RP:Revelations of the Living
This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.
‘’’Synopsis:’’’ After what transpired out in Vailkrin, Celano and Raevyn sit down and discuss what took place.
‘’’Date:’’’ Dec. 14th, 2017
Mage's Library
‘’As you stand here, towers of bookshelves completely surround you. Most of them look to be magical in nature, but there are books of more mundane subjects in the library. Some are for spell research, some are about the history of spell casting and magic, while others are just lists of spell uses and objects. The cases are of a dark oak or pine, and glow a little at the ends, where runes have been placed to protect these sources of information from aging and decay. There are tables all over the room, with people of quite a few races sitting and studying. You notice a small door behind the rows of shelves to the north, and as someone opens and enters the room you see that it is the dormitory for those who stay here and study. To the east are two massive doors with designs carved into them, a golden dragon on each door.’’
Celaeno had her nose buried in a book, specifically her Minor Book of the Dead, the whole of the previous night a blur. When she wasn't sure what happened, her first instinct was to research. Later on she might attempt walking to Vailkrin to investigate the guild's resources further. As usual, she stayed oblivious to the library around her, so much that she wouldn't even notice that she was the only mage left in the library at the moment. No doubt it wouldn't stay that way for long.
Raevyn quietly slipped into the library from the dormitory entrance, that scythe of hers guiding a path through the various empty tables and chairs. She was alone this evening, that undead guardian having taken off the night prior and yet to return. Truthfully, Raevyn wasn’t all that bothered by it. He was a little grating ever since his transformation. It didn’t take too terribly long to find Celaeno, given that the place of learning was fairly deserted, a warm and pleasant smile shifting over her lips as she approached the studious half-elf. “Celaeno… hello. How are you feeling today?” she asked. The scythe was propped up against a nearby wall, cloak removed, and the girl sat down next to her friend to provide a little company.
Celaeno started, as usual, when Raevyn's voice broke the quiet, bolting up from the book toward her name and breathing a sigh when her mind finally caught up and recognized her friend. She returned the smile with a warm one of her own and set a marker where she left off before closing the tome. The smack it made reverberated throughout the library. "I'm better, still wondering what exactly happened." She itches at her chest, still mysteriously tingling. "I take it we found a spirit and it decided hop inside me? Perhaps I should make some wards to draw on ourselves to keep that from happening next time we try. Maybe we could provide them an empty vessel to possess like a doll or...I'm not sure how that would work." She leans on her elbows and quirks her head to one side. "Did the apparition have anything interesting to say or did I just faint and my theory is overestimating our abilities?"
What was once a pleasant and cheerful smile began to fade until there was naught but a frown and a look of sorrow. “You… you could say that we did find a spirit. I am not so certain that wards will help in your case.” There was a pause now as Raevyn rifled through her bag, pulling from it a bottle of water, two cups and some tea bags. The bottle was uncorked and emptied into both cups, and following it was the tip of her finger. She used her knowledge of casting flame to heat up both cups of water, soon to slip the tea bags into each before sliding one beverage over to Celaeno. The girl couldn’t recall what kind she had used as there were a few flavors in her bag, but it did have a slight hint of mint. “Cela… I..” She started, looking the half-elf in her eyes. “Look, you don’t have to answer, but given all that transpired last night, I would like to know… Who is Carina?” This question was more for verification that the spirit spoke truth, and was not trying to fool the naive woman.
Celaeno perked as Raevyn pulled out the tea cups emerged, enough, though mixed with that sad expression the eagerness turned into a concerned frown. "I suppose whoever you met didn't have very glad tidings." Her eyebrows pinch together, concern turning to some confusion. "In my case?" What in the world was her friend talking around? The halting sentences, the disclaimers, it started to raise Celaeno's suspicions, but her eyes get wide with nothing short of shock when Raevyn said that name. After all, she hadn't said it aloud for years. Her mouth presses into a line, a somewhat dire one as she folds her hands carefully in her lap as if to give herself time to compose herself. She keeps maintains that intense eye contact, though, even as she takes a deep breath. "She...was my sister, one whose soul is supposed to be dormant. What exactly happened last night?"
Raevyn nodded slowly- The confirmation was a bit of a relief. When Celaeno asked for an explanation, the ebon haired girl took a small sip of her tea and delved into what had transpired. “Well. Not long into the ritual, your sister came to into possession of your body. She first assumed I was… your new teacher. She asked if you trusted me. If I were to take any more body parts.” The accusations seemed to not resonate so well with the girl as her lip curled on the corner. “I saw the scars, Celaeno. What are they? What happened?” Though, she would not give the half-elf time to answer as she continued on with what took place. “Anyhow. Carina spoke of your papa. About how he would try to bring her back… Something about how she should have been there? Been there for what?” Raevyn wetted her lower lip, “She asked if I was… twisted. I tried to assure her that I was not. That we… were friends. She then told me to ask you to let her out. Something about she shouldn’t have left you alone with.. Him? She was going to go back, but there were ten of them? She… was not clear..” A bit of a shrug and she would offer closure to the summary of the night before. “Not long after this, you passed out. I had Baelok help you onto my horse and we rode through the night to Xalious. I had Brenwynn check on you, and then I sat up with you for most of the night. I don’t know when I passed out. I was a bit scared when i didn’t see you after I had awoken.”
Celaeno listened, staying very still the entire time with an attention on her friend so intense and blank it might be unnerving at first. What moved despite her tight control was her hands, tightening when she brought up the scars and especially when she brought up her father. The metal might have dented if it were not for the magic reinforcing it. The only time that stiff mask slipped was when her sister's name came up, but it broke when Carina's explanation came into play. "She...she was coming back? She's...she's awake...?" Cela's voice caught and she clapped her mouth shut. Her fingers dug into her robes, clumping them into a wrinkled mess. She ground her teeth together to reign in the roiling pit of mixed emotions her stomach had devolved to. "I suppose you want context...should have it really. Our father always had an affinity for all schools of magic, but veered into darker arts shortly before Mother left. I don't remember much from back then, but as we grew, I took more after him while Cari favored Mother. They fought a lot, shouting matches, really. Then he tried to strike her after she said something particularly inflammatory and by then, she had already become proficient in quite a few fighting arts, so she defended herself and left. She pleaded with me to come with her, but by then I was already his assistant, an aspiring apprentice, and his shadow in all things. Then...I felt her pass on. After that, Father and I, together, decided we would bring her back and make things right." Her mouth presses into a line and she taps her chest. “From what he told me, this is supposed to be what stored her soul in me so we could put it in a new body, since hers was lost. I...didn’t know she would be conscious of any of it though. I suppose it figures he would say what I wanted to hear so I would go along with it…”
With a sip of tea, Raevyn leaned forward and held the cup with both hands, those dead blues not once leaving those of the woman she sat near. There was a direct interest in what the half-elf had to say, and the story itself seemed to garner a look of sympathy from the human. It was strange, and unusual, and most of all- Tragic. “As I am to understand it, yes, she is awake. She wants out.” Raevyn chewed on the edge of her lip and hesitated; Something else seemed to be at the back of her mind, so she would make the push on to ask, “So, what became of this plan to bring her back? What became of your father? Did something happen?”
Celaeno held up both her gauntlets with a wry curve of her lips that didn't meet her eyes. "What do you think?" She sighed, letting her hands fall back in her lap as she smoothed her robes back into a neat curtain around her legs. "Her body was lost...so we had to make one. It was perhaps the most involved he let me be in any of his processes. I dug up the graves while he fetched the...fresher parts. There were mobs before that, but those were the justified ones." She shuddered a moment as she came to the next part, governing her breathing. In and out. In and out. The next part comes in a bit of a rush, one sentence ramming into the other. "I digress, though. He needed something to tie her soul to the body, or so he said, something with her essence and apparently there had to be a sacrificial aspect to it. I can't remember all of the explanation very well because he slipped me a sedative potion. One thing led to another, I fled, made my gauntlets, plotted. Eventually I destroyed the new body so he couldn't raise her as a servant and left him trapped in a cave somewhere. I don't think he's dead, but I'm sure he won't come looking for me." She glances aside toward the introductory book, shrugging with unfitting nonchalance as her fingers curled around each other. "I chose to move on from it, try to find myself without him. It's still a bit slow going, but I'd like to think I'm on the right track."
Everything clicked once Celaeno made a point of showcasing those gauntlets. She hadn’t counted on that necromancer, the one Celaeno studied under, being her own damned father. Raevyn leaned backward in her chair, her eyes dropped upon that mug in her own hands. She was disturbed by this tale, moreso than she thought she might. On some level Raevyn related to her friend’s family issues, although in contrast, her own exile was far more tame. “I’m so sorry. Truly. What you went through, what your sister went through… I just.. I’m so, so sorry. I don’t understand how he could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood.” A pallid hand reached out and touched Celaeno’s wrist in empathy. “At least… that chapter is behind you. You never have to see him again. And if he ever should find you in this world… I will be here to help you through it.” The human nodded, before removing that lingering touch, her next words meant to offer some sort of hope or plan of action.”Your sister, Carina. What are you to do? Will you put her to rest? Or will you try to find a new body for her? I will do whatever I can to assist you,whatever your decision.”
Celaeno took the opportunity to take a sip of her own mug. The tea, warm more than hot by then, still helped settle her stomach some as she swallowed. "He took his family for granted, lost them one by one, and tried to take them back the only way he knew. Not an excuse, but an explanation." The severity of her mouth softened some when she glanced down at Raevyn's hand and musters a smile of thanks. Despite everything, the touch was comforting in its own right, a reminder that the past was indeed the past, aside from one lingering thread. "Yes, you're right. As for Cari...Carina. The only thing we managed to disagree on was my fascination with necromancy. She wouldn't want to live on in a vessel like Sir Parellius, and certainly hates being confined. The only trouble is..." She peeks down the collar of her robe, nose wrinkling at those sigils. "I should perhaps be the one to liberate her I'm just...unsure as to how. I suppose that would come with more...study? I have no idea who he studied under, where his reference tomes are, how his sort of magic differs from that taught here."
Raevyn listed her head to one side and then the other as she contemplated how to best help. Study would be a good start, but how long would it take before they found answers? Where would they even begin? And then the idea came to her. “What if… What if we spoke to Khitti, or Larewen? They are both advanced in this art. I am certain Khitti would be more than willing to help. And.. Larewen..” The human swallowed hard as she let the name drop like a brick from her tongue- There was a hidden contention there. “I know Larewen is… a vampire. Depending on how old she is, she may know more about this than any that we’ve met thus far.” The book in Celaeno’s possession was given a glance as the girl explained, “I mean, until such a time that we can get into the advanced texts and tomes, until we, if.. we are able to explore the Black Library, a consultation with our more knowledgeable mentors might be for the best.”
Celaeno bites her lip as she contemplates, then takes another sip of her tea, a gulp in fact, to buy more time. "I don't have doubts Miss Khitti would be willing to assist. And Lady Dragana...seems to have quite a reputation." For the first time she noted how Raevyn's tone shifted as the subject changed to mention of the one Cela had heard spoken of with such ominous warnings. "I have only met her the once, but I have heard more than a few rumors and conflicting emotions when her name is brought up. If we consider going to her for help, since she is the head of the guild and stands the most chance of successfully figuring this out, I would like to know who we're going to. I...if she might harm Cari, I have reservations about revealing this."
There was no way that Raevyn could fault Celaeno for her caution. She and Larewen had crossed paths on multiple occasions, and each time, Raevyn wasn’t sure as to what to make of her. One thing was for certain- There were trust issues. “Truthfully, I stand behind that decision. Even I… am a bit uncomfortable around her. When i first came to this land, she took me under her wing. She fed me and arranged a meeting with the mountain dragon, Gheneroc. To… make me his pupil. Even though neither have even known me, neither knew of my ability… Just like that I was gifted with welcoming arms and items to help me on my journey.” The collar of her shirt was unbuttoned and lowered to show Cela the strange ink that lay beneath, situated on the right side of her throat. “This mark.. It bound me to this dragon. Larewen did not tell me before I made the pact. She said, afterwards, that she had no choice. She has since become free of his will, her mark removed.” The collar was once more affixed to its previous position and buttoned up. “The last time I spoke with Larewen, was in the infernal forest near Vailkrin. She… knows something about me. Something that lie beneath the surface. She would not tell me much. And Baelok, well, I was made to think he was her pet. Used to watch over me. Yet, I think his story of a contract contradicts this knowledge.” Raevyn shrugged then, her gazes dancing amongst Celaeno’s. “So, believe me when I say, I share your reservations.” It looked like that might have been then end of it as her gaze fell to the table and she sat in silence. Yet, she piped up after a moment of thought.. “However.. I think… I think I might have some sort of leverage that we can use. To make sure that she plays no trick, or harms your sister. If you would rather research first, that if fine, but know that the offer is there.”
Celaeno folds her hands together and rests them atop the table as she contemplated the information Raevyn put forth. At least it got those gears of her turning. Her shoulders rested lighter than before, the weight held upon them not lifted just yet but not so heavy as before. Her eyes widen some when the dragon was brought up. "A...dragon? With wings and claws and scales and tail and horns?" Despite the rather dire situation her friend described, it took a genuine effort to suppress the childish glee that bubbled up. "She should have been more open with you, I think, despite the...enslavement, was it? She seemed clever enough to find a way." Just like that, though, the glee fizzled and she found her fingers scraping against each other again, enough to make a nasty noise at that. "I see she makes a habit of concealing things like this. I vowed to scheme with you, didn't I? What sort of leverage, if you don't mind me asking?"
Raevyn couldn’t help but to let go of a little chuckle when Celaeno’s glee presented itself. “Yes, a real dragon. I can show you where he used to live, sometime. He was gentle for the most part. Very kind in fact. Although, I would now, after all that I know, indeed attribute that to ulterior motives.” The rest of her tea was finished off and the cup set aside. As Celaeno inquired about what Raevyn may have up her sleeve, Raevyn fell silent. Once more she would have to delve into things best left unsaid, things that so very, very few knew. In fact, the only people to have been told this secret were her dearest friend Diryon, whom had not been seen in years, and most recently Bradyn to try and gain a more unrestricted access to the Black Library. It would take a few moments, but she explained, very briefly, “You are not the only that carries the secrets of the dead. Larewen... suspects that I may be a vessel of a former friend of hers.”
Celaeno glanced around the library, recognizing the need for concealment when she saw it. Seeing as the place was still more or less abandoned, aside from the both of them... She steeples her fingers and leans forward toward Raevyn, giving her a measured glance. "Are you planning to blackmail her by threatening harm to yourself, and therefore her associate? I might have problems with that line of thinking. What if she sees it as a bluff and dares you to go through with it?" Her nose wrinkles as she ponders further, hard with someone she knew so little about. "On top of that, what sort of character does this friend have? What motive for your body if you are indeed a 'vessel'? It would be prudent to separate the two of you for sure, if Lady Dragana is right, get them their own body to deal with so they don't get any ideas about taking yours. Could they have orchestrated the contract with Sir Parellius or an unknown ally of theirs?" She huffs, though a glint of intrigue and even mischief lingered in her manner as she tapes the tips of her fingers together and sparks fly from them, harmlessly dissipating in the air as the runes to make her fire clicked together. "Mysteries within mysteries..."
Raevyn slips a hand onto her stomach, the thoughts alone of what she assumed of this ‘friend’ seemed to make her feel ill. If it were possible to lose any more color, she did. “That was.. The idea, yes. I never thought about her calling my bluff. I just figured, for the care that she has shown, she may have been quite concerned about the idea.” There ws a nod as conversation turned to motive and extraction, “Well. I’m not sure. If I am to understand Larewen, this may not have been his choice. We have spoken, rather, she has spoken to him. She claims to know of a way to separate us, and so, for now, I put my trust in her. She seems to care very much for this friend. I am uncertain what or who they have a contract with or why. I am suspicious, though.” One part of the conversation she had skipped over, and for the most part, it was for good reason. She felt a pang of guilt, as although she told Carina that she was not twisted- She knew that thing which slept, in fact was darker than anything she had ever known. “His… character… If my dreams do not deceive me, is evil. Pure. Evil.” The chair she sat upon was pushed outward and she rose, quickly to don her cloak and scythe. She still had that unwell look upon her face and so she said, “I.. I’m sorry. I suddenly feel a bit ill. I think… I need to go for a walk. I need to think.” She would suddenly begin her walk toward the eastern door, pausing only to leave a few parting words. “I promise to explain everything, soon, Celaeno. For as much as you’ve told me, I owe it to you. Get some rest, yes? I will see you soon.” With that, she slips out the door and into the night.
"We can appeal to her dedication to her craft as far as my problem goes. Any head of a magical guild has to enjoy unraveling knots and perhaps she might see my father's work as sufficient enough challenge to try her hand at. Regardless, Miss Khitti might be the better first option." Celaeno's expression got dark, then, menacing almost as her friend revealed the nature of the presence potentially inside of her. Young, ambitious, and perhaps a little arrogant, she believed she could do anything right then. "Then we'll get him out of you, and you will stay intact whether he likes it or not." That determination was exchanged for a shared understanding and a nod. "We both have thinking to do. You have already told me more than I ever expected. All in your good time, my friend." As Raevyn fled out the door, Cela cupped her hand over her mouth and called after her, "Remember to follow your own advice about that rest!"