((It's good to know! I'll try to show more of the reader suggested stuff. Also, more updates.))
Talking to the Dead"A seance? What good will that do?"
"I don't know. Possibly none. But it was something that Wilberforce tried, and... as ridiculous as the idea is, it actually did work. If nothing else, I'd like to find out what Dr. Killpatient's spirit wants. I'm tired of him throwing my bed around in the middle of the night."
"So, what do we do?" Ishar had agreed to help him. For some reason, she actually seemed excited. He had to remind himself that this was Ishar the miner, not Ishar the hunter. Ishar the hunter's experiences with ghosts hadn't exactly been that positive.
Remalle looked around. He'd set up the dining room more or less as he remembered Wilberforce doing. There were large, dribbling candles made from cat tallow, set up in a vaguely symbolic pattern. He'd chalked some arcane symbols from one of Croaker's books on the floor, and stood a couple of chairs between them.
It seemed close enough.
"We... concentrate. Join hands and concentrate."
"That's it? I thought we could chant, or something!"
Remalle shrugged, and closed his eyes. He wasn't really sure how it worked, but something had happened whenever Wilberforce had tried it. And it had somehow become his duty to deal with these things.
Ishar started "chanting", and he tried to concentrated on summoning the spirits of the dead. That meant... thinking about the dead really hard. Thinking about all of the friends he had lost over the years, and all of the times he had almost joined them. Thinking about the ones who had come back,
somehow, and how they always came back different. Trying not to think too hard about what that might mean.
When it finally happened, it wasn't Dr. Killpatient who showed up. Or maybe he had; it was impossible to tell. The whole thing was over in a flash. There was a tremendous noise, not exactly frightening, but
loud, like hundreds of voices speaking at once. And then there was the vision. He saw it for one second, and that was far too long.
After the chaos died down, Remalle stood up, and helped Ishar stand as well. The candles had all gone out. That seemed to be inevitable. They both stayed silent for a while.
Ishar spoke first. "How many different things have died here, do you think?"
"A lot. Hundreds, probably thousands."
((A small sample))
"Yes, that's what I thought." She looked around the room, which seemed a lot less empty now. "If they all come back, like the soldier says they're doing..."
"That might not happen here." He had some reason to think that was possible, in spite of everything. Remalle had been able to make out one word, in that split second of noise. It hadn't surprised him, because it was one that he had heard before.
"Trapped."
But what did that mean, and what would happen if suddenly they weren't?
.............................
Next: Problems? Probably Problems.
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Topic: Oceanbridge - A Fortress Defense Community Fort: Reclaimed, Again! (And Again) (Read 182885 times)