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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 25, 2019 22:08:11 GMT -8
It was hard to consider any curse from the Necromancer to be even remotely close to a mercy, but Tilly supposed it did do well to keep him in a limbo between death and life... and perhaps it could serve as a means to rescue him from the brink.
"Would it help if someone were to retrieve your head?" She held the rapier loosely upright and waggled it, so as to test its attraction to moths as though it were some torch.
"I... won't be able to come back here for some time, but I know people who would be happy to. They could go and stick it right back on your neck." She suggested, admittedly naively... she was quite starkly aware that she was the person in the room with the least experience with headless friends.
"That way you might not have to be the necromancer's soldier, either. Amgis could see you again..."
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Post by black379 on Feb 26, 2019 19:36:07 GMT -8
Courcy didn't know anything about Amgis, the Necromancer, nor the Moth Knight or his brother. But even if they weren't short on time, she wasn't about to make away deeper into the ruins to hunt an enormous swine for a skull. At least not today. She screwed up her brow, peering back down the hallway as though some of the pig creatures might have returned while they were busy with the limbless corpse. Her attention was drawn back to the rapier. Without it Courcy wasn't totally sure how they meant to capture the moths anyways.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 26, 2019 20:04:30 GMT -8
/The Moth Hall/
"It... would be nice... to have a head." The Knight sighed and chuckled with some effort, his voice falling to a whisper again,
"Though I do not think these bones capable of supporting the weight of a head." His fingers twitched nervously,
"I-if you would... I've been... dead for some time now. If... someone finds my head upon the hip of a Necromancer, in a jar or bleached to the bone, I believe... I believe it would be best if they finally put an end to my sorry story." He laughed, mournfully, as he let his arm relax again.
The rapier, much as described, caught the light of the distant sun and the glow of the Moth Knight's spirit in its quicksilver blade and was filled with a soft milky glow. There was a barely audible sound of a chime as the detailing moths about the basket of the hilt rattled against one another pleasantly. Slowly but surely, the Moths that fluttered about the Knight bumbled their way over to the Rapier; some landed on the weapon itself while most fluttered about it and Tilly.
"I would have dearly liked to see Amgis again... but I would not put nightmares upon her blessed brow with seeing my rotting corpse or head. Better that she remembers me in the moths and sweet memories. Wouldn't you agree?"
Courcy's eyes, however dark the shadows may have been, would be able to piece together a fetid streak of blood that curled throughout the hall from this point. With the whole of it before her, it was clear; something large, as wide as a house, did crawl through the bloodshed and turn to those aforementioned doors. The collapse near that door looked as fresh as the hole in the ceiling, perhaps made by this selfsame creature... no foilage or grass or roots grew from those stones and dirt, impressing a date closer than not to a week or so ago.
The doors were sealed, but fresh blood and offal glimmered in the distance as it seemed to endlessly bleed out from the bottom of those massive doors...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 26, 2019 20:19:59 GMT -8
There was some childish delight in how the rapier stirred up the moths; if not for the rotting viscera and carnage about them in this hall, it might have almost been like a fairy-tale.
It made for a good distraction from this grim hall. Even Elsa was entertained by their fluttering wings. Ears angled forward, she would have snapped at the insects if the urge to do so was not overpowered by a desire to be a Good Girl.
Tilly nodded in agreement; imprisonment without even the escape of death would be nothing short of a sort of Hell.
"I'll... see what I can do." She said slowly, taking care to rattle the rapier away from her face.
"Is there a last message you'd like to pass along to Amgis? ...We'd best be leaving soon."
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Post by black379 on Feb 26, 2019 20:34:33 GMT -8
The wide streak of blood was as good an indication not to investigate the broken down wall as any. Courcy was eager to leave sooner than later. While Tilly questioned the undead torso’s last wishes, Courcy pokes around in more nearby scrap.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 26, 2019 21:20:17 GMT -8
/The Moth Hall/
As the moths fluttered about, the barely audible Moth Knight could be heard chuckling happily,
"... They like you..." He muttered with a sigh as the glow of his spirit bled into the air and flew into the moths, illuminating their thorax and the blade with the gentle glow.
The hand of the Moth Knight didn't move and hung limp; it seemed to be that whatever vestiges of a soul the corpse had were gone now, leaving only the quiet fluttering of moth's wings audible in the Hall...
... And, of course, the rattle of metal as Courcy pushed aside some scrap and found an iron box; like a satchel one might hitch to their belt. Though it was locked and attached to a leather belt which also held a bolt-carrier and an empty sheath for a dagger. The main attraction to the simple metal satchel was the sound of coins sliding and rattling inside it. The belt was simply beneath a breastplate of some kind and didn't seem to warrant much need for care when it came to retrieving it, if one were so inclined.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 26, 2019 21:28:38 GMT -8
Tilly sighed, and looked between the Knight, and Courcy, who had begun to wander off, and then to Elsa, who watched the moths with extreme focus
There was little else to do here, and the scent of the place was making Tilly sick.
"I'll... be outside." She told Courcy and pointed lazily outward, already making long strides to escape the hall. "Let me know if you find anything good, mind; I'll poke around the guards' things out there."
She rattled the rapier to signal the moths to follow.
"A-and be safe! Shout if something's going poorly."
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Post by black379 on Feb 27, 2019 16:12:42 GMT -8
Courcy removed the breastplate and snagged the belt from the pile. Enticed by the sound of coin, she tried to open it before realizing it was locked. She loosely fastened it about her waist then trotted after Tilly.
“I’m coming with you!” As she caught up, she was still fidgeting with the metal box. “Maybe you could teach me how to open this. When we’re back home.”
Passing the hole in the wall, Courcy was cautious and vigil, though she hoped it was unnecessary.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 27, 2019 16:24:53 GMT -8
/The Moth Hall/
Their trek back to the front of the hall went unperturbed, but as Tilly passed through the more direct sunlight of the hallway, she'd notice the moths dispersing some. Wandering off aimlessly into the dark rather rapidly until there were barely a dozen clinging to the blade while the rest wildly dispersed throughout the hall.
Once she left the sunlight, some of the moths began to wander back, but it seemed it might take some time for all of them to find their way back to the sword...
They stood at the precipice of the Hall now, therabouts at the first pair of pillars...
\\
\\
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 27, 2019 16:34:26 GMT -8
Tilly glanced to the rather simple-looking box at Courcy's waist; she didn't immediately spy any trickery about it, and it seemed to be something that'd be quite reasonable for a a beginner to crack.
"I thought you said you were only interested in honest work?" She teased, though her smile waned as the moths dispersed.
"...Ah, bleeding hells." She sighed, pausing to retrieve the jar and its burlap sack, which she intended to use to shade the former and entice the moths. Vigorously she rattled the rapier to draw them closer, or even into the jar if she was able.
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Post by black379 on Feb 27, 2019 16:54:12 GMT -8
“This is different!” Courcy remarked, tapping the lid of the box. She squinted into the dark as the moths dispersed. She remained still so as not to scare them herself.
“Whoever’s this was, it’s no good to them now.”
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 27, 2019 17:02:10 GMT -8
/The Moth Hall/
It would take some time for all the moths to flutter back to the rapier, and judging by the sun's slowly moving light, it took the better part of 30 minutes as the sun shifted to a roughly afternoon position in the sky.
Altogether, Tilly would be able to collect roughly 24 moths into either jar rather snugly, leaving 10 fluttering about the sword itself.
\\
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Post by Vanitypirate on Feb 27, 2019 17:14:03 GMT -8
Tilly squinted with a sort of vengeance at the moths fluttering about her sword. An entire half an hour was devoted to chasing these moths and leading them into jars, and she was not about to just let another handful of moths flutter aimlessly behind.
Stowing away the jars in her bag, with a gentle swoop of her hat she made to capture the remaining moths and then to plop the hat back atop her head.
If anything, the rather itchy sensation of moths' wings in her hair would be almost as good an incentive to hurry as the setting sun.
"Right, then, Dearest Honorable Courcy." She brushed herself off and started to the door, "Let's be off before nightfall. It'd be a poorly idea to get caught in the woods in the dark."
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Post by black379 on Feb 27, 2019 17:34:40 GMT -8
Courcy amused herself, watching as Tilly used her pointy hat like a net once the jars were filled. They had a good haul of filthy critters, sure to appease the tailor.
“Sure you don’t need a rest? I’m ready when you are.” The redhead shrugged and started for the exit again. She tested the ground with the end of her weapon, just in case there were traps or hooks she had missed coming in.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Feb 27, 2019 17:41:10 GMT -8
/The Moth Hall/ The remaining moths were rather easily collected up into Tilly's hat where they bustled about, much to the dismay of Beansprout. And most of the traps Courcy had disarmed looked to have remained just so, with none missed; their passage out of the Hall would be but momentarily impeded by the barricade. There was still no guard to be seen, though the buzz of flies in the distance did subside some and the small spindle of smoke when they'd arrived was little more than a small curling finger in the afternoon breeze. \\ With that, the trip's deed was done and thus the party could depart to the Estate once more [Tilly, Courcy, and Elsa return to the Hamlet] [Expedition finished] |
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