No Time for Arguing! Head for the Showdown! (2Gen, Invite)

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Nakibe
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Unread postby Nakibe » Tue May 27, 2008 9:45 pm

The young mage's expression got somewhat darker as he, still glowing with unknown power, calmly strode over to Ahern's bubble of confined space. He slowly, carefully sticks a hand into the bubble, somewhat surprised that he was right, and he COULD stick his hand through the effect. Having achieved this, he focuses his more customary electrical energies into his fingers... and fires it off, in what likely would be a painful electrical arc. Oddly, the globe of energy seems to dissipate almost immediately as he does this, leaving Ahern certainly more free to move, assuming that it crossed his mind.

"I didn't say 'Keep talking', did I?"

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Kai
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Unread postby Kai » Tue May 27, 2008 9:55 pm

Ahearn's spine arched as the electricity surged through him, leaving him gasping--but blessedly speechless--afterward. His face split into a grin, and he started to laugh. It was the ragged and uneven laughing of hysteria, and it was pretty clear Ahearn was beginning to come unhinged.

His eyes were fixed on Solis' hand, the one that had reached through the barrier to deliver his punishment. The grin was frozen, and the laugh stopped just long enough for a few words. "Hand of the gods," he said to himself before the laughter became too much. Ignoring the barrier--or lack thereof--Ahearn fell back into the grass and just continued to laugh.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Tue May 27, 2008 10:09 pm

Michael felt increasingly weird, and now something.... something terrible felt like it was happening upstairs. He could feel it. And it felt like it might be getting closer. He was stressed and out of sorts, and this was all getting to be too much for a kid fresh out of his first semester at Gunnir to handle all at once. He did the only thing he really could. He reeled back to hit Ahearn, aiming for the back of the head in the spot Dad had showed him, he let the swing fly. With any luck, Ahearn would be knocked Cold... ah, no, wait. Solis let him free, and he moved. Now there was a fist flying through empty air.

Well, no matter. In that case...

"I can't... do this right now. Someone knock him out or something."

He winced, holding his head. Ah, nausea.

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Kelne
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Unread postby Kelne » Tue May 27, 2008 10:13 pm

Cerene shook her head. It looked like he'd completely snapped. She could see the mad laughter continuing all the way through any trial, and the odds of him ever seeing the wrongness of his actions, let alone admitting it, was non-existent.

At least Zea was thoroughly dismantling whatever he'd set up. The only thing left now was to be sure that he remained securely locked up for the rest of his days.

Since Michael didn't seem able to knock him out, that left her and Solis. Exchanging a look with him and shrugging, Cerene did her best, delivering a sharp smack with the flat of her rapier. It was less effective than might have been hoped. Painful, but not sufficient to render him unconscious. Understandable, given Cerene had never practiced the move.

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Unread postby Archmage » Wed May 28, 2008 8:59 pm

Zeke nearly fell backwards from the shock of the severed connection between himself and his daughter. It was only now that he was able to stop focusing on the ritual long enough to survey the chaos of the room.

"What the hell have we done?"

It's certainly disgusting, thought the mercenary, but did it work?
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Unread postby Kai » Wed May 28, 2008 9:32 pm

"Normal!" Zea grunted.

What she wanted to say was, 'Given the number of ghosts we're dealing with and the fact that not all the ghosts came from this particular location, compounded with the damage the circle's already taken in the fire and various collapses and the fact that we still haven't rested properly since earlier problems along the road and you're not even a ritualist, things are going quite well and you shouldn't worry a bit as this is all perfectly normal.'

One word was the best she could do.

With one last wrenching twist, the circle broke and sent a wave of shadow-aligned mana out over the crowded ghosts. The connection through Zea's aura had been broken, but by now they had taken in enough power that Zeke could still see them. At least he couldn't hear them anymore. Zea dropped to her knees, and tiny charred flakes of wood drifted down to the storey below from the impact of her weight. With her black-skinned hands pressed over her ears. Little drops of blood from the ceiling fell onto her skin, sliding downward.The voices consolidated, words forming from some collective yearning among them.

Family. We can be a family.

She shook her head, no more than a brief twist of her neck.

Come with us. Both of you. It's why you came. Ours.

Under the ocean of voices, Zea couldn't hear herself whisper. Her own voice was silent to her ears but she knew that to them it rang like thunder. She wasn't interested in being their family, she certainly couldn't allow them Zeke. She really hoped he couldn't hear them. "Leave him alone. You lost yours." Her fingernails dug into the wood under her palms, smearing the blood on the floor. "Don't you take mine."

Wordless guilt. The pure guilt of a child who hated himself for being worthy of anger.

She took a deep, rasping breath. "Go. Go find yours."

They recoiled. It hadn't occurred to them, but it was true. Their parents were gone, but now they were gone, too. Maybe they would... go the same place? See them again? Not be alone?

They exploded outwards, each determined to set his or her own path home. They formed a wave of darkness sweeping through the forest, a flood of lingering death, but there was intent. There was hope. Each was caught by a figure only Zea could see, and one by one they disappeared.

Zea didn't feel herself hit the floor, and she couldn't hear the wood cracking under her. This room had been through a lot, and hopefully they'd be able to get out without too much hassle. The easy way would just be to fall through, and Zea wasn't even sure she cared. Too tired to worry about trivial details like her body breaking on the rubble below. So minor. How could anyone possibly bother with such nuisances.

Everything was quiet after the voices had gone, and it was hard to focus on any sound at all. The difference was so stark Zea felt as if she'd suddenly gone deaf. Absently she noticed that there was no more blood dripping from the attic ceiling. That was good. Blood stained terribly. But they were both wearing black; it might not be so bad. Her thoughts wandered aimlessly along these paths. She couldn't seem to focus on anything important, or at all. Zeke's hat wasn't black. Such a shame. They'd have to wash it immediately, or he would need a new one.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed May 28, 2008 10:08 pm

As the burst of necromantic energy passed over the house and those around it, Michael inhaled sharply. The "weird feeling" he'd been experiencing had reached a peak. His aura was moving more dramatically, and against his will. He tried to cry out, but things were moving too fast. The spiral on his arm flared into brilliant, multicolored light, and several strange things followed.

A wave of pure astral energy washed over everything. Any spell or spell like effect for 30 yards around Michael not bound to some material focus or guarded by it's own aura winked out. No one lost anything valuable, and John wouldn't even be perturbed. All the mortals in the same range suddenly developed nosebleeds. Nothing excessive, but definitely strange. And finally, Michael's eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell to the ground. The especially observant might note something else strange.. the blue spiral on Michael's arm was missing, and now an Amulet Ahearn worn around his neck was ringed with blue light.

Michael looked at himself, from an odd angle. There he was... but why could he see himself? And why couldn't he move? An already dramatic and stressful night had just gotten much worse, and for the first time since setting out, Michael was begining to regret coming on this trip.

(Luck out tables, whoo. Mass dispel over the area, it would only interfere with simple spells and such. Everyone gets an arbitrary, perfectly normal nosebleed, and Michael has fallen over and looks dead. Again. Random effects are FUN.)

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Unread postby Kelne » Wed May 28, 2008 10:15 pm

The sudden explosion of what Cerene could only think of as a flood of souls was, to say the least, frightening. Cerene couldn't help but duck, and remained rather tense until the flood had fully passed.

Michael's sudden action, involuntary though it might be, didn't help. She put the rapier away and went over to him immediately, delivering some healing magic even as she tried to figure out what was wrong.

"Michael? Can you hear me?" she asked. She could only hope Zeke and Zea were alright, as she didn't dare leave Ahearn alone with Solis and an incapacitated Michael to find out.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed May 28, 2008 10:18 pm

Cerene cast her spell, and she could feel it working on Michael's body.... but at the same time not. There was nothing to heal here.

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Unread postby Kelne » Wed May 28, 2008 10:23 pm

This was not in the least bit reassuring. Involuntary collapses were never a good sign. She could only check his breathing, along with the response of his pupils to a brief flicker of fire, and hope he came out of it on his own.

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed May 28, 2008 10:33 pm

Cerene checked on Michael's breathing! He wasn't. Nor were his eyes responding to stimuli. He had no pulse. He seemed to be very much dead. So it might disturb her when a moment later, she heard his voice in her head:

"Cerene? What's happened? I can't move, and I'm looking at myself from somewhere to the side!"

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Unread postby Kelne » Wed May 28, 2008 10:43 pm

Cerene's response was that startled yelp which seemed to go with ghost-like stimuli. She glanced quickly about, putting her astral sight to work in an effort to locate an off-to-the-side Michael.

"Well, Michael, you seem to be dead. Again. I promise we'll hold off on burying you this time, okay?" Her attempt at humour fell distinctly flat.

It abruptly occurred to her that nobody had thought to check his pulse after he'd come back from beyond the grave (with the possible exception of Michael himself). Was this normal for him now?

The only difference Cerene could see was the lack of that blue rune thing. Had that been keeping him alive? Her eyes abruptly darted over to Ahearn with his now glowing amulet. You didn't need to be a genius to see the possible connection there. Without a word, Cerene walked over and snatched it off of Ahearn's neck, returning swiftly to Michael's side.

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Unread postby Nakibe » Wed May 28, 2008 10:51 pm

What the...... What the hell is going on? Solis rushes over to Michael, checking both pulse and aura. Something funny was definitely going on, something that his mind decided was vaguely WRONG. And... why am I bleeding? That small shock of astral energy was... off. But it shouldn't've been powerful enough to hurt him... or maybe it didn't hurt him at all? He didn't give Ahern even a first thought as he checked over his friend. Whether or not that amulet was keeping him alive, he STILL didn't know what was even keeping Michael alive... and now he HAD to find out.

He... SEEMS mostly normal... What's going on here? "I can't SEE anything wrong with him.... Nothing seems to be wrong at all....." He looks at the amulet Cerene holds up to help him... something is odd about it.... but what does it have to do with any of it?

"What... what IS that amulet?"

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed May 28, 2008 11:10 pm

Everyone outside could hear what followed:

"AH! What just happened?! I'm moving!"

Cerene placed the Amulet on Michael's body. She was a woman with a plan! Unfortunately, it appeared that this particular part of her plan was flawed. As soon as she clasped the amulet around Michael's neck, dark energy swirled around it, and it grew fangs. It hardly took an archmage to figure out that this was likely not a good thing, but just in case it wasn't clear immediately, the Amulet bit into Michael's neck. And then it bit again. And again. It was making slow progress through his flesh.

"... DON'T JUST STAND THERE! FUCKING STOP ME! OH GODS!"

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Unread postby Kelne » Wed May 28, 2008 11:15 pm

"GODS DAMNIT!" Cerene's hands hadn't moved far from the amulet, and she promptly seized it in an effort to wrench it loose again. How was she supposed to know that the cursed thing was booby-trapped? It hadn't done anything like this to Ahearn.

Right now though, beating herself up on this subject was entirely secondary to getting the damned thing off Michael.

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Unread postby Nakibe » Wed May 28, 2008 11:38 pm

"SHIT" It was suddenly important to Solis to dispel this spell. He formed something of the purest ether he could manage....

... only to feel something TOO much akin to hitting a wall. At least, if somehow a wall could indeed be made of diamond. "What the... I can't stop it... I CAN'T STOP IT."

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Thu May 29, 2008 9:20 pm

Cerene grabbed the Amulet, and pulled! ...And for a long moment, it held her weight, lifting Michael's shoulders off the ground instead. It hadn't held this strongly onto Ahearn. However, a moment later the string snapped loudly, and the whole thing came apart in her hands. The blue light faded from the amulet, and as it's enchantments seeped out, it became little more than broken odds and ends in the grass.

Solis, though he had not thought about it in some years, wore a heart shaped amulet around his neck. A winding blue band wrapped around it now, glowing softly.

"... Where am I now?"

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Unread postby Nakibe » Thu May 29, 2008 10:16 pm

"I'm... not sure. What just happened anyway? And how long have you been able to do telepathy, huh?" The damage from that... weird thing with the teeth seems pretty extensive, but there's no way that he could see those wounds going unhealed for too long, so he set his weary hands and mind to the task.

He bent over and started pouring energy into the best healing he could do. It wasn't as much as he'd like, but it should at least keep Michael alive. As he starts a second spell, somewhat stronger than the first, he happens to notice a flash of blue... "Huh?" He pulls out the amulet, which he hadn't really thought about in some years, and stares at it. "... something's not right here..."

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Thu May 29, 2008 10:37 pm

Michael's wounds knitted, mostly. When Solis had finished, fresh, bare skin had replaced the wound, but it was bruising badly.

"Telepathy? What are you talking about? I don't know telepathy. I wasn't even studying it at school."

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Unread postby Kelne » Fri May 30, 2008 12:48 am

Cerene stomped on the bits and pieces for good measure, cursing the amulet, Ahearn and who knew what else in what sounded like at least three different languages.

Then Solis's words cut through her rage. "Wait, you couldn't hear him before?" she asked. The glowing blue markings on another amulet certainly made her suspicious.

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Unread postby Nakibe » Fri May 30, 2008 1:40 pm

"... then how... wait... " Solis thought for a moment, realizing that the pieces of this puzzle fit... sort of. "I.. I see. SOMEHOW you're in my amulet. I think." Solis concluded. "I have NO idea how you got there, though. Hmmm... maybe if I... but then that other amulet came to life and tried to bite your HEAD off, so I'm not sure if that would make things any better...." Solis thinks for a moment... and then quickly takes the amulet off and sets it down, AWAY from everyone else currently in the room. "Okay, Bad thought. VERY bad thought."

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Unread postby Besyanteo » Fri May 30, 2008 6:17 pm

Michael sounded confused and a little scared. And honestly, he had every right to be right now.

"So what happens now?"

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Unread postby Archmage » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:58 pm

"Zea!"

It was the only rational thing for a father to do after watching his daughter collapse from exhaustion. Shout. Nevermind whether or not it made him look like less of a hardass to let anyone else see his concern. There wasn't anyone alive around to witness his emotional outburst. No one but his daughter had to know that he was worried about her, and as far as he could tell from here, she was practically unconscious.

Zeke was no medic, but he also was no fool, and it took extreme lack of perception to be unable to tell the conscious apart from the downed. He knelt next to his daughter, putting a hand on her shoulder and checking for vital signs. She was breathing. Hell, her eyes were open. The girl was simply catatonic, or perhaps simply overwhelmed to the point where she had lost focus on her surroundings.

"Zea!" Zeke waved a hand in front of her face and snapped his fingers. "Hey, you okay? You wanna rest, just say so, but don't drop to the ground without a word like that!"
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Unread postby Kai » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:18 pm

Zea had just been thinking about Zeke. What a coincidence, here he was.

It took her a moment to realize he'd been here the whole time, and she still didn't really give any thought to what he was doing or saying. Checking to see if she was dead or possessed or insane or any of the other number of conditions she was constantly on the edge of. It didn't matter. She wasn't dead, and he'd figure it out. He was... saying something. A tiny frown creased her forehead as she tried to figure out what he could possibly want.

Oh, whoops, she thought. I guess I fell, didn't I.

At least his hat looked okay. He was a hired gun; certainly he had ways of cleaning blood from his clothing. Zea should have thought of that before. When he snapped his fingers to get her to look at him, she managed to focus her attention.

"Hey, it's you," She looked up at him, craning her neck to focus on him so close above her. Very suddenly she smiled, pride in what they'd done outshining the exhaustion and chaos of her thoughts. "We did it. They're gone. There were so many..." She sighed and the smile faded from her expression, though the satisfaction remained. "We got them."

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Unread postby Kelne » Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:12 am

"I think we ought to bring Zea in on this," Cerene said, "She knows more about the whole death thing than the rest of us put together." Always assuming Zea was in any condition to help anybody at the moment. Trying to solve the problem her way hadn't worked, and she figured they ought to put a bit of thought into the next attempt. Michael didn't seem to be getting any deader (random amulet attacks aside), so they could probably afford to take a little time here.

She flicked a glance towards Ahearn to make sure he wasn't trying to slip away in the confusion. That would be all they needed to complete a bloody awful day. She still didn't want to leave Solis alone with him. So she called in a bit of help.

As Cerene completed the summoning, a large black cat popped into existence without fanfare. "Watch him," Cerene said grimly. Picking up on her summoner's tightly controlled anger, the cat fixed Ahearn with an unblinking stare, tail swishing as she waited for him to make a move. With their captive firmly under guard, Cerene headed for the house.

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Unread postby Archmage » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:22 pm

"Uh, yeah," replied Zeke, not entirely sure what to say. It was a strange definition of victory. He'd never performed an exorcism before. Typically he declared himself successful when someone was dead, and that was the end of the story. What happened to his marks after their hearts stopped beating had never been a concern before. It suddenly occurred to him that if people with "unfinished business" on the material plane were more likely to hang around as ghosts that he might be responsible for indirectly creating a huge number of them.

He decided not to think about that any further. He somehow doubted his daughter would approve. On the other hand, if he'd thought of it, she probably had too.

"Dead people are your department, so if you're calling this success, I'm gonna have to go along with it," Zeke continued with a shrug. "But you don't look so great. This building could collapse any minute. We've got to get the hell out. Need a hand?"
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Unread postby Kai » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:00 pm

"Hm? Oh," Zea replied. Practical matters. Of course. The building was unstable. Could collapse. They'd die. That wouldn't be good. Zea was certain her friends would not approve. She wondered what they were doing. Taking care of the live ones? Whatever. They could be trusted with it. The necromancer had done her part and now she was finished for the evening. Or so she thought.

With a monumental effort of will, Zea rolled over onto her side and pushed herself up into a sitting position. After closing her eyes and silently appraising what strength she had left, Zea decided she might need a hand after all. "I think... I do." She put out her hand for his and managed to get herself to her feet. "Oh, and before we get back..." Zea began. "Thanks for helping. I couldn't have gotten so many without you." She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze before letting go of him. "Guess we'd better go see what the others are up t--"

And there was the sound of someone coming up the stairs. They must have been able to sense that the ritual was done. Zea couldn't imagine what they would want, unless they were just checking to make sure the Mazuos hadn't gotten themselves killed.

"Cerene?" she asked. "S'going on?"

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Unread postby Kelne » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:41 pm

Cerene resisted the cliched comment, that Zea looked like hell. She was no doubt well aware of that, and telling her so would only annoy her.

"Well, we've caught Ahearn," she said, "He's a complete whacko. Had some lunatic plan to kick the gods in the groin. Metaphorically speaking." The details on Ahearn could wait, frankly.

"Unfortunately, Michael's spontaneously fallen over dead. His spirit's still floating around, but we haven't been able to fix him. I hate to put you back to work so soon, but we could use an expert opinion." She looked stern for a moment, "Take any time you need to recover first, though. He's not going anywhere."

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Unread postby Kai » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:03 pm

"I-- what? Damn it..." Zea reached up and pressed her fingertips into her eyelids. "Again?"

Zea was not surprised to learn that Ahearn had some bizarre plan and on another evening--probably as soon as tomorrow--Zea would be only too happy to deliver the judgment of the gods to the lunatic they'd run across. Even now Zea had the vague desire to bury him alive. Just a passing fancy, though... she didn't have the energy for much more.

"Just... just kill Ahearn. He wants to kick the gods in the groin, we'd best send him on. If you don't do it I will, and if I have to do one more thing tonight I'm going to start getting crabby." She put her hands on her hips and looked down at the floor. "As for Michael..." she stared down and shrugged, at a loss. "I don't know. I'll take a look. He's already surprised me once on this trip. Maybe he'll do it again."

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Unread postby Archmage » Thu Jun 05, 2008 2:46 pm

"Your friend," Zeke noted, "is starting to make a habit of death. Strange hobby. Oughta find a better one. Less startling for your friends."

The suggestion that this Ahern, whoever he was, simply needed to die was a little more up Zeke's alley than the previous arcane ritual nonsense. Channeling the spirits and the astral was not where his skills had been honed for the past fourty-odd years. Shooting people in the head was more fun. Then again, he'd had the opportunity to share something with his daughter today. He hadn't planned to engage in father-daughter bonding on this kind of spiritual level, exactly, but it worked. It was suitably weird. And somehow Zeke got the impression that this was the kind of "intimate" contact that his daughter would prefer. It struck him as more fitting than sitting down for coffee or whatever it was that normal dads did.

Which, now that Zeke was thinking about it, was something farther outside his expertise than even magic. What the hell did normal fathers do? He supposed that, in some sense, he was lucky that his daughter was equally far from normal. She wouldn't expect him to know. She probably didn't know herself.

The mercenary's arms and legs burned with residual energy from acting as Zea's mana source, but by this point it was no worse than the dull ache of a few miles' run. He suspected that it was going to get worse if he exerted himself again, but the alternative was to let some maniac with a vendetta against the gods put a bunch of uninvolved people in the crossfire during his personal war with divinity. Fighting the gods was futile, and Zeke would ordinarily let such people live out their nihilism in peace. Unfortunately, this lunatic was taking others down with him, and that would never do.

Zeke threw his arm around Zea's shoulders, intending to help her stand whether she claimed to need his assistance or not. "Lead on, Cerene. It sounds like we've got a mess to clean up."
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Unread postby Kelne » Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:43 pm

After making sure that nobody was overexerting themselves, Cerene led the way back downstairs, "No offence," she said, "But I'll deal with Ahearn. I'm not comfortable with killing people in cold blood, or letting others do it for me." She seemed quite determined on that point.

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Unread postby Kai » Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:44 pm

Zea rolled her eyes at Cerene's moral sensibilities, but didn't say anything. If she didn't feel that way she wouldn't be Cerene, and there was no use judging her for it.

On the way down the weary necromancer had to rely on her father's support more than she'd like, but she couldn't really trust the railing in case she stumbled. It was as charred and brittle as everything else in this place. When they finally made it out, Zea stood smeared with blood and soot, leaning on Zeke with crushed maggots on the soles of their shoes. For all that they looked the worst, Michael clearly won the prize.

The young garoujin lay in the grass next to a man Zea had not met, but knew must be Ahearn. His laughter had died down to a distracted chuckle, but he still evidently wasn't mentally present. It was just as well. Zea didn't have the strength to drive him insane before killing him, and perhaps it was a blessing that something else had done it for her. There was some variety of summoned creature watching Ahearn, and Solis wore that same mix of anger and anxiety that she remembered from the night he and the others had taken her from that cult a year back.

Poor bastard. Can't seem to catch a break from random shit happening to his friends.

Her eyes scanned about. "I don't see Michael. If he were dead and floating around I would. His body doesn't look to be doing him much good at the moment, though." She rubbed her temple with two fingers. "So can someone tell me what happened? What makes you think he's still around?"

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Unread postby Kelne » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:25 am

"Well, he's been talking to us," Cerene said simply, "Although only to one of us at a time. I'd thought the sudden collapse might be linked to the disappearance of that rune that was on his arm. I thought it had transferred itself to an amulet, but it tried to eat him when I put it around his neck, so..." she shrugged helplessly and indicated the smashed pieces, then the second amulet which Solis was watching as if it were some sort of venomous snake, "We're holding off on doing anything with the second suspicious glowing amulet for now."

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Nakibe
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Unread postby Nakibe » Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:17 am

Solis looks over at Zea as she enters and talks to Cerene. Its funny he thinks I leave that girl alone for FIVE MINUTES and she comes back looking like death warmed over. "We're pretty sure he's in here." he says as he holds out his amulet. It occured to him for some odd reason that his neck felt strange now. Not quite itchy but... he'd had this thing for years, and it was sort of odd to have to take it off now.

"As she said, after the last one, I'm not sure what'd be safe to try. Thought up a few ideas, but nothing we could USE to get Michael back into his body.

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Besyanteo
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Unread postby Besyanteo » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:31 am

This was distressing. So, what, he was in a jewel on a string, and his body was off to one side, just laying around. He was really starting to feel sorry for himself... and then Zea walked out of the house. Solis could hear him say:

"Wow, Zea looks like hell. What happened?"

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Unread postby Kai » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:15 pm

"Uh...." was all Zea could say. "Wait, what?" She blinked a few times. She was tired and it was taking a while for things to sink in. "I... I mean, shouldn't an enchanter handle this? Guess we don't have one." She stepped away from Zeke and unceremoniously plunked down in the grass next to Michael's body. Ordinarily it would be a simple matter to preserve the body until she could think of something to do, since she wasn't sure how long it would last without its owner in it.

With a sigh she simply lay back in the grass. When she spoke it was directed at no one in particular, or perhaps even the night sky above her. "He doesn't seem to be decaying, which means his body isn't dead. It just isn't doing anything. Let's hope it doesn't start." She lifted her hand to... do something that she immediately forgot, and so she let the hand drop back into the grass. "My first plan would be what Sorune and I did. I open up my aura enough to let him in if he can, and once in me... something. We do something that ends with him in his body."

Too tired to think of real solid plans, her mind wandered from possibility to possibility. "Native soul accepted first. Priority. But.... no, no good. Too much foreign energy keeps it from going back so I can't... yeah. Native soul accepted elsewhere. Why there? Solis," she said, finally directly acknowledging that other people were present. "Tell me about where he is. What is that thing?"

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Unread postby Nakibe » Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:41 pm

Solis looked over the amulet for the first time in years, remembering what it would do... "Oh, its an amulet I got years ago. All its ever done was help me to focus my aura to stop spells on occasion. That's... about it. Its almost a good luck charm for me about now."

Even so, Solis wondered how safe it was to be near it now, if Michael really WAS inside it. None of this was even remotely in his own experience, and it looked like Zea wasn't much better at puzzling this one out. He just hoped that something simple would work well enough for them.

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Unread postby Archmage » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:28 pm

Zeke glared sternly at his daughter. "You're in no condition to...to...co-habitate, or whatever, with another person's soul! I don't care how old you are, I'm..."

The mercenary paused. This was unlike anything he had ever had to do before.

"I'm putting my foot down. No. You can't do it. We'll think of something that doesn't involve you risking your life, too."
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Unread postby Kai » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:58 pm

Zea propped herself up on her elbows and stared open-mouthed at Zeke. No one talked to her like that! She was a necromancer and a priestess and a servant of the god of death in her own right! No one had simply forbidden her anything in years! Who exactly did this mercenary think he was?

Her father was exactly who he thought he was.. And he was right. If she let one spirit in, she'd fall under a whole tide of them, and she wasn't sure what could be done about that, weak as she was. Zeke didn't precisely know what he was talking about, and he didn't have nearly the experience she did with this. But he was still right.

Zea's mouth snapped shut audibly, and she dropped her gaze down toward the grass between her fingers. "Fine," she told him. "Does anyone else have a better idea?"

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Unread postby Archmage » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:05 pm

Zeke had done a lot of things in his years alive on Gaera, but being able to invoke the power of fatherhood to stop someone from doing something was a new feeling.

Whoa.

He had to be careful not to let this go to his head. He knew that was how people turned into bad fathers, throwing around forbidding words instead of encouraging ones. Then again, he wasn't really sure how much he could affect his daughter at this point, having missed most of her formative years. Still, it was not a good idea to chance this sort of thing. He might somehow manage to ruin her anyway. Being a dad was tricky business. No wonder Quinn had decided in his stead that he would want no part of it.

"We'll take Michael's body and the amulet to the next town," Zeke suggested, "and look for somebody that can help. You didn't seem to think he was in any danger of actually dying, and while I have no idea what's going on here, we're gonna need some serious magic to fix it, right? This is like any other medic job. You slap a bandage on it until you can get to a real doc. And what we're gonna need here is a real doc. You can't fix this kind of shit up in the field."
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