Castle Vikuur: Castle Outbreak

Airgetlam steps out of the shadows and decloaks, putting a hand on the maid's shoulder.

"Shhh, it's me," She says to relieve her. "You never got around to giving me the information I asked for. May we start over? Also, don't mind the weirdo sticking out of the ceiling, he's ok." She glaces behind herself at the ceiling.

"Firstly, again. Who exactly is this 'Clarent' girl to you? We have different perceptions. Second, you mentioned you were expecting us? You see, we've been trying to find this girl, she got kidnapped, and Clarent is that girl, it's unmistakable!"

The maid flinches and gasps in surprise. But then quickly calms herself. She leans slightly to the side to see what the strange woman infront of her is referring to but is quick to wave it off.

"The girl, you ask?" she starts fiddling with her sleeve as she begins to nervously explain.
"You see... this castle once- well... still- belongs to an evil spirit. She was the daughter of a wealthy magus family that lived in this castle a long time ago, or that's what I've gathered so far. I was sent here by my family, to make money, or so I had thought. It turns out this man named marcus lures away or abducts beautiful young women to serve as a vessel for this spirit. The necromancer doesn't give away informations to the newly "hired" servants. Though none of us at first knew we weren't so much hired as we were stolen away."

She pauses briefly, looking around nervously. "I overheard conversations... and seen terrifying things through the keyholes of closed doors. This place is very dangerous... the girls who are seen unfit or serve their time as a vessel are taken away and return as something different... Dead but... not."

The maid holds airgetlam by the shoulders and stares her into the eyes, her expression less worried than grim. "Best you find a way out of here so you don't end up like the rest of them. And your friends too... They all have something she needs to return to life and their own will likely not be spared..."

Airgetlam gives her a puzzled look.

"What do we all have? Is it something individually unique to each or no? As well, is Marcus out right now gathering more cattle? What does he get in return? Why don't you ad the ones who haven't been gobbled up yet escape? Or even stage a revolt? You might have the numbers to pull it off!"

So much new information, but she must press on. She got lucky with this maid, she did. She'll have to consider taking her with them.

She looks back to the strange man and nods, but the maid is only more confused. Airgetlam waves it off and tells the maid not to worry.

"May I ask your name so we're on better terms? I'm Airgetlam."

She figures at least she can build some level of trust.

The maid stutters for a moment in her overwhelming confusion of the whole situation. "A-ah yes um... well of course my name, i-it is Ayame." She lets go of airgetlam and a worried expression sets on her face. "We've tried to escape but... there isn't any way out of here. The entrance in the courtyard is barred by two heavy metal doors.

They only open when someone from the outside is coming in, and close within a moments notice. One of our girls, the living ones, once snuck outside when Marcus had returned. But when stepped out into the mists that build from time to time she simply fell into nothingness. To my own surprise I caught a glimpse of her together with the other servants yesterday."

Airgetlam runs a hand through her hair for the umpteenth time.

"These mists... what are they exactly? What do you mean by nothingness? Are we inside a null-void or something like that? I've heard about them but never figured I'd have the chance to be in one..."

She grabs her chin and rests her elbow on a crossed arm.

"I'm going to need to get this information back to my friends anyway... Ayame, I'd like to free you all, and help you defeat this menace, even if you are powerless to do so.. So please, please trust me when I ask if you might come with us! If you have a family outside, I'll make sure you see it again. If you don't, I'll make sure you don't become a meatsack for a Necromancer!"

She puts her hands on Ayame's shoulders and hugs her, then looks her in the face again.

"Trust me?"

Ayame nods at Airgetlam, a almost happy but more so relieved state setting on her face.
"Yes, I trust you..." she says and nods again. "If I can do anything to help you I will, though... I think nobody in the castle is aware of your whereabouts so I don't think it is safe to travel together, however, my room is in the guest-wing, third on the left. So come see me if I can be of help to you."

"Ok," Airgetlam nods, "But my friends are likely in the guest wing as well, so we're pretty much heading the same direction. Is there another way there that might run parallel to yours so you're not being trailed by us? Don't want to run into anyone... of less than stellar disposition."

She turns back to make sure the man on the ceiling is still there, and looks back again to a quite puzzled Ayame, who still does not understand that he is present.

I guess I shouldn't have even mentioned him, it's just confounding her even more, she thinks to herself.

She takes out a piece of paper and a pen so that she might be able to get a sketch of the castle interior, and directions to boot.

Ayame looks around as she ponders of any alternate pathways she might remember.
"Oh." She says, having finally calmed herself enough to hold a normal conversation.
"I believe so..." She begins to gesture the way as she describes it.

"...so, when you exit the dungeon and into the barracks, there is a ladder in the far corner next to the door. Usually it's obstructed when the door is open so you may not have noticed it coming in... The ladder goes to the upper barracks.

Across the main hall of the upper barracks there will be a little booth of sorts and a door leading to an accessible part of the inner walls. You can take the stairs up the back of the three towers and enter through the middle tower which... oh i'm not sure anymore... I think there is a bridgeway leading from the middle tower to the main building, right into the attic above the guest quarters... But I remember being prohibited entry to any of the five towers so you might have to... use your... talent. To get by."

She rubs her forehead lightly.
"I'm sorry, it's a ways around but... it's the only alternate route I can think of."
She then stares at Airgetlam for a brief moment, with an unsure expression on her face, but then smiles.
"I believe you'll be able to help us. But for now, I really need to get back to my quarters. If I get caught up too long they will become suspicious."

With that the maid dissapears up the stairs and makes her way back to her room.

"Thank you," Airgetlam says to the maid, "This goes a long way. Don't worry, I've done a lot of sneaking around, I'm the sure time'll be halved. Please Ayame, stay safe. If they try to kill you, just run."

The maid scurries off around the corner and out of sight.

She looks back to the man on the ceiling.

"May I have your name at least? It'll help in the long run. Also, just keep pace with me and follow, i'll get us to one of the towers and you can decide from there whether you want to join us or escape. My friends shouldn't try to kill you if I'm around."

She begins walking off using the maid's directions. She looks back to make sure the man is following, or even still there.

As he waits there, and watches the two converse, he ponders what to do about this newfound sense of attachment to the female... "Airgetlam" as she had introduced to himself. Coming to the conclusion that it would be advantageous to have her as an ally, he decides to join her in her search, when suddenly she asks for his name.

What... would he call himself? Perhaps... a name that represents that which he had lost. Everything that passed by him in 1 fell swoop as he was thrown from his path and tossed aside. Yes... that would be fitting. A Lost Dreamer indeed. "Maigo... Maigoyume". That would be his name, the culmination of his identity from now on. Perhaps he will find what is lost and come back to the rest of the world after a time.

Satisfied with his choice, he moves on to follow Airgetlam at a distance, making sure he is close enough to defend her at a moment's notice.

"Mai-go-yu-me, hmmm. Ok." An odd name, but hers is pretty odd itself, so she can't complain. She continues on with Maigoyume in tow, and slows as she approaches several corners, checking her vectors, extra careful not to alert any guards. She presses her feet softly, in an effect to lower her sound output. She approaches the door to the barracks and presses her ear to the door. She hears nothing and looks through the keyhole. No potential hostiles can be found. She opens the door which confusingly has been left unlocked and goes into the barracks. Of course, no sign of the ladder.

She turns around and tries to locate her companion.

"We need to find a ladder so we can get into the upper barracks. Can you help me out with that? The maid said it might be obstructed, and that seems to hold true. If you could clear it while I keep watch, that would be fine."

"Hn." As he scans the surrounding area for any sign of a ladder or upward egress, he notices yet again the strange distortion approaching and hisses quietly. Tilting his head, he tries to look at the distortion at yet a different angle, but it stubbornly moves away from the center of his vision as he tries to center his view upon it. Frustrated, he growls softly, but gives up, sensing no hostile intention as of yet.

Going back to his search, he finds a trapdoor in the ceiling, but it appears to be barred or covered by a heavy object. Testing it, he finds that it lifts slightly before being stopped by the seemingly immovable object, but he feels that he could probably break through at great cost to their stealth. "Here. Locked. Can break the door if needed." His voice sounds incredibly raspy to him, almost to the point you can hear a clicking rumble under the tone of his voice. Frustrated by how inhuman he even sounds, he shuts his mouth and awaits for further orders.

She looks at Maigoyume and ponders what they should do.

Keeping her voice low she tells him of her thoughts.

"If we break it open, we'd have to bolt for it. And I mean, really bolt for it. We can have maybe a cloaked run, but I don't know how good that'll do us. I'd like if we could remain stealthy to make a bit of noise elsewhere, divert attention. Maybe I'd break some stuff down here. I have explosive bolts for my crossbow. I'm thinking maybe we can do that, and if we get to an intersection, I can fire one of those bolts into another hallway to divert attention. That's if anybody even comes."

She honestly doesn't know any other way to the guest wing besides this route. And the one that Ayame laid out seems to rather unsafe. Her pulse is elevating, she can feel it.

"If anyone uses magic, I can see if maybe my arm'll do something, it's been tingling this entire time."

Trusting Airgetlam's judgement, he decides to follow her lead and silently shadows her as she moves on to enact the plan. As he keeps his head on a swivel, he notices that something doesn't quite feel very right in the current situation, but the cause of the feeling has not become apparent yet. Instead, he decides to maintain awareness and prepares to offer himself up as distraction, should something go wrong in the plan, as things generally did.

Murmuring slightly to himself, he gives a quiet "Ready", before assuming ready position to spring into action at a moment's notice.

Airgetlam nods to him and loads her crossbow with two explosive bolts. She's going to miss them, they cost her a lot of money. Explosives aren't cheap!

She looks to Maigoyume.

"Hey um, could you open the trap door just a bit? I need some space to get the bolt through so I can nail whatever's on top!" She takes a knee and adjusts her scope settings to make sure she'll get the shot through.

"After you do that, once I fire you might want to back up."

Maigoyume nods slightly and lifts the trapdoor as far as it will go before waiting, ready to delay whatever will come running once alerted to the explosion. He takes position slightly away from the crack in the trapdoor and gets ready to bolt, eyeing the bolt carefully. Even he, with his inexperience with weapons can sense the danger of the simple looking object.

Maigoyume seems ready enough, she hopes he's fast enough.

"Taking aim." She mutters and relaxes herself. She draws in a deep breath.

"Ease!" She says and depresses the trigger, a sharp, if still quiet fing is emitted, and the bolt pierces the air. It narrowly goes through the opening and she sees it's going to hit the wall, she hurriedly gets up and runs behind some barrels.

A loud explosion, on a level not as powerful as nitroglycerin, but still powerful enough to rend at the trap door.

Airgetlam rushes over, climbing the ladder and lifts it. Whatever was above it has been blown apart, and they may now proceed. She pushes the door up and over and scans the room. It doesn't seem like there was anything or anyone in the immediate area, thank god these halls were abandoned. She hauls herself up and softly speaks back to the lower barracks.

"Mai, we're clear for now! Lets hustle!"

Maigoyume hears the shout, and vaults through the trapdoor, on the alert and ready for combat.

Seeing the area all clear, he slows his breathing to listen closely for any sign of activity, and finds none. "Search for Clarent?", he asks quietly while keeping on the alert.

Moving ahead, he reaches a heavy door, and notices shadows moving behind it. Slinking back, he motions for caution waits to the side of the door as he prepares for breaching.

"Ready for breach."

Airgetlam looks at the large metal contraption and tries to figure what It might be fore, but it's purpose does not come to her. She shakes her head to Mai.

"Could you open the door quietly if possible? I really don't want to make any more ruckus!"

One explosion is enough, at least maybe it'll seem like an accident. She looks about the room, still keeping watch, and notices the shadows swirly on the other side of the door. She gets a bit nervous, and cycles her crossbow open to place an incendiary bolt and revolves the cylinder to the bolt. Some other freak tries to jump at her, she'll be ready.

Maigoyume examines the door closely, and notices that while the door appears solid and symmetrical, the hinges and door frame seem weaker than the door itself. Coming to a conclusion, he stabs both hands in and separating the hinges before stepping back and ramming through, right when the shadow passes by the door once more.

The door falls with a dull, heavy thud and there appears to be someone knocked unconscious beneath the door. Curious, he lifts the door slightly with one hand and drags the person out with the other. This appears to be another woman, though this one appears to be carrying some weapons of some sort.

Airgetlam's eyes go wide at the side.

"Oh come on, that's now exactly quiet!"

She sees a hand lying limp out from under the door and she rushes over to see what happened. She feels the person's hand to see if they're dead or not. The hand is warm, and it seems the person is not dead.

"Well, at least we don't have to deal with them..."

She tries to lift the door off of the person to see who exactly it is.

Airgetlam manages to move the door out of the way. It was lighter than it would have seemed at first. The unconcious woman seems to be bruised from the impact and whether she will have head trauma or not is still to be seen. But her functions seem to be normal. She breathes normally, her pulse is healthy.

Air inspects the woman further. She has very sharp facial features and her body is a bit on the heavier side. She seems to be wearing some sort of doctors coat with two big pockets on the side. Her big round glasses are broken but no damage seems to have been done to her eyes and face and she is holding an alchemical knife used for sampling. In her other bag is a torn bag of herbs that scattered around the ground.

Air looks up from the woman and inspects the room. It seems to be some sort of hobbyist's laboratory. It's not very fancy, and there is more gears and clockwork than strange scientific and alchemical devices. With exception of a large glass tank of water standing in a corner of the room, across from a door that according to the directions Ayame gave her should lead to one of the walls connecting the different parts of the castle together.

The glass tank holds an unknown liquid and a formation of crystals that seemed to have been grown naturally inside the tank over time. There are several tubes and wires of sorts running into the roof and the ground, and a console rests on a desk next to the tank.

The woman sighs, still passed out, claiming Air's attention from the room.

Airgetlam gasps and tries to get the woman to slouch against the wall, and she gathers the woman's things and places them neatly beside her. She takes a shred of cloth from her bag and a few drips from her water flask and dabs the woman's forehead with it, trying to maybe rouse her from her state of unconsciousness.

She hesitates saying something for a moment. What if this woman is an enemy? Something to be avoided? She doesn't seem like it, but what if? However, she absolves that she'd be trustworthy if told to keep her mouth shut and if she was kind to this woman.

"Hey, are you ok, something happened and you got knocked out, I think it was a sort of explosion, or something blew the door off it's hinges." She doesn't like to lie, but she cannot be sure. At least it was only partial, as something DID indeed blew the door off it's hinges, thinking of Mai.

Maigoyume continues on and notices several odd devices within the room. As he circles the glass tank warily, he notices a pungent smell, and a feeling almost like static when around the tank... odd since it is a fluid. Perhaps it contains a large amount of energy? He examines a few more devices and steers clear of the rest. Best not mess with stuff he doesn't understand.


He watches Airgetlam attempt to rouse the woman and he sheepishly looks away in embarrassment. Perhaps he didn't need to use so much force when opening the door. A simple shove or even yanking the door away and subduing whoever was inside would have sufficed instead of having to nurse the victim back from unconsciousness.

As said woman begins to wake up again, Maigoyume steps closer to keep an eye on her and listen to the exchange.

Disclaimer about NPC:

The woman slowly wakes up from her sleep-state. She blinks and seems to be rather out of it, propping her glasses a few times before noticing they are broken. She looks around the room over to the blurry dark creature standing in the room.

"Oh, Doctor, you shouldn't be walking around in that form." She mumbles and cocks her head to look at the woman in front of her. "Another subject? I thought we had halted that research. There are guests here now, you know..." She mutters and nods off for a moment.