Azri shrugged slightly. "Sounds Osirian." she mused, but that was her best guess for now. Still, though, she mostly kept quiet - content to let Mihara do the talking for now. Even so, she could probably drop her disguise at some point as a way of... motivating... the corpse.
Acting really snotty, for someone nailed to a door in an ex-bandit fortress. To be fair, I expected him to talk someway more...undead-y? Ok, well, Az doesn't sound like that, either, but she's different.
The half-fiend waits for Foxy to handle the situation, keeping her mouth shut to avoid upsetting the ghast.
"Please accept my apologies. I come from lands far away from this place, in the country of Tian, across the ocean. I fear your name is not one I have heard before. Still, it sounds like the name of an important man. It is regretful that we must find ourselves conversing with you in such a state. May I ask what cruel twist of fate has led to your presence here in such a state?"
Though she hides it well, Mihara's countenance is challenged by such a unique interlocutor.
Until he has proven to be a foe, I must give this man the benefit of the doubt. When the dead can speak, they can think. When the dead can think, they can choose. When the dead can choose, they can choose peace.
The Ghoul's lip curled in disdain. "Is this time so uneducated that none even know my name? Pah. But since it does not serve my purpose, I shall tell you how this came to be. I travelled here, recently, from my home land due to...differences of opinion." The creature chuckled, a low, dry sound.
"I thought to simply feed and leave this forsaken rock of an island for more preferable climates, but as I fed I was captured. Apparently the leader of these fools assumed I was native, and old, and could answer some of his questions. He nailed me to this door to block the passage down and tried to question me. Pathetic. I have lived long enough that such as this will not be my end."
Azri nodded. "I see, I see." she said. Well, that sealed it - she had no intention of simply allowing a likely murderer to roam free. This city was now under the protection of her family, after all. "Well, everyone likes learning new things." With her back to the others, she moved a hand up to her face, then lifted it away - and her mortal visage with it. For just a moment, Azri smiled with her real face - and then she wiped her hand across her face again, restoring the mortal look.
"Feed?" Selena raises an eyebrow at the ghast with the pompous name.
It doesn't take a genius to guess what he eats...I suppose there's the slight chance he's good like Az, or at least he doesn't go around eating people. Still, I'm more worried if he's just talk or he's actually dangerous.
Looking at Azri with renewed interest, the Ghoul replied, "Yes, feed. It's messier than how your kind do so, baby succubus, but I always felt you missed the best parts." The creature chuckled. "Elven livers are especially delectable."
How abhorrent!
"I favor chicken, myself." Mihara observes flatly. "What do you seek, Armiharkep? Surely, you have a purpose to stand flagrantly against death as you do, do you?"
Aibek's mind filled with stories, but could not pull up anything relevant though felt unsure if this was due to lack of knowledge, the...creature's past having no relevance that has been transmitted, or the anxiety and panic swirling back at the edges of the witchwolf's mind.
The long teeth and claws...and the silver nails...the casual discussion of eating people -- it felt like a nightmare any pup raised in a not-evil werewolf community would be warned against as the results of going down the wrong path. Even though Aibek could clearly see that it was a ghast before them, the similarities made the witchwolf shudder quietly and turned away, shadows still clenched tightly in hand.
"Unless the vault that has what the kobold's asked for is behind Armi, then questioning them can wait - since they're not going anywhere - I would not want to keep potential allies waiting for... Aibek's quiet words drifted off, before taking slow step forwards to resume the search...
Selena tries, with all her patience, to hold back to ask the ghast how her "kind" would feed like. However, she can't help to mutter to herself, accompanied by the slight buzzing of wasps.
"That's murder, not feeding, you monster..."
The creature hissed out a laugh in genuine mirth. "Murder, lunch, it's much the same thing. You kill plants and animals to survive. I must kill things with a bit more flavour. Regrettable, I suppose, but one of the gifts of my kind - once the change is all done, regret is one of the first to go."
Glancing at Aibek, it whispers, "Armi? How dares such a timid, whining little creature call me so informally? You think these bonds will hold forever? I will be free at some point, and such insults shall be answered."
Azri took a few steps forward, raising her hands. One crackled with electricity, the power to fry his body where he stood. The other was surrounded by negative energy, about the only thing most undead really NEEDED in order to function. An odd reversal of the powers of life and death... but it was what it was. "...Huh." she said thoughtfully. "Selena, I take it you are not overly fond of him?"
Aibek chuckled darkly, but did not turn around. Nightmares getting annoyed at their names being trivialized really does shrink them. Aibek, having only used the family name for so long, found the ghast's annoyance funny.
Light in tone, Aibek replied, "Your name means nothing here anymore, any significance you think it has either didn't exist or has been easily erased. You look like the end of a moral tale told to children of what will happen if they are greedy and haughty. I have more pressing things to mind than the full given name of one so far gone and whose bonds are the now the least of their problems. I'm going to look for the vault now...
Aibek moved towards the door, looking around...
"Yes, I think you're quite right, Aibek. Mihara agrees, turning away from the dead man and walking off. "I hoped there might be enough civility left in this one that we might come to some kind of beneficial agreement, but clearly, what remains here is merely a husk full of cruelty. Azri, Nigrum, if you would? I believe Armi here has suffered undeath long enough," she adds, emphasizing the informal nickname that so irritated the ghast.
"Yup,not at all." the half-succubus shrugs. "But whatever. I don't really care what a dead guy nailed to a wall has to say, really."
Selena continues, reacquiring her cool "I doubt that stabbing will work, but as I said, I don't care for the guy." the horned woman says, moving to the door she came back in, and waving without turning her back.
""
Azri raised the hand with lightning in it, and electricity began to flow out of her hand and towards the pinned Ghast's body. There was no particular expression on Azri's face - having made her judgment, her overall bearing suggested she was doing nothing more interesting than getting rid of a pest that just so happened to have infested a bit of the area.
The create snarled, roared, and twisted, but could not avoid the electrical assault. It took a surprising number of electrical bolts to kill the thing, but eventually it was dead - the gaping chest wound where it's heart had once been a blackened, ruined mass that did nothing for the general smell.
"What a thoroughly unpleasant character. I'm quite glad I never met him of his living. Shall we proceed?"
Azri roasted the ghast's body a few more times for good measure before finally getting to work on thoroughly dismembering it. Sadly, she couldn't simply set it on fire, but oh well. The point was, she had no intention of allowing the corpse to reanimate in any way, shape, or form.
"Ready." she finally announced.
Aibek nodded, not bothering to hide how pleased and amused at the others using 'Armi' or impressed with how quickly Azri dispatched the ghast.
"Do we want to check behind the door Armi's attached to first? Then we can cross that off and get away from that and the smell...
Before she can leave the room, Azri starts zapping the thing to death. Moving to the smoldering corpse, the half-succubus gives it a critical look and pokes at it. "I think the whole 'moral tale for children' thing was quite appropriate, Aibek. I can say that today, boys and girls, we learned what happens when you're an @ss and eat people: you get nailed to a door, and then shot to death with thunders." Selena chuckles, opening the door the ghast was on.
"Nailed to an old door.
Acting mighty and great, ha!
Out of my way, fool."
As she reciding, Mihara rolls up the piece of parchment and tucks it, alongside her inkpen, into her bag.
"Onwards it is," she says, before crossing the threshold into the next room.
Aibek follows the others to check the room, stepping through cautiously and looking around...
It takes some effort to open Armi's door - the monster nailed to it had literally been keeping it shut. Selena soon pulled it free enough to open, however, revealing the stairwell leading down into passageways beneath the Arsenal.
"Well, not-Yarls said the egg was in the vaults, so I guess we're on the right track. Let's go!" Selena chirps, going down the stairs and keeping an eye open for dangers.
...emphasis on an eye.
The stairs lead down to a surprisingly well cleared cellar. Thick, stone walls support to the huge building above. The high ceilings are vaulted and of heavy construction. At the bottom of the stairs a corridor continues running east, a pair of heavy doors at the end. To the south a corridor stretches as far as you can see, four doors visible along it's length. The corridor is pitch black, with no signs of torches and no light from above seeping down.
"Hm - check the smaller doors first, you think?" Azri suggested, looking down that way. "Just to be sure nothing nasty is waiting there?"
"Okay! If we find some other jerk on the doors, let's just ignore him this time." Selena says, walking close to the closest of the little doors and trying to open it.
Nigrum brings up the rear shaking a number of nails in his hand.
"Is it desecration to steal from a dead man after you killed him, again? Or is that salvage?"
"In this case, I would call it a bounty." Mihara shrugs, following the party.
The room Selena opens is...odd. A strange, greasy feeling hangs in the air. Circles or runes form three circles down the length of the room, each with some kind of bench or altar in there centre. More Runes, each glowing dimly in the dark, cover the walls and ceiling. Oddly, the ceiling has been blackened by soot and ash, caked in layers over the years, in circles above the altars.
"Huh." Azri said, looking curiously into the room... and finding herself utterly unaware of whatever they were actually for. "...Well, Rule Number One of Magic Circles: Never cross or break the circle unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing." And with that, she prudently refrained from entering the room.
Aibek peeked in after the others. "Nicely decorated, though I imagine you'll want to do something about the ceiling. That ash likely means something...unpleasant." the witchwolf said while looking around from near the door, though made no move to go further.
"You seem quite excited Ayreth, think you can make use of it, Ayreth?" Aibek asked while looking towards the other doors...
"How fascinating!" Mihara exclaims, inspecting the circles and failing to make any sense of them.
"It's interesting," Mihara observes, "I've seen one of my aunts work with something similar to these, but the symbols were completely different..."
"I have to agree with Aibek, that said. That ceiling needs to be cleaned, and sooner rather than later."
|
"Hmm? Oh, the circles can help with spells, though there is more risk as you can see." Ayreth stops suddenly in the middle of the room to ponder Aibek's question. "I'm not sure what I'd do with them. Maybe if one were infusing items with magic....," her voice trails off.
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"Does 'More risk' means you end up like that soot on the ceiling?" Selena asks Ayreth, eyeing the room from the outside with Ayreth "Still, maybe this place could come in handy when we get the city back up."
"Eh, at least it isn't some guy charred up there, then." Selena comments, throwing another glance at the room "Beside soot, if we haven't found anything we should move on."
When the party is ready, Selena opens up another of the small doors in the corridor.
Azri followed along, keeping her cursed eyes ready to interfere with anything that jumped out at them. She did, after all, want to protect the rest of her family from anything else that might be down here.
The door opens to yet another odd smell. Sharp and harshly chemical, it comes from the shelves that fill this chamber and the various now rotten bags and containers, most likely used for creating certain items and metallurgical processes.
Beyond the chamber you're in another door is in the wall, open, and a fire is lit beyond it.
"You know, just once, I'd like to investigate a perfumery or flower plantation. It'd be a nice change of pace," Mihara whispers, covering her nose with her hand.
She sneaks ahead and attempts to peer into the next room unseen, only to trip over some fallen tool or other and give a surprised yelp.
Azri followed Mihara into the room, looking around with interest. "You know, this place could be pretty useful in the future." she mused thoughtfully. "If we fix it up well enough. I was expecting more of just a bunch of storage rooms, but this place is pretty practical." The lich sounded rather cheery about this, and headed across the room to peer into the fire-lit chamber.
"Wait for me Az!" Selena runs after Azri, who was entering the fire-lit room "Let's hope this fire doesn't grow legs like the ones at the Sarenite temple..."
"A good forge is always needed and appreciated."
Nigrum says offhandedly while remaining alert and ready for any new surprises such as more dead men nailed to doors.
The room beyond has been stripped bare, the remains of the fire starting to burn low. Several burnt out torches hang from the wall. In the corner a pile of rubble blocks out one corner of the room, the floor of the room above now shattered into parts down here. The vague hint of a tunnel behind the collapse suggests where Yarl's people went.
"Uh, they collapsed the entrance after they left. Wonder why they did that...didn't Yarls stay behind?" Selena asks puzzled, examining the rubble.
"I... don't think I should go any further this way." Mihara wheezes, beginning to double back. "This smell... whatever's on the air... this is horrible."