3306/Doom of the Very Soul

Doom of the Very Soul
Date of Scene:	31 October 2015
Location:	The Great Mountains
Synopsis:	Welcome to (the abandoned ruins of) Boatmurdered! Don't get spooped!
Cast of Characters:	Staren, 165, 325, Blurr, 513

---

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
In the year 1050, the Dwarven Miner's Guild of Kinmelbil set out, seven-dwarves-strong, to the mountain range in the middle of nowhere known as the Smooth Points of Pride. There, they established a fortress which, until this day, has been universally shunned by dwarfkind. Led by a succession of the foolhardly, the confused, the vile and the mad, the name of this fortress was etched into their collective memory.

    To this day, it stands at the foot of the mountain as a terrifying fossil standing stark and defiant against the passage of time- for two hundred years have rolled on since then. No one has ever dared to enter or go near the still-smouldering vents to underground fires, the weathered plains of obsidian, the statue gallery of fused and skeletonized elephants, and the still-ajar front gates of the Dwarf Fortress named... BOATMURDERED.

    https://lennycorbett.bandcamp.com/track/boatmurdered-2

    Until today, anyway! October 31, or Sandstone 31st if you're the guy who hired the Union to come here.

    http://professor-ponyarity.deviantart.com/art/Dwarf-Mohawk-437155358

    That's this guy! Takkus Shieldquarry, dwarven historian and researcher, is here to do the archeological equivalent of walking around in the middle of new york shouting 'MACBETH MACBETH MACBETH I'M GONNA PUT ON THE BIGGEST PRODUCTION OF MACBETH EVAR GAIZ'. Going to this place isn't exactly /taboo/, but considering it looks like Mordor was set on fire and left out in the sun for a couple centuries, you can understand why few people have wanted to go near.

    Ren Tanaka, one of the Union's best pathfinders and guides to dangerous terrain and locales, has been hired to guide him through these ancient halls, as have all of you, for the purposes of protection, escort and heck, maybe you just didn't have a party to go to tonight.

    Ren is here leaning up against a big ol' elephant skull. Takkus is fiddling with some sort of runic piece of motorized equipment.

    "Souuuund off!"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    While the Izzet League was mostly about science, the tales heard about this particular fortress had the guildmaster intrigued. As such, Rhapsody decided to come along, even a clipboard brought for random note taking, but not without her spellblades just in case things went south. "So...I have heard a lot of rumors about this place, but, well, is there anything we -should- know about this place? I keep hearing about a lever that can end the world.."

Finna (513) has posed:
    'Sound off' goes the call. It's answered by a HOWL. An outright wolf howl from a girl who some people might not have even noticed was with the group. Finna Snowdancer's near the rear and she's being her usual pranky self - there's no need to doubt where that noise is coming from, she's got a hand cupped to the side of her mouth 'n everything and is ALREADY trying hard not to laugh.

    It could be worse though. The howl could be REALLY LOUD and heard for miles instead of just playing around!

    "So... not that I don't love the sense of decor the inhabitants must've had.... WHAT are we doing here again?"

    The Lunar sort of scampers over towarsd Ren and claps a hand on his shoulder, eyes bright with curiosity and maybe just a bit of frothing tension. WHAT is so important about this place?

    She glances between him and the Dwarf...

Staren has posed:
    Staren hasn't heard of this place, so he figured no big deal to help Ren out, right? It's not like last time he went with Ren someplace it... hmm. Well, that's bound to happen to everyone sooner or later, and besides, this time they're expecting it to be a ruin that is dangerous in some way, right? So he's here in his armor as a precaution, but... "Wait, rumors? What have you heard? I've never heard of this place. I mean, sure, it looks kind of, uh... well, obviously /something/ happened or it wouldn't be a ruin. But there's ruins all over the Multiverse. What's special about this one?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"P-pretty simple, really," Ren replies to Finna, although he's- a little surprised by the pat on the shoulder and boggles a moment before he can even say that. "People are always more confident walking around in the dark when there's someone else with them, right? Someone else to point torches in other directions. We're just going to be Mr. Shieldquarry's plus one, two, three and four while he roots around here and looks for historical knick-knacks."

    Takkus, incidentally, is- as the picture he attached to the job request shows- a mohawked, adult dwarf with a beard tied into two knots, a little scar under one eye, and broad, tattooed arms, although you can't really see them because he is in fact wearing a grey overcoat right now. He's been unloading a small assortment of equipment which was previously in a couple of backpacks, carried here in a range rover which at least one person other than him probably drove to the site here. He probably bored at least one of you with his small talk and family stories on the way here.

    But when Rhapsody mentions THE LEVER, he can't help but give a good-humored laugh.

    "Ah, yes!" he states, prodding at an elephant-shaped rock pile with his foot. "The rumors, the historical myth of Boatmurdered. It were built in 1050, but as y'all may have heard the entire fortress is indeed swathed in unspeakable mystery. The scientific community's stayed away from this place for decades, so truth be told, nobody ae ever really chronicled the history of this place."

    He points off over into the distance. "I mean if I could figure out why there's a giant statue of half a lizard over there it'd be worth the four years I went getting all the permissions to investigate this place."

    Using the weird, whirling piece of magitech he was setting up near the massive gates, he activates it with a button press- slowly rolling open the centuries-old entrance.

    "I'm fairly sure we'll be able to find why /someone/ built a device ta flood the outside with magma in here. We could even find out a whole unexplored chapter in dwarven history!"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
A blink, a smirk, then a laugh comes from Rhapsody, "Wait, it was to flood the area with magma? Well, that certainly explains the barren landscape," she notes, taking a long look around before moving back to help the strange dwarf with all his gear. "Sounds like whoever ran the place was very .. strange.. but honestly, even my guild has been called strange, crazy, downright insane at times, so, 'strange' doesn't bother me. In fact, i'm intrigued by it! This should be interesting.."

Staren has posed:
    "Staren looks at the statue of half a lizard. "Huh."

    "Flood the outside with magma?" He looks around. "Sounds like a weapon of desperation. They must have been facing a truly terrible enemy at the gates. Perhaps a powerful army? Or a horde of monsters too large to fight any other way?"

    Staren looks to Takkus. "So everyone lets this mystery stand but /you/ decided to shine a light on it and find out what was up? I like you already. Let's do this." He watches the gate slowly open.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna makes a weird face. That's why they're out here? Dwarven history? She gazes over the ruins and the doors. It might be why the historian's here, but Finna's hoping to find some neat loot now. It's WAY more interesting to her. "If you say so. I'll keep any nasties off your back!"

    Instead of a torch she simply snaps her fingers. There's a flicker of power... and a swirling aura of silvery-blue and shadows kicks up around her. Despite the weird shadowy streaks it does quite a good job at illuminating the darkness... although it also casts some odd shadows here and there.

    "Whoever was crazy enough to defend their place with LAVA must have had some awesome things to defend!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren just shrugs at Staren and Rhapsody. In truth, he's not really all that interested in ruins- he much prefers the colourful, outdoor horizon to the empty ruins of the past- but hey, exploration is exploration. He disappears inside the main entrance, just to check around- "Alright, let me just see what's inside first-" before drawing the others in.

    "That's the spirit! Spirit of ADVENTURE," Takkus declares, rubbing his hands together. He's all too happy to head inside as soon as he's able. To Staren, he does mention- "Aye, years in the past there were many menacing things. Goblin armies were one thing, but these mountains were long home to vicious communities of elephants... wildlife used to be just as dangerous as people..."

    Ime, sadly- or fortunately in our case- has long since caused all of the traps that line the main tunnel into Boatmurdered to decay into uselessness. Nevertheless, it's ... kind of disturbing to consider as you pass by.

    "Making your way through these defences in the day must have been nay impossible, don't you think?" Takkus comments, as they make their way into ... well, rather than any sort of entrance hall there are fallow farms up first. Weird.

    "Must've been some incredible mining to be had here. Any of you'all ever hear of adamantite?"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    As she creeps inside, Rhapsody produces a small trinket that starts to emit light for her, and others. It hovers up, and then just stays over her right shoulder as they head further in. "Evil elephants? That's a new one.." she muses as she follows. The first hallway causes her to slow slightly, "I... don't think I would have enjoyed trying to invade this place.." then she glances to Takkus, "Sounds like a really good material, like Mithril or Mizzium, though you can't find mizzium natrually."

Staren has posed:
    'Vicious communities of elephants?' Staren echoes. He looks at the traps as they pass. "Maybe. I wouldn't call anything impossible. But look -- they're all decayed, not triggered or broken. It was something from inside that got them. Or the traps were simply shut off. Adamantite, huh? I've heard of similar names. A metal of legendary hardness, without the brittleness of diamond. ...But /elephants/ wouldn't be attacking them for their adamantite, would they? Wait, what does 'elephant' mean on this world?"

Finna (513) has posed:
    "AAAAADVENTURE." Finna calls back... only to vault up to the ceiling and dash along that with an eye down on the ground. After the hall of traps though.. finding farms leaves her blinking. "Uh?" How does one farm underground? She ends up scratching her head at this debacle, but just flips back down to the fields and glances about while still aglow. All her senses are on full alert for anything out of the ordinary!

    "... wait a moment, vicious ELEPHANTS?"

Blurr has posed:
    "Wow, these people really didn't want anyone else getting in here..." Blurr comments in regard to the multitude of time-eroded traps. "Or maybe they were just worried about the wildlife." Since Takkus had mentioned dangerous elephants. Has he been here the entire time or did he show up just now? Most likely the latter. He has a way of appearing rather suddenly. But given his size, -someone- probably did see him approaching.

    "Adamantite?" he echoes. "Maybe, but can't be sure it's the same stuff you're thinking of." Multiverse, after all.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Don't forget the carp," Ren comments.
    "I wish I could forget the carp! Apex predator of the 11th century!"

    "If this was an adamantine deposit, then it might explain why this place was so well defended. This is the problem, you see!" Takkus explains, walking through the mushrooms- "Literally no one aside from people who lived /in/ Boatmurdered has probably ever got this far. I mean, eh... it were a strange time."

    "I suppose," Ren offers, "That it would make sense for a self-contained community to have its own ways of growing food, but I don't know why you'd put the farms right on the main entrance. Do you think we should look for a farmhouse or something, and see if we can find any records or documents? Or should we press on?"

There are multiple paths stretching out into the various parts of the fortress, and it's hard to tell how deep and complex the place is.

Staren has posed:
    "Carp?" Staren echoes. He shrugs, "Eh, farms by the entrance makes sense. Assuming underground farms do in the first place, anyway, they'd have been one of the first things they had to set up when Boatmurdered -- weird name by the way -- was established, so they'd be near the entrance. And once you've already set up farms, it'd be a pain to move them."

    Staren looks around, "Let's see if we can find a city hall and look for official documents, or a residential area and look for diaries."

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr nods. "So an extremely valuable metal, I take it?" He nods at Staren. "Yeah, maybe some written records are still left lying around, if any of them were written on something other than paper or something that might still be intact and legible after all this time, it might be useful to you."

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"I'm all for pressing on. Farms are great and all, but we're here for research and discovery, and i'm sorry, the Izzet don't do farming in Ravnica, so, not entirely interested in it! Now, you show me how they could pipe up so much magma to the surface to make it look like it does outside and you'll have my attention.."

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna... ends up frowning. Her expression's gone fiercely unhappy and alert, teeth grit. A hand clenches at the air as if seeking a weapon, but she doesn't need that really. Instead...

    Instead her form just sort of ripples, skin turning a deeper shade of silver. Anyone who couldn't see her silvery-glittery fox ears and tail before sure can now.

    "Not even a mouse or a rat or a spider. When even the simplest creatures forsake a place you know something's wrong."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"The rarest! If they found it, they'd have guarded it with their lives..."

    Ren raises an eyebrow as Finna seems to raise her hackles at something. "What's the matter? Look, this place is just ... a tomb, you know. Plus the door was closed outside, so..."

    It seems as if the consensus is to head deep in and find the most previously populated place just to get a decent read on this place before figuring anything else out. "Alright. We'll look for diaries, ledgers, blueprints. That sort of thing," Takkus summarizes.

    It is, to a fair point, strange that there aren't even any animals that have moved back in over the centuries. Even bats or insects might be appropriate, but there's practically nothing as the group makes its way further in.

Of course, what there are plenty of are... the carvings. Wall friezes on ... many places, like graffiti but clearly done with intent and some level of artistry, depicting... disturbing things. Boschian things. The further in you go, the more you start to notice the artwork of elephants. And fire. And goblins.

    And the less easy it becomes to dismiss the odd scattered pile of bones as belonging to a dead animal or something. And that's probably not ancient rust on the walls...

    And that sure is another picture of a screaming dwarf in the fetal position...

    "You know something?" Ren grumbles, as they come across a cave wing filled with various accommadations. "Sometimes just because something looks awful on the outside, doesn't necessarily mean that there's something secretly good inside."

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks from Finna to Ren. "No life here at all? Hmm... Then again, maybe rats and spiders are terrible monsters in this world and were exterminated. And Takkus wouldn't have asked for help without reason. There might be undead. And we might find whatever hazard doomed the dwarves from within, if it's still around after all this time..."

    Eventually he notices the theme to the artwork. "...Okay, I can see telling a story, but doesn't this sort of thing usually end with them /triumphant/ over the evils that plagued them? What were they just... crushed by elephants and goblins until they gave up? Why devote so much time to-- no, there's no point in musing. Let's find a damn journal."

Blurr has posed:
    "What made adamantite so valuable?" Blurr asks, because, well there might be a good reason. A reason that's still valid. "I mean, do you think there's any of the stuff still left in the mines or did these people deplete them a long time ago?" Even as he is speaking, the Autobot begins scanning their surroundings for any evidence of something valuable left behind. He seems to pay the drawings, carvings, and bones no mind, unless that is they offered any hint that some of this adamantite might still be around.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
A glance is sent Ren's way from Rhapsody, "Well, no risk no reward! I mean, if you could have the world by not doing anything, it'd be a pretty boring place, don't you think? Besides, we were hired to help, so, may as well help and--" That's about when Rhapsody starts to notice the etchings on the walls and their slow decent into Bad End. "...all.." back to Takkus, "So um.." she rubs at the back of her neck, spotting a pile of bones, "What other things could ah.. be dangerous? It doesn't look like they flooded their own fortress with magma.."

Finna (513) has posed:
    The more engraven 'tapestries' the group passes the jumpier Finna feels. "What... kind of curse could RUIN a place so much?! This is a bad place to be. Bad bad bad..." She shuffles away from bone piles, frowning even more so.

    "And not a place I'd want to be at night time. Could be hungry ghosts." She hisses. "Who leaves the dead in such squalor? It's bad luck. And just plain bad!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "It's the most valuable metal in the world! Impossibly strong, light and sharp! Surely, deeper in there could be a wealth of it?" Takkus speculates wildly, grinning despite the litany of horrors the group seems to be walking past. He seems quite excited by all of it, and could care less about the horror show. "Ah, perhaps the old fortress fell to infighting and greed due ta all of the treasure in the deeps? Yes, ah'm sure we're close!"

    "The strangest thing is, if carp are as dangerous as they are?" Ren replies to Staren. "I wouldn't be surprised if spiders and rats were dangerous enough to be wiped out!"

    Ren scowls, and makes his way over to one of the doors. Any door will do. "Look, I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea. Are we all sort of on the same page in thinking there's some sort of curse or malaise here?" he asks, looking around at the others. "Let's just find a journal or something, and if it starts descending into madness we should probably think about-"

        AND THEN A SKELETON POPPED OUT

    The second Ren swings the door open, skeleton! A sack of dwarven bones lurches right out of the doorway towards him, and then! One after another, the other doors begin to crack open as well! Staggering, lurching, animated by wisps of some sort of frightening miasma, the undead are indeed in residence!

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
"Meh! I've seen ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, and all kinds of strange things in Ravnica. A bunch of bones and etchings aren't going to-" YEEEEEEEK! The moment all the -not quite dead- bones start rumbling out of the entire area, Rhapsody lets out a yelp, produces both her blades, and starts swining rather -wildly- at the first one to even come close. "GOAWAY!!"

Staren has posed:
    "Let's stop speculating and just find a book." Staren agrees, and then

    AAAAAAAH

    Staren freezes in terror for most of a second... and then forces it down, because that is what heroes do, even if Staren has to cling to cold logic mode desperately. His most ready weapons are the beam cannons on his arm, so he tries those first. If they work well on skeletons, great. If not, well, Staren has an arsenal of high tech, magitech, and even mad science weapons to go through...

    "Die!" Staren shouts as he blasts skeletons. "...Well, you know what I mean!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna lets loose with an unearthly SCREECH and leaps spectacularly back and over. She somehow CHANGES DIRECTION MIDAIR however after thinking twice about that and lands defensively in front of Takkus. Guarding him is the reason they're here after all. And somehow she's pulled out a mace from somewhere. From Elsewhere, technically.

    She lands upright but her tail's straight out and ears as perked up as they can get. Every hair on her body's standing on end. "HOW ARE THEY EVEN MOVING THEY'RE SKELETONS!!"

    She has seen ghosts. She's seen a zombie or two.

    She has not seen animate skeletons. That's something else. It has her Exalted self utterly freaked out.

    But when one clambers near she brings her club down for its head in a flailing that would be ineffectually poor if it wasn't at almost supersonic speed!

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr and Takkus seem to be the only ones -not- spooked by the drawings and bones, and also interested in finding this adamantite stuff. "Hah, well I'm glad there's at least -one- other sane person in this room besides me." In other words, the only ones with -any- struts at all. Pfff, seriously, these are Union elites and they're spooked by a bunch of wall drawings done by some primitive race of organics? "Well if this place makes you guys uncomfortable, by all means turn back. I can take Mr. Shieldquarry here deeper into the--"

    And then animated skeletons that don't make any sense. A long time ago, Blurr probably would've been as freaked out as everyone else is, but with the Unification he's seen plenty. "Gross," is all he says, as his weapons emerge and he fires upon a group of the things.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Please also consider the fact that Ren's hair stood on end like a ball of spikes when that happened. He sure was spooped.

    Takkus's jaw drops as the terrible things begin to happen. Outside, the sun is setting- and that means that from seemingly nowhere, that wispy miasma is curling in the halls out of nowhere, and there's a skeleton for every room, and strange and frightening sounds begin to echo through the halls.

    "A ha ha! This is fascinating! The terrible myths were true, so surely it must be here!"

    And then quite suddenly, Takkus throws off his coat - and in fact tosses it /at/ someone!- and takes off at a sudden, surprising pace which is /not/ the way they came, even!

    Not that it would really matter- even if you look in the other direction, bones are dancing and skittering down the halls to join up with other ones. There are ghosts, as well, forming out of the miasma.

    Ren ducks as a bone gets thrown at him, but the others definitely react a lot faster- slashing, bashing, and indeed even shooting as the undead rise up all around them, causing the ancient skulls and skeletons to go scattering and bouncing around again.

    ...but none of them are actually /attacking/ anybody.

    As Rhapsody slashes wildly...
    As Staren takes aim...
    As Finna cracks some skulls..
    And as Blurr makes a sizzling quick-draw--

    Most all of the phantasmal dwarves shy away from them, breaking away in a hurry and... fighting and thrashing one another, instead. In fact... none of them are being attacked at all.

    Ren stands there as a skeletal dwarf walks /straight past him/.
    "...well, now what?"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Panicked flailing continues for a good 15 seconds, "NO NO NO STOP STOP STOP Stop st.. o.p..?" before Rhapsody realizes that nothing is really attacking her.. or the others. "Er.. wha?" The Izzet Guildmaster looks utterly confused as the dwarves shamble about and the skeletons do... skeletony things? She was so lost. ".. I don't get it.." she murmurs before realizing that Takkus just -took off- without them. "Hey!" Then she looks at the others, "Should we go after him???"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "We can go after him," Ren says, a bone sailing over his head. "Or we can try and find a record and figure out what's going on in this accursed place. What do you all think?"

Blurr has posed:
    As soon as Blurr realizes that the skeletons aren't actually attacking, he lowers his weapons, the cannons folding back into his arms. "Huh." he sounds surprised and puzzled. "Well that's new, they're moving but not attacking us."

    But then Takkus takes off in some direction that is -not- the way they came. "Hey! Where are you going?" The Autobot calls after him, and unlike Ren and Rhapsody he doesn't wait for the others' approval, simply taking off after the dwarf as his usual...pace. Perhaps he knows where the adamantite is, and perhaps that's where he's gone?

Finna (513) has posed:
    Well.

    That's different. After the initial outburst, Finna calms down a little - only to "GWAK!" and topple over as she's buried beneath Takkus' coat.

    How easily the Steward is defeated.

    A muffled cry of, "What's GOING ON HERE? does ANYONE know?! Do I want to know?!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren blows apart several skeletons before he notices they're not fighting. "..." He sort of backs away, and is quiet for a moment. The miasma doesn't bother him, he wears environmentally sealed armor for a reason. Really, he should have insisted /everyone/ have a way to deal with that before exploring underground.

    "...Yeah. Yeah, we should." He runs off after Takkus.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Rhapsody frowns at the decision seemingly made. She was so much more interested in the place than she was their employer, but with Blurr taking off and Staren wanting to go after Takkus, the dragon shrugs a defeated shrug, "If you insist," she says, moving off in the direction that Takkus ran toward. She at least reaches out to try and remove the coat from Finna's form, offering her a smile before tossing the jacket over a shoulder. "Lets get after him before he gets himself killed. . . or worse."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka ... shudders. It took a few minutes to sink in, but it's almost as if these dwarves aren't so much ignoring them as the /other dwarves/ are a higher priority. In fact they're all being given a wide berth. When was the last time you saw ghosts and skeletons that were more afraid of the living?

    This doesn't make things any easier when it comes to moving past them. It doesn't help that the closer you look, the more obvious it becomes that many of these ghostly dwarves are rather clearly terrified, injured, looking quite insane- and viciously aggressive to one another. And 'priority' is the key word- for as Ren, Rhapsody and Finna will notice, undead dwarves who aren't occupied in combat at that exact second are definitely /eyeing/ them...

    What this may mean is that it's possible the group may get split. Staren was quick to react, and Blurr is- well, Blurr. And although dwarves definitely know their way around dwarf fortresses, it won't take them much effort to make their way through the melee and catch up to Takkus.

    Who has an axe.

    "Ha ha! It really was here, all along! That dark legend was true!" he says, and points it at Blurr threateningly. "Let's not be /too/ hasty now, fast man!"

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna offers Rhapsody a sheepish grin, but gets scampering into motion... ON ALL FOURS... in an extremely strange sort of run across the ground. "Right, right! ... stupid guys running off, what if there's DANGEROUS dead further in?!"

    ... yeah, never mind that weird four-legged sprint...

    Well it ends once she notices that the undead are a bit more aware and less hostile than she first thought.

    So she stops near a skeleton and bravely extends a hand towards one of the not-fighting ones... and taps them on a shoulder gently. "Friend or foe?"

Blurr has posed:
    As expected, Blurr has no trouble catching up to Takkus, who now has an axe. "'It' as in the adamantite?" The Autobot questions, looking for a confirmation. But when the dwarf points the weapon at him threateningly, he arches an optic ridge suspiciously. What was this guy after, anyway? Maybe it wasn't just archaeology. "You're not -really- an archaeologist, are you? I mean, maybe I'm wrong, maybe on your planet, archaeologists have to be armed and dangerous, but anyway--" he tends to ramble, and there is actually not much of a pause there. "I'm just doing my job, you hired us to escort you and protect you so that's what I'm doing, so no need to get your axles in a twist."

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Duhhhhh... anyone who goes through dangerous ruins is a Scavenger Lord. Haven't heard the word 'archaeologist' used before though. What's it mean?" Does Finna really not know?

    Tap tap Skeleton!

Staren has posed:
    Staren was totally expecting Takkus to be laughing madly while trying to activate some Artifact or Power that kills him. Instead, uh... He's just holding an axe.

    "What is it?" Staren asks. "With you running off like that the moment trouble started, I figured you'd betrayed us. What's so special about this axe?"

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Not far behind, Rhapsody brings up the rear behind Finna, still with her light in tow, still with Takkus' jacket in tow. "You forgot something.." Rhapsody says first before glaring at the axe. "Okay, now, lets not be too hasty alright? We were here to -help- you..." she points out like a few others had already. "Now lets just rush into doing anything stupid alright? What if all these skeletons and ghosts react badly to you having that thing.. then what?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Well, I don't know, they might all be 'friends' soon. Depends on how you want to, eh hey, slice it," Takkus replies.
    Ren narrows his eyes at him.

    "An adamantite weapon, the burning axe of Sankis!" he shouts, swinging it back and forth as the axe trails flames. "The most infamous of Boatmurdered's many rulers! The legends spoken by those who fled in terror said that he was the reason for the doom that... shook these very halls! All of these miserable old bones fear Sankis! And now I'm not an archeologist no more, I'm a ruler!"

    He wiggles the axe at a ghost and it curls up in terror, covering its face with its hands. An awful lot of them, in fact, seem quite perturbed. But then again, some of the others seem to bristle at the sight of it... not that Takkus, who's quite full of himself right now, is really paying attention to /them/.

     "Look at that! Who needs a bunch of books when you could control all of these fearsome ghosts? Think about it, friends! I could lead an army! Ye could all... could all work for me! We could go back to civilization and teach everyone we don't like a nasty lesson, eh?"

    "Or I could go back by meself... I mean, I /am/ the one in charge of an army now..."

    He does, to his credit, put on a malevolent grin. Ren facepalms.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
A grunt, a glare, and a long sigh come out of Rhapsody, "I, in fact, enjoy learning. It's something the Izzet do everyday, learn about the world. SO. I think we are at odds, friend, and if you are just going to put these ghosts through more torment instead of letting them rest? Well..." she points one of the spellblades she has toward him, "We are going to have a major issue."

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks at the dwarf. Oh. So this /is/ going in exactly the direction he expected.

    Time to nip this in the bud.

    Staren walks forward. "Hey now. I think we can all see who we should follow now. We could be powerful allies..." If Takkus actually lets Staren get close, Staren as swiftly as he can draws his plasma sword and tries to cut the dwarf's hands off.

Blurr has posed:
    "Uh," Blurr glances around at the skeletons, most of whom do appear to be deathly (ha) afraid of the weapon, although not -all- of them. "Hm. Well Shieldquarry you've got a point there. We were all all the first ones to come down here in a while, and you were the first to discover it, so I suppose we could strike up a deal." He glances around at the others momentarily before continuing, signaling them to hold their fire.

    "But, if the legends are true, and that weapon was the reason this place went to the afterspark, don't you think the same thing might happen to -you-? What do the stories say happened to this 'Sankis' dude himself? Maybe you should let some of us help you carry it, how do you know touching it for too long won't drive you mad?" And if he doesn't to share, then perhaps Blurr will just have to resort to more -physical- methods of persuasion.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Uh." Finna wasn't expecting to encounter THIS. Apparently the skeletons don't mind her. And with non-hostile ghosts 'n weird things around she's.... quite deflated. "Uuuuuuh."

    Her shoulders sag and she's just left STARING at Takkus.

    "... or you could just go back to being reasonable again?" She can hope?

    She pokes a ghost/skeleton again. "There something up with that axe?" One of her hands has gone almost behind her back...

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
Another sigh, "Honestly..." she mutters mostly toward Takkus then anyone else. This is before the cacophony of screams that announce the entrance of one, single, flaming, ghost dwarf. Rhapsody seizes up. If she had hair to stand on end it -would- be. She even brandishes both blades at the dwarven 'ruler' before he starts to speak. Pause. Stare. Sweatdrop. "...What?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    It seems as if opinions are split about what we should do here! Except not really. Takkus definitely seems to be more than happy to scoff at Rhapsody and walk over to Staren... right up until when he gets his hand cut off, anyway.

    "AHHHH! ME HAND! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND DO THAT? AHHHHHH!"

    "WHAT IS ALL THIS RACKET IN HERE"

    And that's the exact moment when /one/ ghost in /particular/ shoves her way past anyone else. Shorter than most, plainly dressed, with a scraggly beard and a horned helmet (and did we mention she is on fire?)... you guessed it.

    Lots of ghost dwarves recoil and scream. Takkus, even though it means moving away from his hand on the floor, recoils and screams. Heck, even Ren recoils about an inch and goes 'ahhhh', because everyone's doing it.

    "Would you fucking quit it? I can't hear myself think. Ugh, I don't know. You're all useless."

    Sankis picks up the axe, pulling the hand which is still attached off, and puts it on her ghostly shoulder. "You guys all as confused by this mess as I am? How about we actually talk to one another, straight dope, instead of the stupid alternative?"

Blurr has posed:
    Ugh, an then Staren had to go and cut off the guys hand! Though of course Blurr is one to talk, since he'd probably have done the same thing soon enough if Takkus hadn't fallen for his trickery and manipulation games. He can't help an exasperated look in Staren's direction, but then another ghost on fire appears and everyone screams. But seriously she isn't that scary. Well of course he's much taller than everyone here so that helps.

    Now presumably, this is the Sankis person Takkus had mentioned and Blurr had just asked about. Talk about on cue. He watches as she puts the axe on a boulder, eying it briefly before turning back to her. "Uhm, sure thing. I'm guessing you're Sankis?"

Finna (513) has posed:
    And there goes Staren! "Jumping to conclusions there kitty-guy! What if he was just playing around?!" Finna jumps away but she hurriedly rushes to Takkus a moment later, pulling out a first aid kit from seemingly NOWHERE and moving to bandage and staunch whatever bleeding might be left from a haphazard plasma sword strike.

    At the same time her tail leeeeeeeeeeeeeeengthens insanely, displaying a likely unexpected show of prehensile ability as it curls around the discarded hand and yanks it closer. A finger's tapped on Takkus' nose. "Not your lucky day, but I know how to get this fixed. Don't panic, you'll just make this worse."

    She whirls around in place, tail still holding the hand (albeit her back is turned to Takkus, her ears are fully alert and ready in case he does something weird...) and faces the burning ghost woman.

    "... YOU must have gone out in a blaze of glory." She claps both hands together. "Finna Snowdancer. This expedition's gone to hell in a handbasket!" The tail hoists the aforementioned hand just for show. Or maybe for puns.

    But she extends an open hand, just showing its empty and perhaps beseeching the ghost. "Fallen warrior, why do you linger here?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren just gives Takkus a blank stare at his outburst. "Seriously?" To Finna he replies, "Then every time he looks at his cybernetic hand, he'll be reminded that in situations like this, pranks are a bad idea." And then...

    Staren turns and blinks in surprise at the ghost. "So... are you the legendary Sankis?"

    The ghost wants to talk straight? Sounds good.

    Staren shrugs. "This dude," he jerks a thumb at Takkus, "Hired us to help him explore the ruins of Boatmurdered and find out what happened here. Turns out what he /really/ wanted was your axe so he could command an army of undead to smite all who've ever wronged him. As you can see," Staren waves his sword to indicate it, then uses it to point at the fallen hand, "We're not cool with that plan." Staren deactivates the sword and clips the hilt to his armor. "We're curious what's happened here, but as long as your own intentions are peaceful, we have no problem with you."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
Ren Tanaka catches Blurr's expression. "I don't know, you've got to admire him for cutting the gordian hand. I mean, knot. I mean, uh, cough cough."

    Whisper to Takkus. "We'll stick your hand back on later."

    Takkus whimpers a bit, holding out his arm for Finna because really, what else can he do? "Can I have my coat back?"

    "That's me. The late Emperor Sankis Gatinbomrek," she replies. One or two of the angrier ghost dwarves spit on the ground. So does one of the skeletons, but he doesn't have glands any more so it just looks weird.

    "Ha! Hey, I like this one already," Sankis says, pointing to Finna, then stops to listen to Staren.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, (except not really). Boatmurdered was just a bunch of goons and lunatics, honestly. Mayhem and miasma and we couldn't get a damn thing right. You'd be lucky to make an army out of this hopeless lot! Half of them couldn't even haul elephant flanks when we told them too!"

    "I said I was sorry..." someone says from way off in the back.

    "Whatever. Look, you lot have still got... oops, this thing's heavier than it..."

    Sankis' axe falls through her hands and embeds itself in the floor again. "Hate it when that happens. You lot can pick things up for longer than thirty seconds, right? Listen... most of us dwarves ended up spending our eternal rest in the fortress garbage dump, honestly. How'd you feel about giving some of these idiots, much as I don't think some of them deserve it, some proper dirt naps instead of this sorry state of affairs? I mean hey, you want some books? Take 'em! Take all the books."

    Ren looks around. "There /are/ a lot of you..."

    "Yeah, you'll probably end up working the graveyard shift."

Staren has posed:
    Staren scratches his head. Or helmet, anyway. "...Uh... Honestly? I, personally, am not sure I have an obligation to dig a jillion dwarf graves. But!" He holds up a finger. "I tell you what. We can take word of your plight to the outside world, and let your fellow dwarves, who know all your burial and funerary customs and such, come take care of it, and as an artificer," Staren holds his hands to his chest, "I will send them golem workers to aid with the task. Does that sound good?"

Blurr has posed:
    "Dirt nap?" Blurr is confused by this expression. Cybertronians aren't buried in dirt after they die. But then Staren's response clears things up a bit. Oooh, she just wants their bodies buried properly so that they can have proper funerals. He nods at Staren's suggestion. "Yeah, I could send some drones down for the manual labor part."

    Again his optics go to the axe that falls to the ground. "And if we did that, you wouldn't mind if I borrowed that for a while? Some of my friends would probably be interested in examining it." That is, examining it for any unique signatures that might give them a way to find more of the metal it's made from later. Honestly he couldn't care less about books.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "I'll call in some friends. This place seems to be suffering from an... unusual blight, let's say! Graves will be dug although I don't know how we're going to manage any detailed memorials with things in this state." Finna's hands are still folded in a sign of respect. She can tell she's in the presence of a fairly powerful ghost, which probably means OLD and ACCOMPLISHED. A measure of respect is simply called for.

    The joke gets a bit of a nervous laugh from her though...

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "There's not really thousands of people, it's just an optical illusion I guess? Since there's so much enclosed space in here! I mean I'm all for a small pine box, just as long as I don't have to share it with nine other people," Sankis replies. This gallows humor has been refined for centuries, clearly.

    "Uh, hm, the axe? Sure, I guess. I don't really /need/ it. After all, you can't take it with ya."

    "Don't attach it to Takkus' arm so he can fight zombie sponges," Ren says insistently. "That's just not groovy."