[center][i]A collaborative post by [@Lauder], [@Redrum] and [@Oxenfree] [/i][/center]
Heinrich, being unsuccessful in finding the glyph upstairs, had returned downstairs to regroup with those of the party. He was relieved to not have the banshee outside screeching every few seconds l, but he still knew that they had to get out of the manor somehow. “[color=snow]Unfortunately, the glyph is not upstairs, as far as I know, but I believe we-,[/color]” Heinrich was talking as he turned to enter the kitchen before stopping at the sight of those who had torn down a stone wall.

“[color=snow]What are you all doing?,[/color]” was all he could manage to say, unnoticing of the unknown creature that they were trying to find.

Elias looked back briefly to see the mage now standing behind him surveying the scene. [color=olive]“We’ve found something hidden in the wall,[/color]” Elias muttered still shaken from the banshees outside. “[color=olive]Not entirely sure how it ended up there, but it seems to be rather weak. It’s stuck under rubble. You can hear it’s cries,[/color]” Elias said as he motioned for Heinrich and the others to quiet down. The whimpering of the beast continued, but the raspy cries seemed a bit more agitated now. As if it knew it was being watched. 

The young lad looked at Elias with confusion before he heard the weeping of the creature, his hand instinctively went the holy of his rapier as he looked towards the rubble. He silently nodded before nervously taking a few steps toward the group and awaited to see what the creature under there exactly was.

With a flick of her wrist the songblade hummed softly, but Anwyn still held it out as Elias crept towards the whimpering being. The Siren wasn't all too sure that the creature under the rubble was a Banshee, however she held her tongue as her ward inspected the crumbled wall. "[color=gold][i]Careful.[/i][/color]" She called out instinctively. As he took a step she did too, blade at the ready in case whatever was beneath the brick attacked. Anwyn began to roll her wrist softly, the songblade humming a deep tune. 

It was a the beginnings of a [i][color=a0410d]Horrid Song[/color][/i]. It's tune, however, was soft, and not the eerie melody the Songblade would emit to cause it's true effects. Instead it would only frighten whatever the creature was under the rubble to point of uncertainty. She could hear its agitation in its whimpering and the last thing Anwyn wanted was for it to act on it's fears. Taking another step closer now closer to the creature than Elias was, blade still at the ready, the Siren stuck out her foot and made an attempt to push off a portion of the wall that laid atop of the possible Banshee.

The shriek, as weak and hushed as it was, that followed Anwyn’s song was evidence that the creature was in fact a banshee. It squirmed with relief as a piece of the rubble that bore down on its abdomen was kicked away. From her vantage point Anwyn could see that chunks of wood impaled the Banshee, and upon looking up to find a source of the debris pieces of what looked to have been a staircase hung from what seemed to be a hidden door. 

It was clear that the banshee was of little immediate threat to the party given its state, but even still Anwyn like the other mages could feel a power stemming from the monster. It was tied to this place in some way. This was no doubt the creature mentioned in the note that Heinrich found. The author of the note, Edward Frey, had undone himself in the study to avoid the beast’s wrath. Come to think of it, given the position of the room it looked as if what was left of the staircase led up towards the study. There was no easily visible door from what Heinrich and Rose had inspected, but there was likely no other possible room this room led to. 

Elias looked the banshee over from behind Anwyn before giving a wince in discontent. “[color=olive]Easy to see why it was crying, now.[/color]” He let out a sigh. “[color=olive]But, banshees are typically far more hostile...territorial. Thus wee beast can hardly muster a grunt.[/color]” Looking to Anwyn Elias put a hand on her shoulder before brushing past the siren. “Nice work, lass.” He muttered. “[color=olive]What do you lot propose?[/color]” He said as he crouched down closer to the banshee. It let out soft growls in protest. “[color=olive]Most assured way to rid oneself of a banshee’s company is by fire,[/color]” the warden thought for a moment before continuing. “I hope you’re all keeping note of the wisdom I’ve been imparting,” he remarked with a playful sort of cynicism. 

He ran a finger over some of the cuts that lay upon the banshees crusted skin. It felt rough to the touch, as if the creature had been victim to a fire. It winced to each touch, and let out soft hisses. “[color=olive]Looks like someone tried that already. Possibly, what cost these poor people their lives.[/color]”

Seeing the state of the thing, Heinrich released his grip on his blade before approaching the group in full, it was helpless though it was tied to this place in some horrid way. He crouched down next to it to study it, his crimson eyes going over the skin of the creature and watching it hiss at Elias and it seemed that Heinrich was almost curious to study it further. However, given the current circumstances he could not do such a thing as he had bigger priorities, such as finding the glyph. One of his eyebrows raised itself, before he spoke, “[color=snow]I am wondering if this thing may be our way out of here. The glyph that is holding the magic seal over this place may be on it. Though if we have to kill it, that would mean we would lose the chance to study it closer.[/color]” 

Heinrich’s hand grasped the arm of the banshee, not aggressively or in a way that would otherwise cause it much distress, but rather gingerly. Raising it closer to his eyes to try and make out anything on it that would match some form of old elvish glyph. His motions constantly twisting and moving the armor until he was satisfied that he could not find something that would release them, “[color=snow]This may be one of our only chances to study one up close, or even bring it back alive for study.[/color]”


“[color=olive]No,[/color]” Elias protested with a sudden harshness. “[color=olive]We were instructed to bring hollow corpses back as your first blood hunt.[/color]” He rose from his squatted position. “[color=olive]That’s what we’ll do; find whatever mark you need and be done with the creature.[/color]”

Unfortunately there were no markings to be found on the beast. Even if there had been it was likely that it was seared off along with most of the banshee’s flesh. It continued its soft hissing far too weak to give any stronger contention. Though Heinrich was still relatively green to blood magic he knew enough to know that killing the source of the spell could break its hold. Without sign of the blood glyph perhaps Elias’ solution was an alternative. 

“[color=olive]We need to find a solution to breaking whatever curse binds us to this manor.[/color]” Elias stepped out of the kitchen, and through the dining room. He made his way towards the bedroom along the same wall as the kitchen. The party could hear him rumbling through furniture, and saying curses all the while. 

[hr]

Heinrich was unconvinced by Elias’ words, looking up at the people around him before he stated, “[color=snow]We cannot just leave it here, something in me says  we should take it with us.[/color]” The nobleman seemed oddly empathetic as he spoke softly so that Elias would not hear these words any further, looking at the banshee as it softly hissed at him. He was not sure if these creatures were capable of higher thought, especially since all they cared for was crying and screaming it seemed though his curiosity towards such a prospect was there, even though he had no clue why. In the past, he never would have cared about what these things would have had to offer, it was a newer development much alongside his red eyes.

The lad’s eyes shifted towards the red tome that he had strapped to his side, feeling the magical power trapped within though hidden from the world. Heinrich let out a sigh before taking a step away from the weak creature, almost feeling a twinge of pity for it, looking away and going to lean against the far wall. He began to contemplate what to actually do as he knew that they had to stick to their job of getting these corpses as their blood hunt, but a banshee for study is by far more useful than some dead and rotting husks. “We could try an Erasure Ward, that may dampen the spell enough for us to leave.”

That was when Rose stepped down into the cellar, pistol in hand.. “[color=hotpink]I think the thing may have scampered off, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of it - oh, shit.[/color]” She caught sight of the monster then, with Heinrich standing over its pathetic, scarred frame. Without hesitation, she stepped over to it in two great strides, fixing a match-cord to the barrel of her pistol and pressing it against the banshee’s temple. “[color=hotpink]Everyone cover your ears.[/color]”

“[color=snow]By the Gods woman, wait![/color]” Heinrich scrambled from his spot against the wall to push Rose’s gun towards the floor as to avoid the woman from killing what would make an excellent subject. He let out an annoyed sigh, looking at Rose before moving his hands away from her, before saying in a quiet tone as to avoid Elias from hearing from the bedroom, “[color=snow]We cannot just kill what would make for an excellent test subject. It is too weak to do anything, and I’m sure the Order would like to know more about what these things are made of.[/color]” He looked back down at the banshee before he let out another aggravated sigh, “[color=snow]I can’t be the only one who believes this, right?[/color]”

Rose furrowed her brow, and regarded the creature again, chewing on her bottom lip. “[color=hotpink]No,[/color]” she said at last, pulling the match-cord off her pistol, “[color=hotpink]No, you’re not.[/color]” For a brief moment, she was reminded of her father, the way he’d talk when he was on the verge of a discovery, the light behind his eyes when he had the chance to learn something. He wouldn’t want to destroy something potentially so fascinating - but then, he hadn’t always made the right decisions. “[color=hotpink]It’s worth keeping alive if we can.[/color]” She held a finger up to Heinrich. “[color=hotpink]If we can. If I hear anything louder than a whisper from that thing, I’m putting a hole in its head. Any luck on getting us out of here?[/color]”

“[color=snow]Nothing yet, I haven’t been able to find the glyph that holds the magic here. Though if someone knew how to make a Erasure Ward, that’d probably weaken the magic enough,[/color]” Heinrich reported looking at the banshee for a moment, before thinking about best how to bind it to make sure it didn’t try anything. Probably some scraps from the bedrooms would be enough given how weak it was. His attention returned to Rose for a moment, “[color=snow]You wouldn’t know how to make one would you?[/color]”

“[color=hotpink]Yeah, I… don’t even know what that is,[/color]” Rose said. “[color=hotpink]Could we stress the boundary, maybe run it out of energy or whatever? Does it work like that? Because I’m carrying enough blackpowder on me for a blasting charge. Probably.[/color]” 

Heinrich let out a small chuckle before speaking sarcastically, “[color=snow]You can certainly try.[/color]”

As the party discussed a way out, the Siren stared down at the weakened Banshee. Sheathing her songblade, the woman gave a small frown as the Banshee gave her a hiss. It was hard for the Siren to feel any kind of guilt or remorse for the creature, but in it's poor state Anwyn couldn't help it. Taking a step away from it she finally turned her attention back at the group, "[color=gold]Well, if the Banshee didn't have that seal or glyph you were talking about, could the house itself be marked?[/color]" Anwyn questioned, looking back and forth at Heinrich and Rose. "[color=gold]We haven't checked out all of the rooms in the manor yet, so there might be something we're missing.[/color]"

“[color=snow]That is still a very good possibility, it would probably wise if searched the house top to bottom. But someone would have to stay and guard this thing,[/color]” Heinrich stated, already looking among the group before his eyes landed on the high elf. She seemed to be a good choice, but he did not know if she could even comprehend what a glyph looked like so that was his primary choice of a guard for the banshee. Though, the tiefling was also probably a good choice, but he did not know if he would just kill it on Elias’ order. “[color=snow]High Elf, I believe you would be a good candidate for guarding this thing. Please try not to kill it,[/color]” Heinrich said, motioning to the banshee before going to do a thorough investigation of the house, more specifically, the cellar. Amathel nodded in compliance as she and Hadar began to hogtie the beast. 

Rose glanced down  at the creature again while Heinrich issued his directions to the elf. It really was tiny - compared to the towering high elf and mute warrior standing around it, it was incredibly small, much more so than the one she’d shot outside. Something caught her eye as the creature shifted away from her, hissing at her proximity, and Rose snatched it up to inspect it. It was a pendant bearing the seal of Minerva - the creature had been laying on it. Of course it was Minerva - she’d come so far, and she still couldn’t get away from the Mage-rulers of Caracas. Typical.

“[color=hotpink]Wait,[/color]” she said, glancing to the high elf. “[color=hotpink]Didn’t you say you found a pendant like this in the servant’s quarters? With a stuffed toy?[/color]” She looked back down at the creature she had been about to kill so thoughtlessly as comprehension dawned on her. “[color=hotpink]... Gods. It’s a child. It was a child.[/color]”

An air of silence filled the room as the party looked to the banshee now bound before them. Sensing her hesitation Heinrich motioned for Rose to follow him out of the kitchen. Anwyn quickly followed the two as they made their way to the cellar.