RP:For Life and Death
Summary: Linn is in the desert shrine to Vakmatharas planning an enchantment when Amabella returns from her trip to the Underdark. After revealing the purpose behind the enchantment being a step to kill Desparrow (Though no names were given; it seems to be a habit between the two) he is offered aid in exchange for a committal to Vakmatharas. The enchanter accepts, and is allowed to borrow an artifact capable of draining the life of those it touches, save for other servants of the death god.
Shrine to Vakmatharas the Supreme God of Death
Linn sat against one of the walls inside the temple to Vakmatharas in his usual gear, the fermin crew he took for mining clustered up not too far off. If they could look bored or nervous, they probably would. In one hand he wielded a bone dagger held absent-mindedly off to the side, the other held up in his view; a ring of tiny diamonds circled his hand in the air, centered on a ring of spiraled mithril wires around his finger. Above it was a wispy form of the blade drawn in strands of bright blue arcane light formed simply by twisting and concentrating his own energy into the form. Every now and then he’d manipulate the ring of floating gems to change the image, running back and forth between the form of the dagger he wielded and another foreign one. His brows were creased in some fervent determination, more than the simple concentration on the task would normally elicit. Every now and then he’d glance to the fermin crew to have his gaze quickly returned by their empty eyes that lingered on him much longer than he did on them.
Amabella more-or-less drags herself into the temple looking a complete mess. The undead woman's hair was damp with some rancid-smelling mystery liquid, and her ceremonial robes were ragged, with tears in the fabric leading down from the knees. The bottom hem was filthy, which would be expected from a trek in the underdark. Her stooges were about as fine as they could be, considering that they are little more than animated bones. They followed Amabella in a single-file march, hunching forward to either better support a massive coffin's weight, or because of the emotional distress suffered during their adventures. Amabella's perception was rather dull, as it took her a few moments longer than it should have for Linn to catch her attention. He was given a blank stare for about the same amount of time that has already passed since Amabella's entrance. "Expecting someone, Lad? Or is this just to welcome me home?" Amabella's voice sounded out without physical motion, a sign in itself that it has been a long, and arduous journey.
Linn’s head snapped around with a blink as Amabella greeted him. “Well, you’ve been out for… a while.” He evenly replied before looking back to the knife, the arcane image, the fermin, and back to Amabella again before he shook his head. “Just handling some work. Need to nail down a draining weapon.” A wave of the bone knife up in the air to put it on display. “This one’s meant to deplete constructs of their energy. Ones like uhh…” Another glance towards the crew who all turned in unison back to him. This time they didn’t look back away. “And then I’m going to make another for someone like me.” With that he returned to analyzing the tool and image that he wielded in an attempt to map out the basic work of what was to come.
Amabella didn't waste much time on the notion. She extended her right arm out towards the group of fermin while taking a few steps in their direction. Bones cracked and flesh parted from the center of Amabella's palm down to mid-forearm, exposing the spike hidden within. Darkness writhed about the artifact, distorting one's sight of anything within close proximity of it. The small horde of fermin stood in puppet-like attention before the arcane energy animating them ceased to bind their bones together. Arcs of sickly teal light shot out from within the necromantic summons' skulls, which then coalesced at the fine point of Amabella's tool. Amabella returned her arm to its normal state, with a notable change in the strength of her own animation. A curious look was given to Linn, the act and expression suiting enough to where words were not needed.
Linn didn’t look back up from his project until Amabella had taken a few steps before curiously turning to watch, eyes going wide at the sight of the black spike. So much for his test subjects. “Yeah. Kind of like that.” The implications of using a tool of Vakmatharas quickly donned on him, bringing another quick blink of realization. “If anything, that’s the preferable route.” A beat. “I need to kill someone very special and make sure his soul never comes back to this world. I can figure out enough of a way to drain away his magic, but taking his life away in the same strike will do a lot more.” He dropped the knife to pull the void-tainted crystal from his pocket, the darkness swirling within looking to almost take the whole gem against the black stone background of the temple. “Could you help me with something like that?”
Amabella scratched the back of her head, "Why not just shank the sod normally? I doubt a pass through the abyss would leave him with anything in the next life... unless you absolutely want him scrubbed clean?" Curiosity was starting to get the better of her. The stooges went about their own chores now, carrying the coffin into another chamber of the temple. Amabella walked towards the main altar and took the time to inspect it and its surroundings. A ritual dagger was lifted and considered, then replaced with a shake of the head.
Linn nodded towards Amabella as she finished her question. “Absolutely clean. Then comes the task of cleaning up after the mess he’s made. He’s already toying with incredible amounts of magic and with kinds that warp reality in ways one normally wouldn’t think of. I want to make sure he’s dead and won’t come back. That, and I don’t think he’d die normally unless completely beaten to a pulp.” A sigh as he shook his head, returning to look into the darkened crystal he wielded so often.
Amabella 's usual forwardness was staved off by wariness; this is probably not something she'd want to be overly involved with, but there is always that desire for more knowing. "Sounds... troublesome. Care elaborating at all? I'm usually all for snuffing out some unworthy bloke, but I'd at least like to have a bit more context than 'He's dangerous, and I hold animosity towards them.'"
Linn smiled weakly and nodded. “Troublesome is… an understatement. If you look around enough you’ll find a few bounties on a Desparrow. He is a particular lycan that I came to know a while ago. Since then I’ve found out that he’s lied and cheated me on some very valuable and dangerous materials.” He held up the darkened mana crystal to indicate the topic he was speaking of before tilting his head and putting it away to retrieve another one of a bright, untainted violet hue, its form like a cluster of needles rather than the solid gem that he originally possessed. “He’s also been aggressively turning others into lycans as well and destroying Cenril in the process. From what I can tell he’s only going to go further with that process.” A beat and a lighthearted ‘heh’ “I’d rather not be a dog myself. I’ve also caught him taking people against their will for who-knows-what purpose, and some of them I care for. I have a lot of reasons to want him dead if it’s not clear yet.”
Amabella opened her mouth in a little 'o' of surprise. "Gasp." This word was spoken, and not a sound effect from the writer's input. "That sounds dreadful. The rampant infection of super-rabies in general, not whatever is happening to that dreadful hive of villainy, vice-feeding, and mockery of life." Amabella stood facing the ominous statue of Death, staring at it in silence for a time. "It's been awhile coming..." she spoke more to herself than Linn, then turned to face him. Amabella's expression held an uncharacteristic sincerity to it as she addressed the man. "Pledge yourself to the natural order, and I will give you the aid you seek."
Linn couldn’t help a sigh at Amabella’s spoken ‘gasp’ with a weak ‘heh’ of his own at the moniker for lycanthropy. “Quite dreadful.” He responded with his own hint of irritation more directed at at the situation involving the lycan than Amabella. The sudden silence brought him looking back up, the lights vanishing from above his hand as his ring collapsed back into itself and respooled as he looked between Amabella and the statue. A long silence of his own followed as the next deal with death was offered to him. There was great implications to this, but there were equally great consequences of alternative methods. Eventually he unshouldered his pack and rose to his feet “Those who seek to destroy that order are hunted for good reason. I’ll do it.”
Amabella allowed herself a faint hint of happiness to curl her lips. The ritual dagger was retrieved once more, gingerly held in both hands with blade parallel to her sternum. Slow steps carried the priestess back to the open area before Vakmatharas' effigy. Amabella's voice sung out a mantra which words streamed together seamlessly. A dark fog rolled off of the undead's robes, pooled at her feet, then gathered up into the shape of a woman's blurred silhouette. What little source of light around them reflected off of the polished silver floating out from the center of Claire's billowing form. It rotated before the familiar until it was resting with the reflective surface facing skyward. The lookingglass appeared to be in a dormant state, reflecting the world before it as normal. Amabella held the ceremonial tool out above the glass and ceased her chanting. "Offer the taste and promise of one's life, and we will begin..."
Linn slowly approached the altar, his expression hesitant for several reasons. Hopefully it would simply be passed off as the living working so close to death. “To stand watch over the cycle and protect it…” he softly whispered as he came close to look into the glass. The more time he spent waiting the more conflicted he seemed, though given time he would begin to settle and relax again, finishing with a quick breath before glancing between Amabella and the mirror again. “I promise to prevent the disruption and perversion of life and death and our purposes in this world with it. Those that do so, if they can’t be stopped in life, then they will be stopped by death.” The promise was given, but a taste? He stopped short, more out of cluelessness of just how it would be given than anything.
Amabella spoke up when there was a large enough period of silence and inaction. "Grasp upon the metal with a bare hand, then place your palm flat against the glass after I remove the blade," she explained. Considering how the dagger had an undulating style to it, this would probably be almost as painful as dragging one's hand against something serrated, and minor medical treatment would be necessary afterword.
Linn pursed his lips in a thin smile with a nod. Blood it was. A brief second was taken to contemplate the most convenient hand to get sliced before he took off his left glove and gripped the ritual blade, pre-emptively pulling his tongue away from his teeth and biting them together in anticipation of the bloody swipe. The vital fluid would seem to defy the darkness of the temple, coating the blade with a bright, nearly glowing scarlet as a consequence of the saturated arcana within it. Once complete he would do as instructed, pressing the cut palm against the dark mirror.
The object did not immediately respond to the contact of blood, and the liquid was allowed to seep from the pressured wound across the smooth surface. No warning was given to allow Linn any preparation; Amabella sank the ichor-coated blade through the back of Linn's resting hand in one silent and fluid motion. Instead of metal striking against glass, the point vanished into the mirror-- the tool, and Linn's blood, was devoured by the black portal which was now opened below the man's touch. He could see the vital liquid spread out in the darkness as if it were dispersing in a pool of water. His flesh, however, was rejected. Accepted as a new loyal servant, Linn was given safety from being pulled into the waiting abyss inches from his touch.
Linn was lucky he kept his teeth clenched for when the knife went clean through his hand. The only sound he made was a sharp nasal intake with the blow before watching the blood float away into the abyss. A short silence followed as he regained the senses and for the knife to maybe be removed. “For life and death…” he whispered softly again and once released, would make his way back to his pack to get some water to clean the wound before rummaging through for cloth or the likes to bind it. Without an immediate necessity for healing he wouldn’t request it, though he wouldn’t refuse it either if Amabella saw fit.
Amabella removed the dagger as cleanly as it originally pierced through Linn's flesh. Amabella released the tool from the double grip she had upon it, and delicately placed her now-free hand over the man's fresh wound. Soft golden illumination eminated from the contact; Linn's pain would be soothed and injury mended after just a few seconds. "The oath becomes a part of you with time..." the undead speaks while turning away. The ritual tool was already 'cleaned' after exiting and reentering Linn's vision when Amabella moved to replace it upon the altar. "Calling upon Vakmatharas' aid and being a conduit for power isn't in the same manner that which arcane fomulas flow from your mind. Perhaps with use it might become as second nature as an enchantment or commanding your own body, but for now you should put an emphasis on concentration. I will walk you through past basic reanimation or enfeeblements when you are more comfortable in your role," Amabella explained at length, turning to the scholar once again. Linn was given a complex expression, which ended settling on the closest thing the undead could get to an approving smile.
Linn looked at his mended hand on the mirror for a couple more seconds before removing it, curling his fingers to ensure that it was still working properly. With a sigh he looked back to Amabella with a weak nod and smile. “It will be best not to go wild with anything. That’s more or less the reason I wound up here in the first place.” A glance over at the bone dagger left by his pack that he was readying to enchant. “But I still need to prepare something for that lycan. If we can, I’d like to work on that soon as possible.” His hesitation was already gone with the ritual, fallen under his focus on the next task at hand. In his current state he certainly seemed ready to begin learning the basic practices of serving under the death god.
Amabella did well enough keeping her expression from showing her inner confliction. Limiting the extent of her own animation was like controlling one's breathing at this point. A nervous glance passed down to her now-bloodied palm, which appeared to look through it rather than at it. "I have little use of this while running my experiments..." Amabella almost whispered to her companion. The undead tore a strip of cloth from one of her embroidered sleeves and held it ready in her off-hand. Flesh parted on its own once more, and the 'sacred' spine was revealed within the undead's arm. It was removed with care, and once Amabella's arm returned to its normal state she wrapped the strip of cloth around the base of the artifact. The process was methodical and the knot was ensured to be as tight as it could be without damaging the fabric. There would be ample space for Linn to safely grasp it with his bare hand if he so dared, though at this point he suffers little from any harm the object could possibly cause him. Amabella proffered it to her companion without word, and sent her gaze outside of the obelisk's entrance.
Linn glanced curiously at Amabella as she looked into her own arm again, staring as it parted to reveal the deathly spine once more. Another surprised hesitation as it was offered before he stepped forward to retrieve the weapon, taking the cloth-wrapped end in his bare hand before supporting it with the other still in its armor. He’d hold it up to analyze it the best he could in the darkness of the temple, feeling the edges over with cautious respect. “You’re… letting me have this?” he questioned a little nervously as he continued looking at it; it was maybe a little more than he bargained for when looking for a draining weapon, but it would certainly do.
Amabella corrected him, "-Borrow-. I am allowing you to safekeep it while I set away into my laboratory. It serves no use down there, nor would it be a respectful place either." A few seconds of contemplation pass. Amabella meets Linn's gaze when continuing, "It is a gluttonous thing, that. Do not attempt to use it for your own sustenance, or you will surely find yourself drained as well. Your priority should be passing them to the greater planes for their existence to be properly cleansed."
Linn nodded quickly at the correction. That made more sense. At her further explanation he nodded more assuredly before releasing a weak chuckle. “One advantage of still being alive is that I don’t have to. And you’ve seen how I am about the whole draining deal. That will be the only use it will find with me.” The jest faded to a much more certain tone before he began walking back to his gear to get it in order and put the spike away, wrapping the thing in a number of scraps of spare leather he kept for the harder gemstones. A casual glance was sent the way of the drained fermin crew before he picked everything up to begin moving again, the ideas on what to do already swirling in his head. On his passing out he stopped by Amabella before letting out a somber, sincere “thank you.” Exactly for what he didn’t elaborate on before he was headed out to the desert once again.