The Artifact of Absonial

[Drannin]

Argus, who had been silently observing the proceedings, whirled around. "What happened?!"

[Drusia]

"The Patriarch! That wizened, decadent old fool! We do not recognize his authority, he is no better than an apostate. We obey only the true leader of our church, who set us our holy mission. Now go, and do not return. This is your last warning!"

Lovely. So much for that. I suppose the only real question that remains is whether or not I should challenge these crusty idiots now, or if I should demure politely and try to sneak past them. This is probably going to get messy, so it might be better to see their big guns now, while we're still in a position to run. Still, I should probably confer with the others -

... when she heard a scream from where Rebekah Codoin lay in Suriah's grasp.

I break my connection, closing my mind to everyone and everything in the area. I turn towards the noise and see -


OOC: I have no idea. **passing the buck on to you, where "you" is Argus, Maudin, Lillith, or Suriah.**

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose shuddered. Loss of communications with these bizarre, not-quite-dead spirits was bad enough, but it sounded like something seriously bad was happening on the far side of the grove. She dashed over to where Rebekah, Lillith and Suriah were huddled, and now she saw why one of them had screamed.

Rebekah was the most severely affected. She was pointing and gibbering incoherently ...

... At a small, bipedal figure in coveralls.

With glowing eyes.

"Now, my brethren, arise, and I shall lead you in the service of Our Lord Luminosita," Harker said, complete seriousness in his voice ... and Rose wanted to scream too.

[Sareth]

Since joining the group, Lillith had seen many things. She had survived many horrors. She had witnessed unnatural things. She had communed with spirits men hadn't realized existed. Throughout this she had screamed, she had cried, she had quaked in fear. But there was one thing she had never done, no matter how appropriate it might be. She had never sworn.

Looking at Harker, all she could say was "Oh... shit."

[Drusia]

"Now, my brethren, arise, and I shall lead you in the service of Our Lord Luminosita," Harker said, complete seriousness in his voice ... and Rose wanted to scream too.

OOC: ^^;; So, the first thing that came to mind was this:

[Spoof]

My eyes widen. "No," I whisper. I run forward and pull off my shirt.

"Harker!" I shout, "Remember the boobies! You thought my breasts were great, remember?" I give them a little shake, to jog his memory. "You can fight them, Harker! Just concentrate the boobs."

[/Spoof]

And that, ladies and gents, is why I am not going with my first instinct.

Yeah. [/OOC]

-- Drusia

[Drannin]

Argus stared in shock, his jaw nearly hitting the ground. "Harker...?" He breathed. Then, confusion. "Of all beings, why Harker..." Then horror. "Oh no. His innately magical nature must make him vulnerable to the spirit's possession. I had no idea..."

Harker stared with blandness at the group, and expression that Argus did not like on his face at all. He looked at each of them in turn, as if judging them... and finding them wanting. Slowly, the possessed familiar raised a hand, palm up. "Rise," he said tonelessly, and yet with an intensity behind it.

For a moment, there was silence. Argus was the first to sense it, with his ability to sense disturbances through nonliving matter. Slowly, the ground around Harker, and in other areas, began to quiver, crumble, and slowly pushing upward, as though something was pushing its way upwards from below ground. As though from a vast distance, the group could hear a distant whispering, as though of many people chanting in unison. And it was getting louder. Harker simply smiled mirthlessly, his glowing eyes flashing with something like triumph.

Argus summed up his thoughts with one simple word:

"Shit."

(OOC: I dunno Drusia... I like that idea.)

[Sareth]

[OOC]*laughs* Well, apparently Errant Road now has an Outtakes reel. Anyway, I know what I want to have Lillith do during this scene, but I'm going to hold off to hear Graybeard's next post before I start doing it.[/OOC]

[Graybeard]

OOC:

"Now, my brethren, arise, and I shall lead you in the service of Our Lord Luminosita," Harker said, complete seriousness in his voice ... and Rose wanted to scream too.

OOC: ^^;; So, the first thing that came to mind was this:

[Spoof]

My eyes widen. "No," I whisper. I run forward and pull off my shirt.

"Harker!" I shout, "Remember the boobies! You thought my breasts were great, remember?" I give them a little shake, to jog his memory. "You can fight them, Harker! Just concentrate the boobs."

[/Spoof]

And that, ladies and gents, is why I am not going with my first instinct.

I'm missing something. Why NOT?

[Graybeard]

"Brad! Dismissal! NOW!" Sister Rose practically screamed.

Rose hadn't done a Rite of Dismissal in years, although she'd come close to trying it back at Dead Man's Hill, when she, Argus, Brother Miguel, Lillith and Sasha had encountered the weird hanged man. It wasn't a ritual that clergy in the Reformed Church usually worried about, but every priest or nun learned it. There were corners of the Orthodox Church that saw potential demonic possession lurking behind every gravestone, and Orthodox priests did Dismissals every time somebody feared that a recently deceased enemy might come back to haunt them (and could pay for the service, of course). The Reformed Church prided itself on being a little more -- rational about things than that. (More rational, and less inclined to money grubbing.) But even before Dead Man's Hill, Rose had believed there were times when the rite might actually be good for something ... and by now, she had very little doubt. And Brad, for all of his quirks, was also a Veracian priest.

The two started a chant as the ground continued to undulate.

[Caoimhe Faelan]

Suriah felt warmth spread across her skin like a blanket; magic wrapped around her like a living, breathing thing - and she was incapable of stopping it. Everything tingled and she could only stare at Harker, rising to her feet and taking a step forward, towards him. She had no control and couldn't stop. Part of her didn't want to. The magic, so old and strong, was calling to her. She wanted to lace her fingers through it, see what she could make it do - she'd never had the opportunity to try, before.

Suriah reached out, watching it crackle through the ground; in the back of her mind, she was unsure as to why she wasn't falling over, what with the ground rippling like it was. She was also screaming at herself to stop; but the elven part of her was drawn to the magic and the power. Her fingers touched the ground as she knelt somewhere between Harker and Rebekah.

I wonder. was all the thought before she wrapped her metaphysical fingers around the energy flailing through the earth - and pulled.