[CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

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Reaver_Silverstone

[CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Reaver_Silverstone »

Current Theme
Witcher Journal Entry-
The Dead, should stay dead.
After a few weeks of being in Widu I’ve learnt which places to be to hear exchange of words amongst friends and rumours alike. During my time roaming the town’s shadows and alley ways I overheard two guards talking about a cursed tomb within Widu’s wall, if it is truly cursed then I ought to find the right person to pay me to lift the curse. I wonder if I should take Alder with me for some hands on experience with curses, but first I must find a person of authority.
Widu, a town bordering Fenia and Bravia it’s location allowed travelling adventurers and visitors from Fenia and Bravia a place to stay and take refuge during the dangerous nights. It was in respect a single town Viceroyalty and its guards were poorly trained, with only a handful of experienced soldiers whom were busy playing politics it was no wonder the Witcher caught two guards talking to each other outside the guard tower of the northern gates.
“Ya heard da rumour of da Thnal tomb ?” the half helm guard said. “Monster’s be creepin out at night and dragiin’ any ones unluckies enough ta be near it…no bodies be found durin’ da day nutting..”
The second guard was lazily leaning on their halberd, he was chubby and his armour barely fit him. These guards were obviously merely peasants in armour, the Witcher contuines to listen in sitting nearby pretending to watch others go about their business.
“Ta captain said naught ta speak of des tings, I dinna want me coin ta be wasted cosy a opened ya bigga mouth.” There was a pause from the chubby guard. “But Aye I did what ya think it is ?”
“I heard was some foul smellin’ ting, glowin’ white eyes and a moan dat be sendin’ chill’s down ye back !” the half helm one said. “Dey make me tink of dem undead monsters…like em..dm skell’o’s”
The chubby guard laughed. “Ya real believes in does, ya a dam fool I be bettin’ its just bandits dat be so foul smellin’ and dirty dat people be thinkin dey see da dead risin’.” He shakes his head. “Wouldn’t be da first time some scum got in da town through some old passage way, der be tons of tunnels which we be still tryin’ ta find.”

The Witcher noted that, interesting so there are tunnel underneath the town itself, he told himself, I’ll have to find one and see where it leads. He considers what he’d heard so far, the tombs held some kind of trouble that the Witcher guessed as much whether it was bandits or monsters it mattered little, if cleared out the Witcher could get paid and possibly find one of these underground tunnels. He waited a few more moments listening again to the guards.
“I eard da one of dem Royal Huntsmen was bout, be lookin’ ta hire some idiots ta venture in der at night…who could be stupid nuf ta go there at night ?” the half helmed one asked.
“Hunters, adventerers and any other stupid fortune seeker…tell ya what be easier ta just sent a unit of guards down there and get it looked at !” the chubby one said with a firm nod, that only made the half helm chuckle.
“Ya wanna be part of dat unit ?” the half helm asked.
“N..no course not, I be needed else were’ere even, ta make sure no scum be getting’ in da tower !”
Reaver left after that, no amount of scratching backsides or yawning would provide the Witcher with more information regarding this.

Tavern Theme
He headed down to a tavern by the market place known as the Limpin’ Knight, he entered and looked around to see patrons and drunken visitors, by the fireplace was a band of dwarfs chanting a song that Reaver had never. The Witcher shut the door behind him as he walked over to his usual corner table and sat down to update his journal, the lights were dim but sunlight that shun into the tavern gave Reaver enough to read and write.
Journal Entry
It would seem that the person I need to visit is either the Captain of the Guard or the Royal Huntsmen, knowing how organised the guards are here I’ll have better time finding the royal huntsmen.
Reaver sat back as he shut his journal and a looked around, the tavern keeper here was an male dwarf bald with a thick long beard. The dwarf although small moved fast when patrons wanted ale and food, the Witcher walked over to the bar and waited to be served. “Hullo der sire, what will ya be wanting ?” asked the dwarf.
Reaver -“I heard there is a royal huntsmen in town, do you know where I might find him ?”
Dwarf - "Oh aye dat won’t be hard, ya see tha fancy armour chap in the corner wit dem harlets over there, das your man. Da lad’s been drinking his whiskey down like it was gold, now can I get you anything else ?"
The Witcher shook his head and thanked the Dwarf by tossing him a golden coin, he turned on to look at the royal huntsmen, he barely fit in his silver plated armour. The man looked more like an ornament rather than a huntsmen, yet it probably meant that he paid well. Reaver walked over to him and stood infront of his table. The huntsmen had two harlets in wraped around his arms, their obvious desire was to gain his coin too yet by different means. The Witcher coughed and looked dead on at the Huntsmen, with no choice the huntsmen looked up.
“Aye what do you *hiccups* want !?”
The Witcher paused and looked at both women then shook his head, if they heard it so be it. The Witcher thought of the questions he should ask, should he be polite and do some idle chit chat. No, that would be a waste of time, he’d get straight to business.
Reaver -I heard you were the person to go to regarding a tomb that needed clearing. I am a Witcher I deal with problems and aid solving them, for a price.-
Huntsmen “Aye, I am the *hiccups* man to talk to, royal huntsman I am and all. I got ton’s of gold ta reward ya, I don’t real know what a Witcher is but you can try your luck down there, 500 freznics if you clear the tomb up another 500 if you bring me the head of the monster causing this trouble…and my eternal gratitude *hiccups* of course”
The Witcher cared little for gratitude, the payment however was satisfying and bringing the head of a monster was no problem.
Reaver -Do you know anything about what’s caused these disappearances ?-
Huntsmen“Nope, some say it’s the dead rising from the tomb…not liking the whole commotion that was caused during the revolt…others say its just bandits using the tomb as a lair…but then again no one has been found during the morning searches…not that the guards were in any rush to leave..”
There was a note of amusement, no surprise there the Witcher told himself. The guards searching must’ve done a poor job of it. The Witcher looked at the two ladies still wrapped tighly around the overly decorated hunstmen, one was a brunette with green eyes and the other a blonde with icy blue eyes The Witcher smiled faintly.
Reaver-Do you always keep such good company ?-
Hunstmen laughs “Aye lad, I got the gold they get their earning. All I have to do is look for idio…I mean professional to go deal with the problem…they bring me the head and all I return to the court and get a nice fat commission. A man has to enjoy his well earnt coin after all, if not on food then why not ladies.”
The Witcher laughed and nodded, it was a way of life the witcher followed. Do you work and enjoy the gold you use because in the end everyone dies and then what happens to the gold they earnt…it disappears. The Witcher bowed his head and left the hunstmen.
“I shall return with your monsters head.” He said and the hunstmen had merely replied. “Good luck to you then.” The Witcher shook his head at the thought, luck had no input in the matter it was all about experience and timing. The Witcher had what he had come in for, he now only had to deal with the monsters in the tomb which would be another matter with that done the Witcher made his way to the tombs entrance by the temple.
Journal Entry
The royal huntsmen has agreed to pay me 500 coins for clearing the tomb, another 500 if I bring back the head of one of the monster to prove I have killed them. He did say however that they may be bandits instead of monsters but a job is a job to me. I should prepare and enter the tomb.
Reaver_Silverstone

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Reaver_Silverstone »

The graveyard itself was filled with unmarked graves, the only ones that stood out were those kept flowered and most likely recent, the Witcher made his way past these not caring so much for those that lay beneath. The Tomb that he sought was easy to find as two guards were stationed there, keeping a watchful eye whilst sleeping. One was leaning on his spear most likely dozing off whilst the other had his back turned and was relieving himself of his intake of fluids. The Witcher took a few more steps towards them and coughed once, the guard that was awake stumbled a bit as he closed his zip and turned.

“Oh for the love of the mages its gone everywhere…this better be …” he stopped dead as he saw the Witcher and met his eyes. “Ugh….your another one of them adventuerers aren’t you…piss on that.”
Reaver raised an eyebrow, some had been here before him no doubt they had failed or gotten lost since none had come to take the reward. The Witcher nodded once then pointed out that the other guard was sleeping. The guard grumbled and kicked the spear of the other one, rudely woken up the second guard cursed.
“Go on, another body for dem monsters.” The first guard said.

As the Witcher stepped down the stone staircase he took note of several markings and scratch marks on the walls, it was tight and the Witcher had to lower his head so not to it hit. Cobwebs stuck to his armour and peeled away as they were torn from their wall, the witchers eyes adjusted to the darkness of this tomb with ease allowing him to see. He reached the bottom of the staircase and knelt down to inspect the floor, dust had been scattered and footprints lay printed there like a yellow stain on snow. The Witcher noticed an irregular set of footprints at the edge of the wall, the owners left leg was most likely broken. He nodded to himself and made his way into the main tomb area, one large block of stones lay infront of him a tomb for some powerful individual most likely. Droplets of blood lay scattered in odd arrangements, and the Witcher noticed a torn piece of rich fabric caught in the tombstones seal. The area was earily silent, the scratching of rats could be heard from afar, faint and whisper like. Where was it coming from ? The Witcher walked closer to the tomb and inspected the writing.

-Here lays Athnal, mayor of Widu.-

Interesting, so a mayor resides here he told himself. The Witcher looked around but saw no evidence of any monsters or bandits only faint evidence that someone or something had been here yet he could feel something odd, a faint breeze of air teased his cheek and left him. Now that wasn’t normal, the breeze had come from a crack in the tomb’s seal upon closer inspection the Witcher realized that the tomb itself was hollow. Using both hands he pushed the tombs open, revealing a ladder that went down into a tunnel.

"This is getting more interesting, I best prepare before I go down there." he muttered to himself, The Witcher made his way back up the tomb and outside. Surprisingly the guards were still here, sat on the grass playing cards not far from the entrance. The WItcher sat down and preapred himself to meditate, he took a few potions then let the potion take effect as he closed his eyes. This normally took a few minutes but meditation helped his focus.
Silence

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Silence »

Alder had been asked if he had wanted to help in this venture, and well, he had to start somewhere. The lad didn't have much to make sure was in order. He had his dagger, the clothes on his back, and a few bits of food, as well as three coins. That was all he was bringing with him for three reasons. Firstly, he was pretty sure that he was only here for espionage, and equipment could be used to identify him. Secondly, his main role was going to be staying out of Reaver's way and picking up the pieces as he went, which meant he'd have to stay light on his feet. Thirdly (and most importantly), the boy just didn't have anything else worth bringing. He'd mostly be staying behind Reaver on this one, and providing an extra resource, and small amounts of support.

The boy walked into the graveyard, glancing slightly awkwardly around the area in an attempt to pinpoint the location of this "tomb". If Reaver wasn't there already, then he'd just wait, but if he was, Youken didn't want to keep him waiting. Let's see, he had said that it was behind... or it could just be right there next to those two guards. Youken tried not to think too much about potential danger. Worrying wouldn't help him now. No, the only thing that worrying helped with was knowing when to avoid a trouble, and when to prepare better for one, but Youken had already made his mind up about this one, and there wasn't much more he could do to prepare. As he approached, one of the guards stopped him. "Sorry, but you're definitely too young to... hey you're that Alder kid aren't you? What are you doing here?" the man glared at Alder, his eyes full of suspicioun and Youken glared evenly back. Annoyingly, his reputation seemed to have proceeded him. It happened every so often. When he wasn't making himself purposefully inconspicuous, somebody would always start to question what he was doing and look for questionable motives behind it. It was because of that stupid changeling rumor, however it had gotten out. Perhaps he had shifted in his sleep once and some drunk had seen him or something. Either way, he had no patience for it now.

"I'm not too young to be adventuring, and I need the money alright?" Youken desperately hoped that the man had not heard the rumors and that he had misinterpreted the glare. Otherwise, a creature like a changeling... evil, manipulative, and shadow lurking, might just be behind the disappearances. It was a stereotype that Youken found irritating, for he had never found it applied to him, but he had never met another changeling, so maybe it was earned.

"And you don't have any other motives being here?"

Hmm, that was getting less and less likely by the second. Alder looked impassively at the guard "Of course not. Why would I?"

Alright, don't play dumb with me, I've heard about what people say you are, and if you are what they say you are, and even if you are not then you are hardly getting past. In fact-

Alder cut him off "If you are going to start with the changeling thing again, don't. If I were a changeling, and I wanted to get in there, I would use a different form, but if I were a changeling, I would hardly be working my evil in a place like this, and especially not after it became guarded. I'd stay on the move, and use other people's forms to do things so that I wouldn't have to take the blame. And if I were a changeling, I would have changed forms and made a new name for myself a long time ago just to get away from the constant muttering that I am a changeling."

Alder took a deep breath, and calmed himself. He half noticed that the other guard was asleep, and motioned with his head towards said guard. "He's asleep." he said, just to change the subject and bridge the sudden silence that had followed his monologue.

The awake guard muttered something that sounded a lot like "not again" and kicked the man's spear from under him, causing the second guard to launch into a string of curses that made even Alder raise an eyebrow, and he was not somebody to whom curses or swearing was a distant notion.

"Can I go and either fix your problem or die now?" he asked in a tone of voice that sounded slightly bored and slightly sad, but more just tired.

The first guard started to say something, but was cut off by the second.

"Go on then, go feed whatever's in there."

Alder inclined his head slightly. Glad to have somebody who didn't know him, and then moved off towards where he was hoping he'd find the witcher, or else a spot where he could wait for him. He muttered something about beetles, the incident in the tavern where one had dropped from him still fresh in his mind. It would probably come to nothing, but he was still confused about it. Just because he looked like he was made of beetles when he was shifting, he hadn't thought that he was actually made of smaller parts. Then again, it could have just been coincidence, and he could have just had a beetle up his sleeve at the time. It wouldn't be the first time.

He checked his dagger, and then sniffed the air. The witcher was here, but also there was a lot of death, and... human waste? Why could he smell- actually, he didn't want to know. The death... well, he was in a graveyard, what had he expected?



The witcher wasn't too difficult to find, just sitting there doing... something. Whatever it was, it was probably unimportant. Alder leaned on a nearby tree.

"So shall we get started?" he asked "Or is there something else we need to attend to first?"

He then added as an afterthought, "Sorry if I kept you waiting."
Reaver_Silverstone

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Reaver_Silverstone »

Following a Trail of Blood
There was silence at first from the Witcher, his eyes closed he let out one yawn then slowly got to his feet. His cat eyes were slightly red, blood shot from the potions he’d taken the Golden oriole was a standard resistant boost giving the Witcher increased immunity to poisons, bleeding and incineration. The second had been Swallow, a potion that increased the regeneration of health. Both were fairly toxic but the Witcher could of probably managed a third yet he didn’t see any reasons nor had he made any others. He wiped the dust off his trousers and nodded to the boy.
“Welcome Alder, I shall lay the basic outline of this contract. People have been disappearing at night when crossing the graveyard these disappearances have gotten more regular and bold. We are here to investigate and then deal with the problem so that the royal huntsmen can claim his prize and we our gold.” The Witcher stretched his arms and pointed to an unlit torch by the tombs entrance. “Take that and lit it up, even with my Witcher eyes I cannot see fully well in the dark…as we pass other unlit torches make sure to light those ones with yours as well.” Without saying another word the Witcher began to make his way down the tomb again, once more the odd set of footprints hiding against the wall mixed with those of the clumsy guards were evident.
As the flames light was cast upon the walls something caught his attention, he took a few steps back and examined the wall. Dark brown goo was edged and smeared into the bricks, this was most certainly not moisture nor a prank this seemed more like blood. He touched the blood and tested the texture of it, sticky and gooey. “Hmm, you see this Alder. Blood, none of which is human or of any ‘normal’ living creature in Widu…see the texture of it… its like coagulated blood…recent too by the feel of it..prehaps from last night ?” the Witcher trailed off in his thoughts then wiped the blood off his fingers. - would guess a monster- he thought with a grin as he made his way down to the main tomb area.
The room was just as he’d left it, with the main centre tomb open, with dust and again odd set of footprints. The torn cloth he found by the tomb, silk fabric to the touch. Then there was the splatters of blood, these ones fresh and very human like mixed with that other coagulated blood. The other adventurers had been through here and something had caught them. The rest of the tomb was mere dead bodies wrapped in linen and layed to rest with their mayor or family member although he did note one was missing or at least a section had no bodies. Then there was the main centre tomb that was hollow and led deeper into an unknown place.He turned to Alder thinking of a question for him.
“Tell me boy, from what you’ve seen so far and using your own sense…what do you think has happened here, what is the cause of these disappearances and how should we handle the matter?” he asked. “You can consider this part of a lesson so may your answer a smart one.”
Silence

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Silence »

Whilst walking down into the tomb, Youken assumed his natural form. He didn't know what it would help with, but he might need the extra concentration now, or at least, he couldn't afford to be not fully concentrating on the matter at hand. He was pleasantly surprised when he found his senses seemed to be multiplied ten fold. He couldn't identify the blood, but he could tell instantly that along with death and human blood, there was something with some life in here, and it wasn't himself or Reaver. The blood could explain it, but then again... no, the smell of the blood was around, and it smelled like... Youken didn't know, and that was a fact that he really disliked. He was getting something, but not making any sense of it. It was like the creature that made that blood was... he didn't know. There was no trail from it, the smell lead nowhere, and that disturbed him. Then again, it was difficult to make any scent out with all of the death and rotting corpses around.

His tail weaved slowly back and forth as he regarded the scene. Fortunately, so far he hadn't had any instinctive urges, but if they did come... well, for whatever reason, he had been expecting to have to fight them off, but although he could feel faint traces of danger in the air, and definitely knew that he would know of any possible danger before it possibly came, he felt no urges to do anything about anything yet.

His eyes scanned the room, but so did his other senses. Something scurried in the corner, his ears twitched, pinpointing the sound instantly, the two slits that served him for a nose, inhaled rapidly, and he smelt the rat and identified it, but still wasn't satisfied until he had pinpointed the source of the smell, and checked that it was the same place as the sound came from, and then made sure there was nothing else there, but primarily, he used his eyes.

It would be foolish to jump to conclusions, in case the true thing that had happened here was different to what he concluded, and that left both himself and the witcher totally caught out. So he considered what the possibilities were. His voice surprised even himself as he spoke. It was far from the voice of a boy, and the voice was male, but otherwise it was... nondescript. His voice was emotionless, quirkless, not deep, not squeaky, not young not old.

"Torn fabric would suggest that something came through that area, although to make guesses at what would be foolish. It could easily have been whatever's been causing the trouble here, or it could have been an unfortunate adventurer. As for the rest, that tomb is empty, so either somebody looted the remains of that area, or we are dealing with undead, or perhaps something that eats human flesh, or perhaps something that wants us to think that there is undead here... or it just was never filled. The blood would suggest that something weird was injured here, but it is not decisive evidence. Somebody could easily just have thrown a bucket full of blood around the area to give that impression. So from all of that, we can deduce that either we are dealing with undead, or some creature that eats human flesh and dwells in the dark, or bandits that are too cunning for their own good. There are no bodies here though, and that means that they got taken back inside the deeper tomb. That rules out things such as a disease or a non sentient entity, since the marks here show definite signs of attacks in this area, but such a thing wouldn't think to bring them deeper into the cavern, unless it is a madness, which would make sense given what I can see, but that would be jumping to conclusions a bit.

"Something's weird though... this place feels deserted and decrepit and yet, you said that people had been through here recently, which would infer that..."

His eyes scanned the cavern again, both confused and half desperately.

"...which would infer... that they never made it this far. But we've not seen anything yet. Take the dust on the floor, it's thick, as if nobody has been here for ages, those cobwebs" he motioned with a broad sweeping motion of his hand. "This place is cramped, other adventurers should have torn them down by now with their passage. Those footprints are the obvious signs of passage, but they can be faked, and are only temporary things that quickly get covered up again. The more permanent signs are just not here. It doesn't add up."

Youken paused again and considered something else.

"And that's considering just previous adventurers. Whatever's in here would have made signs too, but I don't see anything like that."

He then glanced at Reaver's armour, noting that a few cobwebs were stuck there. If adventurers had been coming through this place as often as Reaver said, then unless there were some very quick spiders in here, the cobwebs should already have been torn down.

"When did you get those on you?"

It barely sounded like a question, the intonation was perfect, but it was so exaggerated that it sounded almost sarcastic when he spoke. Youken blinked a few times, and glanced at his body, reminding himself that this form was supposed to be non descript, and that there would be some differences between it and the other forms that he had previously taken.

"Then again, I could be over thinking things. I just don't like to make premature assumptions, if there is a possibility that they are wrong. If we are going to do this, we are going to finish it. I don't like the idea of having any possibilities that end in our death or end with us being wrong. I trust money to dice, not my life."

"It seems to me that the obvious course is to continue onwards, but be a bit cautious. What else can we do, unless we wish to flounder around here and make absolutely certain that there is nothing that can come up behind us."

He sniffed the air again. There it was... that scent. Something with life in it was in here, but more than that, he couldn't tell. Still, nothing seemed to be in the immediate area.

"On second thoughts..." he muttered "You might not have perfect vision in darkness, but I do in this form. If you feel that it would be better to scout out the area, then I can do that, but really you are the person with experience in these matters here, so it seems foolish to me that I call what we do when you have already made all of my potential mistakes."

The changeling paused again. His answer had been as thorough as he could make it, but there was so much here that he couldn't fathom.
Reaver_Silverstone

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Reaver_Silverstone »

Here be bodies !
The Witcher nodded slowly as he listened to the boy, it made sense and in truth there was no right answer until you found enough proof but by then whatever lurked in the shadows was already upon you. He nodded firmly. “Very good, now there is nothing else we can learn from here. We must go down, I hope your not afraid of the dark.” He turned and pushed the seal off completely which had been hollow with only a ladder within it.He said as he grabbed hold of the ladder and made his way down, with each step he took down the ladder a familiar smell was inhaled. Death, blood and decay. Nothing that the Witcher wasn’t used to although he would of preferred not to work in it, the smell always stuck to his cloths. As he reached the end of the ladder he jumped down and landed in a puddle, it was only when the torch came near to him that he saw that it was blood a fresh pool of it as well. He looked around, this was a man-made tunnel no doubt considering the brick work and the general shape of it he could feel a faint breeze passing him and going up the ladder. His eyes then saw the mangled body of what seemed to be a man in chainmail armour, all he could see from it was a hand gripping tighly at a short sword. He knelt down and inspected the body, moving the chainmail and what remained of its cloths. Claw marks, crushed bones and bracers, clean and sharp wounds around the leg. His eyes looked from those wounds then down to the pool of blood, blue bright liquid was mixed in with it. "Hmm.." he looked more closely and saw that it had the same texture as the blood, it was blood, bright blue blood.The Witcher got back up and turned to Alder.

“Firstly, keep your eyes on the shadows and walls…you’ll find that when you look away or the light of the torch moves away that the shadows may stir … now, tell me. What might have caused this ?” he said as he pointed to the body. Again the Witcher listened and nodded. “I see, come now let us go further down this tunnel… I’m sure we’ll be finding whatever did this soon.” In truth the Witcher had a very good idea of what it was, the undead. Yet something struck him as odd, the bright blue blood that stuck out within the pool of crimson blood. The eerie silence didn’t affect him yet the smell of decay and death was strong here and what the Witcher didn't know was that something much more sinister then the undead lay within these tunnels.
The_Cell

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by The_Cell »

We could sense a disturbance in these walls, deeper down the tunnel, past the rats and cobwebs is a poorly stacked up wall made to cover an entrance that s sits almost hidden by the shadows of the tunnel. Past that is a catacomb, with bodies of long forgotten people whose names are long forgotten from history, within these catacombs shadows stir and stretch. The sound of movement is faint and slow, yet it remains there itching away at our mind. We seek nothing but our
reunion…our chance at redemption so that we may continue the task of bringing all to be one.
The body we had failed us, our cells fled among animals and monsters alike until one found a corpse and reanimated it, it was frail and decayed. We had no choice, the rat could not sustain us we needed to grow to multiply…to infect. Yet we remain focused, our past we tell ourselves for it is how we learn. Our goal is to spread, our goal is to infect and survive.
Silence

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Silence »

As he passed the slightly rotting corpse in chainmail, youken didn't quite know what he was doing as he bent down to the body and sniffed it. In fact, the next thing that he did know was when his fangs were tearing at the corpse of the man, ripping chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole. As soon as he realized what he was doing, the underfed boy fell back from the corpse. What on earth was he doing? His instincts answered him. He was feeding. He was hungry, and here was food. Humans eat dead cows, and he was not a human. Why should it matter to him? They were to the changeling no different than a cow is to a human, and changelings have nothing against raw or rotting meat. It doesn't harm them and tastes not too bad. Yet the conscious entity of youken was horrified at what he had just done. It may have been in built, but he had been raised human. Then again, he doubted that he would have killed the man. He just took from him in death what he would no longer need. It all came back to the grave robbing argument. Youken was equally horrified that he was now justifying this to himself. He glanced at the witcher with what he hoped was a reassuring look.

"I take from the dead... But I'm not evil..." he mutterred. He then pushed past the witcher in the hope that reaver would not cut him down as he did so. No... Surely the witcher, a monster hunter would know about the nature of changelings and would have already confronted him if there was a large issue. Youken's eyes scanned the shadows, even though he was having a tough time seeing anything in them whilst contrasted with the light of the torch. That was enough distractions. Just irritating that the witcher couldn't see without the burning branch.
Reaver_Silverstone

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Reaver_Silverstone »

The Witcher was surprised when he turned back and saw Alder eating part of the corpse, a faint sense of annoyance crept up behind him but he was quick to squash it back down, don't let emotions cloud your judgement your a Witcher, remember that. He raises an eyebrow at Alder and shook his head as the boy pushed past him.
“There is no such thing as evil or good boy. “ he said. “But since you decided to have a snack whilst we were working I’m going to reduce your payment to 250 gold, had this been above on the streets you’d of caused me complications. Control your urges, understand ?” He eyed the back of the head of the boy as he followed him. As he followed the boy he thought back at what he’d said. I take from the dead but I’m not evil, he had met many creatures in his time and a few had been like Alder if not more primitive in methods yet as a Witcher there stood the ultimate dilemma. Did he kill the ‘monster’ that made others suffer or did he allow to let it live because it only killed and hunted because it needed to survive, to feed its own and so forth. Being a Witcher was and always would be about doing what you thought was best yet even at times that seemed a blurred line. Save one or a million ?
“Tell me boy, why would anyone seek to switch you with a families child ?” he asked.He might as well talk to the boy whilst they were here. “And what of this family, what was their fate ?”
Silence

Re: [CRP] The Dead, should stay Dead

Post by Silence »

The boy took a moment to answer this. He had considered such a thing many times, and had never come to a true answer. All that he could relay was what he knew, or rather, what they had told him before they were hanged.

"My parents, that is, my human ones, knew that I wasn't their child."

He allowed a moment for this to sink in before continuing.

"I don't if they knew what I was. I certainly only found out on the day of their death. According to them though, they found a hapless creature..." the boy sighed "I should probably start from the beginning..." he glanced back at the corpse in chainmail. "And this is hardly the time or the place for this sort of thing. My family are now dead though. Through no fault of my own. It's part of why I hate politics. If you are going to have me tell you my life story, I will later, if we both survive, but I'd rather you not judge me based on it, or on what I do to stay alive. Just know this much though for now. I'm hardly going to go killing anybody... call it cowardice or empathy or what you like, but I don't think I have that right to choose whether somebody lives or dies. If they are a threat to myslef or others, then they made their own choice. Oh, and if they are and I never betray somebody that I'm indebted to."

The boy let the witcher take the lead again. If there was an attack, he was probably best to handle it, and Youken would just keep others off of the witcher's back.

The fact was though that he knew many reasons why a changeling may switch their young with that of a human, and it was not because of a changeling's evil. In fact, one could say that changelings were forced into a way of living by other races who were made nervous by their abilities. What is feared is treated as a threat, and what is treated as a threat, becomes one. Yet Youken was not a changeling in his raising. He had never met another of his race, and so could not really know for certain. That was beside the point though. His instincts stirred slightly, but now that he realised what they could do, he took a closer hold over them. Nudged himself with the notion that this place was a threat to himself and what he cared about. Although animals cannot think, they respond to stimuli, and he simply provided the animal within him with the correct stimuli to keep it focussed on the right thing.

"Although with all due respect, my simply using this form on the streets would have caused us trouble, far beyond that an average human would have gotten from eating a corpse."

He sniffed the air again. There was definitely something alive here, but he was getting a better idea of it now. He was looking at something that was alive, yet did not truly live. Not undead, they had a different feel about them, (quite how he knew that he had no idea, although the creature that he was did know it), but it was more like a smell that was, and this was what really put him off, it was everywhere and nowhere, alive, but alive in a different way. He didn't say anything to Reaver. His senses had only really just evolved, and he did not want to trust them yet, and give away potentially false information, but still, it made both his instinctive part and his conscious part uneasy.
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