Necropolita - City of the Damned
 

Valas Zauviir peered out of the window of his tower, looking down upon the dirty streets of Necropolita below. If he still had the lips, the lichdrow would snarl at the sight. One would think that he would be used to the filthy condition of the necropolis after spending three hundred years here, but Valas was a drow, formerly a noble archmage of House Zauviir before its fall, before he took the path to immortality and power beyond his wildest dreams. He had his standards, and this city's decrepid condition hardly stood up to them. With all the zombies running around, he'd think the vampires that lorded over this hovel would put them to work to clean up the place.

The lichdrow stepped away from the window after a few moments, moving so fluidly as he walked to his desk that it almost seemed like he was floating. Perhaps he was. He wore velvet black robes decorated with various runes and sigils sewn into the fabric. His once, proud drow features had long ago rotted away, leaving behind a dark skull with high cheekbones, an angular jawline, and a pointed chin. A pinprick of light glowered from the depths of his shadowy eye sockets, and a jeweled circlet rested on the crown of his skull, just above the browline.

Valas' study, on the top floor of his five-story tower that stood near the middle of the city, looked like the typical wizard's study. Rolled parchments were spread out along his desk, held down on one corner by a crystal ball sitting upon a circular stand ornately carved to look like encircling dragons. Bookshelves lined the walls, except for where the window and the door was, and the wall behind his desk. That wall was occupied by a large, stone cabinet, with two wide doors that opened to either side.

The lichdrow sat down on the plush leather chair behind his desk, reaching out with a skeletal hand for the crystal ball sitting at the corner of his desk. He pulled it over, taking care not to wrinkle any of the scrolls it was holding down, and set it before him. Staring into the crystal ball, Valas began to chant the words to a spell that would enable him to scry anywhere in the city - at least, anywhere that was unprotected against it.

Let's see what's happening today.

Charon ran up the street. his blasck cloak billowing in the foul wind. The ghul pack growled and yelled as it chased him. they were gaining on him. Charon cut his palm and let the dark vampiric blood pool in his palms.

"Spirits of the dark flame, hear my call I offer my blood to you if you grant me your strength. The blood boiled in his hand an burst into dark blue flames he turned and with a sneering grin he cast a wall of fire spell. The flames filled the street blocking the ghouls, who howled in fear of the flames.

"Tell your master, i thank him for his kindness in letting me borrow his De Vermiis Mysteriis. I am most appreciative. Charon walked the rest of the way to the decaying buildings in the old town. He carefully unlocked the door and passed the statues of the lords of death. He took the spiral stair case behind the largest statue and decended into the darkness. His cat like red eyes revealed the path.

"Sir, I've got the book for you." he said as he entered a massive marble clad library.

"At last." Avoice said. a wbreeze shifted the dust in the room into the form of a skeleton in robes like Charon's. The skull of the skelton smiled.

A vampire was stalking an escaped human. The vampires prey had tired and was near capture when a horrible howl was heard. They both stopped, the air itself seemed to crack when out of the crack a sword pierced the human. Soon the rest of the hollow appeared and ate the humans soul. Needless to say the vampire wasn't happy. "That human was mine"

The hollow turned to him. His red eyes glowed within his mask. "Don't worry, soon it won't matter." The vampire found himself pinned by two demon looking dogs and a sword in his belly. "It is so hard to remove the soul of the undead. But not impossible"

Klarke stood in the main square as Esmerelda relaxed. That's all Klarke did. That's all it ever did when it was guarding Master. Well, there was the "kill anything I command you to kill" order that Master gave it earlier, but Master didn't tell it what to kill yet. So it just stood there, the heavy blades resting on the road. With the addition of the heavy claymores, Klarke's arms were longer than its full height, so its elbows were bent. It made Klarke even more fearsome than its size allowed. Klarke picked up a sigh from Esmerelda. It did not recognize this as an order, and thus did not move.
-----
Esmerelda sighed as she sat at the fountain. It wouldn't be long, now. Her rosy pink hair was caught in the air every now and again, but all was quiet. Then, she saw her. The brunette was walking towards the fountain, a scythe in her right hand and a rapier in the left. She stopped roughly thirty yards from the fountains and looked at Esmerelda. Esmerelda nodded. The brunette nodded.
"Klarke."
Klarke didn't acknowledge his name in any way. It did not move in any way.
"Kill that woman."
Klarke turned slightly to allign itself with the woman Esmerelda wanted it to kill. It didn't hesitate, rushing forward on its tree trunk legs. It thrust the right arm out, the edge horizontal in an attempt to decapitate the target. The woman was faster, leaping just enough to clear the blade and landed on it. She rushed at Klarke's torso, then flipped over it as Klarke swept its left sword over the right, nearly slicing into the woman's right ankle. The woman lashed out with her scythe upon landing, putting a nice gash into Klarke's broad back. Klarke ignored the wound like a raindrop and turned counter-clocking, slamming its left leg right in front of the woman, stunning her enough for it to bash her with the left blade, hitting her in the head and sending her sprawling. Klarke whirled the other way to chop at her with the right sword, but the woman recovered quickly...though not quickly enough. She was forced to drop the scythe. Klarke realligned on her, oblivious to the rapier that the woman threw into its chest. Klarke chopped with the right sword again. This time, the woman relied on her strength, catching the blade in her hands. The trial of strength was short lived when Klarke swung the left sword into an upper slash. The woman, not to be undone, released the right sword and knocked it to her side, then caught the left sword the same way. Klarke's momentum with the left swing brought the sword above his shoulders, with the woman still clapped on. She swung her right leg to meet with her left and kicked off of the sword, leaping back and picking up the scythe she abandoned. Klarke rushed her again, the left sword chopping at her. Her responce was to deflect the blow, which she succeeded in doing, knocking the left arm to the side, the scythe sunk into the stumpy arm. The force knocked her known, a prime opportunity to end this. Klarke swung the right arm down on her with a broad arc which would cleave her in two...
"Shit!" She spat through clenched teeth.
"Stop, Klarke!"
Klarke halted, the edge of the right sword mere inches from the woman's nose. Esmerelda stood up, her voice being the origin of the command.
"Very good, Klarke. Please, come here."
Klarke lifted his arm away from the woman and moved back to Esmerelda. It was calm and seemed completely unconcerned with the open wound in its back, the rapier sticking out of its chest, and the scythe imbedded in its left arm.
-----
"So, how do you like Klarke, Lucia?" Esmerelda patted the place next to her. Lucia kicked off of the ground and studied the flesh golem as she sat next to her good friend.
"You've really outdone yourself, Esmie." Lucia said through strained breaths. Esmerelda imagined that the place on Lucia's face where Klarke bitchslapped her would show soon enough.
"Yeah," Esmerelda sighed. "I'm rather proud of the final product, myself. He started out as something to do so I wouldn't get bored, but I'm starting to think I can make a life out of this."
"At least you know have something to look forward to in this life besides our relationship."

"You have done well my apprentice." The ethereal lich walked toward the table. Charon placed the book on the table and turned the pages.
" Thank you. There only 3 copies of this tome in all of the city, it is the second rarerest tome after the Necronomicon. But that shouldn't give you the impression it is any less significant."

"Yes master, I have read many books that refrence this one. They say it is a tome of great power that deals with the elder things."

"indeed. This tome is forbidden save for only the most powerful necromancers. Once long ago I had my copy destroyed in a fire by a rival. I am glad you returned the favor. Soon i will have you scribe a new copy. Rest up and feed my apprentice it will be great work to scribe this book and much blood will be needed." The lich took to reading the old tome. his cloudy fingers lifted the pages with great effort.

Charos smelled in the air a large rat. He hunted the rodent catching it easilly he drank it's blood with his fangs healing the wound on his hand. I want human blood. he thought with a sigh as he contented himself with the blood of this low life form. He held it after nearly draining it completely. He walked up into the abandoned temple and bowed to each of the towering statues. He sat at the foot of a skull faced women, her body still bearing the curves of the flesh that her face did not. He practiced his animation spells by reanimating the rat. The rat twitchend and slowly rose again. It's eyes milky white now. Charon smiled, he remembered how hard it used to be to raise the undead. Now it was almost second nature. He then recalled the spell. He rested at the feet of the statue a moment. before standing and going back onto the street.

It was another day in the City of the dead. The stench of decay lay across it like a foul blanket. On another day I may have minded, if the current shell I called home had come with a nose. It had been a week sense a case had been thrown my way. The last one had been more trouble then it was worth. It had been getting harder and harder to find a decent job in this city. No room for an honest career like my own. I put the leg's I had up onto the desk in front of me. I would have to get a new shell soon. I felt I had worn out the usefulness of this one.

Just then a soft knock came at my door. "Drift on in." I said with a smile. The door opened and a shadowy figure walked in. There was something Erie about the figure. Erie even by this cities standards. The figure shed its shadows like a slimy skin. The shadow falling into a black puddle on the ground. The form underneath was that of a beautiful woman. The form would have been appealing to something that had a desire for flesh. I had lost such desires long ago however.

"I need you to find someone for me." The creature began.

"Finding people can be hard. What sort of creature am I looking for?" I asked.

"A human, my favorite human. A young child by the name of Cerona." She sat down gracefully in the chair before me. Leaning forward suggestively.

"A human child? In this city? If the child went missing then it is either dead, or undead." I couldn't beleive something in this city could be so Naive.

"I don't think so. The child is marked with my house, anyone who found him would return him to me." She seemed confident to that effect. So confident I knew she was hiding something.

"If that is the truth of it then why hire me? What good could I do?"

"Well none of my own people have been able to track him down. I have heard rumors though of a human underground movement. I thought maybe if they found him, they would keep him."

"The human underground is just a myth. If it did exist the vampires would have enslaved them. And if they didn't get to them first the Ghouls or the Zombies would have eaten them. I think you need to face facts. The kid is worm food." I wasn't in the mood for games or wild goose chases. Either this thing before me needed to show me some money or move on to find another chump.

"I can't beleive that is whats happened. Please you must find him. I am very wealthy and can pay you anything you ask." She seemed distressed by the thought of loosing a human child. It seemed odd to me. Something wasn't quite right about it. But who was I to argue with money.

"Alright then. I'll need a description of the child. I'll need your house name, as well as your personal name. and I'll need 200 coin of gold. Upfront. Thats just for the investigation. Looking for a single child in this city is like trying to find a splinter in a furnace. I don't want to be wasting my time. If I find him there will be more fee's." I would have felt bad asking so much from this woman, if I could still feel.

"Alright then." The inky blackness moved over to her. Reaching inside she pulled out a large sack. Hefting it with one hand she placed it on my desk. My desk creaked under the weight but held up. "There is your money. My name is Enedina Izarraras, of the house Izarraras. Find the child for me, please." She seemed to add the please as an after thought.

I couldn't beleive my luck. This thing had just paid me more then my last four cases combined. And all I had to do was wander around town asking the right people the right questions. I didn't expect to find any answers, How could I? A single human child in a place where flesh eating was a way of life? A little brat wouldn't last half a second on the streets. "Alright then, I'll get right on it."

She stood up as gracefully as she had sat down. The inky blackness swept up around her and she walked out, another shadow passing into a world of shadows. I couldn't kid myself, this case smelled like trouble. "Then again"I mused to myself, "I don't have a nose today, do I?"

((OOC: GAH! I could not make it sound any less like this:))

But beyond the decaying doors of the Shrim family’s library, Valas could not penetrate and decry the young woman that reclined within, turning a page to a worn, but well-kept book. The gold-cast title was in the swirling patterns of High Elven, a dead language even in the confines of Necropolita.

“And the child wept, for she could no longer see the moon’s careworn face, nor feel her silken touch upon her forehead…”

The words came unbidden to lips that parted succulently around the ancient language, spoken fluently and nigh-silently. Pale fingers toyed with a dog-eared corner of the dried, worn paper as golden eyes scanned the lines of ancient writing.

Delicately, the book shut with a soft sigh of paper, and the whisper of silken cloth disturbed the air. The creature of beauty rose to an upright position on her reclining chair, and silk brushed against skin as she raised her arm, reaching for her crystal goblet brimming with crimson liquid. Laying the fable book to one side, she dipped a slender finger into the murky depths of the still-warm fluid. She brought the blood that clung to her fingertip to her lips and sucked gently, savoring the fine taste, before putting the goblet to her lips and taking a long, slow draught.

The door opened, admitting in the dim moonlight a small, shuffling figure. The reclining female delicately wiped off a drop of blood that missed her lips and stood up, sucking it off her finger.
“Fain,” the vampiress’ voice was like the ghost of a whisper, and yet the figure paused in its steps and then proceeded to lie prostrate at the beauteous creature’s feet, acknowledging the almost-silent word.
“How pleasant of you to bring yourself into my presence willingly, my pet,” the vampiress’ voice rose and fell like a sad melody.

“I live only to serve, m’lady,” the man’s voice was steady and soft, as befits his station as a high slave pet, and his eyes were averted even as he rose to stand before his mistress, his gaze fixed determinedly at the ground before the vampiress.

“Naturally,” blood red lips curled into a smile. She loved this creature. So mortal, so helpless, so delicate, so delicious…

Pale, slender fingers found themselves resting under the man’s chin. The vampiress could feel the man’s initial emotion of terror before it is masked by calm. She will make note to discipline him later for his slipup. Fear does not season the blood well. Gently, almost lovingly, she lifted the man’s – Fain, he was called, and she distantly remembered – face to meet hers. Their eyes met – dark brown against fierce, breathtaking gold. The man’s face visibly relaxed, and his eyes half-closed. Something in his mind clicked shut.

Fain did nothing to stop the vampiress from lowering her face to his. He even welcomed the gentle kiss that drew first blood as his mistress’ fangs pierced his lips, oblivious to the pain as his mistress suckled on the first drops of crimson liquid, exciting herself with the metallic tang that she so craved drawn from the veins of the living.

His mistress’ hands moved down and rested gently upon his shoulders, going no farther. Her head followed suit, and Fain stood unresisting, unfeeling, a loose puppet to follow as his mistress sees fit.

Va licked her lips. It has been a while since she has drawn blood from a willing, living victim. The taste of freely-given blood was exquisite, and she savoured every moment that was hers. Moistening the point of piercing with the tip of her tongue, she placed a firm hold around Fain’s shoulders, before opening her mouth, her fangs glinting in the moonlight. Fain shuddered, then sighed as Va’s teeth pierced the skin of his neck in two neat puncture holes. The blood welled up from the neck wounds, spilling into Va’s waiting mouth. The vampiress drank greedily, sating her tastes for Fain’s human blood.

What felt like an eternity of bliss to the male was but a few moments. Fain felt himself come to his senses as he slumped to the ground, released from the grasp of his mistress. He wanted to cry out, wanted to go back to that bliss he felt while in his mistress’ arms, but he felt so small, so weak...

“That is enough for today, my pet,” Va said as the human tried to get up in a suitable prostrate position, but couldn’t, his limbs failing to respond to his wishes. There was a rustle of satin and silk as Va bent down and lifted the man’s head. She placed a gentle kiss atop his forehead, before rising and gliding out of the library, pausing only to turn and say, “Make sure you lock yourself up good, now, my pet. I am going to the Arena, and I want to see you in your cage when I get back,” before she was gone, like a wraith in the darkness, her royal purple gown sweeping across the dusty floor.

Fain’s mind registered not the hope of escape, but the blind thought of obedience to his mistress. So broken he was in spirit and mind that when he recovered from his mistress’ mind powers and blood loss, he returned to his small, dank cell within the walls of the Shrim family’s abode and locked himself in.

~~

Va tread delicately through the decrepit streets of Necropolita towards the bloodthirsty arena, oblivious to her surroundings, and the way the living and dead alike avoid crossing her path. Whether it be from the aura of power and dangerousness radiating from her being, or the glimpse of breathtaking beauty beneath a black veil, nobody could know, or even want to know.

Again the air cracked as more hollows came from nothingness. Each hollow of a different shape and size. Only the hole in their chest and their white masks were shared among all. Each kneeled and bowed their heads. "Commander, we have done as you asked. Several are gathering at the arena. Many with high spiritual power." The hollow commander reached into the vampires body and ripped out its soul. "Excellent, I will be going there. Here have a treat." The vampires body was tossed towards his minions. They scrambled for the soul like a pack of wild dogs given a meal. The soul was torn and shreaded, soon it would materialize at another place as a new hollow to his army.

The hollows began to sink into the ground. "Soon I will have an army of mighty hollows, then this plane of existance and the spiritual world will be ours." He spoke one more thing before completely entering the spirit world. "Then Lord Menos will rise." Then vanished, traveling the spirit plane to the arena

The dead of the city were gathering, Valas saw, drawn toward an arena of some sort, somewhere in the city. Not too far from his tower, he later found out. It had been a while since the city had some entertainment. He wondered if it would be the typical human-fights-demon, demon-eats-human type of matchups. Probably. Perhaps this was something the lichdrow could take some time out of his busy schedule to watch personally. He didn't get out much. He was always studying, always scheming. Valas deserved a little free time.

Valas swiped his hand across the image, dismissing it and rising up from his chair. Opening a drawer, he withdrew some gold rings, glittering with some gem or another, slipping them onto his bony digits. He moved across the study and reached out for a black wooden staff sitting in a cobwebbed corner. He wasn't sure how long it's been sitting there. There was little the lichdrow feared in this city, other than the dragon resting beneath it and the wrath of an archdemon or two, but one could never be too safe, especially among other higher undead.

The lichdrow left his tower some moments later, closing the door and placing a wizard lock on it. Any would-be intruders would find themselves doused in highly corrosive acid if they tried breaking in. With his staff in hand, Valas glided down the ruined streets, making his way toward the arena to see what all the excitement was all about.

As the various creatures that dwelled in Necropolita roamed in a seemingly-aimless manner to the arena, Ishimaru waited in the shadow of a decrepit building. Ishimaru was invisible to all while in these shadows. He observed as all of the creatures moved to the arena, a place he had not yet explored.

One creature, however, caught his eye. It was a vampire, whose beauty was breathtaking. Ishimaru, being a Shade, was not attracted to this being, but intrigued. Most vampires he saw were old, and stained with blood. Ishimaru traveled along the ground as a 2D figure, weaving in and out of the feet of the undead that wandered the streats. He rose slowly out of the shadows; it looked like a being struggling its way out of a thick spider web. Ishimaru's materialization process was slow, but when he was in full 3D form, he was several yards in front of this vampire.

((OOC: I would write more, but my free period just ended and I need to get to orchestra.))