(Untitled)

[thii2ii22tupiid]

WHO: ghostly_stutter, drinkuntilidie, sociopathicwolf and thii2ii22tupiid
WHEN: Now or now-ish
WHERE: One of the private rooms in the library.

Having Chloe and Kevas meet each other was vastly superior to Sollux trying to ferry information between the two when he wasn't entirely sure what either was looking for anyway. It'd also be a lot easier than dodging any questions Kevas had about why Chloe could

Comments

Dammit. Faaaaail.

[ghostly_stutter]

"It'll be better for all of us involved if Derek comes with us." She didn't say more to it than that, she just glanced back at Derek with a certain understanding in her gaze. It was his secret to tell--she'd let him decide when and where, if it wasn't taken out of his hands. Based on previous experiences, she bet Sollux would take the news pretty well.

"S-so it's a grave, not a body." Or was the body still there?

Chloe turns to Kevas. "I'm Chloe, and this is Derek--" Then she cuts off, turning to stare wide-eyed at Sollux, realizing what he just said. Gathering her calm after only a moment or two, Chloe takes a deep breath, mentally debating with herself, and nods.

"I'm a necromancer." If this was how they'd get information, then she'd share it. She lifts her gaze back to Kevas's, determined. "I can communicate with the dead--most of the time. This is why I need to find the grave, or something from the body in the grave. We want answers? I'm betting this is a sure way to find them." She stands tall, back straight, decidedly not looking over her shoulder at Derek's expression.

[sociopathicwolf]

Derek turned towards the door when he heard footsteps coming, scenting the air. No one familiar - and no one human - but it wasn't as though he was in a position to be bothered by that. It seemed to be the person Sollux was expecting, so he nodded at the newcomer, guarded, but polite.

He let Chloe do the talking, slightly tense as she explained what she was, but it was something he'd been expecting. He knew she'd told Sollux, he'd figured she'd have to tell whoever was going into the forest with them, as well. It'd be stupid to go in with someone and not explain what they were planning on doing.

"That's why I'm coming. To keep whatever's in the forest away while she talks."

And to be there to help her focus, just in case something went wrong and she ended up doing more than calling a spirit, but he was going to leave it at that.

[drinkuntilidie]

"And I be Kevas, but I be guessin' joo already knew dat."

If she was expecting any reaction from Kevas she wasn't going to get any. All he did was nod his head. He'd dealt with plenty of necromancers back on Azeroth. As long as she wasn't going to try and kill him he couldn't care less about what she was. If this worked it would be a lot easier than digging up whatever was in there.

The troll decided to get right down to business. "I be knowin' what to expect while we be in dere, and damn near everytin' be wantin' to kill joo, so if we be doin' dis den we be movin' quick and quiet. Da less trouble we be runnin' into in dere da bettah."

Kevas pulled the pages he tore out of Jack's journal from his pocket and set it on the table in front of him.

"Dis be a rough map of da area. Ain't be sure how useful it gonna be dough, from what I been told da forest moves. At da very least it can give us an idea of where we be needin' to go.

[ghostly_stutter]

Nodding, Chloe waited for him to stop talking before bombarding him with questions.

"The forest moves too?" She looked at Sollux and Derek. Well, at least that they were used to. Then she is leaning closer to the map, studying it, making sure she doesn't crowd it so others can see too.

"Where did you get this?"

[sociopathicwolf]

There was no argument from Derek there. "We can do quick and quiet." It came natural to him, and Chloe'd gotten a lot better at moving quietly through forests since they'd started talking walks in them together back home. If nothing else, he could always pick her up and run.

He looked over Chloe's head at the map.

"If there is a body there, and you can get us the the general area, Chloe and I can pinpoint it." Between her ability to sense when a dead body was really close by and his sense of smell - as long as the area wasn't too big, it shouldn't give them too much trouble. Wasn't like they hadn't both found bodies like that before. "If it's just a grave, though, I'll be less help."

'Gravestone' was a lot harder to track than 'dead body.'

[drinkuntilidie]

"Dat be what I heard. Da last group in dere tied some ribbons to dere path so dey didn't get lost. Ain't be sure how well it worked dough."

"Got it from an acquaintance." Kevas was hesitant to call Jack anything more than that. The man was useful but he wouldn't trust him with much. Just another reason why these maps might be unreliable, but they were better than nothing.

Kevas nodded at Derek. Hopefully that was more than just bravado. Kevas' original plan was to creep in there through the shadows, dig up the grave, and then leave. Now that others were coming with them that plan wouldn't work. He severely doubted they could turn invisible as he could.

"Ain't gonna lie, dat be a big if. Da body could be long decomposed by now, or it may not even be dere. Staff might have even taken it. Dere only be one way to find dat out." He only told them this so they didn't get their hopes up. More than once Kevas went on expeditions like this only to find nothing in the end.

"And it ain't be a traditional grave eiddah. What we be lookin' fuh be a cairn."

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Sollux studies the map, doing his best to commit it to memory. The forest may change, but it was a starting point at least. Too bad they couldn't tell more of where in the forest it was, then he could just fly above the trees and drop down...but it'd be better to conserve his strentgh.

"What's the difference?"

[ghostly_stutter]

"So the grave could be empty." It would be a whole lot harder for her to sense it with her powers if there wasn't a dead body there. Chloe frowns in thought. There was a chance something personal had been buried with the body, and if that was the case, it was still something Chloe could find useful.

"I-I think we should still try, empty or no." She looked to the others, seeing if they all agreed.

Also, she was stumped. Yeah. What was a cairn, and how was that different from a normal grave?

Just gonna go ahead to keep things moving.

[drinkuntilidie]

"Good, because I be goin' no mattah what." There was no reward without any risk. Sure there may not be anything buried underneath but if there was that might give them a better idea of what was going on in this place. If people were just revived when they died in this place why would someone need to be buried? That was something Kevas wanted to know.

Now Kevas actually look surprised this time. He could understand Sollux not knowing what a cairn was. From what the little mon told him, they don't really care much for burying their dead, but Chloe said she was a necromancer. He thought she would know everything about the dead.

"A cairn be more like a memuhrial or sometin'. It be a bunch of stones stacked on top of each uddah. Shouldn't be too hard to spot."