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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:50 pm
Malodore ground its beak in frustration. "I know where you could have found such a thing. The Horsemen had strange... strange rooms, below their islands, or at least the Clan of Famine did..." Its claws scraped at the floor again. It was hard for it to remember the enormity of the Clans' loss, when its own grief was so overwhelming. Nevertheless, it would mourn them when it had room in its battered heart to do so. "Gone, now. Damn those Hunters!" It heaved a sign, then looked at Shehk. "Perhaps so... I will not permit the bogeymen to take anyone else, either. Cricket agreed. We will do this on our own..." A vague curiosity entered its tone. "The Insanity, at the portals - you felt it, did you not? Will you tell me what you felt, and what you still feel? If anything?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:01 pm
Hooking up with Deth may help, but Jericho wasn't sure. In that field trip, they had done rather indirect things to scare the humans. Somehow he had a feeling that wasn't really enough for what he needed. However, what Malodore said caught his attention and intrigued him quite a bit. That was, until he realized one thing.
"You mean to say that the cure could have been right under her feet the entire time?!" he shouted. How could this have happened then? Maybe it wasn't really helpful after all... If the Horsemen did have something, then Riley was even closer to knowing the cure than he had thought.
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:18 pm
"That is to say if they could have lasted in those rooms without being...devoured by them." Shehk frowned. "That FEAR was unfathomable, just so....so old, like something sleeping..." perhaps it had been something sleeping. Or, for all she knew, it was still sleeping even now and the islands themselves didn't matter in terms of what state they were in. "But it would have been a reasonable place for someone able to withstand that to start looking...."
Shehk paused, her fingers tangling in the fabric of her shirt as she clutched her chest, memories flooding through her head. "Perhaps it was the FEAR of their people. If...if my memory even serves me correctly anymore. If they ran out of humans, they would have turned onto...." she frowned, seeming shell shocked for a moment before she shook her head to try and loosen herself from the thought she was holding onto.
"At first, I felt a longing for home. Or maybe some memory that was close to home. A reminder of being a part of something that wasn't where I was right then. Kind of fuzzy. Skipped around a bit." She scratched the staples underneath her ear. "Then anger. It was overwhelming." she rubbed her arm which was littered with bite marks from her own attack, when she'd turned her anger upon herself. "I even attacked Sammy......." had that been how Riley had felt attacking them?
Just that overwhelmed by it all?
"And now.... all I have are whispers at the edge of my mind. I can't understand them. I just...I can pick out little things, but it is like it is trying to talk to me through a paper bag that they're crinkling in the way. It...it is less painful when I don't try to listen." she added in confession. "I just..." she curled her legs up against her chest and made a small whimpering noise. "I'm not really sure if that's very helpful. It sounds like what we already know...."
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:44 pm
Malodore looked at Shehk for a moment, slowly processing all she had said. "The room that pulled one in, that is what you speak of? I saw that chamber, or one like it, on Famine - but I also saw something different. A network of chambers far below the Isle, containing... humans. Real ones, unaltered, bring held and tormented for their FEAR." It shook its head. "At the time, it set me ill at ease to see what was being done there, but knowing what I do now..." It heaved a sigh. "I wish that place still existed!" It was silent for a moment before looking at its friends once more. "In the Isles, when the fog - the Insanity hit - I felt nothing. I saw nothing, heard nothing, but with my empathy I felt the chaos in others. Her... her arms were around me, perhaps she was protecting me in more ways than one..." It closed its eyes again. "I do not understand what happened, or why. Only that it did."
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:50 pm
This was all incredibly troubling. There had been more signs of insanity from the island then. Furthermore, it sounded like Shehk was showing early sings of it. Eyes widening, he stared at the Pricolici before shifting in his place. Was this his fault? Or had it been the hunters once more? He... didn't know.
"No... nonono. Not you too. Jacking hell. We do not want more like usss!" he lamented before staring at Malodore. The horsemen had hundreds of humans. Hundreds it sounded like! But now they were no doubt all gone. The hunters ended up killing off a bunch of their own kind then. Or if they somehow weren't dead, no doubt they would be soon as there was no one to look after them.
"Wait. The insanity.. you felt nothing of it?" he blinked, "No voicesss... nothing?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:42 am
Shehk looked to Jericho, sighed a bit, but didn't deny what she'd just confessed to. "It doesn't call to me too strongly. Enough to make me nervous, but....." she wasn't sure how permanent her state of being was, or if it did progress further if she'd manifest the symptoms more quickly than she would have liked to. It was a risk and a very sad possibility, to be honest. "I could describe the symptoms to Cricket well enough for her to get a good handle on things, I guess."
And yet, she wasn't sure exactly how she'd felt about that lair underneath the islands as Malodore described it. Had there really been humans or had it been something else? She didn't know. Perhaps the Horsemen would have the answers to that question, and with them being so close by.....
"Perhaps," Shehk sighed, "I should see if I may speak to Medea. I don't know if it would hold any weight now, but I am one of the champions of their trials, that might be enough to get me an opportunity to sit with her in private and perhaps get some sort of direction.
Because if the heirs have Insanity that hasn't spread, there has to be something that Invictus's suggestion had to it."
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:36 am
Malodore shook its head, slowly. "There was a great deal of Insanity, more than I have ever seen before - but I felt nothing. All I felt was when I used my empathy to reach out to others and feel some of their emotional responses. Nothing touched me directly, though I believe it touched everyone else present - Hunters, the surviving Horsemen, the rest of the students..." It sounded troubled.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:19 am
Jericho frowned at Shehk still. This was rather worrisome. He hoped that this was just some passing thing, but he didn't know enough about Insanity to know if there was such a thing as 'passing insanity'.
"Medea... isss that one of their leaders now?" he asked. Having not gone to the islands and whatnot, he didn't really know who the high priestess was. But if that was the case, then having an audience with her could potentially help. She may know more than Invictus after all.
Turning back to the Plague doctor, the dragon thought it over for a bit. Had Riley really managed to protect it at the last minute? Or was there something more to this. He wanted to find this out.
"There... are times.. where our flames are different. We think the insanity has affected it as well. We attacked Mot with it once on accident.. but it did not burn him. Not that we could see at least. Do you think you have some sort of resistance...?" he asked, seemingly to imply a potential test.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:10 pm
"Medea was the Head Priestess of the Death Clan, and as it is now, I believe she will be serving as the 'leader'," she actually finger quoted here, "of the clans as they rebuild inside of Halloween. Though the heirs still appear to have status with their own, just not the same as it was before." It was curious, really. She wasn't sure how much audience they would be able to get, though. But she said she wasn't going to let Jericho doom himself, so she'd have to try that.
However, at the mention of fire, Shehk half passed a look to Jericho, brows furrowing as if silently saying 'Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh'.
"Might want to be extra careful about making sure said flames aren't going to burn him up if you're going to try anything." Shehk noted. After all, Undead flesh burned incredibly well. Go figure that'd be the one she was taking care of. The one who could burn her to a crisp and it hurt like a b***h the entire time.
Not that fire didn't normally burn, it was just...well, the thought stood.
"I mean, do you think you have control over that sort of a thing?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:05 pm
"I..." Malodore hesitated, then heaved a sigh. "If you believe it can work, then it is worthy testing, both on myself and to see new symptoms in you. Should it fail..." It shrugged, defeat written in every movement. "It will hurt less than I do at this moment, for a time." An undead not caring about fire? ... Yeah, it was that bad.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 7:31 pm
Jericho frowned while nervously looking at the two of them. Shehk had a good point and the way Malodore reacted exactly was pretty concerning. He thought it over, then glanced away.
"Let.. let us do a few 'practice' shots away from you first.. make sure we can control the flame."
That said, he shakily stood up before moving a few feet away from the two undead. With his back turned to them, he took in a breath and went to unleash some flames. First came out the bright orange-red flames that were normal to him. Frowning, he went and tried again.
Still normal fire.
The dragon then closed his eyes, trying to figure out how to go about controlling this, then tried once more, letting loose the grey flames that were new to him. He tried once more, and again it was ashen in color.
"We... think we have it.."
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:33 pm
As long as the fire was pointed away from her, Shehk didn't worry too much about it. Jericho was in control and he wasn't about to go on one of his rampages. Those rampages were pretty damn scary, to be honest. Still, she passed Malodore a sad look.
Was it really at that point of breaking? It was sort of scary, to be honest. But she didn't protest further. It wasn't as though Mal was committing suicide with this action and.... maybe the test would yield some sort of positive result for their searching.
Even if it seemed a lot of discovery was happening far too late. No. No she couldn't think that. Riley could still be saved. Somehow. Somehow they would save Riley. It wasn't hopeless.
It wasn't.
"I'll.... I'll stand back and observe anything that might change from the outside." she said. Observation was important. Not accidentally being set on fire was important too.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:22 am
Malodore watched as the dragon flamed, its expression blank and unreadable even by plague doctor standards. It tensed when Jericho finally produced something different... Very different indeed. "So it has infected your power, too, yet you can control it in turn," it murmured, sounding slightly more focused with the prospect of an experiment in hand. "I remember... yes, when she drew me into her mind, there was grey then, too..." It got to its feet and walked over to where Jericho had been standing. "Tell me what Mot experienced after you flamed him thus... then use your power on me. We will see the result."
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:11 am
Turning back towards the two undead for the time being, Jericho thought back to the time he had attacked Mot with it. He really didn't know what it had done quite frankly.
"We.. aren't sure. Whatever it did, it made him back off from us to slump somewhere else. Dejected... maybe?" he said while furrowing his brow. With Malodore over by him now, he soon nodded and faced it more directly.
"Ok. Get ready."
The dragon took in a deep breath, then unleashed a plume of the insanity filled flames onto Malodore.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:09 pm
It sounded like an interesting affliction - or rather, it would have been if the sound of it didn't make it seem as though it would end up being the cause of a lot of suffering. Or rather the cause of it was a lot of suffering. It was complicated. Used on hunters, it would possibly be effective, but...
She flinched - a gut response to any sort of fire - as she watched the dragon breathing it out onto Malodore. Don'tburndon'tburndon'tburnauugh.
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