Legacy of the Hearthwoods part 4 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
3/8/477
Log
The entrance to the mausoleum is cold, stairs stretching downwards into the gloom before finally disappearing into the darkness below. Still, there must be at least another opening somewhere, for a steady draft to be blowing in everyones' faces.
Jera is still leading the way, dressed in heavy armor. He keeps his Kendrac bladestaff close at hand, the weapon giving him comfort despite the notification that he would get little to no help from it. "Anyone has a light?" He mumbles softly, feeling the wind but not seeing where it's from.
Selena nods back to the fox, producing a small light near the group to illuminate the surroundings. "It might be best to keep it dim, but if you need it brighter then let me know." She replies simply, tapping a foot against the cold stone floor for a moment as the group moves in.
Cassidy moves along after the pair, adjusting her mask. "I'll let you handle the light, Selena. No point having two. I wonder what we'll find down here." SHe's a little excited, but doesn't vocalize that fact.
Natska enters the mausoleum with her allies, alternately peering into the darkness below and glancing back at the door behind them as they make their way down the steps. The hair on the back of her neck is raised, but her steps are calm, confident.
With Selena lighting the way down the steps, they end up at a handing that leads out into a corridor. The lack of a single speck of dust in what should be an untouched place is telling - the floor has been swept clean and the walls similarly kept cool, clean and smooth to the touch, but otherwise bare and featureless. Several statues of wolves - presumably ancestors of the Hearthkeep clan - have been moved to line the west wall, and the path ahead splits into a crossroads with one path to the west, one to the east, and one leading straight ahead.
"Dim is good, yes." Jera agrees, looking along the path and then frowning softly. "Hmm. This is unsettling. There's been absolutely no opposition." He mumbles, looking at the statues of the wolves and touching one for a moment while he stares at the crossroads. "Straight down, I think. We'll probably just find smaller, less important coffins in the side rooms.
Selena looks over the unusually clean area somewhat awkwardly, though she happens to gravitate towards the status and their inscriptions, reading over them with mild curiosity. When the path forks, she returns her gaze to the branching paths. "If there's something important, it's likely it'll be marked. Or I suspect as much, anyway." She agrees, letting the light dim a little more.
With her mask on, it's hard to tell what she's doing, but Cassidy starts to gradually resemble less the Solacious fennec and more and more like the Hearthwood lady of the house, herself. She wasn't entirely sure why she was doing it, but ever since the manor she was just -dying- to try it. "I will follow your leads, of course."
Natska tilts her head to the side, ear flicking, then looks up and down the side hallways. "Mm. I am sure Jera is correct," she says quietly. "And we can look down the other ways later if we need to. Let's continue on."
Following Jera's suggestion, the group makes its way past the statues and down the hallway. Eventually it opens out into another chamber, as meticulously kept as the hallway, which appears to have been a section of catacombs converted into makeshift living quarters. Alcoves which once were the resting places of the dead have been reverently and cleanly emptied to serve as makeshift shelves and storage areas, and the long-dead ashes of a fire lie scattered in the middle of a circle of stones. More evidence of the living lie about - jars of preserves, folded clothes, there are even bedrolls - but they are tightly rolled up and don't seem like they've seen any recent use. Seems like the Mistress' servants are out on her bidding, perhaps, or this is just one of the many wayhouses or bases of operation that they have.
Jera shudders a little bit as he looks. He dislikes being surrounded by death, much less by whom might possibly have been friends or family or people he remembered in what blurry memories he had left in his childhood. "Please don't loot anything."
Selena sighs quietly and shakes her head at the sight at the end of the tunnel, clicking her tongue slightly at the aparrently abandoned campsite. "At the absolute worst, we can get rid of their supplies." She notes bluntly, picking up a jar of the preserves and taking a brief look at it before setting it back down. "I'm not sure I'm too pleased with this setup either way. And it's far too quiet where we are."
Cassidy rolls her shoulders and runs her fingers through the back of her 'new' hair style and adjusts her hat. Yes, this would have to do. "I promise, I won't take anything." She does look around, though, humming softly. She was curious to see where these side passages went to, but... She sticks with the group for now.
"Far too quiet..." Natska replies, looking over the supplies and nodding her head. "But we are just scouting at the moment. If they are only using this house as a way station, that is still information..." She nods at the far tunnel. "We still have plenty to look for, though."
"Hmm. It doesn't look like there's going to be anything important here. Or anybody. Best to proceed, I think. Before we are flanked by returning cultists." Jera murmurs softly. "Left or right, now?
Selena nods back to the others; "Might be for the best if we take a look around. Flanking seems unlikely given it being a crypt and us having enough places to mave in the room, but cornered, though... That would be a problem." She notes. "I'm not fussed about directions, though. Either way works."
Cassidy glances towards the passage on the right and gestures to it. "Let us check this way, perhaps? I feel like we should." And with that, she turns and starts off, ambling at a leisurely pace, so as to not distance herself from her companions, or go too far to be recalled by them should they wish to go another way.
Natska looks back at the tunnel on the far side of the room, then moves her shoulders in a small shrug and falls in close behind Lady Hearthkeep, tail slowly swishing back and forth. "This place feels so off."
Returning to the crossroads and taking the right-hand path down a long, twisting hallway, one finds themselves looking into from the doorway a circular room that has been lit with sparsely-placed oil lanterns at regular intervals, eight points of light forming an octagon about the centre of the chamber. The flagstones have been swept to perfection, and crude wooden racks have been setup by the doorway for shoes to be placed on; there are still a few lying there, although their owners are thankfully nowhere to be seen. Whatever the original purpose of the room, it's been lost.
Situated in the middle of everything is a sarcophagus that's been repurposed as an altar of sorts, as immaculately clean as everything else. Scrolls and tomes are stacked in disarray against a stand to one side, out of the reach of pests and the damp. But most important of all is the skeletal vixen lounging leisurely on the sarcophagus, her fine, delicate fingerbones petting the muzzle of one of the many bone dragons that surround her adoringly. The creatures look absolutely tame and submissive...although one gets the impression that could change on a whim.
"Here we are." Jera frowns softly as he draws his bow. "Almost thinking about striking first...but holding on to his shot and deciding to let others decide.
Selena shakes her head. "It's you." the wolfess mutters with obvious distaste for the spirit directly in front of her. "I'm not impressed. For a 'spirit of death' you certainly seemed to step out of your way to torture the last few times I've been here." The wolfess comments with a stern tone. "I want answers. And frankly I don't see why else you'd be here."
Cassidy looks the skeletal figure over and dips into a polite bow, doffing her hat before standing upright and resettling it on her head. "Good evening. Morning? I do not recall. I have some questions of my own, but I will let her ask, first," she says, gesturing towards Selena.
Quite shaken by the appearance of the skeletal being - she has picked up enough to figure out who it must be - Natska still keeps herself under control. Ears pinned back, she sticks close to her allies, keeping a watchful eye on the dragons as she listens for how this meeting will play out.
~Who's a good boy, then? Who loves his mother?~ Pyrrha croons at the bone dragon she's tending to, then eases it down as it starts to rise at Selena's approach. ~Down, boy. Down. They are of little import, but simple errand-runners and grovelling lackeys. They don't love you as I do.~
~Torture? What torture, little mortal? They were flawed. All of you mortals are flawed. But you can be made perfect,~ she says, rolling over every syllable of that last word. ~Glorious, eternal perfection. The Master and Mistress Hearthwood were recalcitrant. I merely asked them to love me, and in the end, they did. All my children love me, as I do them. And as for your petty illusions...they are but simple shows of light, little else.~
The spirit's form shifts and wavers, and something seems to change. ~Why don't you try this on for size? Strike me. Can you do it?~
"The only respect I have for you is how you cured my wife of her disease." Jera lets out a low rumble, taking his shot out. And then he stares at his target, hands trembling, unable to do so. Or even move an inch. "Y-you...no..." It takes all of his focus to hold onto his bowstring.
Cassidy tilts her head to the side, brow raised. "Perfect? Mmm. Maybe we could become perfect. But not through you. What you offer is just another flawed state. There is something greater, I am sure, for if there wasn't, then 'perfection' is an awfully low standard," She retorts before flinching softly as the spirit takes on the image of someone dear, but her expression remains unseen behind the mask, and her voice hardens. "I find no humour in your depiction of the deceased, and find it rather poor in taste indeed. You may wear her image, but you are not her, and you insult her image. And if you wish to test me, then strike I shall." She settles her hand on the hilt of her sword for a moment before drawing it.
Natska listens as the spirit goes on - since she has little choice in the matter - and her eyes narrow at talk of love, and recalitrance. She glances over at her friends, gauging their reactions, and then looks back at the spirit in time to see it shift; her eyes widen, and her gaze quickly drops from the visage, fixing on the bone dragon instead. "Why?" she asks, finally mustering her courage, and she looks back at one of the few people she has cared for. "What do you want of us... errand-runners?"
Selena rolls her eyes somewhat at Pyrrha's comments. "You know exactly what I mean. Leaving souls to linger behind after they're dead. Those two in particuler."
Though, the moment the spirit takes on her own illusions, the wolfess clenches her fists. "... And you DARE..." She seethes, dropping her pretenses of civility after all that had transpired. "I do not care WHO you are or how WHAT you are, you DO NOT desecrate my parent's memory!" The wolfess yells, producing a pillar of intense flames from under the spirit, engulfing it. The intent of the spell is obvious, and it's fairly clear that the irate wolf would have had no problem with the death of the spirit if such a thing were possible.
"Ask me again, just ONE MORE TIME, to hit you. I TRIED to be civil, and THIS is what you do? The dead are DEAD, not something to be strung up or played with!"
Selena's flames come roaring up to Pyrrha, and actually for a moment sear the spirit's bones. Pyrrha herself looks astonished at Selena's audacity, the illusion fading as the spirit focuses on beating out the flames.
~You. Just like your entire line. Only the Master Hearthwood, amongst all other mortals, dared to strike me...and now you do, too. All a mess of flawed, imperfect creatures...~ Pyrrha sounds more like a petulant teenager than a personficiation of a natural force, her 'voice' growing to maddened shriek. Goodness, she's even stamping the floor like one, visibly agitating the bone dragons at her side, which begin chomping at their proverbial bits. ~Your end will come. It is inevitable, inescapable, Kendrac's lapdog. You will love me! YOU WILL LOVE ME, AND NOTHING ELSE! I will MAKE you love me as I did the Hearthwoods! Kendrac and the entire Life Court...when Akros and I went to protest ser'ther's actions...~ Her "voice" begins to crack, the spirit speaking more for herself than anyone else. ~Their ends will come, too. And I'll make them all say sorry and admit that they love me, too...like my followers, my children...~
Selena scoffs. "It will, Pyrrha. But I'm not going to be ended today, and certainly not by a child with a god complex. I will never love a psycopathic fool like you as long as I'm alive OR dead. Maybe if you stop acting like a child you'll gain some real respect." The wolfess spits, glaring back at the spirit. "And remember. You aren't allowed it interfere directly. I hope you weren't planning to sic your 'pets' on us - that would qualify, wouldn't it?" She probes, though it's not entirely discernable whether the wolfess is angling to force the spirit into making a mistake or if she was being completely serious.
Cassidy glances at Selena, then back at Pyrrha and scoffs. "Hardly. I don't play by your rules. Maybe I'll never die. How would you react to that, I wonder. Someone forever out of your reach. Denied to you." She waves a dismissive hand and goes to return her sword to its scabbard. "You're kind of weak, you know that? I expected... More. Someone that did all this to Mossy Stone? Here I thought you were something big and dangerous. You're rather like a child who throws a fit when they don't get their way. And you won't, because I play a different game entirely." She places her hands in her pockets and glances amongst her companions. "What did we come here for, anyway? Were we looking for something?"
"Hey, Selena n-" Jera shakes it off in time and then slowly unnocks the arrow. "You suggested we come."
Natska draws back at the sudden erruption of flames. The reaction, though, takes her by surprise; she watches the skeletal being, then looks back to Selena, then back to Pyrrha. "What happened?" she asks quietly. "Wh-" she stops, cutting herself off, ears perking up as she listens to Cass.
~No! It's not true! Shut up! SHUT UP!~ Pyrrha is practically hysterical now, her bones beginning to tremble at the joints even as she presses skeletal hands against her head. ~Taoth! Kradeth! Make them shut up!~
Another 'voice', a gentle, deep bass. ~That would not be the wisest of decisions, and not because your little hydra pet is insufficient.~
~What...~ Pyrrha manages to say, before she literally falls apart along with her bone dragons, white ivory clattering to the ground in a shower of splinters. A moment, and then the sickly presence fades, leaving but a glimmer of another presence, although no less wrong.
~She was not always like this.~ The new voice continues. ~Not until we were betrayed. No one welcomes the one whose duty it is to sever the thread of life...you win. Today.~
Then, it, too passes, leaving nothing but a draft and cold air.
Selena rolls her eyes somewhat at the 'queen' of bones's dramatic departure. "And you! The voice back there. You keep going on about betrayal, but you've given nothing to go on beyond that same phrase and plenty of reason not to appreciate your side of the story. Have you ever heard of evidence and explanations? I want a damn good one for the Kindcraft among others." She chastises the voices, moving over and shaking her head. "... Despicable." She mutters, still fuming from the spirit's previous actions, it would seem.
"You have my home ravaged. What else do you want to try to explain?" Jera growls lowly.
Cassidy heaves a gentle sigh and lifts her shoulders in a shrug before dropping them. "How petty. It is almost too bad they cannot involve themselves directly. I think I might enjoy the chance to face off against one of them in battle. I am eager to see the limits of their might, and to then see if it can be broken." She lifts a hand to stroke the chin of her mask. "I wonder what would happen if we found a way to break the balance completely. Ah well. Thoughts for another time. Shall we look at the rest of those passages, perhaps?"
Natska shifts her weight, glaive dropping into a ready position as she hears Pyrrha ordering her pets forward; when naught comes of it, though, she relaxes again. Her notched ear flicks as she listens to Selena and Jera, and then she gives Cassidy a small nod. "Who knows how that would end... yes, let's look. The sooner we finish, the better." She turns, then, and heads back the way they came from.
There is little in the final passage save for the tombs of generations upon generations of Hearthwoods, some dating back from as early as the second century Since Arrival. Although some of the sarcophagi have been opened, stone busts still remain of each member of the lupine family who once lived here - and there is a distinct family visage that has managed to survive the generations.
Selena looks over the busts as she makes her way around the tomb idly. "... Such a shame." She notes quietly, settling by one of the more recently-made effigies for a few moments. "Never did hear much about Luca's parents." she notes with a slight hint of regret, before moving back to the rest of the group. "Anyway. We should take the provisions and sleeping bags before we leave. Perhaps drop a note there as well."
Cassidy folds her hands behind her back and looks up towards the ceiling. "What an interesting evening. I've some things to think about, I suppose. Did we find whatever it was we came here for? Hm. Well, interesting trip all the same, yes." She turns and moves off back towards the hall, lingering by the door frame for her companions. "I am eager to be home, however. I would like some tea, and a nice bath after this."
Natska gives Selena a small nod. "We can let the army know they were staying here, in case they want to post a sentry on it." She glances around the crypt, then thoughtfully looks up as well; after a few moments, she begins moving towards the entrance as well.
"I have a long list of town records to sort through. This is going to be my last shot at finding out who I am...and carving a proper name in a gravestone." Jera flumps a bit and starts heading out. "Thank you all for coming."
