(Untitled)

[tamerofdragons]

Who: Lance, partners, graveyard inhabitants
What: Scouting the territory
When: January 6, after nightfall
Where: The Graveyard (coastline)

Comments

[dive_npc]

The ruins were like Egyptian monoliths; tall, black spires, and a large, ebony-colored pyramid. If Lance would have seen them before, then he would have seen them apparently unoccupied.

But there was someone there this time. A great many someones. Namely, a veritable small army of undead, ghost, and demonic digimon - Bakemon, Devimon, SangLoupmon, scattered amounts of Perfects like SkullSatamon and SkullGreymon.

And at the front of the assembly, was a Dagomon - tall, but not a gigantic specimen - decked out in priestly robes. They were all chanting something.

[tamerofdragons]

As soon as he realised that the ruins weren't nearly as unoccupied as they had been, Lance leaned into Hooshah, rapping out an instruction on her shoulder. He felt Draca grab onto him a second later as they dived--almost a straight dive down--to land on quietly on the outskirts of the ruins.

Well. I came here to do recon. Lance let out a breath, his heart pounding. I just hadn't expected to meet someone so soon on coming inland.

He stroked Hooshah on the head, a long stroke leading toward her back, and she tilted her head slightly. For a few long moments they sat, silent, the chanting distant and muffled, before the aerodactyl ducked her head.

No guards, then. Not surprising; how many people were brave or stupid enough to do what he was about to do

[dive_npc]

Going closer would help prove that the chanting they were making was... no language Lance would have ever heard. Now, only Dagomon was speaking, however, and it was beginning to sound rather... wrathful.

[tamerofdragons]

Discreetly Lance moved his hand to his D-Reader and, hiding its glow under his body, brought it as near as he dared to the corner's edge to get as good a sound quality as he could manage. He set it to record--not on the comm network, just on the Reader itself. With luck he could find something in the library to give him a clue as to what kind of language it was ... or one of the people he planned to send it to would know what to do with it.

Otherwise his eyes flickered busily over the assembly, estimating numbers and digimon levels. Doing so made it quite clear that he and his team didn't stand a chance if they were discovered. There was only one digimon he wasn't sure he recognised: the tentacled monstrosity nearest to him. And even though he couldn't understand the language, the mon's tone of voice didn't exactly fill him with comfort.

[dive_npc]

There seemed to be at least twenty-five to thirty of them... wait, closer examination would reveal something that didn't belong. A Gladimon, being held down in bondage at the front of the crowd.

[tamerofdragons]

Oh, I do not like where this is going, Lance thought grimly as the lead mon--it had to be some kind of priest--shifted enough for him to see the bound gladimon.

There was no doubt in his mind, now, that he was spying on some kind of cult gathering. I really, really hate religious zealots.

[dive_npc]

The Dagomon barked out an order, and the Gladimon was dragged forward. He was thrown upon the stairs that the Dagomon was standing on... and the priest snaked out his tentacles, which wrapped around the Gladimon's armored body.

The next words he spoke were in digimon basic, and translatable by the standard effect of the digital world.

"You sow fear, in the name of the light... profess hatred of our kind... look at where you are now..."

[tamerofdragons]

Lance resisted the urge to duck at the sudden motions, knowing that movement, more often than not, was what gave someone away rather than cover or lack thereof. Even so, his jaw clenched and he gripped the harsh rock of the pyramid as the priest spoke.

[dive_npc]

"... And now, you shall become what you hate most..."

The Gladimon was drug to his feet, screaming, as the demonic digimon all began to chant again. Dagomon's tentacles produced a demonic relic, and the tips of the dark spires began to glow...

[tamerofdragons]

Lance shivered involuntarily as the chanting started up again, then tensed and pressed himself closer to the rock as the glow of the spires washed over the area. His eyes flickered up to take in the change; then he focussed on the artefact, burning its appearance into his mind--what he could see of it--while trying to block out the gladimon's voice.

He knew there was nothing he could do, but ... that didn't make it any easier.

[dive_npc]

The artifact was a pendant, marked with some kind of symbol... hard to see from far away.

Suddenly, energy surged from the tips of the spires, striking the Gladimon. The digimon screamed in agony, just before his body blew apart into data, reforming as a pitch-black colored digi-egg.

[tamerofdragons]

Lance frowned; at this distance, details were hard to see, and the interference of the torchlight to his night-vision didn't help--the area was particularly bright over there. Cautiously he moved one hand up to switch off the night-vision function, and then used the zoom gauge on his goggles to focus on the amulet enough to see the lines of some kind of writing or symbol. He didn't get the chance to actually figure out what it was, though--not before he was partially blinded by the surge of energy from the spires. He bit back on a curse, blinked rapidly, and then heard the gladimon's scream. His vision cleared in time for him to see the mon explode, and he had to take a shallow breath and hold it for a moment. Even though digimon didn't bleed, that didn't stop them from feeling pain, and it had been obvious from the way the gladimon's body contorted just how painful that had been.

At least it had been quick, Lance thought grimly, his eyes on the egg. He hoped that once the mon was reborn it wouldn't remember anything of what it had

[dive_npc]

The symbol would still be hard to make out, even zoomed in... but it would look vaguely like a circle, etched with runes and ornate markings.

Dagomon's tentacles lifted up the egg.

"The penance has been paid... the enemy of our kind have now paid the ultimate price... that which was once in the hated light is now in darkness... and he will be reborn, not as one of the chosen few... but as our slave..."

A cheer rang out from the crowd - a cacophony of howls and banshee like wailing.

[tamerofdragons]

Although he managed to get a glimpse of it, Lance gave up on the symbol--it looked like things might be wrapping up soon and the last thing he wanted was to miss something because he was focussed on one tiny area of the ruins. I wonder if Kats can install a camera function into this thing ...

He drew the zoom gauge back and flicked on night-vision, and then flinched a second later at the roar of the crowd. The sounds made his skin crawl.

[dive_npc]

The ritual was done... the digimon all retreated, some vanishing into the ground, and some into the shadows themselves. Others just seemed to disappear amidst the scenery, while a good amount of them entered the temple as well...

All, unseen, but still quite present. And watching for intruders.

[tamerofdragons]

Thinking, sardonically, that it would have been a very good idea to retreat while they were still all distracted by the ritual, Lance let out a slow breath. He marked the directions the digimon went in--the ones he could mark, at least, he had no idea where the ones who went into the ground would end up--mentally placing them on the map he'd envisioned as they'd come around the outskirts of the ruins.

Damn. I think I'll be lucky to get out of here without tipping them off. Then again, they were watching for anyone coming in, not getting out. No chance that he'd be able to take a look at the inside of the ruins in detail, unfortunately--nor even those energy-manipulating spires. They'd probably be heavily guarded ... he'd thought they were just part of the ruins when he first saw them, but they were definitely more important than that.

He took another breath, and then, once he'd let it out, slid quietly backwards, keeping himself low to the rock. A few moments later he felt Draca's paw pat out a signal--clear--and kept moving back