The Seeker of Vengeance Seeks Doctor Vune (Faylen & Arcadia)

[Nephthys]

[Nephthys]

Rank 1.1

You are contacted by Rosemary the Reanimator and tasked with the job of finding her missing 'father' Doctor Vune. Why do you accept this job/are convinced to work for her? Fear? Threats? Offer of money or 'services'?

"Rosemary." Faylen scoffed, tossing the letter aside. "Pretty name for a girl with such an ugly occupation."

Arcadia squawked almost gleefully. Perhaps she was excited at the thought of a new adventure with her owner, one that would probably end with bloodshed as so many of his did. Well, Faylen had always suspected that his raven had a curiously sadistic streak. And perhaps it's rubbing off on me he pondered. After all, he often had no one better to talk to than the dark bird who was too sinister looking herself to be put off by his own grisly appearance. And he had to talk to someone. Best method he knew for keeping the insanity at bay.

For some reason, the way the girl described Doctor Vune seemed as if she wasn't describing her father at all, at least not her biological one. And that only left the option that they were both religious fanatics and he was the leader of some cult she belonged to. And I am REALLY not in the mood for dealing with those types. Faylen immediately thought to himself. They always act as if they know what is best for me better than I do.

But besides the strangely worded-ness of the letter, it also contained an offer that Faylen could not refuse.
To find who ended his sister's life was all he had been living for, since... Well, since her life ended. For Osiris' sake, he'd even given a home to a raven whom he believed contained her lost soul and named it after her! That was what she meant to him. And consequently, that was what this new mission this so called "Rosemary" had just charged him with, meant to him now. It meant everything.

"So, off to find that 'Vune' lunatic I suppose."
Arcadia squawked happily in approval.

[Nephthys]

Rank 1.2

You learn of two locations that Rosemary feels might have clues. Doctor Vune's mansion in Crux and a vague clue about a possible hidden Laboratory, also in or near Crux.

She told me to meet her beside the Nile at midnight. As I walked towards the water, glinting like a silver knife in the moonlight, I felt glad to have all my weapons on me and my raven beside me. I watched as Arcadia took to the skies, spreading her inky black feathered wings, soaring upwards towards the stars. No matter how far she strayed from me, she would always come back. That was how it had been with my sister back when she was alive, and somehow I sensed that was the way it would always be.

I stopped moving, taking note of the rattle of leaves and brushing noises my hair made against my ears. Just the moment I was starting to doubt, starting to believe that this had all been a foolish idea as the darkness closed in around me, I saw a shining light in the distance. This light was actually a sphinx, one whose pure white hair and silver ram horns seemed to reflect the light of the moon more easily than a mirror. My deep eyes narrowed at the sight of her, partly with suspicion and partly to attempt to see her more clearly. But she was drawing closer now anyway. The way she walked.... there was something off about it. There was something not quite right about her in general. Like she was an ephemeral spirit only half present in this dimension. It was like she didn't belong. It was like... Well, it was like she wasn't a sphinx at all - despite having all the right body parts and proportions of one. For some unexplained reason, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Glad to see you turned up, 'Seeker of Vengeance'," the lady smiled enigmatically, and instantly, I was drawn to her. She was hypnotic. "As you may have guessed, I am Rosemary. I take it you want to help me find my father?" Father. That word again. That word which always felt so out of place coming from her, that word which my instincts told me meant that whoever he was, he was no true father of hers. Still, I nodded slowly, keeping my expression solid and unreadable.

"Yes, I will help you find this man."

"In that case," The silver lady Rosemary pulled out an old and dusty map from her chestnut shoulder bag, "here is the map of the city of Crux. My father's mansion is here..." she pointed to the little house diagram on the map, "and his laboratory is... Well, no one is allowed to know the location of that. Even I as his own daughter, his own creation was never permitted to know. However Faylen, I trusted that you would be able to seek it out. I've heard many tales of your cunning in locating your enemies, and I know that you would not hesitate to do this for me... now that the stakes are so high." She blinked her pretty hazel eyes at me. I frowned.

"The stakes are high. Because although I know that you could be lying about my sister's killer, the poison... I cannot take the risk that you are telling the truth and planning to follow through on your threat. If I was knowingly robbed of the chance to kill that serpent myself, I - wouldn't be able to go on living."
Rosemary dipped her head slowly in understanding.

"I know, Faylen. I know." She looked up at me, and her mesmerising sweet face seemed to be inching closer and closer to mine. I couldn't comprehend what she was doing, yet I didn't move away. I was not going to show her that I was intimidated by her tricks, by her - whatever she was doing to get some sort of reaction from me. Besides, I did feel somewhat ensnared in her gaze. She came closer and closer until her pink nose touched mine affectionately. Though my heart skipped a beat, my eyes still burned with defiance as I gazed into her eyes. After a moment of peace she reluctantly backed away from me with a sigh. "You will find my father, or you will regret it."
I rolled my eyes, slightly exhasperated now.

"Is there anything else you came here to say?" I inquired impatiently. The beautiful Rosemary tilted her head as though she was curiously observing my every move. Finally, as her eyes met mine and transfixed me again, her lips parted to murmur a simple,

"No."

Smiling enigmatically once more to herself, she slowly tore her gaze from mine and begun the long trek back from wherever she had come from. I looked downwards when the trance had been broken, finding a rolled up old piece of paper in my paw. The map. She'd handed it to me before I'd even noticed what was happening. In that moment, as her ghostly and gorgeous silvery form faded from view and was enveloped by darkness once more, I began to wonder just what exactly I had gotten myself into.

[Nephthys]

Rank 1.3

When you try to investigate the mansion you find it occupied by monsters and cannot search it. Were you chased away? To frightened to enter? Broke in but then blacked out and woke up somewhere else with no memories? What kind of monsters?

Twists and turns, twists and turns... The city of Crux was full of twists and turns, it seemed. Not exactly the most helpful in trying to navigate towards a building you were half convinced didn't even exist.

Just when the Seeker of Vengeance - now the Seeker of Mansions - thought he was completely lost, a hideous and imposing type of building seemed to materialise from the very fog surrounding it. Its windows were cracked, its rooms were dark, and a large grey padlock hung from the door. No point in trying to enter that way, Faylen thought. He didn't have time for picking locks right now, and if anyone was in this half disintegrated building, that's exactly what they would be expecting him to try and do.

With nothing but the task at hand on his mind, the Seeker of Vengeance slipped between the shards of the lowest broken window, all muscles working their hardest without a single sound being emitted from the sleek black body. As daintily as a witch's familiar, he landed on all fours inside the house and hastily took in his surroundings.

The dull wooden floorboards were coated in layers upon layers of silver dust, each layer telling of a by-gone age. The fireplace, the centrepiece of the room Faylen had entered, was foul and dark and full of soot. A couple of flint stones from the days when this fireplace would have been used had been carelessly tossed to the side of it.
Overall this room seemed quite abandoned and uncared for - even the white marble mantelpiece over the fireplace was cracked. Faylen wondered just what could have produced such a force to have damaged that. It chilled his bones to observe the scene for some reason, but he quickly reminded himself that all he need do was look for clues, or any kind of pointers to where Doctor Vune might be now. There's no way he could still be here after all, he thought to himself. If he could find any old documents or letters, that might offer some kind of explanation for all this. As he began to search one of the chests of drawers in the main room - because, although he wouldn't admit it, he was a little wary of what might be in some of the other rooms at this point - he heard a noise emanating from below. But I'm on the ground floor, what... where is that coming from? Oh. Faylen's eyes were drawn to what looked like a hole in the floor, just around the corner from the fireplace, where several tiny spiralling steps lead down into what looked like... well, blackness. An aged bottle of what smelt vaguely like brandy was on a desk nearby. Something tells me I'm going to need this, Faylen thought, taking a quick swig of it - and then promptly erupting into an awful coughing fit. As he had made more noise then, it seemed like whoever - or whatever - was downstairs was catching on to his presence and starting to stir. Faint shuffling and growling noises could be heard if one's ears were at their best.

Faylen knew that one way or another, it was probably time to get what he came here for. He reluctantly left the bottle of brandy beside the staircase as he began to descend it. He counted the steps as he went, for it helped to focus his mind on anything other than his apprehension right now.

One,

two,

three,

four....

As he began this descent into darkness, his heartbeat began to seem unusually loud in his ears and his breaths were starting to make him feel like a thousand creatures were panting right next to him.

Who's afraid of the dark? his conscience taunted him.

Who's afraid of the big bad - His thoughts were interrupted by the tickling of course fur on his face and the sight of two bright yellow eyes piercing right into his soul, two inches in front of him...

- Wolf.

Faylen stumbled in fright, instantly knocking over a number of objects that sounded like bottles or crates. Tumbling down the rest of the stairs, the wolf like creature in front of him bared its black teeth, threw his head back towards the sky and let rip a mighty howl. Faylen winced at the noise and scarpered further into the corner of the room. Mercifully his cat eyes adapted to the darkness soon after, and his ears picked up some new sounds.

"Help.... ME....." Hisses, snorts and grumbles. What the hell is going on down here? Faylen thought frantically. He looked to his left and noticed that those objects he'd knocked to the ground a few moments ago were test tubes, dark and dusty and filled with cobwebs.

"Father's... brought us... fresh meat..." a voice crowed. Gods, I hope they don't mean me, whoever they are, Faylen thought. Loosing his nerve a little, he began to move back towards the stairs.

"What are you waiting for? Now! Let's eat him!" The basement filled with screams and screeches and Faylen thought he could even hear the flapping of wings. Shoot. They did mean me. Faylen thought. And whoever or whatever they are, they're heading straight for me.

"No!" Faylen instinctively shouted, backing up the stairs rather clumsily in his agitation. "No, I will NOT let that happen!" The scampering of tiny paws and even hooves began to move even closer. Good job trying to dissuade them, idiot.

Faylen bounded back up the stone stairs as fast as he could but as if in one of those nightmares that seem to never end, the faster he ran, the less he seemed to move. His claws scratched on the stones as he frantically tried to claw his way up without slipping. As another mighty howl pierced the air and all manner of barking started up in response, Faylen reached the top of the stairs. Without even stopping to think he headed straight for the flint stones by the fire place. Running back to the top of the stairs, he reached for the bottle of brandy - Shame, I was kind of looking forward to drinking this - and doused the entire staircase and parts of the wooden floor behind him with it, in the next moment taking the two flint stones and stiking them against each other desperately.

It was in that moment, as he waited for the sparks to fly, that he got his first proper look at the creatures coming to kill him. Some of them were small, some of them were large - some of them had the snouts of alligators and some had the horns of rhinoceroses. Some of them had great lolling tongues and some had teeth the size of daggers, some of them were more feline like him, and some were a combination of all the above and more. All however, seemed to possess the largest of eyes, all filled with torment, all haunted by the past. And yes, they were all vicious, but Faylen could see now that it was because that was all they knew of this world, the only thing they had seen in their existences so far. Time seemed to slow down as they thundered towards him, and as the last spark was lit just enough to cause a flame, the entire house with its creaking floorboards seemed to go up in a number of milliseconds. As the monsters who had only known monstrosity began to flee however they could as the very fabric of their lives collapsed around them, it was as though the gates of hell had burst open, and everything was being engulfed by the flames, the demons, and the screaming. Faylen covered his face with his paw, eyes watering like fountains from the brightness and the heat as he stumbled to make his exit. This way and that he was forced to leap as the mansion creaked and collapsed all around him, threatening to sink down to the underworld. Suddenly, he had to duck as the wolf hybrid he'd met in the basement soared over his head in a great leap to escape through the same window Faylen had used to enter earlier. He seemed to be the only creature who had escaped thus far. And I'm not intending to stick around and burn with the rest of them, he thought before tightening all his muscles and jumping through that same window. The pain of a shard of glass partially slicing one of his ears as he escaped was not even noticed by Faylen as he ran for his life as fast as he could.

When he'd reached a good distance away from the old house, he turned back and observed as the flames swallowed it whole. Screeches and screams echoed in the night as the creatures who'd lived there died with it. Killing innocent beings isn't the most tasteful of activities. Not even when it's wretches like those. Not even when they just threatened to eat me. He sighed as his heart beat still rattled on in his ears. Just when he started to panic a little as he pondered what on earth his next action could be, a shadowy figure appeared to be approaching. It was the wolf.

"Father!" He howled, his galloping horse legs also making him limp slightly. "Father!!" As the beast ran past Faylen he watched, and observed it also had the tail of a dragon. That, and it was heading west.

Father. Doctor Vune. West. This creature seems as desperate as I am to find that lunatic, and perhaps he knows better than I do where he might be.

And with that, Faylen stalked away to follow this wolf creature and to find this fabled laboratory, the dying howls of the monsters below still echoing like sirens in his ears.

[Nephthys]

Rank 1.4

You try to find the secret laboratory. Do you do research? Get totally lucky and stumble upon it? Get info from a shady figure who comes to you? Find out that you somehow already have memories of the lab through a dream or flashback?

If I hear the word "father" one more time I'm going to loose it, Faylen thought despairingly. That wolf creature had been lamely leading him no where in particular for what felt like miles. It was tough following him, what with Faylen's ear still being half sliced and the fact that he had to make sure he kept himself discreet incase the creature saw him and decided he wanted to eat him again.

Well, I would eat me, Faylen thought. In fact, at this point I would eat ANYTHING. When was the last time I ate? Or drank anything for that matter?

The wolf creature was keeping to the wilderness (wisely so in Faylen's opinion) but running along beside them were all the villages of Lamoria, little puffs of smoke emerging from chimneys which Faylen thought - or imagined - carried a whiff of cooking meat... Yep. I definitely have to stop and eat something.

And so, Faylen was forced to abandon his mission - not entirely reluctantly - and stumble into the nearest tavern in Crux. He was a little worried that he would loose the track of the strange creature, but he had to do this, or he would collapse before he even found the damn place.

Once inside the tavern, he ordered a large amount of bread and fish with some beer. He ate it all in five minutes or so before wondering if it had been such a good idea to stop for lunch as now he was feeling a little sluggish. However, no sooner than he had finished his meal, he began to notice the conversations of everyone around him. It was always wise to keep your ears - and eyes - open when you had been charged with a task like this. It was the easiest way to discover information without any attention being brought to yourself at all. Once conversation in particular seemed to be standing out to him though, perhaps because it was closer to him, or perhaps because it just... seemed more promising.

"Lucas, every moment we waste in this tavern is another moment those... things... have more chances of being discovered before we can get to them."

"I know Darlah, but it's going to get ugly in there. A man's gotta have his beer before facing up to something like that."

A rather muscular looking female sphinx with heavy weapons and cropped blonde locks seemed to be giving this 'Lucas' fellow - who had sat down right next to Faylen - an unimpressed look.
"Not all of us have to get drunk to be able to face up to things." Faylen turned his face away a little as he smirked with nostalgia suddenly. This lady reminded him of his sister, the strongest female he'd ever met. "Besides," she went on, "won't that just slow you down, or make you... more likely to make mistakes?"

Faylen could almost feel Lucas's sharp exhalation of breath beside him as he retorted, "Yeah? Well, not all of us are lightweights!" There was amusement in his voice that made Faylen think he was referring to some past event or inside joke only those two knew about. The male sphinx's beer arrived, and he chugged it down greedily, much to the disgust of his lady friend.

Time to get a good look at him, Faylen thought. As subtly as he could, he lowered his gaze to see a barbed dragon tale on the male and a whip in his lap. Some sort of charioteer perhaps? Then he saw a crumpled piece of paper in his paws. Could be a map, or instructions maybe. Either way, I'm interested. Now Lucas had finished his beer, he had the look about him of someone who could no longer see any point in being subtle or careful with anything. "I don't see what the point of this lab thing was anyway," He suddenly whined and Faylen's ears immediately shot up. "If they were just going to move them all to that -"

Darlah's eyes widened and she immediately covered his mouth with her paw, hissing "Shhh! Have you never heard of eavesdropping, you great oaf?"

When Lucas seemed to have gotten the message, she gradually removed her paw, though still keeping her fraught expression. She leaned in closer to Lucas - and consequently closer to Faylen - to whisper, "It did have a point. But that was before, now it's just a... liability. That's why it's our job to..." She stopped herself from carrying on talking and rolled her eyes as if to communicate how sick she was of having to go through this over and over again with him. Her brows furrowed suddenly. "Do you know what? I'm leaving. You can finish the task with me, or not. You're the one who'll have to face the consequences anyway, and I don't care what happens to you." She waltzed out of her seat suddenly, as elegantly as one could with a heavy sword, armour and an axe strapped to their back. She left Lucas gawking. After a while he began to rise shakily to his feet and called out after her,

"Darlah! My darling Darlah! Why, you should care what happens to me! I'm the only one who can drive the horses -" a low whinny sounded from outside the tavern and then trotting sounds could be heard, getting fainter as splashes and creaking wheels like a large cart being driven by those horses also grew more distant. Lucas's whole posture drooped suddenly in front of the exit door as he realised he'd lost this argument and that he'd have to walk. "Oh... SHOOT." He spat bitterly. He turned back around, glared at Faylen - like anyone in a bad mood would glare at any stranger - and took a last swig of his beer before hurriedly darting back out into the dingy street, hopelessly shouting "Darlah! Darlah!!"

Faylen smirked again. The two had acted exactly like an old married couple. But regardless of their actions, one thing was for certain, Faylen mused as he re-equipped his weapons and began to rise to his paws - they are heading to the same place I am... only I'm going to get there first. Faylen left a few coins spinning on his table before bolting straight out of the tavern. To others he must have appeared just like a ghostly black and white blur of a sphinx, he was moving so fast. As he ran through the twisting and turning streets of Crux after the mysterious cart full of crates, Arcadia took to the skies and swooped high above his head, squawking as though she was attempting a battle cry.

And so it appeared, there was only one thing left to do: charge.

[Nephthys]

Rank 1.5

You find the lab... And some of its old experiments!

Now that Faylen had begun following Darlah in her cart, he had started to regret it. He'd lost count of the number of disgruntled sphinxes he'd crashed into as he turned a corner or had to accelerate suddenly. And the cart was showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Well, it was understandable they'd be in a hurry. Going to find a top secret lab to do gods knew what wasn't exactly the sort of thing people did at a leisurely pace. Still, I could do with slowing down, Faylen thought. It really did feel like he'd been running for hours now, but he noticed that they were now leaving the city of Crux behind. The houses got fewer and further between as they moved further into what looked like... Well, just wasteland.

Faylen knew that if he got too tired just running that there would be no chance of him getting to the lab first. Now that he could see a blurry shape in the distance right in front of them, he knew that had to be the place. There was literally nothing else for miles. And if it's not THIS place, I'll be too tired to carry on looking for it anyway. This has to be my last shot. He thought.
As was his tradition, he'd made sure to bring some fish for Arcadia to reward her for her hard work after he'd had his fill at the tavern. It was good to give the raven motivation to keep going, not to mention the fact that timing her being fed perfectly could sometimes be beneficial. And this, Faylen thought, was one of those times.

He stopped running suddenly and swiftly ducked behind a gnarly piece of shrubbery. As Arcadia swooped up above, she cawed once in confusion when she realised Faylen was no longer directly beneath her. Now Faylen knew he would have to act quickly before the cart and horses left him too far behind.

Ensuring he would not be seen, he ducked his head even lower behind the gorse and emitted a high pitched whistle, the same way he always did to alert Arcadia that he was about to feed her. She cawed excitedly. To anyone listening in, this would have only sounded like two birds chatting.
But then, knowing that Arcadia was already on the lookout for dinner, Faylen summoned all of his strength and threw the last fish from his pocket all the way past the cart and horses, to directly in front of it where it landed with a dry splat. Arcadia had been hunting that fish from the second she'd seen it fly through the air, and in the next moment she had found it, swooping down like a bullet right in the path of the horses and - as starving as she was - flapping her wings with great excitement and cawing almost maniacally.
Just as Faylen had hoped, the two horses were startled greatly by this sudden black squawking obstacle, and in their shock they both reared up, whinnying loudly and sending the whole cart toppling to its side, wheels still spinning in mid air. Of course all of the cargo came tumbling down as well and Faylen smirked a little, knowing that this would take the two sphinxes a very long time to set back up again. The two hopped and slid off their seats at the front of the cart.

"LUCAS!!" Darlah, who had been in control of the reins, scolded in anger.

"What?! I wasn't the one who was driving. Didn't I tell you before that I was the only one who could drive the horses before you galloped off and left me alone to find you?! What did you think would happen?! I'M the charioteer. And from now on, I'M going to drive."

Seeing his opportunity, Faylen slinked out from behind the gorse bush and scurried past them. They were both too caught up in their own bickering to notice him now.

"Honestly, I don't even know why I let you -"
"Let you?! You forced me. If you had just played along instead of squandering all our time and money on tavern beer, this never would have had to happen."

As Faylen reached the same level as Arcadia in front of the cart and horses (still sticking as much as possible to the cover of any shrubs or trees he could find along the way) he whistled again to her and she took off to find him, triumphantly clutching the remains of her fish dinner in her beak.

"Forced you?! Does desperately begging you to come back look like forcing to you?!"

And so, Faylen and Arcadia sneaked towards this mysterious lab at long last, leaving chaos in their wake and the other two sphinxes who had lost the race squabbling like vultures over a carcass.

*

Now they had found the secret building, it was to time to go inside and get a good look at what those two sphinxes had been so keen to hide.
As silently as a ghost, Faylen creeped around to the back of the building, since there were no visible ways to enter through the front or the sides of it. No windows, no doors, just... nothing. At the back however, there was a large stone. A large stone which, try as he might, he could not see as looking natural. The way it was placed so perfectly in the centre with nothing else around it, the way the bottom of it looked very muddy and scratched as though it had been moved around a lot, the way there were... pawprints leading up to it, that were not his. Once the paw prints reached the stone, they just... disappeared. And there was no way whoever it was would just stop their journey in mid air like that. So there must be something underneath this rock, Faylen thought. Summoning what little strength he had left, (and trying to be as quiet as possible as he did it) he pushed all his body weight to the side of it so it would shift. At first Faylen thought it wasn't going to move, but with a little more persistence, it finally moved a centimetre. Well, it definitely doesn't look like whoever put this here wanted it to be easy to access whatever was underneath it. Once the stone had moved some more though, it was easy to see what lay underneath it. There was a single flap, like a trap door that had been built into the very ground, and wherever it led to must have been a part of this building that seemingly didn't have any lower levels. Clever, Faylen thought. But everything associated with this 'Doctor Vune' has so far been underground, where no one can see it. It's as though even he is ashamed of what he is doing...

When Faylen pulled open the flap he had been afraid of what he might find, but it seemed like all there was below was a dark damp hole. Seemed like. it was impossible to tell from where he was, above it all. Arcadia had settled down next to him but now she was busy tucking into her fish, and Faylen doubted she would move from her spot now. I can leave her up here like a guard while I go down this hole, he thought. I know she'll squawk loudly if anyone else approaches us and disturbs her eating.
And so, Faylen entered the hole revealed by the secret door, but he could not find his footing at all, so he stayed dangling rather comically as he clung to the outside edge with his front paws by which he had entered. I knew this wasn't a good idea. He thought bitterly to himself, and soon enough his arms gave way, dropping him what felt like several meters down until he hit a rock hard floor. He had managed to land on his feet but not very comfortably, and that coupled with the shock of the whole thing made him exhale sharply.

"Ufff."

"Who's there." A voice barked, in a way that sounded more like a statement than a question. Faylen almost jumped out of his skin from the shock of it, his eyes still not adjusting to the lack of light in this place.

Another different voice then started whining, before saying "Fa... Father??" Uh oh. That's not old wolf's head, is it? Oh gods, it is.

"That's not your father," The original voice continued with an unnervingly authoritative sound. "He wouldn't fall so clumsily into his own laboratory."

Faylen shook his head frantically, feeling like he couldn't see or breathe or sense anything. There was just so much dust in here. He coughed once or twice before the sound of something metal being picked up reached his ears. It jangled once more nearer to him and then he heard the familiar crackle of a flame. No sooner than he had realised it was probably a candle of some sort, was the horridly bright thing shoved towards his face almost blinding him in the pitch darkness of the room. And then he saw it. A face... a face unlike any other that he had ever seen before. It was a male sphinx, he could tell that much, but even his eyes were unnerving. One eye was like a frog's and the other was like a human's, and he had two horns but one of two different varieties, a demon's horn and a ram's horn. The singular glow from the lantern light was not doing much to make that bizarre face seem less intimidating either.

"You are not Doctor Vune. Have you come to kill us? Were you sent by him?"

Faylen blinked in surprise at this sudden interrogation.

"I, um... No. Not sent by him. However I do want to find him, and I won't harm you if you can just tell me where he is."

The bizarre creature gave an exasperated sigh. "Pity. That's what I was hoping you would tell me."
There was an awkward pause before he spoke again. "I suppose you're wondering what this place is. It's Doctor Vune's laboratory, which he abandoned a long while ago. So... If you're searching for him, this probably wasn't the wisest place to look. Then again, to my knowledge this is the only place you can look. The wretch left no trace of any plan to relocate and here he is, gone. But if you're angry about it, you can bet that my frustration is twice as great as yours. Only comfort to you I suspect, now that you're here, trapped in the middle of nowhere with two monsters in a crypt."

Faylen suddenly coughed again from all the dust and winced from the brightness of the single flickering flame. Just what... What was going on here? All of this was too strange, too much to take in. For a start, the sphinx - if he could call it that - standing in front of him was far too articulate to be your average Frankenstein's monster.

"I'm sorry," Faylen began, cocking his head to one side in confusion. "Who... who actually are you? You were created by this Doctor Vune, right? So how did you manage to get so... articulate? Educated?"

The stranger rolled his eyes, while the wolf hybrid paced nervously in the background. "I am Terrok-Toll the Twisted. I know, show stopping name, courtesy of my creater. But my real creator, the one who taught me how to read and educate myself to develop my own life... Her name was Arcadia."

Faylen blinked as all his muscles tensed and a shiver ran down his spine. Could his sister have had a secret life with this... being, that he had never known about?

[Nephthys]

Rank 2.1

You find/awaken a creature that is somehow still 'alive' in a vat or attached to some strange machinery. It has a story to tell (or grunts a few harsh clues?) about hearing the Doctor talking about his secret Island. What becomes of the creature? Save/help it? Put it out of its misery? Try to escape from its rampage? Develop feelings for it? Wonder why something about it reminds you of a old lost love/family member?

The wolf hybrid creature interrupted Faylen's thoughts abruptly with a loud whine, "Father!! Father not here. Island? Father on island, maybe, can't swim."

Faylen's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

"And here I was thinking he'd be useless," Terrok-Toll scoffed. Then he turned back towards the creature with an intimidating look of urgency in his odd eyes. "Speak, again. Be more specific. Is Dr Vune on an island?" The beast didn't have time to answer before Arcadia squawking from above alerted Faylen to the presence of the other sphinxes from the tavern earlier. It seemed they had finally sorted their cart and horses out and were on their way to discover this former lab, now dark rotting dungeon.

"Okay," Faylen said. "That was my raven, Arcadia. She makes that noise if someone she doesn't know approaches her." Terrok-Toll swung his head back around, clearly not interested in the wolf creature anymore.
"Are we under attack? And you said you're raven's name was Arcadia. That's the same name as the sphinx who taught me to read."

"Yes, Arcadia was my older sister. I named that raven after her when she... when she disappeared." Faylen explained hurriedly. "I don't know what the sphinxes up there are trying to do, but I do know that they work for Doctor Vune, as I've listened in to their conversation once or twice. I also know that my sister clearly cared for you a lot, which means I don't want you harmed either. So you're going to have to hide with me until they've gone... My own name's Faylen in case you need to know."

Terrok Toll shrugged. "Well, isn't that a coincidence? But yes, I do agree that hiding sounds like an excellent plan. Especially now that I think I can hear them coming."

The faint sound of horses whinnying could be heard from above, and footsteps near the secret entrance were heard. Without saying another word, Faylen and Terrok-Toll scarpered to the furthest corner of the room, surrounded by darkness, and hid behind a wall of ancient dusty cupboards.

"I wonder if anything's still here after all this time," Faylen's ears twitched as he heard Lucas' familiar voice speak. "Then again, those monsters don't seem to have very high standards." His voice seemed to be getting closer still as he descended a ladder that Darla had helped position through the hole. "You know... maybe they actually like living like cockroaches."

It suddenly dawned on Faylen that the wolf creature was not hiding next to him and Terrok. In fact, he had no idea where he was, and he prayed he would not blow their cover.

Soon Lucas had reached the end of the ladder and was finally inside the old lab. "Oh... Yuch!" He exclaimed. "I can see why he abandoned this place!" Faylen thought he could almost hear Darla rolling her eyes as she followed him, going down the ladder herself.

"It wasn't like this before he abandoned it, stupid." She grumbled. "Good thing we have these lanterns though. I can't see two inches in front of me, it's so dark."

Faylen peered out from behind his cupboards silently and he saw the two lights flickering like fire flies in the distance. Luckily they were not pointing the lights at him yet, so he would still be invisible to them in this darkness. He just had to keep quiet.

"Woah... well... all of this we'll have to burn."

Faylen watched as the two pointed their lights and together revealed a long row of cages with wires and tubes everywhere, all a jumbled mess. An arm that once belonged to an alligator also lay abandoned in one of the cages, flashing quickly into view as the lanterns burned closer.

"Ugh!!" Lucas exclaimed, horrified. "Urrghh... argghhh...." He turned away from the disgusting sight hurriedly and the limb disappeared into the darkness again.

"Just don't loose your lunch, Lucas. Although most of it was alchohol I guess."

"Shut up," he spat. "Do you know what, I don't even know what we're waiting for. I can't wait to get out of here and get away from you. We were told to get rid of anything suspicious looking right? Well I say the whole thing looks suspicious, so why don't we just get on with burning this hell hole to the ground?"

"I agree, we should burn it all," Darla replied in an unimpressed tone. "But not before we've made sure there's nothing useful left here. None of his creatures, for instance." Faylen's muscles tensed at this, though he remained totally silent.

Darla moved away from the scene of the cages and started walking closer to their hiding place. The wolf was somewhere in front of them, that much he could tell from its heavy breathing. Darla heard it too, and shone the light right into its face before falling backwards a few paces in surprise.

The wolf howled piteously. "Father... I just want to find him! Take me to him!" Faylen winced. He should have known it wasn't wise to hide with that strange monster nearby. He shuffled his hooves impatiently, making dull clopping sounds. Lucas began to approach him.

"And why should we? You are discarded material to him. You were abandoned. You are a failed experiment. Nothing." His words clearly stung because the wolf hybrid threw his head back and let rip a mighty howl of anguish that almost made the ground shake.

"I could be something to my father!!! Let me prove myself to him!!!" He wailed. Lucas and Darla exchanged sceptical looks.

"Well, he certainly has enthusiasm. That could be useful, you know." Faylen gasped as Terrok-Toll spoke up and walked cooly from their hiding place.

"What are you doing?!" Faylen hissed under his breath.

"Trust me," Terrok turned back to him and whispered. "I could do with an island holiday. And you'll meet me there, won't you?" Faylen stared back at him in confusion and irritation for changing the plan like this. But it was too late to stop him now. Besides, Faylen remembered that Terrok had seemed pretty desperate to get to Doctor Vune by any means necessary, perhaps for revenge or closure... and perhaps this was the only hope he saw of finding him right now.

"What?" Darla asked as she vaguely saw Terrok's form emerging from the darkness.

"I said," he began again, "he certainly has enthusiasm. which could be useful."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Oh look. Here comes another freakshow! They're all coming out of the wood work now."

"You think you two don't look like freaks to us?" Terrok-Toll retorted as he went to stand nearer to the wolf hybrid. "Anyway, I expect you're planning to either kill us both or smuggle us to wherever Dr Vune is now. And the first option, I think is... a terrible waste. We have good qualities, both of us. Qualities that he can take from us, put on a different body, and use. The doctor goes to a lot of trouble to make all of his creatures, and we're not exceptions despite being 'failed' experiments. If you kill us now, you'll be wasting the time he took to make us in the first place. At least take us to him, and double check that he can't fit us into his grand plans somewhere. Then if he still has no use for us at all, I expect he'll give you permission to do with us as you will."

Lucas yawned. "This one talks too much. I can see why Vune left him here. Too much brain, too little brawn. Hardly a winning combination for someone trying to invent the world's greatest killer."

Terrok cocked his head to one side. "Too much brain eh? Well you my friend, seem to be suffering from the exact opposite ailment. He'll grow tired of both of us eventually, which means we do have at least that in common." Faylen stifled a chuckle at that.

Lucas looked pretty angry now. "Why you little..." He was about to lunge at him when Darla placed a paw on his shoulder. "Wait - he has a point. We should wait for Dr Vune's verdict on these two before killing them. And there are only two of you, right?"

Terrok spoke up quickly before the wolf could say something that would reveal Faylen's presence. "Yes, yes, only us two. You can indeed burn the rest, I'll be happy to see my troubled childhood home turn to ashes." Darla and Lucas exchanged looks again before turning back to him. Darla spoke as Lucas glared,

"All right then. We will do as you suggest. Lucas, take this lantern and smash it."

Faylen realised that was probably his queue to leave before he ended up being trapped in a cobweb infested bonfire. He sneaked past Darla and Lucas easily in the dark while Terrok-Toll continued distracting them, and then ascended their ladder at lightening speed. When he emerged from the underground former lab, the light of day momentarily blinded him and he staggered towards Arcadia, who sensing something was amiss, guided him to a patch of shrubbery to hide behind.

Faylen watched and waited. A few seconds after he had hidden, Terrok-Toll emerged followed by Darla, Lucas, and the wolf creature. None of them were holding any lanterns anymore, having left them underground to burn what remained of the lab. Then Terrok-Toll and the wolf were forced into uncomfortable looking crates with tiny air holes and loaded up onto the back of the cart. As they drove away, smoke began to rise from the hole in the ground and crackles and pops could be heard as the fire devoured the last known clues Faylen had in leading him to Doctor Vune.

All that remained now was the promise of a secret island where this "Doctor Vune", the most insane and psychopathic doctor Faylen had ever heard of, could be residing. And Faylen was going to find it.

[Nephthys]

Rank 2.2

You must do some searching or research to find information on the Island. There are many methods... Magic or Fortune Telling? Library/book research? Ask a Scholar or adventurer?

Amasis. He would know about this, surely. The pirate had been almost everywhere and had done almost everything. Faylen did not look down on him because of his profession, and Amasis did not look down on his own. They would meet sometimes, and discuss plans for the future... The two had been friends since childhood. Though contact was not always easy to keep up between the two of them, for obvious reasons. Half the time Amasis was out at sea exploring the world, and the other half Faylen would be out on some new quest to deliver justice to a murderer. Well, it's lucky that for once we're in the same place at the same time, Faylen thought. He sent a letter to him that very evening and a few days later, they met to discuss things at the tavern.

"So what I need to know Amasis, is -" Faylen was interrupted by his drink being served, "- Thank you. Is whether you know of any island this madman could be living on... discreetly. It would have to be discreet because otherwise everyone would know about it, and I only heard about it by chance from someone who knew him."

Amasis had an unimpressed look on his tanned face like he usually did and took a hearty swig of rum before replying. "And... it would have to be discreet, because I've never 'erd tell of such an island before. Never 'erd of ya friend Doctor Vune, though I'm sorry tah say it." His brows furrowed a little as he looked down at the table. "Fella sounds like he could do with a smack on the ear from you. By which I mean a dagger in the back." He chuckled once to himself before sipping from his goblet again.

Faylen scoffed. "Okay... well there must be a couple of islands nearby at least for him to be living on one. Which would you say is the most likely for someone to be hiding on?" Amasis exhaled heavily.

"Honestly Faylen? None of 'em. I've explored every one of 'em and they're not home to a single soul. I think yer more likely to find 'im living on the legendary disappearing island, and that one only exists in tha' minds of children."

Faylen's ears perked up suddenly. "A disappearing island?" At this Amasis erupted into deep rumbling laughter.

"It's a tale for cubs and bored folk. Don't be askin' me about that, I don't deal in magic or mystery or any of that nonsense. Ha!" He downed the rest of his rum with one last gulp. "If ya really have tah know, ask a fortune teller. They're good at makin' things up, an' talkin' about made up things."

A look of revelation suddenly crossed Faylen's face. "You know... that might not be such a bad idea. In fact I might actually do that."

"Ahaahhaa!" Faylen sighed. Amasis seemed to be quite drunk now. "Yer will, will ya? That island ain't real and that Doctor Vune ain't on it. I'd bet on it."

Faylen raised his eyebrows with interest. "You'd bet on it? Hm... would you bet your ship and all your crew and your service in helping me find it?"

Amasis raised an eyebrow, "Ey," he murmured. "Where is this going?"

And so, Faylen convinced Amasis to help him investigate whether or not the island existed, and then if it did, to help him journey to it. Amasis said that for himself, it would be reward enough to discover a new island (possibly with treasure on) and to see that "madman" get what he deserved. For his crew, he wanted them to be able to have their pick of the monsters on the island in return for helping Faylen on this mission. Faylen obliged, choosing not to mention how these creatures could end up being too wild and uncontrollable to keep as slaves or as menacing looking guards. The fact was, he needed Amasis and his crew, and he was willing to do anything to gain their assistance. So leaving out some parts of the truth to seal the deal was surely not such a terrible crime, he thought.

That being said, Faylen did not yet even know for sure that this island was out there, or that he would even need to sail anywhere. And so, it was time to consult a fortune teller. I've never consulted any one of them before, he thought. I just pray they aren't as terrifying or crazy as Amasis makes them out to be.

[Nephthys]

Rank 2.3

You find out that the Island is relatively near the city of Crux but is only visible on the days of the Full moon. You prepare to travel to and investigate the island. Do you need to hire help? Plan to use your own magic? Create and organized list of adventurer supplies?

"Mystique Madeline" as she liked to be known, was not exactly easy to find. Faylen and Amasis had undertaken many a trek to try and discover her secret lair, said to be between two willow trees.