Misty Peril: The Mirage Castle of The Lake

Eclipse stuck her head in the passageway followed by Lily who had swoped down and picked up Austin like a teddy bear.

“Whoa! That's so cool! A hidden passageway! Great job Nina!” Lily said cheerfully as she put Austin on the floor.

“Well, if there is nothing else to do out here let's go in! I want to see where it leads to.” Eclipse said.

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Robert walked forward and held up the glowing crystal in one hand and gently held his other hand to his broken ribs. With each breath he took he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He felt short of breath and dizzy. But even though he was in so much pain he kept walking forward, lighting the way for the others.

He had just taken a few more steps before he stopped when he heard footsteps coming their way.

“I swear, if that kid actually brought his dad and if he's anything like him...I'm in trouble.” Robert thought.

Soon enough, the groups met.

When Comet saw Robert, he hid behind Nebo's leg. "There they are! The guy with the glowing thing hurt me!" He said.

"Nebo! Where have you been! That brat tried to kill me!" Lucian shouted before punching his servant in the gut, and giving Comet an evil glare.

"Who're you calling a brat, brat!" Comet retaliated.

"Boys! Stop!" Nebo shouted causing both Comet and Lucian to be quiet. Nebo then looked at Robert. "You killed my son, but I have a feeling he started it. Comet, apologize." He said.

"Why!? He killed me!" Comet said.

Nebo just looked at Comet with a glare.

"Fine..." He said. "I'm sorry..." He said in a reluctant tone.

"Here, let me help you." Nebo said before he picked Robert up. "I at least owe you getting out of this dungeon." He added.

"What? You get your ass kicked?" Mary-Lynn said as her brother walked past, hitting the back of her head. "Ow! Hey! Lunkhead!" She chased after him. "Where's Menroe?" "Menzy's inside the manor. Shes got all those people with her anyway." "And the orange dragon.." Deejay mummbled, rubbing his chin slightly. "Sorry that my sister caused trouble." "I did not!" "You always do." "Do Not! I'm just a free spirit!"


"Alright. Let's go head up first. We might get to a high enough window for a high view." She said, leading the way, listening to everyone mumble with each other and their footsteps echoing.

Nina thought a moment, having to go so far as entering a 'thinking pose' to decide. She placed a finger just under her lips a let out a loud, "Hmmmm..." as she looked up staring blankely.
"Well, everyone else is down stairs...So we should probably go up! Ya, maybe this will lead to that tower you were talking about!"




"Well, it's good to know everyone's back together again. It's clear this is a dead end, what we need is a map or guide. Some one or something who knows the house." she looked over at Nebo, "I assume you know at least a little bit about the house? If not perhaps the child then." she gave a slight but gentle smile to Comet, "Well?"





"HA!" just as the stone monster entered the room, a series of net like ropes captured him and tied him up in a snare. A snare that he was quickly breaking out of.
Ace could be seen standing next to the window with a tight rope in his hand. He smiled and waved, "Au revoir!"
And with that he cut the robe with a small knife, the breaking snare snapping and catapulting the guardian THROUGH the window and out of the house completely.
Ace smiled proudly as he exited the room, nodding as he saw a set of stairs at the other end of the hallway.

“Hold...hold on a second...did you said that I killed him?” Asked Robert as Nebo picked him up. “But...how can he be dead? He's standing right there.” He said.

Jim walked over to Comet. “Hmm...he may be a ghost.” He said before he poked his shoulder. “Nope! He's not a ghost!”

Robert was about to say something but was stopped by an incredibly sharp pain in his chest. He grunted in pain and held his hand to his broken ribs.

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“Oooh, this is so exciting! I can't wait to see where this leads to!” Said Lily. She looked at Austin. “What do you think Austin?” She asked.

(OK, lets get the train out of the station and the unneeded cobwebs off of this rp.)

"Yes, you did 'kill' him." Nebo said. "But don't let it worry you, he still has about eleven lives left." He added as he started to walk at a fairly slow pace as to not further Robert's injury.

Comet looked up at Basil. "I can take you up as high as my playroom on the seventh floor, but my brothers would know the rest of the castle." He said. "I always liked being more outdoors then indoors so I only learned the hallways I needed to." He added as he started to walk at the same pace Nebo did.

Lucian held his hands behind his back just above his tails and kept a fair distance from Comet since his servant had his hands full.
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Within all of Ace's moment of glory, he found his moment of triumph to be ruined but a rather noisy ghost that danced around the walls and ceiling.

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In the stairway that Nina found, as they walked up a few rocks that seemed to be shiny fell down the stairway and some faint moaning echoed with their footsteps.

"I'm sensing all sorts of bad ju-ju in this place." Mary narrowed her eyes, her hammer thrown still over her shoulder, her arm wrapped around Jim's neck. "I think this place is more then haunted. IT's CURSED!" She yelled, causing Jim to jump slightly. "And I think the undead lead us here to feast on our souls." "Mary." "What?" "Shut up." Dee said, not looking back and she pouted. "Why could you run off and leave Menzy with me."

A chill ran up Menroe's spine. "This place doesn't feel much right anymore. How is it that this entire place couldn't be seen in the lake? Or somehow got built under it?" The floors creaked more as they continued up.

Nina jumped, "OH! Shiny!" she knelt down and picked up what had some how came tumbling down the stairs. "Gasp! Ms. Menroe look!" she held out the hand that held what she found.



Basil patted the child on the head, "Well, feel free to lead us as far as you can. We're really not getting any where fast at this right now are we?" she smiled a meek smile.

"Sacré....For get it! I'm out of here!" Ace jumped for the stairs and took a tumble down them, he rolled off his back and sprang to his feet! He seemed to have thrown something out pretty nastily, but all he could do was grip it as he ran. He needed a hint...a clue of some sort... But standing around and investigating was just asking for trouble!

Jim raised a fist. “These ghosts shan't steal mah soul!” He shouted, started to lose balance due to the extra weight straining on one side of his body.

Robert said nothing as he was being carried.
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Eclipse looked around. “What the hell is with this moaning sound?” She asked, rather annoyed.

The wings on Lily's head began to flap and she flew up to Menroe's shoulder to get a good look at the rock Nina found. “Oooh! What a pretty rock! Austin! Look at this!” She said before she picked him up like a teddy-bear and flew back up near Menroe's shoulder.

“Isn't it pretty?” She asked.

Austin was silent as he looked at it. He flicked his earrings before answering. "Yeah, it's nice." It was clear that something was bugging him, but nobody exactly knew why. He kept playing with his earrings instead of paying attention to the group.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Master, we were already here." Adon sighed. He was getting annoyed with his master's lack of direction. Mason slapped Adon across the face.

"I know where we're going! We're gonna go over here next!" He shouted. Adon didn't bother to tell him that they had been down that direction twice already. Maybe Mason'd give up and go home.

The group came out of the underground prison and back into the vast graveyard from once they came.

Nebo set Robert down gently. "You should be able to walk more comfortable on flatter land rather then old dusty stairs." He said. "It'd be better if we had someone who could perform healing spells." He added.

Comet looked up at the statue on the top of the house. "I know Tale can, but he doesn't like being bothered." He said.

"Who's Tale? Is he a sibling or something?" Lucian asked.

"Yes, he's the oldest of the three us to be technical even though we're triplets." Comet replied. "I'm the technical youngest, and the middle is the heir, and he's kept in that tower." He added before pointing to the statue.

"Wasn't it your mother that put him there?" Nebo said.

"Yup. Mama didn't want to go through birth, so she put us inside different colored diamonds. I was put in a blue, Tale in green, and the other's in a red one." Comet said.
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Back in the throne room, Sly was looking at the giant red diamond mounted behind the throne.

"My lord, is something amiss?" The apparent brains of the thugs said.

"Yes. I think there's more to this diamond then just rattling the palace." Sly said.

"Dare we find out?" The brainy one said.

"Men, prepare for battle! We won't know what all we can do with this, and we're about to find out!" Sly ordered.

All of the men within the throne room readied themselves for almost anything.

Sly's eyes turned a very heavy pink and glowed a large glow, and the entire castle shook with great force. "Come on! I know there's more to this!" He shouted as he increased his psychic tension on the diamond.
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Up in the tower where the statue sat, the boy inside seemed to roll around on the floor in mass pain. "M-M-M-Make it stop!" He hollered as his eyes teared up. "It hurts!" He added.
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The statue's eyes flashed not once, nor twice, but three times! The fog that hung over the castle's mid-section disappeared. A golden light came through the black clouds that coated the sky, and the statue started to move and change color!

"For those who dwell within the den of the devil... I can only offer you full hell." A female voice said that echoed through the castle which suddenly stopped shaking.

The statue had turned into a long flowing black dress with the eight wings turning into a a deep ruby red, and the long hair was a brilliant white.

Just as fast as the statue came to life did the being fly from her perch into the castle.
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"W-What the hell?" Sly said halting his telekinesis. "What was that voice!?" He demanded.
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The eight winged being flew right over Menroe, Eclipse, Lily, and Nina's heads at a fast pace leaving behind several feathers.

"Duck. Wait." She grabbed Nina and Lily's arms, forcing them down from the giant flying woman. "What the hell was that?"

Mary-Lynn grabbed tightly onto Dee's arm. "Stand your ground." "Your the one that's going all over the place he said, trying to keep is balance, under his shaking weight and the weight of the girl and her hammer. The shaking subsided once agian and he bent over, weight placed on the hand held agianst his knee. "You ok?" "Of course!" Mary-Lynn stood back up. "H h hey! That statue at the top is gone!"

Nina jumped up, "COOOL!" Nina picked up a near by feather which glistened despite no light touching it.

Basil tipped her hat as her hair seemed to fall to the left a bit. She put her arms into herselves and laughed a slightly deeper laugh than usual for het gentle voice, "What ever wanted us out is now taking measures to keep us out. This should be fun..."

"Bulla oeil...On the mark..." Ace lined up the arrow... "Adieu mon amie!" and shot for the right wing of the flying creature he saw outside! Though barely able to make out what it was, the window gave him the perfect vantage point for a snipe on the wings.

Despite Ace's well aimed shot, the arrow seemed to just stop for what seemed like a minute, but was merely a few seconds.

The being didn't notice the arrow, but upon a stroke of luck did she turn out of it's path and see it. "Those who lurk within the den of the devil will only gets it's advocate." The being said before flying right into the window Ace shot from and held him by his neck tightly against the wall.

The being's brilliant glowing red eyes analyzed Ace very carefully and thoroughly. "You are not the one I seek..." She said before throwing him aside and his bow nearly falling out the window but fell back inside.

The being, just as swiftly as she came flew back out the window and in another on a lower floor.

“Wow! That WAS cool!” Lily said before picking up a feather. “So pretty, I think I'll keep it.” She said before she put it carefully in her pocket.

“Hey, guys, instead of looking at feathers, I think we should go and follow where that woman was headed. She might lead us to the treasure...and give us a hint at what is going on with this castle.” She said, hands on her hips.
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When the castle shook, Jim had to hold up his injured brother so he wouldn't fall and make his injury worse. He looked up in time to see the statue fly off the castle.

“M-Mary...” Jim started. “The statue...flew away...and it looked like it was made out of actual flesh...not stone.”

“G-gah...That's impossible...” Robert said, holding his side. “Statues can't turn from rock to human flesh...or move on their own without some kind of magic spell...”

“But this one actually did...I got a bad feeling about this.” Jim said.

"Daddy tells stories of gargoyals that have been said to come to life in order to protect the people in a building the rest on or the building itself. Maybe that was sorta like one of those." Mary said, standing back up. "Well. Maybe! Guys maybe that's the thing that was making people afraid to come near here. Maybe we can ask her to stop it." She tapped the hammer in her hand a few times, smiling, "Yes..ask."

"Are you sure?..It seems like we'd find more answers if we see where it came from instead. But the time we go back down, we'll either be back in the library or went up going down the corridor"

Austin stayed away from the flying woman. He didn't want to fight right now, oh no. He flicked the earring hard. "Wherever you want to go guys. I'll take some people on my back if you want."

"Brûler dans démone enfer!" Ace rubbed his neck as he stood up, grabbing his bow and firing multiple arrows at the creature. Sadly none of them hit the mark, his vision was a bit dazed from the bright eyes after having waltz the dark corridors for so long. "Ga! Lâche! Run away from me will you!"

Pulling a couple more blue rupees from his pocket, he transmuted something like meat hooks on wristbands. They made for excellent climbing tools as he jumped out the window and began pulling himself up the side of the mansion with gusto. He was determined to find where that beast came from!



Nina rubbed the side of her head, "Hmmm...I think we should keep going! Maybe we can find where the birdy came from? I bet it was guarding a room full of gold!



Basil began walking toward the house, "Come now children, we'll get no answer waiting about here."

Eclipse thought for a second then said, “Yeah...that sounds like a better idea. And good point Nina, I hadn't thought about that.” Eclipse said, slightly embarrassed and cursed herself in her head for not thinking if the woman was guarding the treasure they were after. “Yeah, let's continue what we started. And then if we run into that woman again, we'll ask her what the hell is going on.”

“Yay! Up the corridor we go!” Lily said cheerfully.

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“Yeah! Come on guys lets go and meet this woman!” Jim said. “And I'll assist Mary if that woman decides to try anything funny.” Jim said, smiling as he put a hand on one of his bombs.

Robert just sighed as the group followed Basil to the castle.

"Oh yeah! We totally got this. We will bust any ghosts that decide to mess with us. Lead the way Basil!" Mary exclaimed and noticed the new kid. "Oh." She stuck out her hand, "My name is Miss Mary-Lynn. You weren't with us before." "He was in the dungon." Dee pointed out, sort behind the group so he could watch everyone from a distance. "Oh. Well."

Menroe came across a shut door, shuttering slightly. "How did she go trough a closed door..Unless she's a ghost?!" Menroe's voice cracked slightly and knocked on the door. "Wait why am I?" Not sure why she did that and opened it slowly, sticking her head inside but not seeing anyone else in there, before opening it all the way and took a step or two in.

Within the door was a short walk way to the central tower, and at the other end was a door with glowing red runes that seemed to hold something within. On top stood where the lady once was.

((Sorry for the short post, but I'm a bit preoccupied atm.))

“Wow...” Lily said as she walked over to the door and ran her hand over the runes. “I can feel...some sort of power...it's strange.” She said.

“What is this?” Eclipse asked, looking at the runes.

Menroe stood beside the two. "I don't recognize them. Runes are usually used to enchant objects with a special magic. I'm guessing it probley says something along the lines of protect, to keep whatever is on the other side safe, or defend, to keep anyone on this side out..But I'm not very good at reading runes yet..if Mary were up here, she could. What about you Nina? Ever dabel in the art of rune crafting?"

"Hi!" Comet said to Mary-Lynn before bringing a tail around and shaking her hand. "Oh! The witch lady is right." He added before he ran off to catch up.

Nebo had walked a bit ahead with his hand rubbing his chin. "That lady is vaguely familiar to me, but I can't exactly remember..." He mumbled to himself.
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The boy in the tower's ears perked up. "I hear people outside! I wonder if they'll play with me." He said before he went and tried to open the door, but the runes on it kept him from touching it. "Why can't I open it!" He shouted. "Wait... I have an idea..." He said to himself. He picked up a little wooden gargoyle sitting on the desk next to the window. "You should be able to open that door." He said before he tossed it out the window.

The wooden gargoyle came to life after it flew about twenty feet out of the window and flew over to the walk way that Menroe, Nina, Eclipse, and Lily were standing on.

"Mortals, please move aside." It demanded as it walked by them. It reached for the door and the runes seemed to fade away. It opened the door and turned back into the little wooden statue it once was.

"Hi!" The boy on the other side said with a bony face, but also with a big smile.

Austin walked up to the runes. "I see many strange things out at sea...Not many runes though. I...knew someone that could read runes...She was our resident history buff." He stopped playing with his earrings and looked at them. He moved out of the way when the gargoyle told him to move. Seeing the boy seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. "Hi." He said back.

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Mason was truly, hopelessly lost. "Adon, go and find one of the groups. We'll shadow them and steal the treasure when they find it." He said. "Make sure nobody sees you." Adon nodded, and ran off.