@Mazoku She calms down a bit after her initial panic, staring at Saphielle intently, "I am Kiya... I'm... A princess. This land was my kingdom, well my fathers and then I just remember... Being woken up by cold hands grabbing me, being slammed against the wall of my bedroom and then... The wall just... Opened and dragged me inside..." she says and shivers, "Am... Am I dead?" @Auraicide His body jolts as Zaria revives him and he sits up and looks between Sasha and her as if thinking about something and his hand grips his knife tightly and then he almost immediately lashes out trying to slice at Zaria's throat. @GenericEditor168 Patricia nods, "They won't necessarily be nice to you, but they won't attack you. I will return to my patrol and I hope it goes well, too. If I'm really lucky, maybe I can stop Carson and then I'd be free to help you out tomorrow," she says before grabbing her shotgun and boots and leaving the room, "Have a good day," @moonblack Nothing else happens during the night and soon the sun is up and the front door opens and Sophie steps out, "Hey. How'd it go last night?" she asks moving over to where Silfiel is, "Did you manage to find out who or what was taking my crops?" @Tjf "They'll likely listen to you more than they would me. The church for all the good it does, it can be somewhat self centered in certain ways and they will listen to a member of the church more than they will an outsider," she explains and then smiles, "If need be I'm sure I could arrange for some transport for you to help you get there faster," she offers.
“Good morning, Sophie,” Silfiel greeted the woman in a tired voice and covered her mouth as she yawned again. “You could say it went well. There were two people – a man and a woman. I followed them...” She quickly explained everything that had happened during the night, except for her prayer and talking to Luenna. “...and that's it. I didn't want to risk starting a fight against an unknown number of opponents, so I chose to come back instead. That's it.” She paused to stifle another yawn. “So, any thoughts what to do now? Contact the authorities? Wait for the thieves to come again and confront them? Something else?” She asked the woman. After all, it was her crops that were being stolen.
"Very much so." A deep purr spun in her throat as she met her gaze. It was laughter. Cruel laughter. Panic had been the right response and still was for the meek and spoiled royal if she knew what the banshee intended for her. Saphielle herself much preferred letting the flames of hatred warm her soul, then soothing it with icy vengeance. "Although life as one of the undead can be freeing, in its own way. Not for you, however." Saphielle caressed her head, then let her hands roam the princess's body, getting a sense of her proportions and flow of her body, the distaste obvious in her expression as she returned them to the throat and her spellcasting. "Once I've made a few improvements, I'll let you lick my pussy alongside the necromancer queen sitting on your father's throne. We had such wonderful sex there just now." Pausing for a brief moment, letting the taunt hang in the air. "All that slab of stone is good for now. There's no need to rule a ruined city filled with the mindless and rotting dead." Their kingdom: destroyed. The seat of their rule: desecrated. Everyone Kiya knew: gone. Her future: a nightmare. Saphielle let loose a shrill, but triumphant, scream, the tortured sound reverberating and echoing within the enclosed space inside the wall. Her hands sunk into the princess's body, slowly taking hold of her soul that was no longer restrained by its physical shell. Such a shame if it would end for her here. Ayla's ambition lead her to turn herself into a lich. Even her parent's lingering resentment of their daughter had given them some measure of power as they clung to this world to haunt her existence. Not to mention her own twisted rebirth. Yet Kiya had been filled with such overwhelming sadness and was just... frail. Saphielle felt disappointment at the princess' seeming unharnessed potential and weakness and lack of resistance. How fortuitous then that Kiya had fallen into the banshee's clutches and could shape her into something better. Just a little longer until her fate was set as firmly as the stone that would serve as her future vessel. Unchanging and eternal, until Saphielle was struck by a creative whim and decided to alter her toy. Maybe porcelain would better suit the dainty and pathetic princess. Both were so easy to break...
"Have a good day." He replies, mentally adding, "Please try not to die and leave me alone in a hostile village." He waits a few moments after she's left, before he gets back onto his knees again and looks under the bed, trying to work out what the ritual does.
Zaria simply just dissolves a few feet back to let him slash at the thin air. He was quick, but even if he hit her, it wouldn’t matter. As hilarious as his desperate struggle was, she opted to use one her non heat based magic spells to send a paralyzing wave into his nervous system. She didn’t think he could actually resist magic if the girl’s poison would affect him, so she expected this to just drop him back down to the ground pretty fast, though not hiding the look of entertainment value she was getting across her face. “Stop that.”
@Tjf She nods, "I can arrange for a boat trip through the Mediterranean if you'd like or if you prefer to travel by land, you'll have to travel alone for a bit, but you'll eventually reach Istanbul. It's mostly abandoned these days, but there's a..." she hesitates, "I suppose you could call it a taxi service," she says finally. @moonblack Sophie listens as Silfiel explains what happened and she looks thoughtful, "It depends. Normally I'd suggest just going and telling The Vatican or The Archaic, but if they're just squatters stealing crops or something I doubt either would actually care much and would just tell us to deal with it ourselves, but if it's something more we should definitely tell them," she says looking thoughtful, "Perhaps for now you should sleep and we should try confronting them tonight, perhaps we can get them to explain what they're doing and then we can decide whether or not we should go to the authorities," she suggests. @Mazoku Kiya seemed frightened as she realized Saphielle was laughing and her eyes narrowed, "You're not here to help me are you?" she says sounding scared and her eyes widen as Saphielle taunts her, talking about the throne, Ayla and the city and she gasps as Saphielle reaches into her corpse and grabs hold of her soul and suddenly Saphielle felt something shift in Kiya, the sadness draining, changing into anger and Kiya lets out a roar of anger, "Do not touch me!" she yells and a wave of blinding light emanates out from her attempting to knock Saphielle away, searing her skin as well if she fails to protect herself @GenericEditor168 Patricia leaves and Tlazohuitl can once again examine the ritual. After a bit of time he realizes that the ritual's use eludes him for one very simple reason, the symbol isn't complete. Whoever was drawing this ritual never finished it. If he could find out what the intended ritual was he could probably finish it if he desired to, but to do that he'd probably have to find out who was responsible for starting the ritual, hopefully whoever it was is still alive. @Auraicide The paralyzing spell puts him down immediately and Sasha looks impressed, "Huh, he took my poison and managed to keep moving for quite a while, but whatever you just did dropped him like a bag of rocks," she says with a grin. He is completely still unable to move.
“Confronting them can be dangerous, but might be the best choice in this case.” Silfiel nodded in agreement. “Tell me, who do you sell your crops to? They might get interested if too much of your harvest goes missing.” She stifled another yawn. “In any case I'll be taking you up on your offer – I really could use the rest. After that we can discuss the plan for tonight.” Once they were done talking Silfiel left Sophie to her work and went inside the house, going straight to the bedroom. She managed to take off her armor, then lied down on the bed and fell asleep, too tired to take off her clothes or do anything else.
The pain Saphielle feels is as blinding as the light passing through her body. She recoils, thrown back by the force of the pulse but keeps her grip, the metal of the mechanical hands bubbling, and pull her soul out of her body before forced to let go. The banshee fades momentarily into the wall. When she emerged again, her entire body was engulfed by a storm, her hair and dress tossed by winds only affecting the banshee. Her face had darkened, seemingly cast in deep shadows. "YOU DARE HURT ME!" The earsplitting snarl sent accumulated dust on the wall quivering and falling from their perch. Still, Saphielle couldn't entirely blame Kiya after inciting her. She wondered how Kiya experienced and thought of the rage smoldering inside of her spirit. Did she also enjoy that emotion? "Is that enough, Kiya? Or do you still foolishly think you can walk away from here?" Calming herself enough to speak normally, but anger thrummed in her voice. Flexing her claws, even though the metal had returned to normal the damage she had inflicted hadn't gone away. It had hurt, though likely not enough for a newly awakened undead to subdue an experienced necromancer decades her senior. Nothing could be certain, however, so the banshee kept her distance for now.
"It's up to you. I'll go whichever way is faster, since the people here will need help as soon as possible."
“Perhaps they’re trained to resist poisons? Or just a byproduct of whatever passes for a meal for soldiers these days.” Zaria was a little surprised at her own strength though she was aware there wasn’t much for regular people to match her full might. She wondered how much more threatening he would be if she was still reduced to that state of not being able to grant wishes. He’d probably file as a serious problem then. But until Sasha used up her wishes, they were little more than ants. Striding over to where his face was introduced to the ground, she knelt in close to get a better look at him. “How naughty. I gave you a second chance and everything. Make it up to me. Come on. Al wakto men zahab. Time is gold.” While she had seen just enough of modern history to have a grasp on the new dialect, her own older version came out with the crack of impatience in her voice. “Where is the controls? Wo ist die Steuerung? Unde este comenzile?“ Not sure of of his nationality she repeated the same question from language she picked up from german and roman templars, though she still doubted her understanding of the language was up to date, or that he’s plan on being helpful, but she scanned his expression and body language for if he’d recognize any of the words she spoke.
He looks at it for a long moment, considering his options... He didn't really want to go out into the village and search for whoever did this, but at the same time, he wasn't going to work out what the rite did without finding who made it... Was there anything else in the room that might give a clue?
@moonblack Sophie looks thoughtful, "I don't really sell my crops to anyone in particular. The Vatican and Archaic enlist specific farms to provide for them, farms like mine tend to just produce for ourselves and sell excess at a joint market at the end of the harvest season," she explain and then nods, "Enjoy your rest," she says and Silfiel heads inside and falls asleep. In her sleep she has a dream. She's in a hallway with four doors. Each door has a symbol on it. One is a candle, one is a face with a blindfold covering the eyes, one is a rather creepy looking smile and lastly the final door has the symbol of a book. @Mazoku Kiya emerged from the wall into the room flexing her ghostly limbs, seemingly surprised by her own power and adjusting to having the ability to move again. However as soon as she sees Saphielle her eyes narrow and she turns on her her eyes glowing with golden energy, "You are not welcome here. Leave my father's home or I will make you!" she threatens a simmering rage in her voice. @Tjf "Boat will probably be the fastest method then," she says thoughtfully, "I'll make arrangements... Brother Sandor was it?" she asks as she grabs some paper and begins writing something. @Auraicide Surprisingly he does answer, speaking in Russian he answers, "The controls are on the top floor, you will not make it there," he responds his voice sounds pained and the knife in his hand has stopped vibrating. @GenericEditor168 Nothing in the room seems connected to the Rite. Though even in it's incomplete state it might have had some sort of noticeable effect if you were paying attention, before you can think much more on this the sound of a shotgun going off reaches you from somewhere a short distance away.
"His home? Like, I told you, your father, he's already dead. Actually dead, and not like us." Saphielle stares down the spirit, her frozen gaze unwavering as her mind schemed. It had hurt, and for that the princess deserved punishment, but Saphille was not above letting others get their hands dirty in her stead despite enjoying a personal touch. In fact, it may be amusing to hear of the lich's struggle later. Ayla might enjoy it too. "Fine, I'll leave." Her lips twisted into a smile, fragmented memories of playing with the straw dolls she had as a child flashed before the banshee but the recollection carried no warmth. "You've shown me your rage - such a wonderful feeling, isn't it. You should nurture it - and you deserve a chance to take your vengeance if that is what you care for." The distorted aura and winds around her calmed, her voluminous dress settling without any crease or hint of its violent thrashing moments earlier. "The lich is powerful in this place so suffused with Death. But her Necromancy as it relates to beings like us seems... underdeveloped." 'Seems' is a very dangerous word, one fraught with dangerous assumptions. "Perhaps you're able to find a weakness to exploit and reclaim that useless crown for yourself - not your father - and rule this city of dust and sand." She moved as close as Kiya allowed before stopping. "Though I expect mere fledgling like yourself to lose against my lover." Shrugging and started floating away, leaving the crevice in the wall to reunite and re-possess Dawn. "But if you are resourceful enough to survive, head east and I will offer you shelter and mend your wounds. Maybe teach you a few things, if you ask nicely, Kiya, princess of death." She listened to any response but if there was nothing else, Saphielle would be ready to leave this palace and city behind her and return home.
“This is one weird dream I'm having...” Silfiel mumbled to herself as she examined the four doors and the symbols on them. “I'd rather not turn it into a nightmare, so I'll stay away from the door with the creepy smile. The face with the blindfold... could mean many things, but I don't feel like guessing. That leaves the book and the candle. Books are often used as a symbol for knowledge and wisdom, which would be quite tempting... but what good are books if you can't read them? A candle can provide light – to see the way, to read what is written, and so on.” The elf paused as she took another look at the doors. “I'm too tired for puzzles and I know too little about this world to guess what the symbols could mean – assuming that this isn't just a very weird dream I'm having. But standing here, doing nothing, like a coward, is out of the question.” And with that she chose a door. Silfiel made her way to the door with the candle and was about to try opening it, but then decided to be polite and knocked on the door first. If there was no answer she would try opening it.
Intrigued at his sudden cooperation, she had to take a proper look at him, slightly easing off the energy from her spell to disable him, but not quite dispelling it entirely yet. She knew some Russian, but she really had to wrack her brain to think of it and the dialect. She couldn't remember everything that ever happened in her life, after all. "Shockingly talkative, though I wonder if what you're wearing is an actual uniform or your reasons for being here is different. I'm going to ask what you're doing and I want an answer. And if I don't like it or you lie, it will be bad." She didn't really have the ability to instinctively know when someone was lying, but these mortals hadn't actually seen dijiin in the world. They wouldn't have any reason to believe she couldn't just know, though she was still capable of simply trying to examine someone's body language for signs of lying like a normal person trained with picking up on these things would be.
He traces the shape of the ritual markings, his fingers a few inches above it. Interesting... the layout suggests- BLAM ...Well, that will have to wait. Tlazohuitl gets his pistol out and tries to make sure that the dimension-hopping hasn't messed with any of the workings while he tries to work out where the shot came from. Inside the house? Or out in the village?
@Mazoku Kiya seems to tense slightly as Saphielle tells her that her father is dead. She seems surprised as Saphielle seemingly relents agreeing to leave. She doesn't respond to Saphielle's comments about her rage, only narrowing her eyes and glancing down at her hands for a moment and then she crosses her arms, "I'll kill the usurper on my father's throne. Whether this place is sand and dust or not it belongs to my family and I won't let anyone take that away," she responds and then uncrosses her arms as Saphielle approaches, looking a little nervous as she does so, but not striking immediately, "if I search you out ever again, witch... It will be to remove you from this world," she responds and turns looking towards the throne room, ignoring Saphielle as she seems to contemplate how to attempt to deal with Ayla. @moonblack The knock on the door results in it opening and inside there is a brightly lit white hallway, with gold fixtures holding torches on either side, at the end of the hallway there is a large throne and on the throne is your Dream Goddess, dressed in an elegant white robe, she smiles and beckons you forward, "I know I told you that if you found your way to heaven, we could perhaps indulge that little fantasy of yours, but I didn't expect you to get here so soon," she says and then lets out a chuckle, "Of course I suppose you're not actually here are you?" @Tjf She finishes writing and folds the paper in half, "Bring this to the dock and they should let you travel," she says handing the folded paper to Sandor. @Auraicide He laughs and then coughs, "I was hired to serve in this tower a security. I'm something of a failed experiment. Whatever you did to bring me back seems to have cured my affliction as well though," he explains. @GenericEditor168 Tlazohuitl's gun seems to be working fine. The shot seemingly came from just outside the village in the neighbouring forest, roughly where you had met Patricia earlier.
With an annoyed hiss, the snakeman hides his pistol again and heads downstairs, walking through the village as fast as he can in order to get back into the forest. Once he's there, he starts to move a lot more quietly, sneaking around as best he can as he makes his way to where he heard the shot.
