August Krasnow
Determined Individual
"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici."
Posts: 291
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Post by August Krasnow on Sept 2, 2011 3:19:24 GMT -5
August had arrived in Doma in the early evening via a airship supplied by Triceutical. Waiting on board the vessel was an envelope, sealed and signed by Miss Bardi herself. Inside it contained a invitation to a formal Ball hosted by a Count Sigismund – whose name August found peculiar but regal. The package also contained a spending stipend, resource materials, instructions, and accommodations arrangements. Once in Doma, the accommodations mentioned a particular inn located just off the center square within walking distance to the castle. He had a room reserved on the third floor, the waiting for him at the front-desk. The portly man handed it over to him without even asking his name, and offered to help carry his bags. August refused, despite the multitude and their fumbling he had already endured since disembarking the airship.
The room was unremarkable, though pleasant and clean. He set the bags on and around the bed, then walked to the window. He could see an unobstructed view of the castle from this room, the city was bustling with activity as they prepared for the royal event looming in a few short days. He pulled the curtains closed and turned away. Lighting a candle, he went to unpacking, carefully removing his casual wear and putting it away in the closet with methodical care. He also found a freshly pressed set of formal wear, again supplied by Triceutical – he slide it aside to make way for his own clothes.
Another bag contained a large number of books on various subjects: anatomy, occult, demonology, etc… which he set around the room. Some on the nightstand, some went onto the small table near the window, other’s on the dresser and many on the desk. In a few short minutes, the room was virtually transformed into his personal study, just as he left it back at the lab. A third bag contained something more than just books and clothes, he zipped it open and inside all carefully stowed and strapped were numerous instruments of surgery, butchery and occult ritual. He smiled gleefully, pressing his glasses back against the bridge of his nose. He removed a few items, then sealed the case back up. He left the remaining bags for later and went to reading at the desk, immersing himself in a dusty tome, taking notes in a little skin bound journal.
Sometime in the later evening, a horrible rattle overtook the room and from a suddenly forming swirling portal of shadows over the bed came two figures spilling out of it, collapsing upon one another. August never looked up from his reading and writer.
“Hag and Wolf?” He asked, absently writing away. Not paying them any heed. “Dare I ask why you have suddenly find yurselves a world away and in my room?” He slowly turns the page of the tome.
Hag: “Mistress of Webs, she has returned!” Wolf: “With the Witch of Storms and the Immortal.” Hag: “Contract she has broken, banished now. Our bindings to that place severed and no more. We’re tethered to you now.” Wolf: “The contract is binding in many ways.”
August merely nodded as he continued taking notes. “Fascinating, now please remove yourselves from my bed before you ruffle the sheets.”
Both the Hag and Wolf looked to one another, confused and still disorientated. They slipped off and onto the floor, standing and awkwardly so – or as awkward as demonic entities can be.
August set his pen down and marked his place in the rotting tome. “Now, what am I to do with you two?”
Hag: “Haven’t you heard our words?” Wolf: “They will follow, assuredly. Banishment and death only awaits if we do not hide from the Immortal.”
August uncrossed his legs and slide his chair away from the desk. “That so? Let them come if they want.” He scoffed off their warning. “But if you wish to hide.”
His hand slips over one of the occult daggers left laying on the desk as he stood. His other hand slowly unbuttoned his shirt, one at a time, slowly. Both demons appeared even more confused by his actions. They then recoiled as his shirt sloughed away, revealing the runes and pentagrams carved into August’s skin. He turned around with a disturbingly happy smile. “By all means, let me aid you in that endeavor.” And he advanced.
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August Krasnow
Determined Individual
"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici."
Posts: 291
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Post by August Krasnow on Sept 13, 2011 18:25:49 GMT -5
Lillith would have been guided by some strange, compelling force, from the Ball into the streets of Doma, till reaching the Black Goat Inn. It stood, looming dark, like the shadow of a dead giant. No lights, except for one, tiny flicker of a candle from a window on the third floor. The place cast off the aura of death and cold-hearted despair. Inside was no better.
The lobby was dark and ghastly. No attendant was on duty, no sign of people at all. It was entirely dark, casting off long shadows from the street and moonlight outside. There were stairs leading up. Each step higher echoing against the wooden, rotting walls. The air hung heavy with mildew and dust, and the higher she climbed, a new scent grew. Blood, lots of it, pooled and drying, emanating from somewhere on the third floor. There also came a steady, soft, rapping as well – like something swinging against a breeze, hitting another. The second floor was much the same as the first, long dark hallways, lifeless, descending into darkness. The was growing still, and cold. The smells more pungent now, fear intertwined within.
Up the steps, one step, two steps, the some heavy weight now pushing down upon Lillith. The higher she went, the landing at the top within sight, the more an instinctual dread bubbled inside. Now, on the landing, look left, darkness except for a single window at the end of the hallway with a beam of moonlight shining through. Wispy ghosts of dust ribbon through it. To the right, darkness, except for one string of light coming from under a door. Down the hall, towards the horribly sick light, unnatural in its glow. Like hell borne fire. Each step, drawing her closer, till her hand reached for the door. The door creaked open and immediately, the pungent smell of blood and death overcame her – laced with the chocking scent of fear. The door creaked open slowly.
Inside, beyond that portal, was darkness only illuminated by a single candle resting on a table at the far end of the room, near the window. A shadowy figure sat beside it, looking out. His features obscured by shadows, except for the right hand with a single ring, which rests on the table, unmoving. There is a plate of some grotesquely foul meat, rotting away, littered with insects opposite the hand.
“Stop!” Spoke aloud a grizzled voice, churned with fluid, only thing clear was that it wasn’t August’s voice. Suddenly, and without warning, the room lit up with seals and ruins of numerous sorts. Below her feet, one bound her to floor. It was a trap, though nothing but magic dampening and the seal below her feet to bind her to that spot. August could of done so much more, yet he choose these relatively harmless sigils. He wanted her to witness something and he made sure she couldn’t leave or interrupt till he was satisfied with that he had planned.
“I’m glad you decided to indulge me and join in the little ‘after’ party I had arranged. I’ve invited a few old friends that happened to be in town. And now that you are here, we can begin.” Spoke the grizzled voice from the chair. “You know Wolf-“ There came a painful whimper. On the wall beside her, a sigil illuminated, shedding light upon the mass that hung there crucified by daggers. Wolf, muzzle bound with wires stitched through his skin and fur, the flesh from around his eyes cut away, preventing them from ever shutting. His body is carved with an assortment of sigils and seals, burning him endlessly. Parts of him were missing, cut away and they bleed non-stop, yet he wasn’t allowed to be extinguished from the torment.
“And of course, you remember Hag.” Then came a dull shriek, like a rattle of the dammed bellowing from beyond. Another seal lit up on the ceiling, shining a light from over the bed. There hung the Hag, bound and crucified much as Wolf had. Body carved with sigils, burning her just as Wolf. She had no tongue and could only gurgle and shriek. Her eyes sewn open and belly split open. She was trapped in torment. Both their eyes pleaded for release.
“Oh but seems our third guest is shy, be a dear and go say hello. He’s right over here, at the table, enjoying a plate. He’s been wanting to see you again, he came all the way to Doma to warn you about something. Won’t you hear what he has to say?”
The seal below Lillith’s feet dissolved, the door behind her slammed shut as another sigil appeared, trapping her inside.
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Post by Lillith on Sept 13, 2011 19:07:34 GMT -5
::Lillith nearly fell to her knees after the spell wore off, relieving her of standing still in such an unnatural position::
I'll never understand the pride you take in your cruelty August. But your insatiable need for an audience is nothing short of pathetic.
::She took cautious steps forward to the table and the shadowed figure. It took focus to keep her eyes straight ahead on him, remaining aware of the man who had invited her. She could never explain it, but whenever she had been around August, it was like she could sense hundreds of eyes all around her, watching her::
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August Krasnow
Determined Individual
"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici."
Posts: 291
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Post by August Krasnow on Sept 13, 2011 19:59:07 GMT -5
With each step, the voice grew closer, whomever sat before her was channeling August through their own tongue.
“Some like a tale to be told as directly and impersonally as possible, from an angle of utter and absolute detachment. I am not one of those people.” The voice spoke once more as Lillith stepped past the bed. Just then, something snagged her ankle. A thin wire, another trap. The figure and the chair suddenly spun around reveling who sat there, still as the grave, but not silent. There sitting upright, slowly slumping down in the sit as it had been disturbed was an older gentleman, with a blood stained beard. His eyes struck dead open, distant and foggy, his face warped in horror and surprise. The top of his head is bound in what was once a blue and white kaffiya, now stained with his blood. His body is marked by many stab wounds and what looked to be botched surgery. There were once tribal style tattoos adorning his skin, on his face and arms, but they have been cut away. His right hand’s ring finger had a single gold ring with an Architects symbol. There sat poor Zephyra, several hours long deceased. On the table beside him, on the plate, was his beloved snake, Ashi. Chopped into pieces with her head resting atop the pile of her once whole body – she appears lightly cooked.
“What have I done?” The detached voice of Adrian spoke, a tiny sigil carved on his tongue glowed with each word. August was using the body as a vessel to communicate from afar, using Adrian’s voice as his. “I lost my focus and now this man is gone…” A sickening laugh gurgled up from the throat. “Oh what I needed to tell you, warn you, but now death has silenced me.” More laughter, sick, mad laughter. Like a heckling hyena. It wasn’t crazed, riddled with a rush of power. It was cold, very cold.
“This is what you deserve, Lillith. My present to you after all these years. Remember, THIS IS ALL HER FAULT!” He screamed out in anger. “Before I’m through, Guinevere and the rest of you are going to pay…”
The room exploded in odd red light as every seal suddenly erupted, coming alive. The Hag and Wolf vanished, dissolved into the seals at their back. At Lillith’s feet, more sigils formed, then erupted with a jet of fire. The chair where Adrian sat burst into a torrent of flames, followed by the bed and curtains. The whole room was becoming consumed by a cleansing fire. The seal on the door dissipated as the fires cooked away the blood. Outside, the halls were ablaze, as other rooms, the stairs. Before long, the inn would be nothing but a charred skeleton
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Post by Lillith on Sept 13, 2011 20:35:09 GMT -5
::Lillith sat frozen, her eyes wide as the firelight danced in them in a morbid performance as all that was left of her friend fell to ash. The fire roared and she rolled from her chair and onto her knees, covering her mouth and coughing as the smoke began to choke her lungs. Through the suffocation she managed a scream::
Kenny!
::The fire's heat crushed the window of the inn under its pressure as the inferno raged on with the Sorceress trapped inside::
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Post by Kenny on Sept 14, 2011 0:29:14 GMT -5
Kenny had a reason to be scared as he left the festive ball but he had a real bad feeling that his wife was in danger and he was not gonna let her be harmed what so ever as he rode quickly on his phoenix to Doma as he looked around for anything suspicious that may have been happening. He figured whatever strange may happen is where Lillith might be as he kept looking, suddenly the phoenix screeched as he looked to where the bird was looking and he saw an inn that was on fire as Kenny steered the bird down for a bit as he suddenly heard a voice too familiar saying his name. "Lillith!" he said as he stopped the bird and jumped off motioning for it to take the air for now as he made his way to the inn. He noticed that some of the windows were blazing all but one as he took a breath and jumped through the window and into the burning inn as he covered his mouth and begin to look. It was like an inferno as he was looking everywhere until he tried upstairs as the fire was really getting intense. Sure enough after he went upstairs he saw his wife on the ground coughing as he made his way while dodging some falling debris until he reached her. He then picked up his wife and carried her under his arms like of course a groom carrying his bride as he carefully went back downstairs while the heat was getting worst. As he saw the door he noticed the ceiling was starting to get more worst as the debris was getting more bigger and he had to hurry. He then saw the door as he had only one thing to do as he attempted to kick the door so much until it finally opened up as Kenny led her out to safety as he gasped and coughed a bit as he hoped that she was ok.
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August Krasnow
Determined Individual
"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici."
Posts: 291
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Post by August Krasnow on Sept 19, 2011 19:32:06 GMT -5
"Tsk..."
August has made his way from the Ball, to his new inn where he changed, and returned to the scene of the fire and murder. He stood on the roof of a building opposite the now smoldering remains of the inn. He watched there, the fire team and police on scene, along with a crowd of onlookers. But what kept his attention most was the two figures huddled together, suffering from smoke inhalation and burns.
"Tenacious little witch..." He checked his watch, the morning was coming very soon. "Oh well, the chase continues." He raised his hand, and a creature of white with a long, narrow muzzle and bulbous red eyes outlined in black flesh gently nuzzled against it. It smiled, two rows of needle like teeth that seemed to move like fingers stretched and yawned. The creature appeared restless.
"Not yet, not yet. You'll get your special meal soon enough." August calmed the creature. He turned to the creature, putting its head in his arms and gently rubbing his hands through its most unusual fur. The creature fluttered its pointed ears. "Just have to wait a little bit longer." He smiled and looked back down to the scene below. "And then they all will be spending winter in the belly of a snake."
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