central mission

[promittere]

ECHOING PAST MARZIALE

The sun sets on the manor when Tatara seeks out Akira, Kurapika, Syrlya, Kiryu, and Mòrag individually and brings them all outside, saying they've been summoned.

When they step outside, they will quickly see why: dressed in the royal blues and golds of the Granvelle family is an entourage waiting for them on horseback. Among the multitude of castle guards are two distinguished-looking gentlemen that everyone here will have seen at the ball. One, a shorter, portly man, leaps from his horse when he sees the wizards emerge, while the taller of the two remains perched atop his white horse to watch in silence.

"Good! You decided to show yourselves," the man says. He remains professional, but there is a hint of distrust in his eyes. "I am Drummond, Minister of Arcane Management at Granvelle Castle, and we have summoned you today to fulfill a direct request of ours.

"We believe the the castle is experiencing—don't laugh!—a haunting to a degree never before recorded or spoken of. It is simply unbearable to be there after dark. It is so much worse in the lower levels of the castle. Too many of our staff are flat-out refusing to come to work, and the situation is growing dire.

"We believe a magical artifact located somewhere in our vault is causing this. Locate this item and neutralize it."

He gestures to five horses, saddled with no riders.

"You will be coming with us back to the castle. Chop-chop! We don't have all night."

OOC NOTES

Welcome, Central wizards (and witch), to your mission!

Missions are mod-guided events that are partial CYOA, partial play-by-post instances. In general, you are free to interact with a scene as you please, and the mod will tell you how the scene reacts as a consequence of your actions. Some scenes will allow for more flexible threading, such as exploration or conversation, while some scenes will require strict turn order to preserve rounds, such as combat or other time-sensitive conflict. The mod will inform you if strict turn order is required at the start of a scene. Regardless, always be sure to bold any important actions you take.

This mission has been specifically tailored to Central disposition, attitudes, and magic. If you find yourself struggling to tackle a situation, refresh yourself on the description of Central on the locations page, and make sure to confer with your teammates too!

As a bonus, here's your theme music!

You will have until 11:59 AM EDT on Saturday, May 4 to reach a conclusion for this mission. Good luck!

» NAVIGATION

Comments

POST-BRIEFING (?) Q&A

[promittere]

[ There's a short period of time where the horses are being readied for you that Drummond seems open to questions.

He's rather tense and doesn't seem all that friendly, but understands that he needs your trust and cooperation for this problem. He'll answer what he can, to the best of his ability.

Feel free to reply to this toplevel with your questions for Drummond, or you may threadjack your friends if you want to build off their questions. ]

[specialinquisitor]

Do you have any further description of this magical artifact? Failing that, please elucidate your reasons for believing it is responsible.

[Professional, straightforward, and doing her very best to not show concern and confusion at these monsters they are expected to, apparently, ride. What was the point of the brooms, then?]

[promittere]

[ Drummond harrumphs at the question. ]

I don't know what artifact it is! Just that it must be somewhere in the vault in the lower levels, where all the other magical artifacts are kept.

[ His eyes dart nervously away, then back to Mòrag. ]

I-it's too scary down there... No one has gone to check!

[specialinquisitor]

I see.

[Architect preserve her.]

What conditions make the vault 'scary' and 'unbearable'?

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Does this have anything to do with the shadow entities around the moat?

[We have been spending a not insignificant amount of time dealing with those! That seems like a sign of serious haunting]

[promittere]

Yes... Yes, the creepy shadows throughout the city...

[ For a short moment, he assumes a thinking pose. ]

Now that you mention it, they may be. Have you looked into them? Have you learned anything?

[jokey]

About time. This ghost problem of yours is getting out of hand.

[He heard the man's answer to Kiryu, but Akira is suggesting something a little more damning than ghosts lingering in the mote.]

Do you recognize any of those shadows? Usually spirits or demons hang around in areas that were meaningful to them in life.

[promittere]

Getting out of hand?! What do you think we are doing now?! We have come to you for assistance and you—

[ The taller man on the horse clears his throat, and Drummond's temper simmers as he collects himself again. ]

If you are assuming I understand the nature of these shadows, no. They are causing us problems, and we would like you to take care of them, that is all! Ghosts are ghosts—what intelligence could they possible hold?!

[chronosynthesis]

Was there anything new added to your vault in the weeks before these hauntings started to occur? [That would give them more of a starting point, since it's probably an extensive collection.

... Also:] We'll do our best to avoid damage to the castle and leave your staff unharmed, but damage to the artifact may be unavoidable.

[promittere]

None. Nothing and no one besides staff has left or entered the castle since the prince's disappearance. Our nation is in a fragile spot at the moment, with his absence. You must understand—whatever is causing this disturbance has been a part of the royal family for at least a month...

[ He sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. ]

Yes. Please do what you can.

EN ROUTE - INTERLUDE

[promittere]

[ Once everyone is saddled and ready to go, Drummond urges everyone on their horses and the entourage sets off. Tatara remains standing before the barrier, waving you off.

The sky is streaked orange against the darkening sky, and you know it will be a couple of hours before you arrive at the castle, having been there very recently. The way the guards form around you make it seem both as though they are guarding you from outside assault, as well as keeping you in place.

Now that you have a moment away from the manor and the other wizards, as you travel across Central land on your own, you realize how comfortable you feel, as though the spirits here are rejoicing in your presence, and welcoming you home...

You may use this moment to talk amongst yourselves and share what information you already have. ]

[specialinquisitor]

[Step one: Put every ounce of willpower and effort she possesses into not looking like she has no idea what she's doing atop this strange monster.]

[Step two: glance around at the others.]

I did not particularly hear anything to be worried about in the vault. Did anyone else?

[revengier]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No. It looks like we'll be stuck figuring out what it is by process of elimination. [ A pause. ] Unless any of you are familiar with finding possessed or cursed objects?

[jokey]

[He'll do his utmost to keep this out of earshot from the guards escorting them, but it's not Akira's fault if they hear him spitting hard truths and take offense. He said what he said and he stands by it too.]

For a team they've conscripted themselves, they sure don't trust us, do they?

[More importantly...]

Did any of you notice the apparitions at the ball? The man I was talking to disappeared right in front of me. His eyes were empty, hollow sockets too. We can probably expect to encounter more like him.

[revengier]

...No apparitions on my part.

[ Just a priest that yelled at him. ]

Did he say anything suspicious to you?

[chronosynthesis]

I'm sure they have no other choice, but that doesn't mean this isn't a serious problem which needs to be taken care of. [Wizard distrust or not.]

But that's alarming. I can't say I noticed anything spectral at the ball, though--[He tilts his head to Kurapika.] We were dealing with the apparitions that have appeared around the castle in its aftermath.

THE CASTLE

[promittere]

[ The sun has dipped below the horizon by the time you arrive at the castle. The darkened sky has blanketed the world in the dim of darkness, the only illumination being the torches from the surrounding guards, the street lamps, and the waning moon above.

Unlike your night at the ball, the castle is dark—a black and foreboding mass against the sky.

You all come to a halt right at the castle gates. This time, it's the older gentleman with white hair that turns his horse around and holds his hand out to Kurapika. Resting on his palm is a key. ]

This is the key to the vault. Hold onto it.

To get to the vault, you must go down the corridor past the great hall, down the stairs and through the staff quarters, then down one last level into the vault.

We will be waiting here for you.

[ Two of the guards step down from their horses to push the great doors to the castle open for the five of them.

The entrance corridor is dark, cavernous, the candles unlit. The cold air that drifts out feels a bit too frigid for this mid-spring evening. Yet you have no choice but to step inside.

Welcome to Granvelle Castle, heroes. ]

[specialinquisitor]

[Assuming the lead with natural grace, she takes the key, then leads the way down the corridor and stairs just as the directions indicate. Naturally, she isn't letting the others fall behind.]

Keep an eye out for any signs that the haunting has extended out of the vault.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya carefully dismounts from the... horse, nods to Drummond and the other man with acknowledgement, and then steps into the corridor. It's certainly more foreboding than the last time with everyone cleared out.

He narrows his eyes in the darkness.] Perhaps we should have brought a light. Didn't consider they wouldn't have their castle illuminated...

[And although it's the hour that Syrlya's bioluminescence pulses, that doesn't actually provide any light to their surroundings. It just makes him stick out every few seconds.

His gaze travels around their surroundings.]

ONWARDS

[promittere]

[Any hesitance the ghost has slowly fades, a smile even crossing his face as be chuckles good-naturedly at Kurapika's nickname. Between the mop of dark hair and his confidence, Akira has him convinced he's a member of their resolution.]

Full glad we are to have people like you on our side. We'll make Ser Alec proud!

[With that declaration, the ghosts fade, no longer barring their path forward.

If they venture up the staircase, they'll find all the doors locked, paranoia and fear making the living staff and residents take every precaution to keep themselves safe, so they only really have one path forward. At the end of the corridor they finally reach a door that remains unlocked, leading to a staircase to a lower level. As they take the stairs, the heavy atmosphere in the castle gets heavier still, and the lit candelabras and Akira's flames do little to keep things from feeling dark. Anxiety that is and isn't their own crawls over their skin, making everything feel oppressive.

At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor turns to the right, while directly across from the mouth of the staircase is a door. If they look down the corridor, they can see ghosts standing guard, looking somehow even less friendly than the ghosts that stopped them.

There's nothing stopping them from trying the door, so where they go next is in their hands.]

[revengier]

[ If it would be appropriate, Kurapika would let out a sigh of relief. It is, however, so he'll take on the role of Kurapika the Terrible and stay silent on their way down.

He'll hold off on shoulder checking Akira as they head down the stairs, but the moment that they reach the bottom, he purposefully bumps into him hard as he peeks down the corridor. ]

So, shall we try the door?

[jokey]

[Rude much? But thanks for not sending him rolling down the stairs with your bony little shoulder, bro. Akira is the mature(?) adult(?) here, so he ignores Kurapika and continues forward, eyes casually scanning their surroundings.]

Yeah. Morag, you've got the key, right?

[By all means, ladies first. Should anything go awry, she's got four able-bodied men backing her up. She did, after all, assume the role of leader here.]

THE VAULT

[promittere]

[With all of the ghosts taken care of and a few of you worse for wear, it's finally time to get to the vault and potentially find the source of all these ghosties.

Behind the door are even more stairs, spiraling downwards. The deeper you go, the more you feel like you want to flee. Dread permeates your entire being, getting more and more unbearable as you face a large portcullis. It feels like you need to expend the entirety of your willpower to keep from turning tail and fleeing, but through the bars of the portcullis you can see the castle's vault...

And two differently colored glows illuminating it.

While you cannot make out what, exactly, is glowing, you can tell that something within the vault is glowing a gentle white, and something else is glowing a bright purple. You're also aware you can just open the door, but with how thick the air is with anxiety and the injuries from all the ghosts you've been dealing with, it may be prudent to exercise just a smidge of caution.]

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Hmmmmm...one seems ominous, the other not so ominous]

We can just check one by one, all of us at once.

[Probably. The air is thick with unease, Kiryu can feel it.

also he suggests this because clearly splitting up was a bad idea he is pretty sure akira's head didn't have so many goose eggs when they separated earlier what is up with that my dude]

[revengier]

[ He nods. ]

I agree. Let's not split up.

[ Because clearly The Teens can't handle this stuff on their own. ]

...And I'd like to exercise caution this time.