The "dark" mage held the map in front of him, staring at it without really watching his surroundings. That was his guide's job, after all. When he asked her to accompany him in return for payment, there had been no ulterior motive. He knew he wasn't an outdoorsy type and would be easily lost in the forests. The fact that she would be able to watch his back while he worked was just another good part of this arrangement. So engrossed he was by his thoughts and the map, he didn't notice as he walked past a bush of thorns, not seeming to notice as they caught in his robe and let go, swinging past him.
I think we're almost there, Miss Naradel. I think. If this map is correct. He looked up, sniffing the air. It was a completely meaningless gesture, as magic had no smell, most of the time.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Naradel followed the cloaked figure a few paces back, alternately scanning their surroundings and keeping an eye on the mage. Half the time he seemed so oblivious to his immediate environs that she'd had to repeatedly call out warnings to watch his step. Loreburn was clearly out of his element here, but Naradel wouldn't complain; after all, he was paying her to act as his guide and if she didn't do her job well enough she might not get her gold. She watched him trudge past a thornbush without even registering the spines tearing at his cloth robe and silently shook her head.
"The map better be, for your sake. Otherwise we'd have come all this way for nothing and I'm still getting paid."
She watched him sniff the air and wondered what he thought he would accomplish with that. Naradel's own nose was much better attuned to nature's subdued scents. She could smell the muskiness of a fox den nearby as well as at least six different types of wildflowers. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any danger lurking the duo, at least for now.
Ma'am, I am sure of it. The Noctis have been getting reports of this ley line to be particularly active. We should be able to find some evidence of Anomalous Attraction here, I can feel it.
There was a pause, and he suddenly grabbed his arm, looking bewildered.
Ouch! What...that hurt. He looked down at his hand.
Two of the Seven Tortures of Asmodeus and that hurt. He shook his head and continued undaunted, heading up a small hill.
We're advancing thaumatology, ma'am, that is a noble cause indeed!
Finally he stopped his rambling as he crested the hill, leaning on a tree. In the small valley below was a series of white rocks, jutting out of the ground in a circle pattern, overgrown with vines and plants. They circled a flat white stone, laid out like a table. The whole place buzzed with energy, a strange burned taste in the air. There was the distinct feeling of being watched, and they could hear strange sounds, whispers like the wind blowing through the trees, just at the edge of their hearing.
To Loreburn, this was absolutely home. He laughed aloud, looking around in awe as he descended the hill.
Do you hear that? Endoplasmic echoes! Places of great power can...capture the latent emotion, feeling, beliefs of a place...great things were done here. Great things.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Naradel let him ramble for a while, not particularly interested in the mystical details, though the words 'Anomalous Attraction' worried her a bit. She figured the less actual magical forces were involved the better. She stopped immediately in her tracks at his little yelp of pain and looked around. She hadn't seen, heard or even felt anything. Loreburn didn't seem injured however and was already heading onward, so the elf had no time to properly investigate and followed suit.
At the sight of the stone circle she felt relieved at first. It looked like they were in the right place and the hardest part of her job was over. She'd just have to keep watch while the wizard did... what ever the hell he wanted to do here and then she'd lead him back the way they came. Simple enough, right?
But as they approached the white stone table something started to feel off. A terrible sense of foreboding came over her and she had to suppress a shiver, then another. There was something to this place, almost like a soundless buzz in the air, that unnerved the huntress greatly. Now it was Naradel's turn to be out of her element. Beasts of prey and natural monsters she could handle, but this arcane power... she had no experience fighting it. Her only solace came from the hope that Loreburn knew what he was doing. The dark mage certainly seemed comfortable and even gleeful.
"Great things..." She quietly echoed. "Like what?"
She felt a sense of distress, heart heart rate going up despite futilely telling herself that nothing bad would happen. She whirled around, trying to detect the sources of the faint sounds.
He was already clearing off the stone table, pulling aside the vines with some effort.
Haven't the foggiest. That's why the first order of business is to contact the "locals." Though he hadn't moved his fingers, she could hear the air quotes around the word. The table had a circle of runes on it, old and filthy but remarkably preserved. He studied it, humming to himself, then looked up at her.
I'll get this prepared. Could you do me a small favor and find me some... He waved his hand vaguely.
Small animal of some sort? You can keep the meat, I just need the, uh...blood. And three, no, four of the bones. If we can get in touch with some of the people who were, uh...terminated on the shrine here, that'll go a long way.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
It took the elf a moment to register his request. She nodded silently and headed out of the rock circle, grateful to leave this place, if only for a while. It was doubtful any normal woodland creature would willingly stray this close to an area with such a powerful magical aura, unless they were somehow impervious to it, which she didn't know. She trekked back over the small hill, determined to find that foxhole.
About halfway there, she encountered a wild hare and immediately froze, hoping the creature hadn't noticed her yet. She was downwind for now, so with slow and patient movements the elf seized the bow from her back (which she'd already strung in advance), took an arrow from her side quiver and nocked it. The hare had only enough time to turn and face her when the arrow struck it to its side. With a quiet 'eep' and a last spasm, it lay dead.
Naradel picked up her quarry, noticing only a small trickle of blood from the wound, and walked back to the circle. The sooner this was over, the sooner they could leave. She left the hare on the edge of the table, careful not to touch the runes or disturb Loreburn.
"Here. I hope this is enough to serve your purposes."
She unsheathed her hunting knife and held it out for the mage in case he wanted to extract the blood and bones himself.
He gratefully took the rabbit and put it on the slab, then stared at the knife a moment before tipping his hat and giving a small laugh.
Thank you, ma'am, but such tools are not necessary.
He laid the body on the slab and seemed to grab the air on either side of it and pull. The buzzing increased ever so slightly as blood started to pour from the wounds in the creature, onto the slab, filling in the runes. He waved his fingers, and the blood followed his motions, smearing designs into the white stone. With a sickening crack, the head split open, making him grunt with the effort. His gloves were coated in blood, and he separated the skull and two leg bones from the corpse, gently picking it up and laying it aside. The result was a pentagram of blood, surrounding the filled-in runes, with the bones lying in the middle of it. Loreburn himself was spattered in blood, wiping his hands together.
Isn't it beautiful? I learned this trick from Hemomancer Tygradius himself. Great man. Well, sort of. Right after that he was tried and convicted of crimes against humanity... He was lost in thought for a moment, then turned to her and although she couldn't see his face, his eyes brightened in a smile.
Let's make a call, shall we?
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Puzzled, Naradel sheathed her knife again. Then how was he going to-? She gasped a little despite herself when he started willing the blood out of the wounds and around the rock surface. She may not have been very knowledgeable in the arcane, but she recognized blood magic when she saw it. When the hare's skull cracked the wood elf felt a bit ill in the stomach. She had planned to cook the rest of the animal for dinner after Loreburn had drained it, but now she'd definitely lost her appetite. It wasn't the blood itself that unnerved her; as a hunter she'd skinned and flayed her fair share of carcasses. No, it was the way it eerily snaked around the rough white surface, ignoring gravity and common sense and forming occult symbols.
Loreburn seemed all too happy with himself. Naradel couldn't really see his face, but she swore he was grinning underneath those crimson-stained robes. She forced on a neutral facade and nodded along his babble about some lost master, at the same time aware that she could potentially be dealing with a very dangerous sorcerer.
So, he was going to try and summon the spirits of some kind of long forgotten sacrificial... sacrifices. Something told her this wouldn't be a happy meeting; Naradel figured that she'd make a pretty pissed wraith if her life had ended that way. She subtly prepared her stance for a fight-or-flight response and nodded for Loreburn to continue.
Oh come now. He kneeled before the table, cracking his knuckles.
Perfectly harmless. This is a routine necro-tele-communications spell, I do this all the time.
He waved his hand over the runes, letting the liquid shimmer in the light. The buzzing got louder as he did this, muttering under his breath. His voice rose, still in some ancient language, higher and higher until he was just a bit louder than normal talking volume, finishing with a loud, triumphant sound, holding both hands towards the pile of bones.
There was a long pause, and finally the bones jiggled against the stone. He laughed and picked them up, holding the skull to his ear and the two bones to his mouth.
Hello? Yes. Yes, who am I speaking to? Mister Mae'olocaen, good to speak with you. He gave Naradel a thumbs up and triumphant, gleeful look.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Naradel shut up after that, realizing it was pointless anyway; even if he'd offer further explanations she wasn't sure she'd want to hear them.
She watched him begin his ritual in some language she couldn't even begin to comprehend, all the while waving his hands in a very iconic 'sorcerer doing some important magical stuff' kind of way. If she didn't know any better, she would have labeled the whole thing as intentionally melodramatic.
The wood elf eventually zoned out his droning incantations and was quite surprised and, dare say, even a bit disappointed when he finally finished and nothing really happened. She was about to ask Loreburn if maybe the dead weren't particularly conversational today when the bones started jiggling. She watched him pick them up and start talking to them like it was just a casual, albeit one-sided chat between two strangers, then remembered that he'd mentioned doing this all the time. Too bad she couldn't hear anything coming from the "other side", because a small part of her had finally become curious to the whole situation.
Yes, it's good to hear a voice on your end too, haha. Uh, no. What was the last thing you remember, a major event....that long ago? My, it's been three hundred--yes, three hundred years.
As he listened to the dead on the other end of the spell, he mimed flapping jaws with one hand, stopping abruptly when he was to speak again.
Yes, sir. We are wondering what kind of rituals were performed here....yes, we can do something for you. He snapped his fingers to Naradel and relayed instructions to her.
Second farthest stone from the table...hollow under the vines two feet from the surface...necklace in there, belonged to your wife. We'll take care of it.
He gave a meaningful look to Naradel and then put the earpiece-skull and speaking bones to his chest, whispering.
Be careful, he's saying this place is littered with lost souls, and they may not take kindly to things being disturbed.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Naradel watched Loreburn's apparent tedium from the conversation with some amusement. It reminded her of elderly folk all too eager to recount their life-stories to hapless visitors and passers-by. She perked up upon hearing the instructions and walked toward the designated rock.
The elf first circled the overgrown column, trying to locate the hollow through sight. When it yielded nothing she got down on all fours and started groping at the base until she found a narrow gap between earth and stone. Naradel pushed her right arm deep into the crevasse and fumbled around with her fingers. She immediately registered multiple hard and smooth objects littering the bottom and soon realized they were bones. An unmistakably round skull shaped object made it clear that they were indeed the remains of some unfortunate humanoids slaughtered here long ago. She pushed even deeper, almost up to her shoulder now. Finally, her fingertips skimmed over something metallic.
"I found it!"
She closed her fist around the small object and moved to pull it out, but found to her great annoyance that she was unable to do so. The thing would barely budge.
"Hang on... Ngh! It must be stuck on something."
She repositioned herself to squeeze her left arm in as well and blindly felt around the necklace's cord, hoping to find whatever it was snagged on and dislodge it, but she found nothing. She stopped for a moment, confounded, and then felt something brush against her skin.
((Okay, a quick OOC post. To fix the story issues, any and all "necromancy" was performed by an acquaintance of Loreburn's named Tim. Tim the Enchanter. Loreburn himself is standing aside watching, and Naradel was still hired to protect the two of them. This is a retcon in the interests of better keeping to the site rules.))
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.
Loreburn had been standing next to Tim, listening in on his conversation, when he heard Naradel's call for help. He could see the surprise on her face as he approached through the brush, crouching by the stone.
Oh dear. They used to put the remains in these things, I bet. Can you get it out, or...is there something in there?
He cocked his head and looked back to Tim, who sighed and mouthed "they put me on hold" to Loreburn.
Degree in Post-Mortem Communication, an Offical Hemomancy Conditional Practice Certificate, License to Employ Pyrokenetics, Advanced Necromantic Exception Certification, Doctorate in Soul Magics and Related Sciences, Approved Demonic Event Technician from the Board of Infernal Affairs, Practicing Curse Removal Specialist.