Tide of Shadows

[LadyTevar]

Ceridwen sent Fehl a dark glare. "No, we may not," she answered firmly, but her hands were gentle as she picked up her squire and helped him to his feet. There was still traces of ice on the walls of the church from his frost-breath, but she was hoping no one asked questions right now. "Volemack, how are you? Are you hurt?"

[SirNitram]

"My head feels fuzzy... There's wierd visions.." Volemack admitted, holding his head.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel walked up, rankling at the stench. "I cannot cure the madness of the allip," he said frankly. "The power to do so is beyond me. However, if we can get the body of the brother who ministered this church, I'm fairly certain I can get some answers about what happened here."

He shot a glare at Fehl as he added, "And no, we may not burn the church down... yet. We may have to torch the town, but we will not do so until we've learned everything we can. You're suffering from the allip's touch. I know it's hard, but please, I know you're smarter than that."

[LadyTevar]

"What does an Allip do?" Ceridwen asked, not knowing even the creature's name until now. There was more than a touch of maternal-like worry in her voice as she hovered protectively over Volemack.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel looked at the paladin, his expression set and serious. "The creature is insanity incarnate, or not quite since it doesn't actually have a body. It is the tortured spirit of a man driven to suicide. Its mere touch induces madness, and the more prolonged the exposure, the worse it gets. We should be glad none of us have been reduced to catatonic babbling."

[rhoenix]

"All the more reason fire should be on the list of options," said Fehl. "We can even be all straight-faced and religious, and all that shit, but that place needs to go."

After saying his piece, he carefully and lovingly resheathed his greatsword on his back, momentarily unaware of any untoward looks.

[Charon]

Eight could be heard coming from quite a distance away, and when the construct finally came to a stop he looked around, but did not put his axe back. "Well, it looks like you managed to take care of things here. The rest of town is still quiet."

[Rogue 9]

Bartel gave Eight a curious look for a moment before continuing. "I'm getting the priest's body, if it's to be found. If not, then someone who looks to have been important. We need answers, and if you know how to ask, dead men do tell tales. If anyone cares to help me?" He took a deep breath of the outside air before stepping into the charnel house of the defiled sanctuary, holy symbol at the ready in case any of the bodies were to rise.

[rhoenix]

Looking up, Fehl smiled at seeing his friend. "Oh, hey Eight. I'd talk shit about you running away and squealing like a little girl-golem, but I think that fucking thing made me retarded, so you're safe," he finished, looking somewhat rueful.

As Bartel the cleric spoke his piece, Fehl's eyes lit up, as he untied the straps for his greatsword. "Oh awesome. I hope some of them do, I want to 'consecrate' some undead myself."

[Academia Nut]

The air inside the church was wet and rotten, liable to churn the stomach, but if the breath was held it was possible to get by for the most part. The deep breathing of combat would not do well in such a place.

The twilight was already dying, twisting the shadows of the little church into increasingly horrific shapes and patterns that played off and across the dozens of dead bodies, each one holding the capacity to leap up and strike... but none did. They all seemed to whithered to do so, despite the fact that they still looked fresh and moist.

Hanging from the ceiling, the corpse could quite clearly be seen to be wearing the vestments of a cleric of St. Cuthbert, and while the light was poor, it was almost certain that this was the source of the allip.

[Charon]

Eight laughed as Fehl gave a brief explanation of what happened. "I doubt it could do that. You're already retarded." The construct then took a look into the church and paused.

"You know. I've seen some bad things in my time. Been a part of a few of those bad things too. This isn't the first town I've seen dead. But this is definitely something else." The construct's head turned to look at the cleric, as though thinking of something, but remained silent. Then without pause the construct entered the desecrated ground and looked carefully at the bodies of the dead, trying to see just how they had died.

[LadyTevar]

"It seems the 'golem' is more than advertised, Volemack," Ceridwen murmurred as she checked her ward over for wounds. There were none that she could see, but something was off about his eyes. Then Fehl made his comment about becoming retarded.

"Volemack? Did the Allip steal from your mind as well?"

[SirNitram]

"Feels more like.. Put stuff in." Volemack rubbed at his temples. A dragon's mind with human memories was a bad place to be. Part of him wanted to transform, curl up, and sleep in the wagon. "Jump.. Always the feeling I had.. To jump. To save everyone."

[LadyTevar]

"Jump.. and save everyone?" Ceridwen asked. "The Allips was telling you that?"

[Charon]

Eight glanced back towards the Paladin and her charge. "Of course not fleshbag. I'm just another everyday construct with advanced language protocols. By the way, maybe you should come in here."

[Rogue 9]

Bartel pulled out his dagger. "Well, could the everyday construct with advanced language protocols please give me a boost so I can cut this down?" The question was asked through clenched teeth as the cleric did his best not to breathe the tainted air too deeply.

[Charon]

Eight paused for several seconds, thinking. "Why do you need that one? There must be an easier corpse to get that you can use for... whatever you fleshies do with corpses." Eight slowly stood up to his full height again and walked over to the cleric, obviously in no hurry.

[Rogue 9]

"He probably knew more," Bartel forced out through clenched teeth, realizing the likely futility of explaining respect for his brother cleric to the construct.

[Charon]

Eight looked up at the body and then back down at Bartel. "Fine."

The construct stomped over to Bartel and with no ceremony, and even less apparent effort, grabbed him by the sides and lifted him up above his head.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel quickly cut the rope, left with no alternative but to let the body tumble to the floor.

[Academia Nut]

With a loud thump the dead body tumbled to the floor, interrupting the near silence of the sepulcheral church. For a moment the slight echo could be heard, and then everything calmed down to but the motions of the animate.

If anything still dwelled within this place, it had the patience of a mountain. It seemed that only the living and the dead occupied the church, with no undead currently haunting the place.

[rhoenix]

Fehl walked in, and began relieving his bladder on one of the corpses. As he did so, acting as if he wasn't doing anything at all unusual (and in his mind, it wasn't), he began to talk conversationally about his recent experiences.

"Well, it talked about how much life sucks while you're alive, having to deal with all sorts of bullshit. He sounded all remorseful about masturbating and looking at other people through the window. He even was all upset with himself about pressing his junk against this one lady's window in town! Anyway, he talked about how great an idea suicide was because he couldn't resist exposing himself."

With that, he shook himself free of any errant drops of urine, and retied his pants.

[Rogue 9]

"Fehl, madness or not..." Bartel's gritted teeth weren't only due to the stench. "Eight, could you please put me down?"

[Charon]

"My pleasure." With that the construct set the cleric down and then walked back over to the bodies, poking at them as he went back to examining them for wounds, as well as valuables.

[Rogue 9]

Bartel grabbed the priest's body under the arms and dragged him out of the chapel and into the open air. He took him some distance away and laid him in repose on the grass.

"Lady Ceridwen?"