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Tales of Malaketh: Ritual of the Blood Red Night - Part 1: On The Run


Nanami Touko
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"Right," he agrees with Alex, following after her as she took the lead with the torch.  "Now I'm wondering if it was alright to leave the other two behind, since we're here now..." he mutters, furrowing his brows as he continued walking alongside Alex.

Mikaela to (34,15)

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The thin white fabric was scarcely better at concealing Misea's figure, especially when it wicked up some of the remaining rainwater, becoming clingy and almost transparent, but the scars remained mostly hidden from view, at least. Mina was optimistic about it solving some of her issues with staring, and well, hopefully it would also be a bit more comfortable for the knight as they went further into the depths of the cave too.

The sudden request for her to accompany him, 'alone, if possible', was unexpected, and immediately set the teacher's mind to worrying. What was it going to be about this time? Her debt situation hadn't changed, and they'd left that off on comfortable circumstances, so probably nothing related to that. Maybe the subject of Astrid and that shopkeeper who'd replaced her as a target for amorous affection? Possible. Her overly long delay in healing Almira during the battle? Wilhelmina had kept meaning to get to her and tend to the wound, but there was always just one thing and then another. Would that chiding really need for privacy though? Unlikely. Was he going to... no, let's not get carried away.

Nodding meekly instead, she cut off her train of thought and began to concentrate on using some magic to bring a soft glow out of the top of her staff. It had a pleasant warm hue, though she kept it rather dim, just enough to reach a few paces in front of them. Following along after Misea, the fact that Glen had taken to accompany them was a bit of a surprise. Mina wouldn't have pegged him as the type for chivalry, to make sure 'nothing untoward went on' or the like, so he must've had some other reason. Curious. The man's nightvision must also have been stronger than her own, she couldn't make out what he was alluding too at all.

"Really? You must have good eyes. Do you think you'd be able to check it out while we scope out what's across the way from it. I could probably increase the output here," Wilhelmina gave her staff a small shake, "If you need it brighter. Don't hesitate to ask."

Mina moves to 45,17

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"Er... R-Right. Can't see in the dark..." That meant Almira was going to have to... Gulp. With a few timid steps, she headed over and took hold of his hand, heading towards the back of the cave. Despite the dark, she could still see fine, not going too fast as to make sure Sephtis wasn't stumbling. "Oh... There's a door here. That's weird... And it's open, they're all gone, so... I guess everyone went inside to see what was up. Should we check?"

Player Phase, Turn 2!

"Well... So much for, alone. Yes, quite, Glen, why don't you go and check it out for us, hmm?" No trust? MIsea hadn't been planning on doing anything untowards to Mina, they weren't Astrid, and there were far too many people around for anything private like that. No, Misea simply wished to address something in specific about their teacher...

Misea leans against the wall at 49,18 and hopes Glen scuttles off to whatever has caught his interest

Sharena heads over to 21,16!

"Look, look! Oh... It's open already. I guess we aren't the first guests here... And are those stairs? So this place has a basement? Huh..."

A5PCixy.png

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"If you wish, sir." Glendwr sprinted to just beyond the wall, preparing to look around the corner.  I should wait until someone catches up before I go beyond the wall. Who knows what is around that corner.

Glendwr hauls it to 55,14

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"Open already, is it? Hmm... try not to wander too far away from me, Sharena. This place is... strange. Nothing about it is... particularly pleasant. For any of this to be here is odd, I feel a tad uneasy." Astrid admitted, moving to keep pace with the girl. She couldn't smell anything off, it simply smelled and looked like a dank, empty cave. Yet the odd circumstances of it all had her on edge... who would construct such an elaborate dwelling, only to abandon it quickly enough for it all to happen since Misea had been here last? It simply didn't add up.

Astrid moves to 19,16

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"Oh, come now. Nothing's come to attack us, and this feels like a real adventure! Finally. You should've told me dungeons were on the agenda, this is so exciting~ Let a monster springs it way up, I've got magic... Oh, right! I have magic." She pulled out her tome and lit a small bauble of light in front of her, keeping it small enough as to not distress the vampire. It was still light magic, so unlike the fire burning from the torch, it would probably harm her if she got too close. "Even the water running through here looks clear... Really, this was probably just some old bandit hold, and they were wiped out, or something. You've no reason to be so paranoid~" Sharena was all smiles, looking around.

"Hmmm... It doesn't look like that chamber leads anywhere else... I suppose that means... Huh?" Shining the light above Astrid for a moment, and glancing past her, the wall... "That wall seems rather... Erm, different, from the rest of them. Do you suppose its more recent?" It was sloppily constructed, compared to the rest; the brickwork was shabby and there were even a few missing. "You don't suppose there's a room on the other side? A secret chamber!? Oh, goodness, this is getting even more exciting!"

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"To be honest, I wasn't aware that they would be." Astrid began, before Sharena began slinging her light around. It wasn't enough to be painful, but the Countess did avert her eyes from the little makeshift lamp as it moved past her, until Sharena pointed out the wall in front of them. Looking at it past the ball of light, it did seem to stick out upon inspection, yes...

"Hmm... you're right. It looks as though a few swings of my axe would knock it down... it would probably be in poor form to leave it and hope nothing lurks in wait on the other side."

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Looking ahead, Seph managed to spot a light, likely the torch indicating it was the group. "Oh look, there we go." A small squeeze of her hand and a smile. "That should be the torch up ahead. I bet the others are there, come on." No longer allowing himself to be lead, he moved forward, not letting go of Almira's hand, heading towards the light.

Move to 32-16 too

Edited by scorri
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"Another room... weird. Gotta keep on the lookout anyways." Alex brought her torch closer, trying to make out the contents of the room. "Doesn't seem like there's anything... how weird. There's gotta be some clue to what's going on. This thing can't just have popped up all abandoned from the start like that.

Alex to (23,15).

Edited by Xinnidy
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"Well there are some stairs that Sharena found....maybe there's answers there?" he offered Alex, looking around to see if he can find anything else.  The place was vast, and yet there was a whole lot of nothing...she was right, there has to be some clues as to how this dungeon appeared.

Mikaela to 24, 15

Edited by sweet podado
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Well, Misea had quickly leapt on her suggestion, and with the both of their promptings Glen had forged on ahead. Wilhelmina was forced to work a little more magic into her staff, increasing the light so its outer radius would catch the man still within it, but that was an easy price to pay to find out what exactly the knight needed to talk with her about.

Mina to 50,18

"So," the teacher hesitantly began. "This talk of yours... You been planning it since before we decided to make this pitstop... or did the idea only come to you after?"

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"Er, yeah. Uhm... Uh, y-yeah..." Had he not noticed he was still holding her hand, or...? Well... She didn't mind... Deep breaths.

Almira moves to 32,15, meekly.

Player Phase, Turn 3!

"Let's then, shall we?" Sharena was brimming with excitement, stepping next to Astrid and unleashing her ball of light against the brickwork!

Sharena moves to 18,16 and attacks the wall! It takes 10 damage!

Some of the bricks had shifted, fallen out of place, but it would take a heftier blow than that to destroy the foundation. "Boo... I suppose you'll have to do it after all, but it looks like I was right~ I wonder what we'll find..."

Misea stays put.

"I'm... I've been considering it since the town, Miss Murray, and I'll try to lay out my concerns as plainly as I can." Misea shifted against the wall a moment, it seemed as though they were discomforted by something, but the look faded momentarily. "Why are you still here?" A topic to latch onto, hopefully one she would give careful consideration.

"What I mean, clearly, is that... You've been bitten three times now. By three of us, not just one making a return trip... And you haven't fled, nor begged for us to stop, even Astrid hasn't received much in return for her assault during that fight. While more out of necessity than anything else, things remain as I have outlined... Now..." This was where it became difficult for them, a hand against their chin, a quick glance towards the woman. "You're quite the beauty, to start things off. I do not think you some easily coerced girl out for sport and play, nor do I think you left your village with thoughts of being turned into a pin cushion fresh on your mind."

A sigh, Misea was only so sure of how to follow. "You seem... If I'm wrong, correct me, but you seem rather pleased by the sensation of being bit. Beyond what one would expect from the natural reaction to it, I... It, does worry me, Miss Murray. This life... Us... It isn't, all that its cracked up to be. Now, I won't dive into your wishes beyond my worry, but if this is just the tip of a hidden iceberg... Please try not to let it surface. I can promise you that you... You do not want the life that comes with being turned."

Rambling and concerns aside, Misea bit back a grin, staring at the ceiling. "But I'm more than likely letting my own past cloud the present. I'm sure you're smarter than that..."

d02pULA.png

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Astrid replied, stepping up to the now further damaged wall and taking a swing at it with her axe.

Astrid to 17,16, Steel Axe the Wall

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Astrid swings hard! 24 damage to the wall! It crumbles under the power of her swing!

With Astrid's hefty swing, the rest of the bricks crumbled out of the way, a new room opening up in front of the women. Some of the debris had collapsed into the small stream of water, enough to carefully walk over.

"Ohhh... Nice swing~ I suppose... We take a gander at what's inside?"

Map updated!

9q5OQlx.png

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Mikaela whistles at the sight of the ladies breaking down the walls, impressed at the power put behind the attacks.  "Curiouser and curiouser....would you like to go see what these walls were hiding miss Alex?" he asks his companion, a bright smile on his face as he waited for her answer.

Mikaela stays put.

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Glendwr moves to 57,14

"Let's see what's around... ooh I think we hit the motherload! " Glendwr looked at 3 large holding chests. Upon closer examination, all three had internal locking mechanisms that couldn't be shot off. "Mina, you know how to unlock things without having the key, don't you? Because I'm pretty sure we're gonna need that ability right about now." Glwndwr leaned against the wall while he waited for Mina and Misea to reach him.

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"Well, I'll be..." That was one discovery that painted the place even more suspicious. Was it a bright idea to investigate? Why was it wallled off, compared to the other rooms? "At least we got some way over that stream now, if you guys are interested. I don't know though..." Alex seemed to ponder for a moment. "Eh, I'm checking the room first, let's go." Sword drawn out, what could possibly go wrong?

Alex to (14,16).

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Alex stepped bravely into the room... The tiles were much darker than previous, and the room was dimly lit, though not from the torchlight. Beyond the pillars lining the room, a faint glow shone out from what could only be a door. The light was pink, and radiating. Something was being held in that room.

"Any... Monsters, Alex?" Sharena hadn't heard anything beyond the rubble collapsing, but, maybe they were just being quiet...

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"Why are you still here?"

Well that was... almost but not quite like getting slapped. Wilhelmina reached a hand out to the wall by her side, steadying herself as she blinked a few times and tried to take it in. Misea's sometimes joking manner was notably absent, and this was not just some topic of the moment. Mina pressed her lips into a line as she listened to the rest of the vampire's thoughts and concerns, including the tangent about her supposed beauty.

Once the knight had finished, it was a bit difficult for the teacher to figure out where to start her reply. The... accusation, no that was too direct, insinuation? Whatever the thrust of motive, and despite attempting to couch the concerns, it still came across rather offensive to her. Like, seriously, what was she supposed to have done?

Rather vexed, she heaved a frustrated sigh. "Would it have better, somehow, if it were only one? I don't understand, wouldn't some of your other... more presumptuous worries be amplified were I particularly beholden to just one repeat customer? In that case, perhaps you would have a leg to stand on, going on about the sort of attachment that might bring, but at present," Mina stopped to roll her eyes a little. Not entirely sure how she planned to finish that sentence, she opted to shift back to a different line of protest.

"Would it have mattered anyway, or would it just make you happy to hear me beg? I seriously doubt it would have made a difference in any of the cases so far," let's just ignore the interrupted one in the alley, for the moment, Mina tried her best to ignore thinking about the clear case where Misea might have been on to something as far as protest vs invitation. "Imagine someone held my head underwater, then upon finally surfacing you were to beg me not to breathe. But maybe you vampires are so superior to humans you could manage where we would be hard pressed, huh?"

The passive aggression was petty, but it felt good, and more importantly it helped her avoid thinking about anything more troublesome. Sport, pleasure, being turned. So that part of the legends had a spark of truth to it then? It had grown increasingly hard to tell which bits of folklore to throw away as rubbish and which to embrace as inspired by fact. But even if she'd had everything properly sorted into bins labeled 'myth' and 'real', Mina would never have stopped to consider applying that feature of the legends to herself. Not until Misea brought it up. What... precisely would that mean, what all would be entailed?

No, none of that, not now. Shaking her head and huffing again, she closed with, "I don't know what you got up to when you were younger, or how that colors things, but enough of your unfounded worry. It's more than a little, uncomfortable, to have you going on like this." Mina tried to meet Misea's gaze, to put up a strong convincing front, but sadly quickly felt a rising embarrassment and had to break it off, to turn to look at the wall. Very interesting wall, yes.

"If anyone's to suffer for it this trip," she muttered in a low voice as she turned to move forward, continue exploring the cave, "Who better?" She didn't really want the vampire to hear, but found she couldn't quite keep from complaining entirely. Ah well. Oh, Glen was calling after her, something about locked treasure? Ooooh, let's take a look.

Mina moves to 56,14

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"No, Mina... I didn't..." How frustrated, they hadn't meant things like this, but it was hard to discuss without implying a lot of other issues. "I wouldn't beg you not to breathe, that's not where I'm aiming this, I..." Oh, what a fool you've made of yourself, and of Mina's feelings. You couldn't help yourself, could you? An utter fool. The end caught Misea off guard by quite a margin, who better to suffer? What? Glen had called her over, something about treasure, but Misea couldn't leave that alone without another word. They'd almost taken hold of Mina's arm to stop her, but, caught themselves and simply followed the woman, a gentle hand reaching for her shoulder instead.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I'm simply sorry. You're right, my worries have no foundation... They're just the concerns of someone whose seen all of this before. But you're right, aren't you? You aren't going about and asking for any of it. So, my apologies. I'll try to treat the subject with more respect... No one here deserves to suffer." They weren't quite sure why Mina felt she did deserve to, perhaps there was more to the woman that she wouldn't share, but no matter what it was, to say something so ridiculous? Misea wouldn't have it.

"Treasure you say, Glen?" switching gears immediately, Misea folded their arms, peaking around the architecture of the area. "I don't suppose we've a trap or two to worry about, down here? This is all quite man made, I wouldn't expect any items left here to be without a guard. We should proceed with caution, yes? Especially with our healers a concern. It wouldn't do to have a chest exploding in your pretty face, would it, Mina?"

Misea follows along to 55,14

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He follows right after Alex, doing the same as he brought out his own sword once they reach the makeshift entrance to the room.  "Hm, if I were any more foolhearted I'd offer to go on before you, but you are the one holding the torch," he explains to Alex, now noticing the light at the end behind the door.  "Who knows what traps await...if any..."

Mikaela to 15,16

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