ChaRP: Morvasta's Wake - Friday, June 18th, 3pm EST

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Asmodeus

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It will be a night to remember.

Oh yes, and you better. Remember, that is.

Do it. All of you! Right now!

Remember, damn you! Stop drinking and remember!

I'll slit your fucking throats, so help me!



* * *​


In the village of Limadoru, last village at the edge of the world, a party has been declared. A grand ball in honour of Lady Morvasta. Has she passed? Perhaps? Perhaps not. She was never one to let death have such audacity. But her grieving husband, Lord Sincarnat... he puts out the call to his extended family. To his children and siblings of the night.

"Come gather, my wretched and wondrous, my freaks and fiends. We must remember Morvasta. We must scream for her, as she goes into the beyond. I call upon your ancient pledges; I invoke our eldritch pacts. You must return. You must pay your respects. You risk damnation should you refuse!"

For one night only, the monsters of the world shall gather, and keep the peace as they dine and mingle.

And for one night only, the world's foremost monster-hunters might just have the perfect chance to kill them.






The Setting

Yes, a floating castle, with a village to keep it anchored.

Your carcass won't crawl away if you have one hand in its guts!

I just wish they would smile more.



* * *​


Limadoru is both the strangest and (for that reason), most intact villages in a disintegrating world. While other kingdoms fell into the dark ages, Limadoru endured.

The only reason for this... the fact that it clings to the strange, floating foundations of the castle where Lord Sincarnat and Lady Morvasta hold court. This monstrous couple were kind, in some ways, to the miserable villagers. They allowed them to build their hovels on the enchanted rocks, and trudge around with the aid of stairways and gas-lamps.

Some could even visit the castle above, if they brought a snack, and marveled correctly at the Lord and Lady's inventions.

Sincarnat and Morvasta were careful not to kill unless necessary. They drained a villager or two each day - took their blood, their joy, their skin, their book premise - whatever substance craved at that hour. Their victims were returned to their families, mostly intact, and with warnings not to trouble the watch with their accounts.

It was a good life for a while. But now Morvasta has fallen silent in her high chamber... and Sincarnat howls with nightly grief.

And with Sincarnat calling back all his weird and hungry friends to the castle, the villagers have every cause to fear...

...and every tavern in which to shelter and feed intelligence to monster-hunters.



The Characters

Monster-hunters? They're just jealous. Trying to be like us, while looking mediocre. I pity them.


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* * *​


Choose your type ('Monster' or 'Hunter'). You are encouraged to have a very good reason for being here. Perhaps you are hunting a particular monster because you want to harvest it's liver for a special cocktail. Or perhaps you knew Lady Morvasta because she taught you how to play a special piano made from dried orphan tongues.

Code:
[imga=left]https://i.imgur.com/qhvb3ya.png[/imga]
[size=4][b]Character Name...

Character Type...

Well known for...

Not so well known for...

Is here because... [/b]
[/size]



(P.S. You will each be sent a seeeeeeeeeeecret.)​
 
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Character Name... Lord Sincarnat

Character Type... Monster

Well known for... Being a screaming, flamboyant, demented aristocrat who has seduced and sequestered every horrible thing in the land.

Not so well known for... Mistakenly thinking a ball will bring his wife back to life.

Is here because... He and his wife have crossed paths with every monster who is coming tonight, and hold a strange power over them - a power which compels them to honour the invitation and pay their respects.
 
Character Name... “Uncle” Gregori

Character Type... Monster

Well Known For... Being the bloodthirsty, cunning and crude black sheep of the family, prone to bouts of fury and mass-murder elsewhere in the world depending on the increasingly destabilised alignment of the moon.

Not So Well Known For... How exactly he is related to the hypothetically dearly departed Morvasta (popular consensus amongst the more urbane side of the family is that he was adopted, I mean look at how he dresses).

Is Here Because... He either wants to pay his respects to his dear old sister, consume every drop of booze within Castle Limadoru, or start a fight with any/every family member within swinging distance. Possibly all three.
 
@Asmodeus You forgot something important. When is this?
 
@Asmodeus I meant what day and time is the CHARP at?
 

Character Name... Metris

Character Type...I find that characterization deeply offensive

Well known for...Having a famous father and a dead mother

Not so well known for... Being anything like her parents, which is to say, interesting

Is here because... Have you SEEN the outside world? No thanks

 

Character Name... Sela

Character Type... Hunter

Well known for... having a favorite species of monster that he will not only not hunt it, but also actively protect it by removing its competition.

Not so well known for... what he does with the results of his hunt since he has no need for monetary gain.

Is here because... he's hunting the one who allegedly killed a member of Sela's favorite monster species which he had been stalking observing for artistic purposes.

 
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Character Name... Zahra Amaunet

Character Type... Monster Hunter/Spy

Well known for... Dispatching her targets with styyyyyyle. Also, lots of clever gadgets and cantrips

Not so well known for... Being a master of disguise and infiltration (because if she was well-known for these things, she wouldn't be very good at them now, would she?)

Is here because... To find out just what's going on with the Lord and Lady of the castle...and maybe get a chance to end their reign of terror once and for all.
 

Character Name... Basil

Character Type... Hunter

Well known for... Pastel charm, the picture of perfectly pleasant politeness

Not so well known for... A nasty temper and a vindictive streak

Is here because... it's always good to double-check these things.

 

Character Name... Verulastra

Character Type... Monster

Well known for... Swallowing a small merchant frigate once. She was drunk.

Not so well known for... A talent in aquatic architecture design (because no one ever asks about her hobbies)

Is here because...
She’s here to see a man about a boat. And maybe drown that man in the nearest keg.
 
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Character Name... Cassandra Ludovic Rosewood

Character Type... Hunter

Well known for... Her ruthlessness when it comes down to justice. She will do anything for the things she considers right and wrong. Her elegance makes her seem as if she would cry on the spot upon seeing a bug, although that is far, far away from the truth.

Not so well known for... Her kindness. She can actually be sympathetic at times, however, that happens rarely.

Is here because... She wants justice.
 

Character Name... Morvasta

Character Type... Monster

Well known for... Being dead

Not so well known for... Her delightful affairs with various guests and staff of the castle

Is here because... It's her own funeral

 

  • Asmodeus:
    Prince Magnutin released a horrified scream as the linen bandage wrapping his ankle finally got snagged in Verulastra's jaws. With a final breath, which ejaculated a cloud of sand and twitching locusts, he was yanked down into the swimming pools and torn apart by the deathrolls of the sea monster. His undead body was dashed into a thousand pieces, and his phylactery swallowed whole.


    Today at 1:24 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    Only his arms remained - severed at the shoulders and gripped around the wrists by Lord Sincarnat. The master of Castle Limadoru straightened, and used one of the severed arms to mop his own brow, straightening the sweat-soaked strands of his grey-black hair.


    Today at 1:25 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    He released a long breath, before looking to the assembled party-goers around the swimming pool. "Now..." he gasped, while resting the severed arms on his own shoulders like fashionable accessories. "Would anyone else... care to comment... on the buffet choices?"


    Today at 1:25 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    The swimming pool was the central fixture of the castle's ball room, floating many miles above the miserable village of Limadoru.


    Today at 1:26 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    ....well, that and the glass coffin installed on one side of the room, in which Morvasta, the lord's late wife, was preserved in angelic glory.


    Today at 1:27 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    Between her and the swimming pool, a thousand buffet tables, dance floors, ice sculptures and art installations... many of them spattered with blood following Prince Magnutin's floor-show


    Today at 1:29 PM


  • Tegan:
    One of the ice sculptures blinks, a battered set of earphones over her ears blares guitars and synthetic killer queens singing opera. Oh wait, it's the bereaved Metris, daughter of Lady Morvasta. She tucks her old cassette player into her suit pocket. "Prince Magnutin has a food allergy, Dad. You jammed a pipe into his trachea, once. The last time he told you about it."


    Today at 1:34 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Lord Sincarnat finished mopping his brow, and lowered one of the severed arms to glare at his daughter. His face creased into a picture of abject pity, his rouged cheeks and wrinkled lips contorting like a mummy in a swimming pool. He came forward, slapping aside other guests with the severed arms. Finally, he reached his daughter, and threw his arms (all four of them) around Metris, crooning in her ear. "My poor child... my dear child... my Metris... BELOVED METRIS!" He crushed her a little. "You don't know what you're saying. The grief ... it breaks your heart. I breaks all our hearts!"


    Today at 1:37 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    He began to sing their song... the one he always sang to her, when she was scared and alone. "It always feels so quiet in the dark... It always feels so stark..."


    Today at 1:38 PM

  • Kitti:
    Confined in the tightly sewn form of a silken dress shirt, buttons done to the throat, Basil was reconsidering his choice to attend this particular gathering. True the costume allowed him to blend seamlessly into the aimlessly milling crowd without any eyes lingering overlong and for that, he was grateful to his benefactor. The primary problem was that the style was positively oppressive, no surprise coming from one so unimaginably fussy as the count. Though he had just arrived it seemed that Basil was just in time for some sort of commotion, the dismembering of Prince something something if he'd heard correctly. That was... before the count took to lamentations again. This was going to be a long evening, he could tell already. Basil undid the top button of his shirt as surreptitiously as possible and smiled broadly at a tray of drinks. "What a delightful sight you are," he sighed to the glasses.


    Today at 1:39 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    Deathrolling the noble hadn't exactly...appeased her appetite, but Verulastra was willing to make another attempt at this whole "getting to know people" thing. Magnutin didn't taste particularly gourmet (probably the gout) especially if the gristle on her incisors were any indication (most likely, in fact, gout) but the beady eye of the sea being rose, if only to generally spy on the comers and goers. Maybe she'd find him yet? Maybe she wouldn't need to fill up on appetisers.


    Today at 1:39 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "...How silence grows under the moon... And it's always gone so soon..."


    Today at 1:40 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Lord Sincarnat pulled his daughter closer... closer... as he wept


    Today at 1:41 PM

  • Tegan:
    "Oof!" Is all Metris can communicate the air being forcefully expelled from her lungs. Her red foam earphones are knocked askew, and Oh Gods was her dad singing? Metris shoves Lord Sincarnat away, trying to stop him from ruining her life even more. She couldn't stand more than one funeral in a week. "See to our guests, Father. You've got a duty to cry on everyone equally."


    Today at 1:41 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Grigori intended to be late. Fashionably late. Such being the habit of the familial black sheep. Bursting through the doors of the Castle banquet hall with suitable dramatic flair, however, he discovered that his dramatic entrance had been spoiled by the sudden watery-based demise of a certain Prince: the scream perfectly intercepting and overshadowing his arrival.


    Today at 1:42 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    From the recesses of the primordial pool did she rise, the mighty Verulastra, queller of the storms, ender of lives -- petite, white haired maiden in a surprisingly dry knee-length ball dress. Hopefully no one had noticed the displaced water, or the leviathan suddenly evaporating to leave a fair maiden in its seashell-encrusted wake.


    Today at 1:44 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela watched from behind the crowds, sickened by the apparent fatherly love. As if monsters could truly feel anything other than viciousness. And with that same vicious love Sela looked about him, searching. He needed no costume to fit in, his appearance had always been unnerving. A man of the wild such as he needed but a bright red armor and a matching eyepatch to fit in. Monstrous he had to be in order to kill the beasts. And there! His prey. Glimpsed only for as second as the body of the water dweller sprung forth before him! "My lord!" he gasped.


    Today at 1:45 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    With his primary means of making his presence known denied him, Gregori fell back on the age old classic: making a scene. "SINCARNAT! SINCARNAT, YOU POWDERED FOP BASTARD, WHERE ARE YOU."


    Today at 1:46 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Lord Sincarnat released his daughter with a sob, putting the back of one severed arm to his brow in theatrical grief. Metris was right of course - it was too soon to grieve. They had to be strong. Both of them. Strong for his beloved Morvasta. He looked over to Verulastra as she assumed human form and rose from the bloody swimming pool. Other guests were considering taking a dip... but they had to wait until the ghoul-servants fished out the prince's remains. Hygiene is key.


    Today at 1:46 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "Vera, my darling. Forgive me. You are not some beast to be fed. I was overcome with wrath. The grief. The rrrrrrage!" He rolled his tongue while throwing his arms (all four of them) around Verulustra, squeezing her like a sponge to get rid of any remaining water. "I have done you wrong, my little froggie. The people here must not fear. They must adore you." He twisted his head to a nearby couple and scream. "ADORE HER!"


    Today at 1:48 PM

  • Kitti:
    Someone was now shouting behind him. Directly behind him. Practically in his ear, in fact. Deep breaths, calm breaths, not supposed to be drawing any attention to ourselves yet breaths. But wait one moment, was he yelling trying to get the attention of the party's host? Right here? Basil nearly dropped his glass and tried to slip discretely away. This was... more difficult when one accidentally runs full-on into the yeller in question by turning too quickly.


    Today at 1:48 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat clutched his head as Grigori started shouting too. He leant against Verulustra with all his weight while groaning. "He wears upon me, darling. You understand? The wolf... the wolf is here..."


    Today at 1:50 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat tossed one of the severed arms to Sela, assuming him to be a servant


    Today at 1:51 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Lord Sincarnat! It's a pleasure, my pleasure." Verulastra curtsied, as respectfully as she could manage with a face smeared with half a nobleman's remains. "Your adoration does so soothe the hungering soul. Although I must find a different source for appetisers, can't let you enjoy your own platter, can we?" Verulastra chuckled at the mention of Grigori. "Ah, the wolf! A splendid surprise. I thought the only permitted smell of wet dog would have happened to have come from me, but alas!"


    Today at 1:51 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra moved silently among the crowd. Basil had made it in, good. She raised an eyebrow subtly; he was paying a little too much attention to those drinks. For one thing, who knew what drinks here might even contain, and two, getting drunk out of his skull on a mission this critical (not to mention dangerous) was near the top of the list of Bad Ideas. Her living Masque disguised her as a lower mid-ranked Vampire, allowing her to mingle with the monsters without being eaten (or hopefully, even being noticed). Now where is Cassandra?


    Today at 1:52 PM

  • Tegan:
    Thanks the Elder Horrors below for her Uncle Gregori. Always good for a distraction for her father. And so time to step back, back, aaaaand FUCK OFF.


    Today at 1:52 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris darts into the minglers, disappearing into the crowd.


    Today at 1:53 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Thankfully, Lord Sincarnat and Sela were both crying out for attention in their particular ways, making it all the easier for Zahra to remain invisible.


    Today at 1:53 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris is looking over her shoulder, trying to spot her father spotting her, but collides with someone in front of her instead. What a fucking concept, right. Oh, and someone from the vampire houses by the looks of it, where her mother was sired. "Oh, hah, excuse me." She grins awkwardly at Zahra, showing fangs.


    Today at 1:56 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Shouldering past Basil, privately hoping the man was foolish enough to say something in response, Gregori ripped open his travel coat as he raged forwards. He is, naturally, not wearing a shirt. That simply would not do. Shirts were so limiting. And prone to getting stained. "WHERE IS THAT ROUGE-FACED FUCK, EH? AND IS THAT THE SMELL OF SEA SALT AND BULLSHIT I SCENT ON THE AIR? VERU?"


    Today at 1:56 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris clears her throat and stops smiling like an idiot. "Didn't see you there...right in front of me."


    Today at 1:56 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela caught the arm quite naturally and for a moment he was lost in the severed side of it. How similar the marks were at the top right corner of the torn limb. A tergato's bite could have left similar marks under the right conditions. His breathing was suddenly heavy and he found himself hugging said arm. He looked up to see Sincarnat, but it was not he Sela searched for, "the death of such beauty! How dare!"


    Today at 1:58 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnat found comfort in Verulustra's words (somehow), and sniffed stoically into her shoulder-strap. "Yes, Vera... alas. Such must be our requiem unto the heartless gods. Alas. ALAS! We suffer, as the martyrs of old." He slid down her, leaving the second severed arm tucked in her dress. Then, once upon the ground, he twisted like a sassy ballerina, and glared up at Grigori. "Eeehw!" he declared. "Put on a shirt, you beast! You vile hound of hellfire! You wretch! You dog!" He brought the frill of his sleeve across his mouth, to ward off the werewolf's smell.


    Today at 1:59 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "I knew there was a hint of piss and sheepdog I could smell! How are you, Gregori?" Verulastra gazed around, her eye catching Zahra and Metris but currently paying them less mind than the vocal fisticuffs slowly erupting in front and around her. It usually wasn't men who fought for her attentions but she wasn't about to complain (as long as the disposable nobles came in more gourmet proportions. "The gods may have abandoned us, Count, but we find ourselves lucky to indulge in liquor!"


    Today at 2:00 PM

  • Kitti:
    A brute, as monsters were wont to be, the man shoved his way past Basil without so much as a glance his way. This suited Basil well enough for the moment and he smiled serenely at Gregori, scanning his face as he walked past. The smallest hint of a smoky tendril trailed against Gregori's hand as he passed, committing this man and his slight to memory. To see his that bared chest carved open from sternum to pelvis, ah one day. Basil brought the drink to his lips, nearly humming with the thought. At the rate the man was going, perhaps the count would do it for him.


    Today at 2:00 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat clutched Verulustra's leg while still glaring at the werewolf. "Don't engage him, Vera. Do not meet his eye, nor indulge his barks. Not till he has dressed himself. Oh, it is terrible! My dearest Morvasta not yet cold in her coffin..."


    Today at 2:02 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "No, pardon me, Lady Metris," Zahra said, giving her a curtsy and briefly matching her fanged grin. "There is much to...distract one."


    Today at 2:02 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori's trail of fury and dislodged funeral guests culminated as he loomed above Sincarnat. "THERE YOU ARE, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Suddenly his face split into a wide grin, and he reached down to grip the Count by both shoulders. Pulling him close. He kisses Sincarnat on one cheek, then the other. "You look like dogshit, oh brother mine! Dogshit, I say! And Veru!" Sincarnat was shoved back, that Gregori might lean in and grab the eldritch water horror to plant kisses on her cheeks also. "You smell like booze. Is there booze? Tell me there is, or I am liable to kill someone."


    Today at 2:05 PM

  • Kitti:
    The counts words brought Basil back into the moment, drawing him away from his pleasant daydreams of splitting the ribs open from that broad chest. There would be a time and a place for that happy work but Basil was here on a different business. His own interests first, of course. He tried to weave around the growing knot of people to the edge of the room, making his way toward the shimmering coffin. If Morvasta was truly dead, that would indeed be something. The count was at least putting on quite a show of it.


    Today at 2:06 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "If only he would make a dogged pursuit of basic fashion, your dearest Morvasta would not turn sleeplessly in her casket. For shame!" Verulastra found some small comfort in Sincarnat's company, planting a small kiss on Grigori's palm as a show of respect. "Grigori! It depends where the winds take your fancy, I suppose. I'm yet to raid the larder much myself, although for a man of...esteem such as yourself, I'm sure we could pilfer a brandy without frustrating the count's staff...too much."


    Today at 2:07 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnat gasped, whimpered, then collapsed against Sela when the werewolf flung him aside. "Defend me!" he cried dramatically while latching onto the disguised hunter. He ended up behind Sela's shoulder, then did a double-take at the severed arm he held. The count snatched it back with a jealous glare, and watched the werewolf and sea monster interact.


    Today at 2:08 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris plays the good hostess and engages in this small talk, because it would have made her mother happy. But what she really wants to do is get wasted on blood with mint schnapps and scream with the gibbering horrors. Which was always soothing. Instead, like a fucking spaz, she blurts out. "Not nearly enough distraction! I'm going to have to drink myself blind so I can stop staring at that coffin." She glances a drinks tray across them, her white eyes flash blood red as a liquid shadow envelops the two flutes and re-materializes them into her hands. She offers one flute of blood to the vampire. "What's your name? I've never seen you from Mother's former house before. Are we related?"


    Today at 2:09 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris takes a quick slurp of her blood drink. "Or, ya know, is this some diplomat thing?"


    Today at 2:11 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    You could call Gregori's expression of amusement a howl of laughter (though that might be too on the nose). "The fuck is the point of pilfering brandy, if you are not frustrating someone as you do it?"


    Today at 2:12 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    There is a flash of lightning beyond the ballroom's gothic windows. Through the rain, one can see dust storms and meteor-strikes churning up the wilderness. The planet is dying, all contact lost with other villages and castles in the realm. Truly the world is falling into the Dark Ages... and only here, in Castle Limadoru, does some vestige of civility remain.


    Today at 2:12 PM

  • Mglo:
    Upon the flash of light Sela too gripped onto the Count, for a moment forgetting his hate. "The storms are brewing... they'll be coming," he spewed in awe. He


    Today at 2:16 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "My bloodline is not so promi--" Zahra said, interrupted by Lord Sincarnat himself grabbing someone nearby and shouting "Defend me!" dramatically. She turned her attention back to Metris. "My condolences on your loss,"


    Today at 2:16 PM

  • Kitti:
    Closer, closer to the coffin... it sounds like the count is quite busy for the moment and there might not be a better time than now to try to get an up-close view of Morvasta. As he nears, a tinge of a frown creeps over Basil's lips. She looks so pristine. Too pristine. The urge to drag her out of that little box and make her suffer as she made others suffer... Basil took another breath though the frown could not be as easily banished as his violent desires. She sure looks dead. He glanced around, finding the count with his gaze. Was he... dancing with a man and the severed arms?


    Today at 2:16 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Well I suppose we should go make a general nuisance of ourselves then shall we? Can't have a party without petty larceny, property damage, and whoever....I mean whatever the spread is for delectable food in this esteemed abode." Verulastra found herself enjoying her position of minor power, the frustration of the Count turning the smudged bloodstains on her face a dainty sky-spread of pink within the crimson. "That is if the count doesn't want to join in on our devilish merriment."


    Today at 2:17 PM

  • Tegan:
    (OOC: I think Sincarnat grabbed Sela)


    Today at 2:18 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    With her peripheral vision, Zahra could see that Basil was close to the body. Now if he could just place a Scarab (a small, enchanted mechanical insect that, if it could get inside the sarcophagus, could test the corpse for any enchantments or eldrich forces at work that might be able to bring her back, or fake her death).


    Today at 2:19 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Far below, one can almost hear the peasants weeping. The gas-powered lamps provided by Lord Sincarnat flicker as heartless watchmen patrol the floating streets, enforcing curfew. All maidens must be in their beds, necks cleaned and corsets tight. All exquisite boys must comb their hair, and goodly wives have fresh-baked bread on their windowsills. A time there was, when Lord Sincarnat and Lady Morvasta haunted the streets at night, entering houses and abusing their occupants. Even with Morvasta's passing, the laws have not changed. Still the people must prepare themselves... to pay tribute.


    Today at 2:20 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "OF COURSE HE DOESN'T, SEA WOMAN. HE IS IN MOURNING, CLAIMS HE. MOURNING!" Gregori threw his arms up, knocking aside a chair in an intentionally unintentional display of aggression. "Claims our esteemed sister is deceased, does the fop. Our dear Lady Morvasta."


    Today at 2:22 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori kicked a chair, by way of dramatic pause. "RIDICULOUS."


    Today at 2:22 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris nods politely to Zahra's odd mannerisms. She still holds the other flute of blood for Zahra, but catches her looking at her mother's coffin...No, at a man by her mother's coffin. "Oh...Well, you could try me. Mother insisted I know all the vampire houses."


    Today at 2:22 PM

  • Mglo:
    From his belt Sela produced a sketchbook of drawings so detailed and vibrant with color. He ripped out a page and folded into the Count's pocket. Turning to Gregori he said, "can't mourn for your own sister can you?"


    Today at 2:25 PM

  • Kitti:
    If Morvasta was dead, it would almost be a disappointment, Basil mused. He had begun to reach out one careful hand to feel for an opening in the coffin's glossy exterior when a voice from the gaggle of monsters piqued his interest. It was Gregori's, which only gave Basil additional incentive to listen as he committed the voice to memory. The sentiment expressed was more interesting by far, however. So there were more who doubted, skeptics even among their kind? He pressed his tongue to his teeth. The circumstances were unusual, it was hardly a surprise. Not having seen Metris, Basil ran a thumb along the coffin's edge.


    Today at 2:25 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnat pushes Sela towards Grigori, keeping the hunter at the end of his severed arm. With the arm and the hunter, he now has two barriers between himself and the werewolf. "Dead she is, my beastly brother. DEAD!" His cry shakes the ballroom. "I found my beloved, in her bed, looking as peaceful as a..."


    Today at 2:25 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat pauses, and scowls at the piece of paper which his slow-responding servant has placed there.


    Today at 2:26 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    He gives a little cry, holding both his hands away from the pocket which Sela has befouled. "Ooh!" He waves his hands, looking around for assistance. "Ooh!" He starts using the severed arm to fish the paper out. Best he not touch it directly... he might catch something.


    Today at 2:27 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Several beetles drop out of the linen that wraps the severed arm


    Today at 2:28 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Well then, more liquor for us, dear Gregori! To cope with our esteemed Morvasta's untimely passing. We must stay strong and not lose hope. At least for the Count, and each other."


    Today at 2:28 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Lady Morvasta's corpse gazes down at Basil, preserved in its glass case. Her expression is hidden behind a porcelain mask, and a body once robed in the black armour of a vampire queen is now replaced with bridal white. She looks at peace. She looks as if she has moved beyond the troubles of this world.


    Today at 2:29 PM


  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Ravenghast," Zahra replied. She had a carefully-crafted backstory of course, but how much scrutiny could it withstand, here in the belly of the beast, as it were? "Oh, thank you," she said, taking the flute of blood and sipping daintily from it. The things one had to do undercover... "Do you think she could yet live?" she said, glancing at Gregori as he shouted out his theatrical skepticism.


    Today at 2:29 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta


    Today at 2:29 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    The growl was low, almost lost beneath the din of the gothic hall. In it's wake Gregori moved, closing the distance between himself and Sela in but a few heartbeats. No smiles, anymore. He pressed his face down next to Sela's, inches away from contact. Letting his breath fall against the man's head. To assert dominance, naturally. "The fuck did you just say, pisspot?"


    Today at 2:29 PM

  • Tegan:
    Shit. Metris actually DIDN'T know Ravenghast. Quick! Change the subject or you'll look like an idiot! Metris nods to the cute guy (Basil) by her mother's coffin. "H-hey is he your friend? Why don't you invite him over once he's done paying respects. I'd be happy to show you around some of the other wings." Was she going to make FRIENDS AT LAST? Thanks, Mom. OK, chill out Metris. Don't say weird shit like that. That sort of talk is why your only friend was an imaginary rock n roll chimp.
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    Today at 2:31 PM

  • Mglo:
    The stench breathed upon Sela was enough to send anyone into another cosmic dimension, if Sela could but be transported into the body of a Tergato and perhaps flow through its bioluminescent veins that would be enough. Alas, there he stood gathering the strength of his entire being just to stand upright. His eyes glazing over with the effort.


    Today at 2:34 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta clutches a posy of bone-white flowers in her death grip. They seem almost to tremble as Basil stands before her. Perhaps just a trick of the eye. There is no air in the glass coffin. She couldn't possibly...


    Today at 2:34 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori jabbed a finger against Sela's chest, shoving him back with it. "I asked you a question, pisspot."


    Today at 2:35 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    Behind Sela, a half-dozen ghoul-servants are rushing to Count Sincarnat's aid and helping him remove the piece of paper from his pocket. The count fans himself while recovering from the ordeal


    Today at 2:35 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "My staff - they presume! These wretched servants! No loyalty! No quality. A time there was, my darlings - a precious time, when manservants knew respect!" He swans between various groups of monster-aristocrats, soliciting their sympathy and stealing their amuse-bouches.


    Today at 2:37 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    While the men exchanged bravado and testosterone, Verulastra sought to make her own fun, gently drifting from the rim of the brawl out into the party (just close enough to entertain Gregori after the pre-amble -- a fine young serving girl wandering about the partygoers, in reach of Metris and Zahra. Drifting lazily around the girl's shoulders, before giving her the lightest of shoves toward some nearby partygoers. Her eyes attempted to catch either of the others, but with Sincarnat's disapproval she caught his gaze. "Simply no manners! Spilling wine on this lovely dress I got myself!"


    Today at 2:39 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Behind Verulustra, several guests are now slipping into the swimming pool, now that the mummy has been removed. Many peel off clothes to reveal scales, tentacles, elemental sheens and lycanthropic fur. She pities the pool-cleaner who will be sent here tomorrow morning.


    Today at 2:40 PM

  • Kitti:
    The bridal attire of the currently-assumed-to-be deceased disgusted Basil and he fought distraction from a variety of contemplations that all end in the dress soaking red in blood (a few scenarios in which the blood is his own as one can never underestimate such creatures and rising from the dead still seems fully plausible). He pressed his hand more insistently against the glass trying to find some crack, an opening of any kind. Movement from the edge of his gaze caused him to pause, however. With a deepened frown, he slid his eyes again over the body of Morvasta, focused now. Had he imagined it? But what else could have pulled his attention so? He stared as though willing the woman to concede defeat, to confess a prank. How did the count get the damned body in the coffin?


    Today at 2:40 PM

  • Mglo:
    "I said," began Sela as he took in better air though his mind was still confused, "how could you kill the most beautiful thing in this world and not mourn it?! Tergatum hold so much mystery and potential to this world which you live in!" Who was he talking to again? He looked back at the whimpering Count and then at the people jumping into the pool. "What were we talking about?"


    Today at 2:41 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Him? No...but he is not unpleasant to look at," Zahra replied. To her surprise, the young Lady almost seemed...nervous. Zahra looked back, at the coffin this time. "It seems so impossible that one so mighty as your dear Mother could perish so unexpectedly...and for no reason. Do you think he could be right," she said with a nod toward the Werewolf, "and she could yet return to us?"


    Today at 2:42 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Grigori has no idea was a "Tergatum" is and why he should give a fuck.


    Today at 2:43 PM

  • Kitti:
    Though the body was now still as the grave, the niggling sensation that there had been something nipped at the edges of his mind. The intense stare, however, bore a single fruit. He saw a crack in the glass, hairline fine, an arm's length above his head. He pressed his forehead to the glass, affecting a stifled sob as he reached up with one hand to the crack.


    Today at 2:43 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori blinked. The man had forgotten their argument! Their growing feud! His developing excuse to unleash some form of gratuitous ultraviolence! That simply would not do. "Are you soft of brain, Mister Soon-To-Be-Corpse, or simply possessing a death wish? Are you telling me my dear sister could be felled by something as simple as mortality? RIDICULOUS." He loomed in towards Sela's face again. "Someone's gotta be around to keep the whispers at bay, no?"


    Today at 2:45 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela's interest was peaked, "is mortality not final? Are you saying there's life beyond flesh? Is that why you tear bodies so freely?" Sela thought on this. Was this not also what the tergatum behavior seemed to point to? Keeping something at bay...


    Today at 2:49 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnat spat out a mouthful of appetizers before swiping his severed arm, bringing it down upon a servant holding a food tray. "THE VEAL! THE VEAL! I TOLD YOU! I COMMANDED YOU. AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME!?" He pummeled the servant into the ground, wedged the hand of the severed arm inside the protesting man's mouth, then finally tipped an entire buffet table on top of him. As the crash echoed through the ballroom, Sincarnat turned away while clutching his head. "I have a bastard behind the eyes. Why are you all so cruel?"


    Today at 2:49 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris feels something twist and knot in her guts, wrenching its way to her heart. "I... She's..." Suddenly, she felt hot beneath her suit. Metris can feel herself sinking, swooning. It felt like the world was about to fucking end. No really. Zahra had a double. "Why would she do--" CRASH A server, one from the lab, came crashing into her, soaking Metris' suit in drinks. Metris looks to the fallen golem, picking up the glass shards, then to her suit, then to the white haired girl who also had a stained dress (Vera). "Oh no! You know what gets that out? Club soda! And possibly more blood! Come on, we can both get some."


    Today at 2:49 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The crack in the glass... the one Basil is reaching for... it is a little bit bigger now... Maybe another inch or so...


    Today at 2:52 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori stepped back, appraising Sela as though for the first time. There was a more thoughtful tone to his voice all of a sudden, the rage seemingly forgotten. "You ask a lot of questions for one of my brother's bodyguards. Who are you supposed to be?"


    Today at 2:54 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Outside, a lightning strike illuminates the neighbouring kingdom of Fleighscorn. It is now fully aflame, the wildfires that began last week now claiming the last city. The horizon chokes with ash. Just one more land circling the drain no longer....


    Today at 2:55 PM

  • Kitti:
    With his forehead to the glass and thoughts clambering over one another like a jar of beetles (did it move again? did it move at all? the noise, footsteps, no, the clatter of glass...), Basil hardly noticed anything that could be considered amiss about the crack and was simply pleased that his fingers have found purchase. He tugs, soft as a whisper, trying to feel for how it would open and balance his weight against it to ensure it came just slightly ajar. No one else need see that it was opening, just wide enough for him to slip his glittering burden inside. His gasp when he felt it yield was mercifully easy to disguise as distress lest anyone have heard. He fished inside his breast pocket for the scarab and lifted it gingerly to the crack, prostrate now against the coffin with both arms raised.


    Today at 2:58 PM

  • Mglo:
    "I followed a Tergato here. I didn't actually know about the funeral," Sela said distractedly as he watched the fire burn in the distance. "A tergato you killed," he revealed as impending doom sat in the pit of his stomach. Would those lovely creatures also die with the end of the world? He hoped not. "So savagely too..."


    Today at 2:58 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    A chair is brought for Count Sincarnat, and placed among the spilled food from the buffet table (where the servant he punished is playing dead). He sits down upon it while wiping his brow with a handkerchief. His other hand reaches blindly for Verulustra. "Vera, darling... come sit with me. Tell me of Morvasta. You two were always such dear friends. Tell me of your voyages upon the Rossive Seas. Sing to me. It will soothe my troubled mind."


    Today at 2:59 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Grigori killed quite a few things on his way here, it's true...


    Today at 3:00 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    By reflex, Zahra avoided the spilling drinks with a deft passing step. Metris shifted her attention to the sea-horror and a quest for club soda, and perhaps more blood (the latter did not seem at all likely to help get stains out of clothing, but monsters were going to monster. Metris hadn'd seemed able or willing to answer any questions, but now at least she wouldn't be asking them either. "Excuse me, I should pay my respects before the mayhem begins in earnest," she said to Metris, then headed for Morvasta's coffin.


    Today at 3:00 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori spat into the glass of a passing servant. "The fuck is a Tergato?"


    Today at 3:01 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "Veraaaaa!" the count howls while waving his hand at her, his face buried in his other sleeve.


    Today at 3:05 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Our voyages were....fascinating, usually. I remember one time we had managed to follow an old spice magnate's map that led us neatly in the pocket of an undiscovered island settlement. Wasn't long before your darling Morvastra was richer and I was well fed, but by the Above it was a fun adventure."


    Today at 3:05 PM

  • Mglo:
    "A bioluminescent monster of mysteri- here," Sela produced from his belt the same sketchbook from which he'd taken a page to gift to the Count in hopes it would develop in him a curiosity for the beings. Pictures of an equine species the size of a wolf (with bananas for size reference) covered the pages. "You can't have forgotten it, even with all the killing you do." Sela was sure of it. Who could possibly forget such a colorful and gay being.


    Today at 3:05 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat lowered his hand as Verulustra spoke, and then his glare locked on those around him. "Listen!" he hissed. The he launched from the chair and started swatting people. "LISTEN TO THE STORY!"


    Today at 3:07 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    A ghoul servant stands with the drawing that Sela tried to pass to Sincarnat. The ghoul gurgles while studying the Tergato creature. The colours... so beautiful... so mesmerizing.


    Today at 3:08 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "See, the island was actually part of a small archipelago, and we ran thirty or so raids upon them? I think in their native tongue our names were feared as Great Leviathan And Lady Death...or lesbian pufferfish and monster wife. I wasn't sure, but I think we did our part in murdering that particular dialect."


    Today at 3:08 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Reaching out, Gregori ran his taloned fingers across the sketchbook page. "Such beauty, etched on paper." His hand snapped out to wrench the sketchbook shut, driving it against Sela's chest. "But why preserve such beauty, when all things come to an end soon? This I know, bodyguard-artist. Better than anyone else present." He clapped his hand against the man's shoulder, with enough force to shake bone. "Come now, you will drink with me. And in return I shall forgive your insult." He paused. "Or perhaps kill you. I haven't made up my mind yet."


    Today at 3:09 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat barked with laughter while clapping his hands together. "Yes! YES! More stories! All of you - speak of Morvasta! Tell the tale of my beloved. Sing for her! SCREEEEEAM FOR HER!"


    Today at 3:09 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "YOU, GHOUL." Gregori hurled an empty glass at the head of a passing servant. "BRING ME DRINK, OR I WILL BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH YOUR OWN INSIDES."


    Today at 3:10 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Cassandra hasn't made it, Zahra thought. I hope she is alright, she thought, but quickly pushed her worries aside. We will have to carry out the mission without her. She had hoped that Morvasta's passing would trigger a succession struggle among the Court, or at least get the fiends worrying about which one of them might be next. Instead...well, she wasn't sure exactly what was happening instead, well except for the now complete destruction of Fleighscorn.


    Today at 3:10 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Basil's strange scarab invention wriggled inside the coffin and skittered over the body of Morvasta, vanishing inside her dress.


    Today at 3:11 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris finds herself ditched and soaked in booze. Again. Which was just as well because those questions Zahra asked sort of caught her off guard, even though literally EVERYONE is saying it. Finally though, Metris could go somewhere more private to finish up this panic attack and she darted away again, loosening her buttoned collar and tie. The girl hides among the ice sculptors posed around the pool, resting her fevered head atop a decapitated ice sculpture. Around her neck, tiny voices sing from her earphones ~is this the real life~is this just fantasy~ Metris groans bleakly. The world is blowing the fuck up and she can't even be cool at her own mom's funeral! "I wish you were here, Jorvo."


    Today at 3:11 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Forgive my impertinence, Count, but I do find myself hungry for a morsel. Do you perchance have a specific guest in attendence? I hoped to seek his acquaintance so I may...acquaint him with the bottom of your swimming pool, if I might be so brash. Otherwise your amusee bouche has been plentiful for sustenance so far." Verulastra rolled her head around her shoulders, tapping her fingers against the inside of her palm. He was here, and he'd die by the end of this party if she had anything to say about it.


    Today at 3:12 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    A swarm of kreiger-bats flew past the window - a flock seven-thousand strong - fleeing the molten floods that had swallowed the Valley of Istranga. They would try their luck further north, each one of them unawares that those lands too were disintegrating. Their safest bet would be to roost here, on Limadoru Castle, like everyone else. But they were foolish beasts, and the collapse of the magnetic poles was throwing their minds into disarray. The flew away to their deaths... a black cloud, doomed and frantic.


    Today at 3:15 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnt scowled at Verulastra while the light from the windows was eclipsed by the swarm. "A specific guest? SPECIFIC? No, we have no specific guests. Only miserable, generic ones. YOU BORE ME!" he screamed at those around him, before twisting his head back to Verulastra. "Whom? Whomst? Whofore do you seek? Spill your dirty little secrets, my wriggling, revelly kitten! My tentacled tormentress. My fish-flavoured femme fatale!"


    Today at 3:17 PM

  • Kitti:
    Basil was quite ready to be done pretending to be sad about Morvasta. He had also had more than enough of pressing his face so close to the eerily perfect porcelain face that smiled beatifically back at him while he fantasized about breaking the bones of her throat like one would kill a chicken. Pulling himself away from the coffin with a push to the glass, Basil cast a glance around the room to check the state of the party. He was momentarily caught off guard by the shriek of bats racing past the outside window and the chaos outside. Surely the count had a hand in the devastation and his death might well heal the world... or it would be amusing, anyway. One of the two. Sighting Zahra, Basil began to head toward her, though was waylaid by a tray of drinks that came too close to his face to resist. He'd earned it, after all.


    Today at 3:17 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela hugged the sketchbook as close as Gregori had pushed it onto his chest. The physical shaking of his being had not delivered him from the words he'd been shocked to hear from the once thought brute. Absent minded, he nodded to the call for drink ignoring the threat of death as surely they were going to die soon enough. "I suppose I've been blind to the end of things... too obsessed with beauty." Sela looked about him, a near broken being. Gregori had given him a beating of the soul to be sure. The servant hurriedly arrived with drink. "Never thought I'd be jealous of someone like the Count, no offense since he's your kin, but it'd be nice to worry about the little things instead."


    Today at 3:18 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    As Basil departed from the glass coffin, the crack in it widened by another inch...


    Today at 3:19 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "I require one known as Mobius, Richard Mobius. Sometimes known as Dick. I don't know if you'd intend to have slavekeepers at such an esteemed occasion, Count, but I believe his immediate cease from this world would at least give my fellow guests a main course to die for. Fear does help to saturate the meat's flavour, after all, why not make a delicious spectacle of a man's death for the masses?"


    Today at 3:19 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Good, Basil has placed the Scarab, Zahra thought. Soon we will know--'Richard Mobius?' She did not know the man, and had no love for slavekeepers, but his initials... Her own anonymous benefactor signed his missives only with 'M.R.'...too close for comfort.


    Today at 3:23 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "Mobius?"


    Today at 3:24 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "MOBIUS!"


    Today at 3:24 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Snatching the drinks from the servant's hands, then backhanding the creature by way of dismissal, Gregori settled back to indulge in some alcohol. "Sincarnt loses himself in his festivities just as you lose yourself in your art. It is the way of us all, at the end of things. Prisoners to our distractions. Anything to keep our eyes to the ground, away from the fires on the horizon." The flames of burning Istranga glint across his glass as he necked it, before he then hurled it against the floor to shatter.


    Today at 3:24 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Count Sincarnat launched out of his chair and pointed a dread finger at Verulastra. "HOW DARE YOU UTTER HIS NAME!?"


    Today at 3:25 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "I intend to dispose of the scoundrel for your entertainment, Count. And the entertainment of our fellow esteemed guests. Make a show of the man who owned his "Aqua Land" camp down on foreign shores, keeping elementals at bay through starvation and general, unenthusiastic tyranny. May we do the honours?"


    Today at 3:27 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat snatched a fellow-guest's wine glass, sloshed the wine in Verulastra's face, then pointed with the empty glass at the coffin across the room. "My immortal beloved, not yet cold in her casket... and you DARE - YOU FUCKING DARE - to utter the name of Richard Mobius?!"


    Today at 3:27 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Servants around the room winced at the terrible faux-pas that Verulastra had committed.


    Today at 3:27 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    With as low a bow as she could muster, Verulastra lowered herself in apology. "My lord, Count, I meant no disgrace upon your title. May we forget this faux pas and return to our mourning and celebration of Lady Morvastra's life?"


    Today at 3:29 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris tips her head back, and the bottle with it, emptying it and then dropping it to the floor with the others. That'll HICCUP do it. Metris then pushes herself clumsily from the marble pillar, and staggers over to her mother's coffin, starring down at it. "You know mom, I miss you." She whispers. "But why does everyone want you to come back so badly? Come back to what? To THIS?" What use were monsters and mothers if there was no finality in life. "But you know, and I know, that even if you could, you wouldn't. Because what good is coming back now? Just to watch it all go?"


    Today at 3:30 PM

  • Kitti:
    Basil had been trying to carefully ignore all the yelling - there were so many drinks left undrunk, after all? but it was becoming a challenge when the Sincarnat and Veru were shouting so. As long as no one was paying him any mind, it was still only a minor concern, however. Not something to put down his drink for. Basil took another for the road and slipped into a pocket of partygoers close enough to listen but not part of the kerfuffle proper. "Those earrings make your eyes shimmer like emeralds offsetting glass," he purred at a woman to his right. Basil enjoyed drinking but these drinks did not agree with him.


    Today at 3:31 PM

  • Mglo:
    How very wise the wolf had turned out to be. So Sela took a note from the page of *his* book and chugged the drink, soon replaced by another. "Well then, cheers for the drink that provides an alternate distraction not of our choosing" He said, raising the glass haphazardly as it had so soon affected him. The murmuring began on account of Sincarnat's displeasure. "Do monster funerals have entertainmimene- entertain.. ment of a different sort?"


    Today at 3:31 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris then notices something, an imperfection on a deathless face. Was that...a crack?


    Today at 3:32 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat plunged the glass against his chest, twisted it as he howled. "Would you cut out my heart, Cruel Vera? Would you sully this beautiful night, with talk of that monkey-man? That ape-shuffler. That purveyor of rare and insolent monkeys?" He pointed the glass at her, trembling and wrathful. "Know him as a slaver of the sea, do you? Well... how very fortunate for you. For lo, after he had poured his filth into the sea, he slurped and slumped his way onto the land like a mangled otter.... and there, he became that parasite, that foul abomination, that whoremonger rat of mud and villainy by which he blackened the doorways of my court!"


    Today at 3:32 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat gets his spit all over Verulastra


    Today at 3:32 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra pulled out a pocketwatch on a chain and popped it open, looking for readouts from the Scarab. Bat creatures few by with screeches and the beats of leathery wings, announcing further apocalyptic destruction. M.R. had a hypothesis that the monsters were draining the world of life metaphysically as they drained the people of it physically. If she and Basil could somehow destroy the monsters here, perhaps the world could begin to heal. But there was another, darker hypothesis: that it was the monsters that sustained the world, and perhaps whatever monster had created it in the first place had become bored of its arena of suffering.


    Today at 3:33 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "...Metris..."


    Today at 3:34 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Then Zahra saw Metris looking into her mother's sarcophagus. I can't let her see the Scarab! "Lady Metris, are you alright?" she said, approaching the girl. "I had thought you meant to go and clean your clothes."


    Today at 3:34 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Metris looked up and realized she had placed herself directly in her mother's eyeline. The porcelain mask was looking right at her. What a coincidence!


    Today at 3:35 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori's head twisted around to regard Sela, a ricktus-like grin on his face. "You speak as though you are not one of us, bodyguard-artist who's name I have not yet heard."


    Today at 3:35 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris leaps back, startled. "Holy dammit Christmas!"


    Today at 3:35 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Zahra's pocketwatch spun, the hands on it blipping and dancing. A strange readout to be sure... but usually corpses don't get any kind of reaction from the device.


    Today at 3:36 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris sees Zahra staring at her. "Uh..."


    Today at 3:36 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat smashes the glass at Verulastra's feet. "He sold me monkeys. EVIL MONKEYS. Callous, insolent, anarchist monkeys. They had no respect. No decency. Fucking Richard Mobius, I curse his name, and all of his simian wares!"


    Today at 3:37 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris points to the coffin. "There's a..crack." Hey wait, wasn't Zahra's friend over here last?


    Today at 3:37 PM

  • Kitti:
    The woman who had been the first victim of Basil's disaster of a compliment was still trying to work out if it was, in fact, a compliment when he turned his attentions to one of the nearby men around whose shoulders a fine cape of fur was draped. "Could I... pet you?" he inquired, eyes drifting lazily along the length of the man's body but settling on the cape. He might as well have lost hearing for all he was paying attention to the scene with Sincarnat now.


    Today at 3:38 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra snapped her watch closed. "My apologies, I did not mean to startle you," she said. "A crack? Please, we mustn't draw attention to it. There will be no sarcophagus artisans left in the Kingdom if your father learns of it."


    Today at 3:39 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "He is of sin and evil, m'lord. Plain and simple. I shall not utter his name, as this is a time of mourning for you and your family, but know my wish is merely to provide a spectacle in a man's death, and perhaps your servants may conjure up a feast from his gout-infestation of a mortal husk, if you do so wish it upon him. We shall rid his anarchist monkeys from your memory with fire, or however one might depose a simian."


    Today at 3:39 PM

  • Mglo:
    "Unlike everyone here probably, I have never been to a funeral gathering. I have held funerals for the Tergato but I wouldn't call that a gathering. They're certainly nothing like this funeral here... more like altars really." Again, Sela flipped through his sketchbook, looking for the funeral displays he had once built at a Tergato grave. The carnage of other beings displayed over the altar in various modes of offerings. "Name's Sela. Guess I'm more of an artist than a bodyguard as it turns out..." he revealed sadly. After all, he was drinking with the killer of his last target.


    Today at 3:40 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat collapsed by Verulastra's feet, sobbing amid the shattered glass. Then he waved one hand blindly. "Fetch him..." It was but a whimper at first, but when his servants did not respond he launched to his feet and roared. "FETCH HIM! BRING THAT FUCKING WARLOCK, RICHARD MOBIUS, RIGHT HERE. PREPARE THE POOL! I SHALL FEED HIM TO VERA MYSELF!" He clapped his hands and called to everyone. "A spectacle, my luvvies! An execution! I give you two in one night. For Morvasta! For my beloved!"


    Today at 3:41 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris doesn't dare glance down at the coffin again, for fear her mother would still be staring. "Your friend was here last. Where did he get to? Maybe he saw something." She whispers, even lower. "If we can figure this out, we can spare another genocide."


    Today at 3:42 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Zahra's pocket watch spins and whirrs, practically trembling in her pocket.


    Today at 3:43 PM

  • LuckycoolHawk9:
    Sometimes it was hard to be noticed. Especially when you are a small thing. Luke the tiny sleeping fairy had been napping when the man screamed. He woke up to whatever this was.


    Today at 3:44 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori turned properly then, once more looming over Sela. "What brings you here, Sela the artist? To this place we can see the end of the world from? Are you seeking something?" His smile widened. "Someone?"


    Today at 3:46 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Yes, let's find him," Zahra said, gently leading Metris away from the sarcophagus. "'Another genocide?' Has something like this happened before?" The problem with monster genocides, is that they usually left no survivors (other than monsters, naturally), so learning more about them--especially anything that would give clues as to how to stop them--was always difficult.


    Today at 3:46 PM

  • Mglo:
    "Ah perhaps I could make art for Morvasta with what remains of the warlock, should Veralustra leave material behind!" Sela suggested in his alcohol influenced state. There was no Tergato in the vicinity after all, why not cling to his organic art as the last thing remaining to him before the impending end of the world.


    Today at 3:46 PM


  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Count, I thank you for preparing this fine banquet for me and your guests. May the show be as gory and stimulating for the senses as you would ever hope!" Verulastra began her parade out toward the pool.


    Today at 3:46 PM

  • Kitti:
    As it turned out, flattery might just get you everywhere. At least into quite a lot of social circles. The man had smiled indulgently once he'd figured out exactly what Basil was getting at and let him run his fingers over the fur cape. Having run out of drinks and close enough to see the flailing count, however, Basil was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the more serious goingsons. They were now planning for the execution of a man named... what was it again? Robius Mickey? Morcard... Richard.... Richard Mobius! It seemed familiar now that Basil was thinking about it but he couldn't place where. He was now absently stroking someone's hair, trying to remember where he'd heard the name before.


    Today at 3:49 PM

  • Mglo:
    "How intuitive of you! I am, in fact, hoping to see more Tergato mystery at the end of things! I noticed a sort of pattern to their movement. Seemingly heading this way. I only followed the one, but it's entirely possible there could be more before this is all over. Listen to me! Can't let go. I just can't let go... You spoke about what the Count and I lose ourselves in. What do you lose yourself in anyway?" Sela took another gulp of his drink.


    Today at 3:50 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris nods solemnly as she searches the crowd for signs of Basil. "Oh yeah, one time a tanner got his Tergato handbag wrong and Father had the man's entire family's hopes and dreams devoured." She recounts those hopes and dreams not even tasting of much. "Oh hey, there's your friend. Hello, excuse me, sir!" Oh wow, this person was rubbing his face on another guest's hair. "A...moment of your time? It's about my mother's coffin."


    Today at 3:50 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris waits for Zahra to introduce them.


    Today at 3:51 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Several guests scrambled out of the swimming pool as Verulastra returned to it. Meanwhile, a group of servants entered, dragging a man in chains. The fact that they responded so quickly to the Count's command spoke not only to their competence as servants, but also to the fact that the dungeons were very close to the ballroom.


    Today at 3:51 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The man known as Richard Mobius was a haggard, decrepit type, thin from starvation, his white hair wild and overgrown. Verulastra could hardly reconcile this poor human with the slaver captain she had once crossed tentacles with. Mobius was a soul as broken as the grimy spectacles through which he stared, wild-eyed, at the guests.


    Today at 3:52 PM


  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori leaned back, seeming to relax again as he accepted another drink from a ghoul servant. "Violence."


    Today at 3:52 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "You fools!" Mobius cried while pulling against the four chains that bound him to the ghoul-guards. "Don't you see what's happening? You're all doomed! This castle is doomed! You have to stop it, before it's too late! There are holes in the sky! Why don't you see them!"


    Today at 3:53 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"


    Today at 3:53 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat orders his men to administer a sound beating to the old man


    Today at 3:54 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat clutches his head as knocked-out teeth rain onto the buffet table behind him. "He is as bad as the monkeys he sold me. I cannot abide this."


    Today at 3:55 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Ah... Mobius." Veralastra snarled, refusing to bow to the man's level. "The only holes you will see will be the inky voids left after I pluck those orbs from your sockets." Uncharacteristically, the sea being placed a solemn finger upon the haggard man's chin. "Do you repent your sin? Do you regret keeping me and my kind enslaved to you, as entertainment?" She towered above the haggard stranger. "For the entertainment of my fellow guests, why don't you act like a good man and beg for your pathetic, wretched life?"


    Today at 3:55 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Richard Mobius laid on the edge of the pool, his bones broken, his face swollen up with bruises. He groaned as the sea monster dribbled on him. "You...." He coughed up some blood. "Forgive me... I didn't know... I didn't know they were using the animals... to speak to us..."


    Today at 3:56 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Zahra is starting to think that her pocket-watch will tear a hole in her pocket. It is going berserk


    Today at 3:57 PM

  • Kitti:
    The sight of Mobius was immediately sobering, as is the unhinged shouting directed at him. Extricating himself from the group with whom he'd been becoming acquainted, Basil realised that he had been the object of attention for Zahra and another girl. Mother's coffin? Had he heard correctly? He shot a look to Zahra and then back to the girl, the corners of his mouth curving downward slightly. "Please don't tell me that you witnessed my embarrassing spectacle? I simply... it was..." he broke off, covering his eyes with one hand.


    Today at 3:57 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Nice vibrations though. Oooh.


    Today at 3:57 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "Well actually we haven't met--" Zahra began; somehow Metris was getting fixated on the idea that he was her 'friend' (which was true enough, but not what they were pretending tonight). But now the Count had brought in Mobius, and he was screaming apocalyptic warnings. What good is maintaining my cover, if the world ends? "But Your Highess," she said, moving closer to the Count's party. "Surely his ravings about holes in the sky would make for an amusing story?"


    Today at 3:58 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Your Aqua Land. Where you made us perform, like those monkeys you sold the Count! Do you understand what you are? What we are?" Veralastra gestured to the pool, as she began to decline beneath the inky depths. A solemn, gut-tearing roar from beneath the pool, and she was ready to perform her sonata of gristle.


    Today at 3:59 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat waves to his blood-spattered guards, then points out Zahra. "Have her beaten too. No more stories from the monkey man."


    Today at 3:59 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris shakes her head. "No, it's not about that. Lots of people cry on coffins. But there's a crack in it, now and I would really like to fix it before my dad finds out. Did you see anything strange while you were over there paying your respects?" The screams of Mobius twist her insides up more. But she tries not to look at the man, it will bring back bad memories...


    Today at 4:00 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori was of the opinion that the brutalised man in chains was speaking quite a bit of sense, actually. Suddenly lunging forwards, he shouldered his way over to the spectacle surrounding Mobius. "And who are these 'they', future corpse? Of whom do you speak?"


    Today at 4:00 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Richard Mobius feels the end coming. He rolls onto his side, feeling broken ribs pierce his insides. One trembling hand extends, pointing at the coffin of Morvasta. "They were watching her... they came for her... she.. only she... the last, who they would take... not wretches like you and I. Only she could be redeemed."


    Today at 4:01 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris whinces when Zahra (her new friend) talks to her dad. Bad call. She turns away from Basil, distracted. "W-wait, Dad! She's just super drunk. Go easy on her, huh? I'll say something really mean to her and shatter her self esteem later."


    Today at 4:02 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat lunged towards Gregori. "No! No no no! You will not ruin this, Brother! I will have the monkey-man killed. Vera! VERA! DO IT! EAT HIM! NOW!"


    Today at 4:02 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Several guards were poised to beat the shit out of Zahra. Then they got distracted by Gregori.


    Today at 4:02 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris sees her father is distracted (thanks Uncle) and snatches Zahra by the arm. "Come on, quick."


    Today at 4:02 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori roared, backhanding Sincarnat when he got too close. "CEASE YOUR WHIMPERINGS, FOP. THE FUTURE CORPSE WILL TELL ME OF WHOM HE SPEAKS."


    Today at 4:03 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Several guards knew better than to hesitate when their lord is in danger...


    Today at 4:03 PM

  • Mglo:
    Violence. Sela could relate to that. Perhaps come at it from a different point of view, but all the same. Everyone but the Tergatum deserved it anyway.


    Today at 4:03 PM

  • Kitti:
    "Ah but that means that you did see my shameful tears..." he trailed off, his gaze sharpening on Zahra. He reached out to help Metris pull her away from the threat of danger, his expression unusually serious.


    Today at 4:03 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Gregori vanished under a pile of black knights


    Today at 4:03 PM


  • Tegan:
    Looks back to Basil, whispering. "Quick, you and me and Zahra have a coffin to fix!"


    Today at 4:03 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris runs off with her new friends, clasped in her ....really strong grip.


    Today at 4:04 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    SIncarnat, sprawled out on the floor, began to howl. "VERAAAAAAAAAAAAA! KILL HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"


    Today at 4:04 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    The great leviathan roars from beneath the modest swimming pool, rising almost four heads higher than most guests. A great, serpentine bellow reverberated from her chest, as she picked the feeble man up with her jaws, tossing him into the air, watching his limp body slam into the cold stone, breaking what was left of his spirit.


    Today at 4:04 PM



  • Asmodeus:
    Richard Mobius closed his eyes, and waited for the end, whispering. "Morvasta. They are coming. Be strong."


    Today at 4:04 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "M'lord, may I feast upon this cretin?"


    Today at 4:05 PM

  • Kitti:
    How one is to go about fixing a glass coffin is entirely beyond Basil's understanding but he doesn't argue and instead follows obediently along with Metris and Zahra, glad to have a great many people between himself and the sea monster. Still, there's something about Mobius's words that make Basil feel uneasy.


    Today at 4:05 PM


  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori began to indulge in his other passion, besides drink.


    Today at 4:05 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Mobius's body slammed down onto the side of the pool, his bones (and spectacles) shattered.


    Today at 4:05 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Curses! Zahra thought. Time to act--but wait, in a moment of distraction, Metris and Basil came to her rescue. Fix? Or destroy? Curse you, old man! Your last breath, and you can only speak in cryptic riddles?! She was not without deadly resources at hand, but would any of them be able to stop Morvasta--if that was what she needed to do to save the world?


    Today at 4:07 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat was helped to his feet by the (few) black knights that weren't busy wrestling with Gregori. He clutched his werewolf-bruised face while proclaiming loudly. "Yes! Eat his corpse, Vera. Do it. And you others - I want Gregori thrown out on the streets. This is no place for dogs and monkeys. Vile, hairy creatures. They sullied my wife. Monkeys in her bed chamber, all hours of night. It was blasphemy. All blasphemy! They drove her to an early grave, I am sure of it!"


    Today at 4:08 PM

  • Kitti:
    Basil couldn't help but pause, considering the count's words. What... were the monkeys... in her... all hours... he looked apologetically at Metris.


    Today at 4:09 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    When the hunters and Metris returned to the glass coffin, they saw that the crack was now very, very wide. Anyone who looked this way would see it. On the inside of the glass, the scarab was pressing itself and waving its legs anxiously.


    Today at 4:09 PM

  • Tegan:
    Stares down at the cracked lid with Basil and Zahra. "OK, how do we patch this up? Ice? More glass?" She looks over her shoulder at them. "Maybe we throw a blanket over it and hope no one notices?"


    Today at 4:09 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "Forgive me for being unsightly, Count." spoke Veralastra, dragging Mobius' ragged corpse beneath the depths. A moment passed, then two, and the body returned to the poolside without a head, and Vera's face once again besmirched by a lower-classman's wretched blood. "I find myself sated. Whatever the guests will use the rest of this man's corpse for, I hope they find the utmost entertainment."


    Today at 4:09 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris jumps back when a scarab slams into the glass, hissing, her eyes glowing red. "Fuck is that?!"


    Today at 4:10 PM

  • Kitti:
    Peering closely at the struggling scarab, Basil hummed thoughtfully. "It looks like an insect? Could it have caused the crack? Some sort of corpse beetle perhaps..."


    Today at 4:11 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "There is something more than cracked glass here, Lady Metris," Zahra said. "You need to get clear, for your safety!"


    Today at 4:11 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori had disembowelled the first of the black knights to lunge on him, and had stretched open his jaw to what ought to be impossible proportions in order to bite down on the shoulder of another. He began to shake the knight violently, twisting his attacker back and forth like a ragdoll as the others pressed in about him.


    Today at 4:11 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat dashed towards the pile of wrestling bodies, and landed a kick in Gregori's ribs. "Ha ha!" He then darted away, and looked down at Verulastra. "I'd forgotten all about him in my dungeons. Thank you for reminding me, Vera. You are a dear." He then kicked Mobius's headless corpse for good measure. "Whoring out my beloved to a MONKEY! Burn in hell, you old fruit!"


    Today at 4:11 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela began to sketch the maneuver, so savagely beautiful it had been. Monsters all of them. Hideous in living, but oh so beautiful near death. He was sure Verulastra would be quite a sight to behold upon her last moment. The thought of a dead monster's beauty reminded him that this was a funeral after all. Perhaps he could sketch this Movraska woman if she was truly dead. He moved towards the coffin but saw it was already crowded.


    Today at 4:12 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    ...


    Today at 4:12 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    ..."Metris..."


    Today at 4:12 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Metris looked up again, and again realized she had stepped directly into her mother's eyeline. How did she keep making that mistake?


    Today at 4:13 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris feels her stomach bottom out again, and she falls back letting Zahra and Basil take over. "How did it even get into her coffin? This thing is supposed to be air tight..."


    Today at 4:15 PM

  • Kitti:
    "The crack," Basil mused "is most likely not making for a very airtight coffin. I cannot claim to be an expert on beetles, but they have those hard little legs and shells and such. Perhaps it cracked it somehow to get in?"


    Today at 4:16 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "I don't know--just get clear, get to the other side of the room," Zahra said to Metris, then looked over Lady Morvasta's corpse, careful to avoid the blank space where her eyes were supposed to be.


    Today at 4:17 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris hears her father raging behind her, and feels her anger rising again. Jorvo didn't do anything like that!


    Today at 4:17 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Metris then remembered in that moment... that her mother was rather fond of using mist form. Perhaps that was how sh--


    Today at 4:18 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The glass coffin shattered, and the body of Morvasta evaporated into a thick and grave-like black, rolling forward like hungering mist. It rushed out through the crack and flowed around Basil like a single, dread hand. Either side of Basil, Metris and Zahra heard and smelled, the rapid stripping of skin and flesh.


    Today at 4:18 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    His clawed fingers swung at the space Sincarnat had occupied just a second before, but then Gregori had to turn his attention back to the black knights pressing in on him. "YOU THINK YOU CAN KICK ME OUT, YOU POWDER-FACED COCKSUCKER?! I HAVE ENDED MORE LIVES THAN YOU HAVE DRUNK YOUNG VIRGINS."


    Today at 4:18 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The scarab escaped the falling rain of glass and flew directly into Zahra's face, panicking as it tried to escape the resurrected vampire


    Today at 4:18 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori paused, just in the instant before tearing apart another knight. "...oh."


    Today at 4:19 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris shields her face with her arms, hissing like a nocturnal animal.


    Today at 4:19 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Basil's skin was stripped and flung across the room, landing in great bloody swathes upon the buffet tables.


    Today at 4:20 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The mist rolled on, leaving a shambling, bloody skeleton. Basil's skeleton. It fell forward, crashing into the remains of the glass coffin. And now, the only one standing was Morvasta... in virginal white, her expression hidden behind her porcelain mask... her limbs stretching as they awoke


    Today at 4:21 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat turned, and his jaw dropped. ".... fluffums?"


    Today at 4:21 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris lowers her arms, the sleeves of her suit now in tatters, revealing black, sharp claws. Metris hisses again, her fangs showing. "Mother! He was a friend!"


    Today at 4:22 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta twisted like a coiled snake and then... she was mist again... In the blink of an eye she was behind Metris, curling one claw around her daughter's throat. She pulled Metris close, and whispered in her ear... a scratchy, insidious voice muffled by the porcelain mask. "The worst day of my life... when I shed you from my womb. Parasite. You have only ever disappointed me."


    Today at 4:24 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    Veralastra found herself stunned by Morvastra's beauty, especially since she was now...ambling. Unusual for a corpse bride but... Veralastra was by no means going to attract more of the Count's ire by staring, whether it be faux or nay.


    Today at 4:24 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori can hear the incessent, ever-present drone in the back of his head quiet, even as he laid eyes on the risen figure from the glass coffin. He and the black knights stand silent, unmoving, as they watch. "I knew it."


    Today at 4:25 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela gasped. He'd forgotten Basil had been present, in his artist's fervor he had failed to recognize him by the coffin yet here, his skeleton in plain view, it was impossible not to see him. Sela had never been much of a social hunter, but Basil he remembered. Sela would sketch him too.


    Today at 4:25 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat backed away, putting himself behind Sela as he sketched. "My beloved... what are you.? How...?"


    Today at 4:26 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris spins, steps back from her mother. "No...Mom? You wouldn't say that to me." Her face warps, nose and features becoming more bat like. She screeches in a voice that shatters the good china.


    Today at 4:27 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Metris backs right into something. A skeleton. Basil. He has risen up again, his stripped bones infused with necromantic life. The skeleton grapples Metris as she begins to shapeshift, bone and bat-wing wrestling.


    Today at 4:28 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta chuckled behind her mask, then lurched forwards in the blink of an eye, picking up Zahra and flinging her across the room. The hunter crashed down into another buffet table, lost in a spray of cupcakes and smoked salmon.


    Today at 4:29 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "Morvasta, no!"


    Today at 4:29 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    The brawl seemingly forgotten, Gregori rose to his feet to stare at the figure of Morvasta. He was under the impression that he was the one who was supposed to be causing a ruckus, not the subject of the wake.


    Today at 4:30 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta twisted back to face the room, spreading both arms in cruciform position and taking the heads clean off a pair of guests. Their bodies toppled as blood gushed from their stumps, and with that... panic engulfed the ballroom


    Today at 4:30 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Almost immediately, the two decapitated guests began to rise again, stretching out their arms to maul more guests.


    Today at 4:31 PM


  • Mglo:
    Sela turned to look from the necromantic skeleton to Morvasta. Hideous she was now out of her coffin. Panicked guests pushed him into Sincarat as they all attempted to flee but flee where? The fires outside encircled them moving ever closer. "What now?" he asked the Count.


    Today at 4:31 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris tussles with her former boyfriend's skeleton as her body shifts into the form of a giant fucking bat. Metris lets out another piercing screech as the skeleton clings to her back, and with a spring, launches herself into the air, sailing up towards the chandlier.


    Today at 4:32 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    The water being sprinted toward the commotion, heading toward Sela and Metris. "I can help contain the fire if you can herd the guests to somewhere safe. Call it a favour."


    Today at 4:33 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Letting out a bellow of amusement, Gregori cheered as Metris rose upwards. "A fine play, niece! Crush the bastard against the ceiling!"


    Today at 4:34 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat screamed and shoved Sela back, moments before a javelin thudded into a guest behind them, impaling him next to the swimming pool. Morvasta had thrown it straight at them. The two look at the vampire queen, who seems to be smiling at them from behind her mask. Sincarnat shoved Sela towards Morvasta before fleeing. "You fight her. I'll get help!"


    Today at 4:34 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta stepped from mist form beside Gregori, and opened his throat with a single sweep of her claw. Were it made of silver, the blow would surely have killed him. But instead he was left to bleed and stagger, clutching his own arterial spray while his regenerative powers fought to seal the wound again. In the meantime, Morvasta strode onwards, tearing out the spine of a black knight and using it to strangle a visiting ogre.


    Today at 4:37 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra chocked back a scream, grabbing at the Scarab and turning away long enough to restore the features of her Masque. Fortunately, Morvasta's return had all eyes riveted on her and the Count. But now she was threatening Metris. The girl was a monster, but...there was an...innocence about her. Would Sincarnat defend his d-- In a flash, Morvasta was on her, and she was flying across the room. She rolled to her feet, gritting her teeth against what would become nasty bruises, assuming she survived the night. I have to try to stop her, she thought. Zahra pulled up a sleeve to expose a concealed launcher, from which she fired a fusillade of heartseeker missiles at Morvasta's revenant. Each missile was a small gyrojet rocket with a stake-shaped fuselage of enchanted rowan wood as its body. They worked quite well against vampires and other undead creatures, but would they work against what Morvasta had become?


    Today at 4:38 PM

  • Mglo:
    A shame Sela couldn't sketch more. Here were corpses of monsters moving in death, all squeezing out the beauty from within, beauty they had never had access to in life. But well, he did wish to live a little longer in case the Tergatum showed before the end. "I don't even know how to begin," he told the Count though the Count was long gone. Instead, he chose to follow Verusela's suggestion but where would he herd anyone? He was shoved by the crowd all moving everywhich way. There was no where to run.


    Today at 4:39 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The arrival of advanced tech, in the form of whatever the hell Zahra was strapping, only furthered the panic in the ballroom. Several guests fled into the dungeon realms, while others trapped themselves on balconies or hid behind other buffet tables. Every guest that Morvasta slew seemed to rise again, and sow more panic among the crowd. The castle guards quickly had their hands full, fighting their own


    Today at 4:40 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    It wasn't Morvasta. Not really. For a moment, he'd deluded himself into thinking it might be. The woman who could stop the whispers. But as she emerged from the mist to hack at him, slicing him open with the most casual of motions, all Gregori could hear was the din of the whispering noise. Rising to a crescendo. With a ragged, hacking snarl, he hauled himself upright and snapped out a hand to grab Sela. "You will stick with me," he rasps, vocal chords barely knitted back together, "we cannot face her alone, hunter."


    Today at 4:41 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris spirals higher while the skeleton tears at her black fur with its sharp fingers and teeth. The great bat creature tucks its head at the last moment, as it collides with the stone ceiling, shattering Basil's bones and sending him raining down. Though Metris had braced for it, that collision had rung her bell pretty good, and she flaps her wings clumsily to stay aloft while her head reels.


    Today at 4:42 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta straightened, having murdered the ogre aristocrat. She locked her gaze on Veralastra and moved towards her. "In my heart of hearts I vowed, to devour you when our days were done. You were my food. A bag of flesh to bear me across the oceans. I, the apex of evolution. You, the dead-end slime."


    Today at 4:44 PM

  • Mglo:
    "Can anyone face her?" Sela replied, securing his sketchbook first reaching for his weapons after. He decided not to address the hunter part, it was not the first time Gregori had showed his surprising intellect.


    Today at 4:44 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta raised a claw, and formed a twisting gesture. The window behind Veralastra shattered, the shards dropping for a moment then twisting on their axis, arranging themselves into a hail of serrated death. They raced towards Veralasta's back.


    Today at 4:46 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat had barely reached the door to the stairway when he was pulled down under the tide of fleeing guests. He yelped and curled over as he was trampled. "My friends! Why? Traitors, all of you! Vermin! Defend me!"


    Today at 4:47 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    As quickly as she could, Veralastra attempting to find cover between whatever pieces of furniture were left in the ballroom within the chaos. "Gregori, hunter! If you can figure out a plan to flank her, I might be able to distract her, since I am the largest."


    Today at 4:47 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta shuddered as the rockets from Zahra's contraption slammed into her. Stakes riddled her flesh, several piercing the place where her heart would be, other tearing out chunks of pale flesh that dropped with splatters of black, viscous blood. The vampire queen turned, and peered across the ballroom at Zahra as her wounds sealed over.


    Today at 4:49 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris hovers on batwings among the others, sending out sonar vibrations, seeking out... That'll do! Metris darts left, alighting upon the massive crystal chandelier. Her claws hold her in place, bending the gold plating with their grip. With a screech, Metris lunges forward, her razor jaws working the chain that holds it.


    Today at 4:50 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Nodding slowly, Gregori ran a hand across his recently opened throat. That was going to leave a scar. "We have two options," he growled to Vera and Sela, "overwhelm her or identify weakness."


    Today at 4:50 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "Zahra Amaunet of the Hunters League... None shall survive to thank you. Your life's work is at an end. You have failed this world. A million graves yawn to curse your name."


    Today at 4:51 PM

  • Mglo:
    A dead guest reached out with a broken joint, its bone sticking out the wrong way. Sela pulled at it and hacked at flesh with his hatchet. He kicked the body away and gave the edge of the bone a deadly shape. "Here," he told Gregori, "see if that'll pierce her."


    Today at 4:51 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    "If we box her in, pin her to the smallest area of the ballroom, we can launch a sustained assault." Vera announced. "Or is there some way to cripple her?"


    Today at 4:51 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori accepted the bone shard just as he saw Metris making her move. "The niece seems to think so! Get ready!"


    Today at 4:54 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta started moving towards Zahra, deciding to stroll instead of mist form, perhaps for effect. Her hand waved idly towards the pool, and with a sickening crunch the headless corpse of Richard Mobius rose up again, wreathed in a black flame. With his back arched and his limbs bent at inhuman angles, he floated towards Veralastra, sweeping aside the furniture with telekinetic swipes.


    Today at 4:54 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela looked at her shifting form and said "She was encased... escaped in mist-form. Is there anything that could hold her in again? If we can't beat her perhaps we could trap her, works for djinn..." Either way, he looked to Metis and readied himself too.


    Today at 4:55 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    As Mobius began to ascend, as did Veralastra, expanding to gargantuan proportions as she reached her full leviathan size. "Gregori, Hunter, we end this now. What do you say? One last party to end them all?"


    Today at 4:56 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris shreds through the thick chain with her jaws. Almost...


    Today at 4:57 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "We'll see about that," Zahra said, pulling off her damaged Masque and tossing it aside. "Does anyone know what Mobius was babbling about?" With that, she hurled a Disenchanter Grenade at Morvasta's feet. If it worked as intended, it would create a temporary zone of null-magic with the revenant queen in the middle of it. And that would, perhaps, weaken her enough for the other monsters to take her down.


    Today at 4:57 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Snatching out an arm to seize an abandoned drinks glass, Gregori swallows the contents before letting out a howl. "LET'S FUCKING DO THIS, THEN."


    Today at 4:58 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat fished a key from his pocket, and crawled towards a locked door at the side of the ballroom. He was trampled every now and then, or else had to weave around a falling body. He even wrestled with a zombie or two, and defeated them mostly with blind luck and scrambling panic. Finally, he got to the door and started trying to get his thingy into the hole.


    Today at 5:00 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta coiled up, and was about to erupt into mist form, to close the distance between herself and Zahra. But then the grenade detonated. The field wrapped around her... and nullified her magic. She remained in place. Morvasta looked down at the grenade... then up at the chandelier, just as it broke from its chain. The whole heavy light fitting crashed down on her, erasing her in a cloud of dust and rubble.


    Today at 5:02 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "WE GET ONE SHOT!" Gregori lunged forwards, brandishing the shard of bone.


    Today at 5:03 PM

  • Mglo:
    "Perhaps we can shove Sincarnat forward for a change, offer him as shield," Sela said as he caught a glimpse of the pitiful husband. He launched the hatchet toward the Count and it landed by his hand, causing him to miss the hole he was desperately hoping for. Then he joined behind Gregori, pulling two more hatchets form his back to join the fray.


    Today at 5:03 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat howled and clutched his hand as it was crushed by the hatchet. "Aaaaaagh! You fiend! You broke my hand! My key-turning hand! I needed that to turn k-- Oh wait." Sincarnat then slapped himself in his own head, before turning into mist form and vanishing through the keyhole into the next room,


    Today at 5:05 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The floating specter of Richard Mobius brought a garotte wire of black, psychic shackles around Veralastra's neck, wrangling her backwards as the others charged the chandelier crash-site


    Today at 5:06 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    A beam of magic began to form from Verulastra's maw, as she began to pour her very being into one final, heart pounding attack to finally end the revenant.


    Today at 5:06 PM

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    In her surprise to being garotted, the beam begins to spray along the ceiling, erupting the ballroom into carnage of the stone and marble variety.


    Today at 5:07 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris darts right mid air, narrowly missing Veru's hate beam. She screeches down at the sea horror.


    Today at 5:08 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The roof of the ballroom is torn away by Verulasta's breath-weapon, narrowly missing Metris. And in the night sky beyond the breach, Verulastra catches sight of something. A floating figure... a shimmering being of light... looking down at the carnage.


    Today at 5:08 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    In the next room, Sincarnat resumes corporeal form and minces across his study, throwing open a large walk-in closet. "No respect. I get no respect! Rats. All of them!"


    Today at 5:10 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta's body is broken, her mask cracked, her movements sluggish. She starts to rise up, catching Gregori around the throat, hoisting him upwards as she emerges from the rubble. "I hated you... Gregori... you were good only.. to lick my boots.... to kill.. my enemies..."


    Today at 5:11 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    It would be all too easy to mistake the light as part of the flames engulfing the world outside, but for a few moments Gregori finds himself distracted by the figure hanging above them as he closes in for the kill. The watchers? The things that came for his sister?


    Today at 5:11 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The noise in Gregori's head reaches agonizing pitch. It feels like all the heavens are screaming...


    Today at 5:12 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Gregori's face contorted, grimacing into another ricktus grin as he struggled against her. "...and you were only good... to silence the noises in my head."


    Today at 5:13 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "...there is no love amongst monsters..."


    Today at 5:13 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela narrowly misses the falling rubble but manages to throw the hatchet toward's Morvasta's body.


    Today at 5:13 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Above him, as he is hoisted... he sees the being of light... the floating angel in the breach torn by Veralasta. It is her... it is Morvasta... as he remembered her in his dreams... a being of pure energy... unlike the black-blooded husk that chokes him below.


    Today at 5:13 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "...that is how I know you are not her."


    Today at 5:14 PM


  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta's arm buckles as the hatchet hits it. She drops the werewolf, and turned her cracked-mask glare towards Sela


    Today at 5:14 PM

  • Childish Grumpino:
    With a guttural roar, Gregori drives the shard of bone home. Towards the heart of the thing posing as Morvasta.


    Today at 5:14 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta screams and snarls, clutching Gregori's hand as the shard half-impales her. She holds him there as her holds her, the two of them wrestling.


    Today at 5:15 PM

  • Mglo:
    "May the Tergatum feast on your being in this life and the next," Sela said the being they called Morvasta.


    Today at 5:15 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Sela feels something brushing past his leg. He looks down, and stares silently as a tergato creeps past him and circles towards Morvasta. A second one brushes past on his other side.


    Today at 5:16 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris screeches again, the light from above blinding her. Her body reverts to her humaniod form, her suit in tatters. By some magic, she stays floating above, though she still has to shield her eyes.


    Today at 5:16 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The two creatures are watching Morvasta... their beautiful colours shimmering


    Today at 5:16 PM

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Is she truly dead? Zahra thought, using a front kick to the face to fend off a zombified guard, then a hook kick to the side of its head, a heel-spike popping out to deliver the coup de gras. No time to celebrate, as she had to dive and roll to avoid falling chunks of shattered marble. Who...what is that? she thought, seeing the shining figure through the jagged hole in the ballroom's ceiling. It was either time to go after Sincarnat and try to end his dread reign, or make a dramatic escape--or not. Curses! The null-magic zone would only last so long, so she reached for her boot and pulled out a pistol. This one didn't have blessed or enchanted bullets. Sometimes, old-fashioned mundane physics was the way to go. She fired all six of its barrels, sending hollw-point bullets flying toward the revenant queen. The hollow points contained white phosphorous that would ignite on impact, setting fire to Morvasta from the inside. Hopefully.


    Today at 5:18 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris, by some miracle, still has her headphones around her neck. From her cassette player, those voices. ~Don't stop me now~ Cuz I'm havin a good time~"


    Today at 5:18 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    The being of light descends, landing on the edge of the ragged breach in the ceiling. She peers through, and at the edges of the light haze, Metris seems something else. A monkey... a chimpanzee? It is squatting there, peering through at her, its spacesuit outline silhouetted against the full and fracturing moon. "We've kept a space for her, Metris," speaks the voice of Jorzo... the voice of her monkey friend... from months ago. "Your mother belongs with us. She's been chosen. You mustn't hold her back."


    Today at 5:19 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta drops to all fours as Zahra's bullets slam into her back. She falls as the tergato creatures - half horse, half wolf - are now circling close.


    Today at 5:20 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    "My will be done," Sincarnat hisses while hauling something out of his walk-in closet. He snarls and sweats while moving it into position. "Fucking rats."


    Today at 5:21 PM

  • Mglo:
    Sela is frozen in place, his eyes on the tergato and he knows, whatever happens, he can die or live in peace now. With his empty hand, he pulls out his sketchbook.


    Today at 5:22 PM

  • Tegan:
    Metris turns, looking up at her only friend...the imaginary rock n roll chimpanzee. "Jorzo! You came back!" She feels something wet prick her eyes. "We can fix this, Jorzo. And I'll work it out, we can fix whatever's wrong with Mom and...You can come back, we can jam out to all these cassettes you gave me...We can be a family again."


    Today at 5:22 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Lying on his back, his throat torn open again, Gregori sees the full moon overhead. The breaking, splintering moon. He hears its noise... the cacophany of that celestial body breaking apart, sending every ocean into turmoil, every animal into chaos, every thought into madness.


    Today at 5:23 PM

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo the monkey links his hand with that of the shining, spectral being - the image of her mother, in all of her glory. He glances to her, then down to Metris. "Nothing is wrong with her, Metris... well... nothing that we cannot separate from her true self." He glances again to the being, then down to the revenant that is fighting Gregori and Zahra. "We can only take the better parts of her. That's all we ever asked. She wished to leave her sinful flesh behind... to cast off her evil... to abandoned the worse parts of herself. But HE wouldn't allow this."


    59 minutes ago

  • Childish Grumpino:
    Closing his eyes, feeling the madness beginning to take hold, Gregori let out one final, defiant howl. Ragged and broken, the sound rasping up into the shattering sky.


    58 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta rears up again, clutching her head as Gregori howls. She levels her gaze on Zahra, and picks up the chandelier, pirouetting with a roar as she slings the entire piece across the room and at the hunter.


    57 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The tergato settle either side of Morvasta, their colours pulsing in time with Grigori's howl. They seem to be containining her. She cannot move any closer to Zahra...


    57 minutes ago

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    Veralastra gazes one last time into the fading moon, her eternal beauty shattered. "One last smile, one last drink. One last celebration with newfound companions. Might we find each other in the next life, eh, Gregori? Or would that be too soon?"


    56 minutes ago

  • Mglo:
    Unprepared for it, the chandelier takes Sela with it leaving behind the sketchbook flying through the air. The Chandelier scrapes to a stop and Sela's injured body drops before it. He's left barely conscious.


    55 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The spectral zombie, Richard Mobius, crawls to Veralasta's head, and begins channel dark energy into it, scouring her brain with necrotic oblivion.


    55 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The sea monster and the zombie topple back towards the bloody swimming pool


    54 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris clenches her fists, sobbing, watching the glowing vision of her mother, of her only friend in the world. "And I'M just supposed to accept it? The world is ending and she wants to leave me?" Her shoulders rack with shudders, her features becoming more monstrous. "No...I won't do it. I won't let you leave me here. With him. In this Hell."


    54 minutes ago

  • ArcadiaLumina:
    A fitting end, I suppose. Veralastra's last thoughts as her corpse howls from the swimming pool, one last triumphant geyser soaring, reaching for their shattered moon/ One last rainbow from the spray as her world faded to inky blackness.


    53 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo squats in the breach of the ceiling, glancing up at the cracking moon. The atmosphere is beginning to be stripped away as the planet enters its death cycle. "I am sorry, Metris. But you were not chosen. Only Morvasta..."


    53 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    "THAT'S RIGHT, MY DEAR DAUGHTER!"


    52 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat kicks open the door of his study, dragging by a rope a replica glass coffin, just like the one he put his beloved inside. "You were not chosen. Neither was I. Neither was anyone! We are not good enough for them!" He points at the monkey and the astral being. "Not good enough to catch the last train off this dying world!"


    51 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat reels as the death throes of Veralasta shake the room. He steadies himself, gripping onto the glass coffin, protecting it from rubble. "Why do you think the castle floats, dear daughter? Technology? NO! It is them! Their incessant attempts to ascend to Morvasta - to lift her up into their realm. I met their force with my own! I kept her shackled here! I kept her grounded, in life as in death! That is why we remain. I kept my kingdom intact! My force - acting against theirs!"


    50 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The vampire lord sweeps his gaze over everyone. "We must put her body back in the coffin. Tether it here. Only then shall we prevail. Only then will my kingdom stand!" He slaps the coffin insistently. "If we do not... then all shall rain into the fucking sky! And we shall be as ashes, while Morvasta - SHE ALONE - enters heaven!"


    48 minutes ago

  • Childish Grumpino:
    From the floor, Gregori let out a hollow cackle. "...like using a tiny dam... to hold back a tsunami..."


    48 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra tried to dive out of the way of the oncoming chandelier, but its edge caught her legs and sent her spinning, to land hard and roll into a wall. Moaning in pain, she struggled to her feet. Watching the world seem to unravel around her, it did not look like there would be a derring-do escape this time.


    48 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo speaks softly to Metris while clutching the hand of Morvasta's soul-counterpart. "This world is doomed, Metris. Let your mother escape it. Let her sing of you, as you sang of her. She shall me your remembrance..."


    47 minutes ago

  • Mglo:
    With great effort Sela crawls away from the chandelier, seeking one last glimpse of a tergato. He would do whatever they wished if there was strength left in him that is...


    46 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris watches her father, her form stuck in some place in between human and monster. "All these years, you trapped her here, you drained all those people. Just to keep her."


    46 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Morbius and Veralastra are torn apart by psychic shockwaves as the swimming boil boils and collapses through the ground, tearing through the guts of the castle. Zahra and Sela lie half-conscious at the edge of the room, while Morvasta's mortal half writhes and clambers over Gregori, trying to get past the tergato creatures.


    45 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat glares at Metris. "They will call off their apocalypse. They will save this world. They have the technology." He points at Zahra. "See? They have given it to HER!"


    44 minutes ago


  • Childish Grumpino:
    "...vanitas vanitatum..."


    44 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    "If we keep your mother here, they will have no choice. They will not leave. They will remain here, and stop the world's destruction. We will trap them all, dear Metris."


    44 minutes ago

  • Childish Grumpino:
    With the last of his strength, Gregori reached up to grip onto the earthly remains of his sister. To hold her in place, if only for a few moments more. To buy some time for the others.


    44 minutes ago

  • Childish Grumpino:
    "...omnia vanitas..."


    43 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Surges, spiraling down, down to her Father, the air around her heating up. "This world won't die, Father! Just us!" She collides with him like a comet.


    43 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta's bodily form is all the darkest parts of her... the parts the angels tried to strip away. She snarls and bites and curses Gregori, plumbing the deaths of her husk to rain insults upon him, to assure him of a godless demise... of his utter failure...


    42 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    "METRIS, NOOOOOO!"


    42 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra looked numbly from the Morvasta revenant to Lord Sincarat. Save this world--so he can reign over the ruins forever, draining the people and keeping them in fear? Or let them have their apocalypse so that future generations will not suffer?


    41 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The vampire lord and his daughter fall back, crashing into the second coffin. Shards of it impale the lord. He wraps his arms around her, shielding her from the other shards, even as she pushes him down into the ruin. Blood sprays from his mouth, and his arms tremble as they lock around her...


    41 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Morvasta seems to lose all her remaining strength as the backup coffin is shattered. She falls down on top of Gregori, her blood draining out like black sludge. The porcelain mask cracks.... revealing her face, hideous and crone-like, all her features twisted by fear and cruelty. She sags against him... her revenant force giving out.


    39 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The two tergato creatures peel away, and pad across the room, clearing the wreckage from around Zahra and Sela.


    38 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris lays in Lord Sincarnat's arms, her face smeared with blood and tears. "I'm sorry, Dad." Her voice breaks, as she smiles weakly. "I ruined that suit you got me."


    37 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The spectral being begins to ascend, and as it does so it shakes free of the anchoring power that kept it confined to the castle. In doing so, the same force that kept the castle aloft is now severed, and the walls start to shudder as gravity reasserts its dominion.


    37 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris can hear music from her headphones on her neck. From the mixtape Jorzo had made her. ~we can be heroes~just for one day~


    35 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra shook her head to clear it. Who do I fight? What do I...they gave me my technology? "The people," she said to the shining being. "Can't you at least save the people?" How many villagers would even be alive at this point, she knew not, but any survivors would be huddling in their houses and taverns, not knowing that their world was ending until this moment.


    35 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo the space monkey calls down. "Zahra... everything happened as it was meant to... You found the good ones for us. We have already taken them up. We thank you. Now help him ascend." He points to Sela. "He cannot take his own life. The trauma would break him. It must be you. Send to us the last passenger... he will dance with Morvasta in the heavens beyond..."


    34 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    "Sela is anointed. Sela is a shining one. His soul sings out. It is pure. Now give him to us, as you have given so many others. Your comrades. Your fellow hunters. They are with us now."


    33 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "You would have me kill a man in cold blood as my last act?" Zahra said. "What kind of 'heaven,' what kind of 'goodness' can you represent?"


    32 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The castle starts to break apart, the floors below them falling away, who dungeons emptying out through the breaches torn by Verulastra's demise. Gravity is pulling all things back to earth


    32 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Sincarnat makes a final gasp... his arms locked in death around his daughter. "Fool..." he croaks.... "The castle will plunge... and you shall walk the wastes..." He coughs, and his body begins to break apart into dust around her. "You should have... spurned... heaven..."


    31 minutes ago

  • Mglo:
    Sela can barely keep his eyes open. The Tergato going in and out of focus even in their bioluminescence. He can barely hear the words others speak around him now.


    30 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    "His goodness, Zahra. You are soaked in sin. You have killed too many. There is no salvation left for you. But Sela is pure. Send him to us. Let one more soul light the sky as this world falls. We have countless others to illuminate. Let Sela walk with us."


    29 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The Tergato creatures lie down next to Sela, glowing and pulsing, nestling against him and keeping his body warm, ready to be stripped away from its soul


    29 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris holds him tight, even as he breaks apart and crumbles in her arms. "I'll be OK out there. My parents were pretty great."


    28 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The floor in the center of the room gives out. Gregori wraps his arms around Morvasta, and they fall together, crashing through the floors, vanishing into fire as the gas lights of the village below explode


    27 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Those creatures are working with them, Zahra thought. She drew a dagger and started toward Sela's body. "If you want him murdered...murder him yourself," she said, pouncing on one of the Tergato creatures. Just maybe...a chance to storm Heaven.


    26 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The angelic soul-half of Morvasta rises into the moon, mixing with its light. In the whirling visions of the survivors below, they think they see ships there, vessels afloat amid the stars, and great machines behind the moon...


    25 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Zahra put her dagger to the throat of the creature as she clamped onto its back with her legs. "Take me with you."


    25 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo looks down helplessly as Zahra turns against them. He looks over to Metris. "Metris... please... there is still hope for Sela. Bring him to us. Please!"


    25 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris opens her eyes and looks to Zahra and Sela. "I'll stay with you Zahra, til the end. Whenever that is." And then her jaw disengages, and she emits an earsplitting shriek that cracks the stones.


    23 minutes ago

  • Mglo:
    Sela's body begins to convulse as it struggles to breathe. He can no longer see the Tergato, but he can still feel their warmth.


    23 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The tergatum release angelic cries, but offer no resistance to Zahra. But then... Metris's cry... it shatters the walls, the ceiling, the furniture..


    22 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    ...and Sela


    22 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    The hunter's ears are ruptured, and his skull cracks under the channeled force of Metris's scream, mixed with the cry of the tergatum. He falls...as the floor and wall give way... tumbling out into the open sky with the tergatum. And as he falls, a spectral version of him is stripped away, snatched up into the light where the monkey and the other angels wait.


    21 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Zahra is left dazed, on the edge of the shockwave. Then she too begins to slide, falling out into the open sky. She falls as the castle tumbles and crashes into the village below


    20 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "No!" Zahra cried, her ears ringing. "I only did what you wanted me to! My 'sins' are your own!" she shouted, her last defiance...


    20 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Jorzo takes Sela's soul up in his arms, rising with him towards the moon, up into light, and love, and laughter


    20 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Zahra falls for what seems forever, body and soul locked as one, tethered to this forsaken world. She hears the screams of the villagers and guests below. None will be spared. All will be forsaken


    19 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    A hand grabs Zahra's, it is Metris, half in her bat form. Her wings flap with some difficulty. "I GOT YOU!"


    19 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    ...until a hand caught hers. "Metris!" Zahra said, grabbing onto the girl's arm with her free hand.


    18 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Castle Limadoru crashes to earth, a great shockwave obliterating the village, and all things reduced to rubble and ruin. Dark ash clouds pass overhead, cutting them off from the light of the moon, where Sela and the angels vanish into the upper atmosphere. And as the mushroom cloud rises, even the angels do not see the tiny specks moving sideways.. the tiny specks of Metris, the daughter of vampires... and Zahra, the last vampire hunter... getting clear of the disaster, and touching down in the wasteland.


    17 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    Tears streaking down her cheeks, Zahra wrapped Metris in an embrace. There were no words to say.


    15 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris collapses in the glass sands, the shockwaves making for a not so smooth landing. "....sorry..."


    14 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris untangles herself from the vampire hunter, stares out into the distance. "I guess...this is it."


    13 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris sits up, spits blood into the sand. She would blame Zahra if she killed her before the rising sun could. If there was a sun left. "It's pretty, in a way."


    12 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "No...don't be sorry. This is it," she echoed, looking into the young vampire's eyes. "It's our world now. We will make of it what we can."


    11 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris blinks, not really expecting that. "Oh... Well I guess we should...Go find a place to live then."


    9 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    "I hope you don't mind that I sleep upside down."


    9 minutes ago

  • Zarko Straadi:
    "I hope you don't mind that I don't," Zahra replied. "By any chance...do you like girls?"


    8 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris's headphones crackle, but still manage to work for Jorzo's mixtape. ~I'll stop the world and melt with you~ You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time~


    7 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris blushes, but smiles a goofy smile full of fangs. "Let's find out~"


    7 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris sweeps Zahra in her arms, dips her.


    6 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    Inside Zahra's pockets, a third survivor crawls. The little scarab. It scuttles over Zahra's various forgotten inventions, finding a place to nestle down. In its claws, little strands of hair, taken from Morvasta's coffin. They are angelic white. It begins to weave with them.


    6 minutes ago

  • Tegan:
    Metris kisses Zahra as another mushroom cloud forms in the distance


    6 minutes ago

  • Asmodeus:
    THE END
 

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Well... thanks for joining my panicky, ad-libbed sci-fi about space monkeys and lesbian vampires...

Maybe we'll do a sequel... in which... *squints*... the lesbians go into space and pursue the monkey fleet...
 
'Shirtless, Byronic Werewolf' was exactly what I didn't know I wanted to play.
 
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