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

[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.

[specialinquisitor]

I would much rather we stay together and be thorough. These ghosts may not be the strongest combatants, but they do cause meaningful harm...

[chronosynthesis]

Unfortunately my communicator doesn't work, and I don't have others besides.

[He looks between all of them, considering. Morag is right, as the wounded party.] Let's only tackle the two doors we're deciding between for now. If it turns out this storeroom goes nowhere, we'll only have to meet back up anyway.

Three of us can handle the guards outside the other two, and two of us can handle the ghosts inside this storeroom.

[revengier]

[ He nods. It should shorten the amount of time they're in here, he thinks. ]

I'll go into the storeroom, if anyone wants to join me.

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Ten minutes should be enough to know if there's anything beyond that storeroom. In the meantime the rest of us will see if any other paths lead to dead ends.

[We don't need to be separated for long, probably]

[jokey]

I'll back Kurapika up.

[He owes that dweeb a punch or two.]

So we're settled then?

[specialinquisitor]

I accede to the preferred plan. [Doesn't like it, though!]

THE STOREROOM - AKIRA & KURAPIKA

[promittere]

[ The door to the storeroom sits on the opposite wall of the way you came in.

Who opens the door, and how do they open it? ]

[revengier]

[ Kurapika turns to Akira, putting a finger to his own lips before pointing down to the ground. It's time for ultimate stealth mode here, and so he follows his own orders and crouches too, before slowly opening the door.

They're going for the careful route. ]

THE OTHER DOOR - MÒRAG, KIRYU, SYRLYA

[promittere]

[ The last remaining door is the one that the ghost was running towards for reinforcements, sitting on the wall to the right from where you came in.

Who opens the door, and how do they open it? ]

[specialinquisitor]

[She's quite happy to defer to someone else for the moment, while her wound clots. She doubt the key is necessary, although the ghost might well have just been planning to run through it...]