Forum Thread

The trees were beautiful. A forest of pine with green for as far as the eye could see. At least, that's how it was for the group that was heading to their target. A building in the middle of the forest, secluded from the rest of the world. It had gone largely unnoticed for, as far as they could tell, years. But in the nearby towns people had started disappearing. At least, the reports had started to come in recently. Who know's how many people who lived on the streets, who no-one cared about, had already vanished.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Jace said. The ocelot's tail bristling. Despite the fairly cheery atmosphere and the decent illumination from the sun something felt wrong. There wasn't any sounds one would usually associate with the forest. It was simply so quiet.

The building itself seemed to be constructed of wood and straw... but was too large for a structure so badly constructed to ever be able to stand up. No light seemed to penetrate the tightly woven sticks and the entrance was just a ragged hole in the side.

"Not ominous in the slightest." He said with a soft 'hehe'. It was certainly one of the creepiest job he'd been on and they hadn't even entered the building. Jace shivered as he created a small flame as they entered the mouth to try and see a little inside. "C-can you feel that?" He asked, feeling oddly skittish as he felt a large presence of magic in the building and many souls. He normally wasn't so skittish but something about this place wasn't right. It almost looked like the building had no edges to it.

Before he'd been assigned to helping deal with dragons, the feral kind, and stop slave trafficking but this was something else. Jace knew of black magic and knew a bit on how to counter it but it wasn't exactly his speciality.

Inside the building, on the floor below them, a ritual was taking place. It still had a day or two left to go but it would summon a very powerful deity that had been locked away. That was just one of the things happening inside.

A dense forest, abundant in various forms of plant life scattered across the land as far as the eye can see. From majestic oak trees reaching for the sky to the smallest dandelion, colorful and charming. Then out of nowhere, an odd building complex made of wood and straw. It seemed so out of place, very bizarre indeed. Yes, this is where Rory and his partner, Jace, had been requested to investigate. Numerous cases reporting disappearances of locals from across the area had begun to stockpile. As soon as the police force became aware of this epidemic they were soon stumped, why was this happening? Where were the stolen persons being escorted? What had become of them? Even with so many unanswered questions they knew one thing for certain, the cases were all connected somehow. Here they were, hot on the culprit's tail, figuratively of course, perhaps literally as well. Who knew?

Despite the forest's peaceful exterior there was a dreadful feeling looming over the perimeter. Something horrible happened here. This unnerving feeling put Rory on edge, and it looked like he wasn't the only one shaken. If the circumstances had been different, would Rory have felt better about this location? Most likely. Rory might've even been in awe, from where he was born and raised, forests weren't a common sight. "Likewise, something undeniably sinister happened here." the Jackal replied glumly, agreeing with his partner's comment.

Slowing approaching the poorly made structure, with the assistance of Jace's flame the twosome were able to see the interior of the building a bit more clearly. Rory was soon hit with a wave of nausea, the presence of magic was overwhelming but that wasn't what distressed the canine. Souls, lot of them. "I sure can, good lord, I can only imagine what has become of those poor victims now." There was no time to mourn the lost, they had to put a stop to this before anyone else could get involved. Before anyone else suffered the same fate as the missing town locals. "This place reeks of black magic..." he said darkly, curling his lip, letting out a growl. Quickly cooling off he added "Sorry for my outburst. I'm sure you noticed that as well, so, what's the plan?" He couldn't risk getting heated, not while they were in such a vulnerable position, if whoever was involved knew black magic they were already at a disadvantage. 'What a wretched case.' he thought.

"If that's their souls... likely dead, if not worse. It's almost like a whirlpool in there." Jace said as he tried to read the magic. It was all twisted, wrong in a way that he couldn't describe. He tried to wrack his memory for anything that mentions these kind of effects but came up blank. Waving a paw he tried to perform the proper 'detect magic' spell he'd been taught but like his natural magic reading skill the results didn't make sense. Actually, they made less sense. He could tell there were many souls in there but the number of them that were actually alive was... likely very few.

A wraith-like figure stood just inside the darkness. Jace turned his hand towards it and it faded away. Pulling his hand away the figure returned. It was looking at them. "Oh no." Jace said. Wraith's were created when a person's soul was torn from their body in certain dark rituals. The person's body 'faded' from the world and darkened to shadow. Left neither alive nor dead and required magic to dispel. They tended to fade out of sight if there was too much light and couldn't interact with the world without the aid of magic or if there were many of them.

"It's no problem. I'm thinking we start at the top and work our way down? I can't get any proper readings with whatever magic is still going on in this place. I think it was recent too." Jace said. "So, cautious. We need to find out what is going on and the more we can do before going downstairs the better." He said, he didn't know why but he felt like underground would be significantly worse than upstairs.

Stepping through the door. He was hit with a wave of nausea. If it was bad on the approach it was awful inside. He was forced to kneel and put a hand over his maw. His flame went out as he seemed to retch. A purple energy gathering at his fingers and eyes. The magic in here pulling at his soul and trying to drag it out of his body. Raising a paw he closed his eyes and fire began to pour from every strand of fur on his body. A warmth was all that would be felt on contact. The fire carried protection magic, it was a high level fire technique that would 'purge' other magic around him for a short while. He staggered back out and flopped onto his back as the fire went out. Not a fur on his body was harmed.

"No wonder there are souls here. Anyone who wonders in here will have their soul ripped from their body." The feline said, he felt disgusted at what had just happened to him. Violated in a way nothing had made him feel before. He cast a basic soul ward, a white band appearing on his head and a circle on his chest and back over his heart. "And anyone who investigates... was anyone else sent to investigate?" He asked, mildly horrified at the thought.

Standing up he shook himself off. "So, uhh what should we try next?" The ocelot was a bit unsure of himself now after that. If he didn't know that defensive magic he would have just died.

"They suffered such a cruel, inhumane fate." While Rory may not have known anything about the stolen townspeople and the lives they had lived prior to their demise nobody deserved to undergo as much ache and misery as this, absolutely no one. He attentively scanned the area for any visual clues as to what exactly happened here, both eyes and ears alert. Using his wind based magic he amplified his hearing capabilities to get a better grasp of the area, and to alert him of any other being's presence. "I think I hear some movement from below." he said to Jace. Though it seems as if any material evidence that was once readily available was destroyed soon afterwards. Nothing to see here. "We should remain vigilant, unless we both want to suffer the same outcome as these tormented souls." Rory spoke warily, dispelling his magic.

Taking notice of the wraith, Rory stifled back a yelp. They were always such a horrifying sight to see, their lore and "birth" even more dreadful. Despite encountering them during his day-to-day work life on occasion he could never get used to their eerie, unorthodox demeanor and frightening appearance. Its intense glare sent a shiver down his spine. Then, snapping out of his scared state he turned to face Jace and nodded "That sounds fine by me, and if you can't get any decent readings we might as well try our luck elsewhere." 'That noise I heard earlier... I sure hope it isn't what I think it is.' If it was, though, they could be in a deal of trouble.

Following his partner through the door he let out a strangled gasp, taking a step back. Out of reflex he conjured a high-grade protection spell in an attempt to shield himself whatever ghastly forces were at work. Out of all the magic he'd studied he was especially skilled at defensive spells. Rory's skill set included a lot of passive spells, both non-wind based and wind based alike. "Defense is always the best offense" is what he'd always say. It was this exact spell that prevented his life from being in further danger, as he soon felt relieved. This protection spell would last for quite some time, though it consumed a lot of energy in return. It would take a while for him to be able to preform a skill of such magnitude again. "How barbaric. Even with some of my best purification spells, I don't think I have anything for... this." he said, aghast.

Rory took a cautious step forward "I think we should try and investigate the area as much as we can, I'd prefer it if we left no stone unturned but as you can see here-" he gestured to the room "This place is heavily guarded with deadly magic." he sighed "This really isn't a two man job, but we're left with no other choice. If we're to avenge the fallen and seek justice we must press forward. But, that's just my opinion, my take on the situation. If you have any objections, feel free to say so. I'm open to other ideas."

The feline preferred his fire spells and spells that would counter other spells. Preferring to stop others casting spells at all rather than have to deal with the consequences of whatever they had cast. He was alright at dispelling other spells if they weren't too strong... but it could drain too much energy to simply keep casting dispel spells. At least, that's what he found.

Shakily standing up, an involuntary tear sliding down his face, he interwove his fingers and outstretched his hands so that his palms were facing the entrance. A pulse of magic emanated from his fingers. The inside becoming light up, anything magical would glow. The air itself seemed infused with magic, swirling and coalescing. Seeming to be spinning towards the centre and swirling counter-clockwise.

Directly in front of them was something, hands outstretched to the barrier. Anyone knowledgeable on wraiths would know this was a wraith-lord. Near invisible to all but those who had night vision and were currently in darkness. Whilst wraiths could barely interact with anything, a wraith-lord could touch living creatures and draw out their souls. Many, many wraiths had to be 'sacrificed' to create one of these.

Thankfully they weren't difficult to dispel. Much like wraiths they were incredibly weak to bright light.

The feline bristled in anger at what he saw. Fire erupting from his palms to scorch the creature before them. "It seems that the trap was more something was waiting for us." He said, shivering. Few ever survived contact with those creatures. Usually, because they were taken by surprise and couldn't see what was happening.

Jace was already feeling the effects of the spells he had casted. Panting a bit. They hadn't come this far to turn back. "I'm good to continue. However, I get the feeling we're going to need therapy after this." He said with a mirthless chuckle. Casting mage light a decent sized glowing sphere appeared in front of them. "If it's just wraiths for the moment this should keep us safe." He said. Stepping through the door and nothing happened he sighed. It seems safe enough." He said, it was cold in here. Not quite chilly but definitely colder than outside.

The room, well more like a wide corridor, stretched out for about eight meters and split onto the left and right.

"A wraith-lord-" Rory said with disgust "For some reason, I doubt this is isn't the worst this place has to throw at us." his ears drooped back. Whatever laid in store for the twosome, Rory was not looking forward to encountering in the slightest. He hoped they both made it out of this ordeal unscathed, but the odds were not in their favor. With so many threats lurking about, they had to be at their best, as well as keep vigilant for any signs of danger or clues relating to the case. Things weren't going to be easy, but Rory believed everything would turn out fine in the end. "I hope we don't run into any more surprises, I can only handle so much excitement."

"I agree, we're going to need lots of therapy after this." Rory said shakily, the spell had taken it's toll on the Jackal, he felt like he hasn't slept in days and had the worst hangover ever, a devastating combo that made him feel like absolute garbage. "I certainly hope it's just wraiths, those we can repel or destroy rather easily. But running into anything more durable, or lively we might be in a bit of a pinch." Out of all the dangers, the abundance of black magic in the building complex was the most concerning, his knowledge on the subject was not enough to make him feel confident. Rory learned a bit on the topic when he was still a trainee, but that was about it. Talk of black magic was considered taboo, and casting black magic? It was downright illegal. If whoever casted the spells was still around, they'd have a hard time dueling against them.

Rory scanned the room for any trace of evidence, he kept alert, who knew what kind of traps laid in wait for the cops "It looks very spacious, and the pathway... if we don't discover anything here, which way would you like to go?" he asked Jace, not taking his eyes off the room.

"I'd be surprised if it was. But the most problematic thing is: where are all the souls. I've heard about awful black magic devices. Something like soul catchers. I wouldn't be surprised if we found some." He said. He just hoped the coming trials would be things that they could document rather than have to actively interact with. Things held behind bars would be nice. "However, for all the wraiths and the souls we can feel I don't know where they are." He said. That worried him, especially as the magic pressure seemed to increase as the number of souls he could feel decreased.

"..." He was silent for a moment, looking left and right. "Not sure, to the right?" He asked. He wasn't sure it mattered. They hadn't got a floorplan of the building as the dark magic interfered heavily with scrying. It was against the 'flow' of the magic swirling through the air. Which means if they needed to go back it would be easier. Well, that was if the magic vortex had any effect on them or whether it was just body-less souls.

The glowing sphere danced between them as they walked through the building. He was purposefully moving it so that their shadows would constantly be moving so nothing could sneak up on them. At least, that's what he hoped. If he was a water element mage they'd be having a massive problem right now. "This is the last time I go on a 'people are dissapearing, go investigate' mission." He said with a huff.

(Sorry for taking so long. I got good bit into the post and had massive block on how to write the rest of it. And exams. So many exams)