Role-Playing - "Sometimes there's worse things than dying."

Ruthie wrote:"Skye followed the Reapers for a little over ten minutes, keeping just out of their sight, but still keeping them within her own. They were now at Cair Castle; it's stony turrets still reaching weakly out to the sky and it's half-rotten roof barely looking as though it would stand another night. Skye watched as the Reapers led the villagers inside the gate and then vanish in the blackness. Skye frowned. How was she to get in?
Just then, a shout from behind her made her jump. She whipped around to see an elderly woman and a younger woman of about twenty. Following them was that bookkeeper, Eva, her name was.
The younger woman accompanying the elder spoke. "Who are you?"
Skye narrowed her eyes in distrust. Where had they popped up from?
"Skye Harken," she said quietly. "Who are you?"
"Cyrus Melton and this is my grandmother, Beverly."
Skye raised an eyebrow. Without an explanation, she asked, "How do we get in?"
Beverly scrunched up her nose. "We'll have to find a back entrance. Come on, girls!! We have a village to save!" Skye smiled slightly and followed after the trio."

"Look out!" Beverly whispered urgently as she backed herself behind a crumbling pillar. Even in the blackness of the night, she could see that there was movement from within the castle a few paces ahead.
(description of past events below)
The rescue group had found a fairly large hole in the ancient back wall of Cair Castle. Before any person stepped into the castle, however, Beverly stood in front of the small group of about 15 people. Many of them looked scared, tired, and weak. She spoke calmly in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear. "When we step into this castle, our lives will be in danger. If you wish to go back to the town, please go. We will not judge you." Everyone looked around at each other nervously, and after a minute, there were only four people left. Beverly, Cyrus, Eva, and Skye were left alone in silence. "They would have slowed us down anyway." Beverly winked at the younger girls and turned towards the castle, bracing herself for an adventure.
(back to present time)
Beverly sat against the pillar for several minutes before she peered around the corner again. This time she saw nothing startling. She motioned to move forward. The room that they were in was barely intact. From the back corner, the women saw a large entrance at the far side of the room which led to the rest of the castle. There were large windows on the walls left and right of the entrance which apparently led to a throne at some point, but the windows were broken from age. Immediately left of where the group was crouched was a raised part of the floor where the throne would have been positioned. Right above the platform, on the wall was a massive circle cut out of the wall itself. Cyrus guessed that it was a window once. Now all she could see out of the hole was blackness.
"I wonder where all the scary ghosts are. I was hoping for a fight." Beverly was about to stand up and stretch when Cyrus pulled her back down.
The granddaughter spoke in an urgent whisper. "They're all probably busy with the hostages!" She spoke to everyone in the group, "Besides, how are we supposed to bash through a bunch of ghosts that we can't even hurt? Did you see that thing earlier?"
I say we all go back and leave town entirely, but Grammie won't approve of that. I have a feeling we're going to die here.
Skye's voice broke Cyrus' thought. "What is that?" She pointed to the corner to the far left of the group.
"What's what?" Cyrus strained her eyes to see through the darkness.
Finally they all saw what Skye had spotted. There was a small square outlined on the ground. Of course, none of them would have seen the square if it was not outlined in a faint, pulsing silver glow.

Skye edged closer to the little square of silver, squinting at the curious block. Her eyes widened and she smiled suddenly. Turning to the three other women she whispered, "It's silver. There must have been a mine down here at one time." She looked around the room they were in and absently kicked the damp floor covered in wet straw. "Any ideas of how we save everyone?"
Eva spoke up, "Well, we could create a diversion, but I don't see how we can kill things that cannot be killed."
Cyrus' brow furrowed and then relaxed. A story she had heard long ago about a special silver... what was it called? Argiope? Arbor? Argentum? Yes! that was it! Argentum! She looked up at Skye who seemed to sense her thoughts. Both girls smiled.
Beverly raised an eyebrow at the two girls. "What are you two smiling so conspiratorially about?"
Skye said one word. "Argentum."
Eva and Bev looked confused. Cyrus filled them in. "Gran, don't you remember those stories about a special silver that was found right here underneath Cair Castle? It was called Argentum!" Both women still looked confused. Skye broke in. "My parents told me that Argentum was a very powerful mineral that had the power to take life from any spirit being."
Eva's pretty eyes were still puzzled. "Then why are the reapers living in a castle with this whole silver mine underneath them? Aren't they afraid of getting killed themselves?"
Skye frowned thoughtfully. "There must be a reason why they aren't afraid of the Argentum..." She stopped herself. On the far wall, there were a few rotted shelves which held ancient, dusty tomes. Skye walked to it and selected the biggest. Maybe this will give us some insight, she thought as she wiped the dust and grime from the cover, but stopped there. The three other women huddled around her. The cover of the book read: The Last Moments of Cair the Mage.

Cyn trailed Rita from inside of the rotting filth they called a wall. Part of the Reapers curse was that they had to eat dead animals, and now Cyn could smell it embedded in the support beams. Usually ghosts didn't have to eat. That was only reserved for lifers, so she couldn't quite understand the sensation of eating, but she knew it must be dreadful and took pity on the Reapers. One of the Reapers stopped by the edge of a trail that led to the dungeons and looked right in her direction. Cyn concealed herself even further into the wall to hide her smell, and went so far that she almost entered the other room. She heard voices and couldn't help listening. The Last Moments of Cair the Mage was being read so she got bored and continued the trail along the steeping walls, now finding a great spot in the rotting ceiling just above the party. Close behind was the second party of captors with their hostages.

Bu-bump, Bu-bump went the rhythmic sound of Rita's heart in her head. Wait, why would there be a thrumming in her head and not her chest? Oh right. She had gotten thwacked with a club and the last thing she heard was the all too familiar rustling beads the Reapers favored. Now she was being half carried, half dragged along the steep death trail to the dungeons that she knew she would be visiting some day. Really, the path was so skinny and steep that one wrong step would have you tumbling into their carcass pit. Ah sick! Rita thought. I hate that part of the curse where they have to eat dead animals. Cyn you'd better hurry up and get me out of certain death. And stop hiding in the ceiling you big dope! was Rita's last thought for a long time, because the mere stench left her senseless once more. When she woke up again, she found herself alone in a dark, damp cell. For the third time in her life, she cried.

"Is-- is someone there?" a timid, quiet voice came through the darkness. Lon started even though he had expected it. "It's me, Lady Maeve, Lon," Lon said, stepping forward and taking the woman's hand. Despite it being the warmest time of year, her hands were chilled to the bone. "They're here! They're terrible!" she sobbed. "How did you ever find me?"
Lon grimaced, "Uh, I didn't."
For a moment Lady Maeve was silent as she realized what Lon meant. She had expecting him to be her savior, not her fellow prisoner. She fell into a new fit of sobs and clutched him tighter.
Behind Lon there was a creak of rusted metal. Torchlight poured through the door to their cell as it was opened. A ghost strode in. Lon stood before Lady Maeve. "Leave her alone!" he shouted, but the ghost walked right through him and grabbed her wrist, jerking her to her feet. He shoved her forward and out the door. "Come on, dearie," he snapped. "Someone you love wants to talk to you."

It took Eva a few minutes to process what Cyrus and Skye were talking about... Silver? Argentum? What was this? She still didn't quite understand even after they tried to explain it to her, and was surprised that it hadn't shown up in one of her books. But then, history and science weren't really her types... she re-shouldered her tote bag, and her half empty water canteen bumped around with the lunch she never ate, and some books she always kept in there. Peering over Skye's shoulder, Eva read the title. That's funny... She thought. Why does his name sound so familiar? Shrugging it off, she watched with keen interest as Skye reverently cracked open the cover of the huge book. The whole group of women breathed out a chorus of amazed sighs. Eva couldn't help it; she reached out and felt the ornate inside cover, her fingers trailing over the hand-painted designs and pictures on the first page. Dot never got anything this beautiful in the Redwood.

Skye took little time to admire the book. "Come on, we don't have much time." Flipping over the first page she read aloud from the lovely hand printed writing, "Here are written the memoirs, memories, and secrets revealed by Cair the Mage on the day of, and the days preceding his death. May he rest in peace."
"See if you can find any parts about secrets of the Castle and the Reapers!" Cyrus urged, her urgent whisper bouncing off the room's walls.
Skye gingerly flipped through pages, revealing conjures, pictures of mythical creatures, detailed scenes from the ancient past, and countless more similar articles. She stopped on reaching a painting of the castle. "Here, what about this section? I'll bet they have descriptions or maybe maps of the secret chambers and passages in the Castle. A silver mine would have been something important, he must have mentioned it." As if on cue, the next page she flipped to contained an image of a square set into the floor, a shimmery silver pulse radiating from it's edges.

Jimmy squinted, trying to see into the dim light of the chamber. It seemed the entire search party had been captured.
Great. Why couldn't Mr. Halinpanas just given me work today? Jimmy thought to himself. Of course, this would happen on my one day off.
Jimmy straightened himself up. Well, no matter what the Reapers were up to, he knew from experience that it couldn't be good. He worked his way to the door through which they had come in and held himself up to the small window near the top. He managed to count four Reapers standing in the gloom outside the door before one of them reached through the door and threw him back from it.
"Stay away from the door, lifer. I won't warn ye twice!" the Reaper growled, his face appearing in the door. Jimmy shivered internally from the contact, but he knew that looking afraid was the worst way to deal with bullies. He stood up straight and glared straight back at the ghost.
"Oh, really? Or what? I heard Louis in there, you can't kill us."
The Reaper just gave a creepy smile. "Sometimes there's worse things than dying." He withdrew his head back into the hallway.
"Yeah, like looking like that for the rest of eternity," Jimmy answered, but it fell flat. He sighed and leaned against the wall on the other side of the cell.
I wonder what happened to Fiona, he thought to himself.

The hallway was silent, but that didn't mean much. Ghosts don't make any sound when they walk. Fiona thought about peeking around the corner first, but decided against it.
Instead, she walked confidently into the corridor, glancing cooly at the patrol of four Reapers she passed. They returned the glance, then looked away. They had enough to worry about, with lifers in the castle, without suspecting one of their own.
As soon as she had reached the end of the hallway, Fiona let out the breath she hadn't even noticed holding. Apparently, the ruse had worked. But then, they were real tattoos, she thought ruefully, rubbing her sore face. She remembered looking at them just after she had gotten Hestern, the printer's ghost in the Warren, to apply them in the same blue ink he had used for the Reapers, before he had joined the other side. The swirling blue patterns on her face curled in to wide spirals on both cheeks, and meshed together in a whirl on her forehead. She was surprised that he had been able to do such a good job in only a few hours, but then, he had been doing it for at least a hundred years.
Fiona reached the spiral stairs leading to the highest castle spire. It used to belong to Cair, the mage who had run this castle and who started this entire mess, she remembered. But now, it was the favorite haunt of Louis, the self-proclaimed leader of the Reapers, and it was there, she knew, that she would be able to find some answers.
She had just started up the stairs when she felt the cool breeze of a shademark close behind her. She ducked into the wall just as the ghost walked past and up the stairs. Fiona peeked out, and noticed the mark was much light, too light to be a Reaper. It wasn't even disguised, as hers was. She poked her head out further and recognized the ghost.
"Cyn!" she called. "Over here!"
It seems that everyone who is anyone is here today, Fiona thought to herself dryly. I have a feeling it's going to be quite a party.
She started up the steps towards Cyn.

As the Reaper left with Lady Maeve, the rusty door swung noisily shut. Lon waited for the inevitable click, then he waited some more. Cautiously, trying not to make any noise, Lon moved toward the door. He pushed it gently and felt a surge of elation as it gave. He pushed a little harder and the door opened a few inches, Lon winced at the squeaking.
Finally, the door was opened just enough to let Lon out. He looked up and down the dimly lit passage, thankful that there was only a little light. The Reapers gave off a dim glow so hopefully Lon would see them before they saw him.
Lon headed for the stairs at one end of the hallway. Better than going downward, he thought to himself. As he moved down the hallway his footsteps sounded like grating thunder and his breath like a wind storm in his ears. He stopped more than once to listen for any sign of danger. Not that it would do any good, he thought. Reapers made no sound when they moved.
As he reached the top of the stairs, he heard a faintly familiar voice. "Cyn!" it called in a furtive voice. "Over here!"
It was coming from behind a door on the right. Lon moved to the door and put his ear to it. Had the voice sounded afraid? Could it be one of his companions?
Lon hadn't noticed that he was leaning against the door so much, and the old, rotten wood buckled, sending him sprawling into the hallway beyond. He looked up to see a female Reaper with her back to him. She spun around at the noise he made. Lon breathed a curse. He rolled off the remains of the door and scrambled to his feet, lunging at the same time for the doorway, expecting to feel cold hands again at any moment.
"Wait!" the ghost hissed. Lon hesitated. He turned to look at the ghost. There was something familiar about her.
"Fiona?" he whispered.
"A prize for the big one," Fiona whispered, miming applause, she was standing--or floating--next to him now.
"Where did you come from? Are you one of them?" He narrowed his eyes at her and his body tensed.
Fiona grimaced sardonically, "I take it back, the brightest star in the Felenon Constellation you are not. I'm here to get Jimmy, where is he?"
Lon shrugged, "I don't know, my guess would be back that way."
"Stay here," Fiona told him, and moved toward the doorway Lon just crashed through.
"No way. I'm going with you," Lon objected, heading after her.

Death . . . could it be? . . . No.
The brightness faded into darkness as Zier regained consciousness. His eyes slowly opened to see s skeleton staring him in the face, a surge went through his body, then he sat up. Zier looked around the room and saw some rough outlines in the dim, dusty light, there was a chair, a door and, what was that? Person crouched or huddled in the corner. Zier went over to the figure to see that it was a person from the search party, he had been captured with the others and somehow put into the same cell as him.
"Here have some flatbread" Zier said as he broke the loaf and handed half to the other member. "You'll need some energy, we're breaking out"
"It's no use!" The man said "These walls are stone, we are underground"
"We'll do it." Zier reassured him, "We just need to figure out how"
Just then the guard slammed the door "QUIET!" he snarled.
There was a strange clicking sound, Zier pulled Kanin, as he was known in town, to the farthest corner of the room and whispered as softly as he could, "I think the guard just accidentally disengaged he lock somehow. This is our chance, next time he goes to make the rounds we'll make a break for it."
"Sounds good." Kanin said
"Here, here's a knife" Zier said as he handed the man one of his throwing knives, "It won't do any good against reapers, but just in case..."

OOC: Just so everyone knows, Kanin isn't really important I'm probably gonna kill him off soon.

Ruthie wrote:"Skye suddenly dropped the book and stood up so quickly that Eva and Cyrus, who were standing over her shoulder jumped back. Skye's forehead darkened, the second time that day, which was rare. 'We're not alone,' she said in a slow whisper. A rustling at the farthest and darkest corner of the room brought the attention of the three other women. Bev drew her dagger and pointed it toward the sound while clutching her granddaughter's hand. Eva huddled nearby.
A figure emerged from the darkness, a tall, thin man with tousled, dirty blond hair, pale blue eyes, and tattered clothes. Another person came out, a woman this time with long dark brown hair and eyes and a small petite figure. What Skye noticed first of all, however, were the woman's pointed ears. An elf. The man spoke first, 'forgive us for eavesdropping, but, are you trying to find out how to overthrow the Reapers?'
Cyrus, Bev and Eva readily nodded, Skye acted as if in a trance. She knew that voice, somehow. The man bowed, 'My name is Dar, and this is my wife Hala. We've been in this castle for over four years now, so I think we know a thing or two about the Reapers here.'
Skye's eyebrows shot up... over four years? ... Yes, she had been only eight or so when her parents disappeared. She came back to the present when she noticed the woman looking at her. Dar was talking to the other women about how to handle the reapers, but Hala approached Skye calmly, gracefully, until she was right in front of her. Skye's memory jogged and a look of recognition came over Hala's face.
'Mother?' Skye murmured."

Dar spoke urgently with a slight hint of relief in his voice. "If you read the book, you will find out why the Reapers are so terrible, but let me explain." Cyrus knew that she should pay attention to the man, but she couldn't help her drifting gaze to Skye and Hala. Why does Skye have that look on her face? Is it horror or amazement? Fear? Love? And why is she making me uncomfortable? Dar's voice rose a little and Cyrus returned to the conversation.
"And the Reapers learned that they could break their curse by sacrificing human lives, but they also need the Argentum that is right below our feet." He pointed down and a small smile appeared on his face. "The Reapers fear the Argentum because it can kill them on contact. It is an amazing substance."
"We have to get down there and get some then! Our problems are solved! Let's go," Beverly said and clapped her hands silently. Dar shook his head and continued, "It is more difficult than that. Once we open the hatch, the Argentum will be available to the Reapers. They just have to have full spiritual control over it. Right now the Benevolents, the good ghosts, are protecting the Argentum and have control of it. I'm sure there are some of them down there right now. If they leave, then the Argentum is open for the Reapers to take."
"But the Argentum is the only way to destroy the Reapers, right?" Eva asked.
Dar nodded, "Yes, that is true. Usually a Reaper or two are guarding this room, so we have never had the chance to get the Argentum for weapons. I don't see any around right now. This could be a good chance to-"
Dar could not finish his sentence because a movement in the darkest corner of the room took his breath. Cyrus followed his stare right to an especially sinister-looking Reaper coming closer to the group. She spoke with a raspy voice,
"That is where you are wrong. I've been watching you all for quite some time now. We always need more sacrifices!" She cackled and rushed at the group. Beverly was the first to react by running over to the mine hatch and proceeding to rapidly jump up and down on the wood. "Go, go, go, break, break, break!" She pleaded. Apparenly the wood listened to her because after several poundings, the wood buckled underneath the old woman, and Beverly disappeared. Without a second thought, Cyrus jumped in after her headfirst. The Reaper's eyes grew wide as she saw the two humans disappear, but she had a plan. With one swift movement, she grabbed Eva and flew back to the middle of the room. "If you touch the Argentum, this girl will die right here, right now."

It all happened rather fast. The man, Dar, and the elf woman, Hala, who had caused Skye to act so strangely, explained what the Argentum was all about, and just as Eva had begun to understand, she had been swept up by a Reaper! She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and temples, and her breath came sharply, both from fear, and from the amazingly strong grip the ghost had on her upper arm. Dar and Hala looked surprised, and Skye even more so from her place next to the elf. Eva risked a glance down into the hole where Bev and Cyrus had jumped. She couldn't see them, maybe because the silver glow helped to hide them, but she was glad they were out of harm's reach for now.
"Cyrus? Beverly?" she called, her voice shaking slightly. The Reaper was peering down into the hole as well.
It called out menacingly. "Remember, if you lay a hand on that Argentum, your friend will die. It's your choice!" She turned back to the rest of the group. "You!" she said in her gravelly voice, addressing Skye. "Go down into that mine, find those women, and get back here. You have ten minutes before I kill your friend." The Reaper smiled down at Eva, the look on her face clearly showing how much she would enjoy ending her life.
Eva swallowed. "Please hurry, Skye!" Her eyes felt watery. This was the second time today that she had been at the mercy of a Reaper, and she knew that she would get away with less this time.
Skye nimbly made her way down into the mine, the light shining on her blond hair. In a few moments, she was gone.

A dripping noise woke Dot up... or maybe it was a scratching. Or both. She sat up, but couldn't see a thing because she didn't have her glasses. She wondered why her room was so dark and why her bed was so hard. She had been having this very long and vivid dream about Lady Maeve being kidnapped, and then she went to look for her and ended up captured by Reapers and -" She suddenly awoke to reality when a drop of water hit her head. Fumbling for her glasses, which were on a chain around her neck, she peered into the darkness of her cell. It appeared she was alone, but there were some dark shapes in the corner. Moaning with despair, she sank back down onto the make-shift bed of straw, damp from dripping water. Trying to get her thoughts clear, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the details of what had seemed like an impossible dream. There had been a castle; Cair Castle, and they had been taken to the dungeons. Her first instinct was to find if she could contact anyone. Crawling to the nearest wall, she rapped on it. There was no reply. She called out, her voice bouncing back and echoing around her. The only answer she received was an annoyed growl from the patrolling Reaper. She went to her cell door and looked through the bars, but didn't see more than a faint light at the far end of the hall. He must have just finished his round. A few moments later, just as she was about to retreat back, two silent figures emerged from a cell three doors away from hers, keeping well into the shadows. With a wistful, hopeless sigh, she let her head fall against the door bars.

"No way. I'm going with you," Lon objected, heading after her.
Fiona rolled her eyes to the door and turned around.
"Listen," she said, as if explaining to a small child. "Maybe you don't understand. If the Reapers catch you, they will kill you. You know, as in dead. And contrary to popular belief, living in Goscite doesn't mean you will end up a ghost."
"What is going on?" Lon asked.
"Oh, nothing big," Fiona answered airily. "Just the Reapers plotting, you know, some evil plot involving, um, things." She finished vaguely, hemming and hawing.
Lon narrowed his eyes. "There's something you're not saying," he said.
Fiona played nervously with a strand of hair. "Umm, maybe, but it's for a very good reason. It's a secret."
"Oh, that's a very good reason," Lon said, raising his eyebrows.
Fiona spread her hands and looked apologetic. "That's the only reason I can give, considering where we are and all. So, if you are bound and determined to come with me, I'm going to try and free all you lifers before the Reapers start to act."
"Who will be stopping them?"
"There are... others around, they'll help. I guess I'm going to have to re-work my plans..." Fiona scrunched up her nose at him. "You are so incredibly noisy, there is no way six ways to Sunday that they won't hear you. It's a miracle you haven't been caught yet. But..." she began to look more thoughtful, "maybe we can use that to our advantage. You never suspect something that's too obvious, right?"
Fiona checked the corridor and then began to whisper her new plan to Lon.

Ruthie wrote:"Skye slipped through the hole in the floor after Bev and Cyrus, her thoughts not on the two women, even though she certainly hoped they were all right, but on Eva. What if that Reaper didn't keep her promise? What if she took Eva away instead? A thousand 'what if's' rang in her mind as she traveled down the mine's long, dim hallways. Very few torches lighted her way, and those that did, were ancient, yet still burning, as if they wouldn't rest until they had performed their duty. Skye shook her head. Then up ahead, she heard a sound. She stopped so suddenly, her dagger bounced against her leg and she had to keep herself from falling. The noise was just up ahead.
Skye swallowed and called out cautiously. 'Bev? Cyrus?' To her relief, she heard Bev's happy chuckle, 'We're here all right, and now so are you. Now come, see what we found...'
'No!' Skye said urgently. Cyrus stepped up just then behind her grandmother. 'Why not? We found some Argentum; if we bring it back up, we can kill that reaper...'
'Listen to me!' Skye didn't know why she was acting so strangely. She barely even knew Eva. 'We can't go after the Argentum! That Reaper says she'll kill Eva if we do!'
Cyrus looked distrustful, 'what makes you think she won't go through with her remark, whether or not we have the silver?'
Skye hung her head helplessly. 'I don't know; maybe we can think of another way...' She stopped talking as a cool, whistling wind whipped around her face. It smelled sweet, like cider, but... there were no mills or apples for that matter down here, were there?
The sound of gravel crunching underneath someone's feet caused the three women to huddle close together. The wind was blowing in earnest now, as if it were a happy dog, and the crunching grew louder until... it stopped. All three women let their held breath out in a relieved 'whew!'
There was complete silence. Then, all at once, a quiet, grandfatherly voice came to them from just in front. 'Looking for Argentum?'
Cyrus nodded. 'Well,' she ignored Skye's glare. 'A little.. yes, I suppose...'
Silence again, and the Benevolent replied airily, 'Then you're all set.. go back up the way you came. You'll understand soon enough...'"