[IRP] The Death of Aida Redmoor

[Aida]

She sniffed the air, carefully. Incense in the dark. How curious, the young woman hardly ever lit the stuff outside of the temple walls. The blackness around her receded a moment and the floorboards of her room appeared, polished and laden with the fine rug she’d filched from the Privy Council Chambers.

Concentrate.

The darkness receded a little further. Someone had lit a candle. No, seven, in a neat row by the window. How sweet, Aida thought, attempting a tentative step forward. One of the acolytes from the temple must have come to attend to me. Why would they do that?

Poison.

A gasp, and the darkness rushed towards her, until she could force her thoughts back into order. The four poster bed. There had been a bad accident, and gosh, just how much incense had they lit in this room? The smell hit her each time she moved her head. Just concentrate, a little. The darkness receded a little more, and a wave of relief washed over her as she saw her husband sleeping in the fur lined chair. Silly old orc, she thought with a fond smile, striding over to him.

“TK?” She said, gently, trying to reach out to him. Why was that so hard? He was sleeping soundly, looking peaceful where he sat surrounded by the furs of his own hunt. An attractive bone amulet lay across his chest.

Don’t let it take me.

And in a rush the darkness enveloped her, filling every corner of the hazy room and obscuring her husband and the candles and the incense and the bed, until nothing remained. And yet, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shape between the sheets, black haired and pale, eyes shut and limbs limp. She screamed into the blackness, and heard nothing.

_________________________________________


She woke on soft grass. There was no darkness here, only at the corner of her eyes, seeping in, yet easily pushed away. Had it always been this foggy in the Fenia City Graveyard? Attractive sandstone graves, with all manner of statues familiar surrounded her. She stood, testing her limbs. All in order. Good. There was a strange taste in her mouth, like bitter cranberries. There was no memory of her wandering here, and indeed. Why on earth would she?

Strange.

She stood. Well, it didn’t matter how she had come to be here, it only mattered that she should get home. She began to walk, passing familiar graves with familiar lanterns, pausing to greet one of the acolytes who was lighting them for the nice. He didn’t reply, only shuddered and looked away, muttering some prayer under his breath.

Well. That was rude.

It was evening now, the light fading as her steps began to pick up. And yet, each step seemed to take her further away from the entrance, with its carved seven pointed star and burning torches. She began to run, faster and faster until she could almost touch it... only to find herself standing ten feet away.

“You can’t get out,” said a hazy voice.

Aida spun around, dizzy with the fog at the edge of her peripheral vision.

“Who said that?”

“Over here, no, not ove- to your right, you dozy mare. And you’re supposed to be one of the ones governing us? Honestly.”

She found the source with an incredulous blink. A large stone statue of Zachrin, hooded, with an hourglass at his feet. He nodded at her, the stone creaking and grinding.

“Are you...?”

“Am I the great and mighty Magey-One, O Judger and Protector of the Cycle of Life? If you like.”

“So that’s a no, then.” She said, unimpressed.

“How do you know?”

“What? Nevermind. How do I get out of here, if you please?”

“You can’t. Not whilst you’re... like that.”

“Like what?”

“Disembodied. Don’t loo-”

She looked down. And screamed. The statue sighed.

“Yes, that happens to most floating souls. If you concentrate you can get something of a nice body shape going, but... oh, honestly. I know, being a floating ball of nothingness is quite something, isn’t it? Anyway, I’m off now. I’m sure someone will be along for you, soon.”

And with that, the statue folded its robes in itself and became silent as the stone it was cut from.

She looked down at her wispy, almost non-existant form. The stars were coming out to play, their light twinkling down on the quiet graveyard as the ever present fog - now convinced as she was that it was magical in nature - gathered at the edges, obscuring the rest of the city from view. And with a quick gaze at the stones around her, the rustling bushes and the acolytes exiting for the night, Aida sat down onto the cold ground and promptly began to cry.

[Duke_of_Earl]

As the dawn comes and begins to pass into the fullness of morning, Duke and Karina come to the Graveyard to tend the roses of Thorn_Brackens grave, as is the daily ritual. Soon upon entering the graveyard their pace slows as a strange sensation seems to be present today. Duke flattens his ears slightly and sniffs at the air, glancing to Karina who shrugs, squenches her eyes a moment then shrugs at the cat again saying "I'm thinking of a pile of potatoes? Unhappy ones..." Duke walks around in a small circle wondering at the odd feeling in the graveyard today.

[Aida]

Unsurprisingly, she spent the whole night wailing in the graveyard, trying to make a sound loud enough for passerbys and the occasional night watchman to hear. They heard nothing, it seemed, simply looking shaken or pausing before hurrying on with frightened expressions.

"Oh," said, the sardonic statue as she passed by for the fourth time that night, "Do you think you're the only spirit to wander around, moaning and shrieking and trying to get everyone's attention? It's all been done before, you know."

She paused.

"I suppose I didn't give it much thought. Perhaps I thought they were simply moaning in misery, not that they were actually trying to tell me something."

"Well, now you know," said the statue, dryly. "You know, I really think they ought to let all priestesses have a brush with death before they start dishing out funeral rites. Then they understand what it's like."

"Right," Aida replied, quirking her brow at the stone figure, "And all surgeons ought to have their legs cut off, so they can see what that's like."

"Precisely!" The stone replied, cheerfully.

_________________________________________

It was as the morning approached and she was floating dejectively by the grave of a Dr. Acula that she saw him. A familiar girl, firstly, red haired and chubby cheeked, and with an aura of an old soul floating about her. Karina! She rushed over, waving her non-existant hands in the air.

"Karina, can yo- Duke! Duke!"

Surely, she thought, the cat would see her. Wasn't that a thing, cats seeing things people didn't?

She waved her hands more ferverently, and carried on yelling.

[Duke_of_Earl]

The unusually strong presence seems to have grown more animated and stirs of current seem inexplicably present in the morning air.
Being a graveyard and all, Duke decides to see if it is a sapient presence trying to get some attention. He partially shifts his body into it's astral form, his fur seeming to become fluid like the motion of a flame while fading slightly from the view of material entities. He notices an orb floating near the statue of Zachrin. A young soulform and "meows at it in greeting". It seems to be trying to communicate but hasn't yet learned how to manifest into a form which can vocalize. Opening his mind, he tries to link thoughts with the formless entity.

...*You feel like Aida... but Aida isn't dead. She's safe at home.
Why are you trying to feel like Aida?*...

[Death]

Death appeared in the graveyard behind Aida wearing his finest party hat atop his black robes. IT IS QUITE UNFAIR OF YOU TO DIE WHEN I AM ENJOYING A PARTY YOU KNOW? Makes his way across the cemetery until he is standing next to her. ONLY GHOSTS, AND UNDEAD BEASTS CAN SEE YOU. OH AND CATS.....CATS ARE SPLENDID.

Death pulls an hourglass from within the folds of his robes with a brass stamp at the base that said "Aida Redmoor". Her time had run out, and now Death was here to tell her which direction to walk down the street. FIRST THINGS FIRST SHALL WE? He pulled a small scroll from his sleeve entitled "The Death of Aida Redmoor"

Poison....

THIS CANT BE RIGHT.....NO.....NO.....NOT RIGHT AT ALL. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED BY A FALLING COCONUT, NOT BY POISON. WELL THIS WILL NEVER DO. It is imperative that mortals are able to pass to their next realm peacefully, but when they fail to have the courtesy to follow their own predetermined death patterns it made life difficult. The amount of paperwork Death would have to file simply because Aida elected to die by poison instead of by coconut was staggering.

WELL WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT THIS THEN? I CERTAINLY HAVE NO INTENT OF FILLING OUT THE PAPERWORK FOR AN ERROR OF YOUR MAKING! Death stood their impatiently tapping his boney fingers atop a tombstone.

[Aida]

She felt the links first, snaking into her mind. A rather peculiar feeling, one which she had never been able to truly master. And yet, there it was, a link as strong as if she were holding him in her arms.

"Duke! I'm not dead... I'm just... disembodied. As long as my body is cared for and kept safe, I think I can return there. Can you take that message for me? And tell TK-" She paused and swallowed back her emotions, "Tell TK that I-"

A loud voice startled her out of both the link and her thoughts.

Oh.

Oh no.

"Wait."

She held both hands up, her eyes drawn inexplicably to a rather fine party hat sat atop the figures head.

"First of all... hang on. Is this a party, to you? That's a bit insensitive."

"I'd say," the statue interrupted, snorting.

"And you," she said, jabbing a ghostly finger towards the stone Zachrin, "Can shut it."

She turned back to the ominously robed figure, who seemed to be rather more irritated than she expected for a messenger of Fulcatz, come to guide her safely unto death. But then... "Secondly, I'm not dead! So you can't take me anywhere. I'm a priestess. I know the rules."

Aida paused, narrowing her eyes, "So," she said, trying her luck, "What you actually have to do, is help me get out of here."

[Duke_of_Earl]

'Oh my, but it is Aida afterall, and in this form she can mind link for the very first time. How interesting.'
Duke blinks as the specter of Death approaches, thinking at first that this was perhaps Bill coming to say hello.
Blinking again, he sends to Karina to go and wake TK and pass along Aida's message, then turns his attention back to Aida and Death, looking around the Orb for signs of a silver chord.

Aims his thoughts towards Death.
*She's right...
She seems to have unconsciously Astral Projected or something similar; not died.
I don't know why it signaled you or sent her to the graveyard...*

[Death]

Death nods in agreement with both Aida, and the cat. YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT, I DO HAVE TO HELP YOU GET OUT OF THIS. THERE IS A COCONUT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT.

Death hammers his scythe into the ground. HMMM, THATS ODD?! Death had intended to teleport Aida's body before him, but instead nothing happened. Looking over towards the tree he sees it stuck up in the branches. AH! THERE IT IS.....HMMM NOW HOW DO WE GET IT DOWN?

Looking at his scythe he contemplates taking down the tree.

[Aida]

She stares with horror for a moment, at her poor body tangled up in the branches. There are strange veins on her face, a blackness around her lips that causes her to pause. She freezes, staring, as the scent of bitter cranberries fills the air.

"Well. I've looked better. Death, honestly! You couldn't have been a little more accurate in your transportation? Where do they train you creatures?"

The statue snorts, and then begins to howl with laughter, the stone making a grating sound as it shifts. Aida blinks and begins to scramble in vain up the trunk of the tree, as far as such a thing is possible in her strange non-corporeal form. A strange pulling sensation overtakes her, as she feels herself turn to smoke, floating up, up, up...

Her eyes snap open, and she promptly leans over the side of the tree, and throws up.

"Oh dear," says the statue.

The world flows back in around her like water, a rushing kind of disorientation that nearly has her sick again. But she holds it in, breathing in through her nose, counting silently in her head. She can see Duke, she thinks, and Karina... and yet why is everything so blurry at the edge of her vision, still? She slides down the trunk of the tree, almost, her sensations numb. It's impossible to stand, so she lies there on the grass, trying desperately to concentrate.

"Ah," says the statue.

"What?" She repeats, in a voice that doesn't sound like her own.

"Well, you see, that wasn't really what I had in mind."

"What you had in mind?" She repeats, her mind clouded. The statue's voice is further and further away the clearer her thoughts become, but she feels him dragging her back, insistently.

"You see, like our little friend Death, here, I also have dealings with the dead. It's true you weren't quite done, but that little incident with the undead back in October really... strengthened my ability to tug loose little souls from here and there. And you were slipping away for a long, long while. You might almost say I'm doing you a favour."

"I'm not sure I appreciate your tone," she says with uncertainty.

She thinks, in her abstract position, hanging between worlds, that she can almost feel a smile from the statue, the hollow of the hood creasing inwards. Just her luck to think she had made an ally here, but then again, it had never really declared itself, had it?

"Don't worry," the statue says, "You're not the first to mistake me for a friend."

And with that, she feels a strange ripping sensation, like paper being torn slowly in half. All of a sudden, the darkness rushes in once again, enveloping her like a wave of blackest ink.

The last thing she sees is the colour of Duke's fur.

[Duke_of_Earl]

As the statue begins working its foul magic on Aida again, Duke shifts into prism form, absorbing the light of the morning sun and focusing and channeling it into a tight beam which shoots forth at the statue cutting it to bits and melting them into a molten puddle. Once the statue is gone, Duke shifts astral again and sinks a bit into the ground to go under Aida's body, and ascend again shifting as he rises back into flesh and bone, but in a much larger alternate form.


Duke breathes a sigh out through his nostrils at Death.
*I will bring her body back home again... Can you tell where it sent her this time?*