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]

[PFFT,]

[specialinquisitor]

[This is exactly why she asked about collateral damage earlier.]

[All right, she has to admit, she underestimated how strongly she would be affected by not being a Driver at present. Rather than lunge in again as she would were she wielding her proper weapons, she steadies herself to fire a more focused, carefully aim lance of flames at one of the ghosts.]

[It goes slightly better than the first one, in that it just misses instead of igniting the room.]

[promittere]

[ Kiryu swiftly and decisively deals with the fire, and what could have been a big problem is rendered not a problem at all. Thanks, dad.

Akira keeps his head cool, aiming another shot at the ghost that attacked Mòrag. It cleanly pierces its forehead, and dissipates. One ghost down.

The others, however, don't do so hot. Syrlya's laser misses the other ghost as it jumps to its feet, and Mòrag's blast sails past it on the other side. Kurapika strides forward, presumably to deal the finishing blow, except he falls on his ass. ]

I need backup! [ The ghost turns to one of the other doors in the room, the one on the wall to the right of where the group entered. It seems intent to get there and open it. Presumably, there is ghost backup behind it. ]

[specialinquisitor]

[This shan't be allowed! Rather than attack directly, she hurls out what is more like a whip of fire, aiming to wrap it around the ghost and interrupt its movement! And also burn it!]

[As it happens, using her powers more like the whipswords she's accustomed to works much better.]

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Well, when you have a hammer, all that's around you looks like a nail.

Kiryu just tosses the table towards the door, slamming it against the door to block the way for the ghost and make it harder to get there because of the obvious obstacle. This way even if the other four fail to dispel the ghost due to one reason or another, at least this should get them more time]

[revengier]

[ Kurapika gets up and tries to cast another spell aimed at the remaining ghost, but he loses his balance again (4). No spell for him this time.

At least he just barely manages not to fall on his ass. ]

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya is running to intercept the ghost but proceeds to also slip on the water (4), though he at least manages to grab a shelf before he actually falls over.]

[jokey]

Haha— ooooooowwwww.

[Akira is downed by a debilitating cramp brought on by laughing at Syrlya and Kurapika (7).]

[promittere]

[ Mòrag's flame whip catches the ghost in place, and Kiryu's perfect table throw blocks its access to the door.

The others struggle to meaningfully attack the ghost, but it does not seem to matter. It kicks at the flames around its ankle, but fails to free itself—it cannot reach the others from where it stands. And before it can do anything, the flames crawl up its leg, and consume it whole.

When the flames die down, the ghost is gone. Both ghosts are dead. Well done, despite it all.

The room falls silent.

Besides the one door, the one on the wall to the right of where you came in that is now blocked by Kiryu's table, there is another door on the opposite wall of where you came in. Where would you like to go? ]

[specialinquisitor]

I remain skeptical that this is the room we seek. I would prefer to try the hallway we came from.

[She's not going to force the issue, though -- the group can decide as a whole.]

[chronosynthesis]

It doesn't hurt to at least check the other door. [He says as he carefully steps out of the puddle and, assured he isn't going to slip again, crosses the kitchen to go to the opposite door. He's just going to open it enough to peek inside if it isn't locked.]

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Kiryu turns to the door that's now blocked by the table]

Opening that one might lead to more ghosts. If the remaining door doesn't lead anywhere I agree with Morag; we should try where we came from.

[With some luck the one available door is the path we need to go through]

[jokey]

[His sides... still hurt.......... He's just gonna leave the door touching to the people who didn't blow out their sides laughing. Karma is a bitch.]

[revengier]

[ You know what? Who gives a shit about maturity.

Now that he's upright, he shoves Akira. ]

[promittere]

[ Syrlya cracks the door open a bit. It's just enough to see that the next room is a storeroom, rows of shelves housing foodstuffs and other miscellanea for living. There comes the slight echo of footsteps, indicating that there are indeed two somethings in this next room, presumably ghosts. ]

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya slowly closes the door and looks over his shoulder.] It seems to be a storeroom, but I couldn't see if there was another door across the room. It sounds like more ghosts are inside.

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

[Kiryu approaches Morag]

Can you still fight?

[Getting sliced by a sword is no joke! Kurapika fell on his ass but that doesn't seem to have harmed him, so Morag gets the focus]

[jokey]

Ow.

[Fuck off, nerd (Kurapika). Akira staggers upright and pools a fresh ball of inky black flames in his palm. Best be prepared in case these next couple ghosts need to be dispatched with.]

[revengier]

[ He spares a glance at Akira before turning his attention back to the others. ]

So, do we think it's worth taking them on?

[specialinquisitor]

I've had far worse in my time. [A little braggadocio, but not much. She is, after all, the sort of woman who would die before admitting to a little pain, let alone have it put her out for the mission.]

It seems unlikely a storeroom would be 'through' the servants' quarters, but possible.

[chronosynthesis]

Well, we will have to cut through more ghosts either way. The others are armed, but these may well be civilians again. [A beat.] We could also split up, and tackle both directions at once, then reconvene in the kitchen after we've seen what's on the other side of each door.

[revengier]

Splitting up may not be a bad idea. We could avoid combat more easily in smaller numbers.

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Any way to use magic to stay in touch with each other?

[Do any of you have a spell to make that happen? Castles aren't small places, after all. They could get pretty far from each other]

[jokey]

Not that I can think of. If we're going to split up, we should set a time and place to meet back up. That way if one party doesn't come back, the others know to go looking.

[revengier]

[ HE'S GOING TO GET YOU. ]