Thomas's insanity. A third attempt on the knife proved as futile as the previous two.

Fuck all.

He strode towards the body, stepping carefully over the bodies that Diogenes had decapitated and cringing. The children definitely hadn't seemed threatening. But nonetheless, Dante kept an eye out on them as he reached forward and brushed a finger against the handle, and when nothing happened, wrapped his gloved hand around it and pulled.
Old Posted 10-27-2013, 02:18 AM Reply With Quote  
Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Default   #39  
As soon as the blade slides free, the woman's veiled corpse sits immediately straight, staring into Dante with mania and terror. Her mouth twists and grinds, though the words that come forth seem to echo from deep within her, unfit to the articulation of her lips.

"You... FOOLS! Does sacrifice mean nothing to you? You have released her upon the world, and you shall be her first victims!" She begins to howl with deranged laughter, her spine arching at an impossible angle, and through her cackling shrieks, "WE DID ALL WE COULD! THE DOOM FALLS TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE DEVOURED BY THE ARROGANCE YOU HAVE SOWN! HEAVEN CANNOT HELP YOU, AND HELL ABIDES! HELL ABIDES--"

Her tirade is cut short when her head suddenly detonates, spewing gore and steaming brain matter into Dante's face. An instant later, the deafening, thunderous report slams through the hallway, pale smoke wafting from the barrel of Thomas' hypersonic rifle. He slings the weapon back over his shoulder and turns to the entranceway.

"Hell shall not abide for long," he says solemnly, head bowing. "We come." And he throws back his head, eyes glowing with fervid fury. "WE COME, AND WE SHALL TEAR THEM FROM THEIR NOXIOUS PITS! WE SHALL GORE THEM ON THE SWORD OF RETRIBUTION! WE SHALL BURN THEM WITH FIRES THEY HAVE NEVER CONCEIVED, AND RAIN THEIR RUIN FROM THE VERY SKIES!"

He settles once more, and takes a step inward. "We have come to make this a place of death." Another step. "Let us be on with it."


Hold, Diogenes conveys to him from the mouth of the tunnel. Something stirs in this dead land, and I do not appreciate being followed.

He moves out back into the waste, his khukri in his hand. He can feel the mind hiding out their, but cannot descry its nature or intent. The other soldiers move to cover him, but he waves them off. Again, there is no hostile emanation to be found.

Nonetheless.
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-27-2013, 12:39 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #40   Gallagher Gallagher is offline
It Won't Stop
One moment, it seemed the odd somethings were bent on destroying all in their sight, lead by the ones weilding flames. Burnt to nothing. Useless. More dirt to grow stone and turn to ugly structures, just to rot and crumble all over again.

The next, they were as minnows, darting in hunger. Or fear. Or both. Each strange and unpredictable on their own, but together with an obvious goal. What that was, he hardly knew or cared.

He remained still as they moved, back to the door that went back. Another useless thing. They, he realized, were as clueless as minnows as well. Perfectly good meat, destroyed just for being in their path. Too dense to leave him with what was left. Somethings were always troublesome. Sometimes behaving, often sticking themselves where they were unwanted.

Damn loud minnows, as if being so dense wasn't enough! He tilted his head to listen, his lip curled. Banging. Shouts. The sound of one of their... What was it...?

Around his forgotten meal he stepped, towards the group of useless somethings, hidden in their cavern. All except for one, and behind it, waiting and watching like he himself had done, more of the somethings with those...

"Shots." Yes, of course. The shots were dangerous. So many would be unpleasant to face. Maybe the somethings would speak instead, closer still, what was it they said to one another?

No, he remembered this.

"What!"







Old Posted 10-27-2013, 07:30 PM Reply With Quote  
Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Default   #41  
It speaks.

As does every devil.

And yet, it is not.

Are you so sure?

Look at it, priest. Human flesh with a human mind. This creature, like those children, is not our enemy.

And yet you slew them all the same.

Something is awry here.

EVERYTHING is awry here. Kill him, and have done.

I grow weary.

Liar.

Until you have a battle for me to fight, Thomas....
Besides. You yourself sanctioned bringing that mad wilder among us, and she is a far more ready threat than this wretch.

The deal with him in your new-found pacifism. We're wasting time.


Diogenes addresses the strange man.

"What is your purpose?"
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-27-2013, 08:42 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #42   Gallagher Gallagher is offline
It Won't Stop
A question? That was better than the minnow-somethings attacking, in a way. Once they started, it was unlikely they would stop. He himself certainly would not. He tilted his head once more, then, his tone every bit as dull as his expression, he answered, "Life."







Old Posted 10-28-2013, 10:40 PM Reply With Quote  
Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Default   #43  
Diogenes assesses the strange man for a moment after the echo of his answers fades, then all at once, he slams his khukri home in its sheath at the back of his waist and turns back to the rest of the group, calling aloud.

"Did you hear that, priest? His aim is the same as ours."

He begins to walk back to rejoin their party. "He lives to live. What greater honesty could we ask for?"

Scowling, Thomas shoulders his way forward to confront the assassin.

He does not bother addressing him in thought.

"What are you doing?"


Unperturbed, Diogenes replies, "Waiting for an enemy to show itself. So far this seems a mission for mystics and exorcists, not soldiers." He notes the raw, inhuman sight of the priest's cynbernetic hand.

"You introduce a liability among us."

"No. I've spared his life."

"Mercy does not become a murderer."

"Again, priest. Show me an enemy."

Thomas holds his eyeless stare for an instant long, then turn abruptly back toward the gasping darkness that leads into the monastery.

"Allow me."
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-28-2013, 11:13 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #44   Espy Espy is offline
Wanderer
Still attempting to claw the gore out of his face and mouth, Dante yanked the ragged blindfold off his neck and desperately wiped his countenance of every last trace of the putrid innards that Thomas's gun had successfully splattered in a ten-foot radius.

Well, that's never gonna get used again, he thought, cringing and spitting one last time. He had half a mind to give the priest a piece of his mind, but he had the nagging feeling it'd only make him want a literal chunk of it.

Fucking hell did fighting etiquette run off to...?

The irony of his own thought was lost on him as he spun around to face the presence he had noticed before.
Old Posted 10-29-2013, 01:02 AM Reply With Quote  
Gallagher Gallagher is offline
It Won't Stop
Default   #45  
The bickering between the two males was watched with only vague interest. It was obvious that one of the somethings was accepting of him, for reasons he didn't care to dissect. So long as they didn't decide to kill, what bother was it to him?

Unafraid as he was, his attention shifted easily when one of them, smeared with blood and tissue, whirled around in some strange fit. Damaged. That much was obvious. Protective things, these somethings, to let that one hide among them. "What."







Old Posted 10-29-2013, 01:43 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #46   Suzerain of Sheol Suzerain of Sheol is offline
Desolation Denizen
Thomas is the first through the yawning doorway, followed by his soldiers in a tight formation. Diogenes proceeds warily after them.

Once more, the sight beyond is shocking. And once more, the way behind has vanished.

They stand now under a moonless night, without wind or even the sound of chattering insects to break the dead silence.

In every direction, endlessly, stretches a cemetery: rank upon rank upon rank of identical marble-carved headstones. An infinity of death.

Only a small chapel in the distance breaks the uniform perfection of the graves.

Thomas, frowning in irritation, stomps over to the nearest tombstone, his eyes flashing over the inscription, only to widen in a rare dismay from the merciless priest.

He reads aloud. "Here lies interred the Savior of the World. May He be blessed."

In hesitation, he steps to the next grave, a deepening worry creasing his aged forehead. "Here lies interred the Savior..."

And again, another. "Here lies interred..."

It is the fourth grave he comes to that halts him. The carving reads the same, and yet....

Exhumation. Disembodied. Empty.

He reads the headstone once more, and notices the alteration, gouged by a crude, ignorant hand over the original:

Here lied interred the Savior of the World.

Here lied the Savior.

And where the body should have lain, where lifeless earth should abide... is a stair, descending into utter darkness like a pathway to Sheol itself.

Now the wind begins to stir across the field of graves.

A fell light glows from the chapel.

Thomas cannot bring himself to move.
Cold silence has a tendency
to atrophy any sense of compassion
between supposed lovers.
Between supposed brothers.
Old Posted 10-30-2013, 04:13 PM Reply With Quote  
Espy Espy is offline
Wanderer
Default   #47  
Hm. Wasn't this the person I noticed before...? Strange.

Shoving the thought aside, Dante turned to follow the rest of the group through what he assumed was yet another doorway. The sheer harshness of the pure silence was the first thing to hit him.

The second was the utter lack of life and movement. The place was stale, stagnant...

Furrowing his brow, he reached down to find his lighter in his usual method of soothing unsettledness. The sharp grating of the wheel was shockingly loud, especially in his heightened sense of hearing, and he ignored the turned heads from the others.

"Here lies interred the Savior of the World. May He be blessed." ...What? And then he sensed the sudden confusion of Thomas. And a moment later, wind out of nowhere.

"Well, I suppose I'm gonna sound rather dumb for asking, but...what's wrong?"
Old Posted 11-05-2013, 04:20 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #48   Salone Salone is offline
Problem to the Solution
Delicious.

Lev wiped his face of the gore and matter that had splattered it, and devoured what little he could pass between his lips without being caught. It was rancid, foul, but intoxicating. It was an appetizer that left him wanting more. Delirious, his eyes rolled back in to his head as he slid a scrap of flesh in to his mouth. His fingers trailed down his chin as he indulged himself. Oh, it was good to feed. It wasn't truly a meal, but it might tide him over.

He blinked, gathering himself and realizing he had lost focus. He found himself with the rest of the group in the forlorn graveyard that seemed to stretch without end. His eyes passed over the graves, struggling a bit to understand the words written on them. They were not his first language after all. As he read, the mutterings of the one called Thomas sped up his understanding of the words. Not important. Just graves. All graves, all the same message, uselessly marking where dust that rose up from the earth returned to rest and rejoin the dust from whence it came. No point in a marked grave.

He looked up when the man's recited message changed, noting the severity in his tone. On instinct he unslung his rifle, sliding the bolt back just a hair to double check that a round was chambered.

"Do we have problem?"
Old Posted 11-05-2013, 06:45 AM Reply With Quote  
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