Ruins of Trepidation
"There is something wrong about this place." Junia said as she observed the dark and craggy halls of the Ruins with her careful eyes, further clutching the prayer book in her hand. "Even God's Light struggle to reach us here."
Her words were punctuated by the sound of crashing wood as Reynauld cleared the path for the party. "In such darkness, we must rely on the Light in our hearts, sister Junia."
"I would not say exactly that." Montecute added, her mask shadowed by the dim light of her concoction.
Dismas, shrouded in complete darkness, kept his ears trained as he scouted ahead of the party, preparing them for whatever lurks in these shadows, in order for the potential ambushed to become the ambushers. His adjusted eyes were on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary that stood out. Even more so than usual, given where he currently was. He glanced behind him, seeing his party slowly catch up to him. With a sigh, he stayed where he stood, awaiting them.
The sudden caw alerted him of what he almost forgot as a crow came to perch on his shoulder, its glowing blue eyes staring eerily at him. This conjuration of the occult, serving as the eyes of his employer so she herself could keep her eye on them. It cawed again, before launching itself off and flew towards the rest of the party as they caught up to him.
"What awaits us, Sir Dismas?" the Crusader asked, gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Aye, faint sounds of rustling and clinking ahead of us. Probably a necromancer's machinations roaming about." He answered, falling back in line with the rest.
"If it is the undead, then we have nothing to fear." Junia said with affirming conviction, holding her mace high.
Montecute tightened the cork on one of her flasks. "Brittle bones are nothing to fear of, yes. Shall we?]"
With a nod, Reynauld took the lead once more, slowly creeping towards the closed door that they had approached. Bracing his shoulder of the barricaded door, he slowly pushed to open it. Just as the door was shimmied open, a loud crack resounded through the corridor. A bolt had pierced the door, almost shattering through. Taking the cue, Reynauld wasted no time and barged through, seeing three skeletal figures standing in the middle of the room. One of them reloading the crossbow it had just recently used.
Dismas rushed behind the Crusader, seeking cover behind the scattered debris. He aimed his pistol at the one that had just took the shot at them, and fired a staggering shot that blew a chunk of its entire shoulder, causing it to almost dropped the newly reloaded crossbow.
As Junia and Montecute hurried behind them, seeing Reynauld going toe to toe with one wielding a club, the last skeleton dressed in a nobleman's garb rushed towards the two of them, holding a goblet on one hand and a dagger on the other. Just before Junia could ready her mace the goblet wielder threw the contents of the goblet at her, blinding her with blood red wine. She could feel the unnatural horror coursing through the liquid on her face, the burning sensation almost peeling her skin. Montecute responded immediately, throwing one of her flasks at it, the shattering glass doing little to damage the bones yet its contents already leaving its mark, the strong acid burning its clothes and further causing the bones to brittle.
As Montecute was in the midst of her minute celebration, the crossbowman fired another shot, this time its bolt staying true, as it struck her right in the middle of her chest. Montecute was flung back from the momentum, all the wind knocked out of her as she could feel the bolt narrowly missing her heart. Dismas took aim once more at the crossbowman, finally felling it before it could further wreak havoc.
"Sister Junia." Montecute called out, noticing the Vestal slowly losing her control as she witnessed what had just been inflicted upon the Plague Doctor.
Junia shook herself out of the building panic, kneeling beside Montecute and prayed to the Light, as the Plague Doctor snapped the bolt in half, carefully pulling it out of her. Reynauld had made his way towards them as he had finished off the last of the skeletons, looking towards the Highwayman for their status.
"Just a quick fix up for the Doctor." He whispered.
The Crusader took that as cue to survey the room they had entered, seeing an ornate fountain amidst the rubble and debris. He approached it, drawing the holy water they had brought, and carefully eyed the fountain, seeing the dull water within it. He poured the holy water into the fountain, seeing the brief Light shimmer, and then, with his helmet raised slightly, took a sip. He muttered a few incantations to the Light, feeling the weight of the darkness lighten its load on him.
"Sister Junia!" he called out. "This fountain shines with the blessings of the Light." he said, hoping to reinvigorate the Vestal.
The Vestal, having healed Montecute, looked to Reynauld with wide eyes, groggily making her way towards the indicated fountain. She plunged her face into the fountain, taking all that she could from it, yet when she rose back up, the look of maddened worry only seemed to strengthen.
"I do not feel it. Where is the Light? Where is it?!" she asked, as panic slowly built up inside her, but before she could reach that breaking point, the familiar caw of the crow resounded within the room.
It stood on the doorway leading deeper into the ruins, its blue eyes always on them. Both Dismas and Reynauld nodded.
"Let us make haste. We needn't fester in these creeping walls any longer." The Highwayman said, reloading a new bullet.
"Sir Dismas is right. The sooner we get through these halls, the better." Reynauld added.
"Well then, let's hop right to it." Montecute said, clutching her abdomen from the halting pain she had faced.
With the three of them already making their way out of the room, the Vestal had to quell her fears, and further tightened the grip she had on her book of prayer. Now was not the time for her to lose her mind, she knows. She gathered herself and joined the rest, as they further ventured deeper inside the dark ruins. With a relit torch and an eldritch crow flying behind them, the carried on. Though it did not take long before their trek was disturbed by audible rustling just ahead of them. They all hunkered down, careful to not alert whatever it was that awaits them.
The Plague Doctor's sudden cry of pain and anguish caught them by surprise, the whole group turning to see a bone soldier having struck her as she collapsed on the ground with a wide gash going diagonally on her back. The Vestal slowly backed away as fear slowly clouded her judgment from properly assisting Montecute, who was saved as the Highwayman parried another blow from the bone soldier. She kept backing away till she felt like she had bumped into something. She slowly turned her body, catching a glimpse of a crazed lunatic in an untied straight jacket. He held her in place with both his hands on her face, muttering untold heresies that pushed the Vestal deeper down a well of insanity that was only broken when the madman was struck by a poison vial that splattered all over his face and chest.
Eyes wide at the screaming madman, Junia turned to see Montecute had been the one to save her, throwing one of her poisons at him. That shook her out of her madness; a woman who had been crippled and laid on the ground was still very much capable and had saved her from losing herself. She rushed towards the crumpled form of the Plague Doctor, uttering prayers of Light. Though her faith had been shaken, it was enough, as Montecute's spine slowly realigned itself, her flesh stitching back together.
Dismas had properly dealt with the bone soldier when he himself was struck, a crossbow bolt piercing his calf, bringing him down to his knee. The Crusader, jogged towards the skeleton that had fired the shot, staggering it before it could reload another shot with a clean swing, shattering its torso to pieces. He turned to survey the corridor, seeing Dismas snap the bolt before pulling it out, and Junia helping Montecute up on her feet. He gave one more glance towards Dismas, who responded with a nod, before they continued through the dark Ruins.
The reached what would be their final stop, their rations running low with nowhere else to go in these sections of the Ruins. They could her shifting from the other side of the door. Reynauld was in front, giving one last affirmation towards the rest of the party, before charging towards the door, slamming it open with his shoulder. An acolyte stood the farthest inside the room, with a brawler rushing towards him and a bone soldier just behind. Dismas sprinted past the Crusader, holding the brawler in place before it could cut Reynauld done as he himself came into contact with the skeleton. Montecute threw one of her vials at the brawler, easing the Highwayman's difficulty as the brawler staggered back, his skin melting from the poison. Dismas cut across the brawler's chest, screams of pain filling the room.
The Vestal was about to support the Crusader, but was stopped when her mind was assaulted once more, this time by the acolyte as heretical magics worked its way in her mind as she collapsed to her knees. The Plague Doctor rushed towards Junia's side, but she too was entranced by the acolyte, but her sheer will to push forwards shocked the acolyte. Pulling out a healing draught, Montecute poured its contents inside Junia's mouth, hoping that her concoction can break the Vestal's stupor.
Reynaul wasted no time, knocking the bone soldier to the side to rush towards the acolyte, the bone soldier itself stopped by a well placed shot by Dismas as its skull shattered. The acolyte made one last ditch attempt as she swung her sacrificial dagger at the Crusader, but it could barely scratch his dinted armor as he drove his through her gut, all the way until the hilt touched her stomach. Before she could even do anything else, he swung his blade out of her, followed by a kick that sent her to the ground. She brought herself up with her one elbow; hand stretched out to cast another heinous spell but was too late, as another swing of the Crusader's blade cut her head clean off.
Reynauld kneeled with his sword planted on the ground, praying. Behind him Dismas was helping Montecute with Junia, but the Vestal's thousand yard stare did not relent. Her soul had been shaken on their first trek into the Ruins, and without a doubt it will only get worse from there on out. With a sigh, Montecute stood up, plucking another healing draught from her satchel. She shifted her mask just a bit before taking the draught for herself.
"I feel like I need quite the drink after this." She commented as the eldritch crow that served as the Noble's familiar flew above her.
"'f you don't mind dragging her with me," Dismas gestured towards the Vestal. "Then we can make haste."
"How about him?" she gestured towards the praying Crusader, who had slowly gotten up.
Reynauld looked towards the party, his sword in his hand. "Sir Dismas, Lady Montecute. Let us retire from this journey, Layde Crowe will no doubt require an extensive report."
Both the Highwayman and the Plague Doctor nodded as they moved towards the Vestal, helping her up with both her arms.
"If you don't mind, Reynauld," the Highwayman held his pistol with his free hand as he addressed the Crusader. "think we need a little bit of protection."
With a nod of confirmation, the Crusader once again led them, his sword ready to vanquish those who would harm them. The caw of the crow above them served as a reminder as the retraced their steps in these dark corridors and empty ruins, that this was only the beginning. That their journey had only just begun, and unfortunately it was a long one.