the east wing [thread two!][p]

[Sifr]

[attr="class","infosmall"]Cyrus, Ranieri, victorie, Oliver, cassius

[attr="class","info"]The group that followed Lady Shiida proceeded through the East Wing doors, with Shiida leading the way. Her composure was starting to slip a little, the cold look on her face she had earlier was cracking. It was obvious that she was trying to stem away tears. She held her shoulders stiff and her head held high, however. She took a deep breath and looked back at the others, then put on a watery smile.

“Thank you, all of you, for helping us. After we round this corner, the doors leading to the third floor are right at the end of the hallway. I only wish that I could show you this gallery in better times. I know that most of you are only in this for the money, but at least we have some help to catch this villain.” She took a key from her pocket and stood in front of a door in the middle of the hallway. She slipped the key in and turned, then walked a step inside the gallery.

There was a very long pause.

“What is the meaning of this?!” The exclamation of horror was cut off at the end by Shiida's scream and the rush of air. For those that rounded the corner, they would spot the door at the very far end being slammed shut, Shiida's dress being caught and ripped in the door. Then, the door would suddenly glow a very haunting black colour, and would remain that way.

Along the walls were six paintings, ones that didn't seem like they belonged in Shiida's gallery. There were only six, and each were of horrible monsters; a painting of an Earth Dragon, holding a green orb, a painting of a Risen soldier, holding a black orb, a painting of an Entombed, holding a red orb, a Bonewalker, holding a blue orb, a Gorgon, holding a violet orb and a Bael, holding a white orb.

But what about Shiida?!

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[Oliver]

The longer the group travelled, the less Oliver could believe it. Lord Wrys was dead. He had offered them food, a place to spend the day, a celebration. And somebody took advantage of his generosity to murder him. Despite always having something to say, for most of the walk Oliver found himself dead silent.

He felt like he had to when Lady Shiida spoke up, of course. Seeing her smiling through tears yet to fall reminded him of why he had such heroic ambitions in the first place. These were the people he wanted to dedicate his life to protecting. But what would he say? What could he say? He pondered on it, agonizingly searching through his brain for the perfect words.

"It's not a problem, miss. We won't let you down." His voice was more wavery than he remembered it. Perhaps the fear of this situation was creeping up on him faster than he would let himself believe. Still, he smiled weakly, trying to be a pillar of strength in this sudden group of mystery solvers. He had never met any of these people before. He had no idea who they were, where they were from, or what they were capable of.

They were his comrades and his only hopes. And he had to be strong for them, too.

Of course, strength gave way to sudden panic when Lady Shiida vanished into the gallery, seconds stretching on for eternities as Oliver waited for the sign everything was clear. He got his sign, of course, but it was far from the one he wanted: a scream of terror from the group's gracious hostess and guide. "Lady Shiida!" he shouted in a panic, bolting for the gallery. He had to do something. Maybe it wasn't too late-

It was. The gallery was huge and empty, the slamming of the end door reminding him of his failure to act in time. He went to approach, but the door's sudden flash to black was an event even Oliver didn't want to mess with. He sighed in frustration, cursing himself for his failure.

With no other options he looked around, observing the paintings on the walls. He didn't think too much of the dragon holding the orb. Dragons were very important. The risen holding the orb was strange, but he figured its significance was historical in nature. Wasn't too long since the Shepherds had fended off the Risen, after all. Once he saw the skeleton and zombies holding orbs, however, he knew something about this gallery just didn't feel right.

"These paintings are giving me a bad feeling, guys," he remarked. "What do you think?"

Sifr

[victorie]

Where there is Unity

Victory Lies

Victorie kept even pace with the group, her boots clicking sharply on the ground with each step as she moved astride with the young man dressed in red. Who still looked so very familiar, but just distant enough to where she couldn't exactly recall his name. But she'd chosen not to dwell on that, or the fact that she had just punched him in the face mere moments ago. Her eyes would flick up towards their host, the young Knight putting on that fake practiced smile of her's to at least give off the air of confidence! Even if, really, she had no idea how they were supposed to apprehend a criminal. "My lady, I truly doubt any of us are for the prospect of gold alone." She was a knight! Perish the thought!

Especially as she was wearing a skirt, torn at the edges as it is, that is egregiously long, her mount is back outside the mansion and she's unarmed. But, in the very least, she figures she can launch herself at someone and pull off a pretty mean tackle.

And then they're stopped, the knight crossing her arms over her chest with her fingers tacking against silver armor as she puffs out her cheeks some and shoots glances along at her companions. Mr. Red, King Potato Smasher (The First of his name, long may he reign), the mop headed red-head (Who she is keeping close eye on) and hot damn! That hair.

They're an odd group, but then, she figures she doesn't exactly have any right to talk at this moment. And even if she was going to grace herself that snide little moment of feeding her ego, any thought would be caught by the scream coming from within the gallery. "My Lady!" She'd echo the young lad, pushing into the room and stopping for a bare moment as her eyes scanned left and right through the place. It was huge, and normally she would have found herself caught up by the paintings, but the Knight has a determined look as she strides past Oliver, bumping his shoulder with her own as she picks up the pace a bit. She'll quickly hit a quick stride as she closes on the door and cocks her arm back, body twisting and voice breaking into a yell of frustration as she prepares to punch the door! Blind fist of justice 2: The Redemption! She is usually a bit more patient in this kind of situation, but something about doors in this kind of murder mystery frustrated her to no end.

If anyone close enough so chooses, now would be the time to try to grab the errant knight.

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❖ nox ❖

[Cyrus]

When that terrible announcement was made, the initial thought that ran through his head was to leave, and quickly. As the young Lady Shiida made her appearance and gave her proposal, he knew then he couldn’t just hightail it out of the hall. The guards and servants were quick to make sure that no partygoers were going to slip through the doors and make an escape. That would mean the murderer could get a chance to slip away as well.

However, at the mention of some bullion, the deal was sealed. Mercenary by trade, when money became involved, that made these things worth it. He had been low on funds, now was a chance to earn something. Hopefully a good amount as well, considering how well off this family seemed to be. Taking glances at the others in his group, he gauged their abilities best he could. How dependable were they? They were all strangers. That same boy from earlier was here, but there wasn't much he knew. Admittedly, it was a tense situation, but he’d experienced such, and was more worried about how everyone was going to get along. When working with a new group, he had enough sense to cooperate with everyone. The quickest way to fail a mission was to cause in fighting.

”My lady, I truly doubt any of us are for the prospect of gold alone.”

Oh, awkward. Lagging behind from the front, he decided to avoid the female knight for now. Best she not know that the very sentence summed up his desire to be here. Sure he felt bad, but not enough to go running around searching for a killer. There was a turn in the hallway coming up, which Lady Shiida had already taken along with those at the front. To Cyrus's surprise, their was a sudden shout of fear from the lady, and as the boy in red and the female knight ran forward, he could hear their cries of worry. Gods, had the murderer caught another?

Running after them, he entered the gallery, only to see now that Lady Shiida was gone. The door at the end of the hallway was shut, and the female knight was making her way towards it in what looked like an attempt at opening it to get through. That creepy black glow from around the edges didn’t look good, though. Didn’t look like something you’d want to hit either. Registering what the female knight was about to do, he quickly made his way towards her, reaching out a hand in an attempt to grab her shoulder and pull her back.

“Yeah, I'm sure the door did something bad. But what’s hitting it going to accomplish?” He was no mage, but he was probably not the only one able to figure out that the dark light around the door was bad news. It could be some kind of lock, and if the group's luck was particularly shitty, it was going to be a curse.

@everyone

[Ranieri]

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[attr="class","ico"] the lil'est Robin Hood HOVER

▶

we'll go down in history, The young boy walked along the back.. never putting up an argument for or against anything, just doing what he was told.  His bow was strapped to his back, his hood was.. well.. down.. just to be safe, and as he walked, his arms carried a wide assortment of food. Sure, he didn't care much for the fanciness of Ylisse, but at the same time, the idea of free food was just too appealing. Rani took this opportunity as he popped something that seemed to be a pastry to look around his current companions.  The head of the group.. their guide, persay, was the newly widowed.. window.  Following her, there was at least one fellow countryman, some white haired individual who seemed slightly more invested in Ylisse than he was.  There was also a Knight with silver hair, he seemed to look upon Rani with suspicion, as if it was in his nature to outright murder the provider of free food.  Another person who seemed to be a tad too into potatoes, and finally, there was also someone in the front, dressed in as much red as Rani was in green.   Nothing was too interesting until they had rounded a doorway, and suddenly a scream and shriek announced the sudden and forced departure of their guide.  Rani walked in last into the gallery, glancing at each painting with disdain over their preceived taste.  He popped another canole-looking thing into his mouth and swallowed, shrugging. "So.. why is there a gallery full of monster paintings with a missing wife and dead husband?"

NETTE OF GS

[cassius]

“ GIMMIE THE BOOTY I WANT THE BOOTY ”

Cassius had genuinely wanted to help, the old man's image remained painted on the canvases of his conscious and ever since the shock of his premature passing shook the brush of his thoughts, Wrys had began to fall into the inescapable shaking of a danse macabre.

Oliver and Victorie had repeated the sentiments he had been meditating on in his head. However, for him, while his stroke of justice was strong and emboldened by a past of repeated cruelties, the money would be something he could send home. He may have hated himself for thinking about it, but he had a crane's sense of a repayment and he would pluck his feathers to help his family until he couldn't fly anymore.

"Of course not!" He shook his head, "Let's catch this bastard."

Cassius dribbled a heavy fist into the open palm of other hand, but he was no hand-to-hand fighter. He liked to keep his distance. Too bad Shiida didn't and as she disappeared with a scream, Cassius bolted for her. However, he was soon stopped in his tracks as the door blackened and stilled. All that remained of Shiida was the cold tattered cloth of her dress. The warmth and softness of her minute presence was masked over with gelid, unfeeling swaths of paint; they were staring back.

He made the motions to pull Victorie out of her furor, but Cyrus had already beat him to the job. Besides, his hand or at least, right hand was busy. Busy cupping the potato he had brought in his right pocket for comfort.

Although he was deaf to the potato-conceptions laid upon him by his peers, he was not hard of hearing to the questions that had suffocated the room. "I don't think we'll find out the answer to that very soon, all we know is that those... paintings, yeah, they're not sitting well with us." Cassius frowned as he stared at them,  "Though, these don't seem to belong here... to be honest."

Cassius fumbled through his pocket again. He walked towards the door and with a slight tremble to his hand, tried to tug on the piece of dress that had remained.

TAGGED Sifr Oliver victorie Cyrus Ranieri
NOTES SPOOPY

MADE BY ★MEULK FOR SHIV <3

[♠ Kuroya]

[attr="class","infosmall"]Cyrus, Ranieri, victorie, Oliver, cassius

[attr="class","info"]Luckily for Victorie, Cyrus had managed to stop her before she laid hand to the door. Cassius, on the other hand, was not quite so much - a nice strong jolt of electricity ran through his body when he got close to the door, more than enough to encourage him, and the others, not to lay a hand on the door again. At least... not without some kind of dire consequence at any rate.

A gloomy sort of air took over the room, the atmosphere all the more repressive under the gaze of each of the paintings. Lady Shiida seemed more lost that ever, and in light of that... hope almost seemed as impossible to grab as the red fabric rippling in the door...

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[Oliver]

Oliver knew that was a bad idea! The boy rushed to Cassius' side, pulling the older cavalier away before too much dark lightning could strike at him, likely enduring some magical backblast in the process. Whether hurt or simply just wigged out, though, the door sent a shiver down Oliver's spine. He knew he wasn't approaching it again anytime soon.

"You okay!?" the boy asked, the put-upon strength in his voice very quickly fading into shock and concern over his injured comrade. He checked for wounds, cursing himself for not bringing bandages or anything practical like that. This was a total mess.

What was that door's deal, anyway? Oliver had a feeling there was some real bad magic behind it, but not even the most outlandish stories talked about doors sealed with dark energy. And it's not like the room was providing many other clues either. Just those strange, unsettling paintings of strange, unsettling monsters: violet, white, red, blue, black-

Ding.

Oliver briefly stopped medic duty to look at the orb, then at the door again. Then again. Then again. As far as his eyes could tell, the two seemed to match. Slowly he grinned, almost in disbelief at his own thought process. Maybe being inside of this grand yet empty gallery, being watched by all sorts of beasts, was driving him mad. Or maybe he was so desperate to avenge Lord Wrys and save Lady Shiida that he was jumping to all sorts of conclusions to succeed in his quest. Still, when the gut's your only source of answers, it might be best to listen to it.

"Alright, guys. This one's a long shot, but I think I've got a plan," he said, the confidence he lost earlier flooding back into his voice as he tried to get the situation back under control. Maybe if he sounded like he knew what he was doing, he'd be right! "Door's black, right? Maybe if we do something to that black orb on the painting, we'll be able to make it normal again!

. . . So, any volunteers to try touching it?"

Here comes the hard part.

victorie

[victorie]

Where there is Unity

Victory Lies

Victorie grunted a bit as her assault was stymied, the woman tilting some to the right and shooting Cyrus a look that could well ignite drift wood. "The lady happens to be on the other side." The Pegasus-Less Pegasus Knight snaps, furrowing her brow and turning to wrench her shoulder free when she cringes as the Potato Paladin is struck due to his curiosity. Of course, this draws an awkward look from the Pegasus knight as she judges how much more painful it would have been if that shock had been administered in return for her strike of blind justice. "... But thank you." She'll remark, pursing her lips and trying to flash a cheesy smile at her white haired savior as she sheepishly extracts herself from his hold with an awkward whistling under her breath.

She'll turn about from the door, hands crossing over her chest as she lets the others tend to the Spudiest of the group. Her eyes will dart about, tongue clicking sharply as she hums under her breath. "Because nothing in life can be simple, especially the murder of a noble during a dinner party." She'll tut to the Golden haired archer (sorry!), she would have blamed the butler had she seen one! And then the topic of the pictures are brought up, which causes the woman to flick her chin up and really apprise them for the first time now, she was never one all that well versed in the arts and in her rush to dispense a door-beat-down she hadn't even noticed them. And now that she's catching the atmosphere in the place she seemingly can't focus on one for anymore than a moment or two at a time before she falters and has to draw her eyes away to stare off into space.

And then she'll groan, letting her shoulders drop a bit as she slackens and rubs her forehead with a sigh and a shake of her head. "As the only one with any semblance of armor ((Abs don't count Cassius)), I figure the duty falls upon my head." She'll sigh, resigned to her fate as the one who's going to have to touch the orb. So, she'll take a step towards the Risen Soldier with her hand tentatively outreached. "I swear to the gods if something bites me I will be very upset."

Fashion hurts, you know?

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❖ nox ❖

[Cyrus]

Oh, that glare of hers was charming. In return, he just gave her a small grin, trying to stay unbothered by her words. He hadn’t been around to actually see the lady be dragged through the door, but it was obvious to guess what had happened when looking at the room with one less person and an eerily glowing door. Honestly, he was worried about the lady, but if people in the group were going to rush on ahead without a plan, there would be more casualties. Sure he himself was that type of guy, running headfirst into battle with a sword in hand, but not without some sort of plan.

The sound of buzzing made him turn his head. He kind of wished he hadn’t, seeing the orange-head getting zapped like that. His previous hunch had turned out right, the door really had been cursed with something. But hey, at least the woman had ended up changing her tone to him. In reply to her words, he nodded. She already seemed rather embarrassed. He would be merciful enough not to poke fun at her. As she walked off to talk with the others in front of the paintings, Cyrus took a brief glance over Cassius. This mission was just beginning, and there’s one accident. ”You alive?” He asked, just to make sure the man wasn’t completely out of the game. Oliver was rather frantic in trying to administer first aid, but he had a feeling that the man was going to be fine.

Now people’s attentions were beginning to direct themselves at the paintings. Cyrus wasn’t going to admit this, but he felt uneasy in the presence of such paintings. They were creepy subjects, and he wondered whose silly idea it was to get something like this. The boy in red seemed to have a good hunch, since none of the other paintings seemed to have much to do with the door. It wasn't much to go off of, but it was a start. Hearing a voice volunteering to interact with the Risen painting's black orb, he turned to see who it was. That same woman from before, who wanted to punch down that door. Well, it seemed she was going to handle this with a more level head. And besides, he wasn't going to volunteer. He just met these people and didn't even know all their names. He'd helped the knight before when it was easy to, but now? When there was a chance of injury? There needed to be something more to motivate him. "You go on ahead," he said to the female knight, "If there's anything there, I'll swoop in and save you." He had to stop himself from cracking a grin.  

[Ranieri]

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[attr="class","ico"] the lil'est Robin Hood HOVER

▶

like zionks, gang, It seemed rather clear that no one felt these painting belonged where they currently resided, leading at least Rani to consider what happened to the other paintings.  If he weren't so keen on not standing out, he would have mentioned the idea that the real gallery was stolen.. however there was still the pressing matter of the missing royalty.. at least what still survived of the missing royalty.   His stomach growled quietly, which he promptly silenced with another pastry.  Geeze he was hungry this evening.  He nearly choked, however, as one of the guys tried to touch the door.  The woman knight offered to try it herself, which Rani couldn't help but smile at. "You know what they say.. better you than me.  I'll.. just be over here.. at the last scary painting here." he said, walking over to the green one.  Green.  It was the color of the forest, the trees, nature.. sure there was something unpleasant on the painting, but green can't be that bad, right?

NETTE OF GS

[cassius]

“ GIMMIE THE BOOTY I WANT THE BOOTY ”

As soon as he neared the door, he knew he had done something terribly, terribly wrong. His thoughts screamed white noise as the surge of electricity took control of his senses, forcing his teeth to clamp shut and grind as his outstretched arm convulsed in disgusting designs. It wasn't the pain that caused him to cry out through clenched molars—no, he hadn't registered it quite yet. It was the surprise, the unforseen that jolted his core and while he should have known that the door was dangerous, he needed for his own sake of comfort to know that the black of the door was not just a red herring.

Cassius was able to release his teeth when Oliver came to his rescue. His muffled scream had exhausted itself into a heated sigh like that of a boiling kettle's. Beads of sweat had invaded his clammy face, but he managed to speak. "I'm... I'm good." He was fine, just shaken. "Thanks, I appreciate it." The blond donned in red had his gratitude. With a groan, he closed his eyes and sat on the ground.

Opening one eye at Cyrus, he nodded, head tilted, chin pointed to the ceiling. "I think I am. I'll double check." He closed his eyes again. "I'm just going to catch my breath."

Ranier had mentioned something about the "last scary painting," but with his eyes closed, Cassius wasn't sure which one he was talking about in particular. They were all quite macabre. The portraits weren't the kind you would find in a living room—some murderer's basement maybe. If murderers with a fine taste in art existed here. Though, the potential was quite high on second thought.

"Just bite back. I'm sure you have it in you." Cassius remarked within his self-imposed darkness. "In any case, be careful."

He had already bitten his tongue earlier.

TAGGED Sifr Oliver victorie Cyrus Ranieri
NOTES SORRY GUYS I ONLY CHECKED MY "NOTIFICATIONS TAB" FOR POSTS I NEEDED TO DO T___T SO I'M SUPER LATE AHHH

MADE BY ★MEULK FOR SHIV <3