The search for Quelaag {Open to anyone}

[TheOnlyGhost]

Make sure to read the prologue BEFORE you post:

http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?24624-August-14-September-14&p=200011&viewfull=1#post200011

...and what Quelaag looks like, so you know what you are getting yourself into:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv4GvxOdwc4

Thanks.



Alicia heard of the tragic story of Quelaag and her sisters, and felt it was best to confront her and try to end her suffering.

I have a difficult choice to make. Either kill Quelaag and claim her sacred fire sword, or offer mercy and save her from her fate by some means.

Still in the outskirts of Blight Town near the caves entrance, the location of Quelaag, it was important she would not traverse the poisonous bog with a small group of helpers for she knew she couldn't take on Quelaag alone for she was WAY to powerful to take on solo. Waiting in the open fielded grass for someone to come along and help her, she was thinking of a way to return the favor for their helpfulness.

Any takers? she thought to herself while she was looking for someone to come along to help her out.



Not the greatest at starting threads or first posts, unless they are vignettes for some reason. Anyway, hope you enjoy your time posting in this thread, and thanks for joining!

^.^

[Requiem of Insanity]

There was unending debate. Hours upon hours of mindless, pointless posturing and drollery the likes of which snapped the patience of even the most devout priests of virtue. Endless promises, countless veiled threats, and a few honest truths were cast about the huge oval livol table cast in black dye. Seventeen people sat at this congregation, and only one was permitted to sit at the head of this group of men and women. She was the one who looked to all this with the hunger of a wolf watching sheep play, but she could not gorge herself upon their flesh….yet.

“The Ixian Knights are too strong a foe for a direct attack. We need to be discreet and send our men in to infiltrate their ranks to the highest orders,” one man, a lithe elf by the name the head of the table couldn’t quite remember, had decreed with a sing-song voice that she admitted captivated her. It was a siren’s voice, a voice she wanted to make sing a particular tune, but his skills were far too useful to throw aside quickly.

“The dark mother has no time to waste! Ascension is at hand, and this is the only thing we require to make her the goddess she rightfully deserves to be.” A female of Fallien persuasion had no trouble articulating in perfect common, her eyes narrowing upon the elf with distrust. It was how she viewed everyone, and also why she was kept around. The mistress of the table wasn’t the only wolf here, after all.

“Well if you feel like suicide, then I can help you purge your weakness,” this gravelly, gruff voice half groaned the leader knew well. It was her father, Jebb Remi. He also lifted a knife up to his throat, cutting a thin line and letting his own crimson life drift along the blade. Golden arcs of eldritch energy danced along the wound, sealing it quickly. A threat in two fold; you are a moron I want to kill, and you can’t kill me. It was not a surprise why he was seated here.

“If anyone of us entertained the thought that the Dark Mother hasn’t a plan in motion already, than you are fool,” a male spoke this time under a hood of pitch black, veiled so it was hard for the others in the room to see, but not from the mistress’ eyes. She could see right into them, and she smiled to Memnar with a look that would devour him. The power hungry wizard merely nodded to her.

“My children,” she spoke at the head of the table, catching all attention instantly. “I of course have a plan, but I do not act alone. Together we are a family, and as a family we all act,” the Dark Mother smiled to each of her ‘children’ with the blatant lie, a challenging call to them all to speak out of turn. None dared do so, save one girl, a sixteen year old woman with an axe strapped to her back. Her eyes bored holes that would kill if but given the chance and she kept that gaze firmly upon her.

“Ixian Castle is a stronghold unlike any other in Corone. It is manned by soldiers who are wholly dedicated, unflinchingly loyal to Sei’s cause. The Chaplains of Adolph Gretzel are a spiritual backbone that makes it nigh impossible to break them, and of course, there is the matter of his Nine Generals.”

There was an unease that impregnated the air with tension as the Dark Mother laid the trials before them. Some eagerly looked forward to the slaughter, while the other, more rational ones, saw the obstacles before them for what they were. But there was a universal truth that both blood-letters and high thinkers shared; it was not a task to be taken lightly. Yet with her casual demeanor she stood, stretching herself. Her naked feet hovered above the ground, red sigils of pain and torment keeping her toes from even approaching the floor as a symbol of her divinity.

“Yet you must realize that Sei, in his damnable wisdom, harbors a few things he never should have approached. Monsters he never should have given refuge to. I make plans today to visit one of those monsters, and offer something Sei could never. In the meantime, I plan to have my father and seventy of the best hunters we have to bring us more prisoners to our flock. Memnar,” the Dark Mother turned to the corrupt mage. “You will continue the Ghoul project without Amelie Boheme.” The wizard merely nodded. “The rest of you will be of no use to me in this phase. Find me assassins and mercenaries, but as for you, Katherine,” she said with a darkened tone, pointing to the one who dared to glare at her earlier in the meeting. “You shall stay. Begone!”

There was the rumbling of chairs as they all stood as one, leaving the room without a word to enact the will of the Dark Mother, Cassandra Remi. The demi-goddess kept her eyes upon Katherine, and when the door shut the two gazed a bit longer before the divine being turned her back and stepped towards the mural of the Cult of Blessed Torture.

The mural was a unique art piece, sewn together by the skin of seven people, and inked in the blood of various people who stood in the Cult’s way. The picture, faded and hard to make out, was supposed to be of a knife and a mouth screaming, or at least, that was what she was told. The one who made the tapestry went over the deep end in their devotion to her, and actually tried to assault one of the Dark Family. Needless to say their death was not swift, and not painless.

“Why?” was all Cassandra said.

“Because,” the teenager said angrily. “You know you merely are taking these people to Ixian Castle to get them slaughtered to buy you time. You have the others fooled into thinking that we’re trying to eradicate the Ixian Knights, but not me. You merely want your trinket for godhood and then you plan to tuck your tail between your legs and run like the bitch you are.”

“What I plan? Don’t dare, dear Kat, to presume to know what webs I am weaving through the skeins of fate.”

“I have told you a thousand times, do not call me Kat!”

“But you once purred to me when I called you that, my dear one,” Cassandra countered, giving her daughter an affectionate pout. “I long to embrace you again, Kat, and I admitted the mistake in leaving you behind. But you are here now, one of my family. That which you always wanted, dear Kat. A family.”

The teen said nothing as she merely looked to Cassandra, the roaring emotions stirring within the troubled girl. Instead, she turned her head, admitting defeat in the small game they played as she stood and headed to the door.

“I have one task you need to fulfill,” Cassandra said, her motherly aura vanishing into the cold, uninviting tone of the buddying goddess. The implied threat of failure was spoken behind those words, and Katherine, despite herself, gulped audibly. “There is legends of Giant Spiders within the Concordia Forest, as well as various other parts of the world. If my plan to assault the Ixian Knights is to succeed, we need them. I care not how you do it, but bring them to our side. Begone.” Cassandra lifted her hand, gesturing for her daughter to leave her.

Katherine Remi gave her one last, long look, before she nodded in understanding. Webs indeed, dear mother…

[Marduk the Black]

“A witch you say?”

The words held an amusement at the very notion, even as a smile curled across his lips. A witch, if that were so then perhaps…ah yes. He then carefully gripped the man his steel clad hands ripping into the fabric of the man’s shirt as he lifted him up bodily, “Please, do go on…”

“I-I told you everything. She destroyed her sisters in a mad bid for power! A power that even now contains her, and gives her command over the realm of fire! There isn’t anything else to be said!” A hand scratched furiously at the clawed hand before the man dropped the peasant upon the ground that smile never leaving his face.

The man then leaned down and said softly, “Understand this piss ant, if you lied to me about this legend, if I come to find you left something out in the telling of your pathetic little tale, I will flense the skin from your bones and carve them into a new fetish. Are we clear?”

“There was one thing, there was a lake of poison so toxic it melted the sisters. It was how Witch Queen Quelaag killed her sisters!” The man said, even as the shaman crouched next to him and reached behind him into a pouch. Producing a coin of gold he began to play with the piece in front of the man as if mulling his next action before he finally let out a grunt of displeasure.

He looked at the gold coin for a second before he pitched it into the man’s face before he spoke firmly, “Consider yourself lucky, most informants wind up dead, but you may have saved me a bit of a headache. One gold piece and your life is certainly worth that much, wouldn’t you agree?”

The man grabbed the gold coin and scrambled away from the shaman as he shakily replied, “Yes sir! Don’t you worry I won’t tell anyone else about this either!”

“Good man, I’d hate to teach you what I do to snitches…” The clawed gauntlets clicked as he flexed his hand irritably. His other hand idly pushed the dreadlocks from his face as his dirt stained skin shone with a thin sheen of sweat. The chain shirt he was wearing wasn’t of much use to the Shaman and only served to increase the heat he was forced to endure. Moving through the small horrifically named town of Blight he had only stopped at the incredulity of its name. He simply had to see such a poorly named village, to see if it was perhaps aptly named. However, upon seeing no signs of famine, let alone blight, he came to suspect the name had historical significance.

Not that he cared at all.

“Poison lake…perhaps to these hicks acid is a poison, this may be to my benefit…isn’t that right Zek?” The words were muttered softly as his armor chimed softly with each movement. A grin crossed his lips as he moved through the town in the direction the man pointed. It lead to the foothills of the distant mountains, where such caves were sure to dwell. Having rooted out a few dragons in his time and subsuming the hoards of those dragons into his own veritable fortune, he had learned to recognize such outcroppings.

It had been many years since he had been sealed away and with every century he had rekindled his rage at the conditions he had been put under. He had vowed vengeance against the kin of those who had dared to entrap him in that realm. His eyes looked past the curtain of dreads with an almost dreaming gaze. A tongue briefly appeared from between lips to lick them in anticipation before sliding back into his mouth. Once more his right gauntlet clicked with the motions of his hand as he strode forward.

A good first start to creating my new hoard…

[Requiem of Insanity]

Katherine Remi, daughter to the deranged and sociopathic Cassandra Remi, was a child of violence much like her mother. She walked through the clearing towards the location she had suspected the Giant Spider’s dwelt, spending nearly the past three week in transit to reach the blasted place, her feet stomping the ground. Some within the Cult of Blessed torture had said her intensity of rage was a quiet, smoldering volcano, just waiting to erupt. But not so. Katherine was just so damn angry she had no physical or emotional way to show it anymore.

The daughter of the Dark Mother was a unique individual, in that her time within Althanas was split. She was from another line of fate, a skein of a time period in Cassandra’s life. Using powers and a bit of help, Katherine had gone back in time to challenge her mother and kill her for abandoning her when she was a young teen, but in the end she couldn’t go through with it, instead coming to an uneasy standoff with Cassandra. Her mother had a way with words, a gifted golden tongue, but more than that Katherine had a personal, daughterly love for the woman she equally hated. Part of her wanted her to think her mother wasn’t using her. That she did care about her, love her, and want her at her side when she ascended to godhood.

“Fat chance,” she muttered, her boot squashing a bug beneath her heel as she ground it into the ground, gritting her teeth. Her eyes scanned the horizon, the uneasy twinge of a headache coming for her as she focused on her task trying to forget her quarreling feelings about her divine parent. “She should have sent Aerith,” she bitterly chimed as she headed forth again. “She’s far more suited to licking another’s desire for mother’s pleasure.”

She chastised herself instantly for rebuking her sister, Aerith. Much like Katherine, she was a troubled girl, who was wronged by her parents and had happened upon Cassandra. Yet her jealousy was undeniable because where Cassandra spurred Katherine, she had welcomed Aerith. The spunky red head had spent the most time with Cassandra, and Katherine had more than once been given a “talking” to about it.

Her eyes spotted off in the distance a cavern, and shrugging she figured she found the perfect place to earnestly begin her investigation. True, she didn’t really know how she was going to win over the Spider’s to her mother’s banner, but usually the woman had keen insight that Katherine wasn’t aware of on these matters. There was a damn good reason her mother sent her here, and in time she would learn why.

Her steps carried her further, her nose picking up the stiff stench of a bog and she felt the blood within her start to slightly burn. She narrowed her eyes, hands hovering near her daggers, each finger independently moving in a twitch that yearned to embrace the grip of her weapons. She fought back the pulsing ache in her temple to destroy something in blind rage, choosing to keep it in check for the moment.

There was the sound of a snapping twig, and the woman turned her head to look upon a muscular specimen of the male form, his dreadlocks covering his face in a rather intriguing manner. His manner of cloth was tattered, adding more to his wild appearance, but his eyes…ah his eyes. They held murder within them. Restrained, refined, but a desire much like Katherine’s to shed blood in the name of bloodletting.

Deciding it better to show her strength, Kathrine’s left hand reached behind her head, grasping the hilt of a weighted friend, a trusted comrade, and her only confidant she imbibed in. Her eyes narrowed warily, showing she had no qualms, nor compulsion holding her back from releasing her weapon and burying the smile of her axe within this new comers head.

Yet before words could be exchanged, she felt a presence behind her, and with a glare her head turned a fraction to see who it was that was growing nearer.

[TheOnlyGhost]

A brunette bombshell, slightly shorter than Alicia had just committed murder right in front of her eyes. She had no proof of this, however, for it could be an act of self defense. Whatever the cause, she had a gut instinct that this traveler was after Quelaag in the poisonous lakes of the deadly bog in Blight Town. Her glare was uneasy as the stranger gave Alicia a full blown stare that seemed to last several minutes as the stranger looked up and down every inch of her body, judging her from sight alone.

The bombshell, dropping her lifeless victims' corpse headed towards the opening of Blight Town Cave where Quelaag dwelled in the depths, and gave Alicia a closer look. Being uncomfortable in the moment, she could think of nothing else but to introduce herself...

"I am Prolicio Prolixi, but my friends call me Alicia. As far as I know, I am the only Ghost in all of Althanas which makes me unique to find Quelaag but I need help for I am .... let's say, not the best at dealing with magic." Prolicio was careful not to mention her weakness was magic to a complete stranger at this time.

Alicia pointed towards a bridge in the distance "You see that bridge over there, and the many corpses in the distance on and after the bridge? Luckily we don't have to go that way since the cave is right near our feet, but if you do so keep in mind there is an ancient dragon living there guarding an immense treasure. It is rumoured to be at least 6000 years old and has slaid at least 850 people that were trying to get it's treasure. I highly recommend you NEVER go that way unless you want to die. It is one of the very few ancient stone dragons. It's whole entire body is made out of the strongest stone in Althanas, as strong (if not stronger) than diamonds and near 100% magic resistant. As for physical weapons, you are lucky to get off a tiny scratch with the strength of it's stone. It's not worth your life for whatever treasure lay there. Anyway, enough about that ... this is about Quelaag." Alicia pointed towards the cave near their feet ... "She is in there. It is a bog that has many wooden structures, ladders, and traps and at the bottom it has a large poisonous lake that has blood sucking flies the size of your arm flying above it. Located next to the lake is a cave, the entrance to her anticipated lair. Care to join me?"

After she said all this, they could hear massive loud growls and scream like noises coming from across the bridge..

"That would be him. Don't worry though, he has never left his perch for any reason. We have nothing to fear, unless of course you cross that bridge and threaten him by stealing the treasure."

[Marduk the Black]

Strength.

One word summarized the look in the girl’s eyes as she met his gaze, a word that caused a grin to light up on his face. She reached for the axe without a word spoken between them, and it was a gesture of respect that caused him to carefully flex the clawed gauntlets on his hand, a gesture that showed his own preparedness to shed blood. The eagerness to shed blood was rising between them, and Marduk for a moment was reminded of the thief’s guild leader Sasha who had at one time showed equal ruthlessness. The differences were that this woman held a small bit of anger in her quiet reserve.

Then they were interrupted.

The ghost prattled on and Marduk only wished he had the clawed gauntlets that he had been using to ascend to dragon hood. The current brand of hand wear wouldn’t do the job of letting him torture the spirit, especially since it seemed to assume he was here to deal with Queelag. Sure, he was here to see if the rumor was true, but to be here to help the thing? That reeked of weakness and that wasn’t something that he could abide by.

She really didn’t understand who he was if she was asking him to help anything…

He turned to the woman then the ghost before he snorted in derision, “Really? If anything I’d kill it just to see if the area around it has any items worth taking. As for your dragon there? Yeah that roar was more his mating call than a screech in challenge. Trust me, I know the difference, then again you get stuck in one place forever and you would be desperate for a mate. I’m betting he’s a few millennia past due for a clutch.”

He then looked upon the girl before he spoke, “As for you, you up for a ghost hunt? I figure it’ll be worth a chuckle or too, unless that axe is just for show…” He then looked in the direction the ghost girl had pointed and leaned over the hole in the ground a dark chuckle escaping his lips, “Reminds me of home…a good start to an otherwise large disappointment. I may have to kill that man after all. I was promised danger…”

Without another word he leapt fearlessly into the hole, the only sign he was still alive a grunt and another dark chuckle inviting the others into what had been described as a clever death trap.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Katherine watched the Shaman jump into the hole, heedless of danger. When his voice echoed upwards she took no time to brace herself or prepare. She nodded to the ghost with no warmth in her gesture and turned towards the entrance. With blind faith she entered into the hole, letting the wind tussle her clothing, her hair whipping her face until she landed with a thud. Her knee hit the ground, the blade of her axe burrowed deep within the earth as she let out a breath. She tugged the mythril weapon free, dirt particles falling like sand from the tip as she looked to the warrior before her with a cruel smile.

“I suppose the darker corners of this place are where the queen will make her home, no doubt,” Katherine muttered angrily stepping forwards. Her grip on the wrapping turned the knuckles white as she fought back the migraine building in her head, blood pulsing behind her ears as a lust for shedding blood came over her. She bit her tongue and focused as she spat on the ground, biting her tongue again until she tasted the coppery liquid. The headache quickly subsided as she let the Shaman lead the way for a moment, testing the walls for traps before he looked back for their ghostly warden.

She took the moment of peace to contemplate on her growing migraines. They were far more frequent once she left the Dark Mother’s home, and each spell was accompanied with the rush of adrenaline. Every time she fought against the pain, she felt the lust of bloodletting come over her. Every muscle in her bod tightened, like she was ready for combat, but the source was never clear. The first time it came over her was when she watched a perverted rapist in her mother’s mansion watching her little twin Cat playing. The pulsing was so powerful she could do nothing but silently scream with rage and pain as she shook the headache away.

She had learned in her second time (a time when her mother rebuked her for calling Aerith a dog) that the headaches vanished quickly when she shed blood. It was an accident, her pent up aggression reaching a feverish boiling point as she launched her fist into a wall, breaking her knuckles. The blood seemed to calm her, but it was short lived as her mother walked to her, held her hands, and repaired the damage with her divine powers, then hugging her. She despised how warm and happy she felt being embraced by her mother. Yet it was blood that soothed her. Her tongue was usually the first source she went to when nothing was around, or she needed to be more discreet.

Still, with her senses returning to normal, she closed her eyes and opened them, looking to the ghostly warden to guide her and the Shaman deeper. Hopefully, with a little luck, she could slay something and use their blood instead of her own for once to get rid of the headaches.

[TheOnlyGhost]

Alica floated through the ground near her new "companions" as she caught up to them observing her surroundings as she did. Many things caught her eye like the strange markings on multiple parts of the wall which were engraved with different symbols that she could not dispher. Similar, but not as many, markings were on the ground as well as they went deeper into the bog.

After several seconds, she finally figured out what they symbols COULD mean, for they seemed to resemble warnings and traps, but it was to late. Katherine, in a short burst of anger, punched her fist into the wall into one of the symbols as it made strange noises up ahead. The walls started moving and the ground shaking is it gradually started to twist and turn making the entrance to the main bog area shift to the opposing angle setting them slightly off course.

On top of that, skulls from the ceiling fell and stopped in mid air as they burst into a blue flame. Alicia pulled out her sword and sliced at one of them as the sword went *TING* and started to glow blue. She tried again, but her sword refused to move. No matter how hard she tried the sword refused to move making it seemed like it weighed an ungodly amount. The floating skulls were immune to physical weapons, temporarily making them unusable as they laughed at the trio.

One of the four skulls opened it's mouth and unleashed a blue fireball (the same of the flame on the skull itself) towards Katherine trying to harm her and temporarily disable her as it did.



The twisted area looks like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DdF-IVJCx0

That is what I was trying to describe

[Marduk the Black]

Marduk looked upon the skulls with utter disdain and a cocked eyebrow as the problem seemed to escalate. Laughter reigned through the room as Marduk slapped a clawed hand against his leg. He shook his head as he watched his two companions on the journey begin to fall for a trap. His chuckles echoed through the tunnel they had found themselves in as he turned to keep going on the path. His laughter followed him as a cloak even when he reached the hallway door.

Leaning against the frame he watched the comical scene before him of a ghost wielding a sword, and the girl from before trying to fight the skulls. The blue flames lit up the room enough to give him the picturesque view of the room, and the entertaining events within. He couldn’t speak such had his mirth robbed him of breath to even talk. He hunched over as more laughter resounded through the room, even as the skulls danced about the two of them.

“Are you going to help you cretin?” The angry voice of the living woman barked at him.

“Help? Oh, oh no, I don’t ‘help’,” Marduk replied through tears of mirth, “You two were dumb enough to set that damn thing off, and you two can get your own asses out of the fire on that one. Consider it a test of whether you’re strong enough to even merit seeing this through. If you can’t handle these things why should you even bother with a witch?”

“You son of a bitch!”

“Oh please, do go on…”

“When I get through with these skulls, I am going to make you regret this!”

“You can try…” With those words he turned and left the hallway, and the two girls within it.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Katherine spat at Marduk, though there was no way the projectile could have reached the shaman. Still, she never expected help, and the fact she offered him a chance to help was more in a way to be supportive. But between a useless ghost, and a useless shaman Katherine came to the conclusion she had always known; she was on her own in this one.

The skulls, while an impressive foe, seemed to have an affinity for physical reduction. But this also showed Katherine her own solution. If physical means meant nothing to them, than naturally they must have another weakness. An impenetrable foe such as this would be nothing more than a nuisance, and Katherine lifted the blade of her axe up to her lips, and with a gentle kiss along the smile of the weapon she murmured in dwarven, “Eshik.”

Her axe began to glow with a blue aura, the silver of the Dehlar and Mythril bathed in the light of it as Dwarven runes lit up along the edge of the head, the weapon’s edge sharpening as the smallest notches were righted. With a selfish smile she stepped forwards in front of her ghostly companion and lifted her axe in an upwards flourish. The skull before her was split in two, the blue flame corroding the skeletal remains as it died. Katherine stepped up again, bringing her weapon down in the same swing catching the lower jaw of the floating creatures, spinning it to the ground where it spun and bounced. With a horizontal swing she finished the downed foe.

She twirled to the side, bringing her weapon outwards in a two handed strike, clubbing another beast in the nose splitting the shards out to the floor like rain as she half stepped inwards, taking her first breath since she began her assault. She brought her weapon back, looking to the enemy surround her and she narrowed her eyes, feeling her blood pulse behind her ear. With a savage intake of air she felt a call within her heart to shed blood, and the migraine began to consume her again.

With a seething roar of pure spite to block out the pain, she began to swing her axe wildly left and right. Her swings became less controlled and wilder as she snarled and spat, her blade cleaving a skull in two, then striking the wall without a target anywhere nearby. She raged as she fought and killed the last target, lifting a hand to her weapon and cutting her flesh. Her head began to sooth instantly, the pounding, pulsing ache subsiding.

She took a few breaths to steady herself, kissing her blade again and murmuring the Dwarven word for Rend, and the blade stopped glowing. She lifted herself back to her full height, and moved towards the Shaman, not bothering to look back to her Ghostly companion.


“You,” she said lifting her thumb up to the only non mortal here. “You already are dead, you lead us in this cavern. And you,” Katherine said glaring to Marduk. “You can get the next one, and I’ll take the break.”

[TheOnlyGhost]

After the skulls were decimated by one of her new companions as the other betrayed them within the first few minutes of knowing each other she couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell is so funny ghost? ANSWER ME!" said Katherine.

"The witches sister is trapped down here as well, her name is Quelaana and she has some critical information about Quelaag that would be worth investigating before we head straight into her lair without any thought to it. It's his fault he left us this early before hearing the whole entire details." Alicia said making sure ONLY Katherine could hear her. "Personally, I hope he gets himself killed and/or lost because I have an idea of where to go not him. He would be second guessing it the moron. On top of that, even though I don't look it, I am actually quite efficient in battle so I am willing to team up with you to kill him, or just watch you do it for all I care. Interested?"

While she awaited Katherines' answer she phazed through her and went in front of her aging her on to follow...

"This way."

As they got through the twisted corridor, she pointed towards an open wooden elevator that was powered by powerful gears and pulleys that were self sustaining with the deadly poison from the poisonous lake.

"You see that over there? We need to take it down to the bottom near the lakes edge, it will lead us straight to Quelaag ... but there is a hidden path that branches off that leads to where Quelaana, her sister, is trapped. She could help us give the information we need, and then we could kill her for all I care, for I don't trust her anyway."

[Marduk the Black]

Ropes and boards groaned under the pressure of the three on the elevator even as Marduk smelled the sulfurous smells of the poisoned lake. He could make out quite a few scents that would have made him faint in his formative years and that thought raised an eyebrow before he shook his head and looked upon the two girls. Finally he offered his first bit of health on this trek, “They say the witches had to use magic to cross the pond. Quelaag disenchanted her sisters before they got across and they melted into goo. Part of me thinks this trap is two layered…”

A clawed hand gently poked the surface of the river and he raised an eyebrow as the metal hissed and distorted. He sighed in disgust as he carefully flicked the acid eating away his gauntlet off towards the water and spoke, “Well that was educational. So tell me ghost, did you have a plan for getting the living across or were you going to wing this? You've been such a help after all…”

Already the shaman had written off the Ghost as useless, but held his tongue in check. Even the lowliest of people served a purpose, even if this purpose was to serve as a magical alarm for danger. Still her prattle edged on the tone of conspiratorial with the girl. That lone triggered his paranoia as he knew there was some things that specter would be hiding. He never planned on trusting it, but without the girl with the ax, he couldn't even touch the specter, let alone torture the secrets out of it. It was truly an annoying situation.

He didn't like relying on the specter, and he didn't like relying on the girl. The girl was strong, and the fight in the hallway showed she was also better equipped. Annoyances all around, and not a damn person in sight to vent the frustration. His eyes held a dark gleam in them as he crossed his gauntlet clad arms and looked to the woman, “So, what is your bright idea?”

[TheOnlyGhost]

“Well that was educational. So tell me ghost, did you have a plan for getting the living across or were you going to wing this? You've been such a help after all…”

"I don't bode well with your insults, and if you don't want my help the polite way then you are on your own so don't push me next time." She glared at him ... "But ... to answer your question, yes I know how to get across for I am already dead and it would have no effect on me. Even if it did, I'd simply float over it with my ghostly abilities. The plan is simple, either I can try to carry you across one by one or I can find something on the other side to use as some sort of raft, or I can find the location of Quelaana, the witches sister, and ask how to get across. The choice is yours" said Alicia as she was floating over the poisoned lake unharmed as if mocking them both that she has nothing to fear where they would melt into a puddle of red goo in an instance.

Just then, buzzing noises came from the distance as moths and flies the size of a human head were heading towards the group, about 30 - 40 of them from a distant hive. Blood was dripping from their mouths as they buzzed there way towards them. Alicia took out her sword and started swatting them out of the air one by one as she killed quite a few of them with one swipe of the sword. "Hold these things off, as you make your decision. I will aid you first, and then we will get across as a team."



Blood moth (flies are similar looking):

http://content6.flixster.com/question/56/40/67/5640672_std.jpg

all they do is suck blood, not much of a threat and easy to kill F.Y.I.

[Requiem of Insanity]

Katherine supposed it had more to do with the fact she wasn’t a ghost when it came to understanding them. She was dead. She was…incorporeal to her recollection. And yet she could carry them? And even if she could carry them, was she still by all technicalities a ghost, or now an undead thrall, or worse, a high functioning Zombie? Whatever the answer was had to wait though as she growled lowly, suppressing the dull ache of the migraine in her mind.

“You have oil?” Katherine calmly asked as the ghost did her thing. She swung the sword felling small handfuls of the enemy moths that assailed them. Katherine watched her as she rotated to spin and take out another four or so of the blood sucking creatures. She didn’t dwell on the fact that the woman was a ghost, and probably had no blood.

She really was getting confused now.

Annoyed she watched as Marduk lifted up a small container full of oil. She nodded to him holding her hand out, and without any fuss he tossed it to her. She pulled out a torch from her side, and as she fumbled in her pocket for a lighter Marduk stalked forwards with a grin, snapping his fingers so his clawed digits parked, lighting the butane soaked cloth at the head of the wooden handle. Katherine and Marduk shared a mischievious grin and the daughter of Cassandra turned to this new pitiful challenge.

She took a swig of the oil in her mouth, fighting the urge to spit it out as she leaned forwards and blew the liquid out through her teeth, spraying it in a funnel that hit the torchlight and grew into a rapid inferno. The moths all turned to the flame, fluttering in confusion (or perhaps lust) and as one cohesive family were burned to death.

“Like moths to a flame,” Katherine muttered, enjoying the pun as she began to wash her mouth it quickly with water. She rinsed her mouth, spat it out, and repeated this four times before the taste started to die down. Feeling it safe, she took a small bag of trail mix out and ate a handful to kill the taste of butane.

The heat itself brought many of the flying nuisance low, and Marduk walked forwards stepping on them and crushing the moths underfoot as he lifted his hand out to the ghost signaling he would take the first trip across the deadly lake.

“Shall we dance?” he mused.

[Revenant]

Basic judgment requested.

The Search for Quelaag

Participants:
TheOnlyGhost
Requiem of Insanity
Marduk the Black

Score: B

Here are some things to work on:
1. Your pacing needs work. Try to avoid narrating what has just happened in previous posts and then only progressing the story a step. Keep the thread moving forward.
2. Remember that setting requires more than simply dumping a visual scene and moving on. Use all five senses, interact with the scenery, and continue to reference things around you.
3. Rather than simply describing your character, try to get into the character’s mind and display them through portrayal. Make the character come to life and you’ll achieve a greater score.

TheOnlyGhost receives 156 exp and 25 gp.
Requiem of Insanity receives 213 exp and 20 gp.
Marduk the Black receives 125 gp and 20 gp.

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.