Occindale

[Deleted]

The town of Occindale was low-lying, as far as Ishi no Kuni was concerned. In one of the rare places where the tall mountains were absent, and the country's large rivers ran for long distances without the sheer slopes of waterfalls. There was even a small bit of forest cover to ring the moderately-sized village; outlying huts came into view beside the main road amid the trees before the main village revealed itself. The majority of Occindale faced north, for it sat upon a slight southward slope; the river bifurcated its two sides, and opened up into a lake of networking rivers a little further north. A good portion of the village's profits came from the unusual fishing opportunity.

---

[/b]What Be It That Troubles You?
Rank: C
IIC Length: 2 days
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Description: The small town of Occindale within the limits of Ishi no Kuni recently had one of its outlying housing estates go completely quiet; when a party of two was sent out to investigate what had occurred, they did not return. The village thereafter gathered to investigate as a whole, finding warning symbols drawn from what appears to be blood within sight of the house. Hearing of this disturbance, the Academy has decided to rule in the possibility of the impure being at work, and has asked that the citizens of Occindale refrain from further inspection till Venator agents have scrutinized the scene for themselves.
Objective: Recon the establishment and its surroundings. Note that extermination is not a part of the objective; hostiles may be present and are of unknown capacity.
Reward: 8,000 Ryo

[ In Progress ][/ul]

---

The chestnut colt had singularly carried Lucrezia the entire way to the village; down the Ascent, out of Nascon; up and down slopes; along twisted mountains paths, its persistent presence wearing at her endurance, aching and paining her, but she was resolved not to show any signs of it. Stubbornly, she had scarcely spoken a word to Victor in the hours of journey; it was now almost mid-noon, though the watery cloud cover made this an imprecise guess.

The girl's pistol crossbow was holstered on her back; a full hundred-and-fifty steel-headed bolts sat expectantly in her hip quiver, and other miscellaneous rations were bagged and sat dangling from her horse's flank. Lucrezia wondered how tired her horse must have been at this point, but figured it was trained precisely for this sort of thing. Besides, it was just an animal. 

The girl's internal jitters had increased with the proximity to Occindale; whatever tensions existed between her and her boy companion at the moment, they did not compare to the tensions of what they both approached. Thoughts of the inexplicable disappearances and satanic blood markings had a grip on the girl's stomach, a grip they seemed to enjoy squeezing to her discomfort, but she had, again, not wished to express her worries to the Vestaldt boy; what if he had none? Then she would look weak. And if he did, she wished to outdo him - or at least seem to.

Still, as they passed cottages and witnessed the occasional villager glancing at them and their businesslike attires with a mixture of curiosity, hope and anxiety, she could hold in speech no longer.

"We're almost there," She stated with forcéd flatness, and gulped. To hear herself speak, she again realized the depth of her nervousness. She cursed herself internally. Be strong, damn you, she thought. They were not even here to fight; merely to investigate! There is no reason to be afraid.[/div][/font]

[Penitence]

Enough was enough.

Lucrezia had had her time to be a child about the situation but Victor wasn't about to go into what was a potentially lethal situation with someone who was refusing to talk to him. As fate would have it she spoke first.

"We're almost there."

Victor noticed two things immediately, the cold tone was gone from her voice, but it was awkwardly flat, and it had been replaced with an unsteady tremor. He spurred his horse with the blunts of his heels and overtook her, twitching the reigns to cut her off with the body of his horse.

"Calm down."

The command was said with a steady calm voice, it wasn't hard for him to muster, he acted the voice every day.

"Going into this jittery won't do you, or me, any good. Chances are there's nothing for us to do here but poke around, but if we do end up fighting something together, for the first time I might add, I need you to be calm, because I'm going to be trusting you my undefended back. If I end up with a claw, dagger, sword, mace or other unsightly object embedded in it chances are the fight is going to go badly for both of us, not just me."

He took a breath and gripped the reigns a little tighter.

"I'm sorry for associating you with your parents, I can tell there's some bad blood there. But dammit Lucrezia I need you with me on this, I need you calm with those gorgeous eyes focused, not rolling in derision."

He figured a bit of flattery wouldn't hurt. At the least it would let her focus on something other than her nerves. He extended a hand in a friendly gesture, as if to pat someone on the shoulder, but as they were a couple of meters apart it was merely symbolic.

"Focus, we'll get out of this in one piece, and you can give me the silent treatment all the way back to St Azazel's, either way we need to stop here and picket the horses. They'll slow us down if we have to get out of there quickly, it'll be easier to move on foot in any narrow streets. Besides I need to get my armor on."

[Deleted]

Lucrezia was surprised when Victor immediately moved to cut her off; she reigned her beast back with a wide-eyed frown. "Calm down," Was his demand, which made the girl clench her jaw almost invisibly. Was he not nervous?

"Going into this jittery won't do you, or me, any good. Chances are there's nothing for us to do here but poke around, but if we do end up fighting something together, for the first time I might add, I need you to be calm, because I'm going to be trusting you my undefended back. If I end up with a claw, dagger, sword, mace or other unsightly object embedded in it chances are the fight is going to go badly for both of us, not just me." Why was it he who was composed enough to be the voice of reason? For the umpteenth time that day, Lucrezia cursed herself. From behind the cover of her glasses, she looked away. "I'm sorry for associating you with your parents, I can tell there's some bad blood there. But dammit Lucrezia I need you with me on this, I need you calm with those gorgeous eyes focused, not rolling in derision."

She looked back. Bad blood? How dare he make that judgement! Gorgeous? H-how... dare he...

It was an unfortunate side effect of Lucrezia's pallid complexion that if she colored at the cheeks, it became painfully obvious. She held her silence in an attempt to retain some - any - scrap of dignity left to her. She got down from her horse, feeling the odd solidarity of the unmoving earth beneath her feet but glad to be rid of the uncomfortable shape of the beast's back. She kept a hold of the colt's bridle and stood alongside the horse on the narrow village path, enclosed by trees. She boldly looked towards her companion and wondered where exactly he proposed to don his armor - surely it was quite the process?

[Penitence]

Victor eyed her a second longer before urging his horse to the side of the trail to dismount. When his back was turned to her he let himself smile a little, if she was flustered she wasn't moping. He dismounted and leaned his shield with it's harness against the trunk of a nearby tree, to which he tethered Asuphel quickly. It was then with a grunt Victor pulled the saddlebags from the horse's back.

The muscles on his arms corded with the strain of lifting the entire suit of armor vertically for a moment before he let it down to the ground with care. The armor existed in many parts, his partner was not wrong, it was an involved process, but a necessary one, fortunately it did not need any special equipment, indeed the armor had been designed in such a way that a single person could don it with ease.

The first items were his sabatons. His normal leather boots had several buckles and rings that allowed for segmented plates of lame to be attached, converting the light, practical footwear into heavily armored boots. The sole was still leather, but it was thick and sturdy with inlaid metal plates that would save his foot if he stood on something sharp, the tops were each covered in a slanting line of plates arrayed in layers for flexibility. Then a guard plate was attached over the top to provide a degree of structure to each sabaton boot.

The greaves consisted of two curved plates for each shin, one fore, and one behind, They laced together about his shin, the poleyn at his knee was attached to the front plate of each greave by a pair of leather straps that lay between the metal and his leg that would allow the plate to move as he did. He did not wear any armor directly on his thighs, but rather a pair of long tassets would hang from his abdomen armor to provide protection.

The heavy curiass was formed of both front and back plates. The two largest pieces of his armor occupied a saddle back each and took a moment to wrestle out of their confines. When they were out however he hunched forwards slightly and carefully laid the shoulder straps of the back plate over his frame and let the heavy plate rest against him for a moment whilst he attached the breast plate to the shoulders, and then buckled it at the waist with three leather straps at each of his flanks. Satisfied with the fit he stood straight and the armor seemed to settle upon him bulking his already considerable mass further.

From here he strapped the faulds to the front of his waist, they came with a linen tabard that obscured them heavily and the aforementioned tassets were attached at this point and he was then armored from neck to toes.

The gauntlets he would don last, for they made manipulating the rest of the armor troublesome, but his heavy pauldrons and brassart he donned, strapping the multi segmented plates of metal to his shoulders and upper arms he attached the cape to the backs of the pauldrons and he reverentially draped his catalyst over his shoulders letting it hang freely. His shield harness was strapped under the cape where the shield would hang slightly to one side where he could reach it easily, and his gauntlets were finally donned.

Lastly he took his helm from where it was buckled to the saddle and transferred it to where the harness wrapped around his waist. His scabbard went on his other hip, one knife sheath at his lower chest, the other at his waist next to his helm. 

-:-

Full told the process took about five minutes and another minute afterwards as he moved in his armor checking that it had settled appropriately. Under his breath he murmured rites of purity, they were powerless in the traditional sense, but many venators were highly superstitious and Victor was no different, the donning of his armor was a well worn ritual and he would not break it for time nor tide.

Finally he stood, the thin young man had disappeared, his demeanor becoming more solemn as he donned more of his armor, when he finally appeared ready it was not the young man anymore, the venator had come out from wherever it resided within him and his very presence was formidable. He turned to Lucrezia for the first time in minutes and spoke; his voice was laced with respect perhaps not for any other reason than having fought against the young woman, but he did not explain it.

"At last I am ready, whenever you are. Steady your nerves Lucrezia, and trust in my shield should the time come."

(OOC:  A lot of this post is 'donning armor' you can ignore most of it if it doesn't interest you, and I shan't repeat it in the future, but I wanted the process documented at least once.)

[Deleted]

Apparently, he planned to strap it all to himself on the roadside. Lucrezia blinked behind her glasses and wondered just how long of a wait she would have to endure. While the boy was still fiddling with his giant boots, the girl lead her horse over to the fence of one of the roadside properties and picketed the beast on one of the posts, then picketed herself similarly by leaning back against the the midriff-high planks.

She folded her arms and shamelessly stared at Victor's back as he dressed himself in his plate armor. If he was going to make her wait, she could rest her eyes wherever she damn well pleased. Slowly, the human male was swallowed up by white metal and heavy silk. Lucrezia's admiration switched from admiring the human form to instead admiring the steel carapace; it looked as pretty and well-crafted as it did cumbersome.

Finally, Victor was done. Lucrezia removed herself from the fence and moved up to meet him, her face expressionless. "At last I am ready, whenever you are. Steady your nerves Lucrezia, and trust in my shield should the time come." Said he, very somber indeed. The girl had almost forgotten for what purpose they stood here, and ironically, her nerves returned to her. For three quarters of the time before she spoke she had a snarky remark stored, but she bit her lip and realized the situation deserved something more genuine. She felt her stomach twist in tandem with her mouth as she nodded and struggled to produce the humbled words; "I will." It might have been difficult to determine from Victor's viewpoint, but she was not looking at him as she said it.

The girl looked back up at the path that lead into the village proper. They had been given only very vague directions; unless Victor had been told something she had not, they did not even know where the afflicted home lay. "Unless you already know where to go, I propose we ask the villagers. They will at least be able to tell us where the house is," Lucrezia said, and set off down the path; dirt crunched beneath her black boots. "I do wonder whether there is anything supernatural about what is troubling this place," She confessed to her comrade, as she walked. "Any murderous ruffian can draw a pentagram..."

[Penitence]

Victor inclined his head as graciously as he could when his chin was restricted by a quarter inch of tempered steel. Lucrezia had a point, any old ruffian could paint a pentagram, that said if the order thought this was just ruffians would they have bothered sending a contingent? More to the point, wouldn't they have sent someone who was actually used to fighting?

There was an interesting point that one of his previous teachers had mentioned in passing, twas that the undead and such similar beings are often actually easier to kill than man. Something about missing the human spark, that desperate need to live. Creatures were simple, predictable, (apparently) but men were much more dangerous when backed into a life or death situation.

Regardless the behemoth powered into motion, his heavy footfalls causing puffs of dust to spring up in the trail. The horses would be fine where they were, few were the ruffians who bothered with horses in these parts. They were often more trouble then they were worth to keep a hold of. Typically because the only horses to be had were those of the academy, and those were trained beasts of burden who would balk at the concept of serving those outside of the Venatoria.

Lucrezia, by nature of her lighter load, was several paces ahead of him already, but he didn't mind. she was more than capable of dealing with any surprises that might arrive in the next few minutes. That said he didn't really expect any surprises, from what he had gathered the actual site of the massacre was a while out from the town, and even from here he could see the bustle of a village.

Victor spared a glance for his socially confusing partner and couldn't help, and not for the first time, admiring her poise and grace. It was something he typically lacked in his behemoth like battle suit. He almost laughed at a thought: The sight of them, one petit and lithe, the other hulking and forbidding, must be at least a little comical.

As they approached the towns outskirts Victor noted a few things amiss; Typically people would linger in streets to talk to neighbors and such. But the streets themselves were sparse of traffic, and those few who were out travelled from place to place quickly. The road into the village was mostly straight and Victor could see right into the middle of town, and though the image was blurry at such a distance the young man could tell that few people were in the market area.

He would have shared a glance with Lucrezia had she been looking his way but he just ended up staring at the back of her head for a second. Frowning he sped up slightly to match pace.

"The villagers are spooked. Don't blame them of course, but it might make this more difficult."

[Deleted]

Lucrezia could hear the giant's paces at her back. It was certainly reassuring to have a walking aegis at her back, though, by the same token, it made the girl feel slightly inadequate. She imagined some foul reanimated corpse charging at the steel golem and simply being deflected and crushed thereafter; whether as if she were alone, and the thing pelted itself at her, what could she hope to accomplish? Few creatures of any note would be stopped in their tracks by a forty-pound draw-weight crossbow, unless she could guarantee a critical shot... which she by no means could.

She may well come to need him, should the strait be dire, but in what scenario would he require her presence? None immediately sprang to mind, and Lucrezia felt bitter because of it. You are being too negative, she had to tell herself. What if they needed to chase a fleeing enemy, or fight from range? She would be invaluable, then. Unless he was hiding rather a lot of his capacity from Lucrezia, Victor could do neither of those things with any proficiency.

As she thought this, the clanking noise accelerated, and the aforementioned armor-clad boy drew level with her. She looked up at him, ironically - and selfishly - more content with his presence to know he was not faultless. "The villagers are spooked. Don't blame them of course, but it might make this more difficult," He said. She frowned, and looked back down the path, wondering how he had determined such a fact; it was not as though they had spoken to anyone, as of yet. But Lucrezia sensed it, now that she knew what she was looking for. A certain apprehension in the air that was not her own, and where movement among the village streets existed, it was furtive. The girl's mouth twisted in mild dissatisfaction.

"We don't need much from them: the point is they don't know what the problem is. They are expecting us, and all they need do is point us in the right direction," The girl replied. They were now more or less within the village proper, and, glancing about, Lucrezia saw the odd person staring back from their cabin windows. Impatiently, the Venator quickened her pace in pursuit of the closest individual actually out on the streets; a young girl, probably a year or two shy of Lucrezia herself, blonde and having stopped in her path a while ago when she saw the travelers approach.

"Oi," Lucrezia hailed, none too gently. Fortunately, the other girl was not so frightened as to scatter like a little mouse in the broken silence; she blinked, and pointed at her own face. "Me?" She inquired back lamely, and Lucrezia's mouth twisted again. Was she dealing with an idiot? She halted before the villager. "Yes, you. Hello," She greeted, remembering on a tiresome note how she had been told to always introduce oneself, especially when representing something important - the Academy, in this case. "My name is Lucrezia, and this is my partner, Victor. We are Venator of St. Azazel's Academy, here to investigate the recent disappearances. You know what we're talking about, of course."

The stranger had taken a moment to look up in considerable awe at the glimmering knight, but nodded at Lucrezia. "Uh, I'm Cesarina," The girl responded; if she had been a tad prettier, Lucrezia might legitimately have cared. "And yeah, of course. Everyone has. Five people gone missing, it's not an easy thing to miss," The younger girl replied. After a moment of silent staring from the ruby red gaze of Lucrezia, the girl jolted and blinked rapidly in understanding. "Oh! You want to know where the house is!" She exclaimed. Lucrezia nodded slowly. The other girl turned around and pointed off vaguely northwest. "The Croce's house is a little way out. Riverside, you see. They weren't the social type. Or aren't, hopefully. Anyway, you just keep following this road a ways, take your second right, and keep goin' all the way through the woods till you hear the river and see the white fence n' gate. And also the uhh, symbols on the trees, apparently. Trust you heard 'bout them, too."

[Penitence]

Victor gave a kindly nod to the young woman and turned to face the direction she was pointing in. It was somewhat futile as a slew of buildings blocked his path, but he sensed that the gesture would reassure the woman that he was taking her seriously anyway.

Returning his gaze back to the timid villager he cocked his head to the side and asked a question in his calm even tones.

"Has anything like this happened before? Are there any legends or pieces of folklore from these parts that someone might be trying to imitate? Lastly, have you noticed any of your neighbors acting strangely?"

[Deleted]

"Has anything like this happened before? Are there any legends or pieces of folklore from these parts that someone might be trying to imitate? Lastly, have you noticed any of your neighbors acting strangely?" Victor asked. Lucrezia cocked an eyebrow and awaited Cesarina's response. The town girl seemed to have a bit more difficulty answering the armor-clad giant.

"U-uh, n-no sir, not that I know of. I don't think there's any strange superstitions or anythin'. We've only been settled here 'bout half a dozen generations, from what I know. And unless you mean actin' worried or sad, I-I don't think so. Bartolomeo was all torn up about the Croce's disappearing, but that's because he had eyes for their daughter, I think. Other than that, I don't know anything."

The young girl pressed her fingers together nervously as she spoke, and seemed unhappy that she could not give further insight. Lucrezia was tempted to grimace again, but such an open display of scorn was unkind. "Thank you, Cesarina. Hopefully we can take steps towards resolving this problem," She said with dignity, from behind her red glasses. She then nodded at the younger girl and stepped brusquely past her, assuming Victor would be on her heels. Lucrezia moved at a brisk pace; perhaps if she did not stop to think too much, she would not have time to grow frightened again. This businesslike manner was her resolve.

"She must like a man in armor," Lucrezia remarked once out of earshot, smirking privately. "You truly believe we are going to find some deeply woven story here?" She also asked, glancing over her shoulder as she progressed down the road till the second right turn, bypassing a couple of other village folk. "My money says it is either a clever yet common criminal, though I suppose it could be far worse, and far more intricate."

[Penitence]

The poor girl looked frustrated she couldn't be more helpful, victor sympathized, not being helpful was something that frustrated him as well. He was a venator now though, which made the likelihood of him being helpless rather low. Lucrezia, apparently satisfied with the information Cezarina could give them, stalked off in the direction of the town's center.

Victor laid an armored hand on the villager's shoulder for a moment in thanks before he too turned and walked away. His larger strides easily let him catch up to the petite young woman and he heard her remarks.

"She must like a man in armor."

Victor rolled his eyes, knowing full well that she would have to crane her head to see the gesture, there was an undercurrent of humor that was beginning to arise between them and Victor nearly let out a sigh of relief at the chance that they wouldn't be at each other's throats for the rest of their lives.

"You truly believe we are going to find some deeply woven story here? My money says it is either a clever yet common criminal, though I suppose it could be far worse, and far more intricate."

Victor shrugged his massive shoulders at Lucrezia's follow up question and answered in the slightly solemn tones he adopted when in armor.

"I do not know what to expect from this place. Mayhaps there is a deeper skein here, mayhaps there is not. But if there is one we shall not find it by failing to ask questions of the residents here. Truly I suspect something of sinister nature, our particular talents are angled towards dealing with such a threat, if only slightly, and I believe the Academy would not place us far from our comfort zone in our first outing."

[Deleted]

Victor had a point, but Lucrezia still shrugged. The indicated road approached, and the girl turned in her stride, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the path as she did so, in case Victor had managed to distract himself. Here, the land sloped away; a ways ahead, scraggly trees conglomerated thickly enough so as to actually create the semblance of a wood within the otherwise mountainous slopes of Ishi no Kuni. Supposedly, a river ran through that forest somewhere, vast enough to make fishing from it viable. Lucrezia should probably have been able to name it, but she could not be certain what the name of the particular channel was.

The village estates thinned as they grew closer to the forest, then cut off abruptly. "Ironically, I think I am more likely to be afraid of a band of thugs than some foul necromancer, so I agree with you. Still..." The girl trailed off, unable to quite justify her skepticism. She shrugged again. Alongside the road, one of the villagers seemed to take a proper interest in them, on the very border of the township. He stood in a sentry position as they approached with a muddied spade as his weapon; he was a tall man, old yet not quite finished with manual labor, it seemed. He was definitely one of the more composed villagers in sight. 

"You're from the Academy," He heralded, once the pair was within earshot. He sounded neither glad nor displeased. Lucrezia had stopped; she nodded at him, more a bowing of the head. "My name's Affonso. I was a friend of the Croce family, which not many people can boast as to being. 'Twas my son and his wife that disappeared trying to figure out what happened to 'em as well. Wanted to go with 'em; would have, if I'd been around when they left. If you hadn't shown up for another day, reckon I might have snuck off and done some investigation, don't care what anybody says. Fortunately, you're here." He pointed off down the trail. "You can almost see the first marking from the very edge of the forest. I'll tell you much as I know; the Croce's were a family of three, with but a daughter. Sure they were a little strange, and people didn't like 'em much, but they never did nothin' crazy like them signs would suggest, I don't think. We don't even know if they're dead or alive, or when the symbols were drawn."

Affonso's glance shifted awkwardly. "Don't know what happened to my son. My granddaughter's in good care till we know what's happened, but... Listen. I know you're trained for this, but would you mind taking me with you? I'd like to find out what happened for myself, if you understand."

Lucrezia had opened her mouth to respond sternly and importantly in the negative, but remembered that it was not entirely her decision. She was also not entirely sure what the Academy would have preferred, if any other representative of it were here. She closed her jaw and turned to look up at Victor with a questioning cock of her eyebrows.

[Penitence]

Victor had little to say in reply to the young woman and he simply followed in silence, content to let her more lightly burdened frame take the lead whilst he observed the lay of the land.

Truly there was little to observe, a few clustered structures, some trees, and the faintest hint of rushing water on the air that heralded the river yonder. It was a peaceful place, more's the pity of the tragedy that had befallen it. The people were garbed in simple cloth and leather, no silk was there to be seen. Their tools were iron, not steel, and the houses were of thatch and wood.

The young venator felt a surge of anger within him at the loss these people had suffered.He quashed the emotion, violently, it would not do to be enraged if battle were to be joined later, calmer heads would win the day.

Lucrezia was hailed by a man who was little more than skin and bones, he obviously hadn't been eating or sleeping well, soon Victor learned why. While the young man had no ties on his heart he understood the grief that came with losing those close to you, he had seen friends die over the years, not many, but a few. Life was not easy them, on him really.

When he asked to be included in their outing Lucrezia made a start, as if to answer immediately, and honestly Victor could not find it within himself to care, the fact that she halted herself to take his opinion into account was enough, he did not need to be heard. Who knew what they were wandering into? His shield was only so broad, another body would just hinder the two venators.

As such he made a subtle negating gesture with his head, hoping Lucrezia would spot it, if not he supposed he could just talk, but at the end of the day it would probably just be easier to let the girl be their voice among the people. Once she got more confidence speaking for both of them, and knew him well enough to guess his intent, he might even start wearing his helm around these little towns, if only to make the face of the Arbiters that bit more mysterious and aloof.

They would have time to talk in the future between themselves, gain an understanding for one another's mien, and hopefully be more seamless as a unit. He craved that, did Victor, a seamless functionally efficient unit. And yet also a companion, someone whom he could laugh with, and while away the lonely nights in solitude on the road chatting about nonsensical things. Something about Lucrezia gave him the impression she was not one to chatter, and yet perhaps if she were more relaxed, that dry wit might come out to play more often.

As Lucrezia finished her conversation with the wastrel Victor checked his shield on it's harness well ahead of time, it would not do for it to be tangled if he needed to wield it quickly. Satisfied he looked down to his partner and waited patiently for her decision.

[Deleted]

Lucrezia caught Victor's subtle symbol of disinclination, and turned back to the old man with a grimace. "Sorry, it's safer if we are alone. You will be told exactly what occurred after we know ourselves," She said to him, and bowed her head respectfully. Whatever else might have been true about her, Lucrezia treated the peril or death of loved ones - no matter whose they were - with solemnity. She was not, however, the type to reassure this old man that everything was surely fine. Likely it was not.

She continued down the path; the woods approached. Their dark shroud was quite abrupt. Lucrezia drew her weapon on its outskirts, letting the loaded crossbow dangle by her right side. It was not exactly gloomy beneath the light of mid-day, but its twisting branches and compact shrubbery created an irksome atmosphere nonetheless. Littler paths lead off to the right or left, but Lucrezia doubted these were the ones they were meant to take. Soon enough, she saw it, and stopped in her tracks.

On a particularly stout trunk was the symbol; dark red and almost blending in with the ebon bark, the pentagram did indeed look like it had been painted with blood, judging by the way it had dripped thinly down the bark. Lucrezia breathed deeply. "Well, they were not lying. That does look like blood," She said aloud. When she looked down the path a little ways further, she thought she could make out a white gate in the middle of the road, with lines of fence leading out into the woods. She raised her weapon up more to waist level, so that it pointed ahead of her.

"Nobody has ventured much further than this. I take it you are adequately prepared."

Honestly, as composed as her words sounded, she was stalling.

[Penitence]

Victor didn't need to be told it looked like blood, he could smell it. The metallic odor filled his nostrils, and beneath it, a woodier, earthy scent. It was distinct, like a musk, and cloying. The stench of death, whether there were still bodies nearby or if they had been moved, there had been bodies here not long past.

Lucrezia's voice had a noticeable tremor, he figured that if he spoke, it'd be there too. He had no idea if the tremor was there through the auspices of fear or badly concealed excitement, perhaps a mixture of both. Her veiled suggestion that he lead the way wasn't exactly unexpected either, he was the one in armor after all.

The metal clad venator un-clipped his helm from his belt and in a smooth motion brought it up to his head and settled it smoothly down over his head, the inbuilt arming cap nestling over his ears and deadening any sounds he would hear from things striking his plate.

As the helm was lowered the young man's vision tightened abruptly, becoming more focused on his front and sides, and forsaking the vertical plane. That was okay, he doubted very much that anything would be brave enough to jump at him from above, and if it was it would meet the point of his sword and the edge of his shield.

Eyeing the entrance to the villa he swung his shield around from it's harness and hefted it on one armor clad limb before taking a firm step forwards, his eyes alight with an emotion he couldn't have described if asked.

The building is large, two stories with maybe eight windows on the side facing the two Venators. Victor guessed that each window was probably representing a separate room, though it was impossible to tell as all were shut firmly. The door of the building, a wooden construction with a stone brick frame, looked to be the only entrance point Victor could even begin to fit into, so he headed that way.

-:-

Lifeless eyes watch the door of the villa with relentless focus, and within them some spark of intelligence stirs. Heavy footfalls can be heard from without the building approaching in a steady cadence. Abruptly, and with little fanfare, the door splinters as it is shoved open, the somewhat thin wood shattering under the heavy plate of metal being shoved into it with all the force of a charging animal.

The lifeless eyes remain still, but within them that uncanny intelligence stirs in earnest. Dust from the impact still floats in the air as a brief ray of sunshine flits into the darkened room before it is totally obscured by a hulking figure that fills the entire doorway with it's bulk.

A short sentence escapes the figure's helm with a disturbing rattle.

"Lords of wind and sky, what happened here?"

-:-

The stench was appalling, the source of the cloying odor of death had been discovered in the form of three bodies strewn about the place, two adults and a teenage girl who looked to be about Lucrezia's age. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, the floor, even some that had congealed on the ceiling. And it stank, all of it, it filled Victor's helm with an incredible miasma of foul portent that threatened to make him loose the little he had eaten for a midday meal.

He moved inside the room, drawing his sword with one smooth motion, who knew what was lurking in the shadows. He was vaguely aware of Lucrezia behind him but his eyes were fixed on the bodies, constantly flicking between them, he thought he had seen movement. Also, there were only three bodies, but at least five people were missing.

Lucrezia was saying something but he barely paid attention as he took another step forwards, then all hell broke loose. The corpse directly in front of him lurched upwards, as if pulled by the unseen strings of a marionette, thought it did so by supporting it's own weight.

The corpses to either side of him were moving too and he could hear movement from behind them, they were hemmed in and there was only one way out.

His sword came down on the first corpse, hewing it's left arm free, but the undead came on and threw itself against his shield trying to batter him down. He shoved hard, tossing the foul creature back even as he was assailed from both sides.

Between the cloying stench, the close quarters where he barely had room to swing his sword, and the slight figure of Lucrezia at his back, Victor had barely any space to move, and that space was closing rapidly.

[Deleted]

Wordlessly, the girl's armored companion took the lead, and Lucrezia stalked in his wake with her bow primed. The building was very much a part of the dark forest, with vines clinging to its exterior and grasses clutching at its sides; the vines were likely a feature, but the clumping grass looked more to be a sign of neglect. Victor made a beeline for the front door. Finding it locked, he opted to bash it down with little ceremony. Lucrezia winced; it was not as though they were not liable for unnecessary damage of property.

"Lords of wind and sky," The boy exclaimed. "What happened here?" Well, Lucrezia could not see, which was something to do with a walking suit of armor blocking the view... though the foul smell reached her all the same, and her stomach curled as she recognized it as the scent of decay. Summoning some well of courage she did not know she had, Lucrezia moved to remedy the first problem. She stepped up closer and tried to squeeze in past Victor, which was a decision she somewhat regretted as soon as it brought her view of the scene. Gore was spattered on floor and ceiling in almost equal measure, and rotting bodies were slumped about the floor. The aroma of carnage assaulted her nostrils a second time, though it was well reinforced in this second attack. The girl thought she might vomit.

"Fucking christ almighty," She gasped, gagging half for the smell and half for the sight. It mattered little what stories you heard of the dark and evil of the world... nothing could prepare the human mind for seeing such a massacre up close. Somehow through her horror, Lucrezia heard the clank of Victor's armor as he moved forward into the room. "Wait!" She implored him; this was a reconnaissance mission! The threat level was evidently too high. People had been slaughtered here - murdered in a satanic fashion. Who knew if the perpetrator - however monstrous - was still about?! "Victor!"

It was too late. His next stepped had disturbed the bodies, revealing that they were still far more animate than corpses had any right to be. Lucrezia gasped a second time, and was frightened enough that the prospect of just screaming in terror was tempting, but she was just disciplined enough not to do so. That is, until she heard movement from behind her, and found the decaying body of a young girl blocking the doorway. It was perhaps the way that her eyeball hung from its socket on a tendril of flesh that broke the Venator. She screeched, and in her fright, she reflexively aimed her weapon and fired the bolt loaded there at the threat - the shot thudded wetly into the exposed neck of the creature, but what did it care? It had no human sensitivities, could not choke or bleed out.

The girl was quivering far too much to reach for her quiver - she was absorbed by the way the grotesquerie seemed to be paused momentarily on the threshold of charging her. Rapidly, the Venator girl was losing presence of mind, though her breathing was accelerated. She half wanted to scream again, but... did not. The boisterous noises at her back did not even rouse her, for a moment.

[Penitence]

Panic does strange things to you, especially when you have nowhere to run, for Victor, panic manifested in the overwhelming urge to get his helmet off. Between the hot confined spaces, the cloying stench of death, the dark, the limited vision, everything was screaming for him to get his helmet off, the feeling of suffocation and he’d buckled the damn thing down.


He lashed out wildly with his shield trying to give himself some space while his other hand pushed at the rim of his helmet, trying to shove it off to no avail. It was a good thing too because next he knew a slimy fist thudded off his head. It didn’t do much, honestly he was surprised the undead could reach that high but there you go, it had however snapped him out of his panic. In the confusion his sword had clattered to the floor as he tried to get at his helmet and he was devoid of a weapon, swearing loudly he drew the knife strapped to his chest and swiped with it, severing the offending hand, and lashed out again with his shield, knocking the undead back.


Silence from behind him made Victor glance backwards, but the infernal helmet blocked his peripherals and he couldn't see anything of value. Swearing again he struck out with the knife, mostly severing the neck of one of his two foes before the blade got stuck in its vertebrae. Resisting the urge to swear continuously he kicked out, slamming the undead against a wall. Taking the moment he stooped down to get his sword from the ground and took a ready stance, he was worried about the silence from Lucrezia at his back though.

“You okay back there?!”

[Deleted]

How long did it take for the monster to move after being struck? Seconds? Minutes? Years? How was it that it could regard her with its eyeballs swollen to dysfunction and drooping from their sockets? How did it know where she stood? Well, honestly, in the context of a classroom, Lucrezia might have been able to answer those questions, but here, it was so horribly, inherently wrong that nothing she had learned seemed relevant. Either way, after ample time, the creature shuffled forward onto a foot, and then began a rocking gait in Lucrezia's direction.

She was frozen. She could not move. It did not even occur to her to do so.

"You okay back there?!"

Who was that? Oh, of course, it was Victor. Oh. I am in danger.

The recurrence of this thought almost drove the girl to mania again, but at least it galvanized her into action. Brash action, but at least she did not stand there waiting to be devoured, or whatever the hell manner it was in which the zombies wished to harm them. Instead, thinking she had no time to reload and recognizing the impotency of her ammunition, she took the beast on head to head, halfway screaming in terror and shouting in battle furor as she went forward to meet it with an elbow strike to its jaw; the frailty of its gaunt skin and brittle bones was sickening as its bones cracked at the force of her strike and it toppled, momentarily out of action.

Staring at the downed body, Lucrezia raised her gloved hands to her mouth. "The hell I am!" She shouted, before she even knew why she was speaking. Oh god, the door! Sweet salvation!

"Get out!" She yelled, the only consideration for her companion she could muster in her adrenaline and corticotropin high. She unwittingly stepped on the adolescent corpse on her way out, crushing its head in further beneath her boot and almost tripping herself in the process.

How sweet would the outside air taste...

[Penitence]

A burst of action from behind him reassured Victor that at least Lucrezia was still moving, no longer panicking and reunited with his sword he prepared to put the undead to rest. The one to his right was staggering to its feet, both legs twisted weirdly and one arm shorn clean off. Victor’s knife was still sticking out of its chest. The other two, one ahead and one to his left, were still righting themselves after his vicious shield bashes.

The building was far too low ceilinged for him to swing vertically with his weapon, so horizontal swings would be his best bet, as he doubted very much that thrusts would have much effect against the creatures. So make horizontal swings he did, taking the inherent sluggishness of the creatures as an advantage he hacked viciously at the corpse’s neck, hewing the head free of it’s mounting without struggle.

Disbelieving his luck he twisted, slamming his shield against the creature on his left, smashing it against the wall as he twisted back, bringing his sword in a backhanded blow across the chest of the wounded undead. The blade of his sword smashed through its ribcage, but got lodged in its flesh on the far side. Grunting Victor rips the sword free and brings his shield forwards smashing the rim of it into the creature’s skull, caving it in with a wet crack.

At that point a harsh shout of defiance came from behind him and the sound of running feet, along with yelled instructions to flee.

-:-

All things considered Victor’s pride was slightly chafed, he’d dealt with two of the damn things already, how much harder could two more be? Well, one he supposed, Lucrezia must have dealt with at least one to get out. Then he noticed a headless body rising before him and for the first time in Victor’s life he felt true fear.

“Ok, yes, time to go.”

Taking a moment to wrench his knife from the chest of the rising creature he turned and dashed out the door, knocking prone the undead Lucrezia had been fighting as he went. Lucrezia was already out the door and he yelled through his visor.

“Keep going, they’re not stopping, we need to get to open ground.”

[Deleted]

Lucrezia trampled the unhinged door and burst out into the cloudy noon, but that was not where her path ended. How amusing it was, that such horror lay inside that mansion, and yet it was not dark out; the peaceful, average day persisted outside, cruelly indifferent. Lucrezia's heart was beating faster than her feet upon the grass. "Keep going, they’re not stopping, we need to get to open ground," The Venator heard from behind her; she was all too happy to oblige. It was only then that she felt the weight in her right hand, and realized she had not dropped her crossbow in her panic. That reflex, at least, had been a disciplined one.

The fact that she had remembered its presence was a good thing; on the run, she fumbled for a bolt. The broadhead projectiles were of little use against the undead creatures, but it was better than nothing, right? The girl would feel more secure with a bolt loaded in her weapon. Victor's forcibly slower paces could still be heard - once Lucrezia reached the estate's front gate, she whirled around, weapon loaded, and surveyed the scene with hyper-alert eyes, pupils dilated to the point where the scarlet in them was but a trim.

Perhaps her companion needed some assistance in escaping. After all, he would naturally be far slower on the run; slower than a reanimated corpse?

[Penitence]

Victor watched Lucrezia dash out ahead of him and gave thanks for small blessings, at least she wouldn't be easy for the creatures to catch. Unable to look over his shoulder, or even hear of pursuit, Victor thudded from the house, his legs and shoulders were screaming from the effort but he made it past the gate into the much broader lane where Lucrezia was already loading a bolt into her crossbow. Or, he would have done if a thick arm didn’t wrap around his leg and trip him.

The armoured behemoth sprawled in an ungainly fashion on the sparse cobbles of the path and he felt his armour rattle around him, fortunately nothing felt like it dented. He clutched to his sword grimly, unwilling to let the vital weapon out of his grip again. Dazed and slightly angered slightly Victor kicked out and was satisfied to feel a skull crunch under his boot; decomposition had not done these poor things any good. With a heave he rolled over and pulled himself to his feet, ripping his leg free of the dangerously fast arm of the undead creature.

Why was the damn thing so fast anyway? He didn’t have time to ponder the question as the other three zombies lurched forwards and their fellow struggled to its feet. Holding his shield up and keeping his sword back in a ready position he backed away from the undead even as they began to accelerate. The first was met by a heavy blow from his shield, sprawling it backwards on the dirt, he narrowed his eyes and braced himself as the others lurched in, arms flailing and rotting eyes in their bloated sockets.