5545/WANTED: Executor 13

WANTED: Executor 13
Date of Scene:	02 November 2017
Location:	Lumiere
Synopsis:	A monster that worked for the Crimson King must be put to rest, or so the bounty filed at City Limits says. Elites take up the task.
Cast of Characters:	974, 993, Tomoe, Count Kord, Staren, Priscilla, 513

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Carna (974) has posed:
    Recently, in the process of trying to find Crow, a living Shadow and companion of the explorers of Lumiere who went missing while trying to help Priscilla with her own business, Finna, the Blue Scholar Enark, and Priscilla came across an awful place in the bowels of Barrowville's sewer system, beneath the filth-strewn Gutter Disgorge, in a place that has been identified as the Chopping Grounds. This place's name was told to them not by another Lantern, but by one of the LIVING victims of the Hookcloak ambushers who had somehow been abducted and brought there, intended to be handed over to butchers and torturers in this new location.

    With this following right after the events of Hallow's Eve, and the discovery of more living souls being drawn to Lumiere by unseen forces, there are a lot of problems to deal with added onto all of the existing problems, and some form of update is in order for those coming on this current mission... For a hunting order has been issued to Lanterns ('or whoever', the sole acknowledgement of non-Lantern hunters thus far from the Lantern habitation at City Limits), to take down a fiend called Executor 13, believed to have once been the one issued the command by the Crimson King in ages past to devise a method of permanently killing a soul through torture, violence, and whatever else this twisted figure could conceive of. In the land of the dead, even the monsters among humanity can find a purpose, it seems.

    But Executor 13, whatever job he was given so long ago, has long outlived his purpose, and is now simply pushing forward the clockwork slaughter of the remaining Dead of Lumiere for unknown ends, potentially tied to the blood of an artificial Anti-Lantern weapon called a Marble Guardian, which the Elites already slew. With the recent discoveries of blood being used as a drug to return the sensation of life to the Dead in the distant past, the associations seem clear.

    And the need to stop whatever this is remains just as clear.

    The voices of the Darkness, the enormously powerful presence of death and shadows that calls to willing souls throughout the Multiverse, promising them the means to whatever ends they seek, power they can use as they please, for good or ill, as long as they use it, is drawing more and more people to Lumiere.

    The arrival, for those new, by falling through a pit surrounded by a mount of bones in the Cavern of Death, falling an indeterminate distance through blackness until landing on an expanse of smooth, black marble, with only a morbid gateway as decoration (the Mask Maker and the fog bank from Halloween are gone now, just like last year), is something to get used to, certainly. But at least they will not be alone, and may receive an explanation from veterans of Lumiere explanation, as they set out to hunt down a monster.

Princess Luna (993) has posed:
     Princess Luna has been hearing a strange voice lately, and when she finally followed it she came upon this strange world. And learned some about what has happened here. A world of death and darkness, where the souls of a long destroyed world remain and are still tortured by the forces that once attacked the world above. But, the timeframe involved is impossibly long, even to her. She thought a millenium on the moon was a long time!

     But, despite being drawn here by the voice, Luna's purpose is to help whatever good people she finds here. If any. She floats down gracefully from the entrance in the overworld and lands with a soft clack of hooves on the smooth marble of the gateway room before approaching it. As she does, she looks around for who else might be around.

Tomoe has posed:
Crow was missing and this troubled Tomoe, as much as anything going bad in this fallen world of the dead. Still why had he gone missing? What could have dragged Crow off? If Crow wasn't dragged off? Or did he find something that had pulled him away, the incident a few nights ago? That worried her a lot other souls lured in one way or another and now? She gets evne more and more troubled at this point.

Here she is now again there was something to deal with this Executor 13 they had ot deal with. The weapon it was connected to is no longer an issue but they have to deal with what's ahead. She looks to PRincess Luna as she arrives she looks to her raising an eyebrow.

"Didn't expect to see you here, you need to know anything?"

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord enters Lumiere as he has numerous times before. He is not bothered by the method with which everyone enters, and he lands with the unusual silence and grace that he typically has in the presence of other people. He pauses, and considers any newcomers to this little adventure, to explain who they are meant to hunt. He pays special attention to the appearance of Princess Luna, because she heavily reminds him of some special breed of Pokemon. It's only the intelligence in her eyes that convinces him otherwise.

    Kord doesn't explain anything. He just decides to step through the door and begin his hunt, because he really doesn't care whether any of the others are prepared or not.

    If you expected more from him, well...

Staren has posed:
    Staren floats down from above in his armor, landing to see familiar faces... and one face that's not unfamiliar, but is unexpected. "Luna? What brings you here?" Unlike Kord, he is all too happy to exposit and ensure that allies are informed, so he waits for her to answer Tomoe's question. He may not have gotten along with Luna in the past, but they were able to work together to try to recover Lapis, so... maybe she's over it. He hopes. It's just awkward having someone who Doesn't Like You around.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla is around! Normally you might not know it, on account of being invisible almost all the time in this treacherous hellhole, but it's just the gate, so she isn't!

    She is also one of those who had vehemently shut the voices out on day one. Having felt the cloying allure of the Abyss once before, she had immediately decided 'No thank you, I would not like to gain Insight' and shut the book on that scary business right away. Having gotten so good at tuning it out, it's quite possible she hasn't even noticed the way the Darkness has risen in volume and urgency. Kord is kind of her hunting dog on that one.

    Of course she's used to the gate now, which is why she gets to work on pushing it open again for the first available Shrine of Light. In the meantime, there are a couple of things to go over. Leyanne had been a surprise the other night, but now a pony? "I knoweth not what brings thee here, Princess, but steel thineself for far worse than what thou already expecteth. I knoweth not from whence these contracts spring, but they art inevitably gruesome affairs. As the lowest level of the land of the dead, furthest away from reincarnation, Lostrata is closest to the world in life, and thus subject to the same base maliciousness and rot. All of those thou shalt see art already dead, and most, amalgamations of the fragmented memories of many dead souls, rather than the original. Go not with hesitation or restraint, or this land shalt consume thee."

    She does stop for just a moment, though. "If the Executor once knew the ancient king of this place, it is perhaps we alloweth a moment to extract information from him, circumstances permitting. We as of yet knoweth not enough of the disaster that befell Lostrata on the night of all hallow's eve."

Finna (513) has posed:
The arrival of an Alicorn garbed in a gown of the night sky is a strange thing to the white-furred fox who's been prowling back and forth in agitated fashion for as long as anyone here has noticed. Frustrated over something related to the last incident, no doubt.

    WHERE THE HELL DID THAT CREEPY GIRL WITH THE HAIR PROBLEM GO?!

    Only the arrival of a being whose nature resonates rather strangely with the Lunar shakes her out of this stew. Finna blinks a few times...

    And the arctic fox that had been pacing shifts and sprouts upwards, fur melting away to reveal human flesh and clothing - and whorling silvery tattoos all over the extra helping of visible skin. Finna's trimmed down to even LESS than usual for this place, which is far hotter than she's comfortable with!

    "... Luna, you say...?" She blurts confusedly upon hearing Staren's words, peering more and more at the dark Alicorn.

Princess Luna (993) has posed:
     Princess Luna looks over as Tomoe speaks up, then nods. "Yes...I suspect I shall require a rather large amount of information about this world. It has a strange feel to it..." she says, looking at the gateway before them. Staren appears, and Luna lets out a small equine huff. "I heard a strange voice calling to me and followed it here."

     Priscilla speaks up, and Luna's ears perk as she listens. She could tell even upon entering that this world was much darker than her beloved Equestria, perhaps darker than even the dark corners of her world that she visited every night. But, can one truly prepare oneself for a world like this one? Luna is also struck by Priscilla's manner of speech. Although Luna has moved away from it quite a bit, it is very nostalgic to hear someone speaking in such a way. Almost comforting in a way. "Do not worry thyself. I realize I hath had little experience in the darkness that other worlds contain, but I am quite used to encountering new types of darkness and dealing with them." she says.

     She cannot quite place it, but Finna seems familiar somehow. Perhaps only through radio conversations, but that particular utterance of 'Luna you say' makes Luna's ears perk. "Ah. I believe we have encounter each other before, though perhaps not in person. I seem to recall conversations about my sharing the name of a world-shaping force on another world?"

     Kord simply ignores everyone and goes through, and Luna raises an eyebrow. "Well...shall we proceed? I am quite sure I can be adequately informed by all of thee as we travel toward this Executor." she says, then starts toward the gate. Her ethereal mane and tail flow in an unseen breeze as she walks, and she holds up a hand to summon her mystical scythe in a flash of pale blue. She gives Nightsong a twirl before holding it in a manner that is reminescent of the grim reaper. "If this dark creature is performing the acts thou hast stated, then we should hunt it down as soon as possible."

Carna (974) has posed:
    The nearest Shrine of Light when they first came to Lumiere required them to run through Unlit-infested streets on Carna's heels, because someone decided missiles were a good thing to use in zombieland. Since then, they have found a better way to travel. The Grim Bone Gate itself can send them to any Shrine of Light they have visited before, and the one at the Church of Bleak Mercy seems to serve as good a nexus point for other locations as any, and a lot safer besides.

    The nearest to their intended destination is actually in the area called Guillotine Square, but it will take some travel to make it from there to the Chopping Grounds. Along the way, Luna can take in the environment she is entering into. It is a lightless place, in general. A near-palpable gloom pervades everything, the only smells in this otherwise sterile realm are ash and dust, and only rarely are the dead fresh enough to even leave a trace of rot. In some locations, there is not the case, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Unfortunately, where they journey to now is one of those exceptions.

    Their initial arrival point is in a reasonably well-lit, if only by an ambience pale and faded as the moon, subway station of considerable scope. The motif of the crescent moon can be found decorating the walls and pillars. Some sort of magical subway train provides swift transport to an exit point from the Umberdark Tunnels onto the Pristine Plagueway, an elaborate winding road through the air, supported by nothing. Far below is an endless expanse of dense fog, and far, far distant is the faint (but still brighter than the normal light level) glow of a single shining spire, like a needle of gold.

Carna (974) has posed:
    There is no Sun anywhere. No stars. And no visible Moon, even if some have seen that there used to be one in Lumiere, a very long time ago. Whether it is still up there, on the plane above them, but damaged, or whether it is gone entirely, is yet unknown. The circuitous, lengthy walk that leads down, down, down towards close to the very bottom of Lumiere that is visible above the ocean of fog, eventually leads them to an archway set in the side of it. On the other side, volcanic rock tunnel, leading into the claustrophically enclosed ruins of some sort of city slum. Alleyways so small that only children or the most emaciated figures could fit through -- at least on the human end of things -- and alleys packed with garbage, that Priscilla and Finna discovered last time may be nests for some extremely unpleasant ambush predators, are just the introduction to this new area.

    Dark passages, sewer grates dripping with black and green in the ground that alternates cement and cobblestones, and windows high above into buildings apparently without any doors, line them on both sides, in a confusing bakc-and-forth tangle of overlapping structures, stone bridges linking one side to the other above them, and the occasional gutter-pit across their path, the contents of which the less said the better.

    Eventually they start to enter a broader street, with balconies and windows stretching on ahead of them on a buildings that just go up and up and up in a sort of dark-industrial design. An area ahead of them produces a brick-red illumination, loads of heat in this otherwise cold-as-death realm, and the pungent smell of burning and rotting meat, and the echos of screams of the torment, and the working of dire tools to produce such. Thankfully, there is no indication of living souls this time, and even the butchers that worked here before seem to have vacated the area for now. The forges lie unused. The troughs of blood and viscera are empty aside stains. The tables upon which people were chopped to pieces lie unused. Only the huge iron wheels with blackend bodies chained to them, set to roll back and forth over a sea of coals, remain to indicate what kind of beings were made victims here.

    Somewhere in all this, there target awaits.

Finna (513) has posed:
"We did!" Finna blurts out her realization. "... I don't remember much more than that. It's been... a few years? Some of which was in the Wyld." One day maybe someone will ask just what went on in this Wyld she supposedly ventured for a few years in, when it's hardly been that long.

    For now though, she focuses on the trek across the cliffs, past the sewers and dodging around the yuck. She's back in her fox form by the time the group reaches the Chopping Grounds and those great torture wheels.

    And as before, the Lunar spits her displeasure at the sights and smells rather loudly. Along with a few nauseous coughs.

    "They left. Why? And where to? ... I don't have to track in these conditions do I?!"

Staren has posed:
    "Luna may be a big god in Creation, but 'world-shaping force' applies to the moon itself, doesn't it? What with the tides and all... on planets where it's not raised and lowered by magic, over hundreds of millions of years it affects the planet's day length, too..." Staren comments.

    And now, onto a magic subway station! Staren doesn't comment much on the location, aside from sighing as they make their way down all those steps.

    As they get to the area with narrow passageways, he frowns. He sure hopes they don't end up having to chase anything down those.

    And then they come to the... butcher's? He doesn't have much to say on the decor of here, either. Charred bodies, grisly business... just how things are in Lumiere. He does have one question brought to mind, though, by their target's supposed goal:

    "If we kill this thing, is it going to just stay dead? Or will it come back unless we use its own tricks on it?"

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord is, well, as silent as he has always been when they get to the outskirts of the Chopping Grounds. As they travel, he weaves through the varied paths and alleys that lead them to their destination. He doesn't pause to check to see if anyone is following, and his strange spike-tipped, flat tail sways behind him, glimpsed beneath the flowing cape attached to his stealth-fitted armor. His steps are softened with his shadow manipulation entirely on reflect, meant to keep him from being heard, and his movements are swift and confident. His head turns in a mechanical way, eyes fixating on notable spots as he smells or sees something that catches his attention amidst the rest of the death realm.

    When they reach the Grounds proper, he reaches under his cape and produces his own weapon. It's a scythe! The Hawk's Claw releases a spray of magical sparks as it unfolds into its usable form and the seams seem to meld together, the blade ready to reap the light from anything that dares attack him. He spares a glance to the others, and looks at Staren in particular, thinking on his words. "It is already dead," he tells Staren, "These beings are not immune to our strength."

    He then crouches and leaps forward, and begins simply flying to cover ground, able to move with maneuverability you might not even expect from a hummingbird, swiftly covering ground in search of his prey.

    As silent as an owl hunting at midnight, his dark profile hard to make out in the gloom until the glow of this area profiles him, as he requires no light source to navigate.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe Says "This could take a bit then and you shoudl be on your guard this world is a land of the dead and things have broken the world of the living it was tied to is ... gone as far as we know."

She notes to Princess Luna but she's glad for any extra help really from anyone in dealing with it. She falls in making ready to take point if no one aruges it she also gives Finna a bit of a look for a moment before she turns her attention for there could be Unlit lurking somewhere nar by there is no real light no sun no moon, meaning she really can't fly here which troubles the Salamander more than it should given her origins.

"Good question given everything here is already dead."

She eyes the ores for a moment the signs though of the carnage is not lost on her.

"Keep alert looks like we got a real sadist to deal with. Finna maybe we can find a clue somewhere to answer that question."

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla's opinion of Creation's gods is . . . low. Her opinion of moon gods is . . . also low. Her opinion of this particularly grotesquely filthy pit is . . . well her opinions of things today aren't very high. Even if it is rewarding to use the subway without it being full of screaming, perpetually burning corpses, and the Plagueways without the Wall, marking the steady progress they've made so far, Priscilla is probably not in a super good mood. Not after the other day.

    "As long as I am here, I shall assure thee, Sir Staren, he shalt remaineth dead." says the soul-murdering specialist. Lumiere's Dead Lights have certainly proven compatible with her paradigm so far. "Regardless, thou see the corpses here that hath long been dead, but yet to dematerialize. Last we were present, we witnessed the butchers filling the native Lanterns with some sort of liquid solution, I believeth perhaps now devised by the Executor himself, to stabilize the bodies, in order to be hacked to pieces. Such may be a matter of interest, as it defies the known rules of Lumiere."

    Priscilla isn't getting jumped by any more giant garbage trapdoor mantises this time. She chucks alluring skulls in front of basically every alley, and does her best to guide people through where Kord scouts ahead, especially following the empty portions. "These particular streets shouldst be safe for the time being, as I was able to slay near-everything within them, but the butchers keepeth at least one sort of slavering beast amongst their number I wouldst ill-wish to tarry with, thus be vigilant."

Princess Luna (993) has posed:
     Princess Luna blinks before smirking as Staren mentions the moon being a world-shaping force. "Yes...I suppose thou art correct." she says. And she laughs a bit at Finna's sudden exclamation. "Yes, it has been quite a while. I hope thy years in the Wyld were not too stressing."

     Then they ride the subway to the station nearest to their goal. The whole scene is...well, to say it is beyond anything Princess Luna has ever seen would be an understatement. Even at the darkest of times in Equestria death and decay were not known any more than their usual nearly forgotten presence. Even their most dangerous foe, one who threatened to take all the magic of their world and reduce the Equestrians to mere slaves, did not kill anyone. It is not as though Luna has never seen death, but never in such an overwhelming amount. And the stench of not only death but actual burning flesh...Princess Luna has to stop several times and steel herself after nearly tossing her cookies.

     It is especially bad when they reach that warmer area. At least the cold dampened the scent somewhat, but in the heat it becomes overwhelming. "Nnng...b-by the moon..." Luna grimaces. Finally she can't take it and forms one of her protective fields. It filters out the noxious and gut-wrenching smells and she can finally take a few deep breaths and get herself more under control. She is still obviously unsettled, but she pushes on despite all of it. She listens to the warnings and information as best she can, and anyone who stays near her would also be able to breathe easy. Luna keeps her own scythe ready, but her attention is hardly focused.

Carna (974) has posed:
    The large pits in this large area offer forth both red light and heat, but split metal shields of some kind have been mostly-closed over them, leaving the area darker but also not quite as sweat-inducing. Even so, the light produced is enough to cast the twisted, black-steel, industrial-looking buildings around the area in a menacing hue. They stretch upwards towards a crack of darkness above, and the slight glimpse of the base of the Tower of Escher that they are so far below. Dragon blood drips down in rivulets along the walls, but it is a meager quantity compared to the constant waterfall-action down the sides of Escher, or the crane-drawn swimming-pool-sized buckets used to haul up molten Despair-blood from the depths below.

    Kord's vantage point may show that the area is not as free of activity as might be imagined. There are numerous other paths branching off from this are like jagged scars. With no 'ceiling' to speak of, there is nothing stopping him from just flying along any of these paths to look around. The only obstacle is those tall buildings and structures, acting as walls, and turning this place into an artificial canyon of sorts. Some tall, bag-hood wearing men, each ten feet or taller, are gathered around a rack of huge cleavers and knives, seemingly discussing something. In another area is a single one of these figues guarding a tunnel with prison bars over it. Upon a closer look, there are several such barred passages, some empty, others with prisoners within. One of them seems to be producing animalistic noises that may sound vaguely familiar, especially with Kord already thinking about the creatures that produced them.

    From the perspective of those closer to the ground, there's a series of black-steel cockroaches or something like them that stream out of one of the passages, passing by a good distance ahead of them. They pay no attention to the intruders unless they draw it with their actions. But the behavior seems very patrol-like. They then disappear down a different passage all the way across the area. So even when this place is abandoned, something is keeping an eye on it. They wouldn't need watch-roaches if they were planning an ambush, so that is good at least. But it also means they might be accosted at any time.

    Somewhere ahead of them, further down the path with the guarded prisons that Kord may spot from above, there is what might be termed a 'large' soul. Something voluminous and potent. It is a 'dead' soul, like a Lit, though... Altered. There's a sort of hunger to it. A thirst that can not be denied.

    It might remind Priscilla of what was felt from the Crimson King, though this is not only more distant but barely a candle next to that bottomless appetite. A supernatural leech contrasted against a pit made of hunger enough to drain the world dry.

    Kord may get similar vibes, though vaguer. Whatever this is, it is not 'wrong'. It belongs here in Lumiere. It is just... Changed.

    Traces of magic can be found on many of the tools here, but it is a sad echo of what magic once was. Barely enough to blink at, and unlikely to be useful in the hands of one who has not spent considerable time learning the intricacies of butchering the living dead. Conviction is a strong focus for this sort of mild enchantment. Without almost single-minded devotion, or a consuming fanaticism, the ability to pry unliving flesh from bone without splitting the shattered soul is essentially useless.

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna sniffs a few of the tools, but just makes more faces. Impressively well, for a fox who can't make human expressions... one would think. Disgust is pretty evident, and she steps more and more lightly past the racks of tools and onwards. She's in her summer coat of grey-black instead of the thick, puffy white coat that would be baking alive in her own fur here...

    "...Disgusting disgusting disgusting place. Whole lot of them should be put to death. Final true death! Forced to reincarnate. Hammered into Soulsteel, I don't care. Disgusting monsters, the butchers!"

    She sends a sad look Luna's way.... for Finna has no way of blocking the horrible smells, and kind of needs her senses.

Priscilla has posed:
    Active lookouts are actually a bit of a good sign for Priscilla. As long as she doesn't outright step on them, the fact that they're needed at all means she can wander about invisibly in /relative/ safety, and thus she does. Splitting off from the group, she leaves her position via her radio marker for Staren (probably being the only guy who has the gear to keep track of it), and begins homing in on the unmistakable essence of a powerful concentration of spiritual energy. Even here, the substance of the dead travels up the food chain, and congeals in the apex predator, like both toxins and calories in the wild.

    Wherever Priscilla catches a particular butcher out of place, she will dispose of it, not taking any chances this time and simply hooking the Lifehunt Scythe around their necks and guillotining them (appropriate, giving the adjoining location). When a path seems relatively clear for others to follow without running into opposition, she guides them toward her over the radio, and then, before they arrive, decides to take a look ahead, by sneakily peeking into the room/corridor/pit she can practically smell that huge, twisted soul coming from.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord flits through the air, taking note of details. Walls are only a temporary impediment, as he has full command of the air and can dip around anything that might block his passage over the various paths. He zeroes in on the sense of something ... 'stronger,' but it is only noticed by the vaguest of imprints against the distorted aura of Wrong in the rest of Lumiere. He pays no mind to anything that does not actively attack him, leaving only the faintest tingling at the back of the necks of anything he passes by... and only several seconds past the point where he'd be easy to spot. He skillfully weaves around and above the line of sight of anything in the area as he approaches what he assumes is the target they are in search for.

    "It isn't the King himself," he murmurs amidst the ambient noises around him, "But it's a good first step..." It seems he wishes to slay the Crimson King of Fear, hence his apparent single-minded focus on hunting this target heedless of the progress of the others.

Tomoe has posed:
The Pits catch her notice and Tomoe's going to try to keep from ending up down them. She looks at the ruins of the place, it's massive and a powerful reminder of what once was. The Blood? That leaves her unsettled even more but she keeps moving. The roaches get notice but they don't attack. Tomoe will try to deek past them without setting them off. in her mind she does not want to deal with trash right now.

She can't hide herself like Priscilla can but she's going to make for the more stealthy approach than she was prone to.

"What could these things be protecting..."

Staren has posed:
    Patrolling cockroaches. How... unique.

    Others spot butchers and go ahead to neutralize them. Staren is not so great at stealth, and especially not at stealthily killing people, so he's inclined to let Priscilla, Kord, and Finna handle that while he serves as... party automapper and support for when a real fight starts. Once the people by the tools are assassinated, he comments, "Hmm, they're magically enchanted." but it doesn't seem super-notable.

    "Isn't that what we're doing? Killing them to nothingness."

Princess Luna (993) has posed:
     Princess Luna is basically just following the others at this point. She could be quite stealthy if she wished, but she is still trying to adjust to this world. Giant bugs is not entirely new, but Luna does still blink in surprise when they appear. She was under the impression that everything down here was humanoid in at least rudimentary fashion. As it seems the creatures are patrolling a ground-bound path, Luna spreads her wings and takes to the air, floating along just above the buildings.

     Luna returns Finna's look, apologizing with a sad smile of understanding, then continues down the path that Priscilla has opened for them. That is, until she sees the prisoner tunnels and the butchers gathered around their tools. Luna frowns, then her horn glows softly and she cloaks herself in illusion. In a shimmer, she looks like one of the butchers. She makes sure to advise the others what she is doing before she changes her appearance, though. She wouldn't want to get scythed by her allies. Their goal may be this Crimson King, but Luna wants to see if there are prisoners they can set free. And perhaps deal with these other butchers. One tunnel in particular draws her attention, and she approaches slowly before peering inside. She stifles a gasp, then mmphs softly. Such cruelty!

     She reaches to touch the bars, and using her transformative magic attempts to remake the bars, turning them to flexible rubber which she then attempts to pass through to see what is inside. And perhaps free the poor creatures.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Luna pauses at the sound of the bird-things and makes her way inside. The bars bend for her, creating an opening. What she finds inside are... Not really birds at all. Certainly, they have wings. Large black wings, and bird-like legs of a sort. But the wings have flayed and blackened flesh in place of feathers, and the legs are likewise bare and twisted, with large, sharp talons at the tips. The legs and wings alike have clearly been broken, likely intentionally. But what's worse is the rest of them. Their torsos are like those of a large, emaciated human, just as blackened by fire or death-power as the rest of them. Their heads, on long, bird-like necks, are also humanoid. Aside from their sharp teeths, and too-wide mouths, they are skulls with flesh-turned to charcoal across them. In place of eyes, their skin has repeatedly been peeled away and burnt, creating feathery 'fans' of skin flaps, like the flares of a cordyceps fungus.

    They have been forced into an arch by large wheels behind them. Restrained by chains and cuffs rammed through their bodies. The wheels have clearly broken their backs, snapped their spines, assuming these corpse-bird-things follow any form of physiological sense. But there are also pumps and syringes plugged into their torsos, all pointed into what is probably what passes for a stomach, and these pumps in turn lead to an array of fluid reservoirs where a foul, goopy, semi-transparent liquid accumulates even now. The thing used to keep Lanterns from dying properly when they are killed, to prevent their reincarnation.

    As they sense they are not alone, the monstrous things, each about twenty feet tall, orient on the presence of warmth and life and utter their strangled, bestial squawk-screeches.

    One mystery solved, at least, though Luna might not understand the importance of what she is seeing.

Carna (974) has posed:
    As Priscilla takes down the two or three guards along the route, they quickly make it to an enclosed chamber without the capacity for just flying over it like most of this area. Thankfully, the doors open readily, but they do so with a loud screeching of rusted metal. Inside, is a large but crowded room, mostly dark, with a wide array of torture equipment. At a glance, it seems like everything that humans ever invented on Earth, and more than a few 'original designs' invented post-death. Unlike the things outside, many of these have a relatively high degree of magic attached to them, but they are all singularly focused in theme. Pain and suffering.

    One of them, a terrible contraption that looks like merely a wall with restraints on it, has an opening in the back for an enormous injection device of some kind attached to a pump. The minimal lighting in here comes primarily from a tank full of molten blood. There is a Lantern strapped to the device.

    Those more familiar may recall that one of the pre-conditions for a Lantern to come back from death is the desire to do so, the hope that they can still continue to make progress and reach their goal.

    It may all become clear now, to what end the blood of the Chains of the Dusk Sun is being used. To forge weapons for the purpose of permanently slaying Lanterns. And to devise tortures to break them so that they surrender to a final death rather than try to come back.

tWith the essence of Despair, the Executor intends to do what the Marble Guardian itself could not, and stop Lanterns from pursuing their desire to ascend Lumiere and find a way to the World of Ashes above. Even if he must force that choice of abandonment upon them against their will.

    From the shadows, a lever is pulled, and the injector slams into the flayed Lantern's back, ramming and releasing the burning fluid into the dead one's restrained body. The thrashing is short, but violent, before the Lantern dissolves into Dead Lights that go dark rather than misting about.

    Then something quite large stands up from the deep shadows and approaches. He towers. It's hard to say how tall he is in this lighting, except for those with the senses for it.

Carna (974) has posed:
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    The senses say he is very tall. Forty feet at least, and almost half that in width. Skin blackened by smoke, soot, and the cold blood of the dead, unlike the other butchers, this one wears no bag on his head. He doesn't need it. There is almost no head there at all. It terminates right above his bat-like nose, which in turn lies above his large mouth bearing a mix of human and animal teeth -- in particular a pair of saber-like vampire fangs. The monstrous man is a Lit, but from all the nozzles and plugs in his skin, he takes in additional substances. Blood, for example. And from the bite on his throat, weeping red ooze even after all this time, those substances are probably easy to guess.

    Vampires didn't used to exist on the Earth that Lumiere once allowed the Dead to return to. Not real ones. But the Crimson King, long ago, in his effort to remind the Dead what fear was, created monsters.

    Executor 13 releases a series of echolocating bursts of sound that, at his size, are like the reports of gunfire in an enclosed space.

    Then he lifts a huge guillotine with a handle attached, and stomps forwards to greet the intruders.


                EXECUTOR 13
        Last Anti-Soul Researcher for the Crimson King

Princess Luna (993) has posed:
     Nothing of what Luna sees makes any sense to her. Not to mention how purely grotesque it is! The others might hear a short shriek before the burst into the boss chamber, but it is cut off quickly as Luna quickly holds her hands over her short muzzle. She has to remind herself that this is the world of the dead, because no living creature could be altered and burned in such a way and still be alive. At least, no creature she has met. And who would even do such a thing? Or...are these creatures natural somehow?

     Luna has to back away after that, and turns away quickly so she doesn't toss her cookies. But, she doesn't exit right away, either. The butchers would think it odd if one of their own was sickened at the sight of these creatures, no doubt. Of course, the shriek and her entering without opening the tunnel might have already have called some attention to her. She slips out as calmly as she can and heads quickly toward the others, even as she radios just what she saw in a bit of a panicked tone. And hopefully if there are other prisoners they will be a little more pleasant!