Quest [Regional Quest] Into the Deep

[Poison]

Alanys and Demyan gasped as they saw the ghost, floating over what seemed to be a pile of dead surrogates. Only Vass looked at her coldly. The head of the Ochya thought that fear and surprise were useless emotions, therefore he wasn’t afraid or surprised. He only remarked, „I thought that there would be more of them down here!“ and covered his nose with his sleeve, because, as much as he would have liked to feign indifference, the smell was hard to ignore. „We should send a clean up party into the lower caverns sometimes!“

As Sosicly squeezed Alanys‘ arm harder, the woman made a face. Sosicly might have squeezed her too hard. She didn’t say anything though, but just stared at the ghost. She had never met a ghost. She had heard that the ghost of a powerful Symenestra hypnotist haunted the abandoned houses at the edge of the city, but she had never actually seen her – or talked to her. Could you even talk to ghosts?

As she read the message in Sosicly’s book, she glanced at the ghost again. Was she just imagining things – or had the ghost come a bit closer? She shuddered, grabbed Demyan’s arm and pushed her younger colleague forward. „You’ll talk to her“, she decided. „This is a job for a man. Vass and I will protect you.“ Demyan didn’t look very happy either, but he stepped forward. As sickening as the smell was, and as much as the presence of the ghost worried him, they had to find the child.

He made another step forward. The ghost floated towards him. He could see the cave wall through her. He raised his hands. „We come in peace“, he told her in Common as he wasn’t sure if she spoke Symenos. „We are sorry to intrude into your home, ghost, but we are looking for somebody. A little boy has gone missing. Have you by chance seen him? We would be most grateful if you could help us.“

The ghost stared at him for a moment. „Why should I help a widow?“ she wanted to know. „Your people killed me. You abducted me, raped me and then left me to die. It would serve you well to have to mourn the death of one of your own for a change.“

[Sosicly Magnolia]

Sosicly cursed her inability to speak once again. What she wanted to say she couldn’t, if it wasn’t for her hand on Alanys’ arm she would have already fallen in fear or exhaustion. The mute gasped when she finally tried to do anything, still confused as to why the ghost could talk. But now it seemed human, Sosicly tried to push her fear back, it was human once. Her eyes narrowed, she released Alanys arm and crouched down to write properly, her shoulders rising and falling eaech time she reminded herself to relax and breathe. The first thing she wrote was to Viratas, Viratas, you protect your own. Do not allow the child’s blood to spilled. His blood is not of any purpose like this not in life or death because he has not lived long enough. The second was for the ghost. When she finished she crawled across the floor and tapped the book against Demyan’s legs. While she waited for him to read she glared at the ghost, masking her fear with anger as best she could. Her lips curled in distaste, her mind marking the ghost woman as pathetic. What must I give for the child? You want vengeance but the child has done nothing. Would you be like us? The thing you despise? Perhaps you are not so different from us widows. Even as she rolled the words in her head, Sosicly made to stand. Using Demyan as her personal ladder Sosicly stood and curled her hand around his arm. Her wheezing was beginning to come out softer, her chest still burned but the pause was giving her enough rest physically even if the ghost was not mentally. While she waited she spared a quick glance at Vass. He seemed composed, more so than the rest of them but could they fend off a ghost? Casting him another once over she realized what his lack of response could mean. She straightened in a panic and pulled her eyes away from the inspection of his face. It meant regardless they might not get back.

[Poison]

As Sosicly tapped her book against his legs, Demyan quickly turned around and took it. He hoped that the ghost wouldn’t do anything unexpected while he wasn’t looking or try to possess somebody. He had heard that ghosts could do that. As he turned around, and noticed that the dead surrogate was still hovering in front of him, glaring at him angrily and impatiently, he almost breathed a sigh of relief because she hadn’t attacked anybody yet.

„Shall I read this to her?“ he wanted to know and cleared his throat. „What must I give for the child? You want vengeance but the child has done nothing. Would you be like us? The thing you despise? Perhaps you are not so different from us widows.“

The ghost watched him indifferently as he read. She didn’t seem to care that the little boy was innocent. „The boy is most likely dead“, she informed them. „His friends and he came down here a while ago. They left, but he wanted to go on. They wanted to look for the undead!“ She laughed. „He came into my graveyard. When I appeared in front of him, he screamed and ran. I can tell you where he went, but it will cost you.“

She floated past Demyan to Alanys. The woman shuddered. The ghost laughed, and moved to Vass. He clenched his fists and pressed his lips together, but he did not say anything. Finally she was in front of Sosicly. „I want to see the monster that I gave birth to“, she said to her. „And I want to talk to the man who raped me. I want him to understand that he committed a murder. You will also send a letter to my sister in Alvadas so that she knows I’m dead.“

„If you do that for me, I will tell you where the foolish child went.“

[Sosicly Magnolia]

Her first instinct was to nod but she hesitated, struggling not to lurch back into Demyan and to not look away from the creature. The letter would not be hard but to allow the being to see her people while she called them monsters in a tone that spoke of only anger. Sosicly realized she had effectively taken control of the ghosts attention but the situation was spinning quickly out of control. Licking her lips she finally tore her gaze away to write, I will send the letter, you may see it before if you like but the people…the man and the child, would you harm them? Can you tell us the boys location first? I will stay to behind so that you do not think we will take the boy and run. Her hands shook at the last sentence, and she nearly knocked over the last of her ink, clutching it hard enough to hurt she shoved the book at Demyan so she had no chance to take back her words. The child was what was important, not her own fear, she thought in frustration at the whole situation. Though the child would be terrified when he was found Sosicly hoped her parents would not allow him to leave their Web for at least a season. Her lips pursed at the thought, and she counted slowly in her head each wheeze while she raised her eyes to face the ghost once more. Another thought occurred to her while she waited for Demyan to read, how could a ghost harm someone? Face paling a bit she hoped she would not find out but held the creatures gaze out of stubborn fear.

[Poison]

Demyan looked at what Sosicly had written and furrowed his brow. „Are you sure?“ he whispered to Sosicly. He didn’t know whether he was brave enough to stay behind with a bitter and most likely slightly evil ghost, but one look at Sosicly confirmed that, yes, she was sure. With a sigh he began to read to the ghost. Alanys and Vass didn’t look particularly happy about Sosicly’s idea either, but what choice did they have?

„Do I look as if I could harm them?“ the dead surrogate asked once Demyan had finished reading and came even closer to Sosicly. „I’m dead. If I could kill them, I would, of course, because they murdered me, but I can’e even hold a knife like this!“ She sounded angry. Strange, white mist began to swirl around her, and the temperature in the cave dropped for a moment. „Unless you’d like to murder them for me?“

She laughed.

„The boy went this way!“ She pointed vaguely left. „I heard him scream somewhere. He probably fell and died or at least broke a couple of bones. Stupid widow. I thought your kind could climb! Well, I told you where he went. You promised that you’d stay with me. Now come here and entertain me while they retrieve his corpse!“

[Sosicly Magnolia]

Sosicly seen nothing but darkness at the word corpse, her breathing stopping for a moment. Then it grew louder when her vision returned, the situation finally dawned on her and left her wheezing on the floor for what seemed like a bell. She had just promised to entertain a ghost. Actually she had promised to wait with the ghost, a ghost. Viratas preserve her, she was bringing a ghost back up. Sosicly wheezed louder but her body seemed to know what to do and stood up out of habit. When she managed to focus Sosicly couldn't stop the look of horror on her face no matter how many times she reminded herself it was for the child. But she still managed to face the ghost, forcefully trying to smooth out her expression or release her shoulders from their defensive stance. It did not work very well, and her smile was pained at best but true indignation flashed when she actually understood what the ghost wanted. Why should she entertain her? They were already doing as she had asked. The slight irratation helped her tap her foot along to a find a flat patch of ground so she would be able to do a little twirl, and to sigh down at her spilt ink as if it was the cause of all her troubles. When she finished, Sosicly raised an eyebrow and waved her arms around them in a clear 'is-that-entertaining-enough' gesture. After a tick she gesture to the bones scattered around and cocked her head curiously while avoiding all eye contact possible, trying to ask if she was looking for something as well.

[Poison]

Vass and Alanys quickly went where the ghost had told them, hoping that they would still find the child alive, despite what they had been told. Demyan hesitated for a moment though and looked at Sosicly worriedly. He wondered if he shouldn’t stay behind after all. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder though. As he turned around, he saw Alanys. „Come“, she said to him. „We might need your help. I’m sure that Sosicly can deal with the ghost. The ghost said that she can’t harm her.“ Demyan wasn’t sure if he believed that. Maybe the ghost was lying. He cast another glance at the mute girl, and then he nodded curtly and quickly followed his companions. They needed to act quickly now.

The ghost wasn’t particularly impressed with Sosicly’s lackluster attempts to entertain her. „You aren’t making an effort!“ she accused her. „I told you where the stupid child is. Now do something for me!“ She floated over to Sosicly. Just before it seemed as if she would move through her, she stopped, looked directly into her eyes and sayed, „Boo!“ And then she laughed. As she noticed that Sosicly seemed to be interested in the bones, she informed her, „They belong to the women your people killed. My corpse is somewhere around here as well. Do you want to see it? Do you want to know how I died? The demon spawn’s venom liquified the inside of my body!“

She nearly shrieked the last part, but seemed to calm down again after a few moments. „I’m bored“, she announced. „Dance for me, widow. You are supposed to be good at that.“ She floated around Sosicly, uncomfortably close, but after a few moments she suddenly froze and turned around abruptly, as if she had heard something. Sosicly could hear it as well. There was some kind of commotion in the direction that the Ochya had gone. „Can you hear it?“ the ghost asked. „Your friends are coming back with the corpse. Or maybe the monsters have left the lake and have come to eat you! Wouldn’t that be fun?“