usir | [open] don't you want to come with me?

[open] don't you want to come with me?

Character(s): anyone who wants to go poke some bones
Status: Open
Location(s): Epithymetikon's fall
Date(s) heading out on the 13th. however, the time at the skeleton can be as long or as short as people want.
About: What's up with that skeleton anyway? Time for everyone to find out.
Warnings: creepy magic nonsense

As the party approaches the skeleton, it becomes apparent as to why there are cursed rumors. No animals can be found near the skeleton: horses and animases both start to get a little uneasy and skittish the longer they remain near the skeleton. The dragon's great mouth is held open, as if by magic. At the back of the dragon's rib cage lies a shrine, the contents of which are magically preserved. All in all, it's a very creepy sight.

Still, the exploration party came here for a reason. Might as well get some magical analysis in before the behavior of the horses and animases force people to turn back.

( ooc: Feel free to make your own starter and tag around! Here is information about the gravesite itself as well as some ""fun"" things that might happen, should your character use some magic + be the dingus who decides to do necromancy. Feel free to have your character notice any/all of these in their explorations. )

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

nerdy academic bullshit
Sure, this place is a little odd. That shrine inside the dragon is damn odd, and Strange makes a note to examine it more later. But there's still so much here that he can explore, that he wants to take note of and try and use to help out his hypotheses and theories about the true state of the dragons.

At the moment, some of the runes have his attention. He frowns a little, looking at one of the dragons ribs, as he scratches a few things down in the small notepad he brought. "It looks like an anti-necromancy rune," muses the man who's got a solid chunk of experience with these sort of things thanks to his own work in necromancy. Strange is talking aloud, possibly disturbing someone's conversation, possibly just talking to himself. "But why the hell would they put it on the dragon? Surely it would take more magic than your average sorcerer just to even attempt to raise the damn thing."

a case of the jitters
The longer they remain here, the more on edge Strange gets. Which...is odd. Rationally speaking, he shouldn't be on edge. It's just a skeleton. Nothing more. But the behavior of his animas, the anti-necromancy runes all around the place, and the fact that once, he could have sworn he saw something familiar and shadowy out of the corner of his vision, are all adding up together to put Strange a little on edge. Okay. Maybe this place is haunted.

So, he walks up to someone else in the science party. His animas is in his hands: Bell, the hare, is trembling, nose wiggling every few seconds, eyes darting around as if she was scared something might get her. "Perhaps there is some validity to the idea of this place being cursed," he admits.

After Krimnos, after going home to see naught but remains, there is a sort of joy in going out and doing this kind of work. It's as close to Alucard's old life has he has gotten since this all began, and perhaps that means he is overdoing it. He saved up to buy tiny shovels for God's sake, and between that and spending about half an hour floating over the skeleton to draw it from overhead (and then landing to try and figure out the depths of what is under all of the clay earth), he's...having a good time.

Which also means that any statements like Strange's are going to be responded to with a little too much flippancy.

"Oh, I can't imagine why," he says. Alucard's on the ground with a big measuring stick, driving it into the earth to try and get another depth measurement. "It isn't as if better safe than sorry with this kind of magic is the worst idea possible."

It's a good idea and people like Strange are why the runes are there, so far as he can determine.

Strange makes a small little scoffing noise as he returns to copying the runes. "Quite frankly, making a concentrated effort to bury the thing would be more effective than these runes. I've only seen them used in obscure texts. And, to be honest, I've no idea if they even work or not. It just seems like a waste of time and energy."

Says the person who also kind of wants to see if he can necromancy the dragon? But that's something Strange can mull over later.

He only has one tiny shovel which is more of a garden spade and quite frankly, is a little bit jealous of Alucard's tiny shovels and ability to fly (when could he do that?!). Thankfully, Strange did come prepared with other forms of ways to measure the earth and take samples. But as long as Alucard's doing that, he'll save his measuring for later. Lord knows the other man would probably criticize him on his dirt gathering or something ridiculous like that.

"There's no point. The impact of dragons just landing here would be felt throughout the region, so if one buries it, then it's even more suspicious. Better to let things accumulate naturally and protect the bones in-situ than to disrupt the natural burial and potential fossilization process."

Alucard pauses just long enough to add the current depth he's at, murmuring something about likely position of elbow before taking the measuring equipment out and moving a few feet further down.

"At any rate, it all boils down to how you interpret what we're looking at. Is this an object in full, is it a set of remains, is it a living memorial, or something else entirely? All of these meanings have been attached already."

Also yes. Yes he would have opinion on gathering dirt properly. Did you properly label your samples with exact locations?

Christine is also holding her animas, perched on her curled fingers as she strokes her feathers in concern. She looks up as Strange approaches, glad for the opportunity to speak with him alone.

"I think we should leave soon," she says without preamble. "I know there's something here. I can... I can see them. I can see through Azoth's eyes. Remember that trinket I found on the dead orc? That's what it's for: seeing through an animal's eyes."

"The shrine and room inside the rib cage give it the impression of a memorial over a set of remains. Perhaps the going thought was something like 'we can't move it and won't bury it, might as well make use of it.'"

After all, there were spells around the offerings. That involved a level of preparation that most people wouldn't take for a funerary bouquet. Strange takes a knee, sketching out more of the runes as he continues to argue with Alucard about this situation. There's nothing accusatory or angry in his tone: he's someone who likes arguing and debating for the sake of arguing and debating.

"Though the general atmosphere does poke a hole in the memorial theory. Whoever put that shrine there must have taken their time doing so."

There's about a hundred questions he's got about Christine's trinket: he just needs to think about what the best question to ask is. So, Strange frowns a little, wearing on the inside of his lip as he thinks, before he decides on his question and asks,

"Does it work for any animal or just Azoth? And what does the something look like?"

There's a little hesitancy in Strange's voice that he's desperately trying to hide.

"It might work for any, but I haven't tried yet. I assume if the orc had it, it was because he was a beast tamer or some such thing." Despite taking the time to further explain it, Christine is anxious being here and is speaking quickly.

"However, when I first activated it, I saw my vision and Azoth's at once, and now I can access it by focusing on her. I think maybe proximity played a role, and her sight has been 'set' as the one I can access." She blows out a breath, looking towards the rib bones and then back.

"There are shadows, and some dominant figure, but I can't make it out. There's just this... weight pressing down, and it feels like I'm spying on something I shouldn't see."

"Memorials can have longer and more detailed thought put into them," he counters. Alucard's prodding at the ground again, and this time he does hit a bone. To himself he tsks, the dirt isn't as tall as it was just a few feet ago.

"But let's put aside that fact and consider the matter that it's there at all. I'd like to know how frequently it's used for it's intended purpose, and when it began given the general horror and fury at the dragons when the war concluded."

A sentiment that had Alucard survived, he would have shared. He still does. "Treat this as a site of pilgrimage instead of as a set of remains and thus an object one could add to a collection."

Rocket didn't come along to try and learn anything. He had wanted to see the big dumb lizard's bones for himself and going with a party seemed wiser than going alone. Not that he was scared, exactly, but he was uneasy as he always had been in the presence of dragons. There's a thread of triumph in the twice resurrected raccoon, knowing he came back and clearly from the proof before his very eyes old scales hadn't. But it leaves just more unanswerable questions and an uneasy sensation in his gut.

Lylla clings to his leg even more determinedly than usual, his brave otter animas reduced to a clinging second shadow within an hour. Every now and then one of his clawed hands reaches down to stroke her fur before he moves again. He ends up posting up on top of the dragon's skull on his hands and knees, tail flicking about behind him. Lylla's tiny webbed paws are gripping the fabric of his tunic as he scratches at the bone with his claw, clearing away clay to reveal the whitish-beige beneath.

It's real bone, at least, not just some sculpture someone put there to trick them, and that's a reassurance.

"We should just blow the whole thing up. Get rid of it once and for all." He mutters, his shoulders tense as he jerks his head to look out past the dragon's sights. Just one of the horses tossing its mane, but he had thought for a moment it was a very different horse. He grits his teeth, shoving away thoughts of the silent specter from the shadow realm and stands up, brushing dirt from his hands. Lylla startles and shoves herself between his legs, curling up around his feet like a frightened mouse and he drags a hand down over his muzzle with a groan.

"There's nothing here. Look. We can see for miles. What's gotten into you?" His snap of frustration with her helps to mask and distract from his own uneasiness at least.

"I don't collect the things I revive," Strange scoffs. "I take the necessary studies, ask the necessary questions, and then dispatch them back to the realm of the dead. Of course, the dragon would be different."

He realizes this is the first time he's outright said he does necromancy. But half of his conversations with Alucard implied it and he doubts the man will brand him a traitor or a heretic at this revelation. Just an idiot.

"As for the memorial, considering that most people think this place cursed, I suspect it's only used by an individual or a small group. It's certainly not something that gets regular foot traffic."

Strange normally tries to keep up an air of being cocky, confident, and headstrong. That being said, as soon as Christine mentions a dominant figure, he goes a little pale. Because he thought he saw something as well, though his were the hallucinations of someone dead and revived.

"Could you at least tell if the figure was on a horse?"

It's been long enough at the skeleton that Strange's excitement and interest has morphed into a little bit of tense nervousness as well. This place is giving Bell the jitters which is giving him the jitters and the fact that he thought he saw that spectral horse is giving him even more jitters...he's starting to see why this place is haunted.

He's exploring the top of the skull as well, just to see if there's anything new he can discover. So Strange hears Rocket's frustration and can't help but laugh a little at it: it's a short, slightly tense sort of laugh.

"I think that's why she's acting odd. There's nothing here." No birds, no vermin, no animals like you would normally see in travels like this.

Rocket's fur bristles when Strange speaks, too distracted to notice they had company until the man is there with them, his voice a sudden discomfort in the otherwise too-still and too-silent surroundings. He exhales after a moment, and turns just enough to catch Strange with one eye, looking at him and then back out over the land.

He has noticed the sparse surroundings, but Rocket had forcibly chalked it up to the winter weather and the cold, trying to convince himself it had nothing to do with the land or the monstrous skull beneath them now.

"Damn dragons scarin' everything off even now that they're just bones." He picks Lylla up under one arm, the imagery slightly ridiculous given how she's only half his size, and turns to look back at the organizer of this field trip of theirs.

His ears are angled back and his fur is visibly sticking up at odd ends, his body betraying the unease he is trying to conceal.

"They're long dead and they ain't getting back up. Messages or otherwise." He taps his bare foot on the top of the skull and shakes his head. "These bones are as real as ours. No illusions or tricks."

Now it's Christine's turn to look startled. He obviously has a sense of what she means, though perhaps it's different for each person?

"No, indeed. The shape was standing. Around your height. Are you saying you've seen someone on a horse, or are you expecting such a thing?"

"I wasn't talking about you in specific," Alucard says, rolling his eyes far too hard than required for this conversation. "I was generalizing, based on my own past work."

He is, in fact, certain that Jonathan Strange is an idiot. Dabbling in necromancy alone meant he was an idiot. Confirming it was even stupider. It was stunning.

The rest is considered carefully. Mulled over. "You're right about a small group or even just one or two people. So then are the visits regular on a monthly basis, or tied to more specific needs or dates? Either are plausible. Death dates would be the easiest to examine."

"I wouldn't be so certain of that," Strange says, with a little shake of his head. "The bones may be there but what of the spirit? You'd need both in order to properly revive them. Likewise, there are theories that imperfect resurrections can be done with just the spirit."

Surprising no one, the dragon fanboy isn't ready to entirely give up on his hopes that the dragons are alive somewhere.

There's a hare at his feet: she's got reddish brown fur and a blood red marking of some kind on her chest. Bell the hare is just as nervous as Lylla the otter, sticking close to Strange's feet as if that would somehow protect her from whatever this is.

"They would be easiest," Strange admits, with a little nod. "I have university contacts in—well, I had university contacts in Didymos." That's right. Most of them are probably dead by now. There's a brief moment where Strange frowns, as if realizing this for the first time, before pushing himself onwards and trying not to think about it.

"If there is one thing academia is resistant to, it's change. I'm certain I can lean on some old connections in order to gain access to the library and find out the precise death dates as well as any other information written about the dragons." There's a pause as Strange frowns. "I'll have to change my hair, though. There's bound to be a few pictures of me hanging up somewhere."

"I don't know," Strange admits. The nervousness is rising a little as he looks out, seemingly at nothing.

"I thought I saw a figure on a horse, out of the corner of my eye. But when I turned to look at it, it wasn't there." Strange laughs a little, mostly to try and cover up the nervousness. "Still, it's reassuring that you saw something as well. I thought I was going mad again!"

"...I expect a basic history book would do just as well."

No point in using contacts that likely have greater help to offer further down the line. Alucard reaches for his notes to add this new depth down onto the page, careful in how exact he is being. There's also the thought that using those contacts would announce this level of necromancy to an audience that may well not appreciate it.

Not his university contacts to burn and horrify.

"At least for dates. The rest...yes, that's the kind of thing that would be confined to either the academy or monasteries. The latter might be easier to access and involve less scrutiny of one's return."

"Again? Is this a common occurrence for you?" Normally this would be her teasing him, but with the mood set as it is, her voice holds a worried note to it.

"I think we've learned all we can from this skeleton, don't you? The presence here is something dark. Something we shouldn't invite further."

"Yes, but then you'd have to deal with monks," Strange complains a little, as he flips over a page and starts sketching a different rune in his little notebook. "My brother in law was part of the clergy. Religious men are a particular sort of intolerable that academics aren't."

Also, consider this: Strange likes showing off and wants to use those academic contacts to see if they're even still around and to see if anybody there has the slightest idea about what level of necromancy happened to them. Because Strange sure as hell doesn't and sure as hell wants to know the specifics.

Alucard shrugs. "I expect that's on you rather than the monasteries. They were some of my best clients, even if I suspect some of the reasons they sought me out was because I was willing to travel to remote parts."

It had been a good life, all things considered. Requests to look at this object or that one. Determine time period or authenticity or simply make sense of something that has too much mystery to it. A life that wed the academic to his mother's request that both Alucard and Alucard's father see the world rather than remain hidden in their home in Krimnos.

Academics were...fussier.

"I've found that academics fuss over what was and what must remain, even when given evidence that the opposite is true."

"I'll agree with that." He had come down here with pipe dreams of necromancy. But now? No way, that's not going to happen. This skeleton is just too weird and the presence too obvious for him to meddle with that.

"As for your first question, yes, again. I don't know how much you know about this, but after I left university and my wife passed, I was...unwell."

Putting it nicely. Strange's entire tone is a little cautious. It's a matter of fact: he went a little bit mad after his wife died. But even though he's comfortable enough with it to joke about it (or more likely is forcing himself to be comfortable enough with it), Strange has just now realized that other people night not be.

Of course Alucard would get along well with the monasteries. Strange suspects they're the same brand of particularly irritating. He rolls his eyes slightly, telling Alucard just what Strange thinks about the fact that he gets along well with the monks.

"That's because academics understand that what's true is relative. Monks don't. They'd prefer to stick to their dogma, never changing or even making an attempt at deviation."

The fact that he's repping academia in this conversation is amusing, in it's own little way. There was a time when Strange would wash his hands of the whole process. And here he is, defending it to a fellow bitchy revived.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 4

[open] don't you want to come with me?

Jonathan Strange | ota!

oh you know which one

who's ready to ARGUE ABOUT NECROMANCY

ONLY THESE TWO

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Rocket | OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject