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

[jokey]

[Small mercies, eh? Not so much for Kurapika, but Akira manages to whirl on his heel and elude the ghost's attack, circling back to thwack it in the back with a solid roundhouse kick (13).]

[promittere]

[The ghost dissipates at Akira's kick because this had gone on long enough i'm crying at our rolls, leaving them down to just one ghost. It looks between the two of them, contemplating its options now that its outnumbered...

And turns tail to flee, but there's unfortunately no more back up. Time for an all out attack...!]

[revengier]

[ thank you for your mercy

Seeing his chance, Kurapika immediately aims a flame-filled punch at the back of the ghost's head (12). Hopefully Akira can follow up with the finishing blow here. ]

[jokey]

(1)

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya crosses to the opposite door first. It doesn't budge with a couple rattles.] Locked. We-[He pauses, looking the door over slowly.

He removes his hand from the knob.] Well, something doesn't want us going in there.

[Which means they probably want to go in there. But for right now, Syrlya takes a step back to look to the others.] We should tell Akira and Kurapika. I wonder how they're holding up...

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Hmmmm...well, there might be guards again if they leave, but...]

No point in splitting up further. All three of us can go -- if guards return to block the way we just deal with them again.

[Akira and Kurapika probably are fiiiiiine, surely their dice are being kind]

[promittere]

[ While Akira sits on the floor and stares at the ceiling, Kurapika's flame-filled punch connects. It knocks the ghost forward, sending it toppling to the floor.

It looks up in fear at both of them (well, or at least the one that proves to be a threat), and takes a wild swing at Kurapika's legs. It hits (13), slicing at his skin.

It may still be fighting back, but taking it out should be easy at this point. ]

[revengier]

[ Kurapika hisses at the slice, but he isn’t deterred.

Or maybe he is, because his next spell only sparks and doesn’t actually fully form (1). ]

[jokey]

[Gee guys, this mission sure is going swimmingly! Akira, still on the ground, lifts a wavering hand and sends a fiery black mote hurling at the enemy (7).]

[revengier]

[ He’s ending this right now.

Kurapika aims magic at the ghost again, going for the proverbial kill (13). ]

[promittere]

[ There's a bit of a moment of confusion after the slice, with both wizards doing their best ("best"), but Kurapika decides he's had enough. The magic rips through the ghost, dissipating it.

The room falls silent.

There is one door in this room besides the one they came through.

What do you do? ]

[specialinquisitor]

We don't know where their path my end, so we should most certainly all go together to fetch them.

[revengier]

What a disaster.

[ He's not fighting ghosts again, thanks.

Kurapika reaches a hand out to Akira, just in case he needs help getting up. ]

Let's go through that door. We've wasted enough time.

[promittere]

[They sure have.

Not that my rolls helped matters, either...

Perhaps unsurprisingly, on the other side of the door is the corridor leading towards the locked vault door, which the other Central wizards are standing in front of.]

[revengier]

[ And just as she says that, Kurapika opens the door right next to them! ]

We're 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.

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya watches the teens filter in looking... a little rougher for the wear. He sort of took "exercise caution" to be the expected, but decides not to just point that out.]

There's probably more than one artifact in there that's enchanted, so try not to touch anything unless necessary. [That goes for everyone.] Does anyone need their wounds checked before we go in?

[specialinquisitor]

I am fine.

[As if she'd claim anything else.]

[Since she has the key, she takes the lead -- though she doesn't turn it in the lock till everyone has assented. No jumping the gun here.]

[jokey]

[Akira's suffered more than his fair share of injuries this round, but he's nowhere near ready to throw in the towel. Caution is, especially right now, of the utmost important.]

I'll be fine. Let's get this done.

[revengier]

I'm fine as well.

[ Actually... give him a moment to mutter his incantation and heal himself up a bit. ]

Who wants to do the honors of opening that door?

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Go ahead, Morag!]

[promittere]

[The key works flawlessly, but there's a ripple as the portcullis raises. The seal on the door has been broken, and the air gets even colder as shapeless forms begin to circle them. Slowly, they start to solidify into the soldiers that have been haunting them this whole time. It's clear, now, this isn't going to be any easier with the ghosts bearing down on them.

One of you also feels a particularly harsh shiver down your spine, but... it doesn't seem like anything happens besides that?

Crossing the threshold is difficult for all of you—it feels like your soul is being torn asunder, shredded to pieces by a presence inside of the vault. By now, you have enough magic of knowledge to get the feeling a protective spell will make things somewhat easier to bear. Continuing on without any attempts to shore yourself up against the ominous magic in the vault may be ill-advised.

The glowing is coming from two neighboring crates. You can investigate whichever you choose, but the ghosts are starting to swarm.]

[jokey]

[This chill in the air... It sets the hairs on the back of Akira's neck on edge, but he's felt worse, hasn't he? Surely. This is nothing new, he convinces himself, his movements minimal and cautious while they're assessing the potential threat ahead of them.]

...We'd better arm ourselves before continuing. Everybody have their weapons?

[Anyone need to grab a table to throw around?]

It's not much, but I can shore up our defenses.

[And for once, I didn't roll a one. One incantation later and Akira's hooked everyone up with a minor protection spell (13). At this point, he's unwilling to take any unnecessary risks.]