The Sky Breathes All Life - IC

[Eluvan]

Alister continues to run, not yet quite registering the near-certainty that is implied by the utter devastation of both ships. He makes first for the body that can be seen near the burning ship, and upon reaching it will try to determine if he knows the person, and whether they are alive.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Sye also runs to the person, prepared to assist in any way. "Sir, do you recognize this one?" Sye asks as they draw close to the body and Alister has a chance to look at the body.

 

[Shayuri]

Duncan looks at Lily and begins to speak, "Do you remember the defeat of the vampire Rimris a few years back? If you don't then I'm not surprised it was kept fairly secret. When he was slain by those vampire hunters I was a few miles away. My master and I saw a pillar of smoke rising from the distance and went to see if we could help. What we saw there was true carnage. The hunters who went in there killed everything, monster or not, and when they left they desecrated to bodies of those who served the vampire. This scene is terrible, but here the bodies fell where the died, there on the other hand..." Duncan trails off, he seems lost in thought but not mortified.

(eee...Thanksgiving...sorry for delay)

Lily squints a little and gets confused smile. "You sound like you're rooting for the vampire there," she quips, trying to make it sound like a joke. "I mean, I'm no vampire hunter, but if I was I'd probably be cutting up the bodies too, you know? Just to make sure they didn't get back up again when my back was turned." She shrugs. "What did they do that was worse than...than -this-?"

She sweeps a hand around to indicate the grim field around them.

 

[Lord Wyrm]

Duncan looked at Lily, his eyes seemed almost sorrowful, "Just remember Miss Foster, you asked." Duncan took a moment and began, "The first thing they did was destroy the vampire and his minions that stood before them, that was quick enough and the sun claimed the bodies. Next they took the villagers and crucified them, all of them. They covered them in pigs blood and let the carrion birds feed on them for six days, all the time healing them with magic so they would stay alive through all of the pain. The villagers had for the most part done nothing wrong but they were still placed upon the crosses. But still more would follow..." Duncan seemed to gaze into Lily's very soul, "I gets worse Miss Foster, shall I continue?"

 

[Shayuri]

Lily wrinkles her nose reflexively and shakes her head, waving the visions off. The words themselves were confusing. What good god, who's followers would seek to destroy a vampire, would condone such actions? What paladin could shine his armor after such acts? And, a darker, more pragmatic thread of thought pointed out, how could they possibly spare that much healing magic just for sadism?

Despite it's flaws though, the story had a certain visceral power to it. A twilight warning whisper to beware hunting monsters, lest ye become one. That was a good warning and true, and it's unspoken assertion that she too might commit such atrocities should she slip was enough to throw a shiver down her back.

"You saw all this happen," she finally says skeptically, glancing up at the larger warrior.

 

[Lord Wyrm]

Duncan noticed Lily shiver as he related a portion of the tale, the same reaction he had when he saw it occur. When he saw the slaughter from his hiding place he knew that evil was truly relative, the hunters who had been slain before Vaeris and his soldiers moved in had retribution from their fellows, no matter how dishonorable it was.

Duncan stopped his searching completely now, focused on Lily. He began, "I was there, but not for the crucifications. That ended five days before I arrived. My master freed a few of the villagers and we heard of the first eleven days from them before we drove home our daggers and ended their suffering. We hid from those hunters for nearly twenty days before they left and we buried the villagers. The carnage was absolute and the smell of burnt flesh hung in the air for the weeks it took the two of us to give the death rights. I watched much of what happened though, I saw the emblems emblazoned on the chests of the 'holy warriors' as they flayed children while their mothers watched, I saw the horror of flesh being made to garmets, and there was far worse than that. That thing was worse than this by a great amount." Duncan paused, the events had obviously shaken him. He took a moment and continued, "You want to know the funny thing? The warriors who killed the vampire and his immeadiate minions were servants of a dark god, but the ones who commited the atrocities afterward were servants of gods of light." Duncan's more precise reflection upon the past nearly broke his will, but he had managed to keep something of his mind in check when talking to Lily. If he thought she were better prepared he might of told her of the greatest atrocities that occured in that place of darkness.

 

[Shayuri]

Lily considers that and shakes her head.

"I guess I can see maybe that a dark god might want a vampire dead if it didn't want competition or something," she allows. "But no god of light would condone that kind of action. Maybe they claimed to follow one, maybe they even thought they did. But if what you're saying is true, they were way out of line, and I'm sure they paid for it somehow."

 

[tylermalan]

Alister and Sye

As you approach the body, it is laying on its left side, facing away from you. Rolling it over to reveal the front, you recognize the man as a commanding officer of a primary unit of archers within your army. His body is starting to become more rigid, and his rank is clearly displayed on his shoulders and chest. He has no major visible open wounds, though there is blood, probably from the impact. His close proximity to the ship on the right, still on fire, is a sign of which ship is the command ship, and which is the dummy ship, though this sign is not a sure thing.

Alister, you knew the man through mutual acquaintances, and had no real bond to him. Sye, you have only seen the man in passing, and have never spoken.

 

[Lord Wyrm]

"Not god of light, gods of light, more than one. Oh, and they did pay, the warrior of the dark god who killed the vampire found out about the atrocities. He tracked the 'paladins' and 'clerics' down and they paid with their lives one by one. It was fortunate he learned of those events, he was far more creative than the servants of good." Duncan looked at the wreckage about him, "Perhaps we had best concentrate on searching for now."

 

[Shayuri]

Lily nods fervently, at once repelled by the unrelenting brutality of the tale, yet morbidly curious about how this 'warrior of a dark god' undertook revenge, and why. With some effort, she pushes the matter away, and resumes the search of the wreckage for any lives they're not too late to save.