• Friends in Dark Places

Posted: **Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:49 pm**

Coffee with Dad, as awkward as it is for me, now happens every other week, usually on a Wednesday. Today though, I called to see if we could do it Thursday on an off week. Don’t think it was because I’m a Daddy’s girl – it was unfortunately just business.

Or something.

I was mostly through my tiramisu before he broached the subject, “You were going to ask me something dear?”

I didn’t say anything, taking the time to savor the last piece of confectionary delight before I glanced up to my father. He just smiled in that laid back, approachable way he does before I swallowed and asked the question about anyone he might know who had information on a certain subject.

There was a pause as my father sipped his coffee, before saying simply, “No.”

“What?” To put it mildly, I was a bit surprised.

“I admit it’s not a topic I’ve broached heavily. I’ve learned them from time to time, and used them, but they are not a specialty of mine.” Dad gave me an apologetic smile, “At least, I don’t know more than anyone else in your life about the topic.”

“Oh.” I said, perhaps a bit disappointed. If anyone in my life was a fountain of knowledge, it was my father, even if we hadn’t really connected much until recent.

“I might know a few people that do, however.” He noted, tapping his chin,
“However, it would take time to track them down and contact them for you.”

“I would appreciate that, but you don’t’ need to…”

“You’re my daughter, Melissa. You are not an inconvenience.” Dad said with a smile at me, “Leon fell off the grid last I checked. I think he was in Valencia… Johnathan vanished off into the Congo some years ago and I haven’t seen him since. Besides that, I suppose there’s Ril.”
My blood ran a bit cold.

“Ril.” I stated for confirmation with some disbelief. Dad nodded.

Ril is not her real name, of course, and I admit I’m not sure she even remembers what her real name is. I haven’t spoken to her in about 4 years. I had just moved to the city only a few months prior last time I did, a young arcanist really at the beginning of her career (though I still wouldn’t call me an expert). Serpens and I had run into her supporting an odd group of cultists. We inadvertently scuppered their plans mostly through a combination of calamity and vague intent.

It turns out that Ril had little interest in actually helping the cultists, but they simply had something she wanted. We figured this out after a brief, rather one sided scrap. That was my first taste of meeting a fleshsculptor. I was on the ‘losing’ end of course, but we had a civil talk afterwards.

Had she not been so amicable, I’m sure the post-fight banter would have been far more agonizing.

As it stands, I don’t make it a point to mingle with 4 century old fleshsculptors (yes, you heard me). However, I did still have tea with her a few times over the years. Unsurprisingly, she was acquainted with my father and took a bit of interest in my progress as a practitioner.
Overall? Creepy but civil.

Of course, just asking my father’s old friend about what I needed to know had a hitch – she was becoming crazier, according to my father.

“The magics that sustain her are starting to reach the finish line, not because they aren’t weaved together well, but simply because they’re starting to reach the practical limit.” He explained with a hint of sadness, “And much like age, well… the mind is often the first thing that goes when they’re reaching the end.”

“But there are reports of older beings.” I noted.

“Of course, but that’s usually through divine intervention or something quite extraordinary – a primal link with the fey for example.”

I pursed my lips in some amusement at that last one for some reason. Someone reading this will know why.

“So asking her would not be safe then.” I assumed.

“I would definitely say go prepared.” Dad noted, “I would come, but last time I did she threatened to do bad things to me if I didn’t find that Lapis Lazuli necklace I promised her back in 1890. Of course, she probably won’t try and kill you, and even if she did, if she is losing control of what sustains her, you’ll probably be fine.”

“Well I always carry my bag arou-”

“Go for war.” He interrupted flatly, “She won’t be offended – she was always a bit disappointed you didn’t carry a gun until lately.”

This was sounding more and more creepy.

Posted: **Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:00 pm**

Four centuries? And here I had her pegged for around 2 and a half. Figures.

Calamity and vague intent? The intent was pretty clear, but calamity did ensue, so I suppose I'll let you have that one.

Kinda' depressing news, I rather liked her, but... I can't say entirely unexpected on account of how cheating the system always catches up with a person. Do say hi for me, though, if convenient. If inconvenient, try to say hi for me anyways.

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:17 am**

Jinx had insisted on coming for this. This was despite walking in on me packing my shotgun and my revolver the night before with a look like I was going to war. I warned her that this might be a bit dangerous. She saw it as a good chance to put on her armor and bring a carbine.

Silly girl.

Ril made herself a nice little den in some very old subway tunnels near the UES. I knew of an old condemned building that was overdue in being demolished which had an entrance down into the lower levels. It was very out of the way of any major avenues, which made it a lot easier to go in with full battle dress - shotguns, carbines, class-4 armor (Jinx; I prefer my leather jacket) and all.

I found it a bit odd that the wrought iron door was slightly ajar – she was usually quite picky to make it look bolted down and impassable – but I paid it little mind at the time. Sometimes stuff got in and out, I guess.

“You’ve been down here before?” Jinx asked me as we flicked on some LED flashlights.

“I know where I’m going, if that’s what you’re asking.” I said with a smirk while I made sure my shotgun was safely shouldered. She just stuck her tongue out at me before I continued to lead on.

It was a few staircases down that I began to feel something was amiss.

The area near Ril was usually pretty creepy, but it was always fairly neat –
she had a pet peeve about tidiness, even in abandoned tunnel. So usually the walkways and the walls were pretty clean, relatively speaking.

That wasn’t the case this time. There was a certain fetid odor about, and little splotches of something on the walls.

“I have a bad feeling, Mel.” Diana noted quietly. Sparing giving away all of her purposes, I will say she had good senses for this - that's part of why I was happy to have her along.

“That makes two of us” I murmured, “This isn’t normal.”

“The odor or the mess?” She asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Both. Something isn’t right.” I noted, waving my flashlight carefully over the walls, “I think that’s… blood.”

Diana shined her light over the wall I was looking at, squinting hard, “Hard to tell, but…”

I reached into my bag, pulling out a small spray can that I began to apply evenly along the rust colored staining.

“A bit of luminol and…” I followed this with a black light to reveal the fluorescent outline of prints – some human hands, some of the others less so.

“That’s… promising.” I noted with a sigh, before I unslung my shotgun.

“And by that you mean I should be using a bigger gun.” My gun toting partner noted with a sagely nod as she unslung her carbine, “I didn’t know you did forensics."

"I understand the basics - enough to figure out if someone has been recently murdered and that we should be careful about being next." I responded with a playful grin.

We continued on, moving a bit slower. I was getting a very bad feeling, and unlike every other time I’ve visited Ril, it wasn’t one where deep down I knew my safety was probably guaranteed.

I’d have been more worried for Diana but she’d have gotten all huffy, so… too bad for her.

As we got closer to the little den that Ril had called home, the air felt rather heavy. Both of us were getting sort of edgy at this point, both from the lingering smell of death but also that tingle in the air.

“Something bad happened here.” I heard Diana murmur as we reached a T-intersection, the silence being broken only by our breathing and the occasional dripping water. I heard watched her reach up along the wall, feeling a mount on the wall and asking, “Are these… torches?”

“Odd, she usually leaves them on. Ril liked a clean, well-lighted place.” I said with a grin, before glancing about.

Diana looked at me puzzled, not getting the Hemingway reference, before she put her hand to one of the torch mounts. Turning away, I took a step forward towards the intersection, feeling the buzz of magic along the wall somewhere.

Suddenly, as I stood in the center of the T-intersection heard a buzzing from the darkness. It was echoing down one of the corridors, though I couldn’t tell from which way.

Crap.

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:36 am**

Just as suddenly as I heard the buzzing, I felt myself being yanked back into the passage we came from by Diana, pulling me back against her.

Not one second after she did that, I felt the swift flight of some kind of… swarm zip straight past the intersection I had been standing in. As I stared in shock, I could make out the blur of red eyes as the mass whizzed past five inches from my nose, glistening wings – as in, with almost a metal like polish - scraping the walls of the corridor with little sparks as they made flight.

And just as quickly, they were gone, off into the darkness.

“Wh…” I was a bit lost for words as I looked at Diana.

“I got a bad vibe the moment you stepped into that intersection.” She said softly, letting go of my arm.

“I think I’m glad you did.” I whispered, patting her on the head. She beamed at me as I began to sense about.

I could make out an invisible line of sorts along the corridor that I had crossed into. From what I could tell, it was used to magically contain something – what I wasn’t sure. There was accompanying runes along the wall, but I didn’t recognize the style.

These were of course, next to some scattered bones with obvious cut
marks on them – human looking bones.

“…apparently we weren’t the first ones down here to run into that.” I noted. Diana looked over and winced a bit.

“Since… whatever it was didn’t just turn and attack us, I assume there’s a trap at play?” She asked.

“It seems like it – though I have no idea what that was.” I said.

“Swarmy and scary I’d imagine.” She noted, looking both directions – though not sticking her head into the intersection, of course – before asking, “Erm… assuming we can deal with that, which way do we go, left or right?”

“We would have to go…” I paused, before pursing my lips and looking at the far wall, “Neither: this wasn’t a T-Intersection last time I was here.”

“Seriously? Like your friend just bricked this corridor up or?”

“That’s what it looks like… but I don’t think we can get close enough to check.”

“Well maybe you could blow up the wall magically?” She offered helpfully

“Maybe. But…” I paused as I felt Diana rooting through my bag. I glanced behind her to watch her pull out an M203, “…you put a grenade launcher in my bag?”

“I figured you had more room than I did.” She said cheerfully as she mounted onto her carbine.

“But… that’s my bag.” I protested, feeling like the sanctity of my possessions was somewhat violated.

“And it always will be, but sometimes you have more storage space than I do.” She reassured me as she led me back a short ways towards the last corner we crossed.

I just sort of hmphed and stood back as Diana loaded her grenade launcher, before taking aim and firing at the wall. I heard a loud explosion from around the corner.

“Clear.” She noted as I followed her back towards the intersection, a large hole revealing the formerly boarded up passage, torches still flickering.

I did a brief bit of sensing about, before I noted, “The magic lines are still in tact… I think if we dived through that hole, we’d be fine. Though I think only one of us could go through at a time.”

“Hm, who goes first then?”

“Probably you, since I’m faster than you are – in a foot race, anyway.” I said with a grin.

She stuck her tongue out at me before walking on ahead. She stopped at the line I denoted, turning left, and then right, before making a mad dash for the hole in the wall.

As soon as she stepped into the intersection, that infernal buzzing quickly returned – and a lot quicker than I thought it would. Diana went wide eyed before I watched her dive for the entrance, just as the scary swarm of death drove between us, obscuring her from view as they swarmed menacingly.

“Diana?” I shouted, worry in my voice.

“I’m fine!” she shouted over teh buzzing, “…but the swarm isn’t moving. They’re just sitting out there looking at me!”

“They aren’t getting in, are they?”

“No! But they look like they want to.” She said somewhat nervously.

“Hold tight and step out of the way” I shouted, focusing a bit of power.

The swarm all seemed to turn towards me at once as I drew in a bit of magic, their beady little soulless eyes looking at me as I pointed my hands at them. A blast of fire escaped my hands as it engulfed the swarm, which began to buzz about in a panic, little black bodies falling into ash almost instantly.

There was a brimstone odor in the air as the last of the bugs turned to burnt dust, before I quickly made my way across the corridor where they came from.

"Well, that was different." I noted, waving my hand to clear the smell of sulfur from my nostrils, "I wasn't aware she was doing experiments on insects."

"Well if we're lucky that's the only trap she'll have, right?" Diana said sarcastically.

AS we continued on, I was kind of hoping she was right.

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:57 am**

Gotham Witch wrote:I’d have been more worried for Diana but she’d have gotten all huffy, so… too bad for her.

I expect she'll get quite huffy when she sees you've been using her first name online. Too bad for her.

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:39 pm**

As fun as it would have been to go with you girls, I['m sure not inviting me to roam the sewers with you was probably a nice thing to do.

Hannah

Posted: **Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:12 pm**

I would have preferred to go by myself Hannah, but someone wouldn't let me. Nothing personal doll, but you and everyone else had other things going on that were slightly more important.

Posted: **Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:06 pm**

The rest of the way to Ril's den was uneventful. The same could not be said for when we got there.

The place was an absolute mess, however.

What had been left of her centuries old work table was shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Her bookshelves had been knocked over or - in the case of one of them - melted into a long-dried puddle of wood fragments and half-readable melted paper.

This was all besides the broken glass, scattered human bones and stale puddles of... whatever all over the ground.

"It looks like someone else got here before we did." Jinx noted as she kept a hand over her nose, not enjoying the smell as she nudged a decayed-looking skeleton, "These bones look like they've been here for... years?"

"That can't be. Everything else around here looks recently smashed." I said with a sigh, glancing down as I leaned over to examine a half corroded, melted submachine gun - not touching it, of course, "FN P90, fancy. The serial number is way too recent too - This gun was made last year."

"So some sort of acid or alchemical substance then."She said with a shrug as she nudged a motor-oil colored puddle with her boot - which promptly tried to nudge her back.

"Ngh!" She jumped back as the pool lurched at her, missing her boot and splashing against the floor before going still.

"That's not normal." I murmured, focusing a bit as I sensed for anything weird.

The puddle itself had a fading aura - it seemed its attempt to grasp Jinx's leg dissipated what little power it had left. However, that funny aura was showing up on a lot of other pools and sheens splashed around Ril's lab - and on the corroded bones, which were now trying to twitch a bit, as if reacting to something.

"You know I don't like it when pools of things and bones start moving on their own, Gloom." I heard Jinx say with a huff.

"You always remind me." I said with a mutter as I sensed about. The majority of those magical compounds were pooled near a smashed table, where I could see the remnants of multiple broken vials.

"It looks like something weird got mixed together when someone came in and tried to smash the place up." I murmured, "By the looks of it, someone came in to try and murder Ril - suicidal bastards."

"I could try and find a lead." Jinx offered.

"Let's... look around, but be careful. It's better not to touch anything." I said warily, gripping my shotgun tensely as I pointed the light around slowly, "Anyway... I don't see any sign of..."

I got cut off as Diana knocked me out of the way suddenly, disorienting me briefly as I hit the far wall, just as I heard something large hit the ground just where I was standing.

There was an inhuman hiss followed by the report of close range gunfire. As my light pointed where I was half a second ago, I could see bones beneath semitransparent flesh stagger forward into the room, a trio of holes in its back exposing decayed muscle and other tissue.

As my aim moved up, I could see what appeared to be a canine-like maw growl in Jinx's direction, another burst of fire splattering more holes into it and shattering some of the decayed bones beneath.

As it raised an inhumanly large set of claws, I quickly shouldered my shotgun and fired, exploding its rib cage and an arm as it fell to the ground, flopping and oozing bones, muscle, and... stuff on the ground.

Predictably, it wasn't done moving, some ooze reaching over to grab one of the bones that had been laying on the ground and trying to draw them into itself - well, before the bone shattered into a dozen bits thanks to some well placed 5.56 and a couple slugs.

"What in the hell is this thing?"Diana hissed as she kept firing at the half coherent pool, the ooze and bones continuing to try and reform.

"I don't know!" I shouted as I focused a bit of magic, pointing a hand at the skeletal mess as lurched back upright, lifting a half reformed claw just as it was quickly engulfed in flames.

Both of us stepped back as as the oozy mess went up like gasoline, the bones falling into a pile as the slimy compound was quickly consumed by fire.

As we watched the mess burn, Jinx asked, "Was that... an alchemical zombie? That skin looked like the slime that tried to grab me."

"Maybe. It looked like it needed bones to keep itself moving." I reached into my bag, pulling out a small box of shotgun shells marked with a flame symbol, putting one directly into the open breach and closing the bolt before loading a couple more in the tube.

Jinx leaned down, prodding at the dissolving puddle,"I see a necklace that someone was wearing... I think that pattern is... Aztec?"

"One of those darkness cultists possibly." I said with a mutter as I looked around at some of the other skeletons. Indeed, amongst the bone and glass, I could make out some marks and paraphernalia common to the cultists we had dealt with before.

"They were trying to go after Ril. Maybe she knew about them and they saw her as a threat." I murmured.

Just as we were coming to more conclusions, there was another inhuman screech from the direction we came from - more reanimated cultists.

This was becoming a most relaxing visit. Blegh.

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:00 am**

It's too bad about your friend, Auntie Mel. I hope you gave those cultists what for!

-Cynthia

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 2:28 pm**

I've never been under the impression any of your visits to Ril's place were calm. You always came back in a dissheveled mess, smelling of embalming fluid and... y'know, if I didn't know how much she creeped you out, a guy could get the wrong impression. ;p

More seriously though... symbolism between the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, and Toltecs is nearly interchangeable. If you're dealing with cultists, the AVERAGE cultist wouldn't know the difference, so there might be a lot more to look into than you think.

If these are the same cultists from that time, I'd guess that they have a new leader now. ...however, that wouldn't explain why they'd go after Ril. ...now, if it's the same guy that *should* be dead by ANY metric, I just want you to remember... He not only just shrugged off someone performing a flying drop kick from an upper story, he turned around and looked perturbed.

This isn't someone to mess with, and furthermore, he'd have a reason to be after all three of us and Ms. Spade.

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:31 pm**

That's why I said they were civil, not calm. She did wonders for my ability to keep a cool head, however.

And yes, the Aztec symbolism isn't very telling. These cultists favor a variety of symbols from varying traditions. Whether these are just stylistic trappings or representative of how diverse their membership is is hard to say. I'm more inclined to think they use them to help establish coherent group identity.

Posted: **Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:12 pm**

The next minute or so was a bit of a blur, to be honest.

We had fallen back deeper into Ril's den as things began to scream their way out of the corridor, laying down gunfire and a few magical things in the process. We retreated into the back room, mostly untouched at this point - and knocked the remaining table in the room onto its side for cover in the process..

After a bit more concentrated fire, Jinx had launched a grenade around the corner, splattering something or another to bits. I had swung an arm with a bit of focus, telekinetic ally throwing another one back into the lab, through the entrance and splattering it against the corridor through sheer force.

But there were more coming. Isn't there always?

Jinx was in the midst of reloading her grenade launcher as one leaped at us from the ground in the other room, reforming from the slime that had been sitting around - almost as if it were reacting to the presence of the others.

"Flash!" I shouted to give her time to look away, just as I met its ugly face with my 12 gauge. The room briefly lit up in a pyrotechnic display as the creature - and the one behind it burned to ashes.

"Dragon Fire?"She asked, having reloaded her grenade launcher.

"A bit more practical. Ron gets them in from somewhere." I said as I chambered another, the place going quiet aside from the dissolving of alchemical sludge. Aiming at the smashed table covered in gunk, I fired once more, igniting the entire corner of the room with a nice dramatic fwoosh - though with an accompanying smell of burning biological something or another.

"Perhaps we should burn what's left of the lab then?" Jinx suggested, waving a hand over her nose.

"We should - but we should look around first." I said, beginning to look about the back room.

None of the reanimating slime was splattered in the back study, so it made looking about considerably easier. Ril had a tendency not to ward her back room - there were more than enough 'tripwires' leading to her den to ward off unwanted guests.

Most of the books on hand were in Italian - very old Italian at the oldest, and turn of the century Piedmont, Lombard, and of course, Emiliano-Romagnolo - Ril was originally from near Ravenna. Most of them were also quite old, with a few exceptions - she had a thing for 20th century existentialism and dystopian fiction apparently.

Then there were her research notes. Being a self respecting practitioner, I had to take a peak.

"What do they say?" Jinx asked me after about five minutes of looking through sketches, formulas, and clearly encrypted notes.

"These look like her notes on human transmutation and longevity." I noted casually.

Diana just stared at me, "Those are clearly encrypted. You didn't know the cipher, did you?"

"Oh no. I have no idea what the text says - but the drawings are pretty telling." I responded absently as I flipped through it all, "And she uses a lot of alchemical shorthand... I wonder if these are what she's used on herself?"

"Wait, she would have used this on herself?" Jinx asked with a bit of disbelief, pointing around the room where slime-covered bones had been only minutes ago.

"Unlike her, they were human." I said simply. I think I saw an inkling of a shudder there from her - and maybe me too.

Just as I said that, we both jumped as we heard some noises echoing from down the hall. Glancing back, we could hear scratching from unknown distance away.
"So, what is down the hall?" Jinx asked. glancing back towards me with a wary look.

"...I don't know. I haven't been down there yet, but I believe it's the rest of her lab" I said after a moment, occupying myself with the loading of a few more shells into my shotgun.

"Do we need to go down there?"

"We haven't found any sign of what happened to Ril yet... and I'm wondering if there's more insight to these notes down there."

Jinx just nodded, looking about as uneasy as I felt. Neither of us could wait to be out of there, I bet.

Maybe next year I won't be trying to track down a fleshsculptor in a dark creepy place. It seems a good resolution.

Posted: **Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:09 pm**

Now I understand why you ordered what you did last time you visited the shop.

Sewer travels are always interesting but something you always want to forget.

Posted: **Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:46 pm**

Yeah, as soon as I get the rest of this typed up you'll see why I threw down cash on replacement parts.

Posted: **Thu May 17, 2012 2:03 am**

I almost forgot about this. It's only proper to finish it, I suppose.

Ril's lab had always been a creepy place. Past a magical threshold designed to keep spells from crossing in or out were where she kept her... interesting projects. Most of them involved some sort of splicing of animal parts or creating new kinds of magical tissues. She never messed with humans - she claims she had learned all she could from those years ago, and went with more exotic workings involving serpentine hides.

Ugh.

Something was very weird as we crossed the threshold into the lab. Both Jinx and I felt something amiss. As we moved flashlights about, the shadows were oddly fleeting.

"Flash." I said casually, raising a hand and focusing a bit of power as a bright flare of light briefly illuminated all of the cages, test tubes, and holding tanks in the room. As the light faded, I could make out the flailing, dissipating silhouettes of supernatural shadows.

"It's those possessing shadow things."Jinx noted,"Well, there were, anyway."

"They'd have to have been transported in here somehow." I noted, moving my shotgun-mounted light around the room to illuminate a blood trail on the ground. I followed it with my light, before finally finding a corpse in the corner.

Both of us approached slowly. The figure had been dead for awhile, but due to some enchantment in the room Ril had mentioned, there wouldn't be decay. That means the expression of horror on his face was quite fresh, as was the gaping hole in his chest where his ribs had been parted almost neatly, a large hole where his heart and lungshad been.

"Dear lord. What in the hell happened to him?"Jinx murmured, wrinkling her nose.

I moved over, examining the scene carefully. The ribs had been almost gently bent back, the sternum pulled to the side. The arteries showed no evidence of trauma. The heart and lungs were just... neatly gone.

"I think Ril borrowed his organs." I murmured.

"I see that. But why?"

I shook my head, unsure. I had issues questioning the mind of a several century old flesh-sculptor.

We found several more corpses in the lab, most of them missing some organs or another. All of them had the same sort of cultist regalia, mostly Mesoamerican symbolism. Based upon the blood trails, Ril had gone to each one and methodically ripped them open to harvest something out of them. It could have been someone else, of course, but I couldn't think of many fleshsculptors that skilled. The handiwork was just too calling card.

Somehow, she had done something to make that little fleshlab that much creepier. That left the question of course - where was she?

I am happy and perplexed to say, I do not know. We did not find her, or any idea where she went.

The likely scenario is that the cultists went after her, considering her a threat. They failed, of course, but to be safe, she went into hiding.

Of course, how often is reality so neat and tidy?

Not wanting to waste a trip, we pulled through her study and grabbed what I was looking for before wandering back up. Playing it safe, we burned the study to keep anything from falling into the hands of the cultists.

What was I looking for, you ask? I might say someday.

Friends in Dark Places

Friends in Dark Places

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