The Horror of Blood III

We had just arrived at ARC's local headquarters. Caledon heard something growl from the bushes. Pretty quickly, we figured out something was wrong. Clara ran inside as soon as the thing showed itself. I suppose she realized that a fight between a teenager and a Dying Man shard wouldn't end well for the teenager. Eric shot a few times at the Carcass. It didn't do much.

Caledon, meanwhile, took out a long combat knife and made a swing at the Carcass's neck. It didn't do much, but it seemed to cause the Carcass pain.

I, meanwhile... well, I provided moral support. (I'm not much of a fighter.)

But seriously, I did help somewhat. The Carcass, as has been established by now, is rather stupid, and there was a rock by my feet. I threw it while the Carcass had its eyes closed for a moment, and it honest to God looked to see what made the sound. So Eric took the knife from Caledon and stabbed it into the Carcass's leg. The Carcass howled and swatted at Eric, scratching up his face.

That did it. I took out my own knife and stabbed the Carcass in the eye as it moved downwards to bite Eric. The Carcass, apparently acting on what was left of its human instincts since it had been possessed, ran back into the woods with a limp, bleeding from several spots.

After that, we followed Clara's lead and went into the headquarters. The situation is... being worked out right now, what with Caledon's being a former member of both ARC and of one of its most personal enemies, and Clara's being a teenager with a Puppet for a mother and a father who is, to my knowledge, absentee.

And... I feel really bad for suggesting the Carcass was David. I mean, I know what survivor's guilt feels like, I know what it's like to feel as though the people you once knew want vengeance from beyond the grave, and I know what it's like to be told you're right. That's not something I would wish on anyone.

I guess I was just projecting.

- Poe

The Winged Seraphs

In short, I became a new man, and lived a man's life. 
It was Alan Roach. It was his footsteps I heard.

Or rather, it was the man I met while he was wearing the mask of Alan Roach, and playing that part. (That mask, if you're curious, is a good old-fashioned devil mask.) Currently, not-Alan is going by Asher Lyall, and he's wearing the kitsune mask to match. Really, he's indistinguishable from your average Mountebank, complete with the tattoo of a hand shaking a red glove on the back of his neck. However, he said he wasn't really... working with the Mountebanks for that particular mission.

Unfortunately, Eric, Clara, and I were all unable to save Asher. He had cleared out the Puppets nonlethally, mostly through his sharply-honed stealth skills (and, apparently, actual magical abilities, though I... think he was joking about that?), and gotten to the cell where Eric and I were being held, but some other people came after him. Angry Mountebanks, I think. I don't know if they've captured him yet, or what, but it doesn't seem like things are looking up for him. He told us to get outside, and to leave him down in the tunnels.

He said it was his battle to fight, not ours. I didn't argue. (...Should I have?)

Shortly after leaving the tunnels, we came across a man with long hair and a long beard. Eric recognized him, called him "Caledon." He had the Archangel seal on his hand, though he tried to cover it up when I looked. Evidently, he was Zagreus, the former ARC agent/current Timberwolf I talked about a few posts ago.

He asked us to kill him.

We refused, of course. Even though Eric had seemed... pretty mad, he pretty quickly decided not to do what Caledon had asked; instead, he brought him along with us. I think Eric's planning on turning him in to ARC. We're headed back to their local headquarters anyways (again; hopefully we don't get attacked by Puppets this time around) as it stands.

Not sure what ARC will do with him.

- Poe

Mere Puppets II

Clara snuck in my phone.

I guess I should give context for that. Eric and I got kidnapped by Puppets as we made our way to the local ARC HQ. One of the Puppets is named Henrietta Bendis, and she has a daughter named Clara who's being trained to become the Princess of Puppets, meaning the Wooden Girl will take control of her body if her current one gets destroyed.

Currently, Eric and I are being held in an otherwise-abandoned tunnel. Evidently, this city has a lot of those lying about. Just our luck. The Puppets are usually very picky about leaving Clara unwatched, but I guess they were busy dealing with some sort of intruder, and they decided Clara was too vulnerable to be exposed to anything like that.

I'm going to give my phone back to Clara after I write this. I don't want the Puppets to suspect her of anything; her situation is clearly not working in her favor, and it wouldn't surprise me if they mistreated her upon finding out that she let me use this. I actually tried to convince her not to give it to me, but she insisted, so I figure I may as well leave a post and update you

Footsteps

The Tell-Tale Heart

Eric says he's okay if I post this here. So... I guess I will.

We swapped stories last night. He already knew about Addie, so I didn't tell him about that. I don't... really want to talk about what I told him in such a public place, though. It's hard to explain. Just suffice it to say that I've told you all about some pretty terrible things... and this was worse.

Eric, meanwhile, told me about his own past. It happened pretty recently, actually. It turns out his circumstances aren't all that different from mine.

Eric was camping in the Appalachian Mountains with a guy named David. A friend of his, evidently. It was cold, and they were alone. David heard something. Eric didn't. It got pretty tense; Eric eventually agreed to go check with David, but at some point they got separated without realizing it. Eric heard something, something horrible. In a panic, he searched for David. He found him, all right. Just... not living.

The official answer was highly unclear. They thought it was some sort of wild animal that did it, but they couldn't get any further than that. It wasn't human, at any rate.

ARC contacted Eric soon after. They didn't say what did it, because they didn't know. They just told him they didn't think it was natural. They did say they'd had an eye on him for a while, though; he was a law enforcement ranger, and they believed that, despite the tragedy inherent in the situation, it was the perfect opening for a job offer. And now Eric works for ARC.

I think David was the Carcass.

It all clicks. I think, in some way, the Carcass was vengeful.

It sounds crazy, I know. But then, is the idea that it could feel residual anger really more unbelievable than that it could exist in the first place?

I don't know.

This all feels weird.

- Poe

The Night's Plutonian Shore

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

I feel like Eric should be banned from ARC.

Or maybe it's standard practice for servant-fighting groups to drag Runners along with them to incredibly shady stores run by Jack of All cultists.

I guess I should clarify that. There's a guy called Jack of All who is essentially the Devil. He wears a glove on his right hand, and he likes to make deals with people that always go horribly wrong. It's unclear whether or not he's a Fear, and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really matter.

Jack of All has a cult called the Mountebank Club. After dark, they become the aptly-named Night Shop. Members of the Night Shop want weird things from you in exchange for equipment, food, and the like, such as your true name (if you have a pseudonym) or your darkest secret. They also have personae, which are alter egos that Mountebanks alternate between.

As far as I can tell, the Mountebanks are a bunch of glorified theater kids.

Anyways, Eric and I visited the Night Shop a few hours ago. The person who dealt with us... I think he was called Alan? Alan Roach. Alan asked Eric about his life experiences. Eric went pale.

Alan tilted his head. I guess a mask isn't the best for emoting.
"In that case, how about you don't tell me for free? How about..." Alan trailed off, chuckling. "How about you tell me that juicy information, and I give you what you came here for? Say," he said, sounding surprised, "what did you come here for?"
"I want to know why there are so many Puppets and Timberwolves around, and what the deal is with that... thing I saw the other day. The rotting thing."
"Tut, tut," Alan said, shaking his head. "The Carcass? The Puppets and Timberwolves? Too easy. You're boring. Oh, well, I guess it isn't as if I'm asking for much in return, is it? Just your story. So tell me, what is your story?"
Eric grimaced.
"Fine, fine," Alan said. "Hardass. Just tell me in private. You can even keep your weapon with you, if you're scared. You are smart enough to carry a weapon, right?"
"Why do I get the feeling you absolutely should not trust this guy even a little bit?" I asked Eric pointedly.
"Because I shouldn't."
I looked up at the ceiling. "Okay. So you're making a weird deal with someone you don't know and shouldn't trust because you're mildly curious."
"Yes."
"Didn't you bring me on board to protect me?"
I think Alan glared at me, though the mask made it hard to tell. "Shut up, would you? I'm trying to cut a deal here."

After that whole... debacle, Eric and Alan went into a backroom and emerged a few minutes later. Eric and I said goodbye to the nice people at the Night Shop, and we continued on our way.

I'll start with what Eric told me about the new shard. Essentially, this Dying Man shard is called the Carcass. It has the unique ability to possess dead bodies as well as living ones, hence the name, as well as its tendency to be followed around by rats and insects.

Eric's decision to try and shoot at the Carcass while it was chasing us, evidently, was due to him being totally unfamiliar with it; he wasn't, and still isn't, totally sure whether it's mortal or not. I, for one, am working under the assumption that its body can theoretically be damaged, since it was originally human, but that it's a bad idea to stay near it long enough to try to do so.

So the Carcass is a lovely beastie, though I wouldn't consider my personal experience with them to be evidence of its intelligence. I mean, the old "hide in an alleyway while your pursuer continues in a straight line" trick worked on it when it came after me and Eric, for Christ's sake.

As to the Timberwolves and Puppets, evidently the local ones are in a turf war. The place Eric and I are hanging out lately is a big city, so it's no surprise they'd want to control it. The Timberwolves have always been pretty big here, I've heard, and Eric said the Puppets were the aggressors, so that all checks out.

I've also heard that the Puppets have plans of taking over a particular construction site. Evidently, the Timberwolves claimed it for their own a while back. Eric actually said one of his old coworkers met the Archangel in person in that construction site and... well, apparently he got sent to Bliss, and he hated his job as an ARC agent, so now he's a Timberwolf. From the sounds of it, he's not much happier with his current job.

Anyways, to be frank, I'd rather not get caught in the crossfire of this particular fight. Which, of course, means I will be.

- Poe

The Horror of Blood II

This day we found ourselves completely hemmed in by the ice, and our prospects looked cheerless indeed.
Eric finally made good on his promise.

Other than the food and shelter thing, I mean. He's been quite helpful there. No, what I mean is that he helped me, directly, with a Fear. A Dying Man shard, to be exact. I actually encountered one of them, lucky me.

It was a huge thing, huge and skeletal. There was some meat on its bones, but not much. The rest of it was rotted away. The flesh and bones on its face had slash marks; Eric said it was because the human the shard's body used to be tried to tear out the thing inside them before it took over. Poor bastard.

It showed itself in a remote area. Frankly, I'm surprised such a thing exists in as big a city as this, but apparently miracles do happen, and they result in encounters with flesh-eating revenants.

Anyways.

Eric saved me, like I said. It showed itself when we were all alone. Eric shot at it a few times. I asked why. He said he combatted the anomalous, and if he wasn't sure what properties any particular anomaly had, figuring out firsthand whether it was bulletproof was as good a thing to try out as any. Then he ran, and I followed suit.

It followed us. I guess I can't say I'm surprised. We ducked into a back alley. Apparently I was breathing heavily, because Eric put his hand over my mouth to silence it. It took some time, but a while after the shard finally passed, Eric's judgment saved me. I nearly left the alley too early, but Eric pointed out my mistake, in the whispered tones you might expect.

I still don't like him.

- Poe

King Pest

"Treason!" shouted his Majesty King Pest the First.
Eric is getting on my nerves. On the other hand, I'm sure I'm getting on his too. Ugh.

At least I have a reason to be as annoying as I probably am. Not having much human contact isn't good for one's social skills. I desperately want to be able to have some sort of real, stable friendship, but as it stands, that's not happening.

Maybe Eric could change that.

And maybe the Archangel just wants a hug.

- Poe