Path of White (Event week 2+3)

White was the parchment that held this clue. It's paper still bright white as the snow itself and without damage in the slightest. The ink sharp and crisp and easy to read.



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((You are only allowed to post ONCE till either me or Spekkal posts again))
Reminder you as player are only allowed to follow ONE path

(Juuuust gonna copy last paragraph from my post from the main thread here (too lazy to write up new reply) to show that my character is going here, along with Midknights.. and maybe some more. Iunno about others >< Hope it's alrighttt!)

  Still near the fountain, Ernest glanced around, examining Boubka, Luka and Sully slowly. Because apparently they decided to go with him. Or Midknight. But that meant the same thing, so.
 "...Okay, so, I don't know what you three foxes are doing following me, buuut I am not sure if graveyard is a place for children like yoouuuu." A point of finger at Boubka and Luka. "..Or for smart looking guys like you. You look like a rather faint-hearted person." A point at Sully! "So yeah. Iunno, I guess you can come with me and my dragon here," a pat on Midknight's head, "It's up to you. Off to the graveyard, my blue scaled companion!" Throwing the white note behind him, the wolf began to walk off in the.. nearest graveyard's direction, of course dragging the blue lizard behind him.

...

"You know where to find a graveyard, lizard?"

Sully did not refuse the insult. He was smart enough to run rather than fight and lose. He simply shrugged his assent. However, the tossed note was of great interest. He dove for it and flitted over it. "Now hold on there. This is obviously talking about a specific graveyard or memorial. If you check every tombstone in the city, you will be here for decades. There has to be a hint." He flicked the paper.

"'Finally rest, rest for as long as the stars shine above.' Now why would a detail like stars be added...?" Sully continued to muse, following. He thought aloud. "'Yet one, forgotten due to a fading name. Holding on with a dead grip. Always had they refused to let go and thus even now, hold onto it with as much proud as the sin itself.' So someone who refused to let go of something and holds it even in death... 'With as much proud-' Strange tense error. Intentional maybe. '-as the sin itself.' A sin one is proud of..."

Sully thought for a moment. "So, we are looking for a grave of someone who committed a sin stubbornly, and held onto the object of that sin and continues to do so, and takes pride in the execution of that sin."

"The blue lizard" that was Midknight felt like he was being pushed around honestly, and didn't even bother to argue, he knew he wasn't going to be able to bother speaking up about it. He was awkward okay. Midknight follows the crowd, continuing to think to himself about the weapon, and the various riddles leading to it. It was intriguing, why did this come around all of a sudden?...Why around Christmas time. AND the parchments, White, Red and Green, all generic Christmas colours. Something didn't seem right, and he was going to figure it out...

"There is a graveyard in this direction," he says walking in front of Ernest, preparing for a whap to the head. Midknight leads them in the direction of the Graveyard, or, the one he knew of anyway.

The young rabbit stopped running a couple feet before she had reached the group in order to catch her breath. It was almost embarrassing how winded she was and she hadnt even run a long way.  She hugged her bunny in front of her face to cover her breathing for a couple seconds before finally approaching the group.

She choose to walk up to the fox holding the paper, luckily he was around her height so she could read the paper over his shoulder if she had wanted to.  She didnt really need to read it, but she needed to establish herself and appear useful.  Also, she hadnt wanted to merely start following the group, it would be rude not that she cared for their opinions much.  They had to work as a team if anything were to work and being rude wasnt going to help anything

"um... may i see that for a second." It was meant to be a question but the monotone of her raspy voice didnt give that away.

Specific it was indeed, considering there was only one graveyard in the close surrounding area that belonged to station square. Well to be correct, there were more, 2 more but they only had been placed post the rebuild of the entire city. And with a little bit of logic one could easily deduce that it was impossible that either of those could be the graveyard the riddle spoke out. Why? The riddle had been locked away in the fountain for god knew how long, no chance in hell it was talking about the newer ones. It had to be the graveyard that stood at the edge of the city.

And that it appeared was the graveyard the blue dragon had started leading them towards. Bless him for not over thinking small details as sometimes it's better to go on impulse rather than take everything as literally as possible, something you can't quite do with a riddle.

Midknight leads them to the graveyard he assumed they were talking about. It was at the edge of the city and so was quite a long walk. There were many whacks to the head and pointless chatter on the way...

Midknight stands tall, his back straight and points to the crooked entrance of the Graveyard, "There it is my friends, the Graveyard!" he says with a little excitement. I wonder if they'd find a piece here, maybe, maybe not. It was still exciting. He came to this Graveyard often, mostly to clear his mind and relax. The Graveyard to him, was peaceful and a place of tranquillity, in the most unsettling way.
"Now..what did that paper say again? I recall there being something about a faded name..someone being forgotten. Should we check all of the gravestones?..." he asks. It was quite a surprise to himself, despite the amount of times he'd been here he never noticed gravestones. Of course he knew they were there, but were never acknowledged. You know?...

The wolf glanced back at Sully, then opened his mouth as he noticed the rabbit behind the fox. And then he shut his mouth, huffed and turned away, following the lizard thing. Guess they'd follow toooo...


Anddd when they arrived to the graveyard, the first thing Ernest did was snatch the riddle back from.. whoever was holding it at the moment, could be Willakova. A glance at the note. "..I guess we should only look at the oldest graves? And probably it'll be completely covered in dirt, fallen leaves and just taken over by nature. I mean, it says it's been forgotten by people, so. Also these with no names written on them, obviously." He looked over Midknight, arching a brow slightly. "..Also why exactly are you so excited to visit a graveyard? That's kinda, you know. Creepy." Oh well, different people have different hobbies. Like hanging out near graves.
  A wave of rolled up poster in Sully's direction. "You can go look for ones that are in full sun or something. I mean it's cloudy today but you get it. You said something about stars earlier, right?" A point at Willakova. "Youuu can go look around graves near the gate. Dragon, we're going to the back. If anyone finds something interesting.. dunno, shout, or use some fancy powers. Rabbit can throw her doll in the air, or at one of us, works too." And with that, apparently-the-leader-mister-wolf entered the graveyard, whoo!

Sully handed over the paper after a quick memorization of the poem to the rabbit. He made sure not to intimidate in the act, getting down on his haunches and politely handing it over to the girl with a smile and a jovial "Here you go!"

He frowned a bit at the division of labor, but he had a thought with a snap of the fingers. Sully stood up and thought through the poem, muttering through himself. "Stars above, stars above.... Maybe not stars but Stars." He immediately thought of the old Stars family, a dynasty in of itself who was now long past. Their family was buried on one of the hills a short ways off. As luck would have it, the hill and surrounding area was mostly clear of the overcast sky. Still, doubts plagued him.

He rose and asked the group "What if the stars the poem is talking about is the old Stars family? They have a long plot on the hill over there." The fox pointed over in direction of the hill, snowy and bleak in the December sky. Graveyards never gave him the willies. He had a fair share of friends in graveyards. He knew he was far from alone in that, especially in this town, but Sully felt it gave him a bit of a casual familiarity with such hallowed ground.

"thanks." He sounded nice and was almost disappointed she couldnt share his tone. It was a good thing she hadnt actually cared about the paper, though, or she might of been angry that it was ripped out of her hands the second it was given to her.  So much for not being rude.

'Wasnt splitting up always supposed to be a bad idea or something?' Willakova thought to herself and gave a look of disgust as the wolf suggested throwing her plush at someone.  That wouldnt be a bad idea maybe, the wolf /was/ getting on her nerves after all.
Willakova felt some relief when the fox came up with that idea, she had never heard of such a family, but she wasnt the best at remembering things either.  If he was right that meant no splitting up, not that she was scared of graveyards, she was actually quite fond of them and their peace and such, but being in one alone and looking at random graves for some scavenger hunt seemed a bit disrespectful. Come to think of it a group doing that didnt sound much better, but she hadnt thought ahead before picking a group to follow.  Maybe this way an angry spirit would follow the wolf instead.  But if it was that family maybe the thing they had to find was theirs or something?

As they approached the graveyard it's entrance stood in the light of the cold sun. The entire area surrounded by pillars of stone with hedges in between them acting almost like some nature like wall to shield the graves and those mourning from the rest of the world. Or perhaps it was protecting the rest of the world, from the graves. It all was a possibility these days, considering demons were a thing, perhaps zombies were as well?

The suggestion that the star was pointing to a specific family could easily be ignored due to the poem being clear that the name was faded and forgotten so it was to be impossible to be of a named family.

But stars being of no importance seemed to be busted as a closer glance and the entrance pillars, and other pillars, one could see small stars decorating the grey and dull base. All decorative in their use but they still were there.

Ernest paused. Glanced at the note. Then turned back to Sully. "..Are you sure you can read?" He raised a brow at the fox. "And how do you know of them? Is it like your family? Or do I have two cemetery fanatics on my team?" He threw his hands in the air, whee! "Great. Maybe it'll make it easier for you two to find this grave." The wolf was about to continue on his way, but he stopped again, and turned back to the rabbit, fox and dragon. "And. If any of you hears, sees, senses or, Iunno, smells some lost soul that is still here for some reason," He raised his finger, both emerald and laser red eye slowly looking over his teammates. "You call me right away, got it? Well unless I notice it before you do. Because none of you really looks capable of handling an angry demon, soul, spirit, whatever. Unless your doll's a voodoo kind or something." A point at Willakova. The wolf went off to look around the graves, wheee!
"And just in case of your sudden need to shout for me: I'm Ernest! Nice to meet you guys."

Names are a thing, yup.

The lizard thing shrugs, he was really just doing what he was told. He does the same as Ernest, "And I'm Midknight!", he begins to look around the cemetery, examining each gravestone with desperate eyes seeking for an answer. It was becoming a rather tedious task, not to mention he felt quite uncomfortable treading over other peoples graves. 

He returns near the entrance, letting out a sigh. "No luck..Never found anything." he says, disappointment in his voice. He admires the peace and tranquillity of the graveyard, looking at all of the pillars from a distance.

With a sigh of both reluctance and annoyance the rabbit went to the stone pillars of the entrance, that was the place the wolf had told her to go correct? To look at the graves around here?  "what makes you think youre so capable." She muttered under her breath as the wolf walked away. "i'll show you voodoo."

She placed her plush on the ground and hovered her hand above it, an orange, glowing string appeared from the tip of each finger and connected to different parts of the plush. If there was anything Willakova was it was lazy and besides the graves here were so close together she'd step on them if she were to go herself.  None of the graves in the front looked old though, so they couldnt be what the riddle was talking about
Willakova let Wakelyn walk around on her own and look at things she was meant to be looking at, but Willakova trusted the bun to be perceptive and knew she would not be disappointed.  Willakova sat down and leaned her head against the pillar with her hand still out stretched in the direction the plush rabbit had went.  Bored, Willakova began to look around until she noticed the stars on the base of the pillar her head was against.  She looked at all of the pillars in her view and saw they had the same marks.  She rose with a start and looked to Wakelyn who was just arriving back at her side.  The bun shook her head and Willakova closed her hand which broke the strings.

"thats okay, i think i found something here." She said and picked her plush up before showing her the stars on the pillar.  She turned her head and knelt back on the ground when she heard Midknight approach saying hed had no luck.   "look here," she began, pointing to the stars, "i think theyre on every one."

Now maybe if Mid hadn't just looked at the gravestones themselves he might have noticed the few fancy looking mausoleums in the back of the graveyard, cast in shadows. Many had their names bright and clear in few in the stone above their decorated doors.

Yet one stood forgotten, the stone worn and covered by the moss. Clearly the outside had been damaged by the weather and was not in a good shape at all. What might be more noticeable was that the outside of the stone mausoleum had two clear decorative things. Two lion heads, their eyes closed yet their maws open. And around their necks hung bones and claws. Perhaps it was noticeable as well, that the stone above the door had faded due to the weather upon it. The name that was supposed to be there, faded away to the point where it was impossible to figure out what it used to say.

And with that door not having locks, well at least entering it would be an easy task.

Midknight goes to Wallakova, a little bit of hope glimmering in his eyes and a friendly smile. He hadn't spoken with her yet,

"What have you found~?!" he asks, enthusiasm in his chime. He notices the stars and his eyes widen. He touches it with a hand, and turns around with a shout to the others but halts. He squints his eyes and scans the graveyard, "Has anyone checked those yet?.." he asks Willakova whilst pointing at the mausoleums at the very back of the graveyard.

Sully gave a small wave. "Ive got it." He trudged over, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, uh, I'm Sully, by the way. Pleased to meet you all." His tail flicked and spirated behind him, trying to keep some level of warming motion up. The talk of restless spirits was a bit disquieting, but childhood tales and familiarity with graveyards ensured he saw spirits as nothing but friendly phastasms with unfinished buisness. As for daemons, well, he had little experience with daemons.

Deciding deferring to the more combat-centric of his companions would be the best option, Sully examined the mausoleums. He looked each over, giving a passing glance to each. Then he reached the one on the end. The same lionheads as the fountain... Curious. But the claws and bones? Now that was not a welcome usage of artistic license. It was an old little tomb, overgrown, looking like it had lost a bitter battle to the passage of time. And the name... Well, that was a dead giveaway. 

Sully marked his mental pun as irreverent and called back to the group. "Hey, guys? Come check this out." Showing a boldness that came only with blithe ignorance, he walked up to the door of the little structure and tested its give. It tilted back, swinging with a creak, leaving but a hairline crack as an opening. Sully took a step back. This was bad buisness. Open graves were never a good sign. He vocalized his thoughts. "This one is open... That doesn't seem like a good thing."

At hearing Sullys call, Willakova looked to the dragon next to her, "theres your answer."  She didnt mean it as rude as it sounded, but didnt say any more.  She rose to her feet and started off to the mausoleums jumping on her tip toes over graves when necessary and she whispered apologies when stepping on one was unavoidable. 

She looked around for a while before finally finding the fox and examined the mausoleum in front of him, another thing not as pretty as it could have been.  She looked around at all of the other doors, they looked secure. She couldnt quite explain her unease, this was merely a silly scavenger hunt she didnt think anyone would actually hurt them.  But it all just...

"seems too easy..."  She whispered as she looked into the opening of the grave.  It was far too dark to see anything inside, so she pushed on the door as hard as she could and was surprised when the door flew open easily which meant the rabbit fell to the ground.  The clatter reverberated throughout the tomb and Willakova stood up and dusted her plush off with a huff as she turned back to the fox
"it looked heavy." she defended, her nose up in the air

Meanwhile, the white furred wolf raised his head, his ears twitching as the group entered the mausoleum rather... loudly. Ernest glanced around, his sight stopping at his team entering the tomb. A drawn out siiiigh escaped his lips as he heaved himself up..
... yeah he was pretty much laying on some grass near the graves all this time. They would find the thing without him anyway, shhh!
.. and he jogged over to the mausoleum, stopping for a longer moment to examine the lion heads with a scowl. Well these looked rather familiar.
  Then he glanced over at the name stone. ...Nothing. He narrowed his eyes, tilted his head to one side, then the other one. "I do hope you guys haven't completely wrecked the poor mister X's place or rest yet..." The wolf called out to the rest of the group and entered the tomb, arching a brow at the rabbit dusting off her doll. Then he looked around, examining each corner swiftly, his eyes narrowed again. ...Okay what corners, he couldn't see any. Only made him squint harder. "Dragon, you can maybe breathe some fire or something? That'd be helpful right now." Not waiting for Midknight's reply, and not even checking if the lizard was indeed near him, the wolf reached to one of his coat's pockets and took out a little.. weird metal thing that kinda looked like a sword's handle. He flailed it around. The thing cling-clanged anddd from the inside of the 'handle', more metal would extend, whooo!
  And then the metal would form a sword. Or more two thin ..blade.. halves. And a blue laser orb between the halves. Ernest shook the laser orb down the 'sword' and raised the handle, trying to cast some blue light onto the tomb's walls. "Maybe that'll help a bit.."

Blue the inside of the forgotten mausoleum lit as the wolf used that orb. The inside dusty as could be, very clearly forgotten through the time. Spider webs just about everywhere, some with skinny spiders and some with rather thick ones, clearly spiders that had good meals in this little place, perhaps spider cannibalism!

The walls bare of engravings and stuff, but at least looked better than on the outside, obvious not having had to deal with the weathering from it.

A few small decorations stood in there. Old candle stands that were of a bland black steel with a candle on top that, considering the dust,  had not been lit in forever. A small almost table of stone stood near the entrance, clearly could double as a bench with a smooth gray surface. It's legs a bit more decorated like lion paws to support the stone tablet.

And at the back of the room stood the price, so to say,  a closed stone coffin with details all along it. Many elaborate shapes and swirls. Clearly before this person was forgotten, they were well loved. Luckily as it seemed, the top part of the coffin was not connected solid to the rest of the stone.

Though were they truly willing to open it up?

The wolf glanced back at the rabbit and the fox, sighed a bit, then began to walk around the room rising his sword, observing everything as carefully as he could in the faint blue light. Andd the light from the outside world too, I suppose. Not too helpful anyway. He stopped in front of the candle stand and looked at it for a moment. Then he leaned in, blew the dust off the candle, coughed a few times as the dust managed to get into his mouth, ew, then brought the orb near the candle, its heat lighting the candle knot.
  He stood in front of the candle for a longer while, looking at the faint flame, before walking over to the coffin (of course first he had to find it with the help of orb. Goddammit he felt like a blind person with that cane, that was annoying). Another glance back at his 'team'. No reaction from them yet? Great. "So now I'd rather you moved away, because the stench is probably going to be horrendous." With that, he shoved the sword between the top and the rest of the coffin to use it as a lever. "And someone looking out for other people to make sure they won't sue us for grave-robbing would be great, too." The wolf pulled the collar of his coat over his nose, then helping himself with the 'lever' he made, he attempted to push the lid off the coffin.

  Of COURSE he was willing to open it, that's what he came there for goddammit!

Even with that light thing the wolf was struggling to find things, unless she stayed close to him nothing would be visible.  The candle didnt help much, but at least the ground was clear should she decide to help. Neither of these options sounded like a fun idea, but she decided with a huff to help him open the coffin lid, she wouldnt be of much help but you wouldnt be able to say she didnt try.

She stood up straight, placed her plush propped up against the door, and carefully walked to the now shaky dull blue light as the wolf attempted to open the lid with it.  In a manner she thought silly, prying it open like that wouldnt get the lid off as well as merely pushing it would.  And the only smell it would have is smelling old and dusty, so no different than what was currently hanging around the room. She held tightly to the lid itself and pushed as hard as she could.  Slowly the lid began to move.

The wolf's attempt on it's own was not enough to get the heavy stone slab to get moving, but the moment Willakova joined it, it seemed to be enough. And thus slowly but surely movement got into the stone as it slid off the stone coffin.

Much like the wolf with metal parts had predicted, the stench was quite overwhelming. But then again what was one to expect from a coffin that sealed a 300 year old corpse if not more!

And the corpse in question, flesh rotted away with just bones remaining. Bones dressed up in elaborate armor on. Clearly something this person had been proud to wear at the time being even with the metal by now corroding and lacking a pretty sheen.

The skeletal remains' hands clutched to it's chest, fingers curled tightly around...a sword handle and pommel with decoration and gem attached. The way those left overs clung to it made it clear that this item had been insanely precious to them and even in death, had refused to let go.

What could be noted was that swords often came in 3 to 4 parts. But seeing as the pommel was attached, 3 it would be. Same as the number of notes! Coincidence? Most likely not

Mid scuttles his way over to the mausoleum, a little late at that. He peeks inside of it, cringing at the dust and smell that oozed from it. He hated dust and most unclean things, nah, every unclean thing.

He sneaks in, walking light as a feather to avoid the filth, the filth, goddammitwhy.

Approaching the rotted corpse, poor thing, it was filthy, Midknight gave possibly the biggest look of disgust of all, ever. Get him an award for that. His sweater was pulled up over his face, covering everything bar his eyes,

A muffled voice; "Is that what we're looking for?" cough cough

The rabbit quickly gathered her ears and buried her face in them giving her best attempt at quiet coughing. She stayed like that for a few seconds until she was used to the smell and the disturbed dust subsided. 

She tentatively looked into the coffin, nothing you wouldnt expect in a mausoleum like this really.  She looked up in thought and remembered everyone at the fountain talking about a weapon, so it was the sword thing they needed, right? She gave a side glance to Midknight at his question and realized he would not be the one to grab it if his face was any indication.

Willakova wasted no time then to take the handle thing from the skeleton.  She didnt mind getting her hands dirty, but she did breathe a quiet sorry.  This thing was important to this person at one time it seemed.  It didnt matter anymore though, this person didnt need it and it seemed they did.  Getting it only took a couple of broken fingers on the skeleton's part. She held up the piece as to show it to the two near her, "that means we're done, right"