Family Matters, part 10
Log Info
- Title: Family Matters, part 10
- Emitter: Subduction
- Characters: Ashes, Aimarra, Donna
- Place: The Jade Isles
- Time: Thursday, July 15, 2021, 2:03 PM
- Summary: Aimarra, Ashes and Donna venture upstairs, hidden from undead by one of Ash's spells. They creep through the servant passages, to rooms they believe are the Lord's and Lady's of the estate. It gets progressive colder. Finding a false pigeon, they water it open onto the main corridor, which is full of mists. Donna opens the doors to the private chambers and is caught in a cold explosion. Beyond, there are man-sized crystals, which upon examination do not hold a person of any sort. Aimarra hears crying, and directs them to the Lady's room. Inside, the room is completely destroyed, and in the corner, two corpses are frozen in death. A woman's, who was killed by a giant slash to her back, and a man, holding the woman tenderly and full of arrows. The reason for the Yuki-Onni is revealed. Ashes feels compelled to speak to them, and addresses the man. This draws in the apparition of the woman, when she hears his voice. It is the Lord, Hiei's father, the woman his wife, Yoshiko. Ashes carefully words questions so it seems the Lord is answering his Lady, expressing his love for her. She only has so many, and the vengeful spirit teeters on the edge when her Lord's body becomes still again. Ashlee decides to drop her spell, manifesting for the ghost in her best servant of Vardama manner. She explains that death is nothing to fear, Yoshiko's reward and love awaits, her son is safe and the living will handle the concerns of the living. Yoshiko is soothed, and advances into the afterlife. Ashes is shaken and injured from the effort, but certain it was the right thing. Donna and Aimarra were supportive throughout, but let the Mourner take point for affairs of the dead. With one clue, 'always north', they are ready to venture further.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing sooner or later =-=-=-=-= Aimarra 5'1" 128 Lb Half-Elf Female Brown hair and eyes, breastplate, leathers, pointed ears. Donna 5'4" 106 Lb Human Female A black-haired human girl in black robes. Ashes 5'11" 177 Lb Hobgoblin Female A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Thurid 57'1" 249 Lb Giantborn Female Bright-eyed, muscular, blond Giantborn woman. =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
And so the party venture up the servents stairs to the third and top floor of the castle, purported to be the lord and lady's private chambers. According to the maps they have given, the northern side of the floor is given over to a solar and bedroom for the lord- while the lady had a separate tea room and her own bedroom in the south, divided by a corridor between them. The servant's passages reach the solar and the tea room, but do not offer direct access to the bedrooms themselves.
As they emerge at the top of the stairs, the air grows colder still- misting ones breath as it exits their mouth, despite the balmy and humid weather on the island at large. Exposed metals become uncomfortably cold to the touch, and the candlebras- burned out by now- bear a fuzz of minute ice crystals. The passage extends a ways to the south, before reaching a sliding door, and also branches off towards the east.
Ashlee follows behind Donna like an eerie shadow, looming and grey, inexpressive at the best of times. Her armour, enchanted for convenience, protects her from the chill air even as it gathers its own layer of frost. She peers past the dark twin's head, and gestures at the closest branch of the servant's passage.
Catching the gesture out of the corner of her eye, Donna nods once. Chilled metal creaks and protests as she flexes her hands, trying to keep them limber against the life-sapping chill. Leaning back to catch Aimarra's eye, she signs 'left,' 'door,' 'through,' before stepping up to tug on the sliding panel just enough to open a crack to see through... and hopes that the ice won't make that a noisy endeavor.
A convulsive shiver ripples down Aimarra's spine at the cold. Desert nights could be chilly, but this is unnatural, and it sinks into her bones. She pulls her traveler's cloak closer around her as she brings up the rear, treading as quietly as she can manage down the hall, one foot in front of the other, bow held in one hand. Chilled as she is, she is alert, and nods a silent response to Donna at the gestures.
<OOC> Ashes says, "+3 Chippen, +5 Shadowy" GAME: Ashes rolls stealth+3+5: (2)+25+3+5: 35 GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (14)+3: 17 GAME: Aimarra rolls stealth: (1)+8: 9 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Aimarra rolls perception: (16)+13: 29 GAME: Donna rolls stealth: (19)+11: 30 GAME: Donna rolls perception: (6)+12: 18
As the group round the next corner, more corridor awaits them, but creeping along, nothing else springs out so they continue. Finally, turning back towards the south, they spot yet another sliding door- this one leading to the west, likely to the lord's Solar according to their knowledge of the layout.
Abruptly, Aimarra reaches up and pokes the arvek nar in the back repeatedly. So intent is she on doing so, even, that a floorboard creaks alarmingly under her foot, and the stricken look she wears for that brief second is almost palpable. But, she continues, waving at Ashes to get Donna's attention once she has the Mourner's eye, and if she can get both of them, she points at a wall panel next to the sliding door to the lord's solar, and gestures, <<The panel is false, it slides.>>
The Mourner moves quietly despite her size and armour, peering from side to side. Nothing leaps out at her, literally or figuratively. It's a passage, with squeaky floorboards, which seem to squeak after she's left them behind. Strange.
Poked, she pokes Donna to stop. She watches Aimarra's hands and passes their message along for Donna. <<The pigeon lies, it waters.>>
She also points at the wall.
It's the creak that galvanizes Donna's attention, a likewise stricken look thrown behind her. But poked, she pauses in her movements, peering first at Ashes, then Aimarra. There's an obvious mental hiccup as she translates both sets of signs -- resolving when this is over to teach Ashes proper handtalk -- then peers down the corridor to the false pigeon. Creeeeeping steps carry her toward the hidden door, gentle pressure placed on it to gauge in which direction it waters.
The pressure applied to the door causes it to shift ever so slightly- it seems as though the false wall panel is fixed in the middle, and pivots around to rotate in place. It doesn't seem locked, nor trapped so far as any of them can tell, relying on being difficult to spot for security rather than sturdiness or any other such tricks. It could be opened quite easily, it seems.
Ashlee nods, watching Donna determine the pivot point, and makes a turning motion with her hands. She has her suspicions as to what is on the other side, but can't share them.
Her message conveyed, Aimarra simply waits, holding her breath, not daring to move lest she make another noise.
GAME: Aimarra rolls perception: (11)+13: 24 GAME: Donna rolls perception: (2)+12: 14 GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (10)+3: 13
As the door is pushed open- its a tight squeeze to get through, they'll have to sidle through sideways, but clearly secrecy was more important than comfort in its construction- they see the landing. The double doors leading to the staircase at the far end of the hallway, and another set of double doors leading to the west to the main hallway between the two sets of private chambers. Nothing else waits for them in the hallway, though it is markedly colder- ice clings to the floor and walls, refusing to melt, and a cold cloying mist drifts along the ground, reaching up to the knees- and spilling into the corridor now the door is pushed open.
Gritting her teeth against the chill as she edges through the door, Donna gives the others room to maneuver past the portal, then presses herself against the wall. A shaking hand rises, pointing to the nearest door, then the farthest, then palm turns up in the universal gesture of 'which is it?'
The mist is disconcerting. Ashes carefully stares down the passage, brushes at the tendrils flowing around her. She stares at the closest set of double doors. Pointing at the furthest set, she points downwards and then draws a jagged set of stairs in the air. Her best estimate is those line up with the main corridor below.
She bats at the mist again, watching how it spills through the false pigeon.
Again, Aimarra pokes Ashes in the back, gesturing to both of them when she has their attention. <<A woman cries, this way.>> She gestures to the southwest. <<The near door will serve, and we should leave nothing at our backs.>>
<<The hourglass rains..>> Ashlee starts to repeat the signs for Donna, then gives up and nods, simply pointing at the nearest doors.
GAME: Donna rolls reflex: (3)+7: 10 GAME: Thurid rolls 5d4: (13): 13
No sooner has Donna touched the double doors, before they suddenly fly open. A gout of bone-chillingly cold wind and ice bursts forth from the corridor, washing over Donna, flash freezing exposed moisture, and splitting the tiny blood vessels in her skin with needle sharp ice crystals. The gout does not last long, though- like popping the cork on a bottle of sparkling wine, it seems whatever energies were stored beyond are expent in an instant.
The hallway beyond is freezing cold, with large icicles hanging from the ceiling or sprouting from the floor.
The icicles are large enough to block movement, but look fragile and could probably be destroyed.
GAME: Ashes rolls 2d8+5: (8)+5: 13 (Healing Hex)
As if Donna hadn't had enough cold in her life, Ashes adds some more of a different sort. The hobgoblin touches her shoulder, imparting a sensation not unlike handling cold clay, that spreads through her whole body. After, the sting of the ice is lessened, turning into a pins and needles sensation which slowly fades.
Glancing back at Aimarra, she points to the nearest doors, making and opening gesture as well as one suggestive of jumping back. "Ss-s-s-s--!" The frigid assault on the brawler takes her very clearly by surprise, and her chilled gauntlets lash out to grip the doorway, steadying Donna against the searing cold.
Once she catches her breath, she turns a chagrined look over her shoulder, and begins to whisper an incantation, a ward against further weaponised chill. As Ashes undoes the trauma of flash-frozen skin, Donna throws a grateful look over her shoulder, then moves into the passageway, taking a moment to study the frost spikes.
GAME: Donna casts Resist Energy. Caster Level: 8 DC: 14 (80 mins, Cold Rsistance 20)
Aimarra, already out of line of the doors, nods back, but when the trap goes off, she has to restrain herself from jumping backwards into the wall panel. In an instant, bone-numbing cold or not, her bow is in her hands, even though she can barely stop her teeth from chattering as she prepares to follow the others.
The ice crystals don't look particularly supernatural, though they aren't clear like natural icicles, but cloudy, like ice formed when something is frozen in an instant by magic or artifice. They don't appear any sturdier than ice typically is. Here in the corridor, Donna can hear the crying too- it seems to be near due south of her. It's a quiet, persistent sobbing. No wailing or lamenting, and sounds as though it may be a woman.
The ice crystals do not significantly block either the north double doors to the lord's solar, nor the southern doors in this corridor which ought lead into the tea room.
As the wards settle on her skin, Donna draws in a deep, shuddery breath; it won't stop the cold from being cold, but, its bite is at least severely blunted. Looking back, the brawler nods toward the south door, visibly curling her pointing hand into a fist. <<Be ready for a fight.>>
Ashlee holds up her hand, in a 'stop', gesture.
She has an unsettling suspicion. Carefully, quietly, she rubs a patch on the nearest crystal, peering deep into it. They are man sized, they may be more than corridor obstructions, and following their general desire to keep their back-trail clear it might be worth provoking anything frozen inside. Or, previewing their own fates.
Preparing for a fight though, that's still a good idea.
GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (17)+3: 20
There is no condensation on the surface- it is too cold. Peering closely enough she fears her nose might stick to it, Ashes can still see barely more than an inch into the ice. She can't make out anything that looks like any form or figure trapped within.
After staring into the crystal for a moment, she shakes her head and nods at the door. She's ready.
That gesture is not lost on Aimarra, even as the wards settle around her. It helps, at least a little, even if she is fairly sure she'll never be warm again. She nods once, nocking an arrow to the bow in preparation for what is to come.
As the party creep through the hallway towards the far end, and Donna carefully slides open the door (thankfully, without any more freezing gusts) the room beyond is in total disarray. Ceramic teaware- extremely expensive looking- shattered against a wall. Upholstery torn from the pillows, tables haphazardly dashed to the corners of the room or overturned, candelabras ripped from the walls. A large cluster of icicles takes up one corner of the room- and the mist that profuses the place seems to be seeping from doors leading into the lady's bedchambers. The crying is clearer- they are getting closer.
The very large icicle is clearer than the others they have seen, there are shadows within.
Leaning in to peer through the door, Donna pauses for a moment, mind racing through possible outcomes. Pointing at Ashes, she indicates the cleric occupy the corner closest this door. Aimarra, to the overturned table in the middle of the room. For herself, she slips in to approach the beshadowed cluster, steeling herself for the inevitable explosion of shards as something horrible lunges for her face.
Seriously it's *always* the face, what's up with that.
The Mourner takes in the room, the disarray. She feels the chill seeping through the gaps in her armour, hints of it, never reaching discomfort but reminding her its there. It's worse for her companions.
The destruction is a familiar sight. It's not uncommon for the very disciplined Arvek Nar to snap and lose it violently. It's often complete, very thorough.
Her eyes are drawn to the large icicle, and the shadows within. Her ears twitch, bending forward, and takes up the position Donna indicates for her. She stares at the ice.
There is a story here. Perhaps it will become known to her.
Obediently, Aimarra takes the indicated position, dropping to a knee to let the overturned table grant her as much cover as it may, putting it between herself and the cluster that Donna now approaches.
As you draw near to the large cluster of ice, you see two figures within- both wearing stately, if exotic, robes. A man and a woman. The woman has exceptionally long, jet black hair, and the man bears a marked resemblance to the young lord Hiei- though with more chiseled features and salt and pepper hair. He is cradling the woman, his back peppered with arrows, and she has a vicious gash in her back, from shoulder blade to hip. Both are clearly dead, but it doesn't seem the ice that killed them
Pressing a hand up to the ice, Donna stares within for a long moment... then sighs heavily, squeezing her eyes shut and motioning for the others to join her. Once they've come close enough for quiet conversation, the brawler murmurs. "...So Ash, if I were to bet lunch on that ghost bein' this lady..."
GAME: Ashes casts Speak With Dead. Caster Level: 5 DC: 16
Ashlee moves over when beckoned, and also stares into the frozen depths. She nods slowly, meeting Donna's eyes, followed with a glance, checking Aimarra's position.
She searches very carefully for the red ribbon gifted by Lord Hiei, and ensures it is visible tied around her wrist. "You would win a free lunch."
She breathes slowly, looking at the scene, then kneels. Her voice quiet and low, she touches the holy symbol on her breastplate. She stares at their injuries, addresses the bodies. "Lord Hiei sent us, to restore him. The Feiu of the Tears sent me, to bring you peace. We are the vassels of your revenge, to aid you."
Only pick one of the two bodies can be spoken to, per the limitations of the spell. It won't work on a corpse which has been turned into an undead creature, and that probably includes incorporeal undead.
So she chooses Lord Hiei's father.
GAME: Ashes rolls perception: (1)+3: 4 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Aimarra rolls perception: (14)+13: 27
Aimarra lets the other two approach, remaining behind to cover their approach - and their backs, for she is not unaware of the other doors to the room.
As the spell washes over the bodies, the eyes of the man- waxy as they are in death, swivel towards Ashes beneath the ice. A moment later, his mouth moves as though to speak, though no sound comes out at first. The ice falls away from his lips, and they move again, a hoarse, rattling voice follows, "Who... why..." his dead eyes still fixed on the Arvek.
While still alert and keyed up for something less-talky to happen, Donna takes a half-step back, giving Ashes the floor when dealing with the late Lord of the manor. "You got this, Ash?" she murmurs into the Hobkin's ear, looking back at Aimarra and nodding her thanks for the cover.
"Your brother has deposed your son. Filled your estate with demons and undead. Slain you and your wife." The Mourner says, her voice flat, her face expressionless and dominated by her white skull markings. "We are here to restore Lord Hiei. To clear the way."
"We were guided here. To witness and understand." She turns her head, giving the briefest of nods to Donna. Conversation and diplomacy is not her strong suit, but she has always preferred talking to ghosts.
"Dead... all... dead..." The lord replies to Ashes, still clearly confused and bewildered by his temporary return to the plane of the living. "Hiei... dead... Yoshiko... dead..." he mutters distractedly- Ashes words seem to be only distantly registering with him.
The Mourner is patient. Dying is chaotic and disorienting, ghosts are often confused. Caught up in living worries, unable to understand what has happened. Pulling them back across the veil does not aid their perspective. Ashlee softly repeats a few things, "Hiei lives. Tsubaki guards him. He sent us."
"Yoshiko has passed, remains here, trapped by her anger and desire for revenge." Not good news, but it must be shared.
"Where would your brother most disgrace your legacy?"
It's hard to tell why, exactly, but abruptly, Aimarra swivels towards the door to the east and south in the room, bow nocked and half-drawn, waiting. Someone's threat pattern has changed.
Donna perks as Aimarra turns, hands flashing a brief signal. <<What did you hear?>> The archer's tenseness, however, speaks loudly enough that the brawler's fists rise just slightly, readying for a punch-up.
"Hiei... lives?" The corpse questions, his eyes rolling back into his head for a moment, before they swivel back to look at ashes. "Hiei... lives?" he asks then, his voice distracted, as though he is trying to pick out the Mourner's words through a cacophony. Her question draws him back into focus though. "North... always north. Always." he offers, before his eyes roll back again and the temporary spark of life starts to fade, lest she keep speaking to him.
From the other room, there is a sudden sound. A curtain being drawn back, the pat-pat-par of bare feet against the tatami floor. And suddenly the sliding door Aimarra looks at opens wide. A simulacrum of the woman frozen in the ice stands there- her robes stripped of their color, her face paler still, and her eyes dark with tears. But unmistakably the same face. "My lord!" she sobs.
She is looking straight past all of them towards the talking corpse.
"Hiei lives." The ashen Arvec confirms, addressing the man. Her head turns, she observes the woman, her resemblance to the body frozen in ice. Other details were noted, how she used the door. How she walks, does not fly. Habits suggestive of relatively recent ghosts.
Ashlee faces the frozen Lord. She's uncertain, but death is her calling, and she follows her impulse. Addressing him, moving so the way is clear should the ghost approach closer, she says, "Yoshiko is here. What do you wish to say to her?"
As Yoshiko's frozen shade makes her appearance and exclamation, Donna looks down at her feet, then the ice behind her, and decides discretion is *definitely* the better part of not having to punch a distraught wife. Stepping to one side, she -- perhaps meaninglessly -- gestures toward Ashes and the ice-tombed corpses, as if to say 'my Lady...'
"Yoshiko... here? Don't see..." he croaks distractedly, his eyes moving around in their sockets, but distant, unfocused, cloudy.
The ghost of Yoshiko rushes over towards her husband- Aimarra jukes out of the way to avoid... whatever might happen when being plowed through by a ghost who only seems dimly aware that she is in fact a ghost. She continues, Donna moving aside to allow her to pass. She falls to her knees before her husband, reaching out to take his face in her hands- but they pass through the flesh, and ice crystals spread from her touch. "My lord..." she whispers, softly.
"Yoshiko... miss you... Hiei lives..." he murmurs, answering Ashes' question, while seemingly still oblivious to his wife's ghostly touch.
"Yoshiko is here. She can hear you." The Mourner repeats. She is not frightened by the apparition beside her, she has seen ghosts before. She does have a healthy respect for the powers they acquire through unlife, and is concerned they will be turned on her, but presses on. Her voice maintains its flat inflection, no wavering, no hints of emotion.
Putting what she wants to say in the form of a question is the challenge, "Do you want her to follow and reunite with you in the Grey Halls? To remain together, always?"
The frozen diorama is suggestive.
"I'm here, I'm right here..." The apparition implores desperately, as her husbands eyes wander. Her tears fall freely again, running down her face and then freezing into tiny hailstones which fall to the ground beneath her. Her touch blackens his skin where she tries to embrace him, razor sharp ice crystals sprouting.
His eyes settle back on Ashes at her question, "Halls? Forever... come... together, Yoshiko. Miss you." he says then, looking through his bereaved wife towards the graven face of the Mourner beyond.
Ashlee looks at Donna, then Aimarra, a telling hesitation.
Donna glances back at the silence, a small, puzzled frown tugging at her mouth. The brawler nods to the Lord's body, then northward, as though to indicate asking more about what lies in store for them.
"Yoshiko, he can't see you, can't hear you." Ashlee says firmly, staying behind the ghost so it seems the Lord's attention is on the ghost, even if he's really watching the Mourner, "I've pulled him from his rest. I'm sorry."
"My Lord," She addresses him, wishing once more names had been shared. "Was your brother overcome, possessed, and not acting like himself in your last days that you can explain why?"
"Together? We're together now, my love..." the Apparition says again, confused and afraid that her husband can't see her, that she can't seem to touch him. Her eyes turn to her own corpse, next to him, eyes widen. She brings her hands up, looks at them. She is starting to realize what she is.
His eyes snap back to Ashes at the question, his lips moving wordlessly for a moment before he pulls his thoughts together. "Always... always hungry. Always greedy. Jealous..." he mutters in response to her question. "Still family... I thought... still family..." he trails off slowly, and his eyes roll back one final time as the animating forces flee his body, and the scrap of his soul brought back from the cusp of the halls of waiting returns.
"No... don't go... don't leave me here! No!" Yoshiko cries out, reaching to grab her husband as he falls limp and passing through him again. "No! DON'T LEAVE ME!" she cries out. An unseen wind begins to whip her hair about, and the already cold temperature of the room begins to drop. Crystals of ice begin to form a web, spreading slowly out from her.
GAME: Ashes rolls sense motive: (12)+12: 24
She is on a knife's edge. Almost ready to pass on, but a wrong word might send her into a rage instead.
"I have to drop the spell." Ashlee says simply, a warning look directed at Donna and Aimarra. They might not want to be close.
"...Got it," Donna says, scooting about to stand behind Ashes. The brawler is careful to keep her hands visible, and palms turned outward. See, her body language says, see how I am not threatening. This is just my resting face, I promise.
Aimarra chooses to continue to remain silent, but nods mutely, stepping back and keeping a hand on the arrow.
The Mourner has seen bravery, many times. Each time Donna steps up to take the blows. She doesn't feel brave. She's not even confident she's done, or doing the right thing. It is an unknown path and even if she's gone further along than most, there are pitfalls, real danger, and pain.
She has to trust in her knowledge, her training, and her experience. She draws herself up to her full height. She holds her holy symbol, the Scales of Vardama in her hands.
"Feiu of the tears, let her see me." She prays quietly, and wills her protection to vanish. She doesn't do anything immediately, only stand there. A figure with grey skin, grey hair, threadbare grey clothing and armour, that while silvery, holds shadows to it. An ashen figure, covered in the markings of death. Skulls. Bones. A monstrous memento mori.
"Yoshiko," Ashlee says quietly, to draw the ghost's attention. She repeats again, her voice firm. "Yoshiko. You have died. Your Lord awaits you in the Grey Halls. The Feiu of the Tears wants you to join him. There is nothing here for you. Do not let the concerns of the living keep you from him. The living will handle it."
"Please. Go. He loves you. He misses you."
GAME: Ashes rolls diplomacy+8: (14)+0+8: 22
The ghost whips around when she hears her name. Crystals of ice fall from the trails of tears that run down her cheeks, and she begins to lift from the ground. The wind whips at her clothing, her hair- a silent gale that surrounds her. And it begins to affect the mortal world, as well. Scraps of torn upholstery and her crystalline tears picked up by the whorl to swirl around her as she stares at the Mourner. It seems as though her words are falling on deaf ears.
Until she drops back to the ground, and collapses into Ashes. Her form is incorporeal, barely there, but somehow she finds purchase on the agent of the grey lady. "I'm afraid." she confides in her then. "Is Hiei truly safe?" she asks.
<OOC> Ashes says, "I'll take the cold damage" GAME: Thurid rolls 4d6: (10): 10
At the Lady's keening grief, Donna can't help but take a step back. Warding or no, the sight of a ghost whose mythic sads can do real damage is an unnerving thing. She tenses to move forward when the ghost puts hands on Ashes, but *forces* herself to stand still. Ash has got this. She can handle this, it's what she's trained for.
It just sucks that doing so forces the brawler to stomp on her *own* lived training.
COLD! Yoshiko's frigid touch cuts right through her armours comforts. Ashlee feels her skin freeze and frostbite. Her instinct is to flinch away, and she clamps right down on that, remaining to embrace the ghost. Her teeth chatter, a tiny bit, but she maintains her flat tones.
"Hiei is safe. Tsubaki guards him. Loyal retainers wait for the right opportunity. We will restore him."
She shivers as she embraces the woman. Grief is familiar to the Mourners, she's seen it often, from the living and the dead. She hopes her faith will fill in where her skill with words does not, and keeps her voice steady. She's representing the Grey Lady, there is no room to sound doubtful.
"There is nothing to fear. Crossing the veil does not hurt. The Feiu of the Tears will take you and comfort you. Your suffering is at an end. Your troubles are over. Your reward, your Lord, awaits."
"Let go."
The ghost remains there in Ashes' arms for a few more lingering moments, unaware or perhaps uncaring of the harm she causes. Eventually, she says, "Thank you." to the mourner. Her already ephemeral form glows paler, and she steps back away even as she begins to fade from sight. Finally, she disappears, leaving only a single teardrop falling to the ground.
When it strikes the tatami floor, it marks the end of her influence- the ice, no longer sustained by supernatural forces, begins to melt all around. Sharp points of the crystals softening. Droplets, and then rivulets of water begin to run from the crystals as the balmy sun outside catches up with them, gradually dispelling the unearthly cold.
Aimarra, through this whole thing, has been completely silent, near-frozen in place literally and figuratively, but her expression opens as the figure begins to fade, watching with widening eyes as the ghost fades from view. When she finally turns her gaze to Ashes, her eyes are written with deepest respect, and she touches her fingers to her lips, and bows formally to the Arvek.
"...Ash?" Donna breathes, as warmth begins to creep back into this side of the castle. "Just wantcha to know... Don't ever let me hear you say you ain't got a strong heart. Cos this, right here? It proves that's a lie, pure an' simple."
Ashes maintains her stoic vigil while Yoshiko is present, as she fades, through to the lone tear falling. As the ice breaks and the sun warms the building, she allows herself to shiver. Her breath catches as she returns Aimarra's bow, and then she steadies herself against the wall and crouches. She holds her arms tight against her chest, still shaking as she grows warmer.
She is there for several minutes.
"Feiu of the Tears, thank you." She says eventually, looking up at Donna. Her eyes are wet, she hasn't even realized. She nods, "thank you."
With a deep breath, she pushes and stands, looking at the two bodies released from their ice prison. "I need to address their remains. When we're done."
Her shivering has almost stopped.
Combatty
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Name | CHP (T) | HP | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Aimarra.......| 44 | 55 | | Ashes.........| 34 | 64 | | Donna.........| 54 | 61 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donna has raged for 5 rounds. Donna has a necklace of fireballs with a single charge in it. Donna has used: Resist Energy
<OOC> Donna says, "AImarra gets the Necklace. :3"
Ashes has used: See Invisibility, Hide from Undead, Stone Shape, Silence, Speak with Dead, Healing Hex x2 (on Aimarra, Donna) and 1 channel.
Map
https://www.mipui.net/app/index.html?mid=my9p4ztsxup
ambient music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7yhXrPfC4
battle music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkz0d60JYuA
Spooky music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KfieEkIJo
Super deep bass cover of 'Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold''
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erkv1-_xR7U
<OOC> Ashes says, "Ashes doing exactly what she was meant to do."
<OOC> Thurid says, "I'm glad you enjoyed! I had this tragic backstory planned for them, but I didn't know how much it would get to be explored because she was definitely going to be hostile towards you initially."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Although I will say, option 2 was handing her my Ghost Touch Khopesh and saying, "You can hold this and go on a killing spree.""
<OOC> Donna says, "Just, like, not us please?"
<OOC> Thurid says, "But the speak with dead thing gave an opportunity to move it in a more RP direction, which I hope you guys didn't mind."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Oh I know, well, I was interested in their story"
<OOC> Ashes says, "oh it was great!"
<OOC> Ashes says, "I don't think Ashes has delusions about ghosts, like pretty certain she knows there are some too far gone into revenge that can't be reached, but she'll still attempt something initially"
<OOC> Thurid says, "I like exploring ghosts are more fleshed out tragic characters and not just monsters."
<OOC> Ashes nods
<OOC> Thurid played a Gheist 'Exorcist' in oWoD for a while. But he hated most exorcists, his style of exorcising ghosts was to just show up and chat with them for a bit, show them where the nearest entrance to the underworld was, and offer to guide them there if they wanted.
<OOC> Thurid says, "Basically Dead Like Me."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Oh. Oh I loved that series."
<OOC> Ashes says, "Mandy Patkin, awesome"
<OOC> Thurid says, "I really enjoyed it, too."
<OOC> Ashes nods, "I've posed Ashes doing that sort of thing, and talking about that sort of thing."
<OOC> Donna is reminded of the brief time I played the SUpernatural TTRPG, and played a pacifist exorcist.
<OOC> Ashes says, "'A Chef' is one of my faves"
<OOC> Thurid says, "Anyhow, thanks all for coming, and thanks for the RP."
<OOC> Ashes nods, "Thanks very much! Yes."
<OOC> Donna says, "Everyone else was all 'oh no this is gonna suck' until I threw the GM by talking the haunt into moving on in one dice roll. :P"
<OOC> Ashes says, "heee"
<OOC> Thurid says, "Yeah, my guy was not a pacifist..."
<OOC> Thurid says, "My guy was nice to ghosts, but he would haunt the shit out of ignorant Hunter Exorcists."
<OOC> Thurid says, "It's all fun and games bullying ghosts into submission, until ectoplasmic ravens come out of the walls and peck out your eyes."