RP: The Keep of the Dead

[Daigotsu Thrakhath]

(OOC: Just setting up a few things, RP is semi-open. Just PM me before posting if you'd like to be involved.)

Thrakhath stepped off of the deck of the Silence as her undead crew continued to tie the ship to the harbor. Otsu walked beside and just behind him, his expression unreadable. "If I may say so, my lord," Otsu said, "this place does not seem suitable for a base of operations."

"That's what makes it perfect, Otsu-san," Thrakhath replied. "No one would suspect that this fortress could be inhabited, and anyone curious enough to investigate would not survive to tell anyone otherwise." He indicated the land around them with a sweep of his arm. "Any disappearances can be attributed to the Shadowlands itself."

"Are we certain this fortress is uninhabited, my lord?" Otsu said, unable to hid his apprehension. "As you pointed out, this is the Shadowlands; anything could be living behind those crumbling walls."

Thrakhath's smile was more feral than anything else. "If there is, it won't be there for long," he said. "Come now Otsu-san, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I must have left it behind in the Mantis lands, my lord," Otsu said, though his expression was now one of anticipation.

The two men followed the path that led from the small harbor to the front of the fortress. As they approached the castle from the front, Thrakhath could see the gate was not in good shape. One of the great double doors was hanging dangerously from its hinges, and the other had been torn away completely and lay flat across the entrance. Thrakhath walked over the door and into the courtyard, Otsu following just behind, and from his right Thrakhath heard something very close to a growl.

The two men exchanged glances, and Thrakhath slowly reached behind him for his ono rather than his scimitar. Otsu relaxed into a fighting posture behind him, drawing his scroll case. The castle's courtyard seemed to be in perpetual mist, and Thrakhath squinted at the murky air around him. Thrakhath heard the rustle of paper behind him as Otsu drew a scroll and began to whisper an incantation.

Thrakhath saw more than felt the wind around him as Otsu finished the spell, and the mist began to dissipate. As his view cleared, Thrakhath heard the same growl, coming from his left. His grip on his axe tightened as he and Otsu turned to face the source of the sound. Ahead of the two men was a massive creature. The demon must have stood at least twelve feet tall, with short, thick legs and arms the size of tree trunks that ended in deadly claws. It's face was a gruesome display of fangs and eyes, twisted into what Thrakhath could only assume was a grin.

The creature flexed its huge claws as it watched them, but it made no move to advance. "I don't suppose this one is one of yours?" Otsu said. The fear in his voice was obvious.

Thrakhath shook his head. "I have never tried to control an oni, Otsu-san; nor would I," he said gravely.

"Then I suppose we don't have any choice," Otsu said.

"When I signal you," Thrakhath said slowly, "I want you to distract it."

"Distract it?" Otsu said incredulously.

Thrakhath shot the shugenja a glare. "Do something flashy, just draw its attention for a moment," he said. He turned his attention back to the demon. Their eyes seemed to met, and the oni's grin grew wider. Thrakhath began muttering to himself, and an aura of darkness seemed to surround him as he took a step toward the oni.

"The tiny human wishes to fight me?" the oni said in a deep, grating voice.

Otsu visibly trembled at the sound of that voice, and Thrakhath began to wonder if this would work. "You'll find this human isn't as puny as he looks," Thrakhath yelled in answer.

The demon laughed and flexed its claws in anticipation. "It seems your friend is hesitant to join you,"the creature said, advancing toward Thrakhath.

Thrakhath's expression was hard. "Are you going to talk or FIGHT?" Thrakhath said, roaring the last word. He charged with unnatural speed toward the advancing oni, and the creature swung at him clumsily as he went by, clearly surprised by the speed of the attack. Thrakhath turned and aimed a heavy chop at the oni's leg, but his axe just missed the mark as the demon danced out of the way. The oni growled and brought its fist down to crush Thrakhath from head to foot, but the dark Moto leaped back away from the attack.

The ground shook as the demon's fist made contact with the ground, and Thrakhath nearly lost his footing. Thrakhath swung sideways at the oni's arm, but once again the oni was too fast for him. The two combatants began to circle each other warily. "You're a nimble one, little human," the oni growled. It sniffed at the air, and it grinned with a mouthful of fangs. "And you smell of death," it said.

"You're a very talkative demon," Thrakhath said. He leaped forward suddenly, bringing his axe down in an overhand chop that the oni once again dodged, and Thrakhath hit the ground at a roll in anticipation of the return blow. The ground shook again, and Thrakhath's roll became a fall, and he landed sprawled on his back. He threw his weight behind him in a backwards roll just as the oni's hand came down to scoop him up, and he heard the sound of claws screeching against armor as he came to his feet, axe at the ready.

"NOW!" Thrakhath roared. A huge bolt of lightning struck the oni from behind, and it howled in pain, staggering and shielding its eyes from the flash. Thrakhath took the opportunity and charged forward, leaping onto the oni's back and bringing his heavy axe down hard onto the oni's skull. The blade bit into the thick bone, splitting the creatures head open like a melon. The demon stood there for a moment, its hands twitching in spasms, until Thrakhath yanked the axe out of its head and it toppled forward. He jumped nimbly from the creature's back just before it crashed into the ground.

Thrakhath took a cloth from within his armor and wiped the blade of his axe clean as Otsu approached him, watching the oni as if he expected it to get up again. "Lightning?" Thrakhath said as the shugenja approached.

Otsu turned his attention from the demon and shrugged. "You said you wanted something flashy," he said. The fear seemed to have drained right out of him. "Is it always that easy?"

Thrakhath eyed Otsu as if the man had lost his mind. "Not always," he said simply, after a moment of silence. "Return to the ship and get the crew in here, we have work to do," he said.

Otsu bowed. "At once, my lord," he said, and turned to leave the fortress. Thrakhath planted the end of the axe in the ground and held the bloody cloth in his other hand, and he closed his eyes, muttering a ritual.

There was a moment of silence after he completed the incantation, and then there was a familiar voice in his mind. It seeks for one, the voice said, barely a whisper.

"Yes Yurishi," Thrakhath said aloud. "I have use for you, seek me out," he said.

One lives to serve, the Goju replied, and then Thakhath felt the contact break. He opened his eyes, and took in the sight of the ruined fortress around him for the first time. "You'll do," he said to no one in particular.

[Daigotsu Thrakhath]

Thrakhath inspected the scaffolding that held the damaged gate in place for what seemed like the hundredth time that day as ghuls and goblins worked around him. He would have preferred to bring in living human beings to put this keep back together, but humans were scarce in this part of the Shadowlands. He'd tried to pick out the most intelligent goblins he could find, at least the ones that could wield a hammer competently. One of them, a creature that called itself Keppo, even seemed knowledgeable in fortification building, and how he'd come by that knowledge was a secret he refused to share. Thrakhath suspected the little creature had simply tortured it out of a Kaiu on a whim.

Right now Keppo was standing at the base of the gate, shouting orders at the goblins and undead repairing the gate's hinges. The little bakemono turned to face Thrakhath as he approached and bowed formally when he recognized him. Thrakhath nodded his head in return. "How are the repairs proceeding?"

"My brothers not so good workers boss," Keppo said in the disjointed speech common to his kind. "But still, we get it done when you say."

"I'm sure I can find ways to motivate them if they slack off," Thrakhath said. As he watched, one of the creatures madly hammered away at a hinge that had already been installed. "What's wrong with that one?" Thrakhath said, pointing.

Keppo looked where Thrakhath indicated, and the little goblin grinned. "Oh that just Boshanai," he said. "He like the sound hammer make on metal." Thrakhath and Keppo exchanged a look, and Keppo cleared his throat uncomfortably. "OY! BOSH!" Keppo yelled. "BACK TO WORK!"

"YAH BOSS!" Boshanai yelled back. He immediately went back to hammering.

Keppo shrugged, but Thrakhath reached into his cloak and produced a dagger. He threw it with deadly, and Boshanai screeched in pain as the dagger lodged itself in his back. The sound he made when he hit the ground was just as unpleasant. "I liked him boss," Keppo said sadly.

"When I bring him back I'll make sure he can still talk," Thrakhath said sarcastically. "Make sure the rest are a little more focused, hm?"

Keppo shrugged again. "You got it boss," he said, and turned his attention back to the workers.

Thrakhath left Keppo to his own devices and walked the path leading away from the keep. He went to where Otsu was overseeing the installation of the banners bearing the Spider mon on the side of the road. He smirked as he turned to face Thrakhath. "Ordering these undead around takes some getting used to, my lord," Otsu said. "I sometimes forget how much guidance they need when they're doing something they weren't familiar with in life."

"I have faith in your ability to order around mindless servants," Thrakhath said irritably.

Otsu noticed his lord's annoyance, but made no comment on it. "If I may ask, my lord," he said instead, "is it wise to announce the Spider Clan's presence here like this?"

"Who's going to see them?" Thrakhath replied. "The occasional Hiruma might blunder across it I suppose. Some of them might even make it back to Shiro Hiruma to report." He grinned. "And then, the worst that would happen is a battle with the Crab. I always looks forward to such opportunities."

Otsu looked at his lord for a moment, then he bowed. "As you say, my lord," he said simply. "If you'll excuse me, I'll get back to work."

Thrakhath nodded. "Report back to the Silence when you're finished, I may have need of her soon," he said. Otsu bowed once again and went back to his work.

It was on the road back toward the keep when Thrakhath felt the familiar presence. One is here, as requested, a grating whisper from his left.

"Yurishi, punctual as always," Thrakhath said. The Goju remained silent. "Unfortunately, the mission is just another courier run," Thrakhath said. "I need you to find Gahseng; bring him and fifty of his chosen men here, and tell him that we have a keep to rebuild."

The Goju said nothing for a moment. Gahseng no longer walks the land, he said finally.

Thrakhath's face was more curious than anything else. "How did he come by his final death?"

He fell at Shiro Hiruma, lord.

"Where?!" Thrakhath nearly yelled, clearly surprised. "What in the name of Fu Leng was he doing there?"

The Spider have begun an attack on the castle, Yurishi reported, as if he were discussing the weather.

Thrakhath stood there staring, dumbfounded. Vaguely he heard the sound of feet hitting dirt as Otsu approached, drawn by his exclamation. "Is something wrong my lord?" he asked.

Thrakhath turned to face Otsu, and the look on his face made Otsu cringe. "Take over here, Otsu," he said. He held up a hand to silence the shugenja before he could protest. "Keppo is knowledgeable, and will advise you in anything that might be unclear to you." He produced a mon from his cloak and handed it to Otsu. "Show that to anyone who tries argues with you; they will know you speak with my authority."

"Where are you going, if I may know?" Otsu said, trying very hard to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

"Shiro Hiruma," Thrakhath said. His hands flexed as if they itched to hold a weapon. "I have a war to win."