Open Chronicles The spark of an Uprising

[Celeste Tenebrea]

Celeste listened as the idiot farmer prattled on and on, with every word belittling or patronizing her. Her brows furrowed together and her grip on Grimr’s arm tightened, her nails digging in to bite into his flesh. Celeste’s eyes glowed for a moment before refraining from her initial reaction to end the undead farmer.

“Obviously. Any idiot. Your Answer.” Celeste repeated his words as he spoke, venom dripping from her voice. She drew herself up to her full height all 5 feet and some odd inches of herself, Grimr towering behind her a massive pillar of monster. Her monster.

“Obviously, the only idiot here is you. To believe in the safety of merely having larger numbers.” She inched forwards, glowing glyphs spiraling under her skin in an erratic display. The sneer on her face bespoke of what she thought of being talked down to. "Meeting here, all of us, we are unprepared for an attack should one occur. And should one occur, I would only happily throw you to the wolves to hear your screams. And while I dine on the flesh of the recently living, I'll enjoy the show of you trying to beg for your head back." She released her fingers in Grimr's flesh immediately healing the damage by coaxing the flesh to repair itself. She whirled back towards the farmer and would be stew-maker.

“How you continue to live your unlife, is a feat. Or perhaps you have not earned the ire of a greater one to yourself yet. I would tread lightly Male I do not take kindly to being patronized in such a manner.” She flipped the bowl of stew in his hand, refusing in a violent manner the food. She had no need of cooked meats, nor liars who played at being a fool. She was a power to be reckoned with with a temper of a storm.

Celeste approached the other she-elf, already riled up, already irritated.
“I will help you in this tundra, but I will not stand being subjected to such mockery. I may yet be young, but I never suffered bearing the same company as one of his ilk.” She forced herself into a calm façade.

“What is your plan?”

Grimr | The Crimson Madonna | Viktor | Amankh Kaltar | Albedo | TTamark | Eilasandree Ival sandree | Magnan Smithson | Relan Shask | Fudging Rainie

 

[Rainie]

There were too many others in the shadows. Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest, and sweat was breaking out on her forehead. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand it. Bones and dry ligaments and unknowns meandering all around her unseen. Giants in armor and rotted zombies emerged from the mist.

After the speeches were all complete, Rainie launched herself out of the fog with a casual lope. Unlike the others who had come before her, she sidled up behind Eilasandree Ival with familiar ease. Her pale hand reached out and touched the banshee's wrist, but her queer lavender eyes were on those of Edmund's.

"There will be exceptions to whom you may slay, I'd imagine," she said with a sardonic smile.

Rainie took a moment to smile at the spudmancer, who was twice as entertaining as anyone she'd met, the redheaded lich, and the mummy who had noticed her in the fog. She also sent a wink in the direction of the vampire, who had faded into the shadows a few moments ago. What was she doing?

She was so out of her depth right now. She looped her arm around that of Eilasandree, leaning her cheek on the undead woman's shoulder. Part a show of flippancy, part an act of comfort. Her cool eyes lingered on every lich and necromancer in their little circle, measuring them up with a calm smile. How many friends? How many foes? How many pawns? She licked her lower lip and sunk her teeth into it.

Albedo Amankh Kaltar The Crimson Madonna Grimr Celeste Tenebrea TTamark Relan Shask Viktor Magnan Smithson

 

[Albedo]

Edmund's eye lingered on the other red haired woman as he thought on her words.

"Not like we don't take care about that already master." The red haired one beside him shrugged and pulled the hood back. Her face was pale, eyes of a cat still darting between everyone in attendance. Edmund tut-tutted, and gave her a measuring stare.

"Intellectuals are speaking my dear. Though you make a fair point." Edmund rolled his eye with a heaved sigh. "So long as the boundaries are clear and my research continues, I will support you. Please expound on this, plan."

 

[TTamark]

Steve snapped his fingers and pointed at the fallen stew, several of his chickens ran over and started pecking at it. Steve was shocked by how the elf responded to him, and was genuinely hurt. He went through everything he said carefully, had he said "I rarely like your hair" again? Nah, he definitely said he really liked it. Oh!

Any idiot can see the strengths, and benefits of working together

She must have not seen the benefits of working together and was insulted because he would have called her an idiot then.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so rude as to assume everyone knew the benefits of working together, and there is no shame in not knowing. It is like this: with two people working together they can pick up bigger bits of wood and make a barn faster than one man could. Also when two people work together they can make up for the weakness one might have in a certain area like hammering. If that was still too much I can still give it another try.

And ya I'm low born, I'm an idiot, I'm a farmer, but just because I am not involved with politics that doesn't make numbers being good any less wrong, because it is about the whole, you know, covering each others weaknesses thing. It really helps.

Also unprepared for an attack? I went over all the emergency preparations with all my animals before we came, isn't that right Leroy? Leroy Jenkers?"

Leroy began to charge the elf who was being mean to Steve, "Oh shit he just ran in. Stick to the plan guys." He yelled at the other animals as he ran after Leroy "Gosh darn it Leroy. Why do you do this shit Leroy?" Steve scooped Leroy up again, and let out a sigh of relief "At least I got chicken... oh er... I mean, my chicken.

Besides the chances of wolves attacking us to be a real issue... well it has to be pretty small right? Right?" Steve quickly looked around for some comfort. He'd prepared for paladins with and without horses, people not liking him, even an army of orcs and giants led by a half fire giant, but not hundreds wolves. Something just struck Steve at that moment,

"You said unlife, and talked about me begging when I lost my head... You know I'm alive right, uh, not that there is any problem if you didn't know. I am very pale, but I am just a farmer boy, who spent a few years in the College of Elbion. I haven't even reached my third decade, so ya... still alive. As for how I'm alive, well, I think being kind, offering stew and flowers, treating everyone with the love and respect any friend of mine deserves, and generally not trying to start fights is how I've done it.

Anyways Female I didn't mean to be rude, I was just using a talking technique I learned from a merchant on the road where I over exaggerate. I didn't think for a moment that a lady such as yourself was lowborn like me. You are not an idiot, and I am sorry for Patron sizing you, I don't know what it means, but my bad for doing it. I'm sure if you are a patron you are a really good one. Also I didn't mean to mock you, not knowing stuff is completely fine, besides now that we are all together we can help each other out when we don't know something, all we need to do is ask. If you are concerned about traveling with one of my elk you don't need to worry, I don't have any elk, or deer! If it helps I really do think you are very beautiful."

Steve gave his big, kind, friendly, welcoming smile again, to both the elf and the beautiful red head who just emerged from the trees. He went to get her a bowl and flower as well, and listened to what the banshee had to say.

 

[Viktor]

Viktor could feel his weight gently roll back upon his heels. The adolescent brevity with which the lithe elf exacted the toll of her annoyance upon the farmer and his stew seized his imagination. Skeptical eyes clicked against the pastel spectrum of her appearance. The duality of her stature and demeanor wrenched a soft, singular laugh from somewhere deep inside his chest.

Perhaps it was the innocuous way the auburn-haired girl had winked at him: maybe she had been responsible for the amnesty of his fleeting amusement. There was a sense of autonomy shared by the three women - the source of the necrotic beacon included - that was nothing short of interesting. The confines of his reanimated, skeletal curtains finally had a context with which to feel small. Leather boots moved to admit his form closer to those who drove the conversation - yet, the voice of the farmer stilled his frame.

I can’t help but wonder if your inability to understand others in life was a crippling as your inability to communicate with them in death.

Those were the words that writhed against his mind - only to be aggressively smeared by the revelation that the farmer was still alive. Viktor sneered at himself for allowing the others to distract him long enough not to notice.

“I fail to imagine that anyone, or any thing, here among us - who hasn’t been denied the fabled rest of eternal slumber within the previous hours - is incapable of grasping the concept of superiority in numbers: even if they might find fault with its employment.” He could feel something instinctual roaring through his veins in protest of his exposure.

“Whether or not she, or anyone else, is beautiful seems irrelevant.” Viktor moved past the farmer. The trajectory of his gait and shoulders offered unspoken formality towards Eilasandree, while leaving himself completely vulnerable towards the subject of his casual degradation. “I also find it highly inappropriate for you to dictate the motivations of others - perfect strangers - when the end result itself is all that matters.” The vampire finally addressed the farmer with a glance over his shoulder. His former amusement had adopted something sour in the wake of evaluating something petulant.

Amber eyes abandoned all sentiment, offering neutrality as a token of exchange towards Eilasandree: “I would very much like to hear more of your plans.”

 

[Magnan Smithson]

Magnan watched silently, the armoured giant's head tilting and turning to look as people took turns speaking and addressing the woman. He... wasn't sure how he felt about the reason he had been called here. For sure, a nation of undead sounded like something he was interested in, but... he wasn't sure how he felt about attacking these natives of the island. It was their home, after all, and they would be the foreign invaders. He had dedicated his life to try and keep people safe from foreign aggressors, and to suddenly be faced with the idea of the shoe being on the other foot... It was disturbing, to say the least. Yet, despite this, the Lich couldn't find the words to speak up, to deny the elven banshee before him and all others who agreed with her, perhaps even put a stop to this idea that promised such death before it even got started. Because as much as he hated the idea of being some foreign conqueror, the potential benefits outweighed the costs as it stood. His people would have a home, one that he could make sure didn't stray too far from the light, and with it he could have the power he would need in order to finally exterminate the blight orcs. Once and for all.

So, as the farmer made a fool of himself and the others made their characters known, the giant of steel and unholy magics stood silent, gently placing his bowl on the ground near an undead cow. He was beginning to feel a little antsy, being in one place for this long and surrounded by practitioners of what was typically considered a dark art. "As would I." His deathrattle voice rumbles out as he crosses his arms. "While I cannot say I support invading this... tundra, our kind has been persecuted long enough. I will join you. What is the plan?"

 

[TTamark]

As Steve offered the red head the stew he was struck with horror from hearing the giants words, not for the giant, but for himself.

"Shit, I am sorry to put off your answer a bit longer banshee, but after hearing the giants words I feel I must speak up again. When dealing with the elf I had not been kind, had not treated others with love and respect, and had not been trying to avoid a fight. No, I had been hurt and scared by the elf's scorn, and had reacted in a defensive manner. I was just being selfish. I should have thought of ways to protect her and any others who were not prepared for an attack instead of just making sure she knew I was prepared. And I was afraid of wolves when surrounded by many other skilled individuals. I talked of unity while falling back into the isolation I'd lived in for far too many years.

The reason I came was to offer you all a home-cooked meal, something that many probably haven't had in a very long time. To give you flowers to show I care about you, which is important after all the hate you have probably received through the years. Finally I'd come to offer friendship, not to feign friendship. I wanted you to at least know that there was someone in the world who still wanted to be your friend, no matter what you've done. I need to be kind for those reasons, and because of them it is so important that I am, but it is also incredibly hard to be kind. Being kind was the reason that I have grown so strong, but it takes more than just magical strength, it also takes a strength of character, that is where I so often fall short. I am kind because I know first hand the world isn't, I know what it feels like to be hated, betrayed, tortured, enslaved, and to be left on the side of the road bleeding and starving, and to have someone who was passing by try to murder me the moment he realized what I was when I called out to him. Because of that I am kind so that others lives are just a little easier, but I also have a deep fear of experiencing that stuff again, which is why instead of being kind I got defensive.

And so I want to apologize, not just to the beautiful elf, but to all of you, because I feel I let all of you down. I'm sorry. I want to thank you giant for showing me to care for others before myself again. When I saw you all eating my stew and enjoying it... I... I honestly felt so happy, seeing us all able to be relaxing, enjoying something as simple as a meal... It really... really would have meant something for me at my low point."

Steve looked around teary eyed then turned and began to leave. He snapped his fingers and the animals took positions around the cart again, "I think I have the gist of what we will be doing. I will leave you with Ghost and this magic potato, plant it and it will grow a potato field, even in the cold. I will be able to follow it like a beacon. If you need to send me a message give it to Ghost and he will find me." A chicken wearing a sheet hopped over with a black potato. "Ok I am off, I'll look for some proper mounts since most of you seem to lack any. I heard tales of some horses near the mountains with special gifts and might check them out."

 

[Eilasandree Ival]

As shameful as it was, Eilasandree had to admit that she stopped paying attention roughly halfway through when the farmer started speaking again. It went against what she had been taught, but he just droned on. It wasn't until he said something useful and made his way to leave that she began paying attention again, and decided that this was the perfect time. Quickly, she kissed the cheek of the redhead beside her, before straightening and addressing the crowd once more. "Now that I have answered your questions, I will tell you about my plan. It goes as such: Any and all necromancers, barring myself, are to spread out among the country in groups to designated locations that I will assign each of you. There are sites of ancient, forgotten burial grounds and battlefields where many died. You will raise the beings there, give them free will, and with them march your way up to a designated meeting place along the northern shore of the continent. How you raise them, I will leave up to you."

"Any undead that are incapable of raising more of their brethren, you will accompany me north, where we will acquire passage across the channel and stake out a landing zone upon the tundra. From there we will amass our forces, scout out the nearby terrain, and deal with any potential threats to our new Eternum." It wasn't a complicated plan, but that was the beauty of it. The more moving parts a plan has, the more likely something will go wrong. You needed to keep it loose in order to maximise the chances of success. "Now, once you have selected people to go with, come to me so that I may give you a map detailing all the instructions you will need." Turning to Rainie, she held out a hand for the pack that she had given the thief, and waited calmly for the necromancers before her to step forward. Piece by piece they did, and she passed them each a map detailing where they were to go to acquire soldiers, and where to meet up. Slowly, she felt the excitement build as the banshee realised her dream was finally happening, and by the end of it, when all that was left were the undead and Rainie, she flashed her beloved a small smile. "Okay, follow me!" She raised a hand over her head, to get their attention, before setting off. It was time to start a nation.

 

[Amankh Kaltar]

Amankh listened to the idle babbling between those alive and not, finding his attention drifting away from the near endless arguments and misunderstandings to simply considering this new path his unlife had taken. The Eretejva Tundra, it seems, would be the base of their Eternum, a pillar for a hopefully mighty empire. Perhaps this one will be able to withstand the tests of time, for after all, it's inhabitants will be. He took a brief notice of the red-headed lady coming to the side of the elf that had brought them here, clearly romantically involved with her. Momentarily, he considered how unorthodox this gathering was. If not for their commonalities and their shared desire to build an empire, many would have never met or perhaps have even become enemies. He let a few specks of sand spiral out from his skeletal figure, the faint plume idly floating about before returning to its prison of bone and cloth. They will likely come across challenges by the Templars that likely populate the way to their destination, however, but if the undead masses managed to break through whatever blockade is thrown up, perhaps they may meet a new home free of the superstitious attacks of commoners. He must be sure not to put all of his plans in this Eternum, however. Should it fail to live up to this excitement and crumble under the pressure, he must know of other methods. As he thought and considered the world he found himself in and now influencing, he began to walk with the elf as they marched onward.

 

[The Crimson Madonna]

Aurelia would wait quietly after speaking as many others spoke up, and even some new arrivals came. She had said her piece, and made no attempt to say more. So when the necromancers had been dispatched, and the group was set to march she'd follow behind Eilasandree closely. She was not used to it for sure. Being the person following instead of the one leading the army. Though she knew it was likely expected for her to very simply comply with the woman who raised her's wishes. While she did feel encouraged to do such things, she also knew she could resist if she truly wanted. Even with such things in mind she would begin to work on a plan. She knew she could be quite helpful to the woman in her attempt to create a nation. Especially where such things as an army was concerned. Had she not lead most of the army currently following Eilasandree? Certainly some had nothing to do with her, but a great many were once her soldiers.

While Aurelia wasn't necessarily looking to be largely in power of the new nation, she most certainly didn't want to be a simple pawn. She knew what she must do to prevent that from happening. Aurelia would have to garner the trust of the Elven woman if she seeked any sort of power. So she would have to prove herself to be worthy of the position. A thought she had no major opposition to. Aurelia would move a bit closer to Eilasandree not too close, but enough for her words to be heard. "I could be of help to you if needed. I've lead a number of the soldiers of this army in many a successful battle, and I feel my individual strength has only increased with undeath. Let me know where my service is needed, and I'll make sure the job is done." She'd say her loud, and raspy voice easily making it's way to the banshee.

 

[Relan Shask]

Relan could hardly believe himself. Hidden in the positive space of the brush, he was completely concealed, his camouflage perfected in the brush. But he dared not go another foot, let alone an inch. He was closer, but

This has gotten far too weird for him. He'd seen enough. Far enough. He could only hear a few of them. Read a few of their lips. But this was like something out of a story, some nightmare. He laid flat in the mud, concealing himself, content with the amount of information he'd been able to gather.

Undead creatures congregating. Not good. Someone should know besides him.

 

[Albedo]

Albedo said nothing more as Edmund received his instructions. She was giving a heavy sigh when movement caught her attention. Her eyes fell upon a bush, squinting as she swore something around it had moved. Scouring the area near the bush, she frowned, unsure if grass always looked that way around here or not.

Edmund returned drawing her attention back, and a hollow meow came from the cart at his approach. Both of their gaze's were immediately drawn to the sound as he drew out a skeletal cat. It pawed at him blindly for a moment, testing where his arms were.

"Be easy, Rigor. Albedo is taking you north while I bring undeath to the land." Edmund cooed to the skeleton, petting it's head for a moment as he gave Alebdo a stern look before handing her the cat. "Don't try to run off now."

She didn't respond to the reprimand, instead glancing back to the space she had looked at earlier. She thought about telling him, but he would likely brush it off and think nothing of it.

"Let's go, Biscuit." Albedo called for the mule as it pulled away from her for a second, then trudged along behind her as it brayed once more. Edmund took another path, shaking his head at the trio that left.

 

[Rainie]

Lorraina watched the proceedings with raised eyebrows. She was mainly distracted by the undead chicken under the sheet holding a magic potato.

They were dispersing. With a deep, bracing breath, Rainie followed alongside her beloved in their march. They were joined by the other undead, including the red-headed lich. The one with the necromancer master, who departed without her, but not without giving the lich a skeletal cat.

A severely decayed lich spoke up from close behind them in a rasping voice, offering help and leadership advice.

Rainie smiled on behalf of Eilasandree and replied, "My lady shall undoubtedly need every strength at her disposal. Thank you for your help, madam. We greatly appreciate it." With a nod at the disturbingly vacant eye sockets of the lich, she turned back forward.

"So, about that dragon corpse, love..." Rainie began. They were heading north, after all.

 

[Albedo]

The undead woman began to grab things out of the back of the moving wagon. It was a change of clothes, though some of it she stuffed back into the tarp covered wagon. Albedo let the cat hop back into the wagon as she changed clothes, her surprise shown when she glanced at the other red headed woman. "You've seen a dragon!?"

 

[Relan Shask]

He'd never forget what he saw. It was permanently ingrained in his mind, a nightmare that he could not awake from. He wasn't able to hear most of what they said, but, what he was able to gather he would jot down in his notebook, collecting his thoughts later. They were all departing, leaving this and that way, off to their own devices and, by his guess- assignments to prepare for their...invasion? March?

The Tundra wasn't going to claim itself, after all.

He began to low crawl away, skull dragging his head through the mud to maintain his low profile. His hands shook with fear. The undead. Congregating. Plotting to take over land. To establish...an empire? The thought alone sent chills down his spine. He had heard stories of the undead, and only saw one necromancer doing parlor tricks by raising recently deceased cockroaches.

But these...creatures. These creatures were something else entirely. Not simply arisen undead, mindless hordes dwelling in some dark corner of the globe- no, they were.... intelligent. Thoughtful. Precise. It made them more dangerous than any creature he could think of, alive or dead.

He crawled for a long while, until he was content with not being followed. He had not been seen yet, or heard. He doubted their sense of smell was all that good, too. He took a knee, removing the bow from his back for protection. He crouched low, listening. He was far away from the congregation site now, nestled in the undergrowth of a large tree. He kept his hood up, breaking up his outline in the underbrush. He breathed heavy, partly due to exhaustion- but primarily due to fear.

 

[TTamark]

When Steve had put some distance between himself and the gathering he stopped, and held a potato up to his mouth and called his hidden squirrels and shrews back to himself. He had not lied when he said he had prepared for almost anything beforehand. As a horde of skeletal rodents came pouring from seemingly nowhere from within the brush and trees, Steve poured bowls of stew for them. One shrew crawled up onto his shoulder, and squeaked into his ear. Steve looked back idly scanning the bushes with little interest. Steve noticed Edmund was heading his direction, looked like he was going the same direction. Traveling with him might be a good chance to learn about him, and that would be wise if they were to found a nation together.

Steve looked back at his cart, either way he would need to get a large amount of potatoes replenished. He looked over his animal companions. He'd need a lot of potato energy also to maintain all of them, especially if he was going to be raising even more. Ya, he'd need to cut down on them. Looked like he'd need to stop by one of his farms. Steve pulled out some parchment and a pen and began writing a letter to the manager of the closest farm. Looked like there was a fair bit of stuff that would need doing. Steve sighed the flying horses would take quite a journey to get to, he hoped that after getting them flying back would be a touch easier.

Steve looked back at where they had just gathered, and wondered if this had any chance of succeeding. Man he hoped so, this could cause a lot of good in the world. There were three people who might be risks to this plans success in Steve's opinion: Eilasandree, Celeste, and Viktor. Eilasandree didn't really seem trustworthy, she didn't speak much and when she did it came across as what people would want to hear, or the obvious. She might have plans that would tear them apart before someone could stop it. Celeste was emotional, she might cause some trouble by lashing out like she had shown she does. Finally Viktor: the guy seemed a bit like a dick. He seemed to be just very angry at everything, and extremely critical. That could become toxic real fast. Steve was fine with people wanting to use the nation for different ends, he did not however want to see someone ruin it for everyone else. More so if possible, Steve wouldn't let anyone ruin it for everyone else.

"Oh hey, you heading down towards the lower half of The Spine too?..."

 

[Rainie]

She turned and smiled at the female lich. Rainie could tell she was well preserved, much like Eila. Her eyes shined bright green out of the darkness.

"Mm, yes," she replied to the woman's question. "Bit of a long story, that. But I may have had a hand in killing it..." She trailed off, distracted by the shambling corpses around her. She was looking forward to peeling off from the main group, but was reluctant to leave Eilasandree.

"Oh, I'm Rainie by the way," she added suddenly with a wry grin. She did not offer her hand, but instead inclined her head in greeting. The insanity of her current situation hadn't really sunk in yet. Chatting with undead ought to be normal to her by now, what with her relationship with Eila... But this whole ordeal was... new.

Albedo

 

[Albedo]

Edmund addressed the spudmancer as he had called himself with little more than a civil tone. After all, he would be heading towards the spine, and it seemed the other would be as well.

"For the time being, yes. I am going to be travelling in that direction. A boon for a pair to travel together."

---

Her cat like eyes were wide in shock, that the woman would have had a hand in killing a dragon, lending that most of them had more to them than they seemed. She wore an expression for a moment that denoted a bit of admiration.

"That's...amazing." Albedo muttered, at a loss for how else to describe the want to express herself properly. Her master was so fluent with his words and the like, it made her a bit envious. "Melod-I mean, Albedo." She blinked a moment, struggling with something for a brief second as she smiled to the woman a bit awkwardly. She hadn't had to introduce herself in a long time, and had messed up doing so.

 

[Eilasandree Ival]

Eilasandree allowed the two to talk, watching quietly as she thought on the issue of the dragon. She had used up far too many of those prisoners to be able to raise such a beast right now, but given time... well, a dragon would always be a positive bonus to them, and could possibly be augmented to be unstoppable. This would, however, mean she would need to acquire more souls in order to perform the ritual. Fortunately, she knew there were ample targets along the way of the route she had marked to follow up to the tundra, and with the sheer number of undead around her, coupled with the quality of the few, she didn't imagine that capturing enough souls would be hard. The only issue would be souls such as the farmer, who may protest against the slaughter of the 'innocent'. The stupid, moronic, dirty, unbearable 'innocent'.

Snapping back to the real world just as the undead before her introduced herself, Eilasandree cast a cursory glance over the necromantic energies flowing through Albedo. Surprisingly, the millennia old banshee didn't see as many flaws as she had expected, especially from someone who looked simply like a mortal human. Such a short lived species, but as her dear beloved showed, filled with potential. Her cool, smooth hand slide down to intertwine with Rainie's. "Good job reminding me, dear." She softly praises the buxom thief. "Lead me to it, and I will take it from there." Idly she realized she would need a form of rapid movement, and with the last dregs of souls provided by the unconscious prisoners sent a pulse through the ground, the form of a skeletal horse bursting free of the dirt with an ethereal neigh. "You two can talk later. Right now, we should move. We have a long march ahead of us." The horse trotted over, ancient livery still adorning it. Releasing her beloved and gracefully mounting the expired beast, Eilasandree looked down towards the thief in a silent invitation.

 

[Rainie]

Rainie, flushed pink from the praise, nodded in agreement to Eila. Her jaw dropped open at the sight of bones rising from the earth to form the skeleton of a horse. Perhaps, some day, she would become used to the show of necromantic magic. But that day may be a while away. She watched Eila mount the undead horse, then silently bade Rainie to join her.

She swung around to face Albedo. "Lovely to meet you," she rushed out. "Travel safe!" And with that, she trotted over and hoisted herself with some difficulty onto the skeletal steed. She took a moment to adjust herself on the ancient single-seater saddle, figuring Eila wouldn't mind some discomfort since she likely couldn't feel it. Rainie placed her hands on her love's waist and happily leaned forward against her back.

"Hello~" she cooed in Eila's pointed ear. She sobered quickly, and checked the position of the stars to guide her way. Rainie had a good natural sense of direction, but landmarks and proven techniques tended to help accuracy as well. "Carry on North, and we'll veer a bit to the left at the first mountain."

With a self-satisfied grin, she wrapped her arms around Eilasandree's slim waist and rested her cheek against the long white hair cascading down the undead woman's back. Unexpectedly she met the green eyes of Albedo, and happily offered her a friendly wave before they set off.

Eilasandree Ival Albedo

 

[Albedo]

The elf that had laid out the plan gave Albedo a glance before summoning a skeletal horse. Albedo stepped away from the pair as she gave Eilasandree a courteous nod. "Was nice to meet you too, and all the luck with you." Albedo hollered after Raine, beginning to settle in for their journey as she bade Biscuit forward once more.

She caught Raine's glance once more before the two left by horseback, and gave the woman a smile along with a wave as they set off.