Location: ????? [@Pyromania99] [hr] As Akyasha stepped off the path and into the alleyway, perhaps, she might have briefly reconsidered her steps. The path soon narrowed only a few steps away from the mainroad, little rats scurrying past her into the maze like path in front of her, the old stones of Alavaris beneath her as the groans and wails of the undead faded into quiet nothingness until the only sound was her own footsteps, breathing, and the squeaking of the rats. Eventually, she would reach the end of the alleyway. Slumped over against a wall was what seemed to be some sort of freshly killed body. The black rats were nibbling and tearing at its flesh, biting through its long black robes, surgical looking gloves and the pointed mask it wore. She may recognize it briefly as a sort of style of clothing Lord Estimé used to use as well as the thralls he had used to deliver his…cures, to the populace. Why was it here? And why did it look so…fresh? Well, she wouldn’t really get a moment to ask. The moment she’d step into the small dead end alleyway, she’d feel something grab her body. It squeezed her body hard enough to cause her bones to creak as she’d soon feel herself being lifted off the ground. It was as if something was gripping her hard, squeezing her body as she’d be lifted to be level with the roof of the surrounding buildings. And there, she’d see…a rat. No, it wasn’t a rat. The longer she looked at the large beast the more it hurt her head and seemed entirely alien. A long arm covered in black flesh with patches of coarse fur. Red claws for gripping. Three more arms for reaching other things. Eight eyes, across four different faces, but that was all the brief glimpse she could imagine was as she’d feel and see reality warping around her as her vision briefly flickered into unconsciousness. … … … “Wake up! Stand up. There you go. You were dreaming.” A voice would slowly bring Akyasha back to the realm of the living…well, unliving, perhaps. As her vision returned, Akyasha would find herself in a place that seemed…a strange, but familiar place. She had apparently been laying in what was some sort of cathedral, but one completely foreign to her. There were no imagery of Ichor at all, so this couldn’t be the one from Alavaris. “Now what’s the name of an little servant of Ichor doing allll the way out here sleeping so soundly not even a storm could wake you?” [url=https://i.imgur.com/Ps0BQ4M.png]The speaker in question was a woman, wearing similar clothes to the corpse she had seen before.[/url] In fact, this lady and the corpse she had seen seemed incredibly similar but she was much less, well, dead. Pale skin, crimson colored eyes and long, disheveled off white colored hair. A mask hung at her side and a top hat rested atop her head. A few large rats rest at her feet, and a few others scurried about the cathedral. The woman had helped Akyasha to her feet, and seemed to know what she was and who Ichor was. “Come on, don’t be shy. Perhaps I should introduce myself first? I am Est. Just a humble traveler that has been lost here for quite some time.” It was hard to tell what was outside the cathedral, save for the bright light from the windows. The only hints she might have to who it was dedicated too were the rat motifs across the entire thing, and a statue similar to what she had vaguely remembered seeing before bring brought here. “Well come on, do answer. I’m not known to be the overly patient sort.” Location: Alavaris Gatehouse [@VitaVitaAR][@Click This] [hr] It was easy enough for Giselle to find a weapon to reinforce with her blood, the scythe easily and cleanly cutting the undead’s head off sending it rolling onto the floor as the rest of the shambling dead would slowly trickle down the stairs and into the room. At least the screaming had stopped, and it seemed as though no more undead would immediately be drawn to them. The number of dead would fall easily, all things considered. They might be fleshy zombies and some might possess old armor and weapons, but they were not inherently more dangerous than the skeletons fought earlier. Location: Alavaris Squalid Ruins [@Psyker Landshark][@Asuras][@Erode] [hr] Luna’s spell worked, at least somewhat. Enough that it would give the beast just a temporary bit of hesitation in its lunge. Just enough time for Dragan to be able to avoid getting cleaved in two from its jaws. As the warrior would leap onto the beasts back, the creature would raise itself into the air, shaking its serpentine neck irritably. Yet, as he would attempt to channel his necrotic magics into whatever ‘barrier’ was in front of him it was hard for Dragan to get a decent grasp of it. In fact, he felt almost no magic whatsoever from this barrier at all and attempting to decay it wasn’t proving to be quite so easy either. But perhaps, Illena was on somewhat of a right track with her thought. A shadowy foot slammed into the creatures jaw, sending the creature reeling back from the impact. …the smell of fresh blood immediately met all three vampire’s noses as the creature shrieked. It was not a large wound. No, it was really more of a scrape more than anything but Luna and Illena would at least see the result of it and perhaps, give them some better understanding of what they were dealing with. Blood, fresh blood, just a few drops fell from the wound. The area around the wound seemed to contort and bend slightly as if something wasn’t quite right, but they’d only have a few seconds to observe this before the creature went absolutely ballistic as it thrashed and slammed its head into the ground and walls around it. Dragan would not be able to avoid the creature [i]smashing[/i] the back of its own neck into the mountain next to them, crushing Dragan between it and the rockwall and making the vampire lose his grip, more than likely crushing a few bones too as he’d fall to the ground. Immediately the serpentine creature would pull its head back away from the group, retreating some distance away as the ground around the bridge began to rumble. Slowly, part of the mountainside would start to crumble and give way, rocks and rubble falling into the gorge below as well as onto the road blocking any possibility of them heading back the way they came - but also conveniently knocking chunks of the mountain away to create a wide enough path for them to flee towards their destination - the Cathedral. As the dust and debris began to settle, the creature’s head would slowly appear from the dust and debris that had been knocked loose, the serpentine skull glaring at them with impunity as more of the creature's body proper was slowly revealed. A massive beast with a seemingly extremely retractable and flexible neck that seemed to be nearly twice as long as its towering, almost feline looking body. Its skeleton shimmered briefly, and for a few brief moments the vampires would see actual flesh. The blue serpentine eyes, the feline ears atop its head, its leathery skin marked with patches of scales. This beast, was very much alive, whatever it was, and it seemed as though it possessed some sort of ability to camouflage its skin while leaving its bones completely visible. It roared, its posture becoming immediately aggressive as it seemed to wait for the vampires to make their next move.