[Campaign]Testate Summit

[Neko Koneko]

[Campaign]Testate Summit
Requirements: None
Post Length: MIN 1,000 Characters per post
Alignment: Any
Level: Any
Cost: 0 GP

Rewards:
1500 GP + ??? bonus GP for creativity/character development/humour
1500 EXP + ??? bonus EXP for creativity/character development/humour
*Note: you'll only get a reward if you've posted at least 3 times in this campaign*

Outline of Mission: The mountain range in North-Zoshnel has always been home to cold chills and frights, especially its tallest peak, named Testate Summit. As moons pass and the days draw nearer to All Hallow's Eve, stories and rumors of dangerous creatures lurking about the mountain paths are traveling throughout the lands in growing intensity.

Many are doubtful of the dark tales; it is more likely that the mere dead silence of Testate Summit is driving people mad. How insane is it to think that the barrier between the living and the dead could actually be breaking apart? Whatever the reason, people seem to be disappearing there more and more.

Some say it could be zombies, some say it could be some mutant species just beginning to emerge from the depths of the mountain's caves and caverns. But what about the mysterious old couple rumored to be living in an isolated log cabin in middle of the mountain range? Are they dead already, or do they hold valuable information that could unlock the mysteries that surround Testate Summit itself?

Participants:

Neko Koneko ( Nariël/darkred)
random_tangent (Kyrian/Violet)
Phard (Stefen/Purple)
ChristopherArmalite (Leon/mediumaquamarine)
Meim (Palme/Coral)
LePapillonRouge (Ariana/SpringGreen)
Spoonpuppet (Lacha/Slategray)

[Neko Koneko]

"Dead!"

The bottom of the beerglass hit the table.

"All dead!"

The old man sat at a table in the middle of the pub, surrounded by people who were listening to his story.

"And then, they stood up again, ready to eat the flesh of our bones!"

"And then? What happened next?"

"I'll be willing to tell you..." the old man replied to Leon. "...but my throat is kinda dry..."

As someone bought the story teller a new drink, Nariël and Celes were sitting a few tables away from the old man.

"I wonder why so many people listen to his ghost stories."

"Well, it is that time of the year again."

"What time?"

"Hollow... Hullow... eeer... something-een."

"It's the heads of people buying that guy drinks that are hollow."

"Well, if they like his stories, let them."

"And then, the dead feed of the flesh of the living!"

Nariël got up and walked to the story teller's table.

"If the dead came back to life and feed on the flesh of the living, then why are you not undead-poo by now?"

"I barely managed to escape! You don't believe me? Fine, I won't tell a single thing anymore. But beware of Testate Summit, for strange things are going on there!"

"Way to go Nariël, now we won't know what's gonna happen next."

Some other people joined in on Leon's complaint.

"Well, if you're so keen on spooky stories, why not go to Testate's Summit tonight?"

Everybody turned silent. Nariël looked around to see if people would actually want to go there.

"Sounds like fun!"

"Sounds exciting!"

"Could be interesting I suppose."

"Alright, let's do that!"

instantly, people ran off to get their belongings, leaving the old man alone at his table. The man grinned and seemed to be talking to himself for a bit, then picked up his hat from the table and left the inn.

[random_tangent]

Kyrian was pouting when Nariel cut off the ghost story. She had always loved stories, and the man had been quite entrancing with his voice, his tone weaving a web and pulling herself and the other listeners into the story. When she suggested a trip to Testate Summit, Kyrian tried to stop the shiver down her spine. But it was a delicious shiver - a shudder of excitement, something she hadn't felt for a while.

Keeping it cool, she shrugged nonchalently. "Cound be interesting, I suppose." - she didn't think anyone here knew about her guilty love of the spooky, and thought she'd keep that one under wraps. For now. At least until they made it up to the summit.

Hurrying upstairs to her tavern-top room, she packed a quick bag with essentials for overnight, just in case - her medical kit as always topping the bag off. She knew her friends, and though there were some people she didn't know accompanying them, she knew that anytime that Nariel was involved in something, SOMEONE was going to get hurt. Hopefully the world wasn't going to be at risk this time. She was growing tired of helping to save it.

Finally packed, she tucked Yngvi into its sheath at her ankle, slipped Jera into the pouch at her waist, and grabbed a hold of Tyr, choosing to carry the stave for now, instead of strapping it across her backpack. Violetta was off with her grandparents, having great fun with cousins and giving her mummy a well deserved rest, so Kyrian saw no reason why she shouldn't have some fun!

Bouncing back down the stairs, she shifted excitedly, waiting for the others to return so they could go.

[Phard]

Stefen listened to the old man telling his ghost story. While he was a good story-teller, the story was flawed in so many ways, he ddin't know where to begin the condradictions. Desipte this, a number of people hurried upstairs to collect their belongings and explore 'Tastate Summit.'

Sefen was waiting for Bardus to return from the blacksmith. He had heard many stories about the Summit, and everytime they changed. The outcome however, was always the same. Everyone that had ventured into its unknown area was never seen or heard from again.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he bounded up the stairs, three at a time, to write a note to Bardus explaining where he had gone. Hopefully Bardus wouldn't worry too much. With the 'Fluxe' Capacator to his back, he waited patiently for the others to arrive.

[ChristopherArmalite]

Leon sighed, he seemed cheerful enough to have a sort of "Test of Courage" with his friends, similar to what kids are into these days. However, something just didn't feel right...a cold chill was creeping up and down his spine. He had just finished packing up when Judas approached him
"So...zombies huh?" Judas grinned
"...yeah"
"And you're fine with that?"
"W-why wouldn't I be?" Leon started to become nervous.

"Well" Judas raised his voice loudly so the whole group can hear, "Don't those things scare the hell out of yo---"
"NOPE!" Leon replied louder, which caught the attention of the whole group.
"Oh?" Nariël walked up to the brothers with a smirk on her face. "Is that right?"
"NOPE! It's n-n-n-n-not" He vehemently shook his head comically, face red from embarrassment.

A ghastly groan came from behind Leon and an icy cold hand grabbed his neck, he let out an effeminate girlish scream then turned around to see Judas with a goofy grin holding ice water.
"You stupid piece of!" Leon delivered a flurry of punches that sent Judas flying across the pub.
The bartender looked over towards Judas, created an "X" with his arms and declared, "KO!"

"*ahem* Shall we get going? It doesn't look like he's up for our little adventure anymore..." He said suavely as if nothing had happened.

[meim]

Palme whistled while he checked the condition of Arachnid. It has been a while since there was anything interesting happening and the whole thing about living dead made it something worth investigating. Meanwhile, Pino sharpened its carving knife on a sharpening stone producing an annoying grinding sound. It was one of those days that Pino was extremely independent and uncontrollable. It had even made himself the same height as Palme was wearing Palme's clothes. Suddenly, the grinding sound stopped and Pino walked over to Palme raising his knife. Palme turned to face his puppet. " So you are afraid of meeting creatures that might be similar to you?"

" I don't know." Pino replied sanely with his own original sound then fell to the ground and stayed motionless. Palme put all his puppets into his puppet bag and ran downstairs. He had missed the comical scene between the brothers and the others were about to leave.

" Don't leave me here!"Palme yelled after them.

" We are just about to go."

" Ah, the old man isn't around anymore. Whoooooooooo"

[Neko Koneko]

When the group left the inn, to most people it must have looked like the weirdest camping group ever. The diversity of races and classes was big and at first glance, it was hard to imagine these people being friends. Although the group was very diverse, they all seemed to be carrying a weapon of some sorts and they all talked about just one thing: the dreaded mountain called Testate Summit.

”Where am I supposed to go next...”

Lacha was walking around town, looking for the local bathing house. She felt like lazing around in hot springwater. Suddenly, someone walked into her, causing her to fall onto the ground.

”Oh, sorry about that. Are you alright?”

”Yeah, I’m alright... Oh, it’s you Leon.”

Leon helped Lacha up from the ground.

”We’re going to Testate Summit.”

”...to find brain eating zombies!”

”Don’t say that!”

”Don’t say what?”

”The Z-word. Don’t say it.”

”Whatever...” and with that, Nariël walked on, leaving Leon still facing Lacha.

”So you’re going on somesort of camping trip? Sounds fun.”

”I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s more like dangerous...”

”Ha, I laugh in the face of danger, HAHAHA!” came Nariël’s voice from the distance. She was standing opposite the town square waiting for Leon to finish his little meet-and-greet with the Barbecue-dousing girl.

”Anyway... I don’t recommend you coming along because...”

”...lame little brother here won’t be able to protect you. Big brother, however, will protect you with all his might.”

”You mean Big Brother will spy on her when she’s taking a shower.”

”To be accused of indecencies by my own little brother! The shame!”

”Shame on you, yeah.”

”Then tell me Leon, have you ever had...”


Before Judas could finish his sentence, Leon’s fist had made contact with his face, sending him flying across the ground. With a loud crash Judas’ ground flight was interrupted by the presence of the fountain in the centre of the square. An old lady who sat on a bench next to it crossed her arms, signing the K.O.

”Shall we go then?”

”But didn’t you say it’s dangerous?”

”Danger? I can handly any kind of danger.” Leon said suavely as if nothing had happened.

[OCC: Spoons and butterfly get a 200 GP penalty for not posting in time XP Next post has to be up before the end of Sunday again, you may post more than once if you feel like it, you don't have to wait for all the others to have posted \o ]

[Spoonpuppet]

The group made their way through the dimly lit streets towards the towering shadow of the mountain. Nariël strode confidently while others such as Palme shuffled quickly to keep up. The moon was hanging high in the sky, touching the skeletal trees with its eerie glow.

They were approaching the beginning of the mountain path, which snaked into the darkness and the warm glimmer of the village fading away behind them. The group was not as boisterous as a few moments ago - it was obvious that some nerves had crept in, but nobody wanted to admit it.

"Are you sure we have everything?" asked Lacha. She had suddenly realised how underprepared she felt. "Do we have food supplies? How about some source of light? What if we get lost..." She didn't feel scared, just underprepared.

Nariël took a few steps forward and waved an arm. "Come on! I thought you guys all wanted to investigate that old man's story. Or do you want to turn back already?"

Palme marched towards Nariël while shouting "Of course not!" It had a hint of uncertainty.

[LePapillonRouge]

"Why in the world am I here, anyway?!" shouted a voice from out of nowhere, near the beginning of the mountain path. If the group looked, they would have noticed a young girl carrying a violin on her back, arms spread out, yelling at the sky.

Suddenly she put her arms down and sighed. "...I don't think this is worth 10,000 GP. Not at all. She knows I hate scary things! Does she make my life uncomfortable on purpose?" As she said that, she turned away from the path, walked away, not realizing she had accidentally bumped into a bunch of people that she actually knew from a long time ago. "Eh? ...EH?! ...oh, by Rael...how long have you been people been here? And why are you here? Don't you guys know anything about this place? Sure, you're warriors, but even if I were strong as you guys, I don't think I would fight with the living dead, ghosts, or whatever is up the mountain. I hope you weren't stupid enough to do this for money...because that would be a big mistake," she sighed.

"We're not doing it for money," replied Leon, calmly as usual. Ariana blinked, looked a little farther in the groupd, and then laughed a little nervously. "Where did he come from?! But then again, he's always with Nariël, so I should've naturally assumed...oh, come on, I'm not going to do this just because he's here. I'm not that lame, she thought rapidly. A breeze whistled past. Er, so, do you guys mind if I come with you?

[ooc: Feel free to deduct 200 GP from me too. Sorry about that!]

[Phard]

"Of course you can come. I can think of a few people who have come for chauvinist reasons, but you don't seem to have that kind of motive."

Leon grinned goofily. Sefen could almost hear what he was thinking. Sefen knew that the boy was lucky that the women of the group couldn't read his mind.

[Neko Koneko]

[OOC: Phard, you do realise that post is too short to count towards your post total right? MIN 1000 chars per post. Not gonna count every single post in here but I can see yours is too short ]

As they walked over the mountain path towards the dark mountain, the sky turned darker and night started to settle in. The amount of trees around them was getting smaller with every thread and after half an hour the landscape was cold and barren, without the sign of life around them.

"Did anyone think of bringing a light or something?"

"I brought a lantern."

"Me too."

Two small lights flared up inside their little glass cases. It was barely enough to look 3 metres ahead of them.

"Nariël, if you'll stay at the front, I'll take the back."

Nariël nodded and continued walking. Now the group was clearly defined by a light at the start and at the end, as the world around them slowly grew darker.

"Do you hear something?"

"No... do you?"

"I thought I could hear something move behind us..."

"Probably your imagination! You're losing it already?" Palme said while putting a handful of sweets in his mouth. They decided to heed it no attention for now.
Finally, after another hour of walking, they arrived at the mountain.

"So... do we have to climb this thing?"

"Nope, let's set up camp here."

"Oh? You're taking charge of it then?"

"Erm.. sure?"

"Good!" Nariël exclaimed as she dropped down against a large boulder and produced a bottle of Dragon's Blood from her bag.

"You're not going to drink now are you?"

"Why not? Leon's gonna do all the work isn't he?"

"Erm..."

"Being in charge doesn't mean he has to do everything does it?"

"Alright, alright... So, great leader, what do we do?"

"Well, for starters..."

"... You're gonna pitch up my tent!"

"I KNEW I heard something behind us!"

"Hear something? You mean someone! And how could you not hear the blood in my veins boiling after being knocked out by my useless little brother..."

The sound of a fist hitting a face broke the silent atmosphere and Judas was sending flying across the open area they were going to use for their camp.

"Get lost you... you.... wait, you brought a tent? Who else brought a tent?"

"I did. Thought it'd come in handy."

"good, then we have one tent for the men and one for the women..."

"The women can share mi..."

A stone hit Judas on the head. Everyone looked at Nariël who was still in a throwing stance.

"What? I haven't gotten one chance at all today since Leon keeps punching him around."

There were some laughs but after that Leon put everyone to work to pitch up the two tents, dig trenches around them and create a fire. Within an hour, a pot was on the fire filled with soup and everyone had taken place on stones around the fire, covered with blankets, capes or whatever they could find to keep them warm.

[OOC: Alright, from now, hell may break loose Let the first zombies arrive =P]

[ChristopherArmalite]

Leon sighed. It had gotten to the point where it's absolutely dark.
"All the conditions for this event have been cleared. If that old man was really telling the truth, we should e-expect t-t-to see th-those things soon." He mused loudly, his voice trembling with a hint of fear.

Everyone in the camp had retired for the night while Leon and Nariël were tasked with the night watch and Judas had been unwittingly sent off as bait in the guise of scouting ahead for when the sun comes up again.
"What's the matter, getting cold?" She smirked
"No" He stopped "I mean, yes!" He added desperately
"Shh, do you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
"Listen!"
Leon closed his eyes and focused on the surroundings, trying to pick up any noise. Everything was silent, not even any animals around...he managed to calm himself down when a shrill girlish scream cut through the woods

"What in the hell was that?" He jumped up and looked around, feeling a cold chill going down his spine. The scream was heard again, this time closer. The bushes rustled and sounds of running feet under grass and twigs could be heard getting closer and closer.
"Oh no, it's coming this way, why does it have to come this way" He thought. Getting ready for an attack, he unsheathed his daggers.

"Gah, they're after me! Help!" Judas emerged through the woods. He jumped up in the air, heading straight for Nariël with arms outstretched.
"You wish!" Nariël delievered a roundhouse kick to the airborne Judas. As he laid twitching on the ground, Leon approached him.
"What do you mean by "they"? Who's after you?"
Judas smirked
"Those ZOMB--"
"On second thought, I don't want to know. Wait, they followed you here, didn't they?"
"Nope, they were slow and shambling around...they couldn't possibly have followed me here.." Judas got up and dusted himself off.

Just then, ghastly groans came from the direction Judas came in. It sounded as if it was a group
"Damn..." Leon eyes widened and his skin turned pale.

[Yes, one of his greatest fear...much like my own actually ]

[meim]

While Leon turned white from hearing the weird sounds from a distance, Palme was sleeping like a corpse. Judas stuck his head into the men' tent, only because Nariël had made a clear point he wasn't going anywhere near the women in the group.

" The ZOMBIES are here."Judas purposely stressed the word so that Leon could hear it.

Stefan woke up immediately with his hair covering his eyes and went out of the tent alert without any sign that he had just woken up. He found Leon staring worriedly at the directions of the groan. Palme was too deep in his sleep to hear any sound. " Wake up!"Judas said a little louder. Palme just lay motionless.

" I can wake any woman but this is beyond me."

Stefan picked up one of the sweets beside Palme and tore the wrapper off. Palme opened his eyes immediately. " It was pretty obvious."

" You can have that."Palme told Stefan before crawling out of the tent. Most of the people in the group already had their weapons ready, it seemed like some of them had not sleep afterall. Palme sucked on a coffee sweet as he pulled out his huge spider puppet from his bag. " Does add to the feel, doesn't it?Palme said to Leon who was far from his usual calm disposition. The fire from the camp was not bright enough for them to see far but they could positively see some black figures heading towards the camp. And the way those figures moved made it clear that they were not human.

Then, the first creature/zombie came into view. It had a repugnant smell and though it had somewhat the shape of a human, it was greenish black and it was holding something that closely resembles an intestine. " I guess it doesn't look as ugly as I imagine. "

[random_tangent]

Following along at the back of the group made Kyrian feel a little like a mother hen, and she couldn't help but let out a soft 'cluck cluck' under her breath with a smile. She was glad, she must admit, when they set up camp for the night. She had considered bringing her own tent, but had decided against, figuring that if they were go come across any monsters, on that offchance, she would rather not be lugging the extra weight. She was glad someone else had brought one however, as she imagined even with her warm gear and sleeping in her swag, it would be a touch cold when the morning came.

As usual of course, she never got to sleep long enough to find out how dewey it would become in the morning, as she was roused by the yells from Judas. Sticking her head out of the women's tent, her hair standing on end, and a very cranky look in her eyes (never wake the mother of a young child when she is finally managing to get a non-child disturbed sleep), she fixed Judas with a glare.

"Shut up! People are trying to sleep!"

All thoughts of sleep however were wiped from her brain as she saw the creature heading towards the group, and she quickly ducked back into the tent, shaking awake the others, and quickly retrieving her weapons. She then stepped out of the tent, shivering a l ittle in her short sleeves as she had not re-donned the jacket which had been acting as an extra blanket.

She whispered softly to Leon who was the closest person.

"Does it want something from us?"

[Phard]

Stefen smiled to himself when he heard what the eccentric looking girl said. He didn't let his amusement show, knowing that looks can be deceiving. The man named Leon shook his head a little, unable to answer.

Nariël tightened the grip on her Shadowblades, but doing so in a way as not to alert the intruder. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice unwavering.

Judas rolled his eyes. "Genius Nariël. I think he wants an extra blanket. I'm sure Leon has a few he can share. Or perhaps our friend here wants to kip with him. What do you say Leon?"

Leon gave a weak smile, his knees visibly quaking. Palme sighed tiredly. "I know Zombies are stupid, but this guy is exceptional." Stefen couldn't help but laugh at this, and everyone turned to him, seemingly not noticing him until now. Being the center of attention momentarily, the zombie used the diversion and began his slow approach toward Leon. Stefen nodded to Leon and said, "You might want to give your friend his blanket. Unless you don't like your brains arranged the way they are." Leon frowned then turned. He let our a high pitched squeal, stumbling backward.

Lacha, as solemn as could be, aimed her staff at the zombie and shot a blast of water. The zombie staggered and fell on the floor, goaning softly.

"Ewwww."