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tushanshu_logs2014-09-30 04:21 pm
ironwood) wrote in tushanshu_logs2014-09-30 04:21 pm
EVENT | INTERMEZZO | Palace Exploration Log
Characters: ALL!
Date: Sept 28 and onward
Location: Palace of the Landed Sky, Keeliai
Situation: In the wake of Malicant's bold taunt, and the death of the Emperor and five hatchlings, the Palace is left abandoned and open for the Foreigners and kedan alike to explore.
Warnings/Rating: CONTENT WARNINGS are noted in the various subject headers, please take note of them!
---
zwischenzug | (ˈzvɪʃənzuːɡ) | intermezzo | n. (in chess):
1. A tactical move interpolated into an exchange or series of exchanges to improve the outcome.
2. "in-between move". An unexpected move tossed into an expected series of moves. (German)
---
Where once the Palace of the Landed Sky was a majestic and beautiful thing to behold, it now seems to pulse with negative energy. The outer walls are crumbling in most places, unsteady and fallen into disrepair. The walls of the Palace itself remain for the most part sturdy, minus a few fallen stones and the ruins beside the Courtyard.
The Palace is empty. Though some bodies can be found scattered haphazardly about the halls, most of those who were working in the building have disappeared entirely. There’s no question as to whose doing it was.
Small groups of kedan have also ventured into the Palace in order to loot whatever rooms they can get into, feeling confident that the reward will outweigh the risk of facing off against Foreigners who may feel the need to repel them. Mostly they'll be in groups of 3-5, though individuals or larger can be encountered as well. Some will engage the Foreigners in hostilities and some will grudgingly be sent on their way without challenge, depending on how bold they feel.
No banners, rugs, lanterns, or furniture within the Palace remain in pristine condition (with the exception of Eshai’s room). Everywhere one looks, items are torn, scratched, or smeared with blood. Even the interior walls are often cracked or caked in what one hopes is only blood. Perhaps more unnerving are the ‘veins’ that run through the walls, floor, and ceiling. These thin black tendrils, equal parts within and without the surface they spread across, are textured and feel like pine needles to the touch. These veins run throughout the Palace, yet never seem to thicken, intensify, or coalesce in any one room or area.
Though the walls are still made of white marble and the floor remains interlaced with rose quartz and mother-of-pearl, the shine has gone from them and something of the life and light they brought has withered away. Though the structure remains intact, it feels in some areas as if the walls have closed in, making the previously grand rooms now seem shrunken and constrictive. An air of eerie calm and discomfort can be felt from the first step on. The building is not the Palace anyone remembers.
LINKS
Throne Room | Eshai's Room | Storage Armory | Library
Ritual Chamber | Prison | Courtyard | The Turtle's Head
OOC NOTE
The Palace becomes available to explore as of the 28th, but will remain accessible until further notice. Please direct any questions regarding this log to the QUESTIONS section in the original OOC post.
There will also be a State of the Shell post coming soon to address the current status of the city and its key players. Thank you!
Date: Sept 28 and onward
Location: Palace of the Landed Sky, Keeliai
Situation: In the wake of Malicant's bold taunt, and the death of the Emperor and five hatchlings, the Palace is left abandoned and open for the Foreigners and kedan alike to explore.
Warnings/Rating: CONTENT WARNINGS are noted in the various subject headers, please take note of them!
---
zwischenzug | (ˈzvɪʃənzuːɡ) | intermezzo | n. (in chess):
1. A tactical move interpolated into an exchange or series of exchanges to improve the outcome.
2. "in-between move". An unexpected move tossed into an expected series of moves. (German)
---
Where once the Palace of the Landed Sky was a majestic and beautiful thing to behold, it now seems to pulse with negative energy. The outer walls are crumbling in most places, unsteady and fallen into disrepair. The walls of the Palace itself remain for the most part sturdy, minus a few fallen stones and the ruins beside the Courtyard.
The Palace is empty. Though some bodies can be found scattered haphazardly about the halls, most of those who were working in the building have disappeared entirely. There’s no question as to whose doing it was.
Small groups of kedan have also ventured into the Palace in order to loot whatever rooms they can get into, feeling confident that the reward will outweigh the risk of facing off against Foreigners who may feel the need to repel them. Mostly they'll be in groups of 3-5, though individuals or larger can be encountered as well. Some will engage the Foreigners in hostilities and some will grudgingly be sent on their way without challenge, depending on how bold they feel.
No banners, rugs, lanterns, or furniture within the Palace remain in pristine condition (with the exception of Eshai’s room). Everywhere one looks, items are torn, scratched, or smeared with blood. Even the interior walls are often cracked or caked in what one hopes is only blood. Perhaps more unnerving are the ‘veins’ that run through the walls, floor, and ceiling. These thin black tendrils, equal parts within and without the surface they spread across, are textured and feel like pine needles to the touch. These veins run throughout the Palace, yet never seem to thicken, intensify, or coalesce in any one room or area.
Though the walls are still made of white marble and the floor remains interlaced with rose quartz and mother-of-pearl, the shine has gone from them and something of the life and light they brought has withered away. Though the structure remains intact, it feels in some areas as if the walls have closed in, making the previously grand rooms now seem shrunken and constrictive. An air of eerie calm and discomfort can be felt from the first step on. The building is not the Palace anyone remembers.
LINKS
Throne Room | Eshai's Room | Storage Armory | Library
Ritual Chamber | Prison | Courtyard | The Turtle's Head
OOC NOTE
The Palace becomes available to explore as of the 28th, but will remain accessible until further notice. Please direct any questions regarding this log to the QUESTIONS section in the original OOC post.
There will also be a State of the Shell post coming soon to address the current status of the city and its key players. Thank you!
no subject
The Palace was laid out in the same manner as palaces of the Orient, complete with long narrow corridors and large, grand rooms. Bearing that in mind, it didn't take too long for Skulduggery to track down where the library was, although he nearly missed the room itself when an initial glance inside didn't reveal anything which looked even remotely like a library should.
But then he looked again, and then he stepped inside. A library torn to shreds. Piles of books burned by someone who didn't know how to properly burn a library down, but who could certainly cause a lot of damage in the process. An empty fireplace in one corner, abandoned and cold. The acrid smell of smoke lingering in the air, a grand tapestry defiled, bookcases scattered upright and on their sides all over the place.
"Cosy," he remarked as Valdis joined him. "I hope you weren't looking for anything in particular."
no subject
Valdis resisted the desire to cover her sensitive nose and instead walked past Skulduggery to kneel at one of the piles of partially burned books. She gently lifted one and began to open it. But it came apart in her hands. She made a frustrated noise as she dropped the remains back on the pile. The enemy was probably still laughing at them, their hopeless quest and their inability to fight back. They knew nothing about him, yet it seemed he knew everything about them.
"This is pointless," She hissed, more to herself than her partner, "There's nothing substantial left."
no subject
Especially when that library was, more likely than not, the Palace's sole record-keeping resource. Very few people would use a library like this one unless they were looking for something specific, and that usually made them blind to all else. That was why libraries were used so often for hiding things - things like secret rooms. Right now, with the books out of the equation, there was much more to see than initially met the eye.
"This tapestry, for example." Skulduggery stopped in front of it. "Not even the slightest bit faded. It doesn't see the light of day. Either it was normally hidden, or our enemy placed it here before destroying it. False leader isn't a clue. It's an accusation, and a pedestrian one at that - probably written by an underling too brainwashed to realise that. Did you kill Evandau?"
no subject
She froze, still a few steps from his back as he asked the question she didn't want to hear. The darkness shivered, shifting slightly in response to to her rising fear, but she forced it down. This Skulduggery was far too clever for his own good. He remembered the conversation with Evandau far too clearly. The conversation where she had called the emperor a liar and a coward.
"What would I have to gain from killing Evandau?" She countered. It was an obvious dodge, but at the moment, it was the best she could do.
no subject
The element of surprise he so often employed worked in his favour once again. 'What would I have to gain' was a question that, in Skulduggery's experience, only guilty people asked. She certainly thought she had, then. Something about the way Evandau was discovered must have unnerved her enough for even Anton to notice.
"You? Nothing." Skulduggery tore down the remaining pieces of a banner and began inspecting the stone underneath, inch by inch, tapping gloved fingers systematically down the wall. "Or at least, nothing I know of. But you were poisoned that day we met at Evandau's station, the same as I was. You might be worried you were used to kill him while you were unconscious."
no subject
A surge of anger at the man who not long ago had been comforting her was quickly quelled by the idea that Anton would not betray her like this. He would put her down if she was a danger to others, but she had a feeling that he would do it himself as opposed to getting someone else to do it, unless Wan or Raine were present.
"You are quite observant," She said through gritted teeth, "But if I was used to kill him, then what's to stop me from killing you for figuring it out?"
An idle threat, one made from fear rather than anger. But she wondered how long it would take others to figure it out and how many people she might have to kill to protect herself.
no subject
"Several reasons. The first and most important one is that I'm difficult to kill. It's been tried already, as you can see, and it utterly failed. The second one is that I don't blame you in the slightest if you were used, any more than I blame my gun for the things I kill with it. Chances are, you weren't the only one. I'm not going to attack you, and I'm not going to go making it public without a reason. Thirdly - and this, actually, is the most important one - I think I've discovered the secret to this library, and if you kill me, you'll never know what it is."
no subject
"You certainly have your priorities in order." She sighed in acceptance and crossed over to the skeleton to look at what he was examining. She might not be able to do anything now, but Anton was going to get an earful later.
no subject
He tapped the loose stones he'd found to point them out. "Can you smell that?" he asked. "Books weren't the only thing set on fire here. But there's no evidence of it in this room, which means we're missing something nearby. A secret room or alcove, most likely. And the key to opening it is this." Skulduggery tapped the stones again and stepped back. "Would you like the honours, on the condition you don't kill me as soon as I turn out to be right?"
no subject
"I'm not in the mood to kill anyone right now," She said, shivering as the stench intensified, "And I don't think we should go down there."
no subject
Despite the sarcasm dripping off his words, Skulduggery disagreed. He disagreed very strongly. In spite of the aforementioned darkness, the persistent smell, and the general sense of foreboding in the air, he would have been in the passage and descending the steps already if it wasn't for his promise to Anton.
And Anton, unfortunately, was right. If this secret passage led underneath the shell, then Skulduggery needed to be with someone who wasn't tainted. That wasn't a matter of practicality, or of avoiding risk. That was a matter of necessity.
So, with great reluctance, Skulduggery pushed the loose stones apart and let the passage close back up. "You're probably right. We'll save this for second-to-last, after the dangerous portal on the roof. Let's explore a little further, shall we?"
no subject
"You want to go back to that thing?" She replied, annoyed at being the babysitter to this overly curious Skeleton, who apparently wanted to drag her all over the palace and beyond, "What about the whole Death Plane possibility?"
no subject
Wreath might recognise them, come to think of it. He'd been doing research into the three different planes, and what portals led where. Skulduggery made a mental note to ask the necromancer about them later, provided he and Anton survived whatever awaited them down below.
"You don't have to join me if you don't want to," the skeleton detective added belatedly, moving back into the corridor. "But if you want to find him and make him pay for what he might have done to you, that's your best chance. At the risk of drawing your attention back to your completely unbiased and practical desire to kill me, what makes you think you were the one used to kill Evandau?"
no subject
She shook her head and followed him back out, resigned to the fact that she was stuck with him. However, when he asked his next intrusive question, she sighed. It didn't take a genius to know that it was coming, but she had hoped that he had forgotten. But that would have been too easy.
"Like I told Anton," She replied quietly, "I have seen it hundreds of times." Not to mention she had done it hundreds of times. "It leaves no trace, no trauma, no symptoms. Just perfectly healthy people who drop dead for no reason." She hesitated, "Evandau, he just stopped living, stopped existing as if...as if his soul was just torn from his body..."
She trailed off, the darkness telling her to stop revealing her secrets lest she pay the consequences.
no subject
He didn't think he could be blamed for that particular priority, given what Death Bringers in Skulduggery's world were capable of. The ability to manipulate souls in any way was one to tread carefully around.
no subject
"Anyhow, the enemy blamed a Foreigner directly and with the taint...there is no way you can disprove the theory."
Although she'd sure like to hear him try.
[To the Throne Room]