Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-25828117-20160101233053/@comment-5583506-20160102002429

Evangeline sat down behind a couple of bushes, leaning back against a tree. It was cold and her corset wouldn't provide for much warmth. By a reflex she tried to wrap herself in a non-existant trenchcoat, suddenly reminding herself that Tanner had it.

She cursed lowly under her breath, knowing that she would be sore in the morning when the morning light finally came to warm her blood. But as the dark slowly crept in over the fair she drifted away into a deep sleep, shuddering slightly as the breezes of the wastes veiled her into their chilling grip.



The "Child of Salem" they called her. The "Chosen One". She had many names and titles among the members, yet they all meant the same. She would restore the lost tranquility of the Wasteland by destroying the ultimate evil. It had been foretold. Yet here she was... 16 years old and without the slightest idea of how such a feat would be carried out. But at least she was on the right track.

For almost three days time she had been on the search for this cruel cult going by the name of Cult of Ug-Qualtoth. She had heard the stories of these fanatics. How they worshipped some dark god beyond the very fabrics of physical existence. Even though her order encouraged the belief in the supernatural, she found herself to be in doubt. What she could touch and feel she could believe. And if this... god was beyond the physical, then he or she didn't exist.

But it wasn't because of the fact that this cult worshipped some god that had caught the Order of Salem's interests. It was because of their methods to prove their devotion. Usually through human sacrifice. Ghost stories were told of how the members of the cult would roam among the moonlit dunes of the Wasteland, preying on the unwary. How they would abduct them and then sacrifice them upon the altars of Ug-Qualtoth in the most despicable ways known to man. Their cruel and evil practice was to end this day... with the death of the high priest.

She crept closer, leaning in over the broken ceiling of the ruined church and peered down. A gathering of men and women, wearing tatttered faded robes, stood in a mass amongst the broken church benches, holding candles made of Brahmin fat. At the altar stood a man with his hood raised. Gray tufts of hair behind his eyes, a long scar in the shape of a claw mark across his right temple caused by some unindentified animal, and bright green eyes that almost seemed to come aglow in the damp darkness.

"My children", he began as if in a regular mass, his voice very dark and hoarse. It almost hurt her ears listening to him. "Never before have we been as close as we are now to achieve our goal. Our devoted brother, Richard Dunwich, Ug-Qualtoth guide his soul, started centuries ago a reformation of our following to the one true ruler of this world. It ended with the Great War, the weakening of mankind. It was a blessing from our ruler. With the world weakened, our savior let his true children survive and thrive in the Wasteland, so that we might finish what Richard Dunwich started. Our ancestors will envy us, my children! They look upon us with pride! That we... after centuries and millenia of suffering and prosecution, will finally reclaim this world to our ruler! And thus we will be rightfully rewarded! We will bathe in his glory when he arrives! And he will share his divinity with us! We are truly blessed! We are truly chosen! We are his children!"

The mass joined in: "Ug-Qualtoth will be returned. Be afraid, worms."

Evangeline shuddered at the sight and readied the nightscope on her sniper rifle to get a closer look at the priest to take the lethal shot.

"But he is not yet returned, my children!" continued the priest. "From the depths of the black water he will cometh! From the womb of the red mark he will forth! From the blood of his children and the blood of those who oppose him will he be reborn! The blood of the opposite force! With no civilization left to prosecute or stop us, Ug-Qualtoth will be returned!"

"Be afraid, worms!" repeated the mass.

As soon as Evangeline got the nightscope out from the pocket of her trenchcoat she felt her fingers slip around the material, causing the scope to drop through the ceiling and onto the wooden floor with a echoing sound. None of the cultists moved an inch, but the high priest slowly turned his face to her. His green eyes saw her and seemed to flicker in the darkness. He smiled. She never believed that she had ever seen such a cruel or vicious smile all her life.

"He is closer than we could have anticipated, my children", he said, his eyes never leaving Evangeline's for one moment. "The blood of the opposite force!" he chanted and pointed all of a suddenly directly at the girl leaning in over the broken ceiling edge. "Bring her to me!"

Evangeline felt her blood curdle to ice chips and she rolled down from the roof vertically, using her honed balance to land on her feet in a nearby sand dune to dampen the long fall. But too late had already a cultist on his guard post taken note of her, approaching her all too quickly for her to get up and make her escape. He grabbed her rifle from her hand and shoved her to the ground and held her there as the remainder of the mass exited the church, surrounding her.

The high priest approached the girl with a vicious smile. "Can it truly be her?" he said, his eyes almost shining with some sort of unknown fixation. "The blood of the opposite force?" he mumbled under his breath. "Bring her inside..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She screamed and struggled as they carried her off inside. This was like a nightmare come to life. Never had she expected her assignment to fail miserably. And for the first time she was fearing for her life. She had all too well heard of what these people did to the people they captured. She had even been shown the results. And that was enough for her to lose the appetite for almost a week.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">They carried her inside the darkness of the church ruin, all while she kicked and arched her back to be free of their tight grip. They then held her steady up as they finally reached the altar. She looked around in panic. All around her were these cruel men and women who took pleasure in these hideous sacrifices, believing it to be for some sort of greater good. But she could see it for what it truly was... Evil... Unspeakable evil... If this was the ultimate evil she had been prophesied to battle during her lifetime, she had without further doubt found it.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Human skulls and bones were placed along the alcoves, the pillars were painted with strange signs and symbols in human blood.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Take her clothes off", said the high priest coldly as he reached down for a crudely designed dagger, looking just as corrupted and wicked as the rest of the place.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"N-no!" she objected as they began to tore at her clothing. "You... you can't!"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Her first impression was that they were going to... rape her... or worse. But when she saw the priest approach her with the dagger, she immediately assumed that it would be for something much worse. Maybe they would cut her throat off and drink of her blood whilst she was still alive? Maybe they would flay her? She did not know. All she knew was that this would be the end of her life as she knew it...

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Her clothes came off rapidly and then she stood there with tears in her eyes and her expression twisted in a grimace of pure fear as she tried to cover herself up as best as she could when the high priest arrived with a lustre in his eyes seldom witnessed. Yet it was not her body he wanted.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Hold out her hand", he commanded his followers coldly.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Evangeline struggled even more and sobbed as her arm was reluctantly guided by the cultists in the high priests direction. The blade of the dagger cut through her palm swiftly, causing her to give out a cry of shock and pain. The priest then let the blade balance on the tip off his tongue for but a brief moment as he tasted off her blood.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">His eyes seemed to grow twice their size at the taste of her. "She is... the Chosen One", he said, almost sounding like Overseer Ridgemont back in Salem. "The blood of the opposite force!" he gasped. "It's her... This girl... For centuries we have waited..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The followers gave each other stares in a mix of awe, confusion and shock. They did not however seem to wish to do any permanent harm to her however. She had at first believed that they would kill her out of spite, but the way these fanatics reacted to her seemed to be that of reverence, rather than contempt. She had no idea what that was all about however.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"From the depths of the black water he will cometh!" repeated the priest and held his arms out over his gathering. "From the womb of the red mark he will come forth! This child, this girl! She is the Chosen One! Ug-Qualtoth will be returned! Be afraid, worms!"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"BE AFRAID!" they chanted in unison.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">He then looked over Evangeline with a fresh interest. "Bring her to the altar stone."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Once again she was carried off against her will, this time without clothes. She screamed and pleaded for mercy. She just wanted this nightmare to end. They strapped her down to the altar stone and she could do nothing but to watch as the priest approached her, chanting in a guttural, growling and dark language she couldn't understand. It sounded ancient though, almost reminding her of strange noises  animals used to make.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">A bucket of blood was carried by another follower and a brush by another one.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"You are the Chosen One", repeated the priest to her as his chanting broke off. "But if you are to see Ug-Qualtoth's brilliance you won't have need for these any longer", he said and wrapped his hand over her eyes.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She couldn't remember what had happened from there, other than the fact that everything became permanently dark and that she fell unconscious due to her own screaming...

<p style="font-weight:normal;">

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Evangeline!" a female voice cried out in the darkness.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Who?

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Bloody hell", muttered and a male voice. "This... this is..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Who's there?

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She could here people around here. It felt very surrealistic. She heard footsteps and echoes. Voices from several people all around her, yet she couldn't see anyone.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Evangeline!" repeated the female voice, now closer to her position.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"H-here!" she cried out with her bright voice now turned slightly hoarse. "I am... here!"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Thank the Ancestors", murmured a raspy voice that could only belong to Overseer Ridgemont herself. "She is alive", she confirmed to whatever people she was with.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">''Yes, I am alive... but... But why is it so dark?''

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Could... could someone bring me some lights?" the girl said, her voice slightly trembling as she spoke. "It's so dark here..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"In a minute, sweetheart", re-assured Ridgemont. "Let me just take a look at you and..." The Overseer fell mute and drew for breath. "By the Ancestors..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"What is it, Overseer?" asked a voice that most likely belonged to Jacob Kramer. "We have secured the area. No signs of any cultists and..." Kramer fell silent as well. "What in the...?"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Wh-what is?" asked Evangeline nervously. "Please, just... just bring me some lights already! It's so dark!"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Little did the girl know, that not only had she been permanently robbed of her eyesight, rendering her blind, but also that someone had taken the time and patience to paint the strange, unholy marking of an alien obelisk upon the girl's naked stomach. For what purpose and for what meaning this had served, would remain a mystery within the Order of Salem for years to come, and no one would ever speak of it again...

<p style="font-weight:normal;">

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Evangeline whimpered as she woke up, collapsing onto the ground as her back slided off from the side of the tree.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">''Nightmare... ''she told herself. She remembered the events clearly from her own perspective and had only been told the details of it by persuading Overseer Ridgemont. She was a unique case when it came to the Cult of Ug-Qualtoth. They had left her alive... Why? That was a question she kept asking herself. But she often replied by telling herself that she shouldn't look so deeply into the matter. These were all mad and dangerous people who couldn't be reasoned with. It didn't matter why they hadn't sacrificed her as they had with countless of others. What mattered was that they would be exterminated. Every last one of them. Which came to remind her of her original assignment. She had come this far south to track some of their members down, to scout out their hideouts and then report back to the order.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The night was young and it was going to be a long time before dawn came and they had to be on the move again. She rose up from her position and hanged the sniper rifle over her shoulder. Hopefully Tanner was awake so that she could have her trenchcoat back.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">She had some nightly hunting to do...