RP:Raising Proof, Part 1

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Summary: The phantom assassin Blut approaches Larewen within the confines of her favorite haunt to make a request of the Necromancer's Guild. He seeks aid in raising a dead man for the purpose of exonerating him of his crimes. Larewen accepts, but not without insisting that an honest, rather than covert, approach is taken to dealing with the matter.

The Hanging Corpse

Larewen sat in one of the chairs nearest the hearth, mismatched eyes fixed upon the ancient runes drawn onto the pages of a tome. The dark, reddish brown hue of the sigils and the text hinted that it might have been written in blood. A glass of blood wine sat beside it, only a few ounces of the coppery, fermented fluid remaining. The elf was dressed as usual: an emerald bustle gown and a veiled fedora beneath which her hair was pinned up. Black gloves covered her hands, and upon the ring finger of her left, she wore an obsidian-banded, emerald engagement ring.

Blut entered the establishment his face covered in darkness from his hood as he sat near the hearth. "Say I hear round these parts people don't exactly follow the rules of life and death."

Larewen arched a brow as she drew her gaze up from the tome and leaned back in her chair. A small, silver case that sat beside the book was opened and a cigarette drawn from it. Tucking it into her mouth, a simple wave of her hand lit it. The elf drew inward sharply, then exhaled before pulling it away. Shifting, she crossed one leg over the other and leaned against the left arm of her chair. "Life and death can be as chaotic as the market when there's a sale," she replied, coolly. "Tell me, what brings you to Vailkrin? Do you intend to become a blood bag for the next willing vampire? Or perhaps a fresh meal for a ghoul?"

Blut chuckled at the suggestion "as tempting as that sounds I think I will stick with living. What I've come hear is to find someone who can help me talk to the dead." Blut took his food pills. The pills are tasteless but they give all the nutrients a human needs.

Larewen canted her head to the side, mismatched eyes, one silver, one brown, fixating upon the phantom assassin with a most curious stare. The cigarette was brought to her mouth again and drawn upon. "You're talking to the dead right now," she replied smartly, narrowing her eyes slightly. It was as if the necromancer was looking down her nose at him, which might not be altogether untrue. "Unless you mean to say that you're wanting to speak with someone who is currently deceased, in which case your luck could hardly be any better than it is now."

Blut looked at her with a tilted stare a faint glow pierced the darkness of his hood. "Are you telling me you can help me talk to a deceased man of faith." Blut chuckled as he twisted his hand a bag of coins appeared as if out of nowhere. "Cause if you are I think we can make a deal.”

Larewen drew from the cigarette once more and flicked its ashes into an obsidian tray that had been provided by Steadmen. The bag of coins did not escape her knowledge, but it seemed to have no effect on her: she had all the wealth she could desire already. "I could, yes," the elf said. On second thought, the coin might do well for the Guild. "But it depends on what your reason, and need, is. Clearly fortune has favored you today, for I am the master of the Necromancer's Guild, and we are certainly capable of doing as you wish, provided your reasoning for disturbing this particular deceased is sound."

Blut smiled as he felt his fortune shift. "This poor man was impersonated to frame a innocent man then murdered in cold blood to keep him silent. I simply need to talk to him in the hopes of finding the means to avenge his death and clear the name of the innocent. Answer me this if you knew your face was stolen to hurt a friend and then they killed you so they could continue to hurt them would your soul be able to rest."

Larewen offered Blut a fanged grin after his query was posed. "I'm not the best person to ask that," she said. "Nonetheless, I can certainly offer the aid of the Guild in this case, if it is to clear an innocent man. Do you know where he is buried?"

Blut frowned when he remembered where the corpse was buried as he sighed. "Larket graveyard and the so called sheriff Macon has put forth extra security in the graveyard so if you are to supply me with support then can that support be good with covert operations. Or would you rather me bring you the corpse." Blut asked weighing his options.

Larewen lifted her shoulders slightly. "Either or," she offered. "I have no qualms with confronting this Macon, if you wish to go a more direct route. I can explain to him that you've involved the Necromancer's Guild in order to prove this man's innocence, and assuage his fears regarding whether or not the soul will be put back to rest. It is up to you which approach you wish to take."

Blut looked at Larewen with a somewhat disappointed face "I cannot have Macon find out I am working to prove my friends innocence and if I get a guild to march in and rob a grave it will do more harm than good. I have a way to dig up the grave and talk to him without anyone noticing do you need to reanimate the whole corpse or can you just get me to talk to the soul."

Larewen pressed her lips into a thin line, her mismatched eyes narrowing slightly at the phantom assassin. "Most necromancers within the guild would need to reanimate his body; I, however, can call upon his soul, and his soul alone. I must tell you, though, if we are to aid you in your cause, a more direct approach would be preferred. The Necromancer's Guild does not need its name soiled because it chose a covert method, especially when dealing with a denizen of a city other than the one where the majority of its members reside. Do you understand me, human?" Her tone had taken on a cold edge.

Blut smiled as he extended his hand "then give me your robes and we shall confront Macon. As long as I'm not recognized then I am by all means happy but be warned even I'm not sure how far he would go to stop you." Blut warned speaking in a laid back yet serious voice.

Larewen arched a brow at Blut, perhaps taking his words quite seriously at first. A moment later, her chin lifted slightly in acquiescence. Her own hand did not extend to meet his, though. "That can be managed," she said, in regards to disguising the phantom assassin. "If he should refuse, then I will personally assist you in a more covert method of obtaining the necessary information. I only prefer to exhaust the more direct method first. Now, tell me, what is your name so I might know who we're working with?"

Blut shook his head as he got up "my name is Blut that is my name" Blut reached into his pocket as he pulled out a small crimson stone with runic symbols on it. He offered to to Larewen "I would also like your name and for you to take this. Its a improvement on the echo stone it can store and send messages to its partner stone just hold down on the symbol and talk into it."

Larewen took the crimson stone, her mismatched eyes studying the runes carved into it. A bemused smile contorted the edges of her mouth, for it reminded her of the blackened skulls she had created for the exact same purpose. Tucking it away into a pocket hidden in the folds of her gown, her eyes once more met with the darkness of Blut's hood. "I am known as Lady Dragana," she answered.

Blut bowed "then Lady Dragana inform me when you are ready to confront Macon and I will be there." With that Blut broke apart into a murder of crows as they flew away.

Larewen watched as he dispersed into carrion birds, and when they had left the establishment, and not without disrupting other patrons and creating a cacophony of protest, she turned once more to her tome.