RP:Back to the manor

Part of the A Dream of Tyranny Arc

Coral Castle

Desparrow had come to the remains of the castle through which one has to pass in order to get to his home several days after the massacre that left numbers untold dead, and afflicted by the curse. That battle in the end was victorious for the warlock, resulting in the diminishing numbers of the guard, and the death of the guard and even increased the numbers of lycanthropes both in the city, and in his pack. For now they were left in Mihael’s tower, for the purpose of storage and training. When he came here he had halted at the edge of the ruins, unsure of what to do for there was a point where he felt safe but going further and he felt this pull on him. Something was very wrong here, he could feel it.

Arcos was waiting here in the shadows, powerful illusions bending the light away from him to create a supernatural darkness, rendering him invisible. He had observed the city and the chaos Desparrow had brought, and he was not disappointed. However, coming here had been a humbling and enlightening experience for the arcane scholar. "It's a curse," Arcos said, the tendrils of shadows falling away from him as the magic dissipated. A few long strides later and he was by the lycan's side. "I'm sure you can feel it. Animals stay away from this area. They can feel it too. I'm sure the wolf inside of you is telling you this place is dangerous." The dark avian let his eyes dance over the area as if he could see the curse reaching out to snuff the life-force from whatever entered. "Somebody powerful doesn't want you here."

Desparrow nodded, “Indeed it is. Its powerful, dangerous.” He wanted to go further but he didn’t know how long he could last under the strain of the curse gradually making him weaker. “When I go in I feel my strength being sapped away, but when I’m not in it I feel fine. There is a lot of important things in my home that I need. For you as well, research, tools. I also need to check to see if my vampiric son is safe as well!” he growled then, thinking of the danger but that strong part of him, the beast knew it wasn’t good and instilled a very real fear in him that made him hesitate. “I’m surprised you are here Arcos.”

Arcos allowed his scarlet eyes to drift from the ruins to the path behind them, a slight feeling of paranoia building in his mind. "It's likely attached to the building itself..." Seeing nothing behind him, the dark avian turned back to the castle and took and few steps closer, letting the aura of the curse flow over him. "I've been in the city for a few days," Arcos said to Desparrow, letting his gaze flicker over to him, "Coming here was a tactical choice. Assassins or malcontents could have been lying in wait, it was advantageous to scout this place out." Turning back to the castle, he raised a pale finger to point at the clouds. "You see that? Death hovers over this place like vengeful spirit. Even the plants have all died. Only a priest of Vakmatharas could have summoned such magic, and even then this would require a ritual of some sort." Arcos sighed, knowing this was beyond his ability to conjure and therefor beyond his knowledge to disspell. "If we must go inside then we must act in haste. I can theoretically create a buffer between us... by defusing my mana I can replicate life energy and the curse should drain this from me before it begins to kill us."

Desparrow rose a brow when he mentioned he has been around a few days, knowing he could have used the avian’s help when he attacked the guard on Friday night. Still that was over, several days ago and it as far as he knew was a successful mission. “Alright then, if you think you can do that, I can offer you my energy, so you aren’t expending too much of your own, since as you know.. I’m a battery.” With that he expelled ether in a thick mist, like a fungus releasing a cloud of spores is how it appeared, each mote a particle of pure raw magic produced in his own body. On silent command by his will alone would it condense into ribbons and stream to Arcos’ form and if he allowed wreathe the dark avian and feed him the power. “When you are ready, we can move forward, there is quite a bit of things that I need to retrieve, but I fear that all of my help is dead so there is that.” He sighed then, thinking of all the maids that would be already rotting in his hall, and the disease ‘stew’ consisting of a few diseased rotting carcasses he had hidden away only empowered by this curse.

Arcos exhaled before he shook his body loose. This was going to be difficult and he knew he would have no room for mistakes. "Hud i enaid... Hud i enaid... Hud i enaid..." A colorless mist began to form an aura around Arcos and Desparrow and once Arcos saw that his spell was working, he placed his hand on Desparrow's back and began to use his mana first. "Lead the way. I should be able to hold this up long enough to get everything out." The arcane scholar began to fill with excitement. There was a real chance they would die trying to venture into the heart of the curse. A mixture of envy and admiration accompanied this excitement and his desire to understand to magic behind the curse was growing. Perhaps later he would investigate deeper in an attempt to discover the malefactor behind this blight but he was wary of finding out too much. "Hud i enaid." he began to chant again, the aura growing thicker with the addition of Desparrow's energy.

Desparrow grinned when he became wreathed in the aura and feeling its strength decided to move forward into the cursed area. Arcos’ touch sent chills up his spine if only because of his latent attraction towards the male but like they had agreed he would push aside his feelings. The further he ventured into the area, although familiar to him it was unreal the level of death. Every small critter was dead, though it was when he got closer to home that the reek of death was overwhelming to his keen senses and he figured Arcos would easily pick up on it as well. Even around his home there were decaying corpses of his mana gorged wolves, and it was magic he would salvage immediately. Pulling out his stone, the one that Linn gave him which has served as a source for his extra mana to go into he would steal away the magic he fed into his subjects. Arcos would see him hold the crystal and when he placed a hand upon a wolf ribbons of ether would flow from the corpse into the crystal and the stone would start to grow a bit while the beast shrank until it was the size of an average wolf.

Arcos took his hand away from Desparrow's back only while he worked to salvage the mana from his wolves. He remained stoic, chanting "Hud i enaid" a few more times before he grew silent. Everything was dead here, he was sure of it, but he couldn't help but feel like something was scurrying through the halls. Scarlet eyes were fixed on the threshold of the room, carefully watching for whatever horror could be lingering here in this inhospitable abyss. He would voice his concern to the lycan soon, however, for the time being he would concentrate on his spell, continuing his chant until Desparrow was ready to move.

Desparrow would move from corpse to corpse until he had absorbed the magic from every single one. Each of his pack members dead and there was nothing he could do, not even stay to bury them. It was sad but something he would have to mourn elsewhere. When the magic was taken back the crystal was as large as the space between his fingertips and his elbow which was something for sure. Not as much as he had absorbed from his forest home but still formidable. After this he moved forward into his butchered home, first grabbing several pillows and wrenching the cases from them as bags of which he would use to hold his things. One immediately was used for the crystal but after that he passed by the corpses of his maids to get to the back room off the side of the kitchen. “We will have to work quick, there are a lot of things.”

Arcos jerked his head in Desparrow's direction before he nodded his head. At this point, Arcos's pupils would be fully constricted as his brain functioned at peek capacity. Vigilance and discipline, he knew, would be the keys the getting out of this without any hiccups. "I could probably carry a light load," he informed, "But I must remain unencumbered to keep this spell up. If it fails, I calculate that we will have than an hour before this curse saps our strength and we die." He took one last look around the room before he motioned for the door. "Are you ready? Sensory adaptation is a skill I picked up but the scent of death will still cause me nausea if I stay too long." When he was ready, Arcos would move behind Desparrow and place his hand on his back again, creating a direct current of magic between the two. Once again, his chanting would echo through the halls as the curse drained away the replicated life-force that surrounded them.

Desparrow nodded, figuring that he would grab only what he deemed the most important for now, maybe come back later. As he neared that room with the padlock he braced himself. Raising a hand and bringing it down the chains gave way under his might and slid to the floor allowing the door to slowly swing open. Inside the dimly lit room was a small personal library worth of book, scriptures, scrolls and other texts that spoke of all manner of research. First books to be grabbed were the ones that he wrote himself on mutation and the art behind hit so far. Next he grabbed several translated texts on witchcraft, one of them even containing potential cures for vampirism. Next was anything he recognized as containing information on the art and practice of blood magic. Beyond that it was really pick and choose but he two of the cases were already filled. “There is so much, we have to pick and choose at this point. What matters to you most?”

nodded, figuring that he would grab only what he deemed the most important for now, maybe come back later. As he neared that room with the padlock he braced himself. Raising a hand and bringing it down the chains gave way under his might and slid to the floor allowing the door to slowly swing open. Inside the dimly lit room was a small personal library worth of book, scriptures, scrolls and other texts that spoke of all manner of research. First books to be grabbed were the ones that he wrote himself on mutation and the art behind hit so far. Next he grabbed several translated texts on witchcraft, one of them even containing potential cures for vampirism. Next was anything he recognized as containing information on the art and practice of blood magic. Beyond that it was really pick and choose but he two of the cases were already filled. “There is so much, we have to pick and choose at this point. What matters to you most?”

Desparrow had made sure to grab what he could, especially the texts he knew were from his uncle, or great uncle whichever it was Deavenor. His special leather bound tomes in which he detailed his planar travels. He had grabbed the majority of them, believing that he had every last one when in fact there were a few texts, mostly copies but within them contained duplicate information of how he managed planar travel. On top of that was what he found and what he brought back with him. Sure the same information could be described in one of the diaries that were now in Des’ possession but he did believe that he had them all. Just meant that if Gevurah got to it first she would have some interesting information at her disposal. In moments he grabbed up as much as he could, filling the bags he had until he could carry no more. “I believe I have all that we need, all that could be dangerous against us.” Little did he know there would indeed be some interesting valuables when it came to decipherable text written in draconic and drow.

Arcos had never taken stock of Desparrow's texts, so anything he didn't account for would go unnoticed by the scholar. His breathing was becoming heavy now and a band of sweat was forming on his brow, Holding up his improvised spell was starting to become extremely taxing for him. "Just a little longer..." He promised himself, feeling the curse eating away as the cloud of life-energy at an accelerated rate. Moving behind Desparrow he placed his hand on his back once more. "Anything else? I can buy us five more minutes at most but after that we must rely on our own willpower to survive."

Desparrow hadn’t translated all the text so he didn’t know exactly what was in them himself and therefore only took had he had believed to be surely important. There was probably text on many other things, forms of magic that dealt with astral projection and possibly even scrying. Regardless he had what he believed and it would take them several minutes to get back out at this rate so he knew they had to be quick. “It is alright. I am certain we have what is important, these should be more than enough for what we need and we should be without danger. We had best head out.” What troubled him was the fact there was no sign of his son. No scent, no noise, he wondered if the boy had run away at the signs of danger. Arcos nodded as he pressed his weight against him, using Desparrow to assist his movement. Some time around the five minuet mark the spell would slowly fizzle to nothing and the death curse of Vakmatharas would grip Arcos like a giant spectral hand, taking the breath right out of him. He gasped once before he recomposed himself, removing his hand from the lycan's back as they headed for the exit. "No sign of your son?" He asked, taking his mind from the horribly uncomfortable feeling it gave him. "I could... "He paused, catching his breath again, "I could send some feelers out to look for him. Information on anyone who meets his description..."

Desparrow would put all the bags into a single hand in order to better support Arcos when the burden became too great to bear. The curse even pushed down on him, death’s grip closing around him as though it didn’t want him to go and instead be another victim. “No.. I don’t want people knowing that I might have a weakness. Unless of course you will go a more secure route. I don’t sense him, I’ll certainly be on the lookout but I myself have to lay low after the events of the last full moon.” He grinned then, even though it was getting more difficult to move with the end so close in sight. Arcos chuckled, "Of course I plan on being secretive. Nobody knows Arcos Adler has anything to do with the scourge of Cenril. If I start asking around for this information my men will mostly likely assume I'm just digging up dirt on you again." He raised his head to look for the door. "Almost there," he said, the light at the end of the tunnel giving him the strength he needed to make it. "I know of a few places you could hide in Rynvale should your location become compromised, but I suggest we not be seen in public together. The longer we can hide our alliance the longer I can act in the open for you."

Desparrow found himself laughing as well, after the comments his companion made. “Rynvale huh? The night that I attacked, Ranok of Rynvale was there. I don’t know if it’s the best place but it is certainly worth a shot.” It did disturb him a bit that the man had been looking for dirt on him once before but it was probably something he covered in a prior conversation he just couldn’t remember. A burst of strength and they would make it to the door and a good deal beyond, eventually out of the coral castle into the safety beyond the radius of the cursed area. It was there that Des would slip to his knees and allow the bags to fall from his grasp, with some of the books even spilling out. “That place is certainly dangerous. My help didn’t stand a chance.” He was referring to the many dead maids, and his wolves.

Arcos also let his composure finally fold as he fell to his knees alongside Desparrow, the avian wiping his brow before his scarlet eyes drifted back to the house. "It's a masterpiece," He said, "I want to know who placed it. I want to watch this person work and study his art. However, at the same time I fear for my safety around a person who can invoke the power of Vakmatharas to such a degree. Whoever did this is surely not a person we can ignore... If only..." He trailed of as his body turned to sit on the ground. "If only."

Desparrow sadly didn’t know what Gevurah was capable of and therefore could not pin this work on her. “I don’t know who did it, so that I cannot help you with, which is too bad really. Whoever it is, is certainly quite powerful, and could be an ally that has many uses. Indeed if only he or she were easily found.” He then looked to his compatriot; saw the effort that he had put forth. “It is too bad, but surely it won’t go ignored. Whoever put this here wants people warded away from it, so if it is kept under surveillance, surely the answer will come in time. They will return for this place.”

Arcos nodded slowly. He was in concurrence with everything he was saying. "Absolutely, however, whoever we place here will have to be careful that they aren't spotted. I have a feeling that this person didn't work alone. Perhaps if I look around I can find some evidence... But today's work here is done. We should get these books to a safe place before somebody spots us." Having said that the arcane scholar picked himself back up and held a hand out for Desparrow.

Desparrow gathered up the books before taking the hand offered and getting to his feet. “Much appreciated. I actually know a place, I’ll have to stash the books until the tide calms but there is a place prepared inside the cliff overlooking the sea. Concealed by a boulder it was blasted out by Emilia. Thankfully for that, since I have a backup there just in case my home became too dangerous. It was actually meant to be our base of operations. No one but myself knows about it, well and now you.” He grinned at the idea he had his own secret hiding place.