LordOfTheNight

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

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The old raven watched as the bone woman cast a spell to give them a bit of light. It wasn't very bright but that was perhaps due to the darkness being manifested by the cursed. It was darkness one could choke on. Lucian cursed himself for not bringing oil with them to make a torch. Too late to worry about it now. Mergoux took the lead as she seemed to be able to track the child's voice. Lucian moved slowly, gripping his ax and breathing slowly and calmly despite their surroundings. The bone woman then spoke up and Lucian hissed towards her. "Quiet woman! We don't need to make our position more known" he whispered. The old raven scowled as he considered whether or not to tell the group what they faced. If he told the whole truth, it would likely scare them and leave their will weakened. If he told them nothing, they could easily get themselves killed and the pair would have failed their oath to guard the living. Only what they must know for the situation. He sighed as he came to a decision.

"All you both need to know for now is to be on guard. These things are crafty and have a tendency to ambush you. You want these things dead? Fire, dismemberment, or the wax my apprentice and I use. Now quiet!" he said as the voice could still be heard in the darkness. "Momma! Papa! Anyone!" it said. You could hear the child whimpering and clearly crying. Lucian wasn't sure how a child managed to get into the catacombs until they found something. An opening in the wall of the catacombs that lead into a circular tunnel of bricks. Then the smell hit him. Shit, piss, human waste. They'd found their way into a sewer. This made some semblance of sense. Perhaps the child was poor and homeless and had taken shelter in the sewers to avoid the rain and merely gotten lost. Lucian pulled a cloth up over his face and nose as the smell was something truly foul. Thankfully the waste wasn't ankle deep and the rain was drowning some of the stench. As they trekked deeper into the sewer, a shape became apparent before them. It was short and had long black hair that was dirty, curled into a ball against the wall. The girl.

"Hello? Is someone there?" the girl asked. Lucian rested his hand on the mercenary's shoulder to tell her to stay where she was. "Lua, stay here with them. If she's cursed it's better she isn't in the middle of our group" he instructed. Lucian took his crossbow off his shoulder and handed it to Lua along with his bolts. She knew how to use it thankfully, her aim however was hit and miss. At this range, he at least felt comfortable putting her in charge. The crossbow was truly a unique design, a lever action device that pulled the drawstring back quickly and effortlessly and made firing it much faster. Before he stepped forward, he looked at the group. "If this girl is cursed, suppress your fear and trust your actions. We don't need them getting the upper hand. Am I understood?" he questioned sternly with a raised eyebrow.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

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Lucian's hand went for his ax as she pulled his shovel from his hands. He growled low like a dog. "Rather then stand in my way, perhaps let me do my duty. If what stands between me stopping the cursed is you, than I will break my oath" he said. She was trying his patience a great deal as she urged him to allow her to help. The mercenary woman asked what she knew of this infection. How she could help. She then admitted that she was a bone mage seeking the source of these 'restless dead'. She spoke of speaking to the man's spirit and Barret pinched the bridge of his nose. He was growing more frustrated by the moment as she insisted there were other means. "What you are suggesting is impossible. His soul is gone. Forever. Consumed by the curse that had infected his family and the rest of the lands. You wish to stop this? Let us do our job" he growled in annoyance.

Lua spoke up and took her shovel with annoyance as she began to start digging. He gave her an annoyed look but she was doing what needed to be done. He took notice however of the bubbles forming from the soft dirt. He raised an eyebrow and approached. "Bubbles? That's peculiar" he commented, more to himself than the others. It wasn't decomposition from what he could smell. Dust was what he smelled. Lucian raised an eyebrow as the bubbling continued when she disturbed the surface. The ground seemed uneven. "Perhaps..." he began. It wasn't long till the realization began and by then it was too late. The ground opened up in an instant, sucking them down into a room below them. The dust hit him like a bag of bricks, mud coating his boots and armor. He growled in annoyance as he pinched the bride of his nose. "Goddess why? Goddess damn it all" he sighed.

Lucian picked himself up out of the dirt and offered Lua a hand. He then noticed the coffin that had come down with them. The old raven raised an eyebrow and approached to see that the coffin had flipped over to reveal a large hole in the bottom. Lucian's eyes widened as he realized just what had happened. The man was indeed one of the Cursed. He'd managed to break out of the bottom coffin and dug free. Then he realized where they'd landed. It was a catacomb. Corpses everywhere, skeletons on the walls. "Goddess damn it" he growled. He drew his ax immediately and looked about. "Lua, quickly use your wax. Fast" he hissed. Lucian reached into his pack and produced a brick of wax that was a dark pink hue. The wax was one of the greatest tools they had in their arsenal. A mixture of dog fat made into tallow, mushrooms found in the caves of Rabenest, and several drops of the black water they kept. It was deadly to the cursed.

"PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" a voice called out deeper inside the catacombs. A young voice that belonged to a scared child

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@Overlord Thraka Go ahead and post

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@Overlord Thraka You alright with Rose posting before you?

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

Stick with OOC here. I can't juggle Discord very well

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

Alright, Shylarah and Thraka go ahead. Rose is gonna be indisposed this evening.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

Give Rosenrot and I a moment to confer and make a decision

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

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Lucian stopped in his tracks at the sound of a woman's voice. A voice that had a slight accent he wasn't entirely familiar with. He turned slowly and looked at the woman, resting the shovel against his shoulder as she started towards them. The older man felt a twinge of annoyance as she told him that it was bad luck to disturb the dead. He then took notice of the interloper as well, a woman hanging at the edge but seemingly within earshot. He recognized the two women however. They'd been part of the group that came from Dornwich. He hadn't said anything as he had thought nothing of them, merely people looking for a place to go or travelers who saw the benefit of travelling with a group. Regardless, they had both followed them to the graveyard and that didn't seem like coincidence. No, they had come here for a reason.

"Who are these people?" Lua asked. Lucian stabbed the shovel into the earth and moved his cloak to show the loaded crossbow. "An excellent question, apprentice. Judging from this one's garb, I suspect she's a foreigner. Perhaps a mystic of some sort. The other seems to be a warrior. Perhaps a mercenary. In either case, they have been following us since Dornwich" Lucian said. When they seemed a bit surprised he'd noticed them, he continued.

"In regards to the dead, I do not fear corpses. I do however fear what the corpse we are looking for may have become and I suggest if you don't want a city infested with them, you stay out of our way and allow us to do our business. I don't have time to worry about you two getting hurt or worse, killed" he said as he grabbed the shovel and motioned for his apprentice to follow. He moved for the grave site and nodded. This was certainly it. Dirt was still freshly packed. That was a good sign but not a sure indicator that nothing had happened. Time for step 2.

Lucian stabbed the shovel into the wet dirt but rather then begin digging, he put his ear against the wood and closed his eyes. To an average peasant, this would probably raise an eyebrow. To someone who was clever or knew him like Lua, they'd see he was checking for vibrations in the ground. Lucian scowled and shook his head. "Nothing. Either the man was indeed fine or he hasn't turned yet. We need to exhume the corpse and be sure" he said as he sighed in annoyance. He was gonna have to get dirty now. He wasn't looking forward to digging up a dead man's grave anymore than Lua but they had a job to do, luck be damned...

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

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Lucian nodded as she mentioned going to the man's grave to ensure he hadn't risen yet. "Wise idea. There's a chance the man wasn't cursed but merely dealing with his turned family members. In either case, we need to be cautious" he commented as he urged Daredevil to move along the street. Lucian was vaguely familiar with Kenfort. He knew that from the gate they had entered, they would need to cross through both the Marketplace but the Craftsmen District. As he rode, the older man continued his thought. "We should perhaps investigate the man's home as well; assuming it is still standing of course. Perhaps we can find out how the curse managed to find it's way here and track it back to it's origin" he finished. Lucian was thankful for the hood as the rain continued to come down, though thankfully in more a light drizzle than an outright downpour. He glanced at the occasional passerby as they eyed them and watched them avert their eyes. He'd heard the rumors concerning both him and his fellow brothers and sisters.

'Plague Knights...' was the name he often heard from the lips of the weary. Rumor was they were the ones spreading the actual plague given that black knights with ravens as their coat of arms often appeared at the scene of infected areas. The truth was that they were merely hot on the heals of the plague itself, merely one step behind. Lucian had also heard the rumors that they had been slaughtering unarmed innocents in cold blood. That had some truth to it but those they slayed were most definitely not innocent. Their souls had been tainted by the curse and their lust for violence unslakable. They could drown in oceans of blood and still lust for more. Filthy monsters. Lucian rode silently as he rubbed the silver bottle that hung from his neck and found himself wondering what had occurred to create such wide spread outbreaks. In the past, it occurred rarely and erratically. Now it was spreading as though someone had thrown pitch on the people and lit a match. Hopefully one of their brothers would find an answer whilst they dealt with Kenfort. Lucian did hope to return to Rabenest soon.

The church itself was massive in size and older than most of the buildings surrounding it. As memory served, the church had been the first stone building erected when Kenfort had been merely a small fishing village. It had been built strong though, the doors thick enough to stop most assaults and still protect those inside. The cemetery itself was massive in size. If the old raven had to guess, there was perhaps 200 graves; perhaps even more. Lucian sighed as he dismounted his horse before the church and removed his hood as he approached the door, knocking on the heavy door. A bishop opened the door and nodded slightly with a smile.

"May I help you, my son?" he asked.

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30 Minutes Later...

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The bishop stared at Lucian as the old raven stood straight straight, arms behind his back. "You can't be serious. What you suggest is....it's lunacy" he said finally. The old raven wasn't just suggesting they dig up the grave of a murderer, he was out right telling the bishop that they needed to open the grave of the murderer.

"Do I seem to be a man who is not serious. We need to see the corpse. Immediately" he said. The bishop seemed downright dumbfounded. The older man breathed a heavy breath through his nose. "Father, I know what it sounds like. You are a man of God, your job is to lead your flock and given them strength. If I am wrong, than all we have done is disturbed the remains of a sinner and there will be a penance I must endure willingly. If I am right though father, then the Devil has very well come to your home and your people are in danger. I am begging you to allow my apprentice and I the opportunity to exhume the remains and be sure" the older man said. The bishop gave it some thought. He eventually sighed and rung a small bell to get the attention of one of his priests.

"Yes father?" the young priest asked. "Give these two each a shovel and show them to the grave of the man they hung recently" he said. The priest nodded and moved promptly as the bishop sighed wearily. "I pray you are wrong my son for the sake of your soul" he said.

"For the sake of your flock and this city, I pray I am wrong as well" he said before turning and motioning for Lua to follow. The priest met them at the door with the shovels in hand and handed them to the black knights as he instructed them where to look. Lucian nodded and walked silently through the graveyard, looking much like a reaper tending to the souls of the dead to any on lookers

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

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Lua
Played By: Rosenrot