The Taurai woods were getting thinner, and the sky was getting lighter. The party had been rushing at a decent pace for quite a while, but it was still far too close to dawn for the Vampire, Velanovana, to be comfortable. He sensed a slight discomfort in the usually so collected Half-Dragon and Half-Vampire named Kane. Though the sunlight wouldn't reduce the fellow to ashes as it would a full blood like Vela, it surely had to be uncomfortable.

The Elf called Zilfer and the party's guide, the blood traitor Yue, seemed more or less unaffected by the potential dawn. Just when Velanovana was starting to get worried that the canopy would reveal a hateful sun soon, through the forest's edge the mighty walls of Lomedor became visible at the end of a vast field. Just then, Yue started to slow near a pile of gargantuan stones in ruins around a clearing.

Velanovana stopped, looking from the guide, to the lightening sky, to the inviting walls of the massive city.

"What are we doin', guide?" He asked, slightly irate and quite thirsty. "I thought you said that the search for this key of yours would lead to the city. Why do we pause next to-"
There was a great rumbling and roaring as Yue placed a padded palm on a section of a boulder. One of the boulders rolled aside with a great rush of air scented like something considered unclean to the majority of Arda. Like death.

"-a secret passage" Finished Velanovana. He peered down into the unknown gateway of stench, and with his infravision saw that it lead to a widely spiraling staircase.

"There's your passage, friend." said Yue. "This leads to the catacombs of Lomedor. Down there somewhere is the crypt of an honored man, a defender of the Lupine people. His name was Yueraec, and he was my grandfather." The Wolf bowed his head in honor of the very name.

"He was a General in the Vampire-Lupine wars, and under his leadership the many werewolf clans of the Taurai woods came together.United, they kept the Taurai woods under Lupine control. However those days are long gone." Yue looked around at Velanovana, as if nervous of offending him in reference to the long dead wars. But that was beyond Velanovana's time, and the Pirate was quite frankly indifferent. Wars brought only more death, and that was exactly what the Vampire preferred to avoid when at all possible

"After the re-splintering of the wolf clans, my Grandfather died, and was buried in the city's catacombs for his honorable policy of allowing men from the city to pass through these woods unharmed. He was buried with the key to his cave, though mind you it is no average key. It is in the shape of a crescent moon, and carved out of marble. That key is the only thing that will allow me back into the den of my grandfather. I'd get it myself, and trust me I will personally lead you to the crypt, but some kind of twisted lieutenant of the Vampire-Lupine wars put a curse on the coffin of Yueraec. Werewolf hands can not touch that thing, not even make contact with it."

Vela looked at the raconteur with a gloved hand over his mouth. The smell of death again wafted from the crypt entrance. The Werewolf looked back with a hint of what might have been sadness. "Please, Velanovana." He asked.

It was weary... and Vela's mentality went back to that darn moral compass. In one direction, the easier south, he could escape to the city.
'Then again that could irritate a fare few people, which at this point in my potential captain career, is not good.'
In the other direction, a north that included catacombs, potential shambling dead men and a definite curse x amount of years old.

This moral decision, spiting the fact that Vela was leaning toward the latter anyway, was hurled forward towards the north. Thinking, Velanovana thought he smelled something burning. Indeed he did, as he noticed his ice white skin started to smoke. With a scream more beast than human, he hurled himself into the shade and safety of the catacomb doors. The pain vanished quickly, and the burn marks were not constant... still, Vela was getting hungrier. If he didn't feed soon, then he'd give into the beast side of him, or starve.

Yue looked as though he was about to say something, but Vela held up a gloved hand to stop him.
"Alright! Point taken! No more sob stories man! I'm on my way... save your family honor, get the key... try not to die. Got you covered, mate." And with this , the Pirate stalked off down the spiral stone staircase, not sure weather he was out for blood or key. Weather the others would follow, he didn't know, and in his irritable thirsty state, he didn't much care.

The wolf’s story had sort of gone in one ear and out the other; nonetheless, Kane was prepared to follow Yue and the pirate Velanovana (how Yue had known the name, he wasn’t quite sure) to possible doom if need be. The stench climbing slowly from the gaping doorway actually reassured him a bit, because it meant there would be no blood where they were headed. He’d made it a habit not to drink unless he absolutely had to. At times it was inconvenient, but a part of him recoiled at the taste of crimson metal on his teeth. He drew his sword, watching the lupine’s broad silver back descend into the murky shadows.

As he moved to follow, a patch of the rising sun fell on his face, burning it like a branding iron. He hissed in pain, a thin line of smoke issuing from between clenched teeth. He could feel the flesh blistering and peeling in a matter of seconds before reforming flawlessly all along his cheek and the bottom line of his jaw. It left a hot feeling in his skin, like regular sunburn. He sighed, suddenly forced to recall exactly how unpleasant he had always found the daytime. Bowing his head in order to avoid any more of those piercing rays, he slipped quickly through the wide-open maw of the catacombs, sword heavy in hand. The walls sent his footsteps back to him in a crazy, cackling echo that bounced around the rough stone walls like the laughter of the inmates in a sanitarium. His eyes swept the surrounding as he went down, down, and down again, always alighting on the peculiar gleam of Yue’s fur. The catacombs had no lights, save for odd spots of ragged, determined flames, fighting bravely against the drips of water from the ceiling and the thick and foul smog that swirled denser around them with every step. Kane drew his cloak over his face, breathing instead the scent of wood smoke and dew-damped grass. The far corners rustled with unseen bats, and thick-tailed vermin with glittering beetle eyes too big for the sockets. Other than that, everything was silent, silent and still, like a grave that had gone undisturbed until now.

A grave.

He stopped, gazing unseeingly at an uneven patch of the wall, listening, wondering whether he’d really heard that. It was a dry whisper like the rasp of chalk on pavement, and for a second it was everywhere, multiplying and dividing into a million voices, cracking the silence as one would a rotten log. And then, when the tide of the words had subsided, a terrible drawn out splintering filled the void, a firework just after the fuse has been lit. There emerged an undercurrent through the noise, irregular, half shuffle, half heavy, awkward thud. The sound of something large being dragged laboriously forward through the gritty debris on the floor. Kane’s head lifted suddenly, instinct flashing crimson in his blood. He could feel the adrenaline seeping into his veins, the fangs lengthening in his mouth. Gaze fixed raptly on a shadowed crevice in the stone five feet away, he waited. Somewhere ahead of him, he could hear Yue and the pirate still walking.

The thing came slowly, shambling forward on one broken foot and one with the flesh only half rotted away. It was vaguely humanoid, dotted with the sickly gleam of maggots crawling in and out of holes they had carved in the remaining sheaths of skin and muscle hanging in wide strips over the skeletal frame. Half the face had been worn away by time, and a rift was spreading outward from a rent in the cranium. The lower jaw had fallen, leaving the mouth open in a maniacal, howling grin, through which the blackened stump of a tongue was visible. It would have smiled if it could, thumping unevenly toward him, stretching mangled, decomposing hands toward his throat. In one swift, automatic motion, his blade had carved a notch in the bony left arm. The creature flinched backwards to examine the mark with empty eye cavities, lurching forward once it had been ascertained that no serious damage had been done. Kane swore under his breath.

This was going to be a long, long journey.

(hey kids, I finally got around to making an account for Yue, so no more playing him, but if you need him to do something, either put it in your post or tell me, and I’ll see if I can do it for you.)

Zilfer was a bit curious as to why he was still following these people around. What dealings did normal elves have with Vampires, and lupines anyways? He was pretty sure normal elves didn't hang around vampires too often unless it was to kill them and rid the realm of their tainted existances, however Zilfer himself personally could care alot less. It didn't matter to him if vampires needed to kill people to survive. People died for many reason's less then survival. So he found himself heading into the catacombs of the city, of Lomedor where he was a wanted criminal.

"I never knew about the catacombs of Lomedor, it appears the city has more quirks then I would have thought possible." Said zilfer looked at the enterance to the catacombs. He would remember this enterance, so he could access it again in a time of need, perhaps in the near future. Only time would tell about this current endevor. He followed the current group down into the catacombs, and obserbed his suroundings taking in what he saw. Zilfer wondered if this catacombs connected to the castle of Lomedor, and if it did, he would be able to sneak in through a secret passage way, and perhaps steal or destory those papers permanently. This was his main reason for coming with this group.

Kane had a run in with a zombie like creature, and zilfer observed this interaction with mild interest before moving on to catch up with the lupine, and vampire kin. They entered a round circular room with water collecting up in the middle of the room, as water dripped from the ceiling, no doubt this was where the rain water drained too. A constant stream of water was pouring into this water in the center meaning it must have been rainning heavily on the surface level of Lomedor. Zilfer could smell something faint, he didn't know if the vampire's sense of smell was anything like and elfs, so he fair warned them.

"I smell something foul..... like a restless spirit." Spoke zilfer as he looked at the water, he saw a ripple moving through the water and he tracked it for a moment. "Something's in the water....." He began to approach it slowly drawing his sword, and as he came to the water's edge the ripple stopped. Zilfer waited expecting something and then he turned around to the others shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe it's just and over grown salamander or somethin---" He couldn't finish his sentance becuase from behind him, a tenacle shot up out of the water ensnaring him by the chest, and pulled him back into the water. Apparently the water in the center of the circular room was deeper then he had imagined. He was sucked under the merky water as it drew him down, he reached for his blade and tried to cut himself free, swinging his sword through the water. He couldn't get to much moment from the blade, but he managed to sever the ties that whatever had grabbed him was using to pull him down. Emerging on the surface of the water he pulled what was wrapped around him, and threw it off of himself as he looked around. He couldn't see anything through the water, but on the surface he saw it begin to move again.

(i'm picturing an octopus.... but if someone's got a better idea, feel free. =P <.< >.> )

Velanovana shot a hand into the water, hitting his knees and feeling around with considerable panic. Feeling the texture of the assassin's clothes, Vela plunged both hands into the icy water to which his nerves were indifferent, and wretched Zilfer from the depths. A curious looking tentacle unfurled from around the elf as he looked around wildly.

'Are you serious?' Velanovana thought, exclaiming a curse and drawing his Scimitar with a flourish. Kane seemed to have struck down the revived corpse behind them, and Yue's fur bristled as he glared into the small underground pool. Velanovana shook Zilfer's shoulder roughly, imploring him in a hiss to get on his feet. The Vampire was ready to rip the sea-creature into a good portion of Kalamari, and his face showed the intent.

Vela looked wild, his fingertips grew out into fierce claws, only made more terrifying by his bared fangs. But above both of these features, the blood lust into the eyes was the most terrifying. The beast had considerable control on Velanovana, his thirst was contoling him. The idea that some silly beast would challenge a pirate such as himself was as irritating and enraging as the color of blood in the face of a bull.

Now it is common Pirate knowledge that when faced with the challenge of a tentacled foe, the best thing to do can be determined by a couple different things. If the creature isn't too terrifying, or enormous, then it is advised you back up to just inside the octopod's reach, and tackle the beast by combating only one tentacle at the time. If the creature is kind of terrifying (IE: Three times your ship's size, and well on it's way to crushing the ship) then the advice is to get to a life boat, and let the Captain deal with it.

This challenger was well within the range that made it not too intimidating, but the Pirate of Velanovana was not thinking. This was the thirsting-beast of a Vampire in Velanovana. The Octopod's blood would be cold, and disgusting, but it would remain, despite disgust, blood. With a vicious, uncharacteristically beastly roar, and without a single word to his companions, Velanovana made a running charge at the water, and dived in, sword first, into the center of the tentacled mass in the pond.

(I'm thinking a noble merman, buried alongside his pet whose lifeline is considerably longer? Yesno?)

<3

:arr: