Fang Shinozuka's Story

Their little trek into the beginning of the crypt had a tad bit of interest already; a few ragged corpses tried to take them, she had released at least two arrows pinning a corpse to the wall, before it burst into flames giving the crypt the smell of burning decayed flesh, which was not a very welcomed smell in the already dank and murky crypt. She felt rather good about her twin barrage into said corpse, but that didn’t seem to matter at present, as a few more had found their way into the way of the group, she frowned slightly beneath her mask a sudden regret for using two arrows regardless of the situation though drawing her own daggers she proceeded to pounce on one both knives driving for the things skull and piercing the eyes, to the center. Two for her as it were, the rest dispatched just as easily as she sheathed the daggers back beneath her cloak. The fight was nothing, if not short and they won quite easily a ragged bunch of undead thralls would never stand a chance against this motley crew.

They had resumed their steady march deeper into the crypt, now more than ever she huddled under the folds of her cloak a chill in the air she was sure she could feel, something was very off and it wouldn’t be long before she had chattering teeth, and her intuition was right, a block in their path, voiced angrily by the group’s very own noble, only to be silenced by the head-thief. She listened intently on The words spoken to the noble laughing softly, as she stayed near the back, near the necromancer her eyes slowly widening in mild surprise, a simple ring worn by the thief; Cale found their path for them, it wasn’t so much she was surprised by the rings ability; but more so in the fact that Cale would use it for a simple door, though he did voice a complaint in it, before he and the young noble rejoined them, now came the decision on who would lead the way, which two voices had decided on who should go; Ishmael, and Sven saying Cale should go first; obviously having some experience in disarming traps and the like to get his arsenal of magic rings, she wouldn’t object to Cale leading the way, probably better off too he had the most impressive arsenal and already seemed to have an air of leadership, if not heavy greed to keep him in front of the pack. She stood there quiet just contemplating the situation as it was, it wouldn’t be long before someone step forward; of course she wouldn’t she was anxious to get the artifact, and get it back to the alchemist for their reward, but she wasn’t going to be stupid and let bravado lead her down a path which she might regret.

Lacuna had kept a brisk pace with the group as they made their way through the ancient crypt. He was relieved with how well they had managed to dispatch the small groups of undead that attempted to end their quest. None of them had sustained injuries and they had at least proven in the meantime, that his services as a healer would only be use when an actual threat came to challenge them.

If that challenge ever came…

The bulk of Lacuna’s body was hidden by a cloak he had outfitted himself before setting out to join with the rest of the team, unlike the lavender and nigh-obsidian that adorned the rest of his garments and armour, this cloak was a deep oak brown. The gentle ambience that emitted from the series of ageless torches did well to hide his features as he walked. He hadn’t spoken to the group as of yet, the only sounds coming from his mouth being the slight grunts of combat made as he fought off the undead that had shambled toward his direction. Strikes from his powerful punches had broken the assault of a few of the undead while his tail was used quickly and acrobatically to smash into the chest cavities of a couple more, the impact sending their bones splintering in many directions and their undead skulls still chomping and gnashing in their eternal unrest. Lacuna had made sure to pay close attention to the focus of his allies when he revealed his tail, not fearing any of them or any sort of reprise but just as a sub-conscious habit formed from years of exploration of peoples un-open to the concept of foreign looks.

He knelt to pick up a short sword that still had the decomposing hand of a restless dead attached to it as the group made their halt in the chamber. The blade was still in stable condition, his fingers running slowly along the edge of the blade to test his theory. Meanwhile his eyes alongside everyone else’s in the party scanned over the myriad of runes, carvings…stories and glyphs that echoed their silent stories and passages. He hadn’t worried when the path before them appeared stalled, as the one in their group who had finally made use of one of his many rings revealed the way before them. Indeed this group was at the least competent, and prepared for a host of situations by looks of their current appearance.

When the door opened, and the party scattered themselves to decide who would be the first to trek through, Lacuna decided that at this moment he would reveal some of the uses that he held. He slowly removed the cloak that had hidden the bulk of his features and allowed the brilliant craft of his armor work radiate within the gloom of the crypt. The tri-peace insignia upon his chest gave off a gentle glow before him as he neared the entrance to the newly opened chamber, one hand resting along the hilt of the blade that he sheathed upon his belt, and the other hand firmly gripping Adastra his trusted staff. He stepped forward, silent graceful steps contradicting the size that he his body held as a light slowly began to form around the hand that held his staff.

With a shallow incantation the light split into tendrils and began to travel languidly along the walls of the passage, Lacuna’s eyes closed in a subtle meditation as he felt the energy and force of the path that they traveled. His now hidden face gave the appearance of a newborn wraith as his eyes were now the only visible part of his head . The energy that crept along the walls served as his new eyes as he navigated their course. Though he could not see what lay ahead of the group, this magick was allowing his body to feel what lay before their path. He was able to discern the stories of spiders as the energy circled over their ancient webs. Ripples of water that the energy cascaded over told their tales of undisturbed ages. But then there were the runes….

He could feel their grooved carvings cast from an unknown maker. He could sense their omens, their purpose, but what they defined was eluding him. As much use as this ability was, it was limited and he had not enough experience in his mental bank to be able to decipher the lore. Such would take some time and unfortunately that was a commodity that they did not have an abundance of. Thus he shook his head and attempted to force his energy onward but then his body was violently shaken out of its meditation. One of the runes that were ahead drew his energies like a magnet and scattered it like an egg fallen from a great height. Before he would come to, his real eyes saw the image of a horrifying Geist, formless yet staring back at Lacuna for that brief moment before his vision cleared and he once again found himself within the confines of the chamber, scanning over his temporary allies before clearing his voice to speak.

His eyes met with those first of Cale before moving back and forth through all that were gathered. If one’s senses were especially sharp, they would notice, albeit just for a second that the colour of the skin upon his arm had a different tone growing from his hands to his arms as he spoke out. The natural caramel tone that was reflected in the light changing match that of the man who was before him.

“ I know not of the dangers that may await us and our prize, however I feel that for the while, our group’s passage is clear until a certain ways….half a league if mercy smiles upon us.”

He then arced his hands towards the group, drawing out a new sphere of energy and letting it disperse over their feet. The glow would surround their boots as long as they held no natural resistances and or were unwilling to have foreign magick envelop them. He stomped his foot hard to demonstrate the padding effect that his spell was currently placing on their feet. While it would not offer complete silence for stealth, for a group of their size the added quite could come in handy. "My name is Lacuna", he bowed solemnly before continuing "this shall be a boon to our quest. May we find what we are searching for in good fortune."

“Come” he then spoke out before quickly taking off into the passage at a brisk pace. While he was far from a rogue or scout, Lacuna’s natural body was well adapted to such places and climates. His eyes were trying their best to scan what he had felt before. He knew that he would eventually be surpassed by one of his group, perhaps the rogue would even get deeper into the crypt than he but at the least progress was being made.

Lacuna was no stranger to meeting the unknown head on, thus he moved ahead with only a small moment’s anxiety before the adventure settled within his mind. His concentration could not afford to deal with such emotions while he tried his best to make sure that his allies’ sounds weren’t heightened as they went forward.