blood & sand

[groundrules]

Hi folks! Welcome to Eastbound’s last test drive meme and the second event of the Ephes Arc, stretching until 25 October. Applications next open over 20-25 October, with invitations required for new players (but not returning ones). Individual cast and game caps are off.

Test driving characters can use this space for both network and log prompts, as well as play both the newcomer and shared prompts. Enjoy!

BLOOD & SAND

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NEWCOMERS-ONLY PROMPTS

You wake to the creaky swaying of a large wooden cage, in the back of a cart. Balmy sun pinches your cracked, dried skin. Haziness and nausea assail you, your legs weak. Your supernatural powers are muted, due to recover within 48 hours. Several other carts trot by. You share your cage with a dozen others — largely farmers — and sacks of freshly harvested wheat, their bottoms stained dark.

The farmers point you towards a heap of rusted pendants that allow you to speak and glean local tongues, and access a network. They say you were recovered following an earthquake at a Hive — one of the agricultural clusters feeding the extravagant Senate-led city of Ephes. The Ephes army, the elite Hand, was patrolling nearby and is taking you to the citadel for healing.

■ Gather your bearings and distribute the scant water that Hand soldiers dole out — the earthquake, you hear, has dried the Hive wells.

■ You quickly learn why the Hand encaged all of you, as one of the Hive farmers starts to jerk, growl and shake, weeping black water as he strikes at anyone around him. Fend for yourself, before the Hand soldiers come to remove him!

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You arrive at the main gate of Ephes, where crowds vie for passage. Your carts are inspected, and an irritable woman enters each cage, checking each passenger — before taking you and a handful of others for ‘further customs investigations.’

In the back of an alley, she introduces herself as the sorceress Karsa — and says you are otherworlders brought into the realm of Akhuras by undead lieges of the Brotherhood, who seek to weaponise you in their wars. Her patron, the Merchant, leads otherworlders to ancient transport beacons that can deliver you home.

One beacon sleeps in Ephes, where the rest of Karsa’s party is scattered. The citadel has mysteriously accrued an elite, nearly supernaturally strong army that the undead lady Messalina seeks to borrow from the Senate, in her quest to free her undead companions from the Brotherhood. The Senate is yet to vote on her request.

The black water that has touched you, Karsa says, has previously been found where the undead rally. For now, Karsa gives you a little coin, passport papers identifying you under various civilian roles (player’s choice, but keep it Ancient Rome-themed) and an iron pin of an eye with a sun for a pupil to identify other party members.

SHARED PROMPTS

Decadent Ephes is overrun by rumours, after several Senators who intended to support undead lady Messalina were mysteriously assassinated at the banquet of prominent Senator Maximus Faustus — who, Karsa informs, is one of Messalina’s shapeshifting creatures. Messalina offers her protegees demonic hound escorts.

Hand army recruits protect official buildings, while the rich hire gladiators to watch their homes. Both move freely.

The Senate fears further retaliation against those who champion the dead. Senate leader Caius Justus distantly mourns the Senatorial murders from seclusion at the temple of the Chained God.

Civilians face increased tensions and whispers of curfews in the market. Crowds frequently quarrel over undead allegiances

Following an exercise in divination, priests of the city’s patron, the Chained God, spread word that the deity holds strong despite his Chaining, and he still wishes to destroy and rebirth the world.

Karsa informs the existing party that more otherworlders joined Ephes and wear iron pins depicting an eye with a sun for a pupil. She gives the party similar pins for identification purposes. Newcomers and old timers can recognise each other by their pins or engage over the network!

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THE PROSCRIPTIONS
OBJECTIVE: procure proscription lists.

You hear from the city crowds that partial target lists are circulating with the names of politicians targeted for bounties. Karsa tasks the team to recover the lists, which can be used as political currency. Find them by either:

■ Infiltrating a tavern run by the ruthless city gang of Livius Decimus and packed with unscrupulous bounty hunters, thugs and professional assassins.
A local ‘delicacy’ drink of wine and pickle juice is often inflicted on strangers. Brawls erupt randomly. Coax shady patrons to share target lists.

■ Visit the empty marketplaces just before dawns and raid the chained wooden submission boxes of news shouters, who receive anonymous tip-offs about fresh bounty lists. The boxes are pinned to the ground and tightly locked, but rusty from the cold seasons — allowing you to break them or pick their locks, while someone keeps watch. Tampering with a news shouter’s box is a jailable offence.

■ Turn in a finished thread to receive a clue!

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AT SEA
OBJECTIVE: investigate abandoned ships and rescue sailors.

One early morning (OOCly: Oct. 13), as you entertain sailors for gossip on the docks or fish breakfast, you witness the port authorities screaming for help as several small merchant ships appear abandoned at nearby sea for reasons unknown.

Lookouts spot no activity on board, while sailors organise rescues.

■ Row a small boat some 15-20 minutes to one of the merchant vessels. All merchant ships have roughly three hours afloat, as they slowly sink from numerous small erosion holes in their sides.

■ You find no crew on deck, and doorways to the cabins below are locked from within. Below deck, you find numerous sacks of wheat from the Ephes agricultural clusters, the Hives. A black liquid, thick and tar-like, is seeping out of the sacks — corroding the ship’s wood and creating leaking holes.

■ You find a handful of dazed sailors who claim a dark, slithering creature knocked them out. They were selected by Narula, leader of the elite Ephes army of the Hand, to transfer grain onto the vessels of the ‘merchant’ Matthias, much farther at sea. If you mention Matthias to Karsa later, she reveals he is a man (?) who potentially created the undead Brotherhood.

■ Seven sailors who did not know each other were chosen to man the ship. Eight men are in the room, meaning one ‘man’ is the assailing creature. You must decide who to release upstairs for evacuation.

■ Tips: the creature, disguised as a human sailor, has no pain receptors and isn’t afraid of typical dangers (fire, drowning). It does not bleed if hurt. It sometimes forgets to blink and increasingly, unwillingly, slowly morphs its features into yours, the longer it speaks with you. Lastly, the creature has a tattoo on its forearm identifying it as a soldier of the Hand.

■ Once found, the creature turns violent, dissolving into wisps of shadow and materialising once more to strike from behind you. The shadow creature cannot be outright killed — but you can lock it inside the ship.

■ Leave by small boat before the vessel sinks & claim a question if you saved sailors. Merchant vessels can be patched up, if successfully returned to port.

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THE RATTLING
OBJECTIVE: survive & explore the arena.

To stoke her popularity in Ephes, undead mistress Messalina organises a sumptuous gladiator game at the Colosseum (OOCly around Oct. 20), inviting plebes, patricians, politicians, soldiers — and you.

Gladiators may be hired (or coerced) to perform, while servants supply copious amounts of wines, oysters and honey pastries. A tiny mechanical golden mouse, passing by each seat, drops folded pieces of parchment with fortunes and riddles, ranging from teasing to morbid to philosophical or sweet. Pick up yours and make sense of it with your neighbour!

Politicians often interrupt the games to announce donations or make elaborate speeches. Toss peanuts to signal your discontent — or join in with your own speech.

■ The games start with matches between humans, but are building up to face-offs with reptilian demons, mounted rhinoceros and flying gargolyes whose voices thrall you frozen put.

■ During the games, you feel slight vibrations, and — if supernaturally sensitive — an undefined magical tension. By 15:00, this ramps up into earth tremors that worsen over 12 minutes — as columns and seats topple over, and the ground breaks in deep rifts, releasing black, chilled, tar-like water.

■ Crazed mobs rush for the exit, stampeding carelessly, while columns and decorations tumble down.

■ Dozens of the monsters brought to gladiate free themselves and hunt down spectators. Soldiers of the army of the Hand — disturbingly fast, strong and disciplined — intervene but it’s best you look after yourselves. Some spectators shout these Hand recruits practise some of the techniques performed by a recently missing gladiator — the Beast of Brenne.

■ Passing by the earthquake rifts, you see wisps of the tar-like liquid that gushes from them is gradually assuming the shadowy shape of humans. Stalking after you, they do not speak or bring you harm, but slowly steal your likeness and drain you of vigour and stamina. You get the sense that all they want is a shape. Encountering shadow creatures leaves you with a sense of bitter loneliness that only living company can soothe.

■ If you study the arena, you see the same black liquid is gathering around freshly downed corpses, slowly reanimating them. These newly-crafted undead struggle to walk and speak naturally and remember their lives, often unaware they died. Anguished, they beg help to escape, before inevitably succumbing to the instinct to harm you. Remind or convince them they are dead, and they withdraw.

■ The largest earthquake rift in the arena is overrun by the black liquid and by nearby undead. Within it, you notice a bloodless hand that seems to never sink — Enter a RNG draw to collect it and its clue.

■ As you gather your wits outside, you see followers of the Chained God rallying in the streets, comforting the traumatised crowd that all will be well now — for the Chained God’s destruction will be mercifully swift.

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THE QUIET HOUSE
OBJECTIVE: Explore the abandoned gladiator barracks.

NOTE: a Halloween special, this area is entirely opt-in and features several frights. Mind the warnings!

As chaos consumes the Colosseum, you notice the earthquake has destroyed a previously locked arena gate, revealing a decayed tunnel. The corridor leads inside a closed-off barrack whose doors and windows have been barred from the outside with wood planks and chains. Touch these restraints, and your unhurt hand leaves behind a fading blood print.

The barracks building is withered and clearly abandoned, with scarce furniture and a few weapons in a training room.

Several discarded torches stay alight on wall fixtures. Pre-prepared braziers have been filled with spirit-fending incense of sandalwood and sage. Explore for clues.

■ THE HALLWAYS ( cw: guilt haunting ): corridors flow into each other, often leading back where you started. You run into shifting wall engravings, some listing the name and ranks of Hand soldiers, or precepts such as GODS OF THE ARENA and BECOME AS STRONG / AS FAST, AS NIMBLE / AS GLADIATORS. A large portrait of Hand leader Narula is increasingly more scratched, every time you encounter it, while the painted man looks healthier, younger and stronger. Inevitably, you hear heavy steps — a deep-shadowed spectre, the Drillmaster, who starts to stalk you with slow persistence. Visible to you and your companions, the Drillmaster fluctuates between assuming the appearance of Narula and the distorted, monstrous figure of someone from your past, who heavily criticised or intimidated you. The corridor lighting changes depending on your proximity to the Drillmaster: green for safe passage, white to tread lightly, red to stop. You can make the Drillmaster disappear out of your way by facing or acknowledging whatever weakness (true or self-perceived) you have that has caused extensive criticism or self-doubt.

■ THE BATHS ( cw: doppelgangers): a long marble hall featuring a large swimming pool, now drained and filled with mould and debris. Steam overwhelms the room, except for a wall-length black mirror at the end of the hall. The more you look into the mirror, the more the black substance that covers it slips down, flooding the floors and also dripping from walls and the ceiling. As the mirror clears, you see your black-eyed reflection that suddenly screams out verbal abuse or plunges at you. Once you subdue the doppelganger (claim a clue), it dissolves into more black water, while the mirror shows scratched inscriptions of A RIGHTEOUS HAND SHAPES EACH OF ITS FINGERS.

■ THE DORMITORIES ( cw: membranous cocoons): hollow, empty, quiet, the dormitories sport strange membranous cocoons in the walls, from which shadowy hands reach out. You hear young wo/men, whimpering and murmuring that they aren’t afraid and want to change to make Brother Narula proud, before erupting into screams or laughter. Break the cocoons without getting trapped into their webs — only to find nothing inside, except stone dog tags, engraved with the names of Hand soldiers. On the floor, you find primitive tattoo needles and ink.

Luck strikes at sunset, when a previously barred door opens to release you from the house — back into Ephes.

NOTES:

■ QUESTIONS

■ NPC inbox (for test drivers)

■ Event title shamelessly pilfered from a gory gladiator show!

Comments

Benedict Fox | The Last Case of Benedict Fox | OTA

[companionsgrasp]

I. The Proscriptions

[Benedict wasn't keen on the rowdy route for finding clues when he could much more simply pick a lock. While chatting up patrons of a tavern was typical in his business, he'd rather have to talk his way out of a petty crime if caught than deal with the crowds. At least for now.

So he found himself at the marketplace, eying the surroundings as he got ready to get to work. He had an extra set of eyes (more than he could count some days, but that was an eldritch demon for you) but an extra set of hands and eyes would make the work go more quickly. Therefore, he had company with him.

He turned to his partner in crime and reiterated before they got started:]

I've got a knack for this sort of thing so if you could keep an eye out, it would let me concentrate on the work at hand. Are you ready?

II. At Sea

Great.

[The word was muttered as Benedict finally got to the room where the sailors could be found. He knew that there were supposed to be seven sailors to rescue, but one glance at the room confirmed that there were instead eight people. Things were literally not adding up here.

After a few questions of the sailors, he determined that something had knocked them out and now they were here while the ship sank. Lovely. Benedict looked around at the men one more time, eyes narrowed slightly as he examined them suspiciously. His Companion couldn't tell him much but there was definitely a presence here that was not human. It was hiding damn well to keep his demon from identifying it quickly but that just meant Benedict would have to rely on his own senses.

He was a private detective. He totally had this.]

So, we need to figure out which one doesn't belong here. Preferably without hurting any of them although-

[He didn't finish but the implication was clear: if they needed, it could be a last resort to see how each of them bled. A supernatural creature might not bleed red, or blood at all. Well, anyway, until then. He nodded at his fellow traveler. Time for them to do some investigating!]

III. The Rattling

a. gladiator fights
[Benedict was still a gladiator here after all. It was only natural that he participate in the arena's spectacles. He was most often pitted against the monster opponents that began ramping up towards the end of the event. It was his specialty. The trainers had learned earlier that he was used to fighting giant creatures and monsters from his own land back home. His god gave him gifts that let him fight them and left him no fear in the face of such bestial opponents.

Fight alongside him and he may lend his blade to a coordinated attack against a foe. Or perhaps he'll be forced to use one of his 'priestly' powers and form a bubble shield around himself (and you!) to protect from an attack.]

b. after the earthquake
[The detective had been feeling uneasy since the games began earlier that day. Some supernatural force was about--it kept prickling the hairs along his neck as faint vibrations occurred periodically. He tried to warn an official when the frequency got too high for comfort but he was told sternly to get to his next position and keep his mouth shut til they were ready for his next match. It was frustrating.

Not as frustrating as when it finally all culminated in a tremor that shook apart the earth and toppled whole sections of the arena. He managed to stay upright throughout it despite the ground's attempt to throw him off balance. He sighed in relief when it ended, only to grit his teeth in grim determination as he glanced about and surveyed the damage done. Not just the physical damage, but the newly released sludge and creatures appearing from the aftermath on top of it all. This wasn't good.

Benedict immediately leapt into action to help the spectators. Fighting off the loose monsters was easy, and he directed civilians to make a break for it as he held off the beasts from preying on them. Where it really got fun was when the undead began to form out of the rifts.

It only took Benedict one encounter with a shadow to decide how to deal with them all. The first one cried out and Benedict hesitated, reached out to help like he had the ghosts back in Unkharil. It was a mistake he only made the once. It couldn't seem to help itself when it attacked him and only his Companion's hissed warning allowed Ben to come out of that with all his limbs still intact. Ignoring the blood running down his arm, Benedict made swift work of the rest he encountered. He attacked without hesitation any more shadows he ran across. If he couldn't destroy it swiftly, then he bluntly told the shadow that it was not living, already dead and forgotten, to eradicate it ruthlessly once it realized the truth and weakened.]

IV. The Quite House

a. the baths
[The oozing mirror was a sure sign that they should turn around and head back in the opposite direction, screaming all the way optional. Yet Benedict was naturally curious and he wanted to know what was going on. He encouraged his exploring partner to cross the floor with him--or, if they were too scared, to stand their ground at the entrance and wait for his return. Either way, unfortunately, his (or their) presence caused the mirror to flood black and eventually form into one (or two) eerie creatures.

Shadows. Lookalikes. Dopplegangers. Benedict had only ready about the creatures before and not encountered one despite all the trouble with demons he'd gotten into so far in his life. Now here was one with his own face. At first it looked as tired as he did--and then its face broke into a wicked grin and Benedict took an involuntary step back. His face did not look like that!

Well, if they were lucky, it wouldn't be able to mimic his powers. So he hoped.]

Get back! [He cried, just as the shadowy form leapt at him/them.]

b. wildcard
[Feel free to write a starter for any of the other haunted places, or request a starter for another place if you would like one! I love all sorts of haunted/spooky stuff so literally any Halloween trope you want, we can go for it. I'm all in. Have fun!]

proscriptions

[downswing]

( Paler than the ghosts that early dawns summon, he is not the man often conscripted for feats of subterfuge, of cunning. There lives and breathes and sulks in Lan Wangji a deficit of deceit, of that sophisticated quality that lends generals to martial consideration and strategy.

When Benedict calls out, Lan Wangji is — flinching, first startled from reverie, as sound scratches the young morning's stillness. Then, curious. At long last, invaded by self-awareness, prone to shaking his head and refusing a task that might see him fail —

Before, hands gristling to the knuckles on his silvered sword's hilt, he understands he can perform some part of this. Break it down and keeping watch is only partly the diversion of troubles. More of it is mere... playing guard, and has Lan Wangji not excelled in all matters of bloodshed? Death, music, amputation and increasingly rolling his eyes at Wei Ying's performances are the highest skills he has perfected.

He nods, once. Again. And he begins to quietly stalk the perimeter, walking the open marketplace in a tight circle around Benedict. Stark, long shadows, blaring braziers. Streets so dust-mantled, they may well be the desert. )

You are a veteran of — ( How does one ask such things? ) Thieving?

( ...not like that. )

[companionsgrasp]

[Well, that was one way to go about it. Benedict couldn't help but be reminded of the war and of guards on duty around encampments. It made him feel uneasy but he had work to concentrate on and at least the other man was taking his part seriously.

He was concentrating on the minute vibrations of the lock mechanisms and any sounds from the lock when Lan Wangji spoke up. He kept a sigh from his tone when he went to reply, though not the far away demeanor as he tried to continue concentration on the task at hand.]

No. [Pause.] No. I...procure... things on occasion. It comes with the job. Sometimes. [He heard a click and moved onto the next tumbler in triumph.] Mostly it's so I can investigate in places that are abandoned. Left to the elements. It's not thievery o-or breaking in. It's just... finding what's lost and returning it. Even if occasionally it's behind a locked door.

[downswing]

( 'Apologies' dies young on his tongue, soured by guilt. He need not have assumed, and yet they have survived a starting transgression. The man sets about his work, Lan Wangji a looming spectre, alert and sharply on edge, circling.

A step here, two more there. Each way, in the dispelling dark, only the dawns wait. It startles, almost, to know the only interruption of the evening are pebbles. )

You intrude upon the dead, also? ( No. He has presumed pointless malice once already. ) To assist?

( ...there. Is that it? Close to exorcism, if so. )

[companionsgrasp]

[Again Benedict held a sigh back as the other man's restlessness diverted his attention. The noises that Lan Wangji made weren't particularly loud but in the quiet morning hours, and considering the barest nature of the sound of his work, the man might well as have started a roaring avalanche.

Still, Benedict ignored it all and concentrated as best he could.

He almost lost his place as the next question dropped and Benedict almost dropped his lockpicks out of frustration. He received a gentle chiding from his Companion for the disgruntled thoughts.]

You could say that. [Benedict allowed, speaking mildly. He could, at least, recognize that Lan Wangji was trying not to be rude. He just wasn't particularly good at it or so it would seem.] It helps out with investigations. Especially suspected murder cases. I don't... I don't do anything out of malice. I just want to help solve cases and deliver the truth to whoever needs it.

And sometimes...I can slay their demons while I'm there.

[Another click from the lock and Benedict shifted his position slightly, eager with only one more tumbler to go he suspected.]

the baths.

[inferus]

( Wrath did not initially step into the Quiet House with this individual, but he has come in later after sufficiently ending as many of the monsters in the colosseum as he could. His wounds have already healed as he stands in the doorway, drawn by the feeling of the dark water within. He lingers in the doorway when something else catches his attention - someone else with a being attached to them like a leach might attach to a creature in the wild except the leach is not more powerful than the creature, and this leach radiates something ancient, primordial, godlike in a sense.

Is it imprisoned? Is it trapped? Did this man perform a ritual as Wrath's wife did tying this dark being of horror to him?

Instead of stepping back when this doppleganger forms, Wrath steps forward into the room, drawing his weapon in one hand as the shadows gather at his feet, drawn to him. )

Are you certain you wish me to step back? ( He angles himself to one side, keeping his gaze on the creature formed, but also on the entity which he imagines is not accustomed to being seen. ) The real question is will your doppleganger have an ancient entity of its own attached to it? That will vastly determine the difficulty of this fight.

[companionsgrasp]

[Benedict hadn't really looked at the person behind him before he'd given the warning cry. Now he was startled by the man's words, flinching visibly at the accusation. His automatic reaction was to deny it.]

I don't know what you mean...

[He trailed off weakly. He glanced at the stranger. Clearly one of the travelers of the group, but not one Benedict had interacted with much beforehand. His eyes darted across the details, noting the weapon and shadows that gathered, and settling on the man's face briefly. He turned back towards his doppleganger. Not keeping his attention on it seemed like a bad idea.]

It- it's just a reflection. It shouldn't be too hard to defeat, right? I know all it's moves. [They were his after all.]

[inferus]

( Wrath lifts an eyebrow when Benedict trails off - clearly showing he does not believe him, but there is no time for a discussion about the entity attached to him currently. Nor is there time to explain why it is he can see the creature attached to him.

There's a battle to be had toward this dark creature made from the dark water of the mirror. He can sense its coldness. )

And it likely knows all of yours. ( That's important to keep in mind - the creature does not appears to share more than this man's appearance. )

But you do not fight alone.

( And Wrath intends to keep some distance from the mirror, because the last thing they need is one of him as well. )

[companionsgrasp]

Yeah. [That was a good point, and something to keep in mind.] I'll just have to improvise and try out something new.

[That should do it. Right? He really wasn't that certain how dopplegangers operated. There were too many conflicting accounts of them in the books he read over the years. Some contradicted what others said were known for certain, and others were so vague as to be completely useless.

He supposed he would find out the hard way. At least, as the other pointed out, he wasn't actually alone. (Well, he was never alone but that was something else altogether.) He had back-up if needed. Great.]

Thanks. I hope you're a good fighter.

[Benedict wasn't exactly a slouch. But hopefully Wrath had some decent moves up his sleeve that would counter the way Benedict fought. Or- or maybe had some other powers that would make short work of the encounter.

There wasn't much time for the detective to question his companion as the doppleganger grew tired of standing around waiting for the living beings in the room to act. Benedict saw it coming and immediately raised his arm to defend, the bayonet in his hand immediately reflected in his doppleganger's hand as well. Their blades clashed as they met.]

[inferus]

( Wrath believes in the value of actions over words so Wrath does not respond to the comment about how good of a fighter he is. His eyes flash a bright gold - he does enjoy a good battle, and he can only hope this doppleganger does not disappoint. With supernatural speed, Wrath darts behind the creature from behind, and then he reaches out to begin to freeze it - the legs of it start to become slowly encased in ice. It will slow it down at least, make it clumsier than it would ordinarily be.

Then Wrath dives his serpent House dagger into it from behind while the man faces his doppleganger from the front, meeting each attack with a well-trained readiness .

In Hell, Wrath would be able to encase the creature in ice in a moment, but this world does dampen his powers. He thinks in some ways the dark water itself is resistant to power, to magic, to ice. It's powerful, and Wrath has never seen it do something quite like this before.

There are no cocoons around, no mannequins, no walls pulsing like the inside of an organ as the group saw in Serthica. This is something else. )

[companionsgrasp]

[Well, that's not something Benedict has ever had to deal with before. And, thankfully, he didn't have to now either. It did mean his doppelganger had trouble with the ice as well. It slowed down considerably as it tried to keep up with Benedict who saw an opportunity to strike when it appeared.

"Benedict..."

He heard the warning before the moment arrived but it wasn't meant to alert him to any danger. Rather, Benedict understood the softly intoned word as soon as he saw the inky darkness gather at the doppelganger's feet. It rose like tentacles to shield the apparition from the attack from behind. It's focused stayed on Benedict as it pressed an attack on the annoyed detective.]

You've got to be kidding me.

[He groused as he parried the attack.

"It does not have an entity of it's own," his Companion reassured him, "it is simply copying abilities."

Which, Benedict had to admit, was actually comforting to hear. He knew it had to be such but the mere idea of another entity being created to perfectly mirror his unique situation was troubling. As it were, this thing was already annoying him for everything that it stood for.]

That's going to be the worst of it.

[inferus]

( Wrath takes a step back as he watches the tentacles with interest, tilting his head to the side, as he examines the moves of the creature that has copied. He does not sense the same ancient entity attached to it, no, which is what he surmised - any primordial power should not be able to be copied with such ease, with the same strength and intensity. )

And it should be weaker than your own without any true entity attached to it.

( Given the lack of ancient entity.

He continues to attack from behind, using some demonic speed to do so, wielding his House dagger with the serpent across the hilt as well as the ice. The goal is to keep the tentacles moving at the back to draw attention away, to freeze some of these tentacles and shatter them.

Wrath is not using all of his ability if only in an attempt to understand how this works, how close it can get to copying in terms of strength. Does it learn from the man's maneuvers? Does it seem to innately know how he fights already? )