Fable - Ask An Empty Tomb

[Hruugen]

"I'd like to thank you all for agreeing to come with me."

Hruugen spoke with all the reverence for the other Guardians that the 36th Temple had given him. Bent low and eyes closed. The motion of perfect trust in them.
He had sent word to Solomon for help when he had seen the site for himself.

A Temple, deep in the northern regions of the Imperial Deserts, that was completely desecrated. The once mighty statue of Amu the four faced god of life, fortune, wisdom and time was broken. Its top half felled onto the once pristine carved marble of the courtyard. All treasure and wealth had been removed. Most of the Holy People who lived there were dead already. Their bodies he had gathered into rows and covered with what cloth he could find. Stones lay over their eyes and in their mouths, marked with the sign of Amu, as was their way.

"I have done what I can for those outside but I fear that within we may find something more terrible than even this mindless destruction."

Straightening up Hruugen knelt down and began unwrapping his exotic weapons, a pair of double edged blades he took up in both hands. The edges were curved on one side and serrated on the other with handles made from human femurs and carved in holy prayers for the dead.

"The former Temple elders are buried inside, mummified. Their tombs have been disturbed so there is a good chance they have risen in anger to avenge Sacred Amu. If they have, we should put them to rest before they escape into the desert. There is no telling where they may end up out there or whom they may harm."

Standing up again he faced his fellow Guardians.
"Are you prepared?"

Villam Regis

 

[Villam Regis]

Villam knew little of the latest Guardian of Light. Hruugen was a recent appointment, chosen due to the previous Guardian's sudden and unexpected retirement. This assignment was not only his first time meeting the man, but the first time he'd been exposed to his... unique culture. A culture that laid in the sands, far from their home of Valenntenia.

"That his began happening so soon after your appointment is cause for concern." Villam replied to his gratitude, crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes raked warily over the temple exterior, vandalized and brutalized by whatever tempest of violence had been beset upon it. It was enough to cause even him to grimace. "If this is an act of retaliation or protest to your ascension to Guardian, it cannot be allowed to stand. You've my aide in this matter."

Hruugen was religious, he'd been told, but not the traditional religion practiced by Descendants. No, the Guardian of Light's faith revolved around death. Villam would have guessed there were a fair few corpses in this temple long before it was attacked, and Hruugen's word of warnings regarding the reanimated elders within only confirmed that.

"These... risen elders. Necromancy? What are we dealing with? I didn't take my zombified religious elders class."

Villam preferred more discreet methods over direct combat, but maybe their partner didn't feel the same.

 

[Noi]

Noi was in the deserts, like Guardian Demia centuries before her, who went to the desert people to help with a drought. Guardian Demia was right: the sun burned her skin, making it itchy and flaky. Noi didn't have the time to make the salve that would protect her red (redder than that monkey boy Roki's mask and even redder than her hair!) face, and there was no aloe or potatoes in this desert. Oh well, that was okay. Noi liked to peel the skin from her face and admire how thick and yellow-white it was. Why wasn't her peeled skin red? Shouldn't it at least be pink?

The white goat that Noi rode snorted as if it could understand the Guardian of Silence. Noi looked down at her hand firmly on its sturdy shoulder. Oh, it probably could understand.

Meanwhile, while Solomon's Son (poor Solomon, not many children!) and the New Guardian spoke, all of it was unheard. They didn't use their hands to communicate, only their mouth. She took her burnt hand from her goat, went closer to Villam's side, and tried to find an open place of skin to ask him what was going on. He was well covered.

Her blank face went to the New Guardian. Their eyebrows reminded her of baby caterpillars. She liked his eyebrows. Her eyebrows were sparse, like grass found between rocky crags and crevices. The New Guardian had skin exposed, so she went to him, not making a single sound and quickly sucking all sound around her. Her fingers found his, head upturned, eyes squinting in joy.

[Could you share with Noi your thoughts as you speak?] She asked through their telepathic connection. Look at her, asking for permission! Guardians Lyta and Kaira would be proud!

Hruugen Villam Regis

 

[Hruugen]

Hruugen smiled a little. Villam's confident joviality and Noi's curiosity would help greatly here.
He was happy that Solomon sent such experienced help. The idea of facing the recently risen alone was unnerving, even to one so accustomed to death.

"Not Necromancy as you may understand it."
He thought the words towards Noi as he spoke them to Villam. The peculiarities of her stone were new to him.
"These priests were embalmed in ritual to guard against defilement or failing that, avenge Sacred Amu."
The process was involved and required replacement of organs with ones made of clay and the ritual burning of the originals.
"There is no Necromancer to stop for them to be put to rest the Temple itself must be cleansed. That means, ironically enough, putting them back in their tombs and ridding the area of other bodies."
He looked again at the neat row of covered bodies.
"This wasn't any retaliation to me being made a Guardian. It was greed. Those that came here took and killed without respect for life or anything sacred at all."
Hruugen did not like being angry. It robbed him of his focus so he took a breath and turned back to his companions.

Villam was strong and full of purpose and Noi, he knew little of her but trusted the fact she was a Guardian and silence was a constant companion in death.
For a second he thought she was staring at his forehead but regardless he felt them both fitting for the task.

Villam Regis
Noi

 

[Ingrid Bohnes]

Ingrid had been quietly crouched beside one of the dead, her eyes roving over the row before her. Her head tilted up to her fellow Guardians, and she silently wished Rhenn had come along. Though the two didn't particularly get along, they knew each other enough that she could count on him. Plus there was her stone to contend with.

As if on cue, the whispers from the green stone sought to invade her with thoughts of treachery. Ingrid stood with a soft sigh, dusting her hands on her pants as she listened to Hruugen.

Little Noi was trying to get their attention, though she sought to help the girl, itnwas not a good idea for her to have skin contact. Not until she and Rhenn figured out how to get her stone to bend to her will.

"I don't understand what anyone would gain from doing this. There couldn't have been too many valuables, though I guess I wouldn't know. It just seems that a religious site wouldn't have that much to offer for this amount of chaos."

Villam Regis Hruugen Noi

 

[Villam Regis]

Villam sighed, sounding almost disappointed by Hruugen's appraisal of the heinous act that had been committed here. "Graverobbing." He muttered in disgust. "How pedestrian." It certainly wasn't the kind of thing Guardians would usually be deployed for, but he stood by his earlier words of support for Hruugen. He was the newest of their ranks, and it was vital that he understood that the Guardians supported one another.

Turning towards Noi, Regis signs a quick apology for forgetting to broadcast his words so that she could hear, before moving closer to the temple and retrieving his Runestone from the pouch in his vest. The glowing blue engraving on the Rune pulsed with his touch, and a faint light was cast onto the already sunbaked temple walls as Villam held the stone out towards the structure.

"Alas, Hruugen is correct." He hummed back to his team. "There was no passion or need in the raid of this temple. It was a mindless act, one of impulse and thoughtlessness." That meant there was less likely a motive, and more likely a deranged danger to society running about these sands with valuables stolen from the dead.

Still, Ingrid made a fair point, one that didn't fit with Villam's narrative. He paid the Disease Guardian's words a thought."Though... I suppose it is possible they knew what such a crime would bring, that it would cause the rising of the undead. It certainly is one way of keeping any pursuers busy."

It didn't matter, they wouldn't get their answers standing out here, and the problem within the walls would not resolve itself.

"We should make our entry. Hruugen, you know this place, so you should take lead. Ingrid, fall in behind him, Noi, you're with me."

Villam had a tendency to fall into a commanding role, even if he technically fell on the same ground as the others. Still, nobody had taken issue with it as of yet...

Hruugen Ingrid Bohnes Noi

 

[Noi]

Through Guardian Hruugen, Noi could understand everything. What he heard and said were all brought back to her attention, albeit with some delay. Many of the guardians before her could use telepathy with everyone; skin contact wasn't needed. She looked at each Guardian as they spoke, considering their thoughts and finding that she agreed with each person... until the next person spoke. She had little idea why it was done, but that was beside the point. They were going to put the dead back to rest.

[We should have brought blankets.] Noi signed to everyone as her hand fell from Hruugen's skin. [Everyone likes to be tucked in before sleeping.] She went to Villam's side, her face showcasing a slight eagerness. [While we walk, I will make us all quiet. Quieter than death itself!] She was proud of this small improvement; now, everyone could be silent like her. What a joy! She took hold of Villam's hand, unashamed and unaware of how strange it might be.

Hruugen Ingrid Bohnes Villam Regis

 

[Hruugen]

Hruugen tightened his grip on his weapons as he pondered Ingrid's question. She was right, what common valuables they had were petty at best and though Noi brought an unexpected whimsy to the situation the weight of the responsibility still felt heavy so he was heart glad that he was not alone and with such understanding folk.
"The Monks who raised me sometimes spoke of an emptiness in men. They try to fill it with evil. Greed, control, great blasphemies to the gods and the dead. The Monks said that when such men die they can become Devils. Keep plaguing the world with their presence until they are stopped."
Not wanting to waste time he cleared his throat to address the group as the took positions.
"The Mummified Monks of this place are not mindless things. They are compelled by divine purpose. Some may even retain some spellcasting ability or even... memories of who they once were."
He swallowed, not wanting any of it to be true.
"Whatever we do, please remember, it is vital we do not disrespect this place further. That will draw them to us and while they are divided we have the advantage."
It was time to begin.
Hruugen led, followed by Ingrid then Villam and Noi.
The entrance was dark, the small lanterns within burned out already and the only light was through thin slits in the carved stone tall as a man and wide as a hand. The Temple was shallow built into the surface layer of rock. So while the sun lasted they could yet see.
The air was still in that way only the aftermath of violence could be. All about them tapestry and pottery lay tattered in broken heaps, the corridors could fit but two at a time. Hruugen tried to not let the sight of this destruction upset him. He was not succeeding and it showed in his body language. His shoulders tensed and his neck hunched.

Villam Regis
Noi
Ingrid Bohnes

 

[Ingrid Bohnes]

None of this was making any sense to her, it was a puzzle that seemed far from solving. This may be Hruugen's territory, but she felt he himself may not know precisely what they were getting into. Villam made good points, and his stone revealed no passion behind the attack, so what was the true purpose? The chaos that they were now to deal with had no place, perhaps they were after Hruugen himself, and it really had nothing to do with the temple at all.

As Villam piped up, giving them their marching orders, she lifted her chin as her blue eyes gave him a piercing look. Rhenn was barely able to keep her in check, and she would be damned if the spawn of Solomon thought he could boss her around. Tch. She let it go this time, her gaze sliding from the larger figure to follow Hruugen into the temple.

"We will find out what happened. I know that doesn't ease your sorrow now, but those responsible will pay." Little Noi had learned a new trick it seemed, and Ingrid couldn't help but smile at her words. She was like a child, and it almost bothered her that she had been selected to come along. No one wanted to see her get hurt.

Hruugen Villam Regis Noi

 

[Villam Regis]

Villam wasn't entirely certain what Hruugen's definition of 'disrespect' was, but it would be difficult to avoid putting these reanimated holy men back into the ground if they deigned to attack them. "The place is already disrespected, Hruugen." He murmured as they approached the entrance. "Any mess we make now is for the purpose of fixing what's been done."

With Noi's power, they moved into the Temple with nary a sound. Not even the press of their feet against the stone floor left an echo to follow as the barely illuminated chamber ahead of them displayed its grisly scene. Even in the dim light offered by the thin slits in the wall, it was clear that this had been a vicious and violent act.

Anger and rage had fueled this. But no passion?

Villam clutched at his stone as the possibilities raced through his mind. Even among killers and madmen, there were few who could feel such unbridled fury without an active passion or desire to harm. The way that this room had been torn apart, defaced without any meaning or pattern...

"We may be dealing not with man or woman," He hummed from behind Ingrid, "But monster and beast. Bohnes, do you feel anything? Filth, lingering amongst the debris?" It wouldn't be the first time they'd come across corrupted creatures driven to madness by wayward magics or disease.

Briefly, he paid a thought to Noi trailing behind him. The young woman was Guardian of Silence, devoid of voice or hearing. Even so, she could feel vibrations in a way none of them could. Turning to face her, Regis quickly retrieves a small, yellow potion in a vial from a pouch hanging on his hip.

'If you feel anything moving that isn't us,' He projects. 'Throw this at the source. It will illuminate and allow us to see.'

Hruugen Noi Ingrid Bohnes