RP:To Prepare an Exorcism

Part of the And it Harm None Do What Ye Will Arc

Summary: Linn seeks out Amabella in hopes of gaining her assistance in ridding Talyara of the spirit that seems to be plaguing her.

Nameless Desert

Linn sat against one of the walls inside the shrine again, hunched over his knees as he stared forward into the space in front of him again. Despite the current lack of occupation, his gaze and overall state seemed more focused than during his last visit, given that he wasn’t just fishing for some solution now; he had a definite purpose coming here. Fleeting glances were passed around the details of the temple: the effigy in the middle and its decorations, the still-disassembled fermin crew off towards another wall, and the doorway to the desert. More often than not it settled in the doorway.

Amabella lurked out from a newly-forming opening in the rear wall of the obelisk, slipping through the crack right before it closed upon itself. A dull impact sounded out behind her, and the faint sounds of clanking and rattling of bone could be heard on the other side. Soon after the 'portal' opened once more, and the woman's stooges were allowed passage. The shorter brothers hefted clay pots larger than their torsos, and promptly deposited the containers off to the side of the main altar. Amabella was quick to spot her more mobile companion and called over in greeting, "Oi there. Waiting on something?"

Linn’s eyes flickered back to the one place he –didn’t- expect Amabella to come from. Huh. Best not to look the gift horse in the mouth though. With a tight sigh he seemed to lighten a little before nodding towards the undead. “Been looking for you for a while now actually.” A beat as he nervously swished his mouth from side to side. “What might you know about dealing with possessions?” A quick roll of the eyes as he went to clarify. “Like… possessed people. I need some help dealing with someone suffering from this.” Quickly he blinked, how did he just reduce everything to that? After everything… ‘a possession’ was all it came down to…

Amabella was almost taken aback by the bluntness of the question. She shooed her minions back through the magical doorway while Linn elaborated, since they probably wouldn't be fond of this kind of talk. With potential distractions out of the way the priestess regarded Linn once more, "I don't suppose just offing them is an option, then? Back in -my- day..." Amabella droned on about witch hunts and the like from her homeland for too long of a period of time, or until interrupted. "Depends how deeply rooted the spirit is. You could practically just reach in and tear it out, but that wouldn't be pleasant..."

Linn shook his head quickly as simply killing the subject was suggested, cutting Amabella off before she even managed to get started on her droning. “No, no no. Can’t do that.” The very suggestion seemed to put him in a heightened state of anxiety. His foot began rapidly tapping as she went back to the possible conditions that they were dealing with. “I really don’t know. From what I can tell…” The metal-plated boot continued clicking on the ground, taptaptaptaptap… “It could have been there for a while? The first things I can actually point to its influence go back… a few months at least.” Another pause and a sigh as he began having to elaborate on –who- it was he was talking about. “The person is the one witch who got your head back, Talyara. And this spirit or whatever it is in her… It’s been taking control of her in her sleep. Keeps bringing her back to Sage for whatever reason.” A shrug and another sigh as he rubbed his eyes as the whole situation carried much more weight than if it was simply another piece of work to do.

Amabella wanted the solution to be as simple as a burning or ritual sacrifice, and the disappointment was evident on her usually-frigid expression-- this seemed to worsen when Talyara was mentioned by name. At least some form of peace was found from their initial aggrivated interactions. Amabella took the prudent course of action and spent some extra time thinking on her next words. "I'm surprised this is still going on... If whatever that is blighting the witch hasn't devoured her soul or something by now, I can only wonder as to why it's still clinging to her. Is it something familiar to her, or..?"

Linn winced as the whole soul-devouring was mentioned as a possibility. Anything but that. At least hers. Another sigh as he shrugged. “I really have no clue. It could be?” Another silence as he began thinking again on what he saw and heard. “It might. It seems to know her? But it’s hard to say. Recently though…” He retrieved the blackened violet crystal from the pouch at his side. “It’s taken an interest in this thing. Really, this possession is ruining her. And I need it undone with her at least intact enough to recover.” Another sigh as his expression fell with a light shake of his head; this was going to get –bad-.

Amabella was still pouting. "I would need something solid to go off of," she explained. "If we could just have it pass on in peace," without any real effort on her part, "then that would be best. If not, I could be a bit more careful to part them instead of just rip it out, assuming that course of action becomes necessary." Amabella almost attempted to hide her halfway-apathetic expression. She cared, really. Probably only about Linn to a mild degree. Despite that, it's known that this undead tends to rather get to the point for results without much care for collateral. Either that, or it's been awhile since she had a soul smoothie.

Linn half-opened his mouth to try and explain further before halting. “I don’t think I’m able to know enough to give you the right information… maybe you could see it for yourself?” As to how much care was to be given in parting the two… he sent a glare Amabella’s way that practically bordered on a threat. “If it is necessary, I want her unharmed. At least as much as is possible when doing something like that.” Again he released a nervous sigh. “But… whatever you do, whatever causes the least of a splash is probably the best. If that means showing you what you need to know firsthand then so be it.”

Amabella was completely nonreactive to Linn's glare, if not furthering to challenge it with the continued display of 'whatever' in her stare. "That would probably be best. You might want to prep her on everything first, however..." Amabella finally averts her gaze from Linn's for a moment. "It would take time, but if I had an idea of what we were dealing with, I could minimize whatever side effects the witch would suffer. Hopefully it isn't like that one time in the swamplands," Amabella continued on about some exorcism in the past with floating furniture and other horrifics. She spoke fondly of it despite her word choice, especially when mentioning something relating to eldritch abominations.

Linn had to take a couple seconds to realize that what started as asking for advice slipped into talk of an exorcism without him even noticing. With the realization he released a light huff. Surprisingly, he actually listened to her next story, though his attention began to waver when it became clear that the topics were a little divergent. Once she finished he’d speak back up though “Well, unfortunately I am a little clueless with something like this. I’ve never actually dealt with something like this before. So… do you have any ideas on what I can do to prepare her for something like this? I doubt alerting this spirit to its impending demise will do anything good…”

Amabella perked up. She perked up as much as a cadaver could, at least. "Ah, an opportunity!.. Though, I mean more so of doing whatever you can to soothe the nerves..." Amabella trailed off as she began rummaging around her belongings to the side of the main shrine area. "While I would be doing most of the work, you could use this as a learning experience of sorts! Until then, try to keep her health up however you can? There isn't much to do before then unless you want to strap her to a chair or whatever," Amabella held back a chuckle at the thought.

Linn looked a little conflicted as Amabella perked up before settling himself with another nervous huff. Besides that, the basic stuff to do seemed simple enough. A nod. “I’ll do what I can. She isn’t eating on her own and it shows, but I’ll try and keep that from getting any worse.” A dissatisfied grumble came afterwards. Something about the damn witch never being hungry when her life depended on it. Abruptly he rocked forward over his feet to stand up while Amabella looked through her belongings. “So… if you want to know what you can about this, I can show you a few spots she tends to go to in the night. You’ll probably get to see whoever’s in her pretty well then.” Using the whole ordeal as a learning experience was left without comment, though knowing him, it was going to become one regardless of what he felt about it.

Amabella paused in her rummaging to scratch the side of her head. "Espionage isn't exactly a strong suit, but it's an idea. Seeing the beast in it's natural habitat, or something around those lines, eh?"

Linn shrugged. “I dunno. As far as I know they don’t share memories very well, so it won’t know we’re related. Keep it that way and we’ll have time to take care of it. Besides, we’ve played that game of not knowing each other unless necessary, haven’t we?” A sigh as he shook his head. “Get the information you need, but just don’t screw anything up too much. Though that goes without saying. Whatever gets her out the most alive is appreciated.” Idly he began pacing, around, though he would give Amabella whatever time she needed to gather herself before they scouted out a good spot to intercept the witch on one of her nighttime trips.

Amabella couldn't help but laugh at the memory of their earlier interactions. Eventually what few tools she could decide on bringing along for the journey were deposited within her spacious sleeves, and the priestess wordlessly moved to follow Linn out into the desert.