Colin's posts

"....." Jack was silent for a moment, looking at the puppet before him.

"Ugh." he muttered, before he seized control of his mana once more, and pulled it out of her, once it had quashed Vanessa's influence.

"That did not feel right." he said.

"I know it had to be done, but... yuck." he mumbled.

"Left a bad taste in my cracked soul." he growled.

"You doin' okay, though?" he then asked Sammy.

Jack just groaned.

"All right, all right." he said, cracking his knuckles.

He then stepped up to Sammy and paused as he looked her over.

"...I'll try and be as gentle as I can." he said to her, which was a weird thing for him to say.

"You're still gonna feel like you're being put through the ringer, though." he added, before he started to pulse his own mana into her, overlaying and overwhelming the mana Vanessa had inside.

Jack paused for a moment as they heard the footsteps.

"...it's not a crony." he said. "Or not one of these disposable ones, anyway." he clarified.

"The steps are heavy. Sluggish. Almost like they're being fought against. But they're deliberate. They're coming right towards us." he said further, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Be ready for anything." he warned, before the one in question came into view from around a corner.

And Jack seemed to freeze for a second.

"...okay, wasn't ready for THIS." he admitted with a sigh.

Jack had just snapped one of the last remaining cronies' neck, before looking at her.

"Not surprised." he said.

"Anubis' mana is tangentially related to souls, so it probably mixed with your necromancy and caused that to be a thing." he went on.

"Hence why you're one of the only ones that can outdo me. In life, anyway." he then said further. "In the afterlife, I am your superior in every way." he added, grabbing another and smashing their head into a wall. Repeatedly.

"Man! This feels good!" he declared with a laugh.

"But I think we're well on our way to seeing Vanessa. She's the one that owes us an explanation, after all." he finished.

"That's probably it." Evan responded.

"Whoever's here... they're strong." he said.

"Stronger than Mom, I think." he said further.

"Anyway, don't hurt yourself trying to stay here longer than you can." he then told her.

"I love you, too." he said with another smile.

"I always will. We're family." he finished.

"I feel rougher than usual." Evan admitted.

"But... not in the way you'd think." he then said.

"I... well, it's like... HER mana is... still there, but it's always there. There's... something else..." he went on.

"It's like my necromancy is reacting to something, and it feels more... 'dense'...? I guess?" he continued.

"I don't know how to explain it." he sighed.

"I just feel a little overwhelmed right now, and it's making me tired." he said to her. "And it happened pretty suddenly."

Evan was silent for a moment, before looking towards her... and smiling.

"Hey." he greeted her.

"Nice to see you." he said.

"And I mean that. Seeing you gives me hope. It keeps me from going too far down." he went on, before pausing.

"...that was really heavy right out the bat. Sorry." he then apologised.

"But hi, Sammy." he responded.

"Oh, shut up." Azari growled in response.

He then grabbed her by the collar, and threw her over towards the door, but it didn't even cause her to fall, more just stumble considerably.

"Get the newcomers, and THEN we'll discuss your brother." he told her.

"You'll walk by his cell anyway, just peek in and say whatever feeble words you want." he continued.

"Just GO." he ordered.

"By command of the Mistress Vanessa Encrae, GO!"

He accepted the orb, and nodded.

"Yes, Madam. Right away." he told her, before quickly heading off to where the one she was talking about was.

He entered the room, and acted differently than she would have expected. He marched right up towards her, and threw the orb with all his strength, the object slamming into her chest and starting to absorb into her.

"No time for back-and-forth." he said.

"Your mistress commands you to go and 'greet' our new 'visitors'." he told her.

"Hmmmm..." Jack muttered, thinking about it and scratching at his chin slightly.

"Good point." he said.

"Well, we're not going to get very many answers staying here." he told her. "Or, at the very least, we'll get answers more quickly if we decide to take the initiative." he clarified.

"So what say we test the security of that locked door?" he suggested.

"Try and take a self-guided tour of this little vacation spot." he added, walking towards the locked door and examining it.

Jack shook his head.

"Nothing ABOUT this is trustworthy." he told her.

"And yeah, I can practically feel it." he then said.

"But if she knows what's good for her, she'll let you try and fix this mistake of hers." he continued.

"If nothing else, so she doesn't have to deal with MY being alive any longer." he went on.

"Because... if there's anyone that harbours a grudge against me, it's her." he then told her further.

"Odds are she blames me for all the bad things that've happened to her family." he said. "And she'd be right to."

Jack just sighed and shook his head.

"That should do it." he told her.

Sure enough, about 2 minutes later, a robed figure that could have been mistaken for a cultist of some kind stepped out from behind one of the stones, and gestured for them to follow.

"...well then." he muttered.

"Clever." he said.

"Her followers can roam about if need be, and they'll be mistaken for one of the many cults or religions that considers this place to be sacred and holy."

Jack was surprised by this, but hardly looked worried.

"So THIS is the welcoming party, is it?" he muttered.

He then sighed and looked like he was trying to physically burst from the vines, but he was pouring his dark elf mana into them causing them to wilt and decay alarmingly fast.

He then cracked his neck and looked over towards Madison.

"Need help!?" he called to her.

Jack just narrowed his eyes as Madison said all she did.

"Underground, huh?" he asked.

"Guess this IS a nexus, it's just deep below the surface. Deeper than they usually get." he commented.

"Now... wonder if she knows we're here..." he then muttered.

"If not, we'll need to find some way in. Some opening, or some sort of pad or area used for teleporting." he went on.

He then walked out from behind the stone, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmph." he muttered further, before pulsing his dark elf mana down into the ground below him. It would serve two purposes. The first it would do is give him some echolocation for any other dark elf mana there... and the second was it would probably be very irritating for any dark elves down there.