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Amethyst	Yim Amethyst has some interesting contacts given how many folks come to her apothacary. And this last one is a tip from a treasure hunter about an abandoned temple, said to be haunted. And out went some letters to gather up a makeshift group to go and check this place out. She really just wants to get out of this damn city for a little while and go and something fun and interesting and not just relaxing with her friends, so she didn't really prepare all that much. What could go wrong?
Bright Journey	Well, Bright Journey at least was more than willing to come! It's a pity Silk wasn't about, but that's how it happens when things take place on short notice. There wasn't really time to try to contact anyone not immediately available, and Bright is hardly Silk's keeper. So the pink-haired young lady jumped at the chance to come along and stretch a few muscles that don't get much work in the city. It's been a while since she's hunted or explored, after all. Fortunately, getting to the place is a breeze. Or a whirlwind, if Bright is the one to convey everyone! Somehow, coming up now on the destination, she still manages to look not just good, but -perfect-. Not a speck of road dust on her, hair falling in a shining streamer of pink, clothes pristine, gorgeous and glamorous without being trashy. It's way past coincidence, it has to be magic. Still, with her short white dress, orichalcum armor, and large black cloak, she's ready for battle. Her bow is already in hand, quivers at the ready.
Fudou the Mountain	Fudou is a creature of habit and so not too difficult to find when one has their ears to the ground and the resources to commit to locating him in or around Great Forks. This isn't to say that he's pleased at the interruption to whatever set of vices or debauchery he gets up trom time to time but he pauses long enough to regard the message bearer with a baleful glance and then to actually read the letter itself. His displeased "Hmm...." soon changes to an interested, "Hmmm!" and so the messanger is allowed to leave his presence without being carried out. So here we are. The behemoth arrives at the designated meeting spot with the earth rumbling under his steps and his grand goremaul slung across his back. As per usual, especially outdoors in his element, he appears less the shining silver aegis of legends past and more a monstrous brutal bandit who has descended from some mountain somewhere in search of gold or villages to raid. A wholesale brute who is quite the contrast to Bright Journey, all full of magic and glory. At least he decided to wear pants. "Hail!" he rumbles upon drawing nearer to her. Tone cheerful despite his vast physique and presence. He blinks a few times upon getting a good look at her and then cheekily comments, "..I love what you've done with your hair...."
Rishi	A shadow moves over the group for a moment as Rishi lands. While not *quite* as beautiful as Bright, she also looks like she just came from a salon instead of having flown for several hours to get here. Even the flower in her hair looks fresh and new. "Hello to everyone! How are we doing today?"
Amethyst	Amethyst greets each of her companions. "I'm feeling pretty good. Allegedly there should be something good inside here, but the last guy couldn't make his way through the entrance." Amethyst looks up to Fudou, "I don't think it'll be too much trouble unblocking it with you around tho." She grins. "Anyhow, shall we be off?" She uses her sorcery to create that lovely ridable tornado, helping haste the progress to the location. Naturally, she arrives in her own style, hair a complete mess, dirt and dust all over her alchemist gear. No nice silk today, it's back to her hardier tunic and her armor for this. There also may be burn marks here or there on her armor, it's made for more than just fighting, after all. As she lowers herself to the ground, she takes a moment to take in the sight around them. Crumbling ruins of violet-ashen stone jut out against the landscape. Hardened flows of rock, mud, and rubble form makeshift paths across the tretcherous ruins. It is quiet, sans a wind blowing against the stones making an eerie whistling sound. Despite it being mid-day, the sun seems distant and faded. The temple itself looks to be of some deity long forgotten, standing in a style not seen in a thousand years. Evidence of a small village surrounds the structure, like the stone blood of a beast slain generations ago. The entrance is long since collapsed, and one wonders just how stable that structure is. But allegedly, inside contains scriptures from a bygone era and possibly something more valuable. And gods only know what else. It doesn't take long for her to react to the ground on which she stands, as her tattoos seem to flare in complete protest of this place. It almost seems as though they are burning, but after a moment, Amethyst focuses and brings them back under control. Notable, is that no one can feel the pressure that her sorcery usually brings. And everyone can feel a strange, supernatural disquiet about this place. The cold muted essence and the shaded sun are definitely not ordinary.
Bright Journey	Bright gives Fudou a cheeky grin and tosses her hair to one side, where it bounces and sways a little -too- gracefully. "Well, why thank you, my dear," she replies. It's blindingly clear she knows about, and largely doesn't care about, his dig at her priorities. He's right, of course, but eh. As the party arrives at the site, Bright's easygoing smile fades, her pink eyebrows furrowing as she looks around, looks up at the unnaturally faded sky, smells a whiff of...chill...on the breeze. Less on the skin and more in the soul. She murmurs aloud, "This place is touched by darkness. I've read about this..." She pauses and looks down at her moonsilver powerbow, gleaming even in the faded light. "...And Nightbane here wants to go on the hunt." She chuckles quietly. "You can sure pick them, Amethyst. Silk is going to kick my ass for missing this."
Fudou the Mountain	"Perhaps what is sealed in there is best left untouched?" muses Fudou as he looks over the area and senses the change in the atmosphere. He takes heavy plodding steps forward, approaching the entrance slowly while looking over the ruins for any signs if remaining iconography that might yield a clue as to who or what the structure was once dedicated to. "I suppose I can get us entry but.. I have a feeling we don't necessarily want to be here if the sun leaves the skies..." He flexes enormous fingers as he draws further in but ultimately comes to a stop to await the decision of his companions. "Hn? Well?"
Rishi	Rishi's nose flares as she scents the area and nods. "I am also scenting the edge of the land of shadows. Fudou is being correct that we should not be tarrying here." Rishi flexes her hands, claws extending out further. "So, it is being best that we are starting this quickly. Fudou, would you please be opening the door?"
Amethyst	Amethyst takes a knee, and breaths, slowly her tattoos also become more mute, and she shifts back from her mutant form into her human one. As she looks up, her eyes seem less fierce, less intense, as though being in this place so hostile towards the wyld has pushed away that part of herself. As she stands, she finishes gathering her wits and nods. "A shadowland. It's been a while since I've been somewhere like this. It really doesn't like me." She muses. "I will bet that whatever is in there won't be happy to see us." She agrees with Fudou. She neatly slices her palm in a slower motion than usual, letting her blood collect and form into her blood whip. All without the pressure from her sorcery. "But we'll go on the hunt." She gives a toothy grin. "We'll be done before dusk."
Bright Journey	When Bright Journey speaks again, she stands straighter, taller. Her multicolored eyes meet Fudou's and exude power and conviction. There is nothing of fear in her, and as her words ring with the finality of victory, any and all fear begins to fade from the minds of any who can see her, hear her speak. "Whatever is down here may have been waiting an age for people to come by, but mark my words, Fudou: They cower in terror from those they -know- they have no hope against. They cower from us. We are on the hunt and they are the prey. Walk with me...and let us remind them what the light of the sun and moon feels like."
Fudou the Mountain	"Hm. Nifty." rumbles Fudou, finding himself actually charmed by Bright's speech despite his previous dour expression and uncertainity about moving forward. He inclines his head slightly in thought and then claps his hands together thunderously. "Very well!" With that, he lunges forward, bracing his massive legs against the ground and splintering the earth beneath his great bulk as the pressure of his strength begins rising and rising and rising, both colossal arms and palms slamming forward into the collapsed entrance and the rubble therein. The boulders and stones begin to sunder and give way as fudou's body begins a surging transformation into his War Form, blasting away the shredded cloak and garments of his leggings to reveal the ornate moonsilver trappings beneath. And THEN he seems to get even larger. His sinew piling on and on in mountainous surges that swells his physique bigger and bigger to the sight of those watching.. And then a final shove to lunge forward and literally attempt to push the entire entrance inward and clear the way, by parting stone and rubble and pillars like moving aside and pulling a curtain free.
Rishi	Rishi stands up straighter and nods "Thank you Bright. That is being ...oddly refreshing. I am thinking we should be giving them the opportunity to be surrendering. You can be sending the dead to their next life, yes?" Rishi tilts her head to the side as Fudou gets bigger and bigger and *bigger*. A hint of red flushes her cheeks. "......You are being most Impressive Fudou. Let me be looking inside before we are progressing."
Amethyst	As Fudou breaks open the temple's entrance like it was as simple as pushing a book across a desk, instantly everyone can smell the stentch of death. It is also very, very dark inside. On the walls are more religious symbols long forgotten, and also bones. There's several bodies worth of bones in front of the entrance, like they were trapped and left to die. There's also signs of fire, blackening around the roof of the stone and ashes. Amethyst watches in amazement as Fudou does his work. "The light of the sun and moon indeed, and the wrath of the dragons." She adds. "And also before we go in," She gets a little jar out full of salt, and lays it across the door. With a moment of focus, makes a symbol with her athame, and murmurs in high realm, "<Let no creatures of darkness or death cross this path, so long as it stays unbroken, let it be sealed.>" The salt glows slightly and then stills. "They won't be able to follow us out if we retreat." She explains.
Bright Journey	Bright's eyes widen as she sees Fudou grow to -absurd- proportions. "Gods above," she says, "he was actually -going easy- on me when we were sparring. Because he couldn't -fit-. I guess we need to keep the limitations of the dojo in mind..." As the scent of death and decay wafts over the area, Bright wrinkles her nose in disgust and grips her bow a little tighter. "Ugh. Well, we should be able to at least -smell- anything coming. That's a nice trick, Amethyst, by the way. I didn't think of that." She pauses, looking at the line. "I'm not sure it would last forever in a Shadowland, but for us, for now, I think it'll hold." Bright then turns her full attention to the entrance and, in a dramtic gesture, draws an arrow and lays it across her bowstring, nocked but not yet drawn. She peers inside, senses alert for any sort of dangers...
Fudou the Mountain	"That was disappointing.." grumbles Fudou.. The Mountain keenly aware that he could have done better. He should have done better. He lifts a huge arm, flexing a bicep to proportions that make it seem like a boulder has just been sewn under his now rugged and hairy hide and after a few rounds of twisting his fist about, stretching the sinew and bones with a slight audible sound like high strength leather being stretched..he allows a grin and answers Bright, "Ah, there are some standard methods of battle that I could not access down there, yes. Still, your dojo provides me with good context for situations when I -can't- do as I please but still need to get the job done. So it evens out!" He drops his arm to his side and then steps forward to judge how much room he has to work with upon entering the opened temple, "PErhaps let me go first..."
Rishi	"Do not be worrying, I am being *very* hard to be killing." Rishi assures them as she pokes her head into the next room, her eyes enlarging and taking on the shine of a cat as she looks around, nose flaring as she searches for the scent of spirits or ghosts or anything else that's not material.
Amethyst	Amethyst invites Fudou to go before her, especially as she does some quick field mixing and produces a little light, like she's done before. She tosses it Rishi's way. Then she mixes up another and gives it to Bright. Her own eyes unfocus and become slitted, as she peers into the darkness. Deep in the darkness are echoes of motion, something is shifting around in there, and it sounds like it's slowly coming closer. Hard to tell exactly /what/ it is. As for the room beyond, there's torn tapestries written in old realm, dedications and prayers to the gods worshiped at this temple, and more bones. Many, many people must've died here.
Bright Journey	Bright gratefully accepts a light and holds it in her off hand, shining but ready to be dropped if an emergency happens. "Thanks," she murmurs, but Bright's attention is focused primarily on the flitting shadow here and there. As they enter the next chamber, Bright spares a moment to look at the tapestries, frowning and thoughtful. Old Realm is not the easiest language to read, but she knows it...and she's been reading an awful lot of texts on sorcery lately. Old Realm should be more like old hat to her at this point, but this is from an earlier age. She considers the room as a whole. "Ancestor cult, perhaps? I heard they're pretty common in shadowlands."
Fudou the Mountain	"Something approaches." cautions Fudou, his ears flickering a little bit as he looks over the room, placing a balled up fist on his hip and reaching his other hand up to grasp for his grand goremaul's haft. It comes free easily, chain links snapping as he pulls it up and then shoulders it heavily atop his vast width. He turns this way and that, looking over the room and then up again towards what remains of the tapestries. His eyes narrow as he attempts to read them for any clue as to who this place was dedicated to as, indeed, he can read Old Realm to some degree. "Maybe.." is his answer to Bright. "Clearly a battle of some sort? This place was truly laid waste to. Still, we're not alone. Something moves in the dark.."
Rishi	Rishi waves the light away, her castemark flashing on her forehead, as it provides a ghostly silver light around her. Rishi murmurs sadly. "What a waste of the lives. All we can be doing for them now is to be sending their spirits on." Rishi stops in the middle of the room, and holds her arm out. "Everyone hold. There are the ghosts coming." She steps forward. "Hello, are you still being the people or are we to be ripping you to pieces?" she says in the Oldest Realm tongue she knows.
Amethyst	Many phrases are faded, and indeed more than a few sound like they belong in a book on the virtues of the immaculates. But there's a single name that stands out, a name not too commonly known in the second age, "Sol Invictus." Amethyst says aloud, who herself is very competent and fluent with old realm thanks to her time with the Raksha. Obviously she's a little unnerved, "Is that the god that I think it is?" But matters of who this god is take second place to the fact that there are ghosts coming. Her ears flare out, and she can clearly hear /something/. As for the ghosts, everyone can hear the tongues of the dead, speaking old realm. "Who are you? Why do you dare tread on this sacred ground." Comes from one particular ghost, who then glares at Amethyst as hard as he can, "And /you/, haven't your kind done enough here already?" "Are they here to kill us again?" "We should take our revenge." "Revenge won't do us any good." "The world is ending the world is ending." And then the collective voices of gods only know how many dead are silenced all at once by heavy boots walking on the temple ground. Before everyone, the being materializes, clad in what looks like monks robes lined with gold, wielding an orichalcum longfang. Chiseled features and a stern face. Bald head. He speaks with a sense of authority, "As they ask, who are you, and what business have you here?" He speaks in no one language, but somehow, it sounds like it's in several languages at once. Regardless, everyone can understand him.
Bright Journey	Well. There's a cue for Bright if ever there was one. Her expression hardens as she straightens up, and while she leaves the arrow nocked, she angles the bow down and away. For now, there is a different sort of battle to be fought. Upon her brow, the center-dotted golden circle of the Eclipse begins to shine. She intones, "By my right as a Crowned Sun, I invoke the ancient pacts of hospitality. I invite you and yours to parlay with me and mine, under the auspices of the Unconquered Sun." "Her expression softens, and her voice goes from intonation back to just plain speaking. "Now that that's out of the way. I am called Bright Journey. And if I may be so bold, I would suggest that this temple is in need of cleansing. Tell me, what would you have us call you?"
Fudou the Mountain	"One Solar and two Lunars and a Dragon walk into a temple of darkness.." rumbles Fudou under his breath towards Rishi and Amethyst as he sets his Grand Goremaul down and uses it to prop his great weight up as he watches. "Sounds like the beginning of a great story.....or a really bad joke.."
Rishi	Rishi straightens, smiling. "Now, now Fudou. These are people and we should not be making light of their situation. I am being Rishi Fleshweaver, Chosen and Priestess of " and she rattles off a rapid fire long list of epthets and titles for Luna in Old Realm. "Can we be helping all of you to be moving on to your next lives? Is there being any of the unfinished business that is keeping you here?"
Amethyst	"Oh boy." Amethyst sighs at the voices and lowers her own guard as Bright uses her eclipse rights. Solars get so many perks. She relaxes and leaves the talking to people more skilled than her. She gets to see Bright work her magic, that's always a good time. There's a groan for the ghost but he nods, "Very well Crowned Sun. I am One Thousand Voices now. Welcome to our temple to the Unconquered Sun. Once I was a crowned sun myself, until the day the Dragons came to kill us and burn us down to ashes." "As for unfinished business, their decendents still hunt our kind do they not? I will not rest till I can paint these walls red with their blood." Such a grave topic said with the ease of discussing the weather, and he gives an idle glance at Amethyst, which just serves to make her recoil and take up a more defense stance. And there's a small choir of voices that accompany his words, like a speaker leading an angry mob. An angry mob that is still immaterial, but they can be heard.
Bright Journey	Bright Journey is looking at the spiritual monk with practiced ease, but those who have known her for some time can probably see the shrewd intensity, the focus and concern, underneath the 'friendly chat' persona. She sees something in what he's saying--something she's not yet talking about. Instead, she starts speaking. Slowly, carefully, and more intently than she had a moment ago. She looks into the spirit's eyes, making sure he is focused on her every word. "You and your people," she says, "have suffered a great wrong here. I can't know the torment and suffering you went through for all this time. My own memories of my death around that time are...hazy...at best." She smiles sadly. "I think I'm fortunate, in that I remember my mate more than my death. You lived through it...and I would guess, -relive- it, every single night. Burned alive, buried in your own tomb, the injustice gnaws at you." Bright continues, her voice steadily increasing to a normal volume and tempo, firm and unwavering, as she warms to her topic. "But what you did not know is this: In sealing you here, the way was paved for greater injustice. Evil, even, as the forces of darkness took over the grounds of this temple long ago. We are in a shadowland, a briedge between the land the Unconquered Sun warms and the cold, hard land of the dead, the deathknights...the deathlords. "One Thousand Voices...so long as you stand here, your soul cries out to rejoin the warmth of the Unconquered Sun. Staying here--hoping for revenge on people who are centuries dead--holds you back. It holds you down, makes you a victim -again-. If ever you loved the Unconquered Sun, you should not let the underworld keep your soul from returning to Him. The Realm is beginning to crumble, and soon it will be beset by foes from all sides. Let us take up your burden, One Thousand Voices. Let us fill this place with the light of Sol Invictus; let us cleanse it and deny the Deathlords this day."
Amethyst	The monk regards Bright Journey with a certain sorrow. "Come with me." He turns and leads both the ghosts and the party deeper into the temple, is expression inscruitable. The smell of rotting flesh grows stronger and stronger, until the main chamber of the temple is reached. Blood and bone and horror line the walls, recently killed flesh piled upon the walls. The smell is enough to make anyone queasy, and at the center lies this man's own corpse, looking almost untouched by the ages. "I am close to completion, to using the souls and spirits of all of these to bind myself back to my body, to rise once again and free myself from this cursed existance. To turn the clock backward and become whole once again. I only need the heart of a single dragon to make it work, for it was their blood that slain me, so it shall be theirs that I will rise." "Then perhaps once I have climbed back into the light, the Unconquered Sun will remember his child and grant me his power once more, so that I may do what must be done." He's completely lost it.
Fudou the Mountain	"Hmm.." Fudou has remained silent throughout this exchange. IN truth, there's not much he can do to contribute here. All have their purpose and while some are quite varied in their skill sets, Fudou has dedicated himself to what he's dedicated himself to and elaborate speeches that can move the hearts and minds of others, even the dead, is not among his traits. But then they are led further in and he sees and hears what is being planned and his eyes widen slightly from his vantage point near the rear of the party. He..can see where this is going. "Oh. Oh..." he rumbles, "...You're just....crazy.. An insane Solar Ghost.. Great.."
Rishi	Rishi moves next to Ammy a bit protectively, and says "And this is being why the ghosts are needing to be moving on to their next lives. They are being much too focused on the past. Not being able to be moving on past their rage." She sighs. "There is much that is being wrong with the world these days, but it is still being wrong to be blaming the children for the sins of their parents." When Bright mentions her mate, Rishi cocks her head thinking, hair swishing behind her, though she says nothing at the moment, just watching Bright work. Rishi grows tenser and more fearful as they proceed further into the temple. When they finally see what he's done, Rishi is struck dumb for a moment, before she enfolds Ammy with one of her wings as her eyes light with fury!
Bright Journey	Bright seems reasonably satisfied she's convinced him, or at least wore down his resistance to some extent. Little did she know what was in store for the party. She's fairly resilient, but still, it's hard not to retch at the horrific stench all the way down here. And then she sees what is -causing- the stench... "Gods...unbelievable. What in the hells IS all this? What did you...? And then the realization hits. "One Thousand Voices. Listen to me. These kills are -fresh-. These aren't your ghosts, are they? "What in the hells have you been killing?!"
Amethyst	Amethyst stays in the back, leaning on Rishi a little as this ghost explains his misgivings, and being in awe of Bright as she weaves her words like a tapestry. But as they are lead deeper and deeper. And when she hears what he has done, what he intends to do, a fire lights in her eyes, even as Rishi tries to cover her. Her athame is drawn, and her fiery essence channeled to it. If only she could reach his corpse, she could put an end to this nonsense here and now. A calculation is done in her head. He won't expect it, not in the least, not until it's too late for him to stop her. And though it won't banish him, it would relinquish his ties to undeath and allow him to move on. And so she puts her blade away, and calmly walks towards his corpse. "Just the heart of one dragon, hmm?" She asks. And then there's the grin on her face as she turns back to his corpse, drawing her ritual blade in a single motion and stabbing it, infusing it with the fiery essence of Hesiesh, burning to ashes in mere moments. Satisfied, she turns to face the group and the ghost. And mutters under her breath in high realm, "Oh Danaa'd, please protect me, for otherwise I may be joining you soon."