SAU XV: Pawn of the Dead

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Kefka
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Post by Kefka »

Tempis had stood next too where the elf HAD been standing. Surprisingly, after the lightning struck, he was a few good feet away from the pink ash.
He brushed ash and soot off of his overcoat and listened to what the others had too offer. From them, Sleek seemed to have the best arguments for who is or maybe the possessed.
"I do not want too seem like I am just a sheep following the herd, but Sleek provides some good pointers. I realize that Kilia (Dranial) suggests that someone such as I should be considered suspicious, but I must point out that at least I am trying to help move things along here."
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Post by Sleekdd »

Kefka, you say I have a few good points and while I appreciate that greatly, I'd like it even more if you backed it up with a vote. Actually, if you don't agree with my opinion on the matter, you should still place a vote – albeit somewhere else. It's not enough to claim to contribute in this room, you actually have to contribute for it to count for something.”

“And to all the others in this room; the one we're looking for will not be impressed by your awesomeness,” Sleek says, “Hiding in dark corners, wielding big weapons and talking tough does not impress it. A clear mind and a stout heart will because that's all we have to root it out.”

“Time is running out fast. We need to act now and we need to act with the one weapon we have: our votes. And whether you want to vote based on what your nose tells you, or you slap it on the first one to get a vote because you always thought him suspicious – but you lacked the guts to say so openly – or want to use clear reasoning and educated guesses is your choice. Our votes hold the same weight, no matter what you base them on. But would you at least place them?
Not voting helps just one party in here. It will not give us a second chance. It will not show the mercy we are now showing it with our lack of action and it will not stop until we are its handpuppets.”
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Post by Tarbo »

    Deroth
  1. Telrunya
  2. SleekDD
  3. Shadow Dark
    LordAnubis (Zenobius)
  1. Kinslayer
  2. Zardock
    Zardock
  1. Deroth
  2. Drainial
    Deaths
  • 51la5 (Pure Soul) -- Day 1, inactivity
  • Khel (Priest) -- Day 1, excused

The Day ends in several hours. If no absolute majority is reached, no exorcisms will be performed.
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Shadow dark
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Post by Shadow dark »

Khadarel rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly.

'Seriously people we are getting nowhere. Slowly. If we want to know what is what, then we NEED to do something. A random vote if nothing else, but do SOMETHING! And soon! At he risk of sounding melodramatic, the eleventh hour approaches.'

As he sat down once more, those close to Khadarel could see that he was grinding his teeth and muttering under his breath. None of the words he was using sounded particularly polite.
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Kefka
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Post by Kefka »

OOC: Oops, sorry, I forgot to place my vote

IC: Vote: Deroth
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Post by Telrunya »

"I think this is where you are wrong, Sleek. You see, this spirit isn't like you and me. It's not going to scratch its chin and think: did I miss some national inbreeding party or something? No, it's very much impressed. Who wouldn't be? Now, you aren't because you have lived your entire life amongst contemporary Druchii, but this thing... this thing has only seen the Druchii of yore; the ones that actually built this cathedral, and probably died while doing so."

"It is now facing the new generation of Druchii. Onces who didn't build cathedrals that pierce the skies. These Druchii have figured out, after countless of failed attempts to reconquer Ulthuan, that our mightiest weapon might just be the evil glare. Ok, so far the Asur haven't left yet, but it is only due to their obsessive flower interest that they haven't been paying us the attention we deserve - that we need - for our tough looks to work their magic."

"No Sleek, I think the spirit is impressed, I think it is flabbergasted, because it has nothing to do but observing us. And I think it is about to crack."
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Post by Shadow dark »

"I'm sure I cannot be the only one who does not have a clue what you are wittering on about. If you want to wait for the spirit to jump up and announce itself then that is your own business, but unless you have some VERY powerful lightning conductors around, it does not seem a winning tactic. But if you will forgive my slight rant, then we should do something to give us some more time or clues. Time is pretty much up now. Well done to everyone, we have achieved nothing worth mentioning, and the chances are that this time tomorrow, one of our number will be dead."

Khadarel shook his head in disgust, and spat in a corner.
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Post by Kinslayer »

"One thing is for sure, as Khadarel seems to have also noticed, despite our different takes on this situation, some of us are trying to make progress and others are not. You heard them, they want a vote from us now, or are we just to let the necromancer live on another day?"

Kinslayer shook his head in disgust, causing his braided hair to shake around his shoulders slightly, the metal hooks he had tied into it jingling slightly.
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Post by Lordanubis »

"There are many good arguments for a number of people. However, I think I will vote for Deroth today."

Vote: Deroth
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Post by Telrunya »

"It seems we are not getting anywhere like this," Telrunya remarked, shaking his head. "The person with the largest number of votes is clearly Deroth. Kinslayer, Zardock, Kilia, if this discussion is not settled today, it will drag into tomorrow. Will you at least reconsider your vote in order to secure some inkling of knowledge today?"

"Mel'Reyna, Belial, Senestra, Demendred. Everybody is waiting for you, and I believe the expedition's patience is wearing thin."
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Post by Kinslayer »

Kinslayer shrugged as Telrunya spoke, having also listened to Zenobius,
"You are right, there are many good arguments for a number of people. Telrunya, you ask me to change my vote so that Deroth is killed in place of Zenobius? Perhaps this suggests that you suspect Deroth is the necromancer... or perhaps it suggests that you know Zenobius IS the necromancer, are working with him, and trying to turn us away from the path of exoricising him. No, my vote will not change, for I trust nobody here, and will listen to my instincts"
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Post by Zardock »

"I would reconsider my vote if someone would provide more evidence that Zenobius is not the necromancer, by the way I do apologise for the mislabelling but they're all the same to me, then I will indeed switch my vote to the strongest argument."
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Post by Shadow dark »

"Ah" Khadarel spoke, smiling through his impatience, or baring his teeth anyway, "So, though the fact that until voting starts we can have no real evidence is generally agreed, we have people here who refuse to vote until they see evidence. Good. Now we can all understand why we are going to be murdered in our beds, I see."

Khadarel's face lost it's pretence of a smile.

"Should I be alive tomorrow, then i hope that you will have become more sensible, and less suicidal."
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Post by Telrunya »

"Kinslayer, despite some bad experiences with it, I will try reasoning with you once more.

"Firstly, this spirit has only taken possession of one --and only one-- body. Not two, not three. One. And only one. It is safe to assume nobody is actively coorperating with it. Not Zenobius, not me. Either you are the necromancer, or you aren't.

"Secondly, if I knew Zenobius were the necromancer and I were working with him, then I would suggest you stay put, do as you are doing now. Because then nothing will happen, and I would bet my right arm on it that Daynarii would be very happy with that. I know I would be ragingly mad, mayby even frothing a little. Trust me on this, Daynarii's and my interests do not coincide."
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Post by Zardock »

"So now that someone is nearing the majority vote I am supposed to switch my hunch to get him out? Now not to seem cowardly but my head is already on the block and is so because I switch my idea slightly, now you want me and Kinslayer to switch, just like that to eliminate someone?"

"In my eyes it seems like you just want us to walk right up and give you more reasons to suspect us? If you could twist it so it looks like it wasn't your suggestion."

"Very Well then.... as he has acted within reason and did not falter in spite of his conviction..."


Unvote: Zenobius (LordAnubis)

"This means that my vote will fall onto the other character that raced to join my side but then switched as soon as I became the black sheep."

Vote: Deroth

"I would urge someone to bring this vote to a majority so we can start again and begin to gather more evidence."
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Post by Tarbo »

It was getting late. Though Anleth couldn't really tell due to the lack of sunlight, she felt she had been sitting there for hours, and her sense of time was usually accurate. It was clear that the storm above wasn't going to lessen anytime soon; already, she could feel a very distant, uncomfortable twist of pure Chaos energy unleashed through the skies and touching, stroking everyone's mind and essence.

"I'm afraid that is all the time we had," she breaks up the meeting, standing up and looking everyone over. "I do not believe that waiting this out is the safest way to go about this, but if a majority could not be reached amongst yourselves..." Her voice trails off, and she quietly smacks her lips once. "Well then, we should do what we came here to do: retrieve the artifacts Adrianna's expedition lost."

°°°

Tarbo scratched the back of his head. He didn't like what he was hearing, but the alternatives were few and far between. As in, zero and nowhere.

"I find the idea less than sensational," Mioralynthia commented, "but I'm afraid it's the only thing we can do, given the circumstances. Some proximity to our own warding symbols should limit everyone's exposure to Daynarii's attempts, and hopefully stave off spurious possession."

"Then we have no choice," Anleth resolved. "It will increase their odds, and stall Daynarii long enough for us to complete our mission."

"I like puppies."

A profound silence came from the three elves upon hearing those words. While it took no imagination to fathom the source, they still turned their heads to meet Elyssa.

"They're cute and cuddly."

"I'm cute and cuddly," Tarbo replied with a smile, and instantly felt an elbow in his ribs. He mouthed a quiet 'ouch' to Mioralynthia.

"Perhaps you should secure this area's perimeter," Anleth suggested to the obviously bored head of the expedition, "set up an encampment that we can use as a base of operations."

A long, blank stare gazed into Anleth's eyes.

"Find somewhere safe where we can sleep and stay there?"

"Oh, was that what you just said? 'Cause that was, like, in one ear and out the other," Elyssa giggled.

"She's not too smart, is she?" Tarbo whispered to Mioralynthia.

She sighed. "No."

"Perfect," he grinned.

________________________

    Players
  1. Kefka
  2. SleekDD
  3. Kinslayer
  4. Demendred
  5. Zardock
  6. Deroth
  7. LordAnubis
  8. Drainial
  9. zzug
  10. Shadow Dark
  11. Telrunya
  12. Belial
  13. Mel'Reyna
With 13 players left, 7 constitute a majority. There is 1 infiltrator in the game.


    Deroth
  1. Telrunya
  2. SleekDD
  3. Shadow Dark (Khadarel)
  4. Kefka (Tempis)
  5. LordAnubis (Zenobius)
  6. Zardock
    LordAnubis (Zenobius)
  1. Kinslayer
    Zardock
  1. Deroth
  2. Drainial (Killia)
    Deaths
  • 51la5 (Pure Soul) -- Day 1, inactivity
  • Khel (Priest) -- Day 1, excused
Since no majority was reached, Day ends without an exorcism.

It is now Night. People wishing to use their abilities should PM me. If you don't want to use any abilities, you get to keep your action point for the next Night (so you'll have two), but beware: if you are subverted, you lose all your action points.

You may still post once, and only once, during the Night phase. This is commonly called a 'night post'. Keep in mind that your characters are (storywise) not going to sleep!

Night ends on Monday, around 21h00 GMT. People who have not messaged the use of abilities to me by then will forfeit their use for the Night.

________________________

Trivia questions

1) Why was Anleth at the city hall?
  1. To assist in capturing escaped sprites.
  2. To share a letter with Mioralynthia.
  3. To investigate an undead sighting.
  4. To have lunch with Mioralynthia.
2) Elyssa Salth was almost disqualified from a beauty contest because...
  1. her father bribed the officials;
  2. she failed a basic literacy test;
  3. she tied in the poledancing competition;
  4. she believed Easter Monday fell on Thursday.
3) What is Tarbo's official occupation?
  1. He's a trainer at the Temple.
  2. He is Elyssa's bodyguard.
  3. He 'fixes' stuff (or people).
  4. He is the general in charge of the expedition.
4) What does the expedition know of Daynarii?
  1. He led the final expedition against Adrianna.
  2. He was a daemon who invaded the temple in a Chaos storm.
  3. He was an elderly elf who oversaw the building of Redoris' temple.
  4. He was a Temple official sent to investigate undead sightings.
5) The expedition went into the temple catacombs to...
  1. find evidence of Daynarii's destruction;
  2. find and destroy Daynarii's restless spirit;
  3. seek shelter from the Chaos storm;
  4. hold a morgue party.


Trivia questions, how to solve them, and the point to solving them, are explained in the OOC thread.
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Post by Kinslayer »

Though they had moved on, Kinslayer was startled at the last minuet change of mind one of the others had taken. Now he alone was voting for Zenobius, and though he still felt suspicious of the man, he knew they would get nowhere without his change of vote.

"Very well... if it still matters, I shall run with the majority, and hopefully find some new evidence"

Unvote: LordAnubis

Vote: Deroth
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Post by Zardock »

"You are to late to change your vote now my friend. Rest assured we shall continue in the morn, I still suspect Zenobius but I thought that switching my opinion would cause more people to vote and begin the process, I am convinced that soon the enemy will begin to move and we will see more suspicious movement"

"The day will offer new opertunities to the council I am sure."
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Post by Belial »

"I am sorry, my fellows. All this talk has left me in doubt, and I know regret I did not cast my vote. We shall see tomorrow, if I am still here."
Belial stood up, and brushed the tomb dust off his clothing. There was not armor, save for oiled leather and a smalle ammount of inwoven chainmail at vital areas, as the shade clearly favoured speed and stealth over protection. He picked up his belongings, and headed for a corner of the room.
"I'll just set up over here in the corner, if you don't mind. If anyone cares for my company, I'll be happy to share some dried meat."
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Post by Deroth »

"Well I have avoided a horrible death for the day by the skin of my teeth but I fear it has only been delayed until tommorrow, I hope I can convince you all otherwise but I dont believe in miracles. Well untill tommorow then."

Deroth sat back down onto the sarcophagus and readied himself for what would be a long night, possibly his last night.
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Post by Mel'reyna »

Mel'Reyna exaggerated a yawn before sitting down on her cloak which was still laid out on the ground near one of the room's walls, making herself as comfortable as possible since they were obviously going to be stuck there for quite a while longer.

"While I commend those of you who pushed for a majority vote, I highly doubt that Deroth could be the one possessed by the necromancer, simply because he put little to no effort in defending himself. In fact, I'm guessing that one of the 6 people who voted for him are actually serving as the spirit's new chosen host. But of course, we'll have plenty of time to discuss all of that when the captain returns."
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Post by Drainial »

"Good night, may the Iron Panther gaurd your dreams."

That said Kilia vanished behind a sepulchre and curled up with a light blanket against the biting cold of the northlands.
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Post by Kinslayer »

"I guess tomorrow is another day, I pray we can come closer to ridding our group of this necromancer. The sooner I am out of here and back to the woods, the better."

Kinslayer moved back to between the two sarcophagi and sat down. He won't sleep... just watch.
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Post by Tarbo »

The catacombs were dark, fiendishly dark. With no natural light whatsoever making it into the underground structure, any kind of illumination had to be of artificial source: torches, candles, wisps of magic. Befitting a resting place of the dead, the only audible noise came from the expedition itself: boots tapping through the chambers and corridors, the slight, metal ticks of weaponry that wasn't fully secured, the soft washing, cracking and snapping of fire burning the oily torches.

The expedition had split fourways. The larger part had stayed with Lady Elyssa Salth, with orders to find and secure a location and its immediate surroundings. There would be need for a place to gather, to rest, and to organise. While nobody really trusted Elyssa with it, it was generally agreed she was assigned the job with the least likelihood to mess up.

The others had split up in order to cover more ground on short notice. The catacombs often weren't spacious in their chambers and corridors—after all, traffic was very low—so the groups were sized five to six and sent their seperate ways to accomplish a myriad of goals. The actual mission goal, to retrieve a number of valuable artifacts left over from Adrianna's expedition ages ago, had a surprisingly high priority at the moment. After all, if those artifacts helped against Daynarii back then, it was plausible they would assist the current expedition.

Zenobius looked over his shoulder briefly to see whether he could still spot the team they split from. He freely admitted to himself that he was content to be on the sorceress' party; after all, if anyone were to have a decent idea of what to expect and how to counter it, it would be a mistress of the arts. Though her particular expertise would not be necromancy—forbidden magickry, after all—even faint familiarity beat sheer ignorance.

"I can't believe we get assigned with necromancer bait there," Zardock muttered while waving vaguely in Mioralynthia's direction. "Ever since we got here, all she's done is order us from left to right, do a jiggy here and stand on your head there."

"That's alright," Zenobius grinned. "I like my women in charge."

"Say wha—?" Zardock narrowed his eyes to slits and muttered something under his voice about not being taken seriously. "What are we doing down here, anyway? Okay, before you answer that and mention dark dungeons and all that," he immediately threw up in defense, "hear me out. What I'm saying is, how do we know there are still actually any artifacts down here? It's been ages since anybody's been here."

"That's exactly why," Zenobius answered. "Nobody's been here since the dawn of time. Figuratively speaking, of course."

"But how many treasure hunters have passed here? You're not telling me this place has been lying open and vacant, and every treasure hunter in Naggaroth and beyond went all: 'Redoris? That's too far of a walk for me, bud!' They'd have jumped at the opportunity."

"In that case, we have a sobering announcement to make," Telrunya replied from the head of the group.

"We are all going to die," Sleek filled in immediately.

"And why is that?" Telrunya asked without truly asking.

"Because if people did come here at semi-regular intervals—"

"—then Daynarii would already have found hapless victims to take over—"

"—and would already have gained his freedom long ago—"

"—except if everybody who went down here actually died."

"Which consequently means that whatever artifacts we find down here—"

"—didn't do zippity-squat against Daynarii—"

"—and are thus utterly, completely—"

"—useless," Sleek and Telrunya both added simultaneously, and tapped their fists against each other.

Senestra snorted once. "Twins. Figures."

°°°

Tarbo pulled on his chin while looking around carefully in the crypt chamber. Others were already turning the place upside down.

"I swear I heard something in here," Belial repeated when the initial search turned up empty.

"As did I," Kilia backed him. "Something, or someone, was moving in here."

"But if Daynarii is inside one of us, how could he be walking around here? And how would anything else survive?" Deroth reasoned. "If you heard it through that door, then it was bigger and heavier than a rat."

"It was heavier," Belial agreed. "More like a... sarcophagus moving."

"Ri-ight," Demendred raised an eyebrow. "It's not cliché enough already. Down here in the caracombs of a long abandoned temple, up to our knees in grit, sand and dust, with some thunderstorm raging above our heads, and now the dead rise from the sarcophaguses to take their revenge on the living. 'Vengeance, vengeance!' " He took a deep breath. "I feel like I'm in some korny, two-pence thriller story."

Kilia pouted her lips. "Didn't the legend of Redoris mention something about undead sightings on the very outskirts of the town?"

"That was on the outskirts," Deroth pointed out. "It doesn't get a lot more downtown than this."

"It's not like you actually see dead people walking around underground," Belial entered the discussion. "With a necromancer's spirit haunting the place, I'd actually be pretty surprised not to be confronted with the undead at some point."

°°°

A few specks of dust simmered down from the ceiling when a loud, close crack could be heard overhead. Lightning had struck the temple, possibly even the very ceiling above their heads. That was one severe storm overhead.

Khadarel pulled his head in a bit to avoid hitting the portal when stepping through a door. He was a tall elf, and the catacombs were not really built for tall elves. Or, well, at least not for the walking ones.

Anleth looked around in the room. Several sarcophaguses were lined up neatly in the center of the room, with several alcoves holding others. Usually, the Druchii would bury their dead on family grounds, but perhaps this was the refuge of those less fortunate or more remote than their richer, distinctly urban relatives. The temple she guarded most definitely did not have a crypt.

"Hey, look where we are," Mel'Reyna said. "More crypt."

Tempis skipped his eyes at the sarcastic comment, but otherwise kept his senses on his surroudings. He beamed a brief look at his captain, but noticed she was preoccupied with something or, as it ultimately appeared, someone.

"I think I hear something," Kinslayer said, holding perfectly still.

"You heard something?" Kefka asked for confirmation. "I didn't."

"Follow your ears, sergeant. In the wild, you need your ears."

"First the nose, then the ears," Khadarel wheezed through his teeth.

"Yes, let's hope it stops there," Mel'Reyna added.

"Ssh!" Kinslayer silenced them, and stealthily approached the door on the other side of the chamber. "I hear... someone on the other side."

Cautioned by the hunter's words, the rest of the team instinctively hunched forward slightly and quietly, silently approached the door. They didn't really hear anything but, then again, Kinslayer had the ears.

"Okay, now!" Kinslayer kicked open the door firmly but smoothly, and stormed in.

His team was startled by the sudden burst of activity, and followed him moments later, a bit more... cautious than the hunter. They did find indeed something, but not what they had expected.

"See?" Belial said, rubbing over his sore knuckles while looking at the floored hunter. "I told you I heard something."

°°°

Kinslayer's face winced briefly when Anleth padded the bruise on his cheek with a cold, wet cloth. The teams were heading back to the camp that Elyssa would have set up and secured by now.

"Hey, Kinslayer, ah," Belial scratched his cheek. "Sorry about that punch. If I'd have known that was you—"

"—you'd have aimed for his nose?" Khadarel grinned.

"Oh, that's low," Kinslayer said, his voice muffled by the cloth.

"Keep still," Anleth asked him while carefully tending to him.

"If that is what it's like to be floored by a fist..." Telrunya said while pointing at the beautiful woman taking care of Kinslayer's bruise.

"...somebody, please knock us senseless," Sleek filled in.

Tempis frowned briefly, looking at the twins. "Do those two always—"

"—end each other's phrases? Yes," Zenobius replied.

°°°

"This should be it." Tarbo opened the door to the new camp and instantly held in silence. Pretty much everyone else joined him in bafflement.

Like much of the catacombs, this spacious room, too, was dark. All the more stood out the big, transparent ball attached to the ceiling, a plethora of jewelry and shiny gadgets reflecting light in the oddest of directions and colours while it slowly turned around.

"There you are!" Elyssa called out, and gestured everyone to come into the room. "We got liquor, we finally got the ball up, so let's get ready to part-ay!"

"What...?" Mioralynthia peered at the glass ball, trying to figure out what was in there that could reflect light so curiously. Her eyes quickly opened widely. "My charms!"

"Yeah, you were not using them, so we thought that, like, we'd all put them in that big ball and have some shinies in there. It's totally rad, right?"

"No. No no no, they're not all supposed to be mixed together," Mioralynthia said, keeping her eyes on the ball above her. "Get them down— get it down."

"But it was, like, really hard to get them up there in the first place!"

°°°

You're sitting in the makeshift base that has been set up underground. You can still faintly hear the thunderstorm overhead, an occasional, distant thunderclap sounding above you, but at least it is safe in here and, given the luminiscent ball above your heads, also a lot less dark than in the rest of the catacombs.

The atmosphere here is cold and damp, as if water used to run here long ago. The smell of rotting corpses has long since subsided due to a lack of fresh corpses, and so only the stale scent of stone and dust remains.

Anleth wipes some grit off a chest before taking a seat on it, and nods politely to you in greeting. Nothing needs to be said: she's here to preside over the discussion to find someone for exorcism in hopes of finding and defeating Daynarii and, in the process, limit the casualties he could cause.

And so, a new session starts, unceremoniously, unspectacularly.

________________________

    Players
  1. Kefka
  2. SleekDD
  3. Kinslayer
  4. Demendred
  5. Zardock
  6. Deroth
  7. LordAnubis
  8. Drainial
  9. zzug
  10. Shadow Dark
  11. Telrunya
  12. Belial
  13. Mel'Reyna
With 13 players left, 7 constitute a majority. There are 2 infiltrators in the game.

Councillors, beware! The Willing Host was automatically subverted by the Haunt as part of the Willing Host's special ability, and is now on the infiltrator team.

The activity deadline is set to pass on Thursday, around 21h00 GMT.

Good luck, and good hunting.
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Kinslayer
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Post by Kinslayer »

Kinslayer sat on the ground as morning came around, between the two sarcophagi. His cheek still throbbed from Belials' punch, though the young woman that had tended to him afterwards had lifted his mood slightly. It seemed the two groups had both heard motion and had pounced on eachother, and unfortunately for him Belial had the quickest reaction speed. Still, it was probably for the better. Things could have gone much worse if Kinslayer had swung his axe before Belial had swung his fist.

He got up, tired of sitting down without sleep, and started to pace the room,
"Another day, another chance to randomly kill somone?"
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