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Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2024 9:44 pm
by Erratum
Disquiet Dead
Searing 12, 124
The Kythera Expedition was bedeviled with a hundred small setbacks and surprises over the course of its first month; but these things were to be expected. Ooklo was an experienced commander, and well-versed in the peculiar dangers of the jungle and plains of central Ecith. Between his scouts and the shield team's timely intervention, even the minor threats which popped up on the march were generally taken care of before the satchel team and the flood hippos arrived. Given the success of the journey thus far and the sheer amount of time spent on the road, it would not have been much of a surprise if Major Alua had grown complacent- but she did not. Indeed, as they drew nearer the Imperial Marches, the Shield Team's commander seemed to grow increasingly on-edge.
And not without reason.
As the Flood Hippos drew near to the old ruins of the Imperium's advance, strange and worrisome messages began to return from the Windwalker's scouts. Tales of fully-armored phantasms on the edges of sight, watching the scouts from a distance, of noises in the dead of night like the hissing of pistons and the whir of gears. Finally, on the night of the 11th of Searing, those asleep in the forward camp were wakened by the sound of distant explosions to the south. Alua dispatched scouts at once, and the rest of the Shield Team waited for their return, unsure whether to return to sleep or prepare for engagement. Certainty would not come that night.
On the morning of the 12th, however, Alua called a meeting of the Shield team, as well as those among the Satchel team who were in the vanguard of the convoy. She did not wait for the entire group to assemble, and stragglers were still stumbling into the hastily-erected pavilion on the river's edge when she began to explain the situation.
"I assume you all heard the commotion last night," she said, clearly not preoccupied with pleasantries, "Our scouts have looked into it, and I've just got back the reports. It came from the Imperial Marches."
The Major turned to the chart which was tacked up on a stake, a rough map of Northern Ecith which showed a dotted line following the river down to Kythera. She stabbed an area on the southern section of the map with one finger, practically glaring at it.
"There has always been a certain level of undead activity in this region, ever since the armies of the Imperium met their end here. Now, however, it seems that the haunts have consolidated into a rough simulacrum of the order they had in life." The Major sniffed, clearly unhappy to give the Commonwealth's arch-enemies even that much credit, even in death. "The Great Witch says that she believes this to be an aftereffect of the Eclipse, an imbalance in the aether which comprises those souls. I'm not interested in the whys, but we need to know whether these restless spirits are a threat to the convoy before the Flood Hippos enter the Marches. If they're organized and aware enough to see us as a threat, the hippos aren't going to be able to avoid a night attack."
Waving again at the chart, the Major turned back towards the people who had assembled in the little pavilion.
"I need some people to go down there, discover the extent of the issue, and either neutralize it or confirm that we can pass safely. We've only got about three days before the convoy gets in close, so you'll need to be in-and-out. Any volunteers?"
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2024 7:58 pm
by Læbirius
☠ Disquiet Dead
☠
☠
☠ 12 of Searing, Year 124, A.o.S
☠ If he had known that this expedition would mean that some nights he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly he would have tried to gather a salve or some form of potion to help keep him alert or to sleep through the night. Though the night before no one seemed to be able to sleep as a massive explosion roused the entirety of the camp into action. Scouts were sent to investigate, the team he had been assigned to at the ready to defend from the source of the commotion. lae wasn't sure what to expect, but he had been hearing the other native born ecithians speak of ghosts from when the Imerium had laid siege to Ecith still lingering about.
He wasn't sure if ghosts could really cause explosions, but given his growth and study through necromancy he knows that mighty ghosts can affect the material world around them. But to cause actual explosions? He would have to see for himself. When morning came it became clear what had happened the night before. The commander divulged that the source of the noise from last night was from the Imperial March. Lae only knew of this location because it was explained in the main briefing that they would be crossing it and that ghosts and spirits alike dwelled there. She explained that they needed to investigate the source and determine if it was safe or quell the threat before they reached that leg of the journey.
When the call for volunteers came about, Lae was at the front of the line. He was quite the necromancer and had made some fresh ichor two days ago, not to mention his bracelet and the abilities that came with it. He wanted to see these ghosts up close for himself as well, as it would be an interesting learning experience for him as well. ☠
"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2024 1:01 am
by Evandria
In the end, they agreed to settle it with a game of rock paper scissors, which Eva brilliantly lost.
“Best out of three,” Eva declared, shooting out her hand to do it again.
Gultik clicked his tongue and shook his head, his tusks catching the dim sunlight. “Uh uh, you lost. We already agreed.”
Desperate, Eva turned to the fae’ethalan instead. “You owe me for last time. I waded through that bog because you said the water would kill your vines.”
“You’ll be fine,” Theodmer started. The Summer Fae stretched out a vine-covered arm, his leafy fingers pointing at her. “You’re a dragonborn; you shouldn’t be scared of ghosts. If anything, ghosts would be scared of you!”
Eva looked at the pair in disbelief. “That’s not how it works!” She started to argue again, but the resolute expressions on their faces made it clear: she was going.
Seeing her resignation, the two men tried to reassure her, their words as hollow as the wind whistling through the trees. “It’ll be fine,” the orkhan said gruffly, his tone unconvincing.
“Yeah, nothing to worry about,” Theodmer added, though his eyes betrayed his relief at not being chosen. “The Shield team will keep you safe like they have done this whole trip.”
After cursing them one last time under her breath, Eva pouted and reluctantly made her way to where Major Alua was standing. “Cartographer Evandria, reporting for duty,” she said, her voice tinged with resignation.
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2024 6:10 pm
by Erratum
"Lae-rius." Acknowledged the Major, getting his name just a bit wrong--a common issue in Ecith, for certain words were tricky to say with tusks blocking the mouth permanently a bit open--she turned as Evandria entered, giving the Dragonborn a withering look, "And I take it you're the cartographer I asked for? Good enough."
The military Ork turned back to her map, tapping it.
"I'm going to give the two of you a scout who's familiar with the Imperial Marches and send you off this morning, so you can get well ahead of us by nightfall. What I want you to do is threefold: first, figure out where these ghosts are, what their boundaries are, so forth. Second, I want you to keep a sharp eye out and determine if they're a real threat or just a phantom menace." The Ork seemed totally unaware that she'd just made a pun, "Finally, if you can figure out why the ghosts are up in arms, I'd be much obliged. The goal is real simple, I just need to know if we're safe to proceed through the river or if we're gonna have to get fancy to avoid any threat to the hippos. Got that?"
Alua slapped both volunteers lightly on the shoulder.
"Good. Get yourselves ready to travel and prepare to meet your scout at the edge of camp. Take only what you'll need for a few days- we'll see that everything you leave here is brought along. If you're not back by the time the Flood Hippos catch up to the Marches, I'll send someone after you, so take care that you can survive three days. That'll be all."
With that, the Shield Team's leader moved on to the next group of volunteers, giving them vaguely-similar instructions. It sounded as though she was looking to send out three teams to take a full measure of the threat- perhaps something of a relief, that the all the pressure would not rest upon Lae and Evandria's backs alone. The rest of the volunteers were dismissed, back to their posts or to begin packing up for the day's usual march on the hippos' slow route.
Freed of the need to do the same, the two valiant scouts were left alone to converse, pack as was needful, and get to the camp's edge. There was a tension in the camp which hadn't been there the night before. Surely some of it was lack of sleep, but it was hard to overstate the psychological effect of the ghost barrage on the morale of the expedition. Not simply because there was now something to be frightened of, but because the armies of the Imperium were the ultimate boogeyman of Ecith, the evil which had torn apart the nation and devastated its holiest places. The notion that even death might not have been enough to quell that ravenous horde...
Well, it hardly bore mention.
Off Topic
Post a short description of how you prepare for the trip, as well as the basic things you take with you. The camp is happy to give you rations, water, basic things like insect repellant or packs, but please make a note in your next post of anything you're specifically taking as a tool for the trip!
~~~
When the two newly-minted scouts arrived at the edge of the camp after preparations were complete, they found a young Ork waiting for them. He looked like he could hardly be out of his teens, but his tattoos spoke of citizenship and majority, and he seemed much less anxious than most of his confederates back on the Flood hippos. To the contrary, the young man seemed full of excited energy, practically bouncing as he caught sight of his two escorts. He certainly did not have the demeanor of one who'd ever known real warfare.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed in a big, friendly voice as they approached, "I'm Corporal Hop, the Major said I'm to lead you to anywhere you need to go. I've been down this way plenty of times, so I can get you anywhere on the map, no problem. How d'you like to travel?"
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:35 am
by Carina
.
Carina had, to the dismay of Imogen, quietly positioned herself in a way that she could hear the instruction of the volunteer scouts without having to implicate herself in their duty if she decided she did not want to go. But she believed her skills to be useful, and one skill in particular might be beneficial at most to this ghost-hunting: Fluency in Kathalan. She didn’t know how many others here were fluent; it didn’t seem unlikely that some would know the language of their enemy, because knowledge is half the battle, as they say. Either way, Carina wanted to know what these ghosts had to say.
It helped, too, that she was masterful in her rune of Semblance, and pretty decent at Traversion—indeed, Carina felt that she would make a good scout in another life, if she had had any inclination to join the military now or forever. But the smuggler/thief/dancer was lately only rarely in a position where she took orders. She was not unused to taking orders, what with the Railrunners practically raising her, but she had more freedom in the Imperium. Now she was back with Imogen and back into a situation where she had to defer to others. What with her having lived in the Imperium for some years now, it was better that she didn’t stir the pot.
Tucked under her cloak of concealment, Carina scurried away to begin packing, though with her life wrapped up in a bag and a comfortable jacket to keep her cool in the summer heat, she was mostly already ready. She did requisition* insect repellent and some rations to slip into her bag.
Carina spent the rest of the time she should have used to prepare or nap instead with a pen and parchment in hand, scrivening a loose template for her to add one of her Sembled, spatial aura maps into. It would only last for a few days at best, but if she could figure out where it was safe, she could store it here and someone else with Semblance would be able to follow it.
In the few days she had been with the Flood Hippos, Carina had already a history of mapping and remapping their camps. There was some order to it, and quickly most individual and every individual group’s camping setups became modularized in her head, to be moved and placed in the overall camp setup whenever they stopped for the night. With this information at hand, Carina opened a portal to the edge of the camp and waited for the other two to approach before she did.
”Hello, I’m coming too.” She announced as she walked up to the Corporal Hop. ”I can walk.” It was a reflexive answer, knowing damn well she could use magic freely here.
*a bit of sleight of hand may have been involved, even though she knew she could have just asked.
Off Topic
Carrying:
Everything in her inventory, plus some rations and insect repellent, thanks to her Featherlight bag. One of her journey books is left with the Major so that she can transmit information of note with ease.
.
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2024 7:04 am
by Evandria
As the Major rattled off the things they would need to keep an eye on, Eva made a mental note. If they were supposed to ensure the rivers were safe to travel, that would give her an excuse to stay close to the water. She wanted to keep ghostly interactions to a minimum and avoid any trouble.
Once they were dismissed, Eva returned to her camp. She scowled at Gultik and Theodmer, who were pestering her about how the short meeting went. After she informed them, they helped her pack everything she might need. Eva decided to bring all her rations and her waterskin—plus an extra one borrowed from the camp, just in case. Clothes, toiletries, all the basics. Her cartography and drawing tools were next, wrapped securely with her clothes for extra protection. Theodmer had borrowed a machete from one of the scouts and gave it to her. Eva didn’t know the first thing about using a machete, but its weight on her belt provided some comfort.
Not wanting to be late, Eva quickly made her way to the meeting point.
A young woman she didn’t recognize was already there. Black hair and pale skin—definitely not typical of most Ecithians. Eva hadn’t seen her volunteer earlier; perhaps she was a late addition. She smiled at her. More people could only mean good things, right? “My name is Eva,” she introduced herself to both the girl and Corporal Hop. “I’m here to map out any dangerous places. I’ll try to stay out of everyone’s way!” If anything happened, the dragonborn would be of little use in a fight.
“Maybe we can stick to the river? It’ll make it easier for me to mark any surrounding areas and not lose our exact location,” the dragonborn suggested hopefully. Water always made her feel safer, so she didn’t mind how they traveled as long as she could stay near it.
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 12:20 am
by Læbirius
☠ Disquiet Dead
☠
☠
☠ 12 of Searing, Year 124, A.o.S
☠ There was much he had to gather and prepare for this endeavor. If they were dealing with ghosts, he would need to arm himself with means to fight off the phantoms. Once they were dismissed he went straight to his cot where he kept his belongings. He luckily had some inchor that was still good, as that would help in fending off the phantoms should they become hostile. Grabbing his axe and shield and some other supplies he made his way to the rendevous point.
When he arrived he was met by a friendly orkan male, someone so full of life and joy, it was refreshing to see. Waving to the other two he bowed to them all before speaking. "Sorry for the wait, I was gathering a few things." He smiled as he noticed there was another woman, one he didn't see during the briefing. Whatever the case he didn't say much on it as the more the merrier. He figured it was better to have as many hands as possible in this situation.
He listened to the cartographer speak and give her suggestion, and nodded. Closing his eyes he fueled aether into his rune of summoning, calling forth one of his contracted spirits. With an eerie wail announcing its arrival his ghostly steed galloped forth and trotted around him. Petting the demonic horse, he saddled the creature. "I'll travel on this good boy, he likes to run." he noted, petting the horse as it shook its ghostly mane and made a sound that caused the necromancer to chuckle. "He is also very eager to get going." he noted, looking to the two women that were on his team.
"I have room for one more if either of you are interested." ☠
"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:04 pm
by Erratum
"Ah! That's the lot." said Hop, clapping lightly "Glad am I, we'll make good time today before nightfall."
Having received mixed answers about mounts, the Corporal gave a slow, broad-shouldered shrug and retrieved a wooden whistle from his belt. Raising the little device to his mouth, the Ork blew thrice, sending sharp pangs of sound echoing off the sides of the river. Some of the nearby flood hippos snorted at the noise, but they quieted as a distant call answered.
"It's a nice thought, Eva, but if we're going to learn anything about the ghosts... I reckon we'll need to stray from the river. Now, Flood Hippos ain't skittish, so if it turns out they're just light and noise it's no big deal, but the Major's gonna want a firm word on it."
As Hop spoke, the treeline rustled and parted, disgorging... uh... this thing.
It was a bit like a hippo and a bit like a rhino and a bit like a bat, and altogether more floppy than you'd expect. The creature was gigantic, towering over even the Dragonborn woman- with its stumpy wings extended, it was probably twelve feet high. Its skin was loose, but thicker than hide armor and it bore oddly vicious-looking talons on its hooves. It gave each of the members of the scouting party a side-eye as it approached, each of them reflected in its vacant black eyes.
"Whoa! Stay, Flopsy." said Hop, reaching up to rub the lumbering creature on its hide-covered horn. "Now, Major says you're the cartographer and you're a necromancer, and..." The corporal's brow knit as he realized the Major hadn't said anything at all about Carina. "You said you're coming too? Well, okay."
Hop gave the logistics a thought. "Alright, Eva, you can ride with either me or the necromancer. And you- you're sure you want to walk? Plenty of room on Flopsy, and he moves faster than you'd think..."
Hop left that statement on a questioning note, but once Carina and Eva had made up their minds on how to travel, he outlined the general plan- they'd spend the day moving south along the river until they entered the Imperial Marches, then find a quiet place where they could observe the low country and spot the ghosts when they appeared. Once they'd determined the form, numbers and location, they could go about trying to determine if the haunts had the kind of energy it would take to threaten the caravan.
"I'm no expert like you, sir-" Hop nodded bashfully to Læbirius, "-but it's my understanding that most ghosts are too thin to do much physical damage. Major says that the Great Witch Imogen told her they can get solid under the wrong circumstances, and is worried that it's been the wrong circumstances. So that's our job, to suss it out."
~~~
Off Topic
Everyone please post one message describing what you say, how your character chooses to travel, and any other preparations you make- it can be a short post if you want! After that, we'll get to the first night and reach the ghosts for the first time, so get ready.
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2024 9:20 am
by Evandria
The young woman watched with fascination as Laebirius summoned a ghostly horse as his ride. Despite its appearance, it seemed surprisingly cheerful as it trotted around its master. Eva had an urge to come closer, to check how solid the creature was but it felt like a rude thing to do, so she refrained herself from doing it. The horse seemed like a good ride to blend in with the ghosts if they needed to get closer.
Something then began rustling from the trees. Her head spun and she could never be ready for the sight in front of her. A winged rhino creature? She had never seen anything quite like it. It easily towered over all of them and she had to tilt her head back to take in the creature in its entirety.
Flopsy looked like it could fly, right? Maybe? Her little lesson with Norani had revealed to her that she favored travel by air far more than on land. Flying felt almost like sailing in some ways - just without the water, which was a shame. Not to mention it should make her job easier. “I’ll go with Flopsy!” she announced as she eagerly walked over to Corporal Hop.
Eva approached Flopsy carefully, trying not to make any sudden movement. Animals had strong reactions to her in some way or another, so the dragonborn gently reached to try to pet the odd creature. Even though its eyes looked bleakly lackluster, it was better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully, it liked her enough to let her ride.
Re: Disquiet Dead (Open Thread)
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2024 6:33 am
by Læbirius
☠ Disquiet Dead
☠
☠
☠ 12 of Searing, Year 124, A.o.S
☠ Though he awaited to see what the other woman with them would choose to travel by, he turned his attention to Hop. He was wrong in his understanding, but given the case that they heard the explosion from their camp he could tell that the spirit they were dealing with were stronger than normal ghosts. As he though about his response he watched as a strange creature appeared, cute and somewhat clumsy looking in appearance, it had wings, which meant that Lae would be the only one on the ground as they traveled. "That is somewhat the case, but given what we have heard and experienced, I believe these ghosts have some form of wits about them." he said taking a moment to compile his words once again.
"Ghosts are the ones most encounter when it comes to the Undead next to zombies, but I'm not certain if we will have to face those types in this situation. Most ghosts are unstable, having no mental faculty whatsoever, and thus can be seen as manic or unstable. Because these are the spirits of people who have been killed in combat, their mental decay is higher, as most ghosts who were killed or die don't have anything to tether themselves to this plane of existence.
That being said however because they have been here for so long after the war, there is a chance for intelligence. Though there could be a chance that they have been here so long and due to that fact they died on foreign soil, they had nothing to latch onto and forgotten that the war between the Imperium & Ecith is over." he noted, as he took hold of the reigns of his demonic equine.
WIth that he checked his bag, making sure he had several bottles of ichor, as well as a soul gem he made not too long ago among his instruments for scrivening and necromancy among them. He was confident in his abilities and knowledge to know he would be useful in this endeavor. Adjusting his axe and shield on his hip and back, he was ready to set out. ☠
"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"