RP:Welcome Home

Part of the The God of Undeath Arc

Part of the For All Time. Always. Arc

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

This is a Devout's Guild RP.

Summary: With the help of Valrae, her coven, and Brand and Annette, Khitti and Khitt conduct a ritual to summon the Celestial Abraxis Ring needed to stop Alithyk Caluss. Things do not go to plan and the ritual brings them to a strange pocket plane where echoes of Khitt(i)'s village plays out on loop. Here they find not only the ring, but a grey moonstone crystal skull, and a grimoire written by the matron of the Von Schreier clan 500 years ago before all the witches in Dhavislaav were brutally murdered in a war that started all the events that lead Khitti and Khitt to Lithrydel.

Foggy Hill, Fog Forest, Rynvale

Khitti || Beneath the light of the full moons on a hill in the Fog Forest, Khitti was busy passing out small bits of paper to Valrae’s coven, the twelve people that were asked to help, along with the Red Witch herself, with the ritual. “Each one of you now has what the ring looks like, in order to help you focus and manifest it, as well as the bit of the spell that needs to be repeated by all of us after I finish the main portion,” she said, addressing the coven and their leader. “And…” She drew in a deep breath and let it out carefully. “Thank you for helping me.” To Valrae then, she turned her attention. “There isn’t much to the spell itself, so just channel your magic with theirs, okay? Here's hoping I don’t screw it up.” The redhead smirked at the other witch, then turned finally to Brand. “I need two things from you, if you can manage it. The first thing is I need Khitt here too. Even if he’s an illusion, the duality of the ring, the moons, and everything else isn’t lost on me, so it just -feels- right to have him standing here too. Second, I need you to keep watch. I don’t think there’ll be anything to fight, but Leoxander and his friends have been doing a lot of work throughout the southern half of the island after claiming it for himself, so if you see him or someone known to associate with him, just turn them elsewhere for now. He knows I frequent this forest, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Valrae and her coven arrived under the light of the full moons together from Selen Island. Dressed in ritual crushed velvet cloaks of various jewel tones over ceremonial shift dresses, their hoods drawn high over their hair and their feet bare. The thick fog twisted and swirled around bare ankles, curling and playful as a cat as they traveled in a loose V behind Valrae herself. She wore no cloak, only the white dress that left her shoulders bare underneath the silvery dim lights of the moon. Her hair was a tangled mess of gold, pale as star silk in the darkness of night, and free as a girl’s underneath the gold and opal triple moon diadem. They greeted Khitti and Brand with hushed “Blessed Be”s and spread around them in a circle as each received the paper and instruction from Khitti, offering her warm smiles and deep nods as they recognized her as tonight’s High Priestess. Valrae was last to accept the paper, dipping into her own bow as she offered her fellow witch a bright and toothy grin. “You’ll succeed,” She said with confidence, reaching out to offer her a single brush of her hand before moving to her own position. “We follow you in perfect trust.”

Brand || No matter how long it had been, it was still sometimes a strange feeling for Brand to communicate with others in his head. Annette was watching from within him as the coven arrived in all their ethereal splendor, and he could -feel- her taking notes and inspiration for her own spiritual practices, even as he watched with all his usual anti-theistic wariness. Brand would soon take Khitti’s hands in his own, close his eyes, and--pop!--there was Khitt, and Annette too, for good measure. Illusions both, but convincing ones. Annette immediately sidled up to Valrae, whispered, “I -love- your whole outfit,” blushed deeply, and ran to hide behind Khitt. Brand just smirked, nodded to both Khitti and Khitt, and stepped away to keep watch.

Khitti felt a twinge of awkward as the coven and Val both give her their blessings, but it’s not very long lived as Brand used his magic to give Khitt and Annette form, allowing Khitt’s wife to gush over Valrae’s outfit. When all seemed ready, the two redheads knelt in the middle of the circle that had been drawn at the top of the hill. Black and white candles were lit with shadowfire, and the blood of the Von Schreier line fed to a bowl of poppies, peppermint, and rosemary. The two redheaded witches spoke as one as they set the bowl of ingredients on fire, letting the blood curdle and mix with the ashes of the plants, “By Vaalane and Arh'Nuk's light, we beseech the spirits for aid. Bring us the ring that has been blessed with the power of the moons, so that we may use it to bring balance to the world once more. Dual moons bring the end, so that the sun may rise again.” These last words were the ones that the other witches had been given to repeat, and so too did Khitti and Khitt. “Dual moons bring the end, so that the sun may rise again!”

Khitti || Shadows gathered, overtaking the fog and snuffing it out, swirling and clinging to the witches and the Catalians as tiny stars of holy magic blinked into existence and scattered themselves over the hill. The stars danced about, flickering like fairy lights, pulsating with that strange magic that seemed to stem straight from Valaane itself. Khitti and Khitt clasped hands, the two joined channeling their shared dark magic, while the two apart worked their light magic. A cold breeze blew through the area, bringing with it the whisper of spirits, tiny grey wisps attracted by the fairy lights circled around the group, fixating on the Herzeglers and Valrae. All the while, Khitti had been thinking about home. Hell, Khitt had been thinking about home too. -His- home. Where everyone was supposedly still alive. A feeling of longing for what things used to be had bubbled up in their mind, clinging to the task at hand as they repeated the words of the spell. After a time, the wisps disappeared. The redheads assumed that they went off to Dhavislaav via some speedy means that a spirit had and someone of the living did not. They thought that… until a collection of spirits appeared behind Khitt, Khitti, Brand, Annette, and Valrae, grabbed them, and dragged them into what one might think was the Void itself.

Valrae watched Brand and Khitti with unbridled interest and curiosity, her long and wide eyes as dark as the shadows that surrounded them and her mouth parted in a small ‘o’ of surprise as Khitti and a woman she’d never met materialized. They were clever and convincing under the moons light. “Oh,” The witch blushes at the compliment, dusting invisible dirt on the thin skirt of her ceremonial dress, “Thank you. Merry meet.” But her smile faded like morning mist as they faced the ritual at hand. Magic began to thicken the air and beat into Valrae’s mind like a war drum as the blood entered the bowl. She raised her voice with her coven sisters, “Dual moons bring the end, so that the sun may rise again!” They chanted, like a song or a perhaps a prayer. The witch kept her emerald gaze locked on the pair of them as shadows sprang forth. Her skin pimpled to gooseflesh as the cold crept in, reaching with thin fingers to settle bone deep, but she kept a tight hold of the magic they called down as holy and starlight shimmered and flickered around them. The wind lifted her hair, the curled ends of it snapping around her like golden ribbons. It took her too long to notice the thin grey whisps, too long to consider they might have inticed something unwanted toward them with a shining gift of power. It wasn’t until they reached out and gripped her tight that Valrae even considered the danger. A scream ripped from her throat as she was pulled back.

Brand || Once the ritual started, Annette backed away and went to stand with Brand. As much as she loved every opportunity to be with her husband, Khitt was working right now. And she wouldn’t want someone interrupting -her- spells, not even him. So she stepped away, and she and Brand conversed internally as the ritual continued. She wanted to know, was Brand okay with being here? He was always so reticent about anything to do with spirits or prayers or gods, but she knew it was… not exactly his cup of tea. Brand’s initial response was something not quite verbal, a mix of emotion and memory and… a vision, only the briefest flash, of something dark and terrible. When his words finally came, it was only to say that he didn’t -need- to approve of the gods or the spirits in order to support his wife in appealing to them. That, if Khitti was going to put herself in danger by drawing their attention, he’d rather be here with her than elsewhere. Because something would go wrong. It always did.

Brand || Annette would have argued, if she’d been able to. Her own spells were proof enough that things didn’t -always- go wrong, that there was love and beauty and joy to be found in engaging with the otherworldly. But it was at that moment that the spirits snatched the lot of them. Hard to argue with a man in the middle of circumstances proving his point. Hard to argue in the middle of being wrenched from one dimension and dragged into another.

An Echo Of Dämmerung Stürze, Dhavislaav

Khitti || The five of them tumbled down the strange rabbit hole of darkness, the spirits shrieking and laughing around them as they fell for what seemed like forever. Until finally, they stopped. “Uggghhh, what the frak,” Khitti said, the witch the first to awaken. “I’m not using poppies in spells ever again.” Except something was off. Her voice sounded weird, and she herself, as a whole, felt weird too. When she opened her eyes, the world was black and white… and it wasn’t exactly Lithrydel either. “Oh no.” Pushing herself up off the ground, she caught sight of her hands. They were hers, of course, but every few seconds, her body phased back and forth from that of her own form, to that of Khitt’s, their voices overlapping with one another, though the two were now mostly of one mind, like they had been initially after Viera’s meddling had ceased. Brand and Annette too would find themselves in a similar situation, though Valrae was left relatively “unharmed”, if this weird predicament could be considered harm in the first place. As Khitt(i) looked around, it was clear that they’d definitely screwed up the spell, as Dhavislaav greeted them, their home village of Dämmerung Stürze a flurry of overlapping memories and ghosts that were trapped, living their lives out as they always had, before their untimely deaths. Thinking about home had, as it often was, Khitt(i)’s downfall, as it had clearly messed with their intent for the spell, bringing them to the ring, instead of vice versa.

Khitti || Something felt off though. Moreso than things -already- felt off. Is it even possible for things to be anymore off here? Yes, yes it was. Every once in a while, a spirit would take a moment’s notice of the group of “travelers” before immediately forgetting and continuing on their way, doing whatever it was they’d done in the day before they died. “Okay! Okay, think,” Khitt(i) said, smacking the sides of their faces with their hands. “If I was an extremely powerful magic ring in the middle of a place with a ban on magic, where would I hide?” They walked down the main street of town a little bit, looking around. “None of this makes sense. I’ve seen every single inch of this place and the forest. I know it all by heart.” In their shared panic, they didn’t initially notice the 3 beams of grey light that glowed on the north, east, and west sides of the village, on the outskirts of the forest.

Valrae || When the darkness took her, it took her completely. She floated there, in a place between dreaming and not. Visions swam behind her eyelids. Bright burning stars, the moons cycling before her eyes from round and full to thin as a thumbnail and black. Swirling gray fog over brackish water that called out with countless voices begging her to stay, stay, stay. It wasn’t long before Khitti’s voice, or was it Khitts?pulled her up from its depths. The witch opened her eyes slowly, the unfamiliar surroundings passing her eyes not unlike the unsettling dream. “Where are we?” She whispers to no one in particular as she finds her feet. She doesn’t notice the lights either, her focus instead clinging to the familiarity of the two who had been brought to this strange place as well.

Brand || Funnily enough, this wasn’t the first time for Brand and Annette to be in this kind of mushed-together predicament. Being blendy, they called it. Blurry. Soupy. Unsure where one ended and the other began. But normally it happened when they were utterly exhausted and about to head to bed anyway, or when the two of them were both fighting for control of their shared body, which … wasn’t something that happened often. Something about having ‘telepathic’ communication with your brain-roommate tended to make conflict easier to resolve and the ‘other side’ easier to understand.

Brand || The frustrating thing was that none of their usual tricks were working to de-soupify them. They stared at their hands, willing them to take one form and stay that way. They tried closing their eyes, willing only Brand to have control, or only Annette, or to split off Annette into an illusion form again. Nothing worked. Finally, with a sigh, they resigned themselves to their fate. There would have to be another way out of this. Maybe Khitt(i) had found one, while they’d been occupied with trying to sort themselves out?

Khitti || 'Where are we?’ Valrae asked. Khitt(i) smirked somewhat, their voice denoting a sort of tone that betrayed their thoughts of ‘of course this happened’. “Home. Our home. Dämmerung Stürze, Dhavislaav: home of death, betrayal, and some really good pretzels. But it’s something different. It reminds me of the echo of the village Brand and I saw in the Shadow Plane years ago, when we went to get rid of Amarrah and get my vampirism cure. Except this place seems to be… all echo. Every part of me is begging me to stay here. To help free them. It was the same with the spirits on the Demon Archipelago.” They seemed to stare off at the spirits as they went about their business, zoning out a bit, until they finally smacked themselves in the face a few more times again. “FOCUS, DAMN IT.” The smacking continued, but more softly, as they chanted the mantra of ‘think, think, think’ like a certain yellow bear with a red shirt. “What the hell is the weirdest place out of Dämmerung Stürze besides me?” They lifted their line of sight to the heavens and sort of turned around in a circle. Khitt(i) had been facing south… and only now did they see the grey lights in the other directions around the town. “No. Really? Could it be Die Trias?” Strangely, their accent started to return in full force the longer they stayed there, the whispers of the spirits in Dhavislaavian around them invoking it out of them. “Zhe Triad!” Khitt(i) clapped a hand over their mouth and groaned. “Not zhis again.” Sigh.

Khitt’s voice seemed to overtake Khitti’s somewhat as he pushed past her inability to focus on the task at hand. “Zhe Triad are three trees on zhe outside of town, in varying stages of decay zhat never really seemed to fully die. They always called them the Maiden, Mother, and Crone.” Khitt(i) pointed at the three lights in the sky. “We need to split up. Be quick about it because I zhink the spirits are starting to notice we’re not like zhem… We don’t belong here at all.” Pointing to the east, the redhead looked to Valrae, “You take zhe Crone.” Then to Brand and Annette, they pointed west. “You two take the Maiden. We’ll take zhe Mother.” As the five of them would make their way towards each of their designated trees, the ghosts would turn and stare at them, some even reaching out to try to touch them, though it was more out of confused curiosity for the moment than malevolence.

Khitti || Surprisingly, each tree held something special, hidden away within small holes at the base of the trees, covered by roots that had been overgrown with magic to shield the things they kept secret. At the Maiden, Brand and Annette would find a thick book, a grimoire of the Von Schreier clan, its last entry written by Annika von Schreier, matron of the family and high priestess of the Shadow Lily coven, detailing the war between the witches and the non-magic folk, and that she was certain her time was ending soon. Valrae, at the Crone, would find yet another one of those crystal skulls, this one made of grey moonstone, radiating with dark and light energy, similar to Khitti’s own magic. And finally, Khitt(i) would find the Celestial Abraxis Ring, its twin stones of red and green set in a silver signet ring.

Valrae almost laughed when the introduction to Khitt(i)’s homeland ended on ‘good pretzels’. Almost. “Right…” She whispers again, keeping her voice low in case… Incase of what she didn’t know. Her hand moves to the hidden pocket of her dress, her fingers glancing over the smooth carved wood of her ashwand. She pulls it free and clenches it so tight in her fist that her knuckles turn white. The witch lets her lips bow into a frown as Khitt(i) continues smacking themselves, worry and a touch of fear crossing her face like a dark cloud. “Hey, we’ll figure it out.” She says softly as they turn. She noticed the accent return but decided now was not the time to comment. They had bigger things to worry about. Valrae listens more carefully though, listening to the story of the trees as she nods. “Wait. Split up?” Her voice pitched high but she nodded again and began to move forward. She tried to walk quickly, to ignore the pale spirits that reached out to her and attempted to cling to her. She felt them pass through her like wind, the shirts of her white dress moving against her ankles. She could feel their curiosity tugging at the corners of her mind, like the chilled reach of their hands, and she shuddered against it. When she finally reached the tree she had no need to search blindly. The magic that waited there called to her, familiar and yearning. Moving as if she were caught in some terrible dream, Valrae’s hands rested against the moonstone skull and raised it to her chest. She held it close, like a mother might her child, and carried it back toward Khitt(i). The skull seemed to demand it, forcing her feet closer to the witch as if it knew where it belonged as the feeling of homecoming enveloped her senses.

Brand || Brand and Annette would do as instructed and head west, to the Maiden tree, shambling forward as if in a dream. Maybe it was their blurriness or maybe it was the lack of color in this world, but nothing here felt real and the sense of unreality was starting to make their head swim with fog. So Brand didn’t even notice, at first, when Annette separated back out from him and was able to walk alongside him once more. Not until the color caught his eye. While everything else around him was as if a charcoal illustration, Annette showed up in full and brilliant radiance. “No, I don’t understand it, either,” she said, answering the question on his lips. “I guess because I’m not really -here-.”

Brand || To Annette’s dismay, her appearance drew the attention of the villager spirits, as well. She shuddered and shrank behind Brand as she felt all their eyes draw upon her. They retrieved the grimoire from the tree without incident, but the path back was filled with onlookers reaching out to touch Annette as she passed. It wasn’t long before Brand would sweep her up in his arms, carrying her raised above the crowd and parting it like he was a boulder in a stream.

Khitti || Not long after the three items are grasped and taken from their 500 year old homes, the spirits in the weird pocket of echos sort of… woke up. No longer did they go about their everyday business, instead turning to look towards those that carried the objects that had been amongst them for so long. As Val, Brand and Annette, and Khitti and Khitt (who also had separated around the same time their spouses had) all converged on one another, the spirits followed them, edging closer and closer, reaching out to grab them more violently, closing in on the five of them as they met in the center of the village where they had started. “Ve got it!” Khitti was excited! That is until she saw the crystal skull in Valrae’s hands and the book with Brand and Annette, her eyes a bit wide like Dominic’s when he found something new and wasn’t entirely sure about it. Khitt side-stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the skull as she went to touch it. “No time to get all veird about shiny stuff again. Ve have a very big problem,” he said, motioning to the ghosts that closed in around them. He took hold of Khitti’s shoulders and shook her a little, “How zhe hell are ve getting out of here?” Khitti’s face contorted in confusion. How -were- they going to get home.

Khitti || After a moment of thought, she took hold of Khitt’s hand and reached out for Valrae’s, leaving Khitt to reach out to Annette’s, and Brand and Annette to connect their own. “If zhose other spirits brought us here, maybe zhey can take us home.” She cringed as ghostly hands started to grab at her, pull at her hair, the Dhavislaavian ghosts intent on taking over their very much living bodies. “Zhink of home. Lithrydel. Rynvale. Zhe Fog Forest. Zhe coven ve left behind zhere.” Khitt and Khitti channeled their magic again, just as they had before, trying to summon the spirits that brought them there. “Zhere’s no place like home… Zhere’s no place like home…” Khitti muttered this to herself, over and over, using it to help her focus like the girl from one of her fairy tales.

Valrae could feel magic all around them waking up. She could feel the restlessness of the spirits as they began crowding closer. The witch huddled in, nearly bumping into Brand, who might still be holding Annette, and gripped the skull tightly. “Uh… Guys…” But Khitt had already noticed. He was already asking Khitti for the answers. She felt a twinge of sympathy for the other witch, knowing all eyes were on her for the answer as the ghosts crowded in. Valrae squealed, an embarrassing and girlish sound she would cringe at later, as one reached out and tugged at her skirts. It was like a macabre echo of how her own son would pull against them for her attention when he was smaller. She slapped at it before Khitti’s advice to let them carry them home came. Her cheeks flamed red as she closed her eyes. She could hear her accented chant and used it as a guide to clear her mind even as the cold, gnarled fingers of the spirits reached out again and sent a trill of fear down her spine. She thought of the fog, swirling playfully around her legs. She thought of the upward curve of earth that shone under the silver light of the moons. She thought of the bright colors of her coven sister’s cloaks and the shine of their hair. Valrae clenched her jaw and ignored the pain of fingers pulling her down as she thought of home.

Brand set down Annette as they arrived back to their starting place, only for her to cling tightly to Brand on one arm and Khitt on the other. Brand took the grimoire from her and tucked it under his free arm, those fingers toying with little twists of flame as if to warn the spirits that he would fight back if they meant them harm. The spirits pulled and clawed and moaned, and Brand muttered something under his breath about hating “the part of all these frakkin’ spells where the spirits get grope-y.”

Fog Forest, Rynvale

Khitti || Thankfully for Brand, they wouldn’t get -too- gropey and eventually the spirits that had brought them there grabbed them again, seemingly dragging them down into the earth, the world turning black once again. And just like that, the color returned to their lives. They’d find themselves on the ground where they had been standing or kneeling when this all started, their bodies having been left there for the coven to wonder over while the five of them were elsewhere. “Okay, -definitely- no more poppies,” Khitti said as she finally stirred. And then it hit her: they were back. And her accent had mostly receded again! If Val asked her coven what would happen, they would confirm that the five of them indeed seemed like they were asleep. Khitt stood up and brushed off his suit, something shiny catching his eye as he did so. He snatched it up off the ground and smirked, then held out his hand to show the signet ring that they’d been after. “Well… things may not have gone according to plan, but… we got it.” Olive-green eyes shifted between Valrae and the two Catalians. “What about you guys?”

Valrae || The members of the coven that had been left behind did their best to trust in the magic and not let panic take them. When they were returned, they would find their bodies resting on the softness of cloaks placed gently underneath them as they sat and kept a guarding, silent vigil over them with wands at the ready. Their return was met with soft gasps of relief. Valrae sat up stiffly. The cold had turned the tip of her slightly upturned nose red and bloomed color on her cheeks. She blinked groggily around the small clearing on the hill without speaking. Her head felt heavy and tired, as if she’d taken a midday nap that lasted too long. Slowly, she smiled at Khitt. “You did it.” The witch says softy, stifling a yawn behind her hand. It was strange, feeling that bright sense of hope stirring in her chest in such a dark forest. But it was there, warming her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. They were one step closer to defeating Caluss. The skull was a nagging sense beside her, glistening like a drop of fallen moon near her left thigh. She wouldn’t look at it though, couldn’t. “The crystal is here.” She replies, standing carefully. “It’s not meant for me.” Valrae is quick to add. “I shouldn’t touch it again.” When the coven makes themselves busy with re-collecting their things and salting the ritual space, Valrae says her goodbyes. They were short and sweet, though her eyes shone with pride. “Merry part, until we meet again.”

Brand pulled the grimoire out from its hiding place and approached the ritual’s center. “I assume you’ll be wanting this.” He passed the book off to Khitti before turning to Annette, who was lingering behind and doing her best to not still look shaken by the experiences they’d just had. He didn’t have the heart to say ‘I told you so’ about the dangerous nature of spells, not when she had that frightened look on her face. Instead, he reached out a hand to take hers. “C’mon. Let’s get us home.”