ConteAmarula

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

Lily was confused by Isabeau's comment, unsure why she was surprised Lily would come after Adam. She was equally confused by Isabeau's sudden choice to refer to Adam as a female.

"I am not sure as to what you are referring. However I will say this, Adam will be leaving with us, as will you. Whether you leave here alive or dead depends on your c-" Lily stopped speaking mid word. All of a sudden she felt the urge to return to her physical form. It was as if some force was gently yet insistently tugging upon her spirit. It was immediately clear that Isabeau was attempting to influence Lily somehow with her talent, a talent she knew nothing about. Lily found herself regretting not probing Adam about Isabeau, and once again made a mental note to speak with him on the matter regarding not studying fellow members. Isabeau was clearly using her talent -what ever that was- on Lily, and the effect was subtle yet severe. The gentle tugging mixed with Lily's own fear of being away from her physical form for too long and created within her mind a desperate need to return to the safety of her body. It started as a small tugging but quickly grew to the point her own paranoia dwarfed what ever Isabeau was trying to do.

Lily's eyes raised to look at her physical form, still within sight and still upon the horse. She looked back to Isabeau who seemed much calmer all of a sudden, though it was difficult to tell in the light. Lily once again looked over to her own body and noticed her horse seemed to be distressed for some reason. A quick glance over to where Ren left his horse showed his horse was also becoming distressed. Something was upsetting the horses, and Isabeau's sudden calmness was proof enough she was responsible somehow. Without knowing exactly what her talent was capable of the sky was the limit with what Isabeau could do.

The sudden shift in the horses temperament caused more panic within Lily's mind as she began to imagine all the terrible things that could happen should the horse her body rested on decide to take off or buck. She knew Isabeau was doing something and that there was more than likely no danger, however the logic did not calm her. She needed to return to her body and she needed to do so as soon as possible.

Lily pulled back the hammer of her pistol, hopping the action would cause Isabeau to stop what ever she was doing. It did not, and it really would have made no difference as Lily's own mind had turned against her. She needed a plan and she needed one quickly. Seeing her threat through seemed the most obvious option however despite how serious she attempted to sound while saying it she had no desire to kill another human being. The next obvious choice was to simply wound Isabeau and then immediately return to her physical form. Once back in her body she could retrieve her second pistol and go after Isabeau again after yelling to Ren who would already have been alerted by the gun shot.

The gun shot.

Lily's eyes darted between her own horse, Ren's, and the one which carried Adam. Though her pistol did not fire using black powder it still made an extremely loud sound that would most likely echo in the clearing. The horses were already agitated, if she fired her gun they would most likely take off at full sprint. Lily could return to her body and calm her own horse but the horse that carried Adam would be long gone by the time she calmed her horse and returned to Isabeau's hiding spot. The chances of finding Adam in the woods at night before a wild animal did were highly unlikely.

She could call out to Ren, but in her current state of mind that option did not conclude in a preferable outcome fast enough. A million ideas flew through her head from the unhelpful to the absurd. She was quickly becoming more panicked and her desperation to return to her body was reaching its' peek. She began to scan the area, taking in all the information she could to see if there was anything she could use to her advantage, or perhaps some detail she missed that might save her.

-- The type of trees around -- the slope of the mill's roof -- the style of Isabeau's dress -- The forest was oddly silent -- The feminine nature of Adam's naked form -- Isabeau's horses were calm -- There were exactly 42 fireflies in the clearing -- Odd sound in the distance -- The colour of the mill's siding -- Isabeau referring to Adam as a female -- Faint disturbing smell carried on the wind -- Fresh hoof prints leading away from the mill --

-- The feminine nature of Adam's naked form -- Isabeau referring to Adam as a female --

-- Isabeau's horses were calm --

Everything clicked into place.

Adam was in reality a women, and Isabeau's horses were calm in the face of what ever was frightening the other horses. They would not run. Lily lowered her pistol to point it at Isabeau's right thigh and fired. The silence in the forest was broken by as the air pressure in her pistol was released creating an ear piercing bang as the gun fired fifty needles into Isabeau's flesh.

As soon as she fired Lily willed herself back to her body. The pistol her spirit like form had been holding fell to the forest floor. Lily awoke in her physical form in time to rein in her horse who as predicted was panicked by the shot and sprinting at full speed away from the source of the sound. She calmed her horse down just as it was about to pass the mill and pulled her second pistol out.Taking a deep breath she yelled out to Ren.

"Ren! She is out here! Hurry! She has Adam with her!" Lily made to give chase but when she realized Ren's horse, also scared by the gun shot, had long since disappeared into the forest she stopped. At least one of them needed to be on horseback and Lily believed Ren to be the better rider. Acting quickly she led the horse so it stood outside the front door of the mill and quickly dismounted. She immediately took off running at full speed, heading straight for where Isabeau was hiding. The various pouches and the instruments within clanged against each other, filling the clearing with a sound reminiscent of the brass section of an orchestra falling down a flight of stairs. As she ran she heard a voice call out to her though the loud clanging of the items in her pouches obscured the voice too greatly. Assuming it to be Ren, Lily did not slow down and continued as fast as her legs would carry her to the hiding spot of her prey.

Lily exited the clearing and crashed through some buses, pistol raised at the ready.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

Made a post. Not nearly as long as I had originally planned but I realized with what I had planned I would need to do a co-op post and seeing as I'm already behind on making a post decided it would be best to post something short rather than make everyone wait even longer.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

With one hand gripping the reins of her horse and the other firmly grasping one of her specimen pistols, Lily carefully followed the trail Isabeau had left, the light from the moon providing barely enough illumination to even see the path. Lily was tempted to pull a lantern out of one of her pouches but she had no idea how close they were to their destination and any unnatural light would give warning of her and Ren's approach.

After a time that felt agonizingly long but was in reality only ten minutes, Lily and Ren exited the dense part of the forest and entered a small clearing, in the middle of which sat a dilapidated mill. Without the thick branches to obscure most of the light Lily was able to use the moon light to take a decent look at her surroundings. Ren pulled his horse up along side her and waited, though from the look in his eye and the grip on his sword it was clear waiting was the last thing on his mind. Lily was unsure if proceeding to the mill was the right course of action. Isabeau, though insane, was extremely intelligent and even if she doubted she was being followed it seemed unlikely she would trap herself in a building without being sure she was safe. “I am not much in a fight,” Lily said, looking to her side at Ren “so I doubt I will be more than a target to be protected should events turn violent. Go, rescue our friend, and if possible capture Isabeau alive. I will remain here should she try to escape. I may not be a fighter but at the very least I can give chase.” Ren nodded and with a light kick of his heels spurred his horse towards the mill. Though Lily preferred brains over brawn it was not entirely truthful that she could not handle herself in a fight, however it seemed like a reasonable excuse as to why she and Ren should split up.

Lily waited to make sure Ren was not going to look back at her, though she doubted he would as his mind was clearly focused on the safe return of Adam. Tucking one of her pistols into her belt Lily slumped forward and took a firm grip on the horn of the saddle. She then closed her eyes and allowed the rest of her body to go limp. Even without her consciously keeping herself in the saddle she remained on the horse. Confident her body would not fall off -barring of course the horse doing something unpredictable- she took a deep breath and willed her mind out of her body. When she opened her eyes she was looking at the slumped form of her own body. Carefully slipping an invisible hand into one of her pouches she retrieved her second pistol. She then slid off the back of the horse to the ground and quickly made her way back into the forest. Under normal circumstances a floating gun would cause alarm, however in the darkness and with so many branches around Lily felt confident the seemingly possessed gun would remain unseen. Once in the forest she stepped off the trail and began searching for signs Isabeau might have taken a different path. She was not searching for long before, to her surprise, she found not another path but instead Isabeau herself. Along with two horses and Adam slung across the back of one. They were all hidden by the dark and the forest and had she not been specifically looking Lily was sure she would have never found them.

It seemed Isabeau was aware she was being followed, though why she didn't simply leave the path and head elsewhere was a mystery to Lily. Perhaps she was hoping Lily and Ren would find the buildign empty and simply leave. Carefully moving forward Lily noticed that Isabeau was starring intently at something. Upon inspection she found that the Lady was starring at Lily's body, still slumped on the horse. From their current position it looked as though Lily had decided to take a nap in the middle of the forest on her horse. Lily smiled to herself, glad her plan had worked. Not wanting to give Iseabau a chance to work out what was going on she pressed her pistol against the back of the Lady's head. “Good evening, my Lady.” As Lillian spoke Iseabeau's breathing stopped. “I'm not interested in killing you, but if you do anything other than cooperate then you will die knowing what its like to have 50 needles puncture your brain with explosive force.” Though Lily preferred brains over brawn it would be a mistake to assume she could not handle herself in a fight.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

Still here. Been busy with school but have a study week coming up so I can make a post.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

I'm still here too!

Looking forward to things picking up again.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

Lily walked around the lab examining the equipment. The room was completely empty of anything living or threats of any kind so she had sent Ren to see if he could track down a servant that might know something. The lab was both a wonder to behold and a disturbing example of what happens when intelligence and money meet madness. Dozens of shelves were packed with expensive and technical equipment of all kinds; Lily was actually a little jealous of how well stocked the Lady's lab was. Along one wall sat multiple autopsy tables, a sight one might expect to see in a medical professionals lab only these ones came fitted with restraints. One does not need to restrain the dead so the only logical conclusion was that Isabeau has been operating on the living. This suspicion was confirmed true after reviewing some of Isabeau's medical journals that had been left neatly stacked on a shelf. However what the journals revealed was more sinister than simply operating on the living. Isabeau had been studying how to return the dead back to life and her writings revealed she believed using the dissected organs and body-parts of other living beings was the way to do it. Each of her journals had numerous detailed sketches of human anatomy and notes that went beyond even Lily's medical knowledge. Some of the drawings were of actual people, men specifically, and although none of the faces were familiar to Lily it was safe to presume these were the Lady's victims and not just idle drawings. Each of the men's pictures came with notation on which body parts were perfect for her needs. With the exception of the heart and the brain the lady had collected enough parts from the other men to build a whole new human. Lillian's face bore a look of utter disgust as she realized her original interpretation of what was transpiring was incorrect. Isabeau was not simply trying to return the dead back to life, she was trying to make life from death. This was not about returning her husband to the world of the living this was about making herself a new husband all together, the perfect man for herself.

Lillian swiftly gathered the journals and stuffed them into an empty pouch as she ran out the door of the lab. Headed down the hall towards her was Ren with a rather frightened looking servant being forcefully moved along. Ren did not need to say why he brought this specific servant back as Lily was able to quickly deduce the reason why. Slung over one shoulder of the servant was a bulging bag, the contents of which were clear as the golden arm of a candelabra poked out of the hole on top.

“When the ship begins to sink the rats are the first to leave,” She said coldly. The other servants were afraid of their lady but it was only this one who seemed to be smart enough to leave. This not only mean he understood better than the other servants why their Lady was to be feared, but it also meant he knew now was the best time to abandon ship. “Where is Isabeau?” Lily could see Ren's grip on the other mans arm tighten as she asked. However it seemed as though even the intimidating presence of Adam's most trusted servant was not enough to sway the man into speaking quickly. While it was clear the man was a coward and could easily be forced to give up any information, Lily decided to take a different approach. Reaching into a pouch she pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to the servant, revealing it to be a promissory note. Lily watched the servants eyes dart around the page and widen when his eyes came to the amount the note was worth. Lillian smiled.

“I-I don't know specifically where she went... only that she goes to the forest sometimes.” Lillian's smiled faded as the man finished speaking and she began to put the paper back in her pouch “Wait! Isabeau has been killing men! I've helped her dispose of the bodies. The bodies were...they were cut up into small pieces... I think it was to help make them easier to dispose of” The man's face contorted in disgust as he was clearly remembering moving the desecrated corpses. “I think she has been trying to find the perfect man and has been killing off the ones she doesn't like.”The man's eyes seemed glued to the note “....I thought she would pick me.... thats all I know I swear.”

“You're half right. And you're lucky she didn't pick you,” Lilian said as she handed the note to the man who immediately took hold of it. However Lillian did not let go of the paper and instead held a firm grip that threatened to tear the note if either she or the servant pulled too hard. The servant looked to Lillian with desperation in his eyes. “One last question,” she asked.

“Y-yes?” The man responded, nervous he'd lose the money that was so close to being his if his answer displeased Lily.

“Which direction does Isabeau head when she goes to the forest?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lillian and Ren raced through the streets of Prague on the backs of horses procured from Lady Isabeau's stables. They cared little for the people they shared the streets with and forced people to desperately dive away from the speeding animals to avoid being trampled. The information they had received from the servant was enough for Lillian to narrow down the amount of forest they had to search from several hundred kilometers of wooded area to a few dozen square kilometers. While that was still an almost impossible amount of area for only two people to search with any kind of decent level of speed and thoroughness it was considerably more possible than the entire forest itself. As they rode Lillian informed Ren of what Isabeau was up to and what her intended plans for Adam most likely were. Lillian's words spurred Ren into pushing more speed from his horse and she was forced to do the same so she could maintain her lead and direct them both down the quickest paths to their destination. At this point it had been well over an hour since Adam had gone missing and Lily could only hope they made it to Isebeau before she could do anything to hurt him, or worse.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@Astarael42SORRY! Been busy the last little while with my brothers wedding and family staying over. I would like to make a post. ill get that out asap

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

"So you think your Lady is mad do you?" Lillian asked pointedly to a rather short and pudgy young maid she'd managed to force into answering some questions.

"No. Not at all. I simply meant that she may have been seeing a ghost is all." The maid responded quickly and nervously.

"You also mentioned you don't believe in ghosts. Ergo you think the Lady is mad." Lillian quipped back in response. She didn't actually care if this maid thought Isabeau was mad or not but people tended to give up more information than they wanted when they became flustered. The maid made to leave but Lilian quickly stepped in front of her to block her path. This is the fifth time since the start of the conversation this has happened. "Final question."

The maid looked around nervously. "Y-yes? What is it?"

"When you clean the lab is it a fairly daunting task?"

The maid seemed confused by the question but was relieved Lillian was no longer trying to find out about Isabeau. "A bit, yes. Lots of delicate equipment."

"How does the staff handle ceilings?"

"We don't really. They're far too high."

"Thank you." with that Lillian turned on a heel and walked away, leaving the maid more confused but relieved to be left alone.

Lilian had spoken to some members of the serving staff, the ones she could find, and after tricking them into giving up more than they wanted was able to conclude that the staff had not seen the supposed returned husband and were quite concerned for Isabeau. Concerned, and very much afraid of her. Sadly that was all she was able to dig up on the subject as the staff was rather tight lipped, and although she could tease some information out, certain topics seemed to set off alarms in the people she was questioning. Ask the wrong question and they would simply refuse to answer.

Her line of questioning with the last maid did however provide her with some useful information, even if the chubby servant didn't realize it. There was only one area in the house that could contain a room with high ceilings. Opening her note book to the pages she used to draw a map of the house Lillian made a note inside a large unmarked room on the second floor.

LAB

With that she snapped the book closed with a satisfied smile. She had finally made some headway in this case. With the staff doing their best to hide away at all costs she would be able to break into the lab and look around. No doubt in her mind that the lab would contain some important pieces of information.

A near bye grandfather clock rang loudly, marking the hour. Retrieving one of the pocket watches she keeps around her neck and clicking it open Lillian checked the time. It had been an hour since she left Adam and Isabeau alone. Before searching the lab it would be a good idea to check up on them first.

Lillian moved at a quickened pace, her heels clicking loudly on the marble tiles and her various pouches ringing like bells as the objects within clanked against one another echoed through the empty halls. In short time she was back at the sitting room were she left the pair only to find them both gone. Pressing a hand against the cushions of the chairs they had been sitting in revealed them to be room temperature which meant the chairs previous occupants had been gone some time.

"Dammit!" Lillian cursed out loud. Perhaps leaving the two alone had not been the wisest choice. Especially considering how little information she had managed to dig up. In a flurry Lillian flew out of the room and quickly made her way through the house once more, the whole time she held her wrist at eye level so she could see the needle Adam had given her as she walked. The needle remained unchanged through the entire trek of the house which meant Adam was not close and no longer within the manor.

Breaking into a full run at this point Lillian made her way to the front of the house and threw the front door open. The drive way leading up to the house was empty, the carriage they had arrived in was gone. There was a brief moment where Lillian wondered if Adam had simply left without her - it would not be the first time something like this had happened to her- but the thought was quickly dismissed as Adam was not one to do such a thing.

Bounding down the front steps she made her way to the stables and threw the doors open. The stables were fairly large with numerous stalls lining the walls, each with a horse. No carriage, and if Adam's horses were among the others Lilian couldn't tell. Just to make sure she wasn't missing anything Lillian walked to the back of the stables, keeping an eye out for doors that may lead elsewhere, or a place to stick a carriage. Nothing of the sort was found, and the only spot that could house a carriage was filled with Isabeau's. It was beginning to look like the best choice would be to leave and quickly make her way back to Ware Manor and gather other society members to come help. Of course she was on foot on the other side of the city and no one but Adam and Ren knew her whereabouts so it was unlikely anyone looking for her would find her. Not that anyone was ever looking for her. Even if she stole a horse and made it to the manor in quick time she had little information to go on and any force she gathered would be just as lost as her, and time would be wasted as everyone scrambled to think of what to do. With that Lillian decided it would be best to go after Adam and the Lady on her own, confident a single mad women was of little threat.

"First things first..." she mumbled under her breath. The first thing to do was determine if the carriage had even left the grounds. If it had than that limited the directions they could have gone. There were only a handful of streets in the area large enough to accommodate a full carriage, and direction could be narrowed down even more based on levels of traffic. It was unlikely that Isabeau would allow herself to be slowed.

Lillian soothed her mind and reestablished her calm and antithetical demure that had been temporarily disturbed by the panic of realizing Adam was gone. With her mind back to normal it only took a few seconds for her to notice the depressions in the hay on the floor of the stable. There were two long depressions most likely caused by the wheels of a carriage. As to be expected the depressions led directly to Isabeau's carriage, unexpectedly though was a second set of tracks that continued past the carriage and ended at a wall. Pulling on the hook of a lantern holder -an obvious spot for a secret door switch- caused part of the wall to slide away. On the other side was a small room in the middle of which sat Adam's carriage. A quick search of it revealed neither Adam nor Ren's body. Adam was most assuredly not on the grounds anymore, Ren however may still be. It was unlikely the Lady would risk bringing the man-servant along.

Returning inside Lilian began her search of the grounds once again, this time for Ren. Her search lasted only a brief few seconds as she spotted him walking down a hall towards her. She quickened her pace and met up with Ren who did not seem to be very pleased.

"We have a problem. Adam and Isabeau are gone. Off the grounds as far as I can tell. Both Adam's and her carriages are still in the stables. All the stalls are full so I am guessing she took two of hers and replaced them with your horses. Where ever she took Adam, she did so on horse back. My best guess is they're thirty minutes ahead of us, where ever they are. Staff knows more than they're letting. I narrowed down which room is Isabeau's lab, if we search it we may find a clue where she took Adam. Of course, that is only if you don't have a quicker means of getting information?"

Someone had kidnapped Adam Ware, Master of the Society, and (as far as Lilian was concerned) a personal friend. Lily was less than pleased about the whole afar and feeling very angry, an unfamiliar emotion for her to hold. Isabeau had a lot to answer for, and it had better be a damn good answer.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@kapuchu

YES! Play Dark Souls! Tis an amazing game.

Ianus Congreatio: Secret societies, horror, and mystery in the shadows of Prague.

@Astarael42
And here's something just plain disturbing :D

Hider

@kapuchu

Oi! You leave Quelaag alone! She's just trying to get by and help her sister with her humanity deficiency.